Dior

Apple’s customer service? Not even close to luxury standards

October 18, 2012 5:22 pm by Vanessa Friedman

I greeted my colleague Richard Waters’s column today on the new mini Ipad – Apple’s equivalent of a mini-clutch – with a roll of the eyes. Not because it demonstrates yet another way in which the tech giant is mimicking the fashion world (by filling out their accessory offering), but because a recent experience has me thinking that maybe Apple has not learned its fashion/luxury lesson as well as this might suggest. Read more

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Accessories, Fashion, Luxury goods |

Google and Microsoft follow fashion

August 10, 2012 2:09 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Reading my newspaper over coffee this morning, I almost fell out of my chair while perusing a tech story on Google, Amazon et al, which ended with the following observation: “Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have the potential to adopt Apple’s vertical model of combining software, services and hardware to gain complete control over the design and function of future mobile devices.” Because the thing is, dear reader, it’s not “Apple’s approach” exactly – or it is, but Apple got it from somewhere else first. And where would that be? Fashion, of course.
 Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Financial results, Internet, Luxury goods, Marketing |

Raf Simons’ Dior debut

July 2, 2012 3:35 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Enter the new era at Dior: new designer (Raf Simons), new show address (a hotel particulier on Avenue d’Iena instead of the Musée Rodin), new hair and makeup (simple, stripped-down) and new clothes. Kind of.

For his first show as a couturier, Raf Simons stuck to two primary silhouettes, both involving the classic New Look code: a slim cigarette pant under a moulded jacket or bustier that blossomed from the waist down into a full hip; and a strapless 1950s-style cocktail gown (yes, there were other bits: a day sheath and swing back coats, but these were the overwhelming shapes). Read more

Tags: ,
Posted in Fashion |

Versace ups its stake in the branded jewellery game

June 27, 2012 1:24 pm by Vanessa Friedman

The branded jewellery game, long viewed as an area with the least players and the biggest potential pay-off, has a new entrant: Versace, which just announced it will introduce its first high jewellery line (one-off creations with emeralds, diamonds, etc) this Sunday during its couture show at the Paris Ritz. I’ll see your collection and raise you! Read more

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Couture, Fashion, Jewellery, Luxury goods |

“Exclusivity is not a criteria for luxury” – and other surprising statements

June 4, 2012 3:33 pm by Vanessa Friedman

The assertion that exclusivity is no longer a criteria for luxury came from PPR chief Francois-Henri Pinault when he opened our luxury conference last Thursday, and I have to say, it made me sit up in my seat. Not that that was the only striking insight to come out at the end of last week. Here, in no particular order of importance, are the top five items that stayed with me the most Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in China, Fashion, Luxury goods, Recession |

French inaugural chic

May 15, 2012 4:36 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Watching Francois Hollande be sworn in as French president today, I was struck by how incredibly color-coordinated the hand-over of power was. I know it wasn’t planned — the Hollande and Sarkozy camps are not that friendly – but Tim Gunn couldn’t have styled it better if he’d tried. Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion |

Introducing Meta-luxury

April 12, 2012 5:42 pm by Vanessa Friedman

There’s a new entry in the ever-evolving luxury lexicon courtesy of the folks over at Interbrand: “meta-luxury.” The term, coined to replace that old catch-all “luxury,” refers to “luxury after luxury.” For those in search of a fuller (or more logical) explanation, two Interbrand directors, Manfredi Ricca and Rebecca Robins, have written an entire book elucidating the concept, called, not surprisingly, “Meta-luxury.” It’s not perfect, but I think it may come closer to rationalising the current situation than anything else I’ve seen thus far.

 Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Luxury goods, Marketing |

Raf Simons becomes artistic director of Dior

April 9, 2012 7:08 pm by Vanessa Friedman

After a year of rumour and speculation, Dior has finally confirmed Raf Simons, the fashion darling recently canonized after his abrupt firing as artistic director of Jil Sander, has been handed the keys to the house – just over a year after former Dior creative director John Galliano was handed his walking papers after an alleged anti-Semitic incident. The appointment will put an end not just to the constant gossip about who might be getting the job, but to suggestions that perhaps the whole concept of a creative director was outmoded.
 Read more

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Womenswear |

Burberry fashions music

April 5, 2012 4:39 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Today Burberry’s new aviator-style eyewear collection is out — as well as a new song and video from UK band One Night Only. Coincidence? Not likely. The song and video was commissioned by the fashion brand, is available first on Burberry’s facebook page and then iTunes, and features front man George Craig modelling — you guessed it! — Burberry eyewear. Could this be the first step down a slippery slope that will lead to fashion moving in to more formal production roles?  Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods |

Time’s 100 Fashion Icons list

April 3, 2012 5:57 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Time magazine has made its first foray into the world of best-dressed lists by releasing its own “All-Time 100 Fashion Icons” list, presumably in an effort to support its recently re-launched “Style and Design” issue.

The criteria, as stated, is “most influential”. This is fair enough, though vague: influential over who? The masses? The industry? International? The US? It’s unclear. The timeline begins in 1923, the year of the magazine’s birth. Again, fine. Fashion as we know it largely began then too (though it means Charles Frederick Worth is not on the list). It includes designers, brands, muses, photographers, models, editors and stylists — a good mix. The problem is in the seemingly random nature of the final choice. Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Marketing |
BackOlder entries
Newer entries