Tag: Giorgio Armani

The new iPad’s unexpected effect on luxury

March 19, 2012 4:21 pm by Vanessa Friedman

When the new  iPad went on-sale at midnight last Friday night it provoked the usual frenzy — miles of lines, ecstatic buyers — as well as one very interesting blog that somehow seems to have fallen through the cracks over the weekend. I think it’s worth revisiting.

Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue, New York. Image by Getty

It was written by Evan Clark, deputy business editor of WWD (the site of insider fashion publication Women’s Wear Daily), and it takes a good, analytic look at the general perception that Apple is a luxury brand (a perception that Apple itself has created), pointing out that it does tick all the boxes save one; exclusivity. But here’s what I wonder: is exclusivity really a luxury value these days?

We (the public) think it is, but that may be an issue of perception, rather than reality.

Continue reading: “The new iPad’s unexpected effect on luxury”

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Posted in Accessories, Fashion, Luxury goods |

Adele disappoints NY designers at Grammys

February 13, 2012 5:54 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Adele in Giorgio Armani at the Grammy Awards (AP)

The perils of betting on celebrity dressing were potently illustrated at the Grammy awards. The night’s superstar, Adele, wore — wait for it — Giorgio Armani to accept her six gongs, before changing into Clements Ribeiro for her performance and Burberry for her finale.

I say “perils” because yesterday, as I made the rounds of New York Fashion Week, I heard two separate design camps claim she would be wearing them.

The first time was at the Zac Posen show, when an insider mentioned that, fingers crossed, Adele was going to be wearing one of their dresses. It wasn’t 100 per cent sure, she said, but it looked good.

Posen is a red-carpet favourite, and both Reese Witherspoon and Elle MacPherson wore him to the Golden Globes last month, so this seemed plausibe.

Continue reading: “Adele disappoints NY designers at Grammys”

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Posted in Couture, Fashion, Marketing |

The highlight of New York Fashion Week so far

February 12, 2012 11:10 pm by Vanessa Friedman

So far the hands-down best moment of New York fashion week (for me, of course) has been the Miguel Adrover show, a mad romp back in time to the days when there was an actual underground in this city’s design scene, and men and women existed who just Had to Make Fashion, with nary a care for a commercial component.

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Posted in Fashion, Hollywood, Ready-to-wear, Shows, Womenswear |

The blockbuster vs the brand

August 8, 2011 5:40 pm by Vanessa Friedman
Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen, in January 2010. Image by Getty.

And so the Alexander McQueen blockbuster exhibition, Savage Beauty, has finally come to an end, four months and well over half a million visitors after it opened, the most successful fashion show the Metropolitan Museum has ever put on. So where, inquiring minds want to know, will it go next?

Nowhere.

“There are currently no plans about the exhibit,” says a McQueen spokesperson, including no plans for it to go to, say…London, the brand’s birthplace and current home, and the seemingly obvious place for the show to go next. It would be good for any museum, and hence the local economy, and it would help cement the public view of UK fashion as super-creative fabulousness. London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, should be on the hustings, pushing for it.

Continue reading: “The blockbuster vs the brand”

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Posted in Fashion, Marketing |

The not-so-great Italian IPO debate

June 29, 2011 1:18 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Prada did it. Moncler almost did it. Ferragamo is about to do it and so, at some point, is Renzo Rosso of Diesel, and Brunello Cucinelli. But Giorgio Armani thinks no one should do it – and Diego Della Valle, chairman of Tod’s, has now taken him to task.

“It” is, of course, a public stock offering, currently the trendiest way to raise funds among Italian fashion brands. During the Milan men’s wear shows this week, Mr Armani criticised Prada’s creative and corporate approach, slamming its runway styles and blaming it on its need to make noise in order to sell itself to bankers. In response, yesterday Mr Della Valle announced during Il Sole 24 Ore’s “Third Luxury Summit” that Prada’s listing was “beautiful”– and all in all, an intelligent thing. Then he hinted Mr Armani was maybe not so au fait with modern times. The luxury industry is rubbing its hands at the prospect of an all-out alpha dog fight.

Continue reading: “The not-so-great Italian IPO debate”

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Posted in Finance, Luxury goods |

Alexander McQueen to headline Met Ball– and pay!

November 10, 2010 5:25 pm by Vanessa Friedman

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced its next great Costume Institute theme: Alexander McQueen! And the underwriter of show, as well as the opening night party, aka the Party of the Year, aka the ultimate nexus of fashion and celebrity and society (chairs are Stella McCartney, Colin Firth and Anna Wintour; honorary chairs are PPR chief Francois-Henri Pinault, owner of McQueen, and his wife, Salma Hayek), is…Alexander McQueen! What a surprise.

Getty Images

Salma Hayek - Getty Images

That was cynical, I admit. And there’s no question a retrospective of McQueen’s work is a good and legitimate idea (hopefully there will be video). So why shouldn’t his brand support that? You know the answer: because it looks like…they are paying for it. How do you draw the line between helping a cultural institution and self-promotion/selling out of the institution? This is the contemporary fashion-in-the-museum question.

Continue reading: “Alexander McQueen to headline Met Ball– and pay!”

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Posted in Fashion, Hollywood, Marketing, Shows, Womenswear |

Valerie Plame Wilson reveals her wardrobe secrets

November 8, 2010 8:22 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Valerie Plame Wilson, the subject of the new movie “Fair Game” - which features costumes by Giorgio Armani - has confessed to WWD that when she had to testify before Congress she went out and bought herself some… Armani. Think they had to drag it out of her?

What I think is that, between Ms Plame Wilson’s admission and Nancy Pelosi’s avowed love of Armani, this pretty much confirms the Italian designer as the outfitter of choice for appearances in the US legislature. Wait until the Tea Party gets a whiff of this national betrayal!

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Posted in Politics, Ready-to-wear, Womenswear |

Michael Bloomberg (hearts) Ralph Lauren

October 15, 2010 4:45 pm by Vanessa Friedman
Mayor Bloomberg with Ralph Lauren

Mayor Bloomberg with Ralph Lauren

Mayor Bloomberg’s love affair with fashion (and what it can bring to the local New York economy) continues apace. After cutting the ribbon on the Armani flagship store on Fifth Avenue, celebrating Burberry’s new store on Madison, and opening New York Fashion Week’s new home at Lincoln Center, the Mayor has turned his affection to Ralph Lauren, whom he awarded the key to New York City last night during a celebratory cocktail at the new RL womens’ flagship on Madison Avenue.

In front of friends (Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld), clients, and other executives likewise on the receiving end of Mr Lauren’s corporate largesse (the editors of pretty much every glossy magazine based in the city that carries Ralph Lauren advertising, from Harper’s Bazaar to Vanity Fair and In Style) the two men descended the gracefully curving staircase of Mr Lauren’s store like a newlyweds, pausing on a landing to make brief speeches.

Continue reading: “Michael Bloomberg (hearts) Ralph Lauren”

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Posted in Fashion, Finance, Luxury goods, Politics, Ready-to-wear, Womenswear |

Planning for the future in Milan

September 23, 2010 10:57 am by Vanessa Friedman

Something interesting is percolating up in Milanese fashion, and it has nothing to do with runways.

It has to do with things like “sustainability” and “long-term thinking” and “self-preservation” – also “procreation”, with emphasis on the latter part of the word.

To be specific, it has to do with the industry finally thinking about its own future, and the fact that if it’s going to have one, it has to start working on the logistics. Which means, at its most basic level, supporting young designers.

Continue reading: “Planning for the future in Milan”

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Posted in Fashion |

Who’s got the power?

September 2, 2010 2:10 pm by Vanessa Friedman

The Vanity Fair New Establishment 100 list has just been unveiled, and its criteria for picking “the 100 most influential” are increasingly impenetrable. I feel I can say this because it was sent to me with the proud announcement that “13 of the fashion industry’s top moguls and designers were named to the list.”

But while I understand the reasons behind, for example, choosing Facebook‘s Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs to top the thing off, and even why Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein might make it on, the fact that John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld are included, but Alber Elbaz of Lanvin (a brand that has just inked a deal to do a capsule collection with H&M, who hailed it as “one of the most influential brands of the 21st century“) is not, has left me tangled up in my sleeves.

Continue reading: “Who’s got the power?”

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Posted in Fashion, Hollywood, Luxury goods, Ready-to-wear, Womenswear |

Material World

with Vanessa Friedman

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Vanessa Friedman's blog deals with the fashion/luxury industry from both a corporate and consumer point of view, as well as the subject of dress.



Vanessa FriedmanVanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.
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