  | |
| Memo is a fragrance and home collection created in the heart of Paris by Claire Molloy. Inspired by her travels and her Spanish origins, the scents and products are based on the exotic, vibrant and warm. 'Les Echappees' is a range of four fragrances for women, Lalibela, Siwa, Sundance and Inlé. They are all based on three key values; spontaneous partying, thirst for travelling and an ability for dreaming, that come together to delight and stir the imagination. The home collection includes scented candles, room sprays and bath products. With vibrant candles such as 'Lost in Mykonos', a blend of Wild Mint and Ouzo and 'Marrakech Kiss', a White Tea and Jasmine Rain scent, the Memo candles perfectly capture the spirit of their origin. From Ibiza to Moscow, Hawaii to St Tropez, you can either choose the fragrances that will remind you of journeys you have already made, or whisk yourself away to locations you have never been to. Scents are also available in home sprays and sachets so that you can completely immerse yourself in them. Memo's bath line takes its scent from Zen in Zanzibar - a delicious blend of palm tree and lemon verbena. These natural products are both reviving and relaxing. Our favourite has to be the Body Smooth and Dry Oil which soothes and softens the skin, enveloping it in a refreshing fragrant mist. Memo is available exclusively at Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge now, and at the Dublin, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Leeds stores from mid November. Memo fragrances are £75. Memo scented candles are £29.50 each, or available in selections of three for £49. Bath products are from £19.50. | |
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
10.31.2007
Memo To Self
10.14.2007
Runways Fade to White
By GUY TREBAY
Published: October 14, 2007
IN the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel.
THE LINEUP
At recent spring shows, black models were scarce or nonexistent, including at the Chloé show in Paris, above.
Nowadays the cultural landscape is well populated with actors, musicians, media moguls and candidates for the American presidency drawn from the 30 percent of the American population that is not white. Yet, if there is one area where the lessons of chromatic and racial diversity have gone largely unheeded, it is fashion. This reality was never plainer than during the recent showings of the women’s spring 2008 collections in New York and Europe.
Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years.
Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” said Bethann Hardison, a former model who went on to start a successful model agency in the 1980s that promoted racial diversity.
AMONG the people she represented were Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, the chiseled hunk who broke barriers in the 1990s by becoming the unexpected symbol of the country-club fantasia that is a Ralph Lauren Polo campaign.
“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
Last month in New York, Ms. Hardison convened a panel of fashion experts at the Bryant Park Hotel to discuss “The Lack of the Black Image in Fashion Today,” an event she will reprise Monday at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. “Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said.
The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
The message is not always so blatant these days, but it is no less clear. Take for example the case of two young models, one white, one black, both captivating beauties at the start of their careers. Irina Kulikova, a feline 17-year-old Russian, appeared on no fewer than 24 runways in New York last month, a success she went on to repeat in Milan with 14 shows, and in Paris with 24 more. Honorine Uwera, a young Canadian of Rwandan heritage, was hired during the New York season for just five runway shows.
FRESH FACE
Honorine Uwera was hired for five New York shows, too few to justify a trip to Europe.
While Ms. Uwera’s showing was respectable, it was not enough to justify the cost to her agency of sending her to Europe, where most modeling careers are solidified.
“We represent a lot of ethnic girls,” said Ivan Bart, the senior vice president of IMG Models, which represents a roster of the commercially successful models of the moment, among them black superstars like Alek Wek, Ms. Campbell and Liya Kebede.
“We have new girls, too,” Mr. Bart added, young comers like Ms. Uwera, Quiana Grant and Mimi Roche. “We include them in our show package, give them the same promotion as any other girl, and get the same responses: ‘She’s lovely, but she’s not right for the show.’”
Although, in fact, Ms. Roche and Ms. Grant, both black, were seen on runways in the last five weeks, the reality was that only one black model worked at anything like the frequency of her white counterparts: Chanel Iman Robinson, 17, who is African-American and Korean. Particularly in Milan and Paris, Ms. Robinson’s was often the only nonwhite face amid a blizzard of Eastern European blondes.
It is not just a handful of genetically gifted young women who are hurt by this exclusion. Vast numbers of consumers draw their information about fashion and identity from runways, along with cues about what, at any given moment, the culture decrees are the new contours of beauty and style.
Published: October 14, 2007
IN the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel.
THE LINEUPAt recent spring shows, black models were scarce or nonexistent, including at the Chloé show in Paris, above.
Although black women in the United States spend more than $20 billion on apparel each year, according to estimates by TargetMarketNews.com, it was hard to discern an awareness of this fact on the part of designers showing in New York, where black faces were more absent from runways than they have been in years.
Of the 101 shows and presentations posted on Style.com during the New York runway season, which ended a month ago, more than a third employed no black models, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Most of the others used just one or two. When the fashion caravan moved to London, Paris and Milan, the most influential shows — from Prada to Jil Sander to Balenciaga to Chloé and Chanel — made it appear as if someone had hung out a sign reading: No Blacks Need Apply.
“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” said Bethann Hardison, a former model who went on to start a successful model agency in the 1980s that promoted racial diversity.
AMONG the people she represented were Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, the chiseled hunk who broke barriers in the 1990s by becoming the unexpected symbol of the country-club fantasia that is a Ralph Lauren Polo campaign.
“It’s heartbreaking for me now because the agents send the girls out there to castings and nobody wants to see them,” said Ms. Hardison, referring to black models. “And if they do, they’ll call afterward and say, ‘Well, you know, black girls do much better in Europe, or else black girls do much better in New York, or we already have our black girl.’”
Last month in New York, Ms. Hardison convened a panel of fashion experts at the Bryant Park Hotel to discuss “The Lack of the Black Image in Fashion Today,” an event she will reprise Monday at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. “Modeling is probably the one industry where you have the freedom to refer to people by their color and reject them in their work,” she said.
The exclusion is rarely subtle. An agent for the modeling firm Marilyn once told Time magazine of receiving requests from fashion clients that baldly specified “Caucasians only.”
The message is not always so blatant these days, but it is no less clear. Take for example the case of two young models, one white, one black, both captivating beauties at the start of their careers. Irina Kulikova, a feline 17-year-old Russian, appeared on no fewer than 24 runways in New York last month, a success she went on to repeat in Milan with 14 shows, and in Paris with 24 more. Honorine Uwera, a young Canadian of Rwandan heritage, was hired during the New York season for just five runway shows.
FRESH FACE Honorine Uwera was hired for five New York shows, too few to justify a trip to Europe.
While Ms. Uwera’s showing was respectable, it was not enough to justify the cost to her agency of sending her to Europe, where most modeling careers are solidified.
“We represent a lot of ethnic girls,” said Ivan Bart, the senior vice president of IMG Models, which represents a roster of the commercially successful models of the moment, among them black superstars like Alek Wek, Ms. Campbell and Liya Kebede.
“We have new girls, too,” Mr. Bart added, young comers like Ms. Uwera, Quiana Grant and Mimi Roche. “We include them in our show package, give them the same promotion as any other girl, and get the same responses: ‘She’s lovely, but she’s not right for the show.’”
Although, in fact, Ms. Roche and Ms. Grant, both black, were seen on runways in the last five weeks, the reality was that only one black model worked at anything like the frequency of her white counterparts: Chanel Iman Robinson, 17, who is African-American and Korean. Particularly in Milan and Paris, Ms. Robinson’s was often the only nonwhite face amid a blizzard of Eastern European blondes.
It is not just a handful of genetically gifted young women who are hurt by this exclusion. Vast numbers of consumers draw their information about fashion and identity from runways, along with cues about what, at any given moment, the culture decrees are the new contours of beauty and style.
10.08.2007
Kate Moss Joins the Olympic Bid
British supermodel Kate Moss wants the Olympic Games to be held in her native country. The beauty has joined her fashion friends Paul Smith, Mario Testino and Sam Taylor-Wood in their new project 40 Artists, 40 Days, to raise awareness of the attempt of the United Kingdom to host the XXX Olympic Games.Paris, New York, Moscow, Madrid and London are vying, making bids, to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and in early July the results will be announced. Britain will be counting down 40 days till July 5, the day the International Olympic Committee will choose a city to host the Games. Until that time, photos of Kate Moss, made by fashion photographer Mario Testino, will be dispayed on Tate Online, www.tate.org.uk/40artists40days, alongside with other original videos, music, texts, performances and visual art.
Moss will be photographed by Testino for the project which will tout some of the city’s unique selling points, including Paul Smith’s London logo and boxing prodigy Amir Khan photographed by Taylor-Wood.
"The vision for 2012 is that sport and the arts will come together in London for the biggest celebration this city has ever known," said Tate Online director Sir Nicholas Serota, according to British Vogue.
Meantime Moss' boyfriend Pete Doherty dreams to marry the supermodel the next weekend. The Babyshamble’s frontman says:
"We're driving through Gretna Green next weekend, so who knows? I might be able to persuade her,” femalefirst.co.uk cited the singer.
"Kate's been there for me. She's my rock. Not my rock of crack though."
10.05.2007
McCartney brings sport to London, flowers to Paris
By Kerstin Gehmlich Thu Oct 4, 1:30 PM ETPARIS (Reuters) - Models in flower-power dresses strutted out from behind a leafy hanging garden in Stella McCartney's fashion show on Thursday, as her father, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, applauded proudly from the front row.
Just two weeks after having presented sleek fitness outfits for sportswear maker Adidas in London, the British designer rolled out a selection of romantic, ruffled floor-length dresses for her own line in the French capital.
"It was very sexy, very feminine," Paul McCartney said before disappearing behind a wall of ferns, brakes and sedges at the end of the catwalk to congratulate his daughter backstage. "She's the best!" he said.
McCartney, a strict vegetarian who does not use fur in her collections, said the vertical wall reflected her love of English country gardens.
The 36-year-old, pregnant with her third child, said she would donate the wall to a non-profit organization promoting urban ecology afterwards.
"You invest so much money in these shows. It would be a shame to throw it all away afterwards," she said backstage.
McCartney's ready-to-wear collection picked up on the nature theme, with some models walking out in long, floating dresses covered with flowery prints, and others presenting transparent, silky shirt dresses in shades of ivory or light blue.
McCartney's ex-Beatle dad took pictures from the front row as models in silky all-in-ones strutted over the catwalk.
PARIS GIRLS, LONDON GIRLS
McCartney's romantic outfits for next spring and summer struck a contrast with the tailored golfing shorts and the flirty tennis skirts she presented for Adidas in London.
Singer Lily Allen said she was a big fan of both McCartney collections, adding both London and Paris had their own defining style. The difference?
"London girls just got it," Allen told Reuters before the show, laughing. "(Paris girls) maybe less so," she joked.
Fashion label Celine, owned by LVMH, has been closely associated with the French capital, with Paris landmarks often featuring in its campaigns or as backdrops to catwalk shows.
On Thursday, Croatian designer Ivana Omazic, who was appointed at Celine in 2005, brought out models in brightly shimmering pink dresses and corset-style tops. One girl walked out in a dress held up by a sparkling metal choker.
"I used some materials and colors typically used in French couture, but linked them to more sporty shapes. So I was playing around with some cliches on French couture," Omazic said.
London fashion week, held two weeks before the Paris shows, had a special buzz this year with McCartney, Matthew Williamson and Luella, three of Britain's best known designers, returning from New York and Paris to stage one-off shows.
But Didier Grumbach, the head of France's fashion federation, said he was not worried about Paris losing its edge.
"Here in Paris, people have never presented second lines," he told Reuters. "If you have a second line, you have to present it in London or Milan. Paris is for first lines."
Spring fashions blossom on Paris runways
By JOELLE DIDERICH, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 4, 6:10 PM ETPARIS - In the new world of fashion marketing, it's all about flooding the zone.
Brands like Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent, which showed their latest ready-to-wear collections in Paris on Thursday, have understood that glossy magazine advertisements are no longer the most effective way of reaching their audience.
They are using methods like street pamphleteering, Web sites and linkups with other firms to trumpet their presence.
McCartney has inked deals with Adidas for sportswear, LeSportsac for bags and Bendon for lingerie, as well as creating limited editions for high street retailers H&M and Target in Australia.
"Without visibility today, a luxury brand is not a luxury brand," said Cedric Charbit, general merchandise manager of women's fashion at the French department store chain Printemps.
"So I think it's pretty smart, and it speaks to Stella McCartney's audience, which rejects the current codes of the luxury sector because they are too ostentatious and too obvious," he added.
The British designer's spring-summer collection featured floaty floral dresses and paisley-patterned all-in-ones with a '70s feel. Models emerged in front of a wall of green plants wearing billowing silk separates in gentle tones of sky blue and dusty beige.
McCartney used techniques like block-printing and quilting to give her outfits a hippie-luxe feel. But her training on Savile Row, the London hub of made-to-measure men's suits, was also evident in a cream single-breasted tuxedo suit.
Her pragmatic approach to dressing is beginning to pay off. Figures released this week showed her label posted its first profit in 2006, a year before the deadline imposed by its parent, Gucci Group.
The results show it is possible to succeed at the top-tier luxury level without using leather or fur, providing you are a little creative. McCartney is a vegetarian and recently staged an online animal rights protest in the Internet-based virtual world Second Life.
Yves Saint Laurent is also busy online. The company this week unveiled a revamped Web site — http://www.ysl.com — with an online store for U.S. shoppers and special features like short films.
Meanwhile, its creative director Stefano Pilati has launched Manifesto, a pamphlet-style advertising supplement handed out on the streets of New York, Paris, London and Milan last month.
"I initiated the Manifesto campaign because I wanted to speak more directly to people. The advertising campaign is not enough," Pilati told British daily The Times in a recent interview.
"Magazines publish only the handbag adverts, because that is where the money is, but what about my designs?"
Though the brand derives much of its income from "It" bags like the Muse and Downtown, they were conspicuously absent from the catwalk on Thursday, putting the focus on the impeccable lines of masculine tailored jackets.
These came with or without sleeves in traditional English wool and were paired with boxy trousers cuffed just above the ankle. With its sober palette of navy, white, gray and beige, it was hard to picture this as a summer collection.
A stunning one-shouldered evening gown in rippling jewel pink silk made for a welcome splash of color.
By contrast, Italian designer Giambattista Valli sent out dresses so bright, you had to wear shades. Models swept past in neon pink swimsuits and fluorescent yellow gowns that included a sleeveless number covered in tiny ostrich feathers.
Though Valli launched his line only two years ago, he has made his mark by dressing starlets like Mischa Barton and Victoria Beckham for the red carpet. Sales in North America are growing by some 90 percent each season, according to industry paper Women's Wear Daily.
"You feel like a princess in his stuff, it's unbelievable," said actress Jennifer Morrison, of the hit U.S. TV show 'House.' "And it's incredibly comfortable, which is kind of an added bonus because that's not always the case."
Pink is fast shaping up as the key color for next spring.
Croatian designer Ivana Omazic sent out a fuchsia satin dress with a matching oversized clutch and strappy sandals in her collection for French label Celine.
Soft white jackets featured corset boning to add shape to the waist, while a twisted silver choker gave a wispy scarlet silk dress an unexpected edge.
10.03.2007
Paris fashionistas fret over strong euro
By Anna Willard Wed Oct 3, 9:38 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Jeannie Lee is a fashion buyer for an exclusive U.S. store and is in Paris this week wondering whether her American customers will pay for European designs made expensive by the strong euro.
"As an American buyer in Paris, some things just don't make sense commercially any more because the exchange rate is so high," said Lee, who works for top Los Angeles store Satine.
She is in the French capital to spot the latest trends and to stock up on clothes to sell next summer, but she is wary.
"We have to be careful ... For example, yesterday we saw this really cute line of underwear that was retailing at $250. Cotton underwear. It just doesn't work by the time you've brought the exchange rate in."
Comments like hers are worrying European designers.
In the last year, the euro has risen around 10 percent against both the dollar and yen, climbing to fresh highs over recent weeks and putting some European luxury goods out of reach for all-important American and Asian shoppers.
The European currency has also strengthened against Britain's pound, which industry experts say has made British buyers think twice about splashing out on European goods.
"It is certainly a problem," said Didier Grumbach, head of the French fashion federation.
"We have fewer problems in Europe because of the single currency but it certainly is (a problem) for the U.S. and UK."
FRENCH HANDBAGS
Luxury goods accounted for 20 billion euros ($28.34 billion) of French exports last year so it is no surprise the government is also worried.
Politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy have warned repeatedly about the danger to France's economy from the strong euro and pressed the European Central Bank for lower interest rates to hold back its rise.
Complaints have also come from French companies of all shapes and sizes.
"The situation is abnormal," Bernard Arnault, told Reuters at a fashion show for Christian Dior, which he owns. "We would of course prefer if it (the euro) were weaker."
Arnault's company represents the very top end of the luxury goods market catering to the richest clients who will stay faithful to a handbag or a pair of shoes even if it becomes more expensive. This gives his company the freedom to raise prices if necessary, as it did twice in Japan in 2006.
Slightly lower down the designer food chain is where the real problems lie.
"Unfortunately, what is suffering is not so much the (traditional) luxury lines, but more the contemporary lines," said Lee.
Grumbach said clothes and accessories targeting a younger audience are also having a hard time.
"When a product is very expensive and has always been expensive often 10 percent more doesn't make any difference. But for the medium range product or those targeted at young people, it's a problem," he said
PARIS (Reuters) - Jeannie Lee is a fashion buyer for an exclusive U.S. store and is in Paris this week wondering whether her American customers will pay for European designs made expensive by the strong euro.
"As an American buyer in Paris, some things just don't make sense commercially any more because the exchange rate is so high," said Lee, who works for top Los Angeles store Satine.
She is in the French capital to spot the latest trends and to stock up on clothes to sell next summer, but she is wary.
"We have to be careful ... For example, yesterday we saw this really cute line of underwear that was retailing at $250. Cotton underwear. It just doesn't work by the time you've brought the exchange rate in."
Comments like hers are worrying European designers.
In the last year, the euro has risen around 10 percent against both the dollar and yen, climbing to fresh highs over recent weeks and putting some European luxury goods out of reach for all-important American and Asian shoppers.
The European currency has also strengthened against Britain's pound, which industry experts say has made British buyers think twice about splashing out on European goods.
"It is certainly a problem," said Didier Grumbach, head of the French fashion federation.
"We have fewer problems in Europe because of the single currency but it certainly is (a problem) for the U.S. and UK."
FRENCH HANDBAGS
Luxury goods accounted for 20 billion euros ($28.34 billion) of French exports last year so it is no surprise the government is also worried.
Politicians, including President Nicolas Sarkozy have warned repeatedly about the danger to France's economy from the strong euro and pressed the European Central Bank for lower interest rates to hold back its rise.
Complaints have also come from French companies of all shapes and sizes.
"The situation is abnormal," Bernard Arnault, told Reuters at a fashion show for Christian Dior, which he owns. "We would of course prefer if it (the euro) were weaker."
Arnault's company represents the very top end of the luxury goods market catering to the richest clients who will stay faithful to a handbag or a pair of shoes even if it becomes more expensive. This gives his company the freedom to raise prices if necessary, as it did twice in Japan in 2006.
Slightly lower down the designer food chain is where the real problems lie.
"Unfortunately, what is suffering is not so much the (traditional) luxury lines, but more the contemporary lines," said Lee.
Grumbach said clothes and accessories targeting a younger audience are also having a hard time.
"When a product is very expensive and has always been expensive often 10 percent more doesn't make any difference. But for the medium range product or those targeted at young people, it's a problem," he said
Valentino leaves ready-to-wear in red carpet style
By Anna Willard Wed Oct 3, 1:29 PM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Designer to the stars, Italy's Valentino unveiled glamorous gowns fit for any young starlet on Wednesday in his last ready-to-wear show before retiring after 45 years in fashion.
Party music accompanied the show, with the models dancing at the end and guests rising for the obligatory standing ovation.
One of the undisputed kings of fashion, Valentino will retire in January after a final haute couture show and hand the reins to relatively unknown designer Alessandra Facchinetti.
"This is the one before the last and I want to do my best, and why not?" the 75-year-old Valentino asked.
"I am full of joy and a little emotional of course, and I am very strong because as I told you ... I leave the room, but the room is still full."
His departure follows the sale of his Valentino Fashion Group to the European private equity group Permira, which industry insiders have said want a younger, more innovative designer to help it expand to new markets.
Anna Piaggi of Italian Vogue thought it was time for a change, saying Valentino needed some new ideas.
"It's boring," she said after the show. "It's not good, it's not modern. Why do we constantly say it's beautiful? Why?"
IRREPLACEABLE
Valentino's signature scarlet evening gowns have long made him a hit for red carpet events, where he has dressed famous names like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts. His conservative style still attracts many fans.
"It's very definitely the end of an era. Valentino is irreplaceable," said Hilary Alexander, fashion director at Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"He understands his customers, he has a respect for women and a lifelong appreciation of beauty."
Valentino is widely ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld as the last of the great designers from an era before fashion became a global, highly commercial industry run as much by accountants and marketing executives as the couturiers.
"We were a bit disappointed. We thought he might carry on a bit longer," said Ken Downing, fashion director at upmarket U.S. store Neiman Marcus.
Lagerfeld said he also regretted his competitor's departure.
"I'm not very happy," he said after his own show. "He's on top form, he should continue."
Lagerfeld, whose name is now owned by a private equity company Apax Partners, presented a youthful collection for his own label, which took inspiration from the 1980s. Models paraded on a rainbow-striped runway in short ruffled skirts or trousers of black see-through tulle.
Lagerfeld, who also designs for Chanel, edits books and who is approaching 70, said he had no intention of slowing down.
"The number of contracts I have, I'm like a man with a death sentence," he said.
Christian Lacroix, another firm fixture on the Paris fashion scene whose label was sold in 2005 to a privately held U.S. investment company, used headwear to give his collection an extravagant theme.
Hand-painted silk caftans, cutaway swimsuits or floaty dresses were teamed with printed scarves wound around the neck and piled up on top of the head.
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