Boutiques take to the Web

By Elisa Anniss

LONDON: For a growing band of Europe's top fashion boutiques like Maria Luisa and Biondini in Paris, Feathers in London and Paleari in Milan, e-commerce is no longer a great logistical nightmare thanks to farfetch.com, a portal and Internet service company in London.

"We wouldn't have been able to do e-tailing on our own," said Robin Schulié, a buyer for Maria Luisa, one of the first shops to join the site when it debuted in October. "It would have meant at least a couple more people to work on it, a very strong organization, and it is an investment that at the moment would have been impossible. José came at the right moment when we needed to change and open ourselves to the Web."

Created by José Neves, 34, a fashion entrepreneur who also founded the b store in London, the site touts "10 cities, 20 fashion boutiques, 200 designers, 1 Web site."

Farfetch.com, which boasts 400,000 visitors a month, divides designers into three categories: Luxe (including the likes of Christopher Kane and Maison Martin Margiela); Lab (Ann-Sofie Back, Peter Jensen); and Cult (April 77, Cheap Monday).

Neves said he planned to limit the number of boutique members, although the list soon will add Milletre in London and Dolci Trame in Siena.

And he now is in talks with the U.S.-based site revolveclothing.com about creating a version of farfetch for about 20 U.S independent retailers.

Farfetch.com takes a percentage of sales from its boutique members, negotiating fees with each one. Neves said the company hasn't been operating long enough to disclose its revenues, but he noted it now has 35 employees.

In addition to the farfetch site, the company also operates members' stand-alone Web sites, including photography and content, and arranges group discounts on shipping costs.

"Our unique advantage is that from payment handling to stock management, we have proprietary software applications and logistics solutions, which cover all areas of e-commerce, leaving the retailer free to concentrate on their own business but still compete in the online arena," Neves said.

"At first we were just a business card, a face and an idea. So people were naturally suspicious," he added. "Eventually we managed to gather the support of a fantastic group of retailers, which made it all happen."

Neves noted that not only are e-sales expensive for a company acting alone, there are certain things that can only be done if there is a certain critical mass - all factors that make such a cooperative type of operation appealing to independent retailers.

"I think it's a great concept that is genuinely different," said Guy Salter, deputy chairman of the nonprofit luxury organization Walpole, in London. Salter said he would describe the farfetch.com concept as that of an "amalgamator."

Missoni & Ballantyne

Missoni Fall 2009, Photo by Giovanni Giannoni
By Suzy Menkes

MILAN: With soft shades of peach, apricot or powder pink, touched with blue, there was something sweetly appealing about Angela Missoni's exploration of the family heritage: knitting.

The snoods that draped like a nun's wimple around the face, the layer-on-layer of comfort clothing and the ultra-long scarves, their fringed ends sweeping the floor, made perfect outfits for global freezing.

There even seemed something Antarctic in those colors, suggesting streaks of sunset over the glacial ice. But Missoni's warm-up of fashionable knits was unmistakable. The point of the show was the weaving techniques that were projected on the backdrop. Geometric patterns on the woolly leg warmers, less abstract florals on dresses and tweedy mini-coats were faced off with plain surfaces, where texture was the message. Even the mule shoes had a nubby brocade finish.

Being a family company, there is yet another generation of Missonis to inspire and to make sure that a glitter of Lurex worked into mini dresses could take the clothes from an adult comfort zone to the party scene. Angela Missoni said backstage that her daughter Teresa had been the source of the draped headwear while Teresa's sister Margherita sat front row in a sophisticated version of the pink-tinged layers.

Ballantyne Fall 2009, Photo by Giovanni Giannoni

Ballantyne also went back to its roots, focusing on knitting rather than developing an all-embracing clothing line. But in an unexpected marriage of two cultures, the company's Scottish heritage and its distinctive diamond pattern was linked to 1920s artistic streamlining.

"Working with shapes and colors like a futurist artist," said the designer Dawidh di Firmo to explain the way that graphics lines were woven into geometric shapes.

Nature was the counterpoint to geometry, with butterflies and water lily petals worked in Ballantyne's exceptional intarsia techniques. But colors throughout were strong: purples brighter than in any Scottish hillside heather and dashes of orange and blue for a more urban take on the collection.

Suzy Menkes is fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune.

Hussein Chalayan Retrospective in London

London's 'cool girl' starts growing up

Runway looks from the collections of, from left, Aquascutum, Luella and Twenty8Twelve (Chris Moore/ Karl Prouse)

By Suzy Menkes

LONDON: Sienna Miller, shaking her honey-blond hair over a cardigan that just about covered the rear of her black hose, had no doubt about who would wear the clothes she and her sister Savannah designed.

"She's a cool London girl," said the 27-year-old actress, talking about the Twenty8Twelve line shown as part of the current London fashion week.

The perpetual focus on an ever-renewing young generation seems to be the mark of British fashion: always the hip chick, never the adult. But there are signs in this London autumn 2009 season that the role model is growing up.

As "vintage" models Yasmin le Bon and Susie Bick walked gracefully down Aquascutum's runway, the models, as well as the well-thought-out clothes, gave British fashion a reality check. It also offered the house check, used for the first time by the designer Michael Hertz, who showed a slim dress covered with the graphic pattern as well as tapered pants, worn with a fresh white blouse and classy, but not heavy, outerwear. A lightweight rain cover that slipped over a top coat was a practical and stylish look.

It has taken Kim Winser, the company's chief executive, a few seasons to turn around this heritage house. But now it seems to have reached the right blend of inventive and classic. Inserts of thick lace and a rag rug of a coat pieced together emphasized the tactile effects of imaginative fabrics, while big sleeves tapped into a current trend. And in a wise move by the designer, doing his first solo collection, houndstooth and plaid checks accompanied Aquascutum's own pattern, which came in just the right dose.

With girlish glee, Peaches Geldof grabbed the arm of her dad, Bob, as a bubble of a gilded skirt walked the runway at the Luella show. It seemed destined for her or the members of the Girls Alive band down in the front row - or for any of the hard-partying teen generation looking for a little (very little) something to wear.

Last season, Luella Bartley captured the flower garden spirit of Old England. But the show Monday went punk, from the soundtrack to metal hardware to hair that favored spikes, bunches and shocking pink. This 1980s revisit did not hide the designer's skills as a tailor with a lively, youthful touch. Her khaki or uniform gray jackets, decorated with hooks and eyes or with the garter-belt clips that seem to be all the rage, made for good strong looks for young London.

Danielle Scutt is a rock 'n' roll designer who had in the front row the peripatetic fashion observer Kanye West. If he had blinked he might have missed this tiny 14-piece collection, which Scutt called "focused." That focus was, inevitably this season, on a 1980s silhouette, with dramatic flame-red wings on the lapels of a sharp suit. Wildly colored patterns on dresses or on a bodysuit offered another look for this warrior woman, who strutted her stuff, flesh on view through cracks in a silver-sheen dress.

Julien Macdonald is on the young-and-showy register. And this season he turned to sexy 1980s clothes with bravura. There was a whisper of Balmain, where the designer Christophe Decarnin's ectoplasm has spread through the international season. But Macdonald has been doing upbeat sexiness since the start. He may have dosed this collection with sharp shoulders and what the model Stella Tennant called "1980s attitude," but he also included the spidery knits that jump-started his career.

The collection had all those details that are London trends: exposed zippers, big sleeves and brief skirts. There were also icicles of embroidery, great gobs of mirror and crystal that gave an even harder edge to the silhouette - but that seemed fun.

There was another, but romantic, take on the 1980s from Roksanda Ilincic, whose big shoulders were as soft and rounded as Mickey Mouse ears - and fierce only when crystals embellished the shoulders of a pantsuit or bold gilded metal circled the neck. An insertion of masculinity was a step forward in Ilincic's sweet-as-sugar world. There were still ultra-feminine dresses that were whorled into a giant flower, vast bows at chest and waist and lacy black bodysuits under liquid panne velvet. Yet the clothes look increasingly polished.

Jasper Conran has always been on the side of women, but there was a new thrust with the Carmecitas, who gave an erotic and exotic edge to Monday's collection. Conran's firm tailoring was there, slender black suits given a touch of Spanish grandeur. But dresses, lacy, full-skirted or in a semi-sheer fabric, the better to see the garter belts, won the day - and the night, where a network of grosgrain and velvet ribbons gave a sensual glamour.

Article continues at iht.com

Talking Art and Fashion with Ray Chang: Links a la Mode

Watercolor by Ray Chang

Ray Chang is Art Director at Oscar de la Renta. His blog fancygreysuit, serves as an outlet for his artistic talent and philosophical musings. Style Gourmand spoke with him about his thoughts on art, fashion and life.

I always think of fashion as a fine balance between art and business, one can't survive very long in the fashion without mastering both: As an art-minded person do you see think art still exists in fashion, or is it just strictly business?

I think that it’s more of trying to inject a little bit of art into business. But it’s mainly business. In these times, who can afford not to think that way? You’ll always have brands who push the boundaries of ‘commerce’ like Comme des Garcons, which is refreshing.

Have you always had an interest in fashion or is it just an occupational hazard?

I’ve always had an interest in the pictures, much less on the clothes. My favorite book of Marilyn photographs by Bert Stern, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, those pictures really invoked something within me. That’s why I got into art direction, not fashion design (which I’d probably be terrible at anyway). The fashion industry to me is just a form in which I can tell stories.

How did you get into the fashion industry?

I got into the fashion industry by happenstance. My first job out of art school was to work on the Dockers account in San Francisco. I was hired by this really talented art director named Robert Lussier who now works in Paris on Dior. After that, we both went to New York, and I’ve had the pleasure on working on brands such as Gap, John Varvatos, Henri Bendel, Levi’s, Ann Taylor, K-Swiss and now, Oscar de la Renta.

What was the biggest difference you noticed in dress when you moved to nyc from the west coast?

More coats. You have to be a little more buttoned up here in New York. People won’t take you seriously otherwise. When I go back to LA though, it’s back to the white t shirt, shorts and a clean white pair of Vans.

Even though you didn't intend to have a career in fashion, you definitely have a distinct sense of personal style- how would you describe it?

Do I? (laughing). As I’ve gotten older (age withheld), it’s easier just to wear the basics. There are some pieces, or looks that have withstood the test of time, and everyone looks good in them. Simple. Except my socks. I like colored socks.

What's so great about American fashion?

American fashion is great because, like America, it’s so diverse. You have people of all cultures, and even things that are inherently American, have roots in England. Because of this, our fashion has no boundaries.

Tell me about fancygreysuit, especially the significance of the name to you.

fancygreysuit is a site where I put up all the random thoughts in my head and my drawings. They’re quick visual journals into things I’m thinking about, love, or comments on the world. I like things that look a bit innocent, where they’re seen with a bit of wonder, but hopefully, have a little bit of depth to them. When you’re young, you always have that one thing that you wish you had, whether it be a suit, or for a woman, a beautiful dress. And when you put it on, you’re more alive somehow.. And everyone should have a fancy grey suit. I’m still looking for mine.

Do you think all the constant buzz about what Michelle Obama will make people more aware of how they look and maybe have a positive impact on how women in America dress?

I think it will be not so much about her per se, but them together. You have a magical first couple that brings us back to the days of Camelot. And that has an aspirational effect on how we not only perceive them and America, but ourselves.

Complete the sentence: everyone looks good in _somebody’s arms.

Who would be your celebrity muse?

Marcello Mastroianni.

Since you started your career outside the fashion industry, do you still consider yourself a fashion outsider or are you now an insider?

Always on the outside looking in, but happy that it is the way it is. Don’t get too close to the fire!

- Style Gourmand

Oscar de la Renta Fall 2009

Not the Final Curtain for New York Fashion

"People are questioning 'Will fashion continue?' I mean, that's a pretty desperate question. That's like people sitting around museums asking 'Will people ever paint again?'"

- Fashion show producer Kelly Cutrone, Fashion Week Collides With Tattered Economy by Kaomi Goetz for NPR

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