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Shoes. Really, expensive now. Why? Because you're still buying them! (LA Times)
Patrick Cox is selling his London house. Pictures galore. (Times online)
What fashion company is doing really, really well? Li & Fung, the giant sourcing powerhouse. It plans to grow profits, yes profits, by $1 billion in the next three years.(WWD)
Wanna be a luxury goods exec? Now Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois is offering a course. Or you could study at the ESSEC in France. Personally, I'd say go to France. That's where the luxury good companies are, after all. (business of fashion)
.Worried about where to buy Halston now that it is sold out at Net-a-Porter? Head to Selfridge's. Added tidbit: They signed the exclusive before the show. (Catwalk Queen).
Fantastic Man profiles Tom Ford. He's going to have children! He's going to have 50 stores in two years! He thinks Parisian men can't dress! Anything else you want to know about Tom? Didn't think so. (NYMag)
H&M first quarter sales and profits up. See? Recession can be good for business. (WWD)
But not the magazine business. The WSJ thinks we'll see a weeding out of magazines for the ultra-rich. Thank god, because most of them are ultra-boring. Including the FT's latest -- Wealth -- launching today. Whoops, way to miss a trend. (WSJ)
.Carla Bruni Sarkozy came to London, and wore only Christian Dior and only flats. Even to the black-tie dinner. (First Post)
Not just a pretty face, the lingerie entrepreneur Elle Macpherson signs with Revlon. (WWD)
Lord & Taylor is bringing back the rose. In yellow and orange. (WWD)
You know that little joke about George Clooney launching a clothing line and then not launching a clothing line? Well, he's not, but someone is and he doesn't find it funny. Not funny at all.(WWD)
Thought you'd seen the end of the celebrity clothing lines? No, neither did I. (WWD)
.Frederic Fekkai sells out! The entire company is now owned by Procter & Gamble. (WWD)
What's the upside of the credit crunch? Luxury groups may be back in the M&A game. PVH says its first priority is to buy Calvin Klein a luxury sibling. (WWD)
She's here! She's here! French President Nicolas Sarkozy comes to London today with his wife, Carla Bruni, and his mom. The tabloids have greeted her by running the naked photo that is going to be in the next Christie's auction. Welcome to the UK, baby. (Vogue.com)
Stella McCartney is going to open six, yes SIX, stores in India over the next two years. And she's already got a new cause to help celebrate: saving the Bengali tigers. (Vogue.com)
Marchesa, the label designed by Harvey Weinstein's wife, is to launch a bridal collection next month. (Vogue.com)
.There goes the neighborhood. H&M is coming to Camden. With (hello, Felix!) a new shop format aimed at 15 to 25 year olds. (Retail Week)
The U.K.'s first Banana Republic opened on Regent Street over the holiday weekend. So far, so good. And the goods only about 1/3 more expensive than they are in the U.S. (Retail Week)
The new cover of American Vogue has pissed off African-American bloggers. Why? Well, they photographed basketball superhero LeBron James and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen together and it kinda looks like he's King Kong and she's trying to flee his grip. I'm more annoyed that the fashion mag didn't bother to dress him properly. Do we really need another man in shorts on our newsstands? (First Post)
Tiffany's sparkling fourth quarter put a shine on all luxury and retail stocks. (WWD)
Aqua di Parma expands from fragrance into skincare. And it only took them 92 years to decide to go for it. (WWD)
.Dandies of the world beware. Artist Sebastian Horsely was coming to the U.S. to promote his new book, Dandies of the Underworld, but refused entry to the U.S. on the grounds of 'moral turpitude'. He was wearing his top hat -- naturally, because it is not so easy to pack a top hat -- and they asked him what he had in it. He replied, "my head." (Times Online)
The BBC is making a film about Simon Doonan's life that is produced by Jon Plowman, who produced The Office and Absolutely Fabulous. It is just too good to be true. (NYP)
Retailers saw little on the catwalks to drive consumers to the stores this fall. You heard it here first. (WWD)
Layoffs on Wall Street may affect luxury sales. No kidding! (WWD)
There's a new hot party in London being launched by Boombox regular, designer and best friend of Agyness, Henry Holland. Best news of all? It is at Movida in Mayfair! (press release)
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Cassandra had come by to pick me up and I had promptly re-dressed her in all of my clothes. That's her in my Issa dress above. Monica works for the LA Times (who co-sponsored the party) and although she says she writes about culture, some of the topics she covers overlaps with mine, so frequent readers of Fashion Inc. may want to bookmark her blog to fill the forthcoming void in their online reading material.
The party at the Mayor's house was more along the lines I had been expecting. Like, for one thing, there was food.
There was also the most beautiful DJ stand I have ever seen.
And there were also people I knew like Julie Gilhart from Barney's and Booth Moore from the LA Times, both of whom had been on the show circuit with me and were looking slightly stunned.
The party was in aid of Earth Pledge's Future Fashion and featured some stunning clothes designed in eco-friendly fabrics by designers like Trina Turk and Bahar Shahpar. (Again, photos when they are released.)
We managed to get Cassandra in for a photo-op. Apparently there's no point in attending a party in LA unless you have a photo taken by the big agencies. She also was asked to do a TV interview for a channel in India. ("They love me in India," she said. "I have no idea why.")
Afterwards it all got silly again. I'd tried to get us tickets to a party for Chris Benz at Brett Ratner's house but it was too late. Cassandra was in charge. Dressed in a skirt I bought in Paris, Cassandra took me to the after-party of a show we didn't attend (I can't even remember the name), where met a friendly rapper named Sha.
Then we went to the Monarchy after-party and met the designer Eric Kim. I also saw the nice girl who had her goody bag stolen at the show. (I then stole one from the glamazon's friend and gave it to her on the way out.) I can't remember her name, but I remember her job. She did marketing analytics for Sony. I said, "that sounds like a job which requires Excel." She said, "I love Excel!," in a way that sounded like she really meant it.
That's it for LA. And I'm off the rest of the week working on my book. I'll be taking special requests when I'm back so if you have any topics you'd like me to cover or any questions you have, post them in the comments or email me at: LGoldsteinCrowe@gmail.com.
Ungaro and Avon team up for new fragrance for both men and women. (WWD)
Estee Lauder makes a dramatic move with its next fragrance, Sensuous. They're moving away from floral into what WWD calls a "a new olfactive turf " with a woody amber scent. Shocking, I know. (WWD)
Dominique Deroche, the PR for Yves Saint Laurent, the man, and his partner, Pierre Berge, is retiring. She joined YSL in 1966 and recently worked on the PR for the Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. (WWD)
Pierre Cardin has signed another license. But wait, this one is interesting. Paul and Joe are going to reproduce 10 of his vintage dresses each season for the next three years. How come no one thought of that before? (WWD)
Agyness Deyn is still suffering from the eye infection that led to such creative hair and eye-patch designs this season. Jesus, what could it have been? (Vogue.com)
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She invited to attend some of the fashion shows with her. While I certainly feel I've seen more than enough fashion shows in the last two months, my curiosity got the better of me. What would it be like to be front row with a hot starlet about to go huge? Cassandra stars in two films out later this year -- Hell Ride, directed by Larry Bishop and has Quentin Tarantino as the executive producer and Surfer Dude, with Matthew McConaughey ...
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DKNY is getting into the celebrity fashion line by partnering with actress Rachel Bilson on a line to be called Edie Rose for DKNY Jeans. Apparently there are just tons of synergies between Donna Karan New York and the Orange County T.V. show. (WWD)
Guess goes green! Kinda, sorta. They're launching a capsule collection of mostly organic cotton clothing, except for those bits that contain Lycra. (WWD)
Paul Charron, former C.E.O. of Liz Claiborne is getting into the private equity game. You know, better late than never. (WWD)
Asian flu rears its ugly head again. Three children have died in Hong Kong. But, more importantly, which luxury goods group stands to suffer the most? Richemont. (Analyst's note, no link)
Lauren Goldstein Crowe is leaving Portfolio.com at the end of the month. (And I will also be on a pre-arranged break next week.) Hark, is that the sound of champagne corks popping at the Gawker Media offices I hear? Fan mail, hate mail, junk mail and resumes can be sent to LGoldsteinCrowe@gmail.com for forwarding to the appropriate outlet. (WWD)
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