Before I start this post, I just want to say that I am devastated about the death of Lee Alexander McQueen. I have decided to wait a few days to write a post about it, as I’d like to hear a bit more about the circumstances and the reactions, before I write.  I’ll post something in the next week or so. R.I.P. Lee Alexander McQueen.

It is hard now to go on and talk about fun fashion things, but I feel I am long overdue for a post about the Sonia Rykiel collections for H&M. I never wrote anything about the lingerie (I had a draft written for ages, and then it was too late,) so I definitely need to comment on that, and the knitwear coming out next week.

This body suit is pretty cool.

Not exactly a t-shirt bra, but very cute.

One of my students asked me if I was going to buy anything from the upcoming collection, and, unless I get the opportunity to do so with the least amount of effort, the answer is no. It is not because I don’t like the collection, on the contrary, it looks great but I have a lot of the real thing, so I don’t intend on buying the cheaper version.

But it looks pretty cool!

I had a look in my closet to see if I could show you all some of my fantastic Sonia Rykiel collection, and I realised that my collection consists of bags, shoes, and jewelry, I barely have any clothing at all. My Sonia Rykiel shoe collection is PHENOMENAL, with a lot of pieces that were never commercialised or that were produced in very limited quantities. My bags are mighty cool too. And the costume jewelry is fantastic. There is way too much of it to photograph tonight, so here are a few good bits.

Rhinestones, or "strass" as its called in French, are one of the key elements in all of Sonia Rykiel's collections.

My time at Sonia Rykiel was amazing, and I know I was fortunate to have worked with one of the fashion greats. She is a pretty amazing woman, and she was very invovled in all of the collections, which was rare because she was in her early seventies at the time. I can’t possibly describe the entire experience in one, or several, blog posts, but here are a few short stories that might make you smile.

My beautiful ribbon sandals.

One day Sonia took the design team to lunch at the Cafe Flore, which was across the street from the flagship store and the offices. She is known for being a bit of a swinger, and let’s just say, her love life certainly hadn’t caught up to her age. We were sitting upstairs, and a man came over to the table, which was filled with young fashion designers, good looking gays and girls, eating lunch, and right away he started chatting up Sonia. She didn’t even seem surprised. I was pretty impressed, and hope that I will still be receiving fancy pick up lines when I am 70.

These don't look like much, but the trim is real fur. And I love real fur.

If you work for Sonia Rykiel, and your name is Sonia or Nathalie, you need to adopt a new name while you are working in the company. They don’t want anyone to have the same name as the founder or her daughter. The even weirder thing was that our studio director was named Antoinette, but Sonia hated that name, so she was referred to as Louise while she worked there. Louise wasn’t her middle name or anything, it was a name assigned to her, because Sonia “liked” it.

Sonia Rykiel was not the most generous of brands when it came to giving freebies, particularly to the models. We always told the dressers to make sure that the models didn’t steal the clothing. At one show, I was helping someone dress Alek Wek, and she said she loved the shoes (I think those were the ribbon sandals shown above.) One of the senior designers said to me, “Give her the shoes! Give her the shoes!” We gave her the shoes, and what happened? A few weeks later she is photographed wearing them out, and of course they become one of the “shoes of the season.”

Yes, these ankle boots are amazing...

but even more amazing when you fold down the top and expose the pink lining. Notice the "strass" all down the side.

My favourite one-on-one Sonia Rykiel moment was when she called me in to help her tidy up the studio. I had just started there, so I felt pretty intimidated by her. Our fur supplier had dropped off some colour samples and they needed to be tidied. Now, this didn’t mean they dropped off a few bits of dyed fur, this meant we had about thirty top grade fox skins, dyed in the most beautiful colours (which, once lined with satin, sold as scarves for about $2,000 each.) She was shoving them into garage bags, and asked me to help her with it. She said they were in the way. Here I was, 20 years old, a little Vancouver girl, shoving $40,000 dollars worth of fox skins into a garbage bag with one of the most famous French fashion designers. Welcome to Paris.

My "Glam Star" strass pins.

All Sonia Rykiel for H&M images courtesy of H&M.

Clueless was on TV this weekend (actually, its been on TV quite a lot lately.) Sometimes people give me a funny face when they ask me about my favorite film, and I say Clueless. (I’m too embarrassed to say Lord of the Rings. But really, its a tie between the two.) Since I know all the words to the movie, and can recite Cher’s speeches by heart, when I see the film now, I tend to focus on the outfits. The outfits are simply amazing, and, its been long enough now that they are actually back in fashion. Here’s a couple of great outfits from the movie, and some quotes. I know most of these off by heart, but I also found this very handy website of great Clueless quotes.

I love Amber's outfits, she was definitely one of the best-dressed characters in the film.

Amber: “Was I the only one listening?I thought it reeked.”

Cher: “No I believe that’s your designer imposter perfume.”

I love Dionne's sweater with the oversized cuff and collars sticking out.

Josh: “Ooh, getting Marky Mark to take time out of his busy pants-dropping schedule to plant trees.”

The movie was filmed at the same high school as the original Beverly Hills 90210 was filmed.

Cher: “I’m surfing the crimson wave, I had to haul ass to the ladies.”

Mini skirts galore!

Dionne’s boyfriend, describing gays: “Disco-dancing, Oscar-Wilde reading, Streisand-ticket-holding, friend of Dorothy.”

I love that Dionne coordinates her hats to her outfits.

Heather: It’s just like Hamlet said, “To thine own self be true.”
Cher: Hamlet didn’t say that.
Heather: I think I remember Hamlet accurately.
Cher: Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn’t say that. That Polonius guy did.

The famous Alaia dress that got ruined when Cher was mugged. Thanks to Clueless I discovered Alaia.

Josh: You look like Pippi Longstocking.
Cher: Well you look like Forrest Gump. Who’s Pippi Longstocking?
Josh: Someone Mel Gibson never played.

I love the mini-skirts suits with tees and cardigans.

Cher: Do you prefer “fashion victim” or “ensembly challenged”?

The best-dressed gym class EVER.

Amber: Ms. Stoeger, my plastic surgeon doesn’t want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose.
Dionne: Well, there goes your social life.

Cher's "prim" look.

Dionne: Hello? There was a stop sign.
Cher: I totally paused.

I used to have a fluffy pen like that too. Inspired by Cher, of course.

Josh: You know maybe Marky Mark wants to use his popularity for a good cause, make a contribution. In case you’ve never heard of that, a contribution is…
Cher: Excuse me, but I have donated many expensive Italian outfits to Lucy, and as soon I get my license, I fully intend to brake for animals, and I have contributed many hours to helping two lonely teachers find romance.
Josh: Which I’ll bet serves your interests more than theirs. You know, If I ever saw you do anything that wasn’t ninety percent selfish, I’d die of shock.
Cher: Oh, that’d be reason enough for me.

Who wouldn't kill for her closet?

Cher: Let’s do a lap before we commit to a location.

If Clueless had been released in this day and age, the costume director or stylist would probably have become a celebrity too.

Today and tomorrow will have a lot of shoe porn, which is probably my favourite after tropical-holiday-villa porn. Tomorrow we are going to learn a bit about the inventor of the stiletto, but today, I want to talk about the most important shoe designer of the 20th century, Salvatore Ferragamo.

An amazing Ferragamo wedge shoe.

Here is a great biography of Ferragamo, from the Museo Ferragamo website, but I’ll give you a summary.

Salvatore Ferragamo apprenticed as a shoe maker in his home country of Italy, before moving to the US to join his brother, who was working in the footwear industry there. While he was “shoemaker to the stars”, he studied human anatomy, in order to fully understand the human foot and how to make the perfect shoe. After the depression he moved back to Italy and opend his own studio. There, he began to experiment with new materials, because economic sanctions agains Italy during Mussolini’s rule meant that some materials were scarce. That was when Ferragamo made shoes from cork, metal wire, raffia, wood, and synthetic resin. The Ferragamo company turned in a fashion empire, and he died in 1960, but his wife continues to run his company. Oh yeah, and the man was a total genius.

He invented the platform shoe.

This Ferragamo shoe has interchangeable socks so you can match your shoe to your outfit.

More amazing Ferragamo shoes. He was SO ahead of his time.

This brass cage heel sandal was made in 1955.

Ferragamo invented the "invisible" shoe, using clear plastic.

A 1930 patchwork shoe.

A 1967 raffia sandal.

So, the reason why we are talking about Ferragamo is because a few years ago they launched a range called Creations, which was a re-release on many of Ferragamo’s classic shoes. The collection was originally exclusive to the Florence flagship, and in Dover Street Market (London.) I am not a huge fan of Ferragamo, aside from the classic shoes, because I have a handbag from there that fell apart after six months, and the evil shop assistant tried to make me pay for a repair. I shouted at her that if I had wanted a bag that was going to fall apart after six months, I would have bought a fake. Thankfully there was someone in the store buying a very similar bag to my broken one, so the shop lady smartened up and fixed mine for free, before I made more of a fuss in front of potential customers.

Anyway, when I heard about the Creations collection a few years ago, I ran to Dover Street Market on the first day of the launch, hoping to find a very particular shoe, which unfortunately was not in the collection. But here are a few of the ones they had:

The America Sandal, with Ferragamo's patented F-Shaped heel, originally launched in 1947.

The Carmen sandal, originally made for Carmen Miranda.

The Norma shoe, created for Marilyn Monroe.

Patchwork wedge shoe, created in 1942.

I found out yesterday that the Creations collection is available in the Ferragamo store on Robson street for the Olympics. I took a chance and called them, to see if they had my “dream shoe” in stock. It was good news, and bad news. The good news was they had it. The bad news was it was $2700. The good news was, I didn’t have to drain my life savings, since they only had two pairs, and neither was in my size. The bad news was, they said they might be able to order it. This shoe is the ultimate shoe, designed for Judy Garland in 1938. 1938!!!!!!!!! Ferragamo was so ahead of his time. I would cry if I could own this shoe, but I am afraid to go in, in case they CAN get me a pair in my size, and then what? Can I spend $2700 on a pair of shoes? Maybe, for these ones. I’m dubbing them The Most Incredible Shoe. Here they are:

Made in 1938!!!!

I think I might pop into the store just to caress them. They are truly incredible.

All images from the Salvatore Ferragamo website and the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo website.

If you thought Alexander McQueen couldn’t get any better than the extravaganza Plato’s Atlantis show he put on for Spring Summer 2010, and THE shoes in that collection, then think again. Here is an image from the campaign for that collection, shot by Nick Knight with model Raquel Zimmermann.I hope Lady Gaga somehow emulates this scene in one of her next videos.

This is truly amazing.

Image from the Alexander McQueen website.

Sometimes I read news about the fashion industry that truly send shivers down my spine… and today was another one of these moments. I thought of waiting until later to hear if these rumors were denied, but then I thought it would give me the opportunity to discuss one of my favourite brands ever, and one of my least-favourite TV shows, which I want to feature anyway, so here I go.

Womens Wear Daily, and The Cut have both announced rumors that Sarah Jessica Parker may take on an advising role at Halston, similar to the role that Lindsey Lohan took at Ungaro. Now, considering the utter and complete failure that was the first collection by Lohan at Ungaro, wouldn’t brands hesitate about repeating this “celebrity” advisor concept? Plus, SJP at Halston???? She wears fluffy skirts, not fabulous, streamlined jersey dresses, she has big curly hair, not slicked-back buns, she wears girly, overdone shoes, not statement, strong accessories. She is so wrong for that brand.

A little background on Halston…

Roy Halston was a American designer who came to fame in the late fifties and early sixties, starting as a miliner and then becoming famous for his minimal, jersey dresses. Here are a few photos from one of my Halston books.

Halston, like Helmut Newton, are one of my first reference points for creative research when I am designing. I love his work.

He is known for dressing women like Jacqueline Kennedy, Bianca Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli. He was also a regular at the famous Studio 54 nightclub, and would be known to turn up with a gaggle of women looking fabulous and wearing Halston. These women were referred to as the Halstonettes, and he was one of the first designers to openly use the concept of a brand ambassador, which is now something used by many large fashion brands (Daslu, the famous luxury store in Sao Paolo uses Dasluzettes to promote their store, they are beautiful Brazilian women who go to all the good parties wearing Daslu clothing. If you want to read more about the best luxury store in Brazil, scroll down to the bottom of this article.)

Remember this famous Gucci dress by Tom Ford? Inspired by Halston. Image source.

Anyway, Halston was relaunched for the umpteenth time a few seasons ago, but this time with a “super team” behind it, that included the smarts of Tamara Mellon from Jimmy Choo, the cash from film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the, uhhh, ideas (?) of stylist Rachel Zoe. The collection did not do very well, neither did the second one, so they got rid of Rachel and the head designer, did one collection with their in-house design team, and hired Marios Schwab to come in as the new creative director. We are all awaiting Marios’ first Halston collection, to be presented in February, with feverish anticipation…He is an Austrian-Greek St Martins graduate young designer based in London that makes pretty beautiful dresses.

Halstons first relaunched collection that didn’t do so well…

Images from Style.com

Some of Marios Schwab’s designs:

Images from Style.com.

Now, why, when you have the fashion world at the edge of their seat anticipating the first Halston by Marios Schwab collection, would you then try and throw Sarah Jessica Parker into the mix? Why? It sounds ridiculous, she isn’t very Halston, she certainly isn’t very Marios Schwab, and she is not a fashion designer of any sort.

I am going to save my Sex and the City rant for another day, since they are releasing their next movie in the summer, and I am sure I will have a lot to say about that. I personally found the series a bit predictable, the characters were annoying, and I just wasn’t a fan (sorry…I know its about fashion and Manolos, but it just didn’t do it for me.) I did enjoy some of the conversations between the four women, and I think their outfits were worth checking out, but I find SJP to be pretty irritating. But I am not wasting energy saying mean things about her, its not worth it. She looks good for her age, wears some pretty interesting clothing, and his quite respectable, so good for her. But she isn’t worthy of Halston.

How can this

work with this.

Sarah Jessica Parker images source.

It can’t. Please god let this be a rumour that doesn’t come true, for Marios’ sake (it must feel pretty crap if you just got a new job, and before you even proved yourself, they hire someone to “help you”),  for Sarah’s sake (she is bound to make a fool of herself, and you need to be really tall, thin, and angular to pull off Halston jersey dresses) and for Halston’s sake. I have every confidence that Marios can do Halston, but its gonna be a lot of work, and he needs our support. But not  Sarah Jessica’s Parker’s help. She should stick to flouncy skirts and pretty colours and curly hair…

—- UPDATE —-

The rumors are true (according to WWD), SJP is taking on an “advisory” role for Halston Heritage. This is a very bad start to the day.

—- SECOND UPDATE —-

It seems to be confirmed that SJP will be involved in the Halston Heritage collection, which is the Halston diffusion line focused on re-launching some pieces form the Halston archives. She won’t have anything to do with the line  Marios is working on, but still. It is wrong.

Everyone seems to be getting excited about the upcoming Spring Summer 2010 advertising campaigns. I guess in fashion terms that is something to get excited about, however I rarely get worked up about an advertising campaign unless there is something amazing going on.

I have always been obsessed with these Versace campaigns shot by Steven Meisel. The models are Amber Valleta and Georgina Grenville, and it was for Autumn Winter 2000. I am also very excited that I found the entire series today on this Russian photography site, they are quite large versions, and I like to have a record of great fashion things like this.

This campaign was turned into a small exhibition, and there are a few reasons why it was so well received. The models, although young and beautiful, are styled to look old, which is very unusual in fashion. The way they sit, their hair, makeup, everything, makes them look much older than they are. Also, they are staring straight into the camera, which is a bit eerie. The Beverly Hills mansion where these photos were taken must have been a locations scout’s dream, it is so perfect for the clothing. Someone pointed out to me that in nearly all the photos the models were smoking cigarettes, which were then airbrushed out. Take a look, you can see their fingers are in the right position. If you spend a few seconds looking into each photo, you can appreciate how amazing theses shots are, they are a bit weird, but fabulous. This is definitely my favourite fashion advertising campaign ever.

Here are some of the Spring Summer 2010 campaigns, which will start to come out in the January magazines, and make a full appearance by March. I got all the images from Refinery 29, except the Dolce and Gabbana ones, which were published in Italian Vogue.

Here’s Lara Stone for Louis Vuitton. She is the model of the moment, and has just replaced Madonna, who starred in the campaigns last season. I am looking forward to seeing this in more detail.

Louis Vuitton Spring Summer 2010: Lara Stone shot by Steven Meisel

Everyone was surprised by this Akris campaign with Daphne Guinness. The heiress is known for her amazing, eclectic style and her haute couture collection, and she is loved by so many designers. It was a surprise that she chose to work with Akris, a little-known brand.

Akris Spring Summer 2010: Daphne Guinness shot by Steven Klein

This Gucci ad looks amazing and I want to be next to that swimming pool right now.

Gucci Spring Summer 2010: Natasha Poly and Ryan Kennedy shot by Mert & Marcus

Marc Jacobs’ campaigns, always shot by Juergen Teller, are often slightly unusual. He is the only designer whose campaign involves taking five $1500 handbags, throwing them in the dirt, and then putting Sofia Coppola next to them. So it is no surprise that his next campaign has a model with her foot in a toilet.

Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2010: Jamie Bouchert shot by Juergen Teller

The Lanvin campaign looks pretty cool, as does everything from the Lanvin label at the moment.

Lanvin Spring Summer 2010: Jamie Bouchert shot by Steven Meisel

I think this Dolce & Gabbana ad, featuring Madonna washing the dishes and doing other very “Italian Mamma” looking things, looks great. I am surprised how many times she can be reinvented.

Dolce & Gabbana Spring Summer 2010: Madonna shot by Steven Meisel

I have been meaning to comment on this for some time, but I have quite a big pile of blog drafts piling up, which I am hoping to clear by the end of the holidays.

So, Martin Margiela has left the house he founded. Maison Martin Margiela was founded in 1988, and since 2002 it has been majority owned by Diesel, the Italian group which also owns Viktor & Rolf, and of course the denim brand Diesel. I won’t go on too much about the history and the acquisition, and if you are interested you can read all about it in this great article from the New York Times, but I will say that in the time that Diesel took part ownership of Maison Martin Margiela, their sales went from €15 million to €70 million.

Maison Martin Margiela has been quite an important brand for me, particularly when I am lecturing to fashion students (one of my many fashion-related jobs.) This was the brand that helped me define the level of my students. If they all knew the brand, I knew it was going to be a good group. If 30% knew the brand, I knew there would be a few strong ones leading the rest. If 10% or less had heard of Margiela, I knew I was in trouble.

Anyway, I am sure not all of my readers are familiar with Maison Martin Margiela, so I am going to do a little facts list. It is by no means exhaustive, I am going by memory (so feel free to correct any mistakes people) and I am not a Margiela expert, but here we go.

FACT 1: He is from Belgium, and considered to be the “seventh” member of the Antwerp Six. The Antwerp Six were six Belgium fashion designers that graduated from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts (a super prestigious fashion design school) in the 80s, and then proceeded to drive to London in a van to show off their wares. That was their big breakthrough.  The Antwerp Six is Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee. Thanks to them, and Margiela, the Belgian fashion designers got a reputation for being quite avant-garde, a reputation they still have.

Some cool Maison Martin Margiela sandal boots.

Toys by Maison Martin Margiela. They love white.

FACT 2: No one sees him. He doesn’t do personal appearances, and he never meets journalists. Even Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue, has never seen him. I thought it was very funny the other day when someone said that he was spotted looking for a house in West Hollywood. That would imply someone has seen him…

Some menswear. I sort of imagine he looks something like the guy in the centre.

FACT 3: He never referred to himself as “I”. It was always “Maison Martin Margiela is doing this…” or “We are doing this…” instead of “I am doing this…”

This was a really famous Aids t-shirt they did. The text was printed straight onto the shirt, so some was on the front, and some was on the inside of the back.

The Aids t-shirt hanging.

FACT 4: His clothes don’t have the brand name on the label, and his shops don’t have the name on the outside (aside from the one in LA.)

Maison Martin Margiela clothing label.

The Hong Kong store.

The Paris store.

The sign above the London store.

FACT 5: He is known for recycling garments.

An outfit made from lots of old pairs of jeans.

FACT 6: He only communicates by fax (although I am not sure if this is still the case, since hardly anyone has a fax machine anymore. Except for my Mom.)

Another couture outfit.

FACT 7: His fashion shows involve a running commentary about the clothing, and all of his staff wear white lab coats.

One of the staff showing a men's vest.

FACT 8: He often costs his garments based on the number of hours spent making them. Which makes a €5000 jacket actually seem reasonably priced. It is really interesting to see the time involved in making a couture garment. Yes, it is expensive, but at least you know that it is because the garment actually takes a lot of time to make.

This picture came from Diane Pernet's A Shaded View On Fashion (another one of my favorite blogs.) She included the following caption: "Travel Jacket: 53 hours to construct/5330 Euros The jacket is cut from a zipped nylon travel garment bag. What I loved was the breakdown: 'The hours of work necessary for the creation in question includes: the preparation, the finishing and the quality control but exclude the research of raw material, technical control, necessary treatment (cleaning, softening, dying, etc.) and the fittings. Travel Jacket - February. ' "

Here are a few more of his garments.

Great Shoulders.

The famous wig jacket.

Some of the store's shelving.

And look at how cool his landing page is.

Anyway, he has left the company, and Renzo Rosso, the creator of Diesel, has decided not to replace him. Apparently the creative team of 20 something people are strong enough to continue designing without the need of a creative director. This is a very interesting move, and I think it is the right idea.

Replacing a Creative Director, especially the founder of the brand, is very difficult. There have been a lot of problems with Gianfranco Ferre, Emanuel Ungaro, and Versace, all of which have suffered as brands since their namesake founder has left. There has been a lot of speculation in the news lately about what will happen with Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, and Oscar de la Renta, because they all have creative directors in their seventies. Chanel has been quoted as saying “Karl Lagerfeld is the creative director of Chanel and enjoys a long-term contract which is absolutely not put into question. His succession is not on the agenda,” but that is just not credible, they must have some sort of plan in place, because lets face it, at 76, chances are he won’t be able to continue in his role for much longer. I won’t even begin to express the fear in my heart about the succession of Karl Lagerfeld, there is simply no one who can replace him.

With regards to Maison Martin Margiela, we can now only wait to see what happens. Critics have complained that the collections have been lacking for several seasons, apparently since he unofficially left the brand. But I agree that a replacement may only make things worse. I also believe that if this does work, Renzo Rosso will be setting a precedent, and many others will follow. If you can’t replace a great Creative Director, then don’t.

Sorry to anyone whose photo I didn’t credit. Most images came from www.martinmargiela.com and www.style.com but if I used your image without proper credit, please get in touch and I will remove it or credit it.

I love the way the French view their fashion industry, they treasure it as a part of their culture, heritage, and a huge part of their economy. I think that is why French fashion is the best (yes, I said it, the best) because the French government and the French people appreciate that fashion is part of why France is famous, and they cherish, protect, and value their industry.

Take as an example counterfeits. Now, the French government knows that that they need to protect their luxury industry as it is a vital part of their economy, therefore in France, you can be fined 10,000 Euros on the spot if you are found to be carrying a counterfeit bag or watch. OK, it is rarely enforced, but the fact that the law exists says a lot. (Did you know that Louis Vuitton employs a team of over 10 people to combat counterfeits in France alone? They train airport officials to spot fake monogram bags arriving into the country. )The French courts have been very supportive of Christian Lacroix (although the company has not managed to be saved completely) as they appreciate that the loss of such an iconic couture brand is a loss to French culture as a whole.

When was the last time the Canadian government made some attempt to nurture the Canadian fashion industry? The only thing I have heard about is drastic cuts to Arts Funding, which certainly is not going to help. Perhaps a bit of government intervention would be a good thing, it certainly hasn’t done any harm to the UK, where an increase in funding and support to the British Fashion Council in recent years has seen London Fashion Week and London designers being taken a lot more seriously on the international stage.

Anyway, another fun way for France to show their support and appreciation to their wonderful fashion brands and designers is this postage stamp, created by Alber Elbaz to celebrate the 120 year anniversary of Lanvin. It is so fun and fabulous.

Image taken from WWD.

I had a really interesting conversation with my friends on Saturday night, about fashion and brands. The subject turned to Hermes, which I believe is an untouchable brand, despite the fact that it has become a lot more mainstream in recent years. We then disucssed the fact that many brands have been “ruined” when they hit the mainstream. As far as I am concerned, when Victoria Beckham wears it, or when it is mentioned in a rap song, the brand is over. Hermes is an exception.

Even Victoria Beckham can't ruin Hermes (images from www.pursepage.com)

Why is this? How has Hermes managed to maintain this powerful brand position? They have superior quality, longevity, classic pieces, and waiting lists, but so do many other brands. On the other hand, Balmain (ruined by the “Russians” apparently), Jimmy Choo, Herve Leger, and Christian Louboutin have been tainted by over exposure on celebrities.

Another thing we discussed is the power of the handbag. For some ridiculous, unexplainable reason I always feel I need to buy a handbag from a well-known luxury brand, however, I am happy to spend fortunes on clothing or shoes from smaller luxury brands that are not very mainstream at all (Finsk being my main example.) I don’t understand why I feel that way… Maybe because I use a handbag everyday for two years, whereas I don’t wear the same shoes more than once a week. Maybe because a great luxury handbag can make a 20 dollar outfit look like a 2000 dollar outfit.

I don’t have the answers, but here are some of the Hermes pieces I wouldn’t mind finding underneath my Christmas tree (hint hint husband.)

Images from www.hermes.com

I watched Lagerfeld Confidential and Valentino: The Last Emperor yesterday. Both movies are definitely worth seeing, Lagerfeld Confidential being the more artsy one, and Valentino the more mainstream movie. Nothing about the Lagerfeld movie surprised me, his endless Diet Cokes and ipods, and the fact that he never looks back, are well-documented in the fashion press, but it is nice to see them in action. The Valentino movie was interesting because I didn’t know as much about his personality, and the movie did an excellent job of showing the dynamic between Valentino and his lover/business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. I also liked that both designers are divas, they deserve to be, and it wouldn’t be right if they were modest and friendly.

I felt a bit sad watching these movies, as these are the fashion greats that I grew up with, and as far as I am concerned, will never be replaced. Fashion has changed so much in the past 10-15 years, and designers no longer get the opportunity to express themselves creatively the way they did 20, 30, or even 50 years ago, now that business and sales dominate the industry. I am terrified of the day that Karl Lagerfeld retires, who would possibly replace him? We saw what happened with Valentino’s replacements, this has been disastrous since he left. I bought my wedding dress, a little red number, from the last collection Valentino designed.

This also reminds me how fortunate I was to work directly with Sonia Rykiel when I was in Paris. She is no Karl Lagerfeld, but a great in her own way, and when she retires and her psychotic daughter tries to take over the brand, the brand will go downhill, unless they find a creative director who can inject a new personality into the brand, whilst maintaining the brand identity.

This is a still from the Lagerfeld Confidential movie. It was a sign in the toilets at Chanel.

"If you piss all over the place you aren't very Chanel"