I had a good, thorough flip though the September issue of US Vogue over the weekend, and I was surprised to see how boring the advertising campaigns were. Firstly, Louis Vuitton was noticeably absent, which was very strange. And the magazine was also lacking in nice-looking campaigns, which, let’s face it, is usually the main reason we buy the September issues. I know that desperate times call for desperate measures, but the second, third, and fourth quarters of the magazine were crammed with tasteless, ugly campaigns from brands that are not “worthy of Vogue.” I guess they have had to drop their standards in order to fill their pages.

Before I go through my Loves and Loathes for the ad campaigns from the brands we know, I should point out that there was a very good article in Vogue about mothers in the US Army. Not only was it a riveting read, but it made me 1-feel so sad for children whose parents are in the military, and 2-hate the US Army more than words can describe.

I Love…

how amazing Karen Elson looks in this Balenciaga campaign. And the shape of that white furry coat is INSANE.

the way this ad highlights the unusual shapes Bottega Veneta is known for.

Roberto Cavalli at his best: glamour, leopard print, and fur.

these simple Celine ads.

that these Chanel photos look pretty relaxed.

the best trousers of the season, by Chloe.

that despite the fact that Gucci has basically repeated their Spring Summer photos, it still very luxury and on-brand.

Autumn Winter with Michael Kors. Only Carmen Kass can make grey jogging pants look great with a fur coat.

alien eye makeup at Lanvin.

gorgeous contrasts and hardcore hardware at Miu Miu.

that Nicole Miller suddenly looks modern and slick.

Prada's choice of models, Miranda Kerr looks amazing.

that Tommy Hilfiger does the American preppy look better than anyone else.

this beautiful photo. This Valentino dress looks absolutely stunning.

Cleopatra hair and dramatic stairs at Yves Saint Laurent.

I loathe…

the whole concept of this Bulgari shoot, plus the style of the photography, which looks quite tacky.

a boring Burberry campaign. Time to try something new.

ditto at Dolce & Gabanna. They also need to try something new.

when Hermes looks too equestrian.

this Jimmy Choo campaign. It is such a predictable fashion photo set-up, and the shoes look like nothing special.

when a campaign gets done too many times. The cute young Lacoste models jumping up and down were nice for a few seasons, but now they look like silly ravers.

that Ralph Lauren has chosen some of his most boring product for the seasonal ad campaign.

Kate Moss naked in this David Yurman campaign. She doesn't look nice at all, in fact, she looks a bit yuck.

It kills me to do a “Loathe” post about Hermès, my favourite brand and the ultimate symbol of luxury fashion, but alas, it must be done. Their most recent project, a website called “J’aime Mon Carré,” is their first and hopefully last foray into the world of tragic “It-girls.” Basically the website invovles a bunch of “It Girls” photographed wearing limited edition Hermès scarves, with instructions on how to imitate their styles. The girls are just another group of boring twenty-somethings with pretty faces and born into rich families.

Reading the descriptions of the girls makes me want to puke. One, who looks like she is 14, likes to “drink red wine, eat croissants, and make love while listening to Edith Piaf.” I’m wondering if she is even the age of consent. Another one likes to go out in “NY, London, Paris. Not LA.” Are we supposed to care? And most of all, are Hermès customers supposed to care? If this was Forever 21, Alexander Wang, or even Burberry (who is so desperately trying to be hip), I could understand, but Hermès? No. Please NO.

Dear Hermès,

I love you, and almost everything you do. But please don’t lower ourself by turning into one of the many brands who use boring, silly “It-girl” actresses, DJ’s or socialites as representatives of your brand. You are above that. Go back to being classic, exclusive, and elite. We love you that way.

Yours truly,

Alexandra

This Fashion 101 is going to explain a bit about how the fashion supply chain works, and why it is so difficult and complicated to produce truly “eco” or “ethical” fashion. If you’d like some background reading on the subject of eco or ethical fashion, I’d suggest you read this interesting article from Business of Fashion, which looks at the “What it means to be green” and “Does sustainability sell?”

Spring Summer 2010 by Noir Illuminati, a Danish brand and possibly the coolest "eco" fashion brand in the world.

In my opinion, one of the important aspects of eco and ethical fashion is transparency, and transparency involves knowing and understand the process and materials involved in making a garment, and making sure that this is done with the least damage to the environment and ensuring good working conditions for the people involved. The problem with fashion is that it is close to impossible to know every aspect of this process and all of the materials involved. I’ll start with a comparison. Organic and fairtrade food is has become hugely popular in the past few years, to the point where most groceries stores carry a selection of organic and/or fairtrade products. Let’s compare food and fashion.

My aunt and cousins run an organic vegetable and fruit farm, and their main business is organic raspberries (I stuffed my face full of them picked straight off the plant this weekend when I went to visit them. Delicious.) The raspberries are grown locally, here in the Fraser Valley. The raspberries are then packaged into boxes, which are made locally. Nearly all of their customers are based within driving distance of the farm, and my cousin makes the deliveries in person. So the supply chain is very simple, the raspberries are grown in British Columbia, they are consumed in British Columbia, and the packaging comes is made in British Columbia. Yes, there are a few variables, such as the source of the paper used to make the boxes, the tractors on the farm, etc… but on the most part, we know who and what was involved in getting that raspberry to the consumer.

A diagram of the fashion supply chain from Fibre2Fashion.

When it comes to fashion, things are far more complicated. Let’s imagine a typical pair of jeans. I’ve done a bit of research about the materials involved in making a pair of jeans, and although this doesn’t represent one particular brand’s supply chain, it certainly gives you an opportunity to get an idea of the supply chain.

The scenario is a (fictional) Australian denim brand selling jeans in Europe and North America. Let’s imagine the cotton comes from India. Indigo dye can also come from India, so the cotton and dye get shipped to Pakistan, where it is woven into a fabric and dyed. The denim fabric then gets shipped to China, where the jeans are made. The metal buttons and studs are made from a copper alloy, which is mined in Chile, which are then turned into trendy looking studs and buttons in Japan. They are also shipped to China. I won’t go into detail with the other components, but there are zippers (made from metal, and generally a synthetic fibre for the ribbon), a printed leather tag on the back, labels on the outside and inside of the jeans which need to be printed and embroidered, a hand tag, the string, pin, or plastic used to attach the handtag to the jeans, etc… Then the jeans need to be shipped to a warehouse in Australia, and then distribute to their stockists in Europe and North America.

Gap jeans.

So our pair of jeans has in some way passed through the hands of many people and traveled many miles. How on earth can a fashion company know and monitor every single step of the supply chain? How can they know that every single material has all been sourced sustainably? Or that all of the workers were paid fair wages? They rarely can. Which is why eco and ethical fashion does not have nearly as much diversity in its product ranges as ‘normal” fashion. If you are interested in some further reading, here is a very interesting article about Gap’s supply chain, which is very informative and demonstrates the complexity of their supply chain.

The role of the supply chain manager is to minimize this complexity, and try to make the supply chain as efficient as possible. For example, if you were a European brand, making clothes in China and selling a lot in Japan, you certainly wouldn’t have your Japan order shipped from to a warehouse in France, then back to Japan. Instead, you would open a distribution warehouse somewhere in Asia. But all of this is very, very complicated, and just writing this article makes me feel so happy that I don’t work in supply chain management.

If some of you are asking yourselves what is the point in buying eco or ethical clothing, when there are so many unknown variables? I know it is complicated, but investing in a brand that is eco or ethical in some aspects is better than one that does nothing at all. I personally try and make “smart” choices, but that doesn’t mean I need to buy from a brand that has some sort of official certification. I know that American Apparel produces in LA, and Hermes does a lot of production in France, and both operate good working conditions for their staff. I know that Dr Hauschka has a lot of initiatives that encourage biodynamic farming and economic self-sufficiency in the developing world (and they make the best skin care products ever.) And I know that when I buy from a local brand like Obakki, I am supporting a company that employs Canadians and manufactures in Vancouver. Small differences definitely contribute to helping the big picture.

Images
Noir Illuminati
Fashion supply chain diagram
Gap Jeans
Dr. Haushcka cream

Next week Selfridges, London’s famous department store, is opening a large space called the Forever Shop, a shop that will sell iconic design classics. The collection will feature clothing, accessories, books, and homewares, curated by the likes of Sir Paul Smith and Elle Decoration editor Michelle Ogundehin, as well as the store’s Creative Director, Allanah Weston. The idea is to offer pieces that are classic and never go out of style, I guess this fits in quite well with the current economic climate, and consumer’s desire to invest in more quality pieces. It is also slightly ironic that the Forever Shop is replacing Selfridge’ Wonder Room, whose concept was ultra-luxury, ridiculously expensive pieces, like $20,000 bags and skull rings.

Here are a few of the items that the store will sell:

Le carré d'Hermès

Converse high tops.

Bic lighters.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

The Georg Jensen Koppel pitcher

Tom Dixon Mirror Ball light

Here’s what I would add to the fashion list:

Chanel 2.55 bag

Hermès Chaine d'Ancre bracelet

Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress

Salvatore Ferragamo ballet flat

Cartier Trinity ring

Hunter Wellington boots

Burberry trenchcoat

Adidas tracksuit

Rayban Wayfarer

What would be on your list?

Primark jewelry: super cheap, very fun, and you don;t have to worry if it gets ruined at the beach.

I was approached a few weeks ago by a company asking me to write a guest post on their handbag blog. The company, Handbag Heaven, sells inexpensive handbags. My initial thoughts were, no thanks, I only like luxury bags. But then I had a look through their site, and I realized, not everything I have in my wardrobe is luxury, and not everything I aspire to have is luxury. Firstly, I can’t afford to buy all my clothes and accessories from a luxury brand. Secondly, I am very careful with my expensive and favorite pieces of clothing, and sometimes it is nice to have something that you don’t have to worry about losing or ruining. Also, when I am not sure about a new item or trend, and I prefer to try the fast fashion version before I decide whether I want to invest big bucks to buy a designer version.

So I got thinking about the pieces in my wardrobe that are designer, and the pieces that aren’t. And I realized there was a trend going on… I tend to splash out on products like shoes, every day handbags, skin products, coats, and classic clothing items, and rarely spend money on items like evening bags and jeans. So I have compiled a list of the clothing and accessory items that I think aren’t worth spending your hard earned cash on. Save it for your dream shoes and a great winter coat instead.

Eliza clutch bag.

Fun handbags: My most-used handbags are classic ones, usually bought from luxury brands because I want them to last a long time. But sometimes I want something fun to hold my phone, keys, and credit card when I go out.  Because this is a bag that usually only gets taken out three or four times a year at most (I have ten versions of this “fun” evening bag, some vintage, some new) it is not worth investing in an expensive piece.

Handbag Heaven sent me this Eliza clutch bag (image above) as a gift, and it is a perfect “fun evening bag.” The unique colour means it probably won’t get much wear, but it is a great piece that works with my black wardrobe. And it is big. Not BIG, but big enough so you can comfortably fit your smartphone, keys, small wallet, and a few other bits. Most of my vintage clutch bags are too small to fit my Blackberry. Handbag Heaven has given me a second version of the Eliza clutch, which is my first ever GIVEAWAY. Click here to find out how to win the bag!

Uniqlo jeans. Please open a store in Vancouver. Please!

Jeans. There are probably a lot of people who disagree with me on this, but I don’t see the point in spending a lot of money on jeans, when there are TONS of brands who do great jeans for less than $100 (and I don’t really think this was the case 8-10 years ago, when all the designer denim brands started hitting the market.)  The most I’ll spend is around $100 on a pair of Lee jeans, but other than that, I go to Uniqlo, who do amazing jeans, with a great fit, for less than $50 a pair. Gap and Topshop are also good options.

Club Monaco jewelry: looks good, and it won;t break the bank.

Summer Jewelry. I have mentioned this before in my Travel Tips, but I really don’t like traveling with expensive jewelry. It makes me nervous. Once I was going through security and the woman made me take off my giant Hermès Chaîne d’Ancre necklace. She was giving me the “no, no, no” look. I nearly had a heart attack, as I clearly was not leaving my Hermès necklace in Oslo. I explained to her that the necklace was for sale IN GENEVA AIRPORT, so therefore could not be a security threat. She went off to speak to her boss, which made me extremely nervous because the necklace left my sight, but I eventually got it back. The nuisance of having to rebook a flight from Oslo, or get to Sweden and fly from there, with my necklace, was enough to make me decide that when I travel, the expensive jewelry stays in the safe. So, when I want accessorize for the beach or hot holidays, I buy cheap jewelry that I don’t have to worry about.

New Look wood wedges, for walking from hotel room to beach.

Summer Shoes. I like to wear wedges when I go to pool/beach/park summer events and I don’t like to wreck expensive shoes. Espadrilles and wood or cork sandals are not worth spending a lot of money on. Sandals have little material on them, so it is not the end of the world if they aren’t made of leather. Save your shoe dollars for amazing winter boots.

Old Navy workout pants. Only 20 bucks!

Workout Gear. Aside from a good pair of running shoes, I can’t bring myself to spend money on workout clothes.  You can get a whole workout outfit from Old Navy for less than a $100. Why spend $400 on a track jacket then?

Read my guest post on Handbag Heaven here.

Hermès menswear is never really ground-breaking-ly exciting. I am sure the excitement would come with touching the ultra-luxe fabrics. This collection is very classic, which is exactly what you expect from Hermès. (And I am not really a fan of surprises, anyway.)

I love…

when ultra-classic menswear can still look interesting, effortless and young.

a great blouson jacket.

summer turtlenecks. But those sandals are way too girly.

a cardigan with a softly draped neckline.

I loathe…

when Hermès goes grunge. Hermès, you never are and never will be grunge.

short shorts! This is becoming an SS11 trend. Noooooooo!

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

Les Carrés d’Hermès

I am hoping to make this the first of a series, as I think it is an interesting and important topic. I wanted to write a little about the cost of luxury, because I don’t love luxury just because it is expensive, I love the process, the quality, and the craftsmanship involved behind most good luxury products. Some people think luxury goods are very expensive and overpriced. Expensive, yes. Overpriced, not always. Some luxury brands, in fact, most luxury brands, make a lot of money from selling things with very high margins, which are generally overpriced. But those things are usually perfumes, handbags, and licensed goods, which they sell in huge quantities. A lot of the luxury goods we see on the catwalks, or in the clothing stores, are not necessarily big money makers. I know this as a fact, because I used to see the markups of the clothing at Sonia Rykiel, and I was always surprised at how much things cost to make, compared to what we actually charged.

This Fashion 101 is going to study a very classic luxury fashion item: the Carré d’Hermès, their famous 90 x 90 cm printed silk scarf. Most people think it is an overpriced scarf, but once you understand the process involved in creating one of these scarves, I think you’ll realize that the price is in fact excellent value.

The first carré d’Hermès was made in 1937. Since the late 1930’s, over 1,500 different versions have been made, and Hermès tends to work with a number of different artists every season, some recent examples include Christine Henry, Aline Honoré, and Henry d’Origny. Hermès worked with 20 artists for the spring summer 2010 collection of scarves. Most designs start with the painting of a motif, which then needs to be translated into a scarf.

Once the artwork is created, choosing the colour combinations is generally the next step in making a carré. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the artistic director of Hermès, and the grandson of the founder of Hermès, describes their colour process as very complex. “Sometimes we discuss a single colour for a considerable time for a scarf that will include more than thirty (colours.) This research into colour is the work of incredible perfectionism. The palette is infinite, its variations at the limit of what the eye can perceive.” Leila Menchari, the director of the colour panel explains that “The work of colouring the Carrés takes time, because each design must be produced in around ten different colour schemes.”

“Bad colours don’t exist, only bad combinations” -Leila Menchari

While the designs and colours are being perfected, the silk is being woven and prepared for print. Hermès’ silk comes from a Brazilian mill, who supply the “flottes” (skeins of raw silk) to the Perrin establishments in France, who have been weaving the silk for Hermès for half a century. The silk takes three months to weave into fabric ready for printing.

(1 moth = 300 eggs) + (2 mulberry trees = 300 cocoons) = 450,000 m of silk thread = 1 carré. The length of thread of 1,000 Hermès scarves is equal to the distance between the earth and the moon.

The engraving workshop is where the artwork gets translated into films. For those of you that don’t understand how silk-screen printing works, it basically involves a different screen for each colour of the motif. For example, if we were printing a yellow happy face onto a t-shirt, we’d have a screen with a big circle on, which we would use to apply the yellow, in order to make the shape of the face. Then we would apply a second screen with black paint to create the outline of the face, the eyes, and the mouth. Imagine it as layers of cut paper, each colour requires its own screen. That alone explains the cost of an Hermès carrré, as each ones tends to have at least 30 colours. But I’ll continue the story.

The engraving process.

If the engravers get a painting, they need to translate it into distinct, separate colours, which is very difficult to do, since painting tends to have many different tones and blends. The engraver’s role is to “interpret the nuances of the design and translate them into combinations of colour, which will determine the number of films necessary.” He traces them one by one, over a light box. A design broken up into 30 colours takes between 400 and 600 hours of engraving. Each film will correspond to a silk-screen.

The craftsmen then make the colours for the scarves, using the formulae from the colourists. This is chef’s work, using pots, mixers, and scales, and they simmer the pigments and vegetable gums on a stove to achieve the right hues.

Once the colours and the frames (or screens) are ready, they are brought to the printing table. The woven silk is stretched onto the tables, which, at Hermès’ atelier, measure 150 metres in length, and the screens are applied one after the other, each one adding a new colour to the fabric.

When the silk has been printed, it dries on the table, and the colours are then “fixed.” This process invovles steam cooking for an hour at 130°C, washing the fabric to remove glue or unfixed colours, and then drying on a hot air carpet.

Hemming the scarf: the "roulotté."

The final step, which my mother claims is the true USP of a carré d’Hermès, is the hand-rolled finish (she can spot the hand-finished edge of an Hermès scarf by about ten miles away). The seamstresses use silk thread and hand stitch a rolled hem, called the “roulotté.” At Hermès, unlike other brands, this is done on the right side of the scarf. After that, the final quality control will take place, and then the scarf is packaged in its beautiful orange box, wrapped in the bolduc (the brown ribbon tied around the box) and sold.

The carré d’Hermès is one of the brand’s most iconic pieces. I remember going into their flagship store on rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, and being shocked at the number of scarves being sold. They had a counter that was about five metres long, about 12 staff, and even more customers, all buying the scarves. It was crazy, like a supermarket selling vegetables, but instead expensive silk scarves (and not quite like a supermarket, because an Hermès store is a much better place to be.)

The famous "Brides de Gala" motif, on a carré fluide (a new scarf recently introduced, with a different weave.)

Their packaging, the orange boxes tied with the brown bolduc ribbon, is also such an important part of the scarves, since a lot of people tend to store the scarves in the boxes. There is nothing better than a stack of orange Hermès boxes in your house, I have a few, but the collection needs to increase.

Now that you understand the process involved in creating the carré d’Hermès, I am sure you will agree that the price, $420 (CDN), is actually quite good value.

Images and quotes courtesy of Hermès.

Read other Fashion 101 posts:

Fashion 101: Copyright Laws in Fashion

Fashion 101: How Magazines Cover Trends

Fashion 101: Where do Fashion Trends Come From?

Fashion 101: Designers with Two Jobs

Fashion 101: How Haute Couture Works

Fashion 101: Magazines and their Advertisers

Robert Duffy and Marc Jacobs. Photo from thecut.com

Robert Duffy, President of Marc Jacobs International, made a very interesting comment during a Business of Fashion interview a few months ago, which has stuck in my mind. He had been using Twitter for the two weeks leading up to the Marc Jacobs Fall Winter 2010 show (he has since then been replaced by someone else on the Marc Jacobs team) and during that time, he was quite efficient at responding to questions from his followers, who were primarily fashion students wishing to get into the industry.

“BoF: Why have you found these tweets from students so inspiring?

Robert Duffy: Because I’ve been there. I don’t want these kids to give up, you know? I can see how discouraged they are. And I know that if Marc and I weren’t together we would have probably given up too.
And I want to say to them, especially the ones that have talent (they send me pictures and stuff!): Don’t give up. Find a way to do it. I had to. Marc had to. We are still working two jobs to support this. But, don’t do it to become famous or to become a celebrity or it because you think it’s easy. It is not.”

His comment about working two jobs really made me think. Yes, I know that like many designers (John Galliano, Alexander McQueen) Marc Jacobs also spent many years building his career, when he was barely known and designing collections with tiny budgets. But now we all assume he is doing super well, having built Marc Jacobs as one of the leading luxury brands of the world, hugely influential, and touching a very large market with his lower-priced Marc by Marc Jacobs collection. But here Duffy explains that the Louis Vuitton gig is a “second job.” I never thought of it that way, but on reflection, I am sure that Marc Jacobs would definitely prefer to focus his energies on his own collection, rather than having to travel back and forth between Paris and New York, in order to fulfill his duties as Creative Director of two of the most well-known luxury brands in the world. A tough job, and maybe not as glamorous as it seems.

So on that note, I’d like to dedicate this Fashion 101 post to explaining why designers like Marc Jacobs, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, and many others are able and allowed to work two design jobs for different companies.

Fendi Spring Summer 2010 designed by Karl Lagerfeld. Photo from Fendi.com

Let’s start with why any designer, who is attempting to build their own brand, would then take a second job with a very well-known brand. Marios Schwab is a great example. An established young designer based in London, Marios has had a lot of media attention in recent years, and has built himself up to be quite a well-known, respected designer. But what are the figures behind his brand? I am sure he takes a decent salary and can afford to pay a small team of people, but knowing the expense involved in running a fashion company, I am pretty sure he will soon realize he can’t properly expand his brand without more capital. How does he get capital for his business? He can get an investor, or he can take a second job, or he can do both.

By taking the job as Creative Director at Halston, he not only improves his profile as a designer (which means his brand automatically gains more credibility, which will lead to sales and the increased possibility of securing more capital for his business) and he also takes a hefty salary from them, which will mean he has more to re-invest into his own business. A fashion business these days needs to sell more than just clothing to succeed, they need to sell fragrance, accessories, footwear, eyewear, a diffusion line, etc… and all of those things require money to develop. That’s probably why he took a second job.

Halston Fall Winter 2010 designed by Marios Schwab. Photo from Style.com.

So that answers the question of why a designer would want to work for two different companies, but why would a brand want a designer who can’t be one hundred percent committed to their brand? Halston hired Marios Schwab (and Louis Vuitton hired Marc Jacobs, Hermès hired Jean Paul Gaultier, etc…) because they are designers who are already very credible and are already in the spotlight. Halston’s first designer, Marco Zanini, came from Versace, and although I have no doubt he was a talented designer, the average follower of fashion has no idea who he is. The fact that he wasn’t already getting a lot of attention in the media made it more difficult for the relaunched Halston brand to be successful (there were other factors involved in that too, but that’s another story…)

These days, its harder to make a brand successful without a very well-known creative director at the helm (although not at all impossible…) Many brands choose to hire a designer who already has a name for themselves, because they will be better known to the public, and they have proved their own worth (being a successful designer for a big brand is very different than being a successful designer for your own brand.)

Hermes Fall Winter 2010 designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. Photo from Style.com.

The last subject is about competition, if Karl Lagerfeld designs for Chanel, Fendi, and his own collection, aren’t his bosses at Fendi and Chanel concerned that he is designing for one of their competitors? Probably not. Brands will hire well-known designers as creative directors only if the brand does not directly compete with the designer’s label. Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton are two very different brands, so are Hermès and Jean Paul Gaultier, Marios Schwab and Halston, Chanel and Fendi. There may be a tiny bit of crossover between customers, but those are also customers who, as fans of Marc Jacobs, may choose a Louis Vuitton bag over a Gucci bag, because they know Marc Jacobs designs for Louis Vuitton.

On a final note, when brands within the same conglomerate compete with each other, which sometimes happens, it is referred to as cannibalism. For example, LVMH’s brands include Louis Vuitton, Céline, Marc Jacobs, and Givenchy and PPR’s Gucci Group brands include Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, and Stella McCartney. There may be times where those brands are effectively competing with each other. Conglomerates try and avoid this as much as possible, by choosing a portfolio of brands that do not directly compete, but at the same time, there are times when cannibalism occurs within a group of brands.

Further reading: There is a great DVD about Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton entitled “Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton“, which I feel is the first fashion film to correctly portray the behind-the-scenes and the process involved in researching, designing, and showing a luxury fashion collection. So if you’d like to get a better understand of the process involved in getting that amazing handbag from concept to prototype to press piece to retail bestseller, watch this amazing film.

Read other Fashion 101 posts:

Fashion 101: Where do Fashion Trends Come From?

Fashion 101: How Haute Couture Works

Fashion 101: Magazines and their Advertisers

I’m a bit late to comment on this, but I still can’t believe that an American Apparel rummage sale broke out into a riot in London two weeks ago. Apparently several police officers were injured and a few people were arrested at the sale. I don’t quite understand how this could have happened, American Apparel isn’t that cheap, but surely it’s cheap enough that it doesn’t deserve a riot when the products are discounted. Although its not the first time something like this has happened, I recall when 3000 customers forced open the doors of the Primark store at Marble Arch at its grand opening in 2007. All this for cheap t-shirts and socks? The video is pretty shocking.

But this phenomenon certainly isn’t limited to the fast fashion retailers, The Cut reported that a fight broke out when a pregnant woman attempted to cut into the line for an Hermes sale. I do remember my friend Aimee telling me that she skipped the queue at an Yves Saint Laurent sample sale when she was heavily pregnant. I guess I am going to be a hypocrite and say that I would hate to see that happen if I had been waiting a long time in line, but on the other hand, if I’m ever pregnant, I’ll totally use it to skip line ups. Especially for Hermes.

Although Hermès clothing tends to look good on the catwalk, I’m sure it looks superb in person. They use the best materials and the finest methods of construction. I think Jean Paul Gaultier does a great job as Creative Director at Hermes, he is the perfect person to translate equestrian heritage of the brand and its ethnic influences into a fantastic womenswear collection.

I Love…

the grey strap-on shoulder pieces.

a soft luxurious grey coat.

chocolate and raspberry and squash.

a fantastic blanket coat.

I Loathe…

the gentleman riding look without a twist = boring.

All images from Style.com.