DVF Designed The Wrap Dress For One-Night-Stands
LatestDiane von Furstenberg talked to the Telegraph about feminism, women, China, and Kate Middleton — with whom von Furstenberg, as a commoner who once entered into a dynastic marriage with a European prince (though not, as this article states, a “German” one; Egon von Fürstenberg was Austrian), has a few things in common. On Middleton: “I’ve always found weddings sad for some reason, but of course I’ll watch it on television. I think she should go for Alexander McQueen. But you know what? She reminds me more and more of Diana. Everything about her. I think she’s there to avenge Diana’s memory — that’s clearly what William wants. Giving Kate his mother’s ring was a great gesture, and I think that theirs will be a happy version of his parents’ marriage. But he absolutely chose a woman who was like his mother — that was deliberate.” On women today: “Sometimes I think that we’ve regressed. All these women with fake breasts and cosmetic surgery — all that just objectifies us again.” Oh, also: she designed the zipperless, silent wrap dress to facilitate stealthy morning-after exits. “Haven’t you ever tried to creep out of the room unnoticed the following morning? I’ve done that many times.” Practical. [Telegraph]
The Telegraph has a first look at the monograph for the Alexander McQueen exhibit taking place at the Met. It opens May 4, just after the Costume Institute ball. The monograph contains an essay from fashion writer Susannah Frankel and an interview with Sarah Burton by Tim Blanks. [Telegraph]
Julia Nobis and her very brightly colored hair is on the new cover of Vogue Australia. [FGR]
Meanwhile, Danish Elle‘s new cover has some Photoshop issues. [The Gloss]
Move over, body chains! Two words: knee jewelry. (Third word: $200.) [TLF]
- Aerin Lauder‘s new lifestyle brand — which she’s stepping down from her position at Estée Lauder to found — will be called “AERIN.” And it will apparently feature a cosmetics line…which Estée Lauder will sell. Sounds very cozy. [P6]
- Added to the list of industry positions from which John Galliano has been blackballed, “for obvious reasons,” is the judgeship of London’s Fashion Fringe program. Claudia Schiffer and Roland Mouret are joining the panel instead. [WWD]
- Fashion’s Night Out — perhaps Anna Wintour‘s greatest paean to consumption — will include online retailers this year, for the first time. Brick-and-mortar stores will host all the usual hellacious, over-subscribed, allegedly celebrity-ridden open-bar events you’ve grown accustomed to avoiding. [WSJ]
- Someone is making a documentary about Bergdorf’s. Working title: Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf Goodman. [P6]
- In other publicity stunts involving New York department stores, noted heiress, couture collector, Bernard Henri-Lévy-dater, and woman-who-does-not-like-to-be-called-‘eccentric’ Daphne Guinness will be dressing for the Met Costume Institute ball in Barneys’ store window. [P6]
- Robin Givhan is going to be the one to say it, just 24 hours after Christophe Decarnin left Balmain (reports indicate he has been seeking in-patient treatment for depression): “The fashion industry…is better off without the aesthetic that he and Balmain popularized.” Givhan hated most of all the prices, which rose into the tens of thousands for jackets and dresses, and topped a grand for torn jeans and t-shirts. “There is no justification for that sort of pricing other than it exploited one of the worst marketing tactics in the fashion industry. Balmain‘s jeans and T-shirts reeked of the most grotesque prestige pricing.” [TDB]
- Longer skirts — especially “floaty, let’s-go-get-high-at-Coachella stuff” — are selling well this spring, say retailers. (We predict this look will endure right up until the first 90-degree dog day of summer.) [NYTimes]
- Stores are apparently focusing on improving their dressing rooms, giving them more space, doors that close properly, and better lighting, because research shows that women who try clothing on are vastly more likely to buy it. [WSJ]
- Cynthia Rowley named her men’s wear line “Mr. Powers,” after her husband, the gallerist Bill Powers. [WWD]
- A fur trade association says that global fur sales rose 5% from 2009, to $14 billion last year. [Glamour]
- Vogue did a little better, ad-pages-wise, this quarter. Its ad pages increased 10% over the same period last year. Elle was up 14.9%. InStyle dropped 3.8% and Harper’s Bazaar‘s ad pages fell by 11.3% Lucky was down by 14%. [WWD]
- Suno has added e-commerce to its website. [Official Site]
- Flash sale site Ideeli is adding plus-size and petite sample sales, starting today. [Racked]
- LeBron James is becoming a face of watch brand Audemars Piguet. [WWD]