Roy Halston Frowick established his own look, introduced a spectacular new fabric, and reinvented functional glamour. During the 1970s he was right at the very top of American designers. Halston’s ideas were original, sensual, and wearable. His elongated silhouettes skimmed the body, capturing a sophistication that was just as at home at an elegant black-tie dinner or a disco. Fluid and Sensual Halston told me the “the natural flow of fabrics allows the body to create its own shape.” This set him apart from virtually all the other …
Experience
Karl Lagerfeld: the Eccentric’s Eccentric and Gianni Versace: The Most Complicated Personality
Karl Lagerfeld was the smartest and most broadly self-educated of the Greatest Generation of Designers. He was extremely articulate and entertaining. Karl was also by far the most eccentric member of that august group. He dressed, and for the most part, lived with one foot in the eighteenth century. His fashion genius, however, was predicated on his ability to stay up to date, if not a little bit ahead of the very latest trends. Flying Solo Lagerfeld built the foundation of his fashion empire by himself without a business partner. He was …
J. Peterman’s Retro Style Meets a New Era of Customers
Is J. Peterman a brand, a Seinfeld character, or glimpse into retail’s aspirational past? The answer to this question depends on who you ask. In truth, J. Peterman is all of these things. J. Peterman is the brand that laid the foundation for retail catalogs as we know them today. In 1995-1998, actor John O’ Hurley played J. Peterman on Seinfeld. On the other hand, J. Peterman the brand was founded in 1987, coming in hot with a preppy safari vibe that set the company apart from other retailers on the scene. Let’s take a look at how J. …
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The Future of Celebrity Influencers
Big name celebrities have long been the drug of choice for big brands looking to lock in their relevance with young, pop-culture-obsessed consumers. Whether its Snoop Dogg’s deal with Constellation Brands, the owner of Corona Extra’s U.S. distribution rights that has the LA-based rapper waxing poetic about the famous Mexican beer; Ryan Reynold’s tie-up with Mint Mobile that eventually made him the owner of the challenger cellphone brand; or, of course, the grand-daddy of all modern-era celebrity equity deals between 50 Cent and Vitamin Water – …
Retailers’ Policies Deter Memberships
“Never again,” I told myself as a I struggled not to grind my teeth. I was ten minutes into a phone call with the Fabletics Customer Service Team, answering a painstaking list of “are you sure” questions from their CX rep. I’d tried to cancel my policy the self-respecting way… online, with minimal human interaction. But Fabletics has no online cancellation form. You have to call and answer a list of questions from a live customer service rep who is desperately trying to get you to stay just to cancel your membership –– an experience that …
An Insider’s Look at Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani
Becoming YSL Born in Algeria, Saint Laurent moved to Paris when he was seventeen. He studied at Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Yves won several fashion design contests. In one, sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat, he beat out a young German student named Karl Lagerfeld. Michel de Brunhoff, editor in chief of French Vogue, recognized the similarity in some of Yves sketches and Christian Dior’s. He introduced them, and Dior hired him immediately. Yves reportedly was so shy he said he “could not speak in front of the famous …
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Fame, Fortune…Debauchery
Genius fashion designers catapulted into fame, fortune, and even debauchery in the 70s and 80s. Their excessive talent changed the fashion world forever. Many of these extreme creatives worked and lived in beautiful, over-the-top settings, revelling in some of the best unabashedly engaged in heavy drinking, excessive drug use, and free-wheeling sex. Studio 54 was a metaphor for the time. What was it that enabled them to become fashion legends? Sure, they were creative and had great taste, but it took a lot more to change the landscape of the …
Be My Guest…Starting at $3500 a Night
You can’t really check in...but you’ll never want to check out. The RH Guesthouse, the (very) boutique hotel property that was years in the making is only the latest manifestation of the home furnishings retailer’s quest to become a luxury brand across any number of formats and disciplines. It also represents the newest entry into the hospitality space for companies in the home and fashion sectors looking to continue to build out their connections with their uber-upscale customers. RH Ups the Private Guest Experience Uber-upscale only …