Fashion Uncorked February 14, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Industry News, Local Sources, Organizations and Associations, SCAD, SCAD - Student and Alumni Enterprise , comments closed10 DESIGNERS. 20 DESIGNS. 1 COMPETITION FOR AN AMAZING CAUSE.
FASHION UNCORKED, a high-profile design competition to benefit Easter Seals North Georgia’s efforts to assist adults and children with disabilities, will unleash Georgia’s top fashion talent as they compete to win an all-expenses-paid, behind-the-scenes studio tour with an international fashion designer in New York. With exciting collaborations from notable celebrities, media personalities, corporate sponsors, and the design community, Fashion Uncorked promises to be the must-attend charitable fashion event of the Spring 2011 season. WSB-TV’s Monica Pearson is hosting and SCAD Fashion Dean David Goodrowe and Holly Firfer are judges. Recent SCAD Atlanta Fashion Graduate Andrea Late is one of the competitors.
Go t0 www.FashionUncorked.com to purchase your $25 tickets. Today only they have reduced the price by $5.00. So purchase your tickets early and not wait until the day of the show!
- Tiffany Horton
Models = Results of Genetic Coctails? January 28, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News, Trends , comments closedThe SCAD Atlanta model call this week has me thinking all about what makes a great model. The “ideal” look for runway changes as often as the fashion trends they wear. Most model scouts, however, continue hoping and searching for the next Gisele Bündchen. Many of them head to a remote region in the south of Brazil known for it’s perfect “genetic coctail.”
Colonized by the Italians and Germans, the small farming villages are so remote that there has been little mixing with other races – keeping the genetic makeup pure and ideal for finding tall models with fair skin and European features. While the trend seems to be steering more toward models with darker skin, dozens of scouts remain in the south of Brazil.
Says one “If a famous top model looks German with a Russian nose, I will do a scientific study and look for cities that were colonized by Germans and Russians in the south of Brazil in order to get a similar face down here.” This poses all sorts of concerns for the Brazillian fashion industry because “more than 70 percent of the country’s models come from three southern states that hardly reflect the multiethnic melting pot that is Brazil, where more than half the population is nonwhite.” Read more about these concerns in this interesting article in the New York Times. The video is pretty fascinating, as well.
- Tiffany Horton
Couture Week January 27, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Industry News, Inspiration, Trends , comments closedIt’s couture week in Paris and the industry is buzzing about Jean Paul-Gaultier’s latest Haute Couture Collection. Cathy Horyn of the New York Times called it his “most satisfying show in years” and praised his ability to take classics like the pantsuit and trenchcoat and actually do something new with them this time around.
Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2011 Couture
Be sure to keep up with the shows as they are posted on Style.com this week – or view super high-resolution images at Stylesight.
Christian Dior Spring 2011 Couture
- Tiffany Horton
SCAD Students Win at the Waldorf! January 19, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Industry News, Organizations and Associations, SCAD, SCAD - Student and Alumni Enterprise , comments closedLast week, Fashion students from SCAD’s Savannah and Atlanta campuses traveled to New York to an awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria for the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund. Savannah Senior Marlow Larson was awarded a $10,000 scholarship and photographed by Bill Cunningham of the New York Times. Marlow was joined by fellow winners Erin Goodman, Sarah Butler, Victoria Cullinan Strayhorn, Karly Hankin and Logan Treacy. Congratulations to all of you!
- Tiffany Horton
Digital Pitti January 18, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News, Manufacturers, Organizations and Associations, Retail, Trade Shows, Trends , comments closedLeave it to the Italians to surprise you. In a country known for it’s strong grip on tradition, the modernization of their fashion industry has never been a focus. In fact, many of the most fashionable houses have seemed to consciously resist technological advancements. That is, until now.
The Pitti fair, arguably the world’s preeminent menswear fair, has taken place in Florence since 1972. Now it has gone digital.
Annually hosting over 1000 brands and more than 23,000 buyers from around the world, the fiar is a great way to see a variety of apparel and accessories offerings from numerous vendors. The difficulty for buyers is remembering everything they saw.
Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune recently interviewed Francesco Bottigliero who has been tasked with creating a digital platform to showcase the goods on display in Florence each year. According to Mr. Bottigliero “research shows that the typical buyer stays at Pitti for a couple of days, visits about 50 stands in depth and leaves with a few fashion impressions and ‘pockets full of business cards.’”
His aim? To recreate the Pitti fair in a virtual environment. “The idea is to offer attendees a second or third look, using their screens to “visit” stands that they did not have time to see and to compare and contrast products, materials and prices.”
The online fair will launch at the next edition of Pitti, but some sample images are online now. Be sure to read Ms. Menkes’ article and visit the online edition of the fair e-Pitti to get a sneak peak at the possible future apparel buying.
- Tiffany Horton
A Conversation with Hilldun President Gary Wassner January 12, 2011
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News, Local Sources, Manufacturers, Organizations and Associations, Retail , comments closedDean Michael Fink recently directed me to excellent the blog Truth Plus. Yesterday, they featured an interview with Gary Wassner, President of the fashion factoring and finance corporation, Hilldun.
The Hidden Stitch: A Conversation with Hilldun President Gary Wassner
This article is a great primer on what a factor does to help manage the business side of growing fashion firms, how to build a brand that lasts, why focusing on PR isn’t always wise, and the pitfalls of handing your label over to a private equity firm for fast cash. Hilldun has worked with Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Tuleh, and numerous other major American brands. He discusses what his firm looks for before taking on a designer as a client “We look for designers who have heads on their shoulders, who understand the important aspects, the salient aspects of running and owning a business and know that it’s all about product; it’s not about press.”
Additionally, he shares his thoughts about the difficulties of manufacturing in China and possibility of bringing manufacturing back to the US. This a MUST read for all students on both the Fashion and FASM sides.
- Tiffany Horton
Alice + Olivia in Atlanta June 22, 2010
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Industry News , comments closedRub elbows with a fun designer and spend time in an Airstream!
Stacey Bendet, designer of Alice+Olivia will be at Neiman Marcus for a personal appearance on Wednesday, June 23rd. Her stylists are coming in a vintage airstream that they will set up right outside their doors and style for the day from 11am-8pm. Stacey will be there for “Happy Hour” from 5pm-8pm. Should be a great event and they are having a DJ, sketch artists, bites, etc.
Michael Fink Interview on StyleHug March 22, 2010
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News, Inspiration, SCAD, SCAD - Student and Alumni Enterprise, Trends , comments closedDrue Kataoka from the blog StyleHug recently interviewed Michael Fink during New York Style Week. The video has now been posted online for your viewing pleasure. In it, Mr. Fink discusses how his perspective on watching fashion shows has changed since his transition from Saks Fifth Avenue Fashion Director to SCAD’s Dean of Fashion as well as how he made the transition from studying to be a conductor to becoming a fashion expert!
Wanna work for Prada? March 12, 2010
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Careers, Industry News , comments closedYou gotta get past THIS GUY:
Great article in the WSJ yesterday about Patrizio Bertelli, the CEO of Prada and husband of Miuccia Prada.
- Tiffany Teague
McQueen’s Requiem March 10, 2010
Posted by SCAD Fashion Department in : Industry News, Inspiration, Trends , comments closed
Four weeks after his suicide in London, the final collection designed by Alexander McQueen was presented in Paris last night. McQueen is said to have “cut every piece for the collection himself.” Although 16 of the outfits were only 80 per cent finished upon his death, his studio team, led by Sarah Burton (who worked alongside McQueen for 16 years) worked intensely over the past few weeks to complete them according to his clear vision.
And while McQueen originally intended to present this collection in his favorite venue, the Conciergerie, a former royal palace and prison, the collection was presented, instead, to an intimate audience in a gilded, mirrored, salon at the headquarters of PPR, the company that owns the McQueen label.
The heavily religious designs were inspired by Byzantine art and by the work of master woodcarver, Grinling Gibbons, whose carvings adorn St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Abstractions of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, were digitally captured, woven and manipulated into many of the looks. Bosch, a 15th Century Dutch artist was a painter of religious visions who frequently portrayed scenes of angels, demons and the torments of hell.
The sepulchral 17th-century choral music music played during the show was the same that Mr. McQueen had listened to while creating the collection. Christie Binkley of the Wall Street Journal wrote “What made the collection difficult to watch was the unmistakable impression that the designer was immersed in thoughts of the afterlife.”
According to Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune: “There were damp eyes among the small audience and sobs backstage — both from personal grief and at the scale of the loss to fashion of this singular designer. In this collection Alexander — Lee — McQueen showed his sensitivity to history, his powers of research, his imagination, his technical skills and his love of women, often misinterpreted or misunderstood, but here evident in every fold and feather.”
Click here to see the complete collection.
- Tiffany Teague