We have no budget. We do what we want and throwing money out the window brings money back in through the front door. The bottom line is I don't deal with the bottom line. The luxury in my life is I never have to think about it. | | Squad. Wearing and holding Stephen Burrows. Vogue 1977. (Oliviero Toscani/Condé Nast Collection/Getty Images) | | | | “We have no budget. We do what we want and throwing money out the window brings money back in through the front door. The bottom line is I don't deal with the bottom line. The luxury in my life is I never have to think about it.” |
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| rantnrave:// If one had to place bootleg/parody/counterfeit fashion on a trend curve, it would likely be on the wane. Yet in fashion, the culture of copying isn't new—it resurfaces time and again. Several examples from fashion's history tell the tale. GABRIELLE CHANEL once said, "Being copied is the ransom of success," allegedly amused at unauthorized copies of her designs. PAUL POIRET was not down with copying and reacted accordingly (and to the full extent of the law). And a whole system of authorized copies, often sold to department stores, was promoted by haute couture designers. So while copying isn't new, it's proven novel. Today, I find the most compelling aspects of copying are speed and the networks that facilitate it: production times, selling on INSTAGRAM, e-commerce storefronts built by signing up for an account. So what's the next step? What happens when counterfeit markets move on? This group of BARCELONA street sellers is going legit. They formed a union, tapped their supplier network, and are launching their own label, appropriately named TOP MANTA. That's right, their identity as counterfeit sellers is the brand name. It's part marketing, part reclaiming what it means to be "top manta." Is this a logical next step for a mature counterfeit market? The next cult label? I could see it catching on... Will there be another luxury conglomerate to rival LVMH and KERING? This piece by MAURA BRANNIGAN looks at why there hasn't been a great American luxury conglomerate, with some lucid thoughts from CHRISTINA BINKLEY and (hopefully semi-lucid from) myself. Great topic, and an important one to consider given recent high-profile exits from NYFW. Also it's fun to mention DONDA in the same breath as LVMH and KERING. Other company trajectories to watch: ASSEMBLED BRANDS, FOR THE ONE, and MAYHOOLA... BYRONESQUE and OPENING CEREMONY are hosting a pop-up full of vintage MARGIELA, RAF, GHESQUIÈRE-era BALENCIAGA, and HELMUT LANG... LVMH is teasing a project called #LVConnected. Look for it July 11... Notes on the VIVATECH summit from a participant of the LVMH Luxury Lab. | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| Voters are consumers now, browsing for the best or most appealing deal. | |
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A retrospective at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts celebrates the designer’s greatness, but is there anyone who needs to be informed? | |
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Hundreds of unlicensed traders plan to stock Top Manta clothes and trainers, an attempt to leave forgeries behind | |
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Remember when Givenchy showed couture? Or better yet, remember when Riccardo Tisci created couture for the brand? I mean really showed couture - in couture-specific runway shows, before it was shown in a mix of seasonal menswear looks? Seems a while ago now. | |
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My friend @johnslamson recently gave a talk that covered the ‘Pitti Peacocks,’ and one member of his audience asked whether it was a conservative phenomenon. | |
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While previous collections have seen him encase clothes in ice and connect models with rubber sock-shoes, this season the Chinese designer approached the collection via commonplace items in the workplace. | |
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LaCambre graduate Marine Serre, winner of the LVMH Prize, met with Tigran Avetisyan to talk influential childhoods, future plans and love. | |
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Ahead of her first-ever retrospective, at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, the daughter of Chinese immigrants reveals why she chose to remain fiercely loyal to her boho-chic aesthetic | |
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At a disjointed couture week invaded by ready-to-wear brands, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli delivered the most touching show of the season. | |
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Founded in the 1920s, the French firm Lesage was known for its virtuoso embroidery. Like Cristóbal Balenciaga, François Lesage, who ran the house in the 1950... | |
| The U.S. may not have the means to support a group comparable to LVMH or Kering just yet, but that doesn't mean that it won't in the future — and on its own terms. | |
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Molly Goddard, who will show at the V&A Museum on Friday, scours the building for inspiration. | |
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It's never been cooler to dress like a dad. But how did that happen? We examine how fashion labels and the economy have impacted this trend. | |
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For better, or - as they say - for worse. | |
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The owner of Moscow based label AVEC on President Putin, Russian rave culture and underground fashion. | |
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Bloggers are eroding the power of the glossy monthly style bible. | |
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Instagram’s Explore tab whittles billions of images down to just the ones you’ll like by tapping your behavior and metadata-not the image content itself. | |
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Once a hip indie enclave, the street went upmarket when high-end chains moved in. Then they left. | |
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The Osaka Five are the pioneers of Japanese and heritage denim; they laid the foundation for an internationally renowned industry. This is their story. | |
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Wimbledon today is known for showcasing the tennis talents of both male and female competitors, with household names ranging from Andy Murray to the Williams sisters to Marina Sharapova. It is astonishing to think that in in the tournament’s earlier days, women were expected to make a decent serve dressed in full-length skirts, corsets, and a bulky shirt: the ‘tennis whites’ of the time. It took some real champions to make a name for women in tennis… | |
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