Jezebel: american eagle outfitters

Dolce & Gabanna's Domenico & Stefano Are Devout Designers

TatianaTheAnonymousModel — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:30:00 EST

Sometimes the morning brings good news: Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are going to play Italian priests in the movie version of Nine, which was inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2. Priests! [Elle UK]

And here's the bad news: The U.S. Department of Labor reports job losses of nearly 10,000 in the apparel and textile sector for January alone. Departent stores cut nearly 9,000 positions the same month. [WWD]
Luxury conglomerate It Holding SpA, which owns the labels Gianfranco Ferre and Malo, may go into bankruptcy. The Italian stock exchange has suspended trade of its stock indefinitely. [WSJ]
Residents of San Francisco's Mission district — kind of like the Williamsburg of the west — successfully fought a proposed American Apparel using the city's stringent permit requirement laws for chain stores. The idea of hundreds of American Apparel-clad hipsters arguing the finer points of locally-owned commerce to the planning commission is a little wacky but sweet. [SF Gate]
Meanwhile, spunky Badgers influenced the University of Wisconsin to let its contract with Russell Apparel, owner of the Russell Athletic brand, lapse following reports of anti-union activity by the company in Honduras. [U.S. News]
Phoebe Philo talks at some length about her design process for her first Céline pre-spring and resort collections, which are to be shown in June. There's nary a mention of the fact that her first Céline collection was to be for fall 09, which booster Anna Wintour had booked into an exclusive Vogue editorial for the March issue, and which sources recently reported LVMH had gotten "a team" to work on in Philo's stead. [WWD]
This completely escaped my notice: the real people in the background of the ad campaign for Isaac Mizrahi's first collection for Liz Clairborne include bloggers Dannielle Kyrillos of Daily Candy and Katrina Longworth of Spout Blog. Wonder whose idea that was? [Brand Freak]
Model Heather Marks diaried her food intake for seven days in the run-up to New York fashion week. You can now commence arguing about whether or not it's healthy; I vote her a paragon of nutritional virtue, but then, I've been in this industry a long time. [Grub St.]
Fendi's sole perfume, Palazzo, which launched in 2007, is being taken off the market due to disappointing sales. [WWD]
Victoria's Secret has hired an L.A. entertainment company to help place their products in film and television venues. Look forward to a net increase of characters taking moments to adjust their VS bra straps in 3, 2, 1... [Brand Week]
The Times of London has a sneak peek at a new exhibition of Madonna's clothes in the English capital, and a fascinating take on the semiotics of her Madgesty's dress. [Times of London]
Oooh. I totally want stationery that features designers' doodles and sketches. [WWD]
Fashion houses seem of two minds about how to design for the recession: some, like Louis Vuitton and Zac Posen, are talking all about "classic" this and neutral colors that, while others, like Coach, want more than ever to harness the bright sparkle of trendiness that might make their products stand out from others'. Everyone's going to be watching to see what Marc Jacobs does, of course. [WSJ]
And whatever that might be, the Guardian has a good, long appreciation of Jacobs' recent Stephen Sprouse collection for Louis Vuitton, and a more than a few 80s New York stories of the designer himself. [Guardian]
Unsurprisingly, Kate Moss is the female celebrity women most want to dress like. I think, cough, she is part of the reason Hunter rubber boots are selling so well, Wall Street Journal. [The Sun]
Ew, Fergie has a shoe line now. [WWD]
McDonald's McCafe will be the "official coffee" of New York fashion week, with espresso and drip coffee available for free in the tents all week long. Naturally they're expecting front-row celebs to be photographed, paper cups in hand. Micky D's hasn't traditionally had the best outreach with the womenfolk; I guess by now they figured out the shortest distance to a girl's heart is via vanilla latte. [AdAge]
The pre-holiday 70% and 80% markdowns at Saks and other department stores were just a harbinger of things to come. Expect the big stores that can afford the hit to keep pushing prices down — and expect the smaller concerns to continue struggling to compete. [WSJ]
This is just ridiculous. Heel height has nothing to do with the economic climate, and "sky-high heels," which I'm pretty sure didn't even exist in the 1930s since they didn't then know how to achieve height and strength by using a metal core within the heel shaft, have been in for about the last four years and certainly aren't any new recession thing. Who writes this crap, and why aren't they busy getting to the bottom of the Lipstick Sales Conundrum or retooling the Hemline Bellwether hypothesis? [The Sun]
American Eagle Outfitters is suing Citigroup for allegedly misleading them into buying assets that they were assured were safe and liquid, but whose value has now plummeted. [Dealbook]
Unlike Kellogg's, Speedo is standing by Michael Phelps in the wake of being photographed doing whatever he was doing with that unusual-looking pipe. [WWD]
Jason Wu's PR firm threw the 26-year-old designer a party at the Soho Grand ahead of fashion week. [Style.com]
Love magazine, the hotly-awaited brainchild of power stylist Katie Grand (formerly of Pop) has leaked its inaugural cover. It's a triple header, with one featuring Agyness dressed up as Queen Elizabeth II, another showing Iris Strubegger as a purple-haired cyber clubkid, and the third with Iggy Pop. Looks like a winner. [Models.com]

Kate Moss Is Solid Gold. No, Really.

Sadie — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:30:00 EDT

I know this is why I go to the British Museum: to see a life-sized Kate Moss rendered in pure gold. "A solid gold sculpture of the model, thought to be the world's largest gold statue built since the time of ancient Egypt, was given its first showing yesterday." [Independent]
Working to combat any taint of elitism, Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker are hosting a fashion show to raise funds for the Obama campaign. "The Sept. 9 shindig at the Charles Nolan Studio will feature designs from Beyoncé and Tina Knowles for House of Dereon, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, Juicy Couture, Narciso Rodriguez and Proenza Schouler, among others." [E]
Meanwhile on the left coast, "Michelle Obama will get her chance to meet fashion and entertainment types in Los Angeles." Tom Ford is one of the hosts. [WWD]

Armani joins the ranks of fashion designers inexplicably designing luxury residences. "The Armani Residences in Marassi, Egypt will offer palatial villas (of 2,500 to 5,400 square feet) furnished by, of course, Armani Casa. The resort includes a boardwalk lounge, health club, reflective pool, resort club, screening room, swimming pools, pool deck, and retail outlets." [Fashion Week Daily]
Whether she's selling the label or not, Jil Sander is launching swimwear. [WWD]
Despite a makeover, Vogue.com won't be getting its own site; it's still under Style.com's banner. [WWD]
There's a book coming out on the 2002 rape and murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington. Some are crying poor taste. [NYT]
Several retailers — Chico's and American Eagle among them — do better than expected. [NYT]
Esprit shares plunge. [Reuters]
Miami is scandalized by billboards: "Shot by Michael Thompson, model Hana Soukupova appears wearing only Wolford fishnet stockings. Perhaps it was their open weave that led the city to reject the banners, which usually run on major arteries, arguing they could cause traffic accidents." [WWD]
Retailers bank on familiarity, hire old-school supermodels. "There's Linda Evangelista, with her trademark haughty sneer, wearing Prada's new austere lace look, Naomi Campbell shaking a waist-long mane of hair in an Yves Saint Laurent dress, and a black-bobbed Claudia Schiffer posing in front of a shabby-chic door for Chanel." [The Guardian]
Sheryl Crowe, who's clothing line was already inexplicable, is moving into shoes. [WWD]
Half the charges have been dropped against accused rapist and designer Anand Jon; that still leaves ten accusers. [LAT]
Justin Timerlake (as William Rast, of course)'s cinematic ads are here! [FabSugar]
Nina Garcia goes pretty easy on Hillary: "You know, I thought that what she wore was almost like sending us a message that she doesn't really care what we think." [New York]
Oh, the challenges of costume design: "I'm the luckiest costume designer in Hollywood, for sure," The Telegraph reported Zophres said. "But getting George and Brad to look like ordinary guys? Even cheap suits look better on Brad." [UPI]
Mulberry may be a luxury brand, but their factory still sounds like hell on earth. [Telegraph]
Valentino has no problem playing favorites: "When asked to name the actresses who stood out for him, the designer said: "I have to be very sincere, the person that makes me feel very happy, also because (she) chose vintage, was Julia Roberts, when she got the Academy Award... I was very excited to see her when she appeared with my dress."" [The Star]
Don't worry! "Style.com, the online home of Vogue, is introducing an iPhone application designed to enable dedicated followers of fashion to watch runway shows during New York Fashion Week." [NYT]
Tommy Hilfiger's fashion week invitation features...a bare-assed model. [Nylon]
Yes, indeedy. "I Am Queen" is in the works. Perfume or cologne? Diddy has yet to say! [NYT]

Sean Combs's New Fragrance Is Called "I Am King." That Is All.

Sadie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Sean Combs's new fragrance, "I Am King" will premiere as a Macy's exclusive in December. 'I Am King is a statement about all men,” said Combs, during an interview at his Bad Boy Entertainment offices in Manhattan. “We are all descendents of royalty — and if we carry ourselves and respect ourselves in that manner and believe in ourselves, then we are all kings." The new fragrance, he says, is "more about sophistication. It’s strong and also sexy, with an elegance and simplicity to it.” [WWD]
More on how design chief Patrick Robinson is trying to make The Gap cool. Can't they just...you know, carry better clothes? [Business Week]
Lydia Hearst says she's not like Paris Hilton, ruins it by calling herself a "supermodel." "Don't ever compare New York media heiress Lydia Hearst to Paris Hilton. "Remember: I am a supermodel and have the award to prove it, and she is a celebrity. There's no comparison." [Page Six]

Oy. Armchair activists Benetton bring their usual brand of asinine commentary to the Beijing Olympics. "Benetton on Friday took out double-page advertising spreads in a number of leading news dailies worldwide, showing a Tibetan monk and a Chinese soldier praying face to face under the word 'Victims.'" They also show pictures of Sichuan earthquake victims (Benetton supports the Red Cross) and explain that their work “attempts to make a small contribution to dialogue and engagement between Tibetan and Chinese people." [WWD]
Judge awards LVMH huge payout from Canadian counterfeiters. [WWD]
Bollywood spawn makes like Hollywood spawn, launches clothing line. Riddhima Kapoor, daughter of well known Bollywood actors Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, has names her line"ARA"."My collection makes a girl look hot. It is sensual but, at the same time, it's not at all vulgar. You just have to be yourself in these clothes," [Hindustan Times]
Philllips de Pury & Co are hosting an auction of "hip hop's crown jewels" including bling "sported by 50 Cent, Biz Markie, MC Lyte, Kanye West and the late Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur." [Fashion Week Daily"]
The popular kids aren't shopping either! Along with Hot Topic, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle sales are down. [Wall Street Journal]
Designers Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker are dressing phones. "BlackBerry smartphones are now an integral part of everyday life, so it's great to be given the opportunity to add some extra glamour to the way in which they can be carried," explain the design duo, who have taken inspiration from BlackBerry's magenta, silver and midnight blue colour palette."We've taken the stunning colours from the new summer range and really brought them to life through our pouch design. The combination pouch and handset will make even the most stylish fashionista stand out." [VogueUK]
Andre 3000 has made it. Into The Sartorialist. [The Sartorialist]
Polo profits up. I guess the rich are different! [WWD]
And Ralph Lauren is sensitive about his age. [WWD]
The same people who let all those fashionistas DJ are now letting them make films. "The aim of the project is to give stars of the fashion world the opportunity to show off their clothes and the spirit of their label in any way they see fit. Among the line-up of participants are Pierre Hardy, Peter Jensen, Todd Lynn and Rodarte. Each designer has produced a film between 30 seconds and three minutes long - and judging from the stills that we've seen each promises to be quite a spectacle." [ElleUK]
Reebok is teaming up with toy co. Hasbro to launch a Monopoly sneaker. I want the thimble. [Fashionista]