Urban Outfitters Pulls Least Offensive UO Product From Stores
LatestUrban Outfitters has pulled this coffee mug that looked like a giant prescription bottle after people complained that the store was making light of prescription drug abuse (as opposed to making fun of that guy at the office who always jokes he’s “addicted” to coffee, oh boy!). However you can still buy an Urban Outfitters mug that looks like it has poop in it. [CNN]
You can now play an online game where the objective is to steal the sunglasses off the face of a tiny, digitized Karl Lagerfeld. “Too bad,” he says in French, slapping your hand away with his fan. “Missed again!” It’s all a promotion for Lagerfeld’s collection of eyewear. We snatched a couple pairs, enduring digi-Karl’s withering criticism the whole time, but struck out on level 5. [Jeveuxleslunettesdekarl.com]
Catherine McNeil stars in this ad for H&M’s summer collection. [Vimeo]
Fashionista points out that both Teen Vogue and Vogue have now shot Katy Perry lolling in a pile of hay. [Fashionista]
• Designer Reem Acra is on the host committee for an Anthony Weiner fundraising event. The group is called Women for Anthony, and her co-hosts include Elie Tahari’s wife Rory, Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin, and her sister Heba. The disgraced ex-congressman is running for mayor of New York City. u[Politico]
• Eva Chen’s appointment to the editorship of Lucky is not only the first time an Asian-American has been tasked with helming a Condé Nast property — Chen is also young, reportedly in her early 30s, and may be the first digital native to run a major magazine. [Fashionista]
• Behind yesterday’s surprise termination of Men’s Wearhouse C.E.O. (the man who guarantees you’ll like the way you look) George Zimmer seems to be unspecified tensions with the board over issues including Zimmer’s role in the company’s advertising. Also, this is interesting:
Zimmer, 64, has emerged in recent years as something of a cult figure, and not only because of his ubiquitous presence on television. The New York native is known to have a spiritual bent and succeeded in securing Deepak Chopra a position on MW’s board. He personally donated $50,000 to the unsuccessful 2010 initiative to legalize marijuana in California and eschewed the practice of putting job applicants through criminal background checks.
[WWD]
• This interview with fashion writer Lynn Yaeger, who got her start in the ad sales department of the Village Voice, is delightful. Her advice for people looking to break into the industry:
“Don’t lose sight of how most people live and become seduced by this dream world of money and fashion so that you lose all sense of reality.” It’s a philosophy she abides by when writing her own pieces. “I try to make it very conversational, as if I’m writing an email to somebody or just telling somebody what I really think about things. I always try to be really conscious of price and aware of the fact that for most people, $50 or $60 is a lot to spend on a dress, whereas in the fashion world, $500 or $600 is considered cheap. So I try to be as honest as I can be about it.”
[BoF]
• Creatures of the Wind got a major investment from the Dock Group, a firm run by the former president of The Row. The size and value of the stake were not disclosed. [WWD]
• Tammy and Christopher Kane, the brother and sister who run the Christopher Kane brand, talk to the Times about growing up in Scotland, attracting investment from Kering, and how brain scans came to inspire a recent collection. Also, there’s this back story about a dress, made of lace mesh by Kane as a fashion student, that is currently on display in the Met’s punk show:
“That dress must have cost £5 to make,” Mr. Kane said, referring to the equivalent of less than $8 today. “That’s what Punk really was, so D.I.Y. — but it was such a fresh idea,” he said, adding that he had been afraid to take the dress to Louise Wilson, his mentor at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, but that she had loved it.
[NYTimes]
• Here’s an interview with the founders of Maker’s Row, a new tech start-up that aims to help apparel companies find suppliers and manufacturers who make things in the U.S. [Fashionista]
• Former couturier Jean-Louis Scherrer has died. He was 78. [WWD]
• Hermès has confirmed it is indeed suing Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (which is also suing, and simultaneously trying to buy, Hermès). Also confirmed is the news that Balenciaga is, as rumored, suing former creative director Nicolas Ghesquière for allegedly violating the terms of a confidentiality agreement by talking to the press after his acrimonious departure from the house. [WWD]
• Like Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford is getting into the makeup-for-men movement. Ford will this fall launch a line of nine men’s “grooming” products, including face cleanser, a mud mask, a concealer, and bronzer. [WWD]
• And lastly, here are some things that even the folks at Lucky don’t like shopping for. [Lucky]