Gap Fires Head Designer Patrick Robinson
LatestIn almost totally unsurprising fashion news, Patrick Robinson has been fired as the creative director of Gap. Robinson — an actual designer-designer, with Anna Wintour‘s active support, a Parsons education, and stints at Giorgio Armani and Paco Rabanne under his belt — was brought on by the company in 2007. Robinson’s tenure marked a turn towards more carefully designed collections — most notably, he took a year to re-design Gap’s entire denim line, a successful collaboration with Stella McCartney for Gap Kids happened on his watch, as well as a shoe collaboration with Pierre Hardy that resulted in $250 wedges — but sales at the chain continued to slump, particularly in the U.S. What’s unusual is that Gap is making this announcement without a replacement for Robinson in the wings. (Pam Wallack, head of something with the exciting name the Gap Global Creative Center, will manage day-to-day operations while the company searches for a new head designer.) Why the sudden push to oust Robinson now? Sales have been mediocre and products have been inconsistent at Gap for years. With no new talent in easy reach, and what with that ridiculously mismanaged “new logo” launch a few months back, it seems like Gap may continue to flounder aesthetically for the foreseeable future. [WWD]
Tiffany & Co.‘s new “Tiffany Twist” jewelry collection contains several pieces that are nearly identical to the work of Kiel Mead, a Pratt-trained, Brooklyn-based designer who has been selling his “Forget Me Knot” collection at retailers including the Museum of Modern Art store since 2005. One of Kiel’s rings, pictured here on the left, costs $50 in sterling silver; Tiffany’s version goes for $225. [Unbeige]
Here are the first pictures of Stella McCartney‘s Adidas uniforms for the U.K. Olympic team. [Vogue UK]
The Telegraph picked up our story, and tracked down the original photograph of Kate Middleton which Grazia Photoshopped so egregiously. As you can see, the magazine lengthened her torso, whittled down her waist, and — weirdest of all — cloned her left arm, flipped it over, and attached it to her right shoulder. Grazia says it “did not make any changes to the image of the Duchess of Cambridge to make her look or appear slimmer than she is.” [Telegraph]
If you want a silk scarf with a George Condo painting of Kanye West‘s face on it, and you have €250, now’s your moment. [Racked]
Target‘s next designer collaboration will be with Missoni. Expect the goods in stores on September 13. [Vogue]
The goods — more than 400 products in all — will include apparel for men, women, girls, and babies, as well as homewares. Prices will range from $2.99 to $599.99 — which is certainly the most expensive individual item we’ve ever heard of in a Target designer collection. [Racked]
This $250 moc-croc handbag, designed to look like one Susan B. Anthony carried, is flying off the shelves at the Rochester, New York, museum dedicated to the feminist reformer. [NYTimes]
- Angelina Jolie is believed to have shot her “Core Values” Louis Vuitton campaign — for which she will be paid a reported $10 million — with Annie Leibovitz in Cambodia this week. [WWD]
- Alexa Chung digs Twitter, hates blogs: “Blogs are ridiculous; they’re just mood boards — unless you’re Tavi.” It’s funny that this quote about how Twitter is better than blogs is coming to us, on a blog, because of Twitter. [Vogue UK, via @fashionfoiegras]
- Carine Roitfeld is making a return to magazines. The former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief, who is believed to have been fired, will style the cover and one editorial for the fall issue of V magazine. [P6]
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who has been to rehab for alcoholism four times, has lost his Hugo Boss contract. [ContactMusic]
- Rihanna will release a second perfume. [JustJared]
- Manny Pacquiao — yes, the boxer — just launched his first scent. [LATimes]
- Agyness Deyn has been cast in a remake of the 1996 movie Pusher. She will play a “strong-minded stripper.” [Vogue UK]
- Natalia Vodianova says wearing Alexander McQueen‘s clothes for his shows could be “torturous.” “The clothes were so incredible, but certain pieces were torturous in a way because [they had] such a small waist. I saw so many girls almost fainting backstage, but we all loved it because it was a real show, and the atmosphere was so exciting always.” In 2008, one model — Abbey Lee Kershaw — actually did faint on McQueen’s runway. [Vogue UK]
- DecadesTwo.1 is holding a sale of vintage Alexander McQueen. There are some beautiful and very expensive pieces. [Racked]
- A man from Brooklyn named Ivan Bart is a big part of the reason IMG became the thousand-pound gorilla modeling agency it is today. So modeling industry nerds will appreciate his long and fairly detailed interview in the new Industrie. Here’s what he has to say about Miranda Kerr, Lara Stone, and the preferred industry narrative of the “overnight success”: “Lara Stone is an overnight success who has been around for 10 years. And so is Miranda Kerr. There’s no overnight success; it just appears that way. Carolyn Murphy went to Paris and to school three times before it happened for her. After the supermodel, there was a hunger and desire for designers to just design clothes and let them speak for themselves, so they were looking for new faces. These girls weren’t developed yet, they were sent down the runway literally just after getting off a plane from Eastern Europe. I’m in the business of management and development. I know that it takes several years to understand the business and to know yourself and what you want.” [Industrie]
- Diane von Furstenberg has written some reflections on motherhood, for Mother’s Day: “I had two children by the time I was 24, so I have been a mother for most of my adult life. My children are now parents, and as I watch them with their children, I feel proud and thankful.” [Inside DVF]
- The judge in Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana‘s trial for fraud and tax evasion has released his full ruling. The judge found for the designers and dismissed all of the charges, and criticized prosecutors for their “frankly excessive carelessness” in interpreting the law. Dolce and Gabbana had been accused of perpetrating a billion-dollar fraud by improperly transferring the ownership of their company to Luxembourg. [WWD]
- Oscar de la Renta is moving from 7th Avenue, his base for nearly all of his fashion career, to a new headquarters on W. 42nd Street, which will be big enough for him to hold his runway shows in-house rather than at the Christian Science church on Park Avenue where he’s shown since 2007. (Neighbors were reportedly unhappy with the noise, traffic, and general fuss of his runway shows, and tried to prevent the church from renting out the space.) Says de la Renta, “When I started showing my clothes, we would have six models who brought their own shoes and did their own hair and makeup. Now we have megashows that no one really needs. People can look at the show on their iPad or on the Internet.” [WWD]
- The luxury industry is surging this year, according to Bain & Co., the people who study such things. Sales are expected to rise 8% over last year, to $274 billion. This is largely due to China, though spending in the U.S. and Europe is also recovering. [WSJ]
- Hearst has struck a deal with Apple to offer digital subscriptions to its magazines through iTunes. They’ll cost $19.99 annually, or $1.99 an issue. [WWD]
0 Comments