A Real Reason Behind D&G Brand Shutdown

Breaking news about D&G line shutdown has certainly left many fashion critics wondering about a real reason behind sanity of this business decision. D&G, a youth line has been announced to live it’s last season during the Spring/Summer 2012 collection demonstration after which D&G will be history. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana explained the decision saying that the line was always meant to be a sibling to the main brand Dolce & Gabbana. Over the past few years D&G however outshined the father brand thus turning the consumer away from the main line.  Hm… so you guys are cutting the most profitable line in your company? Does it even make sense?

It is normal that during recession discounted luxury brands did better than luxury or mid-market. Companies such as Coach even capitalized on the idea by opening factory stores that are selling more than their flagship stores. Roberto Cavalli put more efforts on developing Just Cavalli line opening first JC flagship stores in Italy and the US. Nothing personal, it’s just business.

It is not a secret that both D&G founders are not friends with finances and the tax man. In 2009 Domenico and Stefano were charged for tax evasion for having moved the head office from Italy to Luxembourg thus hiding over $200 in taxes. But no one would think that guys would make such a daring move to kill one of the most successful brands in fashion history.

I think, a real reason is counterfeit. It is clear that D&G brand was either not trademarked on time nor is just too simple to double trademark. Some Donna and Garry can came out and argue that they also deserve D&G name to be used for trades. Acronyms in US are not even allowed to be trademarked.

Over the years of travelling across the word I have never seen more of any other brand name than D&G. One time I visited excursion to Turkey’s famous Salt Pools and on the way was brought to the cotton factory. In the factory shop along with famous Turkish towels and linens there was a huge section of pants and shirts with D&G label on it. Now, that was 10 years ago. Just this year I went to Paris and saw a huge D&G store on one of the central touristic streets. Happily, I went in there and was instantly disappointed. Not only I saw over 500 items on display, which is impossible as each D&G collection is not more than 40 items, but also all items were made in China. It is widely known that D&G is one of the few lines that is still made in Italy under rigorous control of both founders.  Ok, no one is even surprised by Turkey, but Paris! This is over the board. To conclude, in Toronto, in Yorkville (one block away of Bay & Bloor) which is the most touristic area of the city there is a store called Gabbana. It used to face another store called Dolce. I asked the store personnel a few years ago whether there is any affiliation with the famous brand and was told, that Dolce & Gabbana are simply two stores carrying same name.

Anti-counterfeit policy is the only solid reason that comes to my mind that logically explains why D&G brand has been shut down. One can’t blame Gominico and Stafano for not willing to share their success with thousands of other counterfeit shops. Dolce & Gabbana company is still privately owned. Unlike LVMH or much larger Armani Corporation Dolce & Gabbana has simply no resources to protect their Intellectual Property.

We can only hope that genius designers will quickly come up with a better lower luxury brand name and do all proper steps to protect the identity without leaving out the dedicated fans from the pleasure of buying their fashion creations for a rather reasonable price. For now D&G glasses and D&G sunglasses are becoming collectibles and are definitely worth checking out. At Eyeinform, you can be assured, glasses are authentic.

Gucci Fall/Winter 2011 Sunglasses and Glasses Collection

Gucci Fall/Winter 2011 Glasses are made to please people of all styles and career levels. You can call fall Gucci glasses classics or you can call them trendy. They are actually both …

This fall geeky style continues to develop, evolving in more shape variations and colors. After fashion movers of our time – celebrities and models have been wearing oversized glasses shapes for a few seasons, we see more people of more conservative taste putting similar glasses on.

Gucci 1643	Gucci 1654	Gucci 3202
Gucci 2906	Gucci 2902

Gucci fall sunglasses also introduce a new, so called butterfly shape. A bit cat eye inspired, but more so a hybrid of oversized and cat eye. These are new and if you consider yourself among fashion movers – get them and you won’t be disappointed. Butterfly sunglasses that agreeably look a bit over the top on the pictures, actually look very beautiful on many face shapes. If you have a round face, these Winter/Fall 2011 Gucci sunglasses will make it look visually longer. If your face is long, they will balance it out adding more angles to the overall silhouette. Enjoy!

Gucci 2908	Gucci 2909	Gucci 1000

Why High Collar Shirts are So Hard to Find

Ever since Karl Lagerfeld reinvented himself and lost 90 pounds 10 years ago he started to wear high fashion clothing and with years progressing his style turned into a focal point of media and press. In fact Karl Lagerfeld is the most photographed designer in the world and the most known. He explained his weight loss “I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane”. Hedi Slimane is a French fashion designer who is currently working on releasing his own label. Among his notable employers are Dior (Dior Homme collection), Prada and Gucci. Perhaps Slimane was the one to come up with a high collar shirt design that Karl has been wearing over and over again.

But if you try to purchase a shirt like that you will run into trouble. Shockingly none of the big man labels are carrying them. Not even Harry Rosen, not even Chanel itself. Why? What is so hard about it?

Well, partially is that a true high collar, one that goes all the way to the chin, must be custom made. Historically all men shirts were custom made. Collars were detachable. Karl’s shirts are made that way too. There was an episode in the beginning of Private Confidential biographic documentary where it is shown that Karl has a massive drawer with probably couple of hundreds of such collars. When inquired from Chanel store manager in Toronto it was confirmed that shirts are indeed custom made for Karl. Just look at the variety? Collars and cuffs are often of a different color to create contrast. Sometimes they are of the same fabric as the shirt on the outside and have inner lining on the inside. Until Hedi Slimane or another men designer will start including these shirts into ready-to-wear collections all we got is to enjoy pictures of fashionable Karl.

Donatella Versace to Design a Collection for H&M

H&M lovers have been waiting for this moment way too long. And here it comes: H&M announced today a collaboration with the house of Versace.

H&M is a trendy Swedish company that caters to young people. Label made a name retailing low priced, high quality and trendy fashion. Currently 2200 stores worldwide offer a huge selection of clothing, shoes, lingerie and accessories. H&M earned reputation for showing off the low price, $19.99 for a pair of jeans or $49.99 for a trendy coat at their super model ads. While company has been growing organically since its foundation in 1947, collaborations with premium brand designers have brought the H&M label to a completely new level.

First collaboration was in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld. While it was a huge success with lineups stretching around the block and the collection selling within days, Karl criticized the organizers for underestimating the demand. His idea of the collaboration was that people would get a bit of Chanel experience when they can come to stores at the relaxed pace and try the clothing with no restrictions. He feared that H&M collection will cheapenize his lables’ luxurious image.

Since then H&M released close to 10 guest designer collections, most notable being Roberto Cavalli, Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf and most recent Lanvin. All designers have expressed appreciation to participate and were happy with PR outcomes. Many low priced retail companies followed the idea and launched their own partner collections. For example Target had collections done by Alexandr McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier and Milla Jovovich. Issac Mizrahi made collections for  Target in 2002 and Fairweather.

Versace collaboration news have already exploded the press. Bloggers and fashion journalists are very excited about an upcoming H&M – Versace release that is scheduled for late November, 2011. Donatella shared her vision for the collection: “The collection for H&M will be “quintessentially Versace,” inspired by the archives, and including clothing, shoes, accessories, and jewelry for men and for women.” Apart from clothing pieces collection will also include home pieces such as Versace for H&M pillows and a bedspread.

Princess Diana’s Dresses Auction Is Only A Week Away

Well promoted auction of Princess Diana dresses is approaching its historic date. And well on time. Just last week Michael Jackson’s Thriller leather jacket sold for over $400,000. Diana’s dresses are expected to raise over $5 million in Toronto next week.

14 evening dresses come with a story and hallmark photos – all nostalgic and recognizable. The dance with Travolta is perhaps the most memorable. The auction will take place in Toronto on June 23, 2011 at Waddington’s Auction House on Bathurst & King St.

According to the auction house appraisals dresses are estimated between $150,000 to $475,000. Experience shows that many times the estimated price is only to set approximate starting bid and most likely dresses will go for over $500,000 each.

Diana sold her collection of dresses just two years before her tragic death to raise funds for her charitable foundation. In reaction to Diana’s death entrepreneur Maureen Rorech Dunkel has created a People’s Princess Charitable Foundation to carry on Diana’s mission. They were used in the Dresses for Humanity Exhibition tour that over the years circulated the world delivering an illustrative story of Diana’s life. Kensington Palace also borrowed the dresses to be displayed as part of its Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection where the Princess lived from 1981 to 1997.

Dresses collection told a story of Diana’s journey as a “Peoples Princess” and described her personality and character to over a million of viewers who saw the exhibit. By looking at these particular 14 dresses one can draw a picture of Diana’s fun part of personality that was evolving over the time she was married to Prince Charles. From a 19 year old, newly wed princess Diana turned into an iconic figure of humanity in just one decade.

Mrs. Dunkel purchased dresses with a charitable purpose and now after undergoing bankruptcy is in need to sell. Proceeds from sale will go Canada’s National Ballet School.

Est. $800000 / 1000000	A famous Travolta Dance dress was worn in 1985 to a State Dinner at the White House hosted by President & Mrs. Reagan.
Est. $225000 / 275000	Also, Diana wore this dress to pose for Vanity Fair magazine in 1997. Same dress was also worn to the Palace de Versailles for “La Deuxieme Nuit International de L’enfrance” organized by UNESCO, 1994.
Est. $375000 / 425000	Diana wore this dress to a trip to India in 1992. It possesses the cultural elements of Indian traditional gowns – jewels, silky fabric, long sleeves.
Est. $150000 / 200000	Diana was wearing this dress to a state occasion in Vienna in 1986 and to a film premiere in 1993
Est. $250000 / 300000	This dress is known from a Vanity Fair magazine cover in 1997. It was originally designed by Catherine Walker for Diana’s attendance at a royal banquet for the King and Queen of Malaysia in 1993.

Eyewear – A Dive in History

Eyeglasses – lenses embedded into a frame to correct vision have a very long and interesting history.What started as an object to fill very important health function has evolved to the object of fashion. Since glasses were put onto a face from their inception lots of consideration was given to their look, lightweight and comfort.

It is beleived that first documented evidence of spectacles appears in Santa Maria Novella dating back to 1306 written by the Dominican friar. According to the documented fact invention is contributed to Allesandro Spina, a Dominican monk. Italy at the time was a glass making country of the world. Before 1300 magnifying glass was already widely used and it was made out of crystal. Traditional glasses lenses made out of glass, but because first models were made out of beryl or rock  they were known as beryls. Term “brillen” is still used in German to refer to glasses.

First surviving picture of glasses circa 1352 is currently displayed in the church of San Niccolo at Treviso.

It didn’t take long before spectacles reached mass use and by early fifteenth century were associated with literacy. This “image” item is common on painitings, frescas and engravings often depicting monks, cardinals and bible preachers of 1400-1900 era.

The earliest spectacles were made with two lenses mounted in rims made out of metal, horn or leather. They were held by hand and worn only when needed. Later a bridge appeared that connected the lenses and pressed them onto the nose.

As technology of lens production improved, so the desire to wear them continuously. Spectacles were prone to fall of the face or hurt the nose. This problem was solved by the arm that was added to the design of glasses at around 1723. Eighteenth century was also an era of widely developing fashion. Glasses were considered an important part of accessory and therefore many designs spurred. Handles were decorated with precious stones, various shapes were made and materials used for the frame. A lot of attention was given to the cases to hold glasses. Cases were engraved, incrustated, often made out or gold, silver and decorated with mother or pearl, colored stones and even diamonds.

An arm that curved under the wig holding spectacles firmly fixed on the head

Of course simplier materials were also widely used. Among them wood – the easiest to finish, industrialized steel, aluminium, and later optyl. Optyl is a light flexible plastic invented in Austria in 1967. Christian Dior was first to use this material in his collection of fashion eyeglasses and sunglasses. Other forms of plastic were used in combination with metal on glasses frames.

Today metal glasses and plastic glasses fragment the market. Silicone nosepads are part of all metal frames today. Glasses frames are further segmeted into full rim, semi-rimless and rimless that is possible to a very advanced technology of lens manufacturing and etching. Lenses technology development has its own chapter in parallel to sunglasses. We will be covering this in the future posts.

Roberto Cavalli – Success Driven by Instincts

Roberto Cavalli was born on November 15, 1940 in a humble family of a weaver and a tailor. Grandson of a prominent Italian artist Giuseppe Rossi, Roberto grew up influenced by art, beauty and creativity. His father died during the World War II impacting the lifestyle of the family. It was common for young Roberto to hang out with bad guys and to pick up fights on the street. After he finished high school his mother put up a condition to either find a job or to leave home permanently. Roberto chose the latter, however, after some time he made up his mind and enrolled into the Florence Academy of Art.

Roberto was a dreamer. He dreamed of glory. He made his first money painting on fabric. After he gained some skills in this field, his friend, who owned a small factory, commissioned him to do a large number of signature T-shirts. One of the models demonstrating the T-shirt was Bridget Bordeaux, who still young and unknown cheerfully walked along to the Cote d’Azur coast creating buzz. This was an official starting point in the career of Roberto Cavalli.

70’s were years of laying the foundation for his fashion empire. While he hasn’t gained as much recognition as Armani and Missoni, he used this time to develop his style and to obtain maximum creative edge for his designs. He became popular among local Bohemia elite.”This was the prime development time for the Italian fashion industry, we were all so free. The memory of war was still fresh, this is why people wanted to live to the fullest “, he remembers.

In 1972 Roberto Cavalli demonstrated his first collection in the grand Palazzo Piti in Florence. At that time his style was already clearly defined. Fashion for him was part of contemporary art. But his creations were criticized as a bad taste. You bet! Leopard and zebra printed suits, tight pants and rainbow coloured evening dresses. Chosen fabrics were not usual cotton and silk. It was coloured denim with lycra additives. Clothing looked more like a second skin.

The public reaction didn’t stop Roberto. In fact it encouraged him to experiment with fabrics even further. In the hands of a master, leather, another not so popular material at that time, has evolved into a flexible, lightweight and soft material to be used for regular clothing. Dresses made out of this processed leather looked completely natural. And again deception. Again Innovation: use of a laser to create drawing on the leather.

In the 80′s Cavalli’s name has been neglected. He just got lost among the many young designers and rivals such as Gianni Versace, who managed to win the glory of the “celebrity” fashion designer. Loud sexy dresses, bright colors, rich details and finishing took the center stage making Versace uber popular brand taking over runways and stealing critics’ attention.

But in the early 90′s fashion world has undergone slowdown. These were the years of minimalism, which followed a global economic crisis. A short era of supermodels has begun. Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell – no matter what they wore as long as they did. They took the podium during the show. By the end of the decade a meaning of “brand” emerged in the new light. Focus has shifted to the business element of fashion and through the efforts of Tom Ford, brand that stands behind every garment, started to dictate the collection direction. And then many turned to Roberto Cavalli as a consistent designer who had a persistent style and it turned out that his style was associated with elements of brightness and flashy pop, rap, punk and rock’n roll.

In 1994, after 30 years, at the age of 54, Roberto opened his first boutique in San Barthelemy and 4 months later the second one in St. Tropez.

After the death of Versace Cavalli took the celebrity designer status. Celebrities lined up to get his gowns for Oscar ceremonies. Of course who else could surprise with color and associative animal decorative prints making star bodies centre in all magazine coverages. His client list counts a huge number of celebrities: from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin to Sting, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sharon Stone. Many singers commissioned designer to dress their entire performance tours.

The success of the 90′s was so swift that by the early 2000′s, the company Roberto Cavalli SpA has expanded into several more lines, among which are youth line Just Cavalli, knitwear line, a collection of children’s clothing, accessories, eyewear, watches, perfumes and interior decorations. By 2001 revenues reached 147 million Euros (up to 10 times more than in 1996), 100 million of which came from licensing his brand name.

Today Cavalli is a self made millionaire, husband of a former miss Universe, Austrian model Eva Duringer, who was behind the scenes orchestrator of rapid growth of Cavalli empire. They live in their famous villa in Tuscany. Same place also houses the headquarters of the company, studio and a showroom. More than 2 million Euros has been spent on reconstruction and modernization of the house. Tax authorities has charged Cavalli family for writing off the house renovation as business expense in 2007. Court hearing stretched on for months, and witnesses were Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Cindy Crawford. Cavalli argued that the villa is indeed part of his business, it is used as an office to create new collections, as a studio for advertising campaigns and as a banquet hall for holding business entertainment functions.

However parties is not only a part of his business, it is the essence of his life. In his 70 years Roberto Cavalli sustained childlike enthusiasm and amazement to everything new. Latest creations feature floral pattern and snake symbols. Roberto dresses alike. Always jeans and elegant jacket, riders’ boots and a cigar. He sees the world through rose coloured glasses. “I do not understand people who to the question “How are you?” answer “So so”. I always say “Excellent!” even when it is not the case. You can only achieve something in life by tuning it to the positive channel “.

Top 10 Most Interesting iPhone Fashion Applications

There are over 1000 fashion related applications for the iPhone. These range from basic shopping applications to complex graphic games. We tried over 100 popular apps and narrowed them down to top 10. Winners ranked the highest on usefulness, quality and idea. All of the apps are FREE. Some of them are extremely simple and some took teams of programmers to create. Which ones are your favourite?

	1. Go Try It On This app tops our list. It’s a social media powered app that lets you upload photos of yourself and get an opinion from other people about your outfit. Most of the people seem to upload pictures right from the fitting room when deciding whether to buy the item or from their bedroom in the morning. You can comment on other people looks or simply vote Yea or Nea. Some people get hundreds of votes.After poking with the application for a while I realized that commenting on other people looks is actually as much fun as uploading your own. It took a while to set up the profile, but once it was done it was very easy going forward. Application is also useful to learn about different regions and what people wear in other parts of the world. You’ll find people from Europe, New Zealand and anchor cities such as NY, San Francisco etc.
	2. StyleStudioStyleStudio is a free iPhone application that lets you design your own clothing. How often you came up with an outfit idea and you want to show it to someone but you don’t have enough drawing skills? StyleStudio does just that – lets you create your own designs for various clothing items such as pants, skirts, dresses and even some of the assecories. Beautifully made app with lots of options for silhouette, material patterns and colors, cuttings, add on details for each clothing type. You can create entire outfits and combine them on the model to see the fit. There is an upgraded version of this application with even more features. Excellent quality, graphics and idea implementation.
	3. HairstyleEvery year we see movies with detectives trying to assemble photo robot of a criminal. They try face features and hair styles. Have you ever wanted to try different hairs on your own head? Hairstyle does just that – lets you match your head with different haircuts and styles. Free app has only 6 styles but you can get over 200 by upgrading for $2.99. If you are a hair dresser this would be a killer app for you. If not, it still could make a cool game to entertain your friends.
	4. ModiFaceModiFace is a makeup iPhone application that lets you upload your own picture and apply makeup to it to see how it looks, presumably before applying it to the real face. Try different eyeshade colors, lipsticks, foundations, eyeliners, all with a few clicks of a button. This application is very well done as it lets to identify the face features and apply make up quite realistically. If you don’t want to use your own face you can use other models’ faces. Easy to understand description shows close up look of a face part and color swatches step by step. From there you can find a store and purchase eye shadow or beauty goods in case you are missing them from your make up tote.
	5. Style.comStyle.com iPhone application is a collection of fashion show videos from latest fashion weeks around the world, critics’ opinion, designer and model interviews. This simple, but very well made application provides hours of video footage that will get you addicted. No commercials, no banner ads – just pure fashion channel on your iPhone. While there is no novelty in this application, it is much needed for true fashionistas as it taps to a professional world of fashion of its highest class.
	6. Vogue Wish ListHow often you are browsing through a magazine wondering what brand name is an item that caught your eye and where to get it. One may say, well it is in the magazine, you can just check it online? Well, first, not all pictures are tagged for brand name, price etc. Second, what if you read about it in Chapters or in grocery store while waiting in line? You won’t remember the name. With Vogue application you can take a picture of the magazine and get an instant item description about the maker, price and where to get it. To completely rock the next step for this application would be to provide a list of all items from the magazine so we don’t need to scan each page.
	7. Elle CanadaElle magazine utilized very simple, but very useful idea for its app – to share the latest gossips, tips and news via simplified menu. Get this application for free and your time will be filled with hours of quality reading, and photos that you can share via Facebook, Twitter or Email. We did check other similar magazines and found that Elle rates higher when it comes to ease of use and quality of information.
	8. LuckyLucky magazine iPhone app provides ultimate shopping experience. Browse thousands of items and find them in local stores or online, check deals of the day or organize items in your wish list. App is quite simple and useful if you are out of ideas or looking for something specific.
	9. Pop ArtThis is an Andy Warhol transformer iPhone app that turns a photo into colourful tiles. Very simple to use, takes seconds to get Andy Warhol tiles of any object that subsequently can be saved on your phone. Few configurations let you adjust the number and layout of the tiles.
	10. What’s Your Fashion StyleYourStyle is a simple quiz to help you determine what style is yours. Some questions are a bit limiting, like what is your favourite store from a list of 5. None of them was for me, but I chose one most similar to my fav. I ended up being Trendy! Yey…

Other unique ideas:
1. iMade for Skate – a skateboarders’ portal and encyclopaedia of skateboard fashion, tips, ideas, stories and more.
2. Color Fashion $0.99 lets you change color of any part of the picture. It could be your hair, clothes, shoes or your dog!
3. iShoes and iBags – a collection of shoes and bags with built in search engine to search by brand and style. While these apps are free, they didn’t work for me. Good idea, but needs some bug fixing and/or richer database.
4. Justin Bieber Fashion $2.99 – dress Justin Beieber game. How about undress Justin Bieber?