Dualité

If there has been a lack of updates, it’s because I’ve been working hard on a new layout with new content for Dualité.

I will be working extra hard to bring you more original content on fashion, so stay tuned. I’m not dead!

I’ve also been fighting a cold, but that still doesn’t stop me from working at 12:30 at night to get this done for you.

Besides, I’m sure you all have your eyes glued to NY Fashion Week

Only a day after reporting that Hudson Bay Company owner, Richard Baker, was in hot waters with his flailing retail purchases, The Bay announced a cut back of 1,000 jobs. This cut is part of a restructuring The Bay is undergoing, claiming it will refocus the department store. I’m not quite sure how you can offer better service if department staff are taking the axe though.

Today, the Globe and Mail reports that The Bay is relying heavily on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games to boost sales. The Bay is the official company  who will be dressing the Canadian Olympic team and will reveal their corporate logo for the Winter Games next week.

Exactly how patriotic will Canadians be about the Winter Games of 2010? The Bay had released official Olympic products for the Beijing Games last year, and failed to make any significant retail waves. Jeff Sherman, HBC’s CEO, acknowledged the shortcomings of last year’s fashion flop and promised to “not make those mistakes again.” They’re apparently working on “sought-after designs” that should have better retail longevity.

What HBC really hopes to accomplish is to reproduce Roots’ Olympic success. According to the Globe and Mail back in Oct:

The Olympics work had helped put Roots on the world map after its poor boy cap created a sensation – and a selling frenzy – at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.

Since then, Roots had been the official outfitter for the U.S. Olympic team until last year when famed American designer Ralph Lauren designed the team’s jackets. The collaboration also proved fruitful as sales were still strong on the retail floor even after the Beijing Games were done.

Were HBC have made a collaboration with a Canadian fashion brands like Pink Tartan or DSquared, as Adidas made with Stella McCartney, that could help boost visibility for The Bay with their exclusive Olympic line.

Last year’s fashion flop – Who would actually wear these?

Another problem are the numerous licensees who are developing other Olympic products as listed by Vancouver Sun in February 2008. The list of products also include clothing apparel, which could place it in direct competition with The Bay’s designs. Although, Olympic Canadian fashion doesn’t really whip up my style senses into a frenzy.

With the news of the global recession, the implementation of Lord & Taylor into the Canadian market has been scraped for now. It will be a slow and painful process for Richard Baker to turn around two department store chains in 2 different countries.

Image credits: HBC, official Vancouver2010.com muk muk plush

The future of NRDC’s recent acquisitions remain uncertain as a deepening recession has sent Richard Baker’s retail purchases in 2006 through 2008  into dark waters.

According to the Wall Street Journal*, a few of Baker’s purchases have already flunked out – namely Linen n’ Things, FortunOff and the once promising Peter Som. The department stores Lord & Taylor and The Bay were said to endure a makeover in better positioning themselves in the retail market. In the US, Lord & Taylor was said to stand between Macy’s and Nordstrom. In Canada, the U.S. department store would position itself between The Bay and Holt Renfrew. Today, it would seem this projection is bleak.

The Bay, already suffering from previous mismanagement, seem to have encountered yet another setback in making a significant return to the Canadian retail market. If the department store is heading for a resale, unless by some miracle in this global recession, I fear that this branded department store will disappear off of customer’s radars, if not done so already.

*If you’re not  subscribed to WSJ, there is a technical loophole in which you can view the article if you search the following keywords in Google – “nrdc, baker, wsj”. Click on the “cache” link and you should be able to see it. Ahh technology.

While I was sitting at my local laundromat waiting for the spin cycle to end, I picked up a past issue of the New Yorker, the March 2008 edition, and started flipping through the pages for distraction.

Although I have forgotten the title of it, I read a very interesting article about the downturn of the housing market and made a correlation between the mass foreclosures in North America with the spending habits of fellow consumers.

During the real estate boom between 1996 and 2004, borrowing credit had never been easier. Lending restrictions were lax and putting a down payment on a home was virtually non-existant. The average down payment for a home would only reach as little as 2%, leaving consumers less likely to save up for the future and spending more. This extra spending habit conveniently coupled with the rise of accessible luxury was a recipe for extravagance.

Read the rest of this entry »

While the buzz online about digital fashion are of online stores, captivating flash websites, and bubbly social networks, others are thinking outside the box and into the copper wires of technology.

While browsing through TechCrunch, a site who reports on the latest startup companies and the occasional oddball news, has reported some bizarre, yet plausible stuff in the making.

Fembots: A reality?

Japan is reknown for their fascination with robots, and the journey continues as one technological institute in Hyougo introduced Manekin Robotto (Mannequin Robot), a humanoid robot that is supposed to move and act like a female model. Crude as she may look and standing only at 160cm (about 5’3″), she’s hardly what one would describe as an end of human fashion models, however, conceptually it would make for an interesting fashion show. With the right technological advancement and application, a robot model can introduce a range of new advantages (and disadvantages) on the runway.

Digital Clutch – Lipstick space not included

Designer Vivienne Tam had struck a deal with Hewlett-Packard in creating a customized laptop, the HP Mini, with a flowery design. The mini laptop is available for $699 on HP’s website and claims to be the first digital clutch. However cool the design may be, HP forgot what a clutch’s main purpose should be: carrying our credit cards and money of course! Maybe if they made a matching carrying case, now we’d be talking…

Transforming  Sneaker Sandals

Last year I blogged about UK’s female car insurance, Sheila’s Wheels, about their convertible high heels. Well it seems that the same would go for men looking to alleviate themselves with a converse-like shoe into sandals. The practicality does pose a problem. Were the person choose to wear sandals and they would have to carry the external pair around like extra luggage. At least with Sheila’s shoes, the transformation is inconspicuous.

Discovered this amazingly cute video at Iconique.com of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s collaboration with Lego.

Who says fashion is no fun? The video also gives a wink to Anna Wintour, but who’s the man in the tuxedo supposed to be??

With the announcement of the first African-American President last night, Barack Obama, as a minority, I feel a great sense of pride. It also ignited in me to blog about some of the most influential, critically-acclaimed fashion journalists today who happen to be African-American.

I found this site that features two prominent fashion journalists, one who changed my life with her eye-opening book, The End of Fashion, the other – writing a riveting article for Harper’s Bazaar called “Everyone is a fashion critic“.

These journalists are of course Teri Agins from The Wall Street Journal, and Pulitzer Prize winner Robin Givhan from The Washington Post.

Fashion Roundtable: An Interview with Three Leading Black Fashion Journalists

Lookonline.com posted an interview with these two admirable women along with Constance White, of whom I am not familiar with, who has previously written for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune. Frankly, this is a goldmine interview of these women who had to struggle through the newspaper and magazine industry. They talk of their experiences at Vogue and Elle, as well as tips in writing compelling news articles- articles with heart, articles with an impact. This is a rare article indeed that looks into the careers of these successful fashion journalists, and I can only feel inspired to follow in their footsteps one day.

Ok, it’s old, posted about 6 years ago in 2002, but this is a timeless piece. These journalists are still active today, still reporting on fashion with the eye of a reporter.

Image credit: lookonline.com

Ok, I guess that’s a bit harsh to say that there are upcoming sales on the calendar, but as you can imagine, I have no doubt that retailers will want to make up for their sinking profits this year.

Au Coeur De La Mode Nov 16th, 2008

This fashion charity event will hold its bi-annual sale at Palais Des Congres, where the $5 entrance fee will be donated to the AIDS Foundation. Once again local brands will hoist up theirs goods with prices slashed above 50% off. You’ll find a good mix of local and popular European brands like Miss Sixty and Horst. It’s a huge sales floor, so you can be there for hours.

Ogilvy en rose Nov 19th, 2008

This yearly charity fashion event will be hosted at Ogilvy on Ste-Catherine promising schmoozing and entertainment, as well as a 15% discount (in essence, sans taxes) on items sold on the floor. There will be of course a fashion show, some local celebrities, and a contest to win some prizes. Tickets are steep, $100 each. Funds raised will go to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.

Winners all year round

What can I say, this place is always on sale.

It’s no doubt that if the shrinking confidence consumers continue on, there are strong chances stores may close all together. Following lay offs in all corners of the market, one has to wonder who will be hit next. Even NRDC, owner of the recently acquired The Hudson Bay Company, will have to face some serious challenges in this dreary economic climate. On CNNMoney.com, Lord & Taylor recently replaced their CEO with a Neiman Marcus executive as they all brace for one of the worst holiday seasons in recent years. Bad economies could put the Hudson Bay Co. at risk of suffering more loses and reputation despite of their recent buyout.

Timing is of essence in business, and there are no worse timings than J. Crew’s recent store opening of their brand new high end store. Ouch. Let’s just hope Millard Drexler, responsible for launching The Gap into stardom in the 90s, knows how to weather this nasty financial storm.

Every once in a while, fashion is a center for mockery when it’s Fashion Week. The catwalk crashers strut down the runway often in ridiculous outfits bearing signs of protest against fur, labor, and whatnot. Most recently there was British comedian actor Sasha Baron Cohen (known for his Ali G. and Borat characters) who burst onto one of the catwalks in Milan. He was able to fool security with fake passes with his crew and caused a commotion backstage. Cohen apparently was able to walk on the catwalk, cloaked in black cloth, to reveal seconds later a wacky concoction of different fabrics wrapped crudely around him with some boots hanging off the side. A Milan official grabbed hold of him before he was escorted off stage.

Last season at MFW Fall 2008, 2 crossdressers struted down the runway bearing signs that had nothing to do with the fashion industry to the utter indifferent reaction of the crowd. Everyone thought it was part of the show, but apparently, it wasn’t.

I find these comedic breaks or unforseen protests to be kind of a breath of fresh air in such a serious environment. For too many years the catwalks are laden with expressionless models who robotically move down the runway. If you look back to old 1980s footage of runway shows, there’s a huge difference in attitude and presentation of the clothes. Models swirved, smiled, lived and breathed the clothes they wore even if they were only for a few seconds. Being so brainwashed with robotic models, the 1980s runways look kind of kitschy, yet profoundly human. Only a few designers encourage their models to really act out during runway shows the ones that pop in my head are Jean-Paul Gaultier and Dior by John Galliano. These kind of theatrics may be over the top for saleability, yet for entertainment value, they are one of the most visually pleasing.

We don’t necessarily have to have catwalk crashers to be entertained, but a little more movement and expression wouldn’t hurt the shows.

Image credit: Reuters

I had originally dismissed The Globe and Mail for not reporting any worthy news on fashion other than trends, but I realize that my mistake was that I was looking in the wrong section. If you want some significant news on fashion that excludes trends and top 10 must-haves, you’ll have to venture over to the business section of most newspapers. And there you can find some pretty good articles. Apologies to the Globe and Mail, now I can’t get enough of your Report on Business section!

Which brings me to these very interesting articles that popped up in the last couple of days.

Made in Canada – An in depth look at the advantages and some tips on how to keep a Canadian business going with some examples of some companies who have learned harsh lessons throughout the year. This also highlights that despite China and India’s cheap price, in the long run, it could become more costly to make things overseas as wages will increase over time.

Procter & Gamble links laundry to fashion - Tide, owned by P&G, has come up with a new type of laundry detergent that could be called as the “anti-aging solution” for clothing. Sure it’d be great to have a detergent that didn’t destroy your clothes…but how about buying clothes made of reliable, high quality material instead of the cheap kind if you want them to last?

Sick of Slow Service, Customers Walk -This is an ever growing problem in the retail business as Canadian consumers are fed up with the slow service being offered to them. And here’s another contributing factor of the ailing department store industry:

Department stores lose the greatest amount of business because of frustrated customers leaving empty-handed, with 78 per cent of survey respondents indicating that they have left a department store because of long waiting times.

It looks to me that HBC will really have to put customer service as a priority if they want to lure customers back. It will also need to significantly exceed the kind of service you get at Holt Renfrew (which is to say discriminatory and snooty).

The Gazette (shocking, I know)

Catalogue Yanked -La Maison Simons has decided to pull it’s Fall catalogue from the shelves after receiving numerous complaints of using too thin models on its pages. Although it’s been argued that images of very thin models do not cause anorexia, it has been proven to be one of the triggers that can lead to eating disorders. Montreal has especially been aware of the image it projects to its consumers in the fashion industry and Montreal Fashion Week fully supports the use of not-so thin models. However, from my observations when I’ve been to MFW, some of those girls seemed too thin in my opinion. But kudos to Simons for taking action.