DressSpace

The debut of a former shop assistant (now a millionaire).

The American dream still exists: you can become a millionaire from scratch.

Another one to be added to the list is Reed Krakoff, 45 years, married to a French architect, with five children. It took him a little more than twenty years, working as a shop assistant in a Versace shop, to become the head of the Coach accessories empire with a turnover of 2.5 billions, 500 shops and a huge building overlooking the Hudson River, all of his own.

Yesterday Krakoff made his catwalk debut with a collection under his own label.

An expert in manufacturing leather to make it look like satin with which he creates evening wear, small coats and outstanding boots.

His passion for art brings him to experiment with forms and volumes.

His warm and “worn look” colours express his love for photography.

The fabrics he uses, mainly cachemire, convey his taste for beauty.

The result is a collection of modern medieval garments, full of charme and elegance, simply light cloth draped and stapled.

A debut with honours!

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Photographer Annie Leibovitz and fashion editor Anna Wintour have been deeply affected by the current recession.

They had to quit their lifestyles as the New York City fashion empresses; you know, banks are now imposing austerity measures.

Two women on the verge of a financial crisis. Two successful women go broke because of their extravagant lifestyles.

Leibovitz is perhaps the most famous living portrait photographer in the world and author of the notorious shots of John Lennon and Queen Elizabeth II.

She is reported to be in deep financial trouble. Though she earned tens of millions of dollars during her career, she is said to be at least $24 million in debt with Art Capital Group, a company based in New York City and specialized in offering loans to people who own fine art, with interest loans ranging between 6 and 16%, and considered by many as a loan shark.

Anna Wintour, the fashion empress, is much more powerful.

Her publishers sent a team of financial experts to the temple of Vogue with the task of carrying out an administrative audit and impose a cost rationalization plan. Last September issue presents less expensive items of clothing (about $2000 each).

The story of these two women hit by the recession draw our attention on a further aspect related to this actual social revolution that is reshaped on a daily basis to fit the economical crisis.

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Clothes swapping is the new shopping trend. It began with home-based fashion swap parties, but now swap-shops are starting to open everywhere.

The goal is to keep up with fashion without going bankrupt.

Forget about those old second-hand shops; swap-shops are starting to open in Italy too, following up (5 years later) on the success of New York and London.

It all began as a clothing swap party where people invited a group of friends to their home; now real swap shops are starting to open everywhere. It is also known as glamour swapping for the quality of clothes and locations.

The shops are real swapping ateliers.

The clothes are of excellent quality and seldomly worn (they are sterilized, ironed and well presented).

If it hadn’t been for swap-shops, these refined and precious clothes wouldn’t be affordable for most of us.

Each item of clothing is assigned a score (usually from 1 to 5) and you can take an item with the same value, that is, for nothing, and as for the shop, you only have to pay from €10 to 20€ for the swap.

Victoria Beckham started the trend by swapping clothes with her best friends: Eva Longoria, Katie Holmes, Emma Bunton, Gwyneth Paltrow.

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The Italian edition of Vogue was created in 1965.
Franca Sozzani is currently editor-in-chief.
Everyone surely remembers her attack against the two showgirls
(known as veline which means “flimsy”) starring in an Italian TV programme called Striscia la notizia. She states: “These two represent a certain way of doing television which conveys a vilifying image of the woman. I prefer Lucia Annunziata* a thousand times over this trash TV”.

The prompt reply from the parties involved: “There is nothing more vulgar than prejudice and clichés. We are surely more covered up than certain models that appear in Vogue.”

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“ENOUGH WITH FADS, TOTAL LOOK IS NOW DEAD AND GONE”
An era is over, now is the time to re-invent ourselves.
“The September Issue” illustrates the birth of an edition of [Vogue America] dated September 2007, the thickest ever, where 840 pages is content and 727 advertisements. If you look at it now, it resembles a relic of the good old days. Vogue issues from fall 2009 on are as slender as their legendary director, who feeds herself on grilled steaks; ads have fallen by 36% and Condè Nast has been mulling over cuts, just like all the others.
Franca Sozzani, influential director of the Condè Nast group and Italian vogue editorial director for 21 years now, is reflecting on the transition that is taking place in the fashion world and also on consumers’ future behavior. “Of course, watching this documentary makes you understand that we have entered a new era; I’m not saying that things were better before.
Today things are getting more difficult but also more challenging and we’ve all got to reinvent ourselves”. “Is the fashion tide turning in favor of being less extravagant? “If extravagance stands for fads, the answer is yes. But if we mean quality and the will to recount a dream, well, it’s no”.
“Italy is a country with a great desire to take action in favor of innovativeness. I am an optimistic person, especially when I see many small firms in our country that aim at quality.

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Vogue is considered the Bible for the international fashion industry and has been directed by Anna Wintour for 17 years.
The magazine, founded by Arthur B. Turnure in 1892, was acquired by the Condé Nast group in 1909.
Fashion pics by the most famous photographers worldwide have appeared on Vogue’s pages: Man Ray, Bruce Weber, Horst P. Horst, Patrick Demarchelier, David Bailey, Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton and Richard

Avedon, just to mention some.
As of today, Vogue counts eleven editions in different countries as well as several satellite magazines, such as L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue Gioiello and Vogue Bambini.

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Industrialists are demanding the proclamation of the state of emergency; resources are needed to overcome the current textile sector meltdown. The textile chain of the Biella district is dissolving bit by bit. Biella and Prato alike want the government to acknowledge the crisis situation.
The Polytechnic University of Turin has announced budget cuts for textile engineering courses.
“The present crisis is one of the worst ever. […] Industrial production has fallen by 27%, with peaks of -30, -50% in various sectors. Export has dropped by 25%”, Donatelli stated on the occasion of the Union of Industrialists general assembly meeting.
The value of Made in Italy was also discussed. “The draft regulation on obligatory labelling of incoming goods and goods traceability has already been deposited”.

Newspaper headlines are rife with recession talk and fears of possible total meltdown of the Italian textile industry. Paola Gabello recently raised the alarm in an article that appeared in the newspaper La Stampa
We are sceptical of doomsday predictions. What’s your opinion on this matter?

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From high fashion to department stores. It doesn’t matter whether they are green or patterned as long as they are made of rubber.
The latest myth –The very symbol of “cold autumn”, when you tighten your belt and step out the door with a smile on your face.
The Elegant one – even with an evening dress on matched with low heel pumps covered with light yellow galoshes.
Camilla Parker-Bowles is believed to be the first ever to launch the trend; she was spotted wearing fishing boots to wade through the puddles of Gloucestershire.

And then Kate Moss showed up at the Glastonbury Rock Festival in June 2008 wearing a pair of army- green boots all spattered in mud. A new trend was launched.
This year boots were everywhere on the fashion catwalks, from Prada to Givenchy, from Pirelli to the department stores.
They came in all styles and colours, worn by many famous actresses and pop stars, from Cameron Diaz to Kelly Osbourne.

  
When I was a little girl, my aunt used to make me wear them every time I went to visit her in the country down by the river. What a nuisance, they were too big!!!!! I literally remember wearing boats on my feet.
Egle Santolini’s article, which appeared in La Stampa, makes no mention of such problem and I wonder whether it has been solved.
Do you know about it?

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Landlords are letting their empty high street shops at very low rents.
Halloween at the time of the economic downturn: temporary shops multiply.
New York: 715 are the new “pop up shops” that exists in between September and November.
The phenomenon starts to involve the big chains as well.

Ricky’s in New York is one of the big names that opened a Halloween temporary shop.
Spirit Halloween is a chain that has opened 725 temporary shops in September and they will close just after the “witch party”.
Temporary emporiums are opening for a few weeks only or even a just few days, taking advantage of the arising commercial opportunities.
It’s a way to brighten up the sales, chase the consumers who are everywhere on the run.
The phenomenon once sporadic has become impressive.
Precariousness increases in the work place as in the shopping windows.

How far from our culture is the macabre cult of the Halloween Carnival.
Massimo Gaggi on the Corriere Della Sera pages recounts how the crisis increases the desire for escape and a celebration full of ghost and “living dead” seams particularly suited to the American economic circumstations (in New York).
Do you think that here (in Italy) it could become something more than wearing Bernard Madoff or Michal Jackson’s mask?

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5 stars cuts or media stars
Savings for the Conde Nast Group

The author of the article describes how the crisis has even involved the Conde Nast group which for the first time is in danger of closing the accounts in the red. McKinsey consultants are analysing the situation in order to suggest an intervention plan for the various magazines of the group. Those same magazines that have transformed opulence in brand.
Vanity Fair has cancelled the party that was giving every year in Cannes and the director Graydon Carter has been seen having lunch in the company canteen. For London, Paris, and Milano Fashion Weeks, Glamour’s director will have to choose a cheaper hotel while for Vogue everything stays the same. Anne Wintour and all her staff ’s plans, from most expensive hotels and restaurants,will not be affected by any change.

CORRIERE DELLA SERA

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