athens understated blog

Antwerp Six

athens understated — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:28:47 +0000

ANTWERP, Belgium — It’s been over twenty years, but the Antwerp Six still holds huge historical importance in fashion, which says a lot in today’s fast fashion world. Last season, I popped into the Paris shop of Dries van Noten, and saw Cathy Horyn of The New York Times, Virginie Mouzat of Le Figaro, and Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune all getting a little bit of between-show shopping out of the way before hitting the Haider Ackermann show. For these important editors, Dries is still the go-to designer for elegant clothing and accessories in his colourful signature style.

Van Noten and fellow members of the so-called Antwerp Six (including Ann Demeulemeester and Dirk Bikkembergs) first took the international fashion scene by storm when they rented a truck and set up shop at London Fashion Week in 1987 (or 1986, or 1988, depending on whom you ask and which source you are reading). What is certain is that were recently minted graduates of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and shortly after hitting London developed international cult followings amongst the fashion faithful. Not only did their London appearance put Belgium on the fashion map, it also positioned the Antwerp Academy, as it is known colloquially, as one of the world’s top fashion schools.

I was delighted, therefore, to accept the invitation of Walter Van Beirendonck, another member of the Antwerp Six and head of the fashion department at the Antwerp Academy to sit on a truly distinguished jury to review the thesis collections of the Academy’s 2009 Masters students earlier this month. Over the course of a day and half, we experienced an overload of stimuli that heightened the senses (visual, aural and olfactory) and provoked the mind. Each designer created an installation to present their work, at times with startling and breathtaking effect, like Stephanie D’Heygere’s Humanimalus collection in the Garden of the Plantin & Moretus Museum.

From beautiful garden to classical sculptural studio to back-alley building and rooftop dome, we met 14 designers and listened to the stories, experiences and passions that informed their collections. The day ended with a huge runway show in an old hangar on the river, featuring the designs of the masters students, but also those of the immensely talented bachelors’ students who will follow in their footsteps. It was one of the highlights of my professional career and one of the most creative displays of fashion I have witnessed — chicken soup for my economically-battered fashion soul.

I was honoured to be among some true fashion greats like Suzy Menkes and Olivier Theyskens and a new generation of fashion thinkers and doers, including Leonardo Girombelli of thecorner.com and Junsuke Yamasaki of Dazed & Confused Japan. Each of the 12 jury members brought a unique industry and geographic perspective to the table. Combined with the expertise of the teachers who also sat on the jury, we had some very interesting deliberations. I learned something from each and every one of them.

I also learned an important fashion business lesson while I was there. While none of the Antwerp Six has created a global brand to rival Gucci or Yves Saint-Laurent, none of them have really aimed for that in the first place. They keep their businesses small and focused, with limited distribution, few licensing deals and little or no advertising to speak of.

This is in stark contrast to Martin Margiela’s business which, under the ownership of Renzo Rosso, has gone from virtual anonymity and unquestioned product integrity to the big brand fashion model, churning out handbags and eyewear in increasingly high-profile stores around the world. Rumours abound that Margiela himself is no longer actively involved in the design or presentation of the collections.

His absence has not gone unnoticed by fashion experts and loyal customers. Recently the JC Report lamented that “a shift has been apparent in the quality of the products since the partnership with Diesel began: the amazing wool and cotton zip-front sweaters are no longer the weight of a vintage military cloak, the cut of the t-shirts went from interesting to extremely basic and banal. What’s more, Margiela showed furniture and interior prototypes at the Salone Del Mobile that exuded a mass production treatment of the usual artisan pieces.”

Maybe there is a lesson here for all of us? It is the very fact that the Belgian fashion businesses have remained small, focused and high-quality that makes them special. They still need to be economically sound, mind you, but they doesn’t mean they have to be big. While there will always be room for the mega fashion brands, increasingly, I believe we will see the re-emergence of privately-owned niche fashion businesses that operate on a more human scale, which enable the founding designers to be involved in all aspects of the business, ensuring that their visions are realized from product to retail with integrity, creativity and yes, humanity.

Imran Amed is editor of The Business of Fashion.

Kokosalaki to overhaul Diesel Black Gold

athens understated — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:19:52 +0000

17 June, 2009 | By Laura Weir

Diesel Black Gold has pulled out of New York Fashion Week and drafted in Greek born designer Sophia Kokosalaki to overhaul its premium Black Gold womenswear collection.

Diesel has pulled its premium sub-brand out of NYFW this coming September and is understood to be planning to develop a new-look range out of the limelight under the creative direction of Kokosalaki, who has shown at London Fashion Week.

According to a source close to the company Diesel is planning to relaunch Black Gold at New York Fashion Week in February 2010.

Diesel said in a statement: “Starting from autumn 10, Sophia Kokosalaki will play a primary role in the development of Diesel’s high-end collection Diesel Black Gold’s female lines. In light of, and to mark this important change, Diesel Black Gold will not show its collection in New York next September.”

Diesel president Renzo Rosso bought a majority stake in Sophia Kokosalaki last year via his Only the Brave holding company. However Kokosalaki has taken back complete control of her eponymous label since the initial deal.

Rosso said: “I am very excited at this new step in the development of Diesel Black Gold, and very happy to be working with Sophia on this project. Her talent is incredible. Her taste in high-end fashion is already known, but what people do not necessarily expect from her is her skill in dealing with denim and contemporary casual.”

Drapersonline

Jimmy Choo to design range for H&M

athens understated — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:38:38 +0000

H&M has chosen Jimmy Choo, the British shoemaker favoured by celebrities, as the latest luxury brand to design a cheap chic collection for its budget clothing chain.

The Swedish-based H&M, which has been gradually moving its shops upmarket, said its Jimmy Choo range of shoes, bags and accessories would be sold in 200 of its 1,800 stores worldwide from mid-November.

In 2004, H&M started teaming up with high-fashion designers such as Stella McCartney and Roberto Cavalli in an effort to distance itself from the growing number of budget clothing retailers on the high street.

Two years later, it launched its more upmarket COS brand across Europe, helping to boost sales by 18 per cent to SKr23.3bn ($2.9bn) in the last quarter to March.

H&M said: “We make affordable high-fashion. To collaborate with Jimmy Choo, which is known for luxury and glamour, is a fun way to prove that.”

While Jimmy Choo shoes normally retail in the UK for about £400 (€469), H&M said its specially-designed footwear range would cost between €40 and €200.

The luxury brand, which is majority owned by TowerBrook Capital Partners, the private equity group, was set up in 1996 by Jimmy Choo, a shoemaker from London’s East End, and Tamara Mellon, a former editor at Vogue magazine.

article taken on FT

Guest column: Luxury marketing plays by a different set of rules

athens understated — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:46:08 +0000

By Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien

Published: June 15 2009 00:51 | Last updated: June 15 2009 00:51

The present economic crisis has forced all companies to question their strategies and practices, and this has never been more crucial than for luxury brands and marketing.

What once worked as a means to sell products no longer works; it is time to reconsider the essence of luxury management.

As faculty at the HEC School of Management in Paris, it has been our job to analyse current practices, and it is our conclusion that the most striking feature of contemporary luxury management is the necessity to turn marketing on its head: classical marketing is the surest way to fail in the luxury business.

Instead of the marketing status quo we have proposed the “anti-laws of marketing”: 18 axioms that include: raise your prices to increase demand; advertising does not aim at selling; and – most importantly – do not pander to consumers’ wishes.

At a time of managerial consensus on the necessity to focus on the client, this might seem like heresy. And, for most brands and goods it would be. But not for luxury. The reason for this can be traced to the birth of the luxury goods business, two centuries ago: while the craftsman – or expert artisan – would go to Court and make the cloth or furniture his aristocratic client had in mind, the luxury goods business as we know it did not exist: the artisan was merely a supplier of bespoke products.

It was not until that artisan started creating objects the clients had not yet thought of that luxury became a distinct market.

This inverted the client-creator power structure: consumers started queuing to discover something new.

But does a guide for the tastes of the future start by interviewing prospective clients? Or by developing a personal vision, realising it, and educating elite clients who become role models? Consider the cases of fragrances and cars.

The doyenne of classic marketing, Procter & Gamble, has a Beauty and Prestige division for its licensed fragrance business where it applies the same rules as for its FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) brands.

Everything begins with market research aiming to identify specific consumer segments and their needs. The goal is to launch a product for each segment in order to build the brand’s portfolio of fragrances, but the problem is that the consumer expectations are often very much the same across brands.

Hugo Boss and Lacoste are two P&G licences, for example, that share the values of panache, youth, class, success and energy; they share a consumer base and thus the launch advertisements for the two brands are almost interchangeable.

This consumer-centric approach also produces a built-in obsolescence: its products do not last because they are based on transient consumer needs and stereotypes. The scent must have immediate appeal to maximise the chance of success: P&G takes no risks and uses the fragrances rated high in the trends.

But olfactive preferences are short-lived, and this fragrance building model leads to short-term success.

Fragrance licences grow sales by launching new products, year after year: but the older ones cannot sustain sales generated by the massive marketing investment at launch. To be profitable they need to reduce such investment but without a big marketing push, product demand often falters.

Luxury brands today are the trailblazers of tomorrow’s taste.

Once a consumer segment is identified it is too late to exploit it.

There is no surprise in existing demand. This is why all classic luxury scents – many still in the world top 10 of fragrances – were created through emotional intuition, from Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium, Thierry Mugler’s Angel, Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, and, of course, Coco Chanel’s N° 5.

Let us now compare the fate of Saab and Mini. Mini (bought by BMW with Rover in 1994) sold 250,000 cars in 2008; Saab (bought by General Motors in 2000) sold 93,000, and it is now bankrupt, despite the fact that its latest Saab 9-3 was seen as one the best cars in its category.

To boost the sales of Saab, GM took a classic marketing approach, asking consumers what they did not like about former models. As a result, they softened the radical design and used an Opel engine. The resulting Saab 9-3 looked more like rival products from Audi or BMW than a traditional Saab.

By contrast, BMW has retained many of the Mini’s historical characteristics despite consumer surveys repeatedly labelling them as faults: too small a boot, too low a car – but these quirks were integral to the unique kart design and style experience of the 1960s that made the car popular in the first place.

Of course, luxury companies should not ignore their core customers’ wishes entirely, but too much listening mitigates against the requirements to surprise and stand apart.

As a cultural creator, luxury brands should set their own high standards.

Listening to the consumer is the best route to a lack of differentiation, and failure to inspire the dream – the two levers of desire that are the only paths out of the recession in the luxury world.

Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien are co-authors of ‘Luxury Strategy – Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands’

fashion e-commerce: “How are your clients changing their habits?”

athens understated — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:20:10 +0000

Fashion E-Commerce | “How are your clients changing their habits?” from businessoffashion on Vimeo.

LONDON, United Kingdom — London, of course, is widely known in the fashion world for its unbridled creativity and superb emerging fashion talent. But, increasingly, it could also be described as fashion’s Silicon Valley, with a growing number of innovative fashion ecommerce startups sprouting in the city, following in the footsteps of the ultimate luxury e-tailing pioneer, Net-a-Porter.com.

During my visit to Vienna for the 9 festival for fashion and photography, I had the privilege of hosting a discussion amongst some of the newest fashion e-tailers on the London scene, bringing together Sarah Curran, CEO of my-wardrobe.com, José Neves, CEO of farfetch.com and Stephanie Phair, Director of theoutnet.com .

window shopping across Greece

athens understated — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:12:21 +0000

Travelling across Greece, you may relax and have a coffee while shopping….

or you feel like going to skate..

Fashion travelling across Greece, you discover hippy chic boutiques

or cute and romantic ones

Flash boutique

athens understated — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:52:54 +0000

Flash boutique was established almost thirty years ago and first introduced to people of Patras and Greece up and coming designers such as Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Romeo Gigli, Jean Paul Gaultier, Malloni, Marithé & François Girbaud, Rick Owens, Faliero Sarti, Collection Privée, H-I-G-H.

Flash boutique:152, Korinthou str., Patras, Greece

Stelios Koudounaris s/s 09

athens understated — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:01:23 +0000

…available soon on the net!

athensunderstated in Berlin part II

athens understated — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:59:44 +0000

Designer boutiques in athensunderstated vol. III

athens understated — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:34:13 +0000

Collective: You’ve seen the famous Australian Ugg boots worn by celebrities from around the world. Now there’s a place you can actually buy them in, in Athens. Collective offers a large variety in shapes, colors and sizes, as well as choices for men, women and children. 96, Vouliagmenis Av., Glyfada, tel:+30 210 9699585 exclusive distribution:Elmec sport

Balenciaga: A new arrival in Thessaloniki, the first Balenciaga boutique in the city is a wonderful store on Proxenou Koromila str., featuring Motorcycle it bags, ready-to-wear men’s and women’s collections, as well as shoes and accessories from the famous Spanish house’s lines. 47, Proxenou Koromila str., tel: +30 2310 234088

Louis Vuitton: With an all-white facade and its famous monogram, this Athenian spot awaits true fans of leather and elegant clothing. 19, Voukourestiou str.

Dolce & Gabbana: the Italian haute couture duo couldn’t resist to open a shop in Athens! Exuding black and white minimalist luxury, this is a true temple of fashion eleganza. 4, Stadiou str

Dior: Avenue Montaigne’s famous boutique has brought some air de Paris to the heart of Athens. 18-20, Voukourestiou str.

GRIGIO: the cutting-edge boutique in the heart of Thessaloniki offers you numerous premium collections: Missoni M, Alessandro Dell’ Acqua, p.a.r.o.s.h, Vivienne Westwood Anglomania, I Malloni, H-I-G-H, Angelos Bratis, Hache, roccobarocco, 120% lino, true religion jeans, TONY COHEN, no dressed code, diabl’ess, american vintage, joe’s jeans, citizens of humanity, skv, blavde, 2B, pin-up, kablan, les petites, pauric sweenev, maloles, benedetta novi, baseti pellice. 8, P.P. Germanou str. t:+30 2310-282841, e: grigiopp@otenet.gr