American Apparel sued

Fashion news: American Apparel sued by investors, Karl in America and Elaine Benes: (apparent) style icon

By Peakadey | August 19th, 2010 | 12:18 pm

Camel is back? Get out!

Finally the gods of fashion and trends have turned their heads to the goddess of New York in the ’90s: Elaine Benes. The New York Times has recently dug deeper into the Seinfeld leading lady’s style signatures: floral skirts, blazers and jumpsuits, and found them all trolling about downtown Manhattan. [New York Times]
The contestants of the upcoming cycle of America’s Next Top Model (we’ve lost count of what season they’re on) have been revealed. It’s a choice between a non-existent waist, a lesbian Hooters waitress and a 21-year-old mother and 11 others. Should be entertaining. [Racked and Jezebel]
Karl Lagerfeld will be in New York on the first day of Fashion Week, receiving Couture Council’s special Fashion Visionary Award at Avery Fisher Hall on September 10th. [Daily Front Row]
How do you feel about man-cleavage? Man-veage? [Daily Mail]
Betsey Johnson is collaborating with Tweezerman for a collection of three tweezers embellished with a Betsey-esque print. [WWD]
Swarovski has just announced which designers, from the upcoming fashion weeks, will receive their sparkling seal of approval – and support. Erdem, Giles, Prabal Gurung, Mark Fast and Henry Holland are a few of the 13 who will collaborating with Swarovski. [Vogue UK]
British fashion business billionaire Philip Green has just found himself in a bit of controversy surrounding his tax habits. The Topshop owner and financial adviser to British PM handed ownership over to his Monaco-dwelling wife who’s been eschewing tax payments. [Vogue UK]
Another day, another woe for American Apparel. Now the chain is being sued by its investors, claiming they were misled by Dov Charney and that he mismanaged the company. [Jezebel]

Tom Ford and Olivier Theyskens to show

Fashion news: Tom Ford and Olivier Theyskens to show at NYFW, Heidi Klum for New Balance, and Lagerfeld cancels Lagerfeld show

By Peakadey | September 7th, 2010 | 11:26 am

Photography by Peter Stigter

It’s Christmas in September: Tom Ford and Olivier Theyskens will preview their womenswear collections–Theyskens is designing a line for Theory–during New York Fashion Week.
Karl Lagerfeld won’t show his Lagerfeld line in Paris. He’s working on a new “masstige” label that will sell online.
One hundred designers, including Alexander Wang, Narciso Rodriguez and Jeremy Laing, shared their Spring 2011 inspirations using one image and one word.
While Valentino has stepped down from his eponymous label you can still get a taste of the last emperor at the newly opened Valentino Garavani Archives in Paris. The archives include sketches, photographs and a rotating selection of dresses.
Model and Project Runway host Heidi Klum will be launching her own clothing line with New Balance. The sportswear line will be available on Amazon.com.
Lane Crawford is celebrating its 160th anniversary with a collaborative project. 160 fashion personalities including Anna Dello Russo, Simon Doonan and Kate Lanphear will customize a classic Burberry trenchcoat which will be auctioned off for charity.
Is Max Azria the new LVMH? The Tunisian designer and  a private investor have purchased Karstadt, a German chain of department stores.
Karl Lagerfeld has sketched a number of the 2010 World Cup’s standout players–and himself–for the football-fashion magazine SEPP.
Bookmarc, Marc Jacobs‘s bookstore, is now open. [Racked]
Natalia Vodianova has been cast as the leading lady in the movie Belle de Signeur alongside Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The movie will hit theatres in 2012.
The many hats of Victoria Beckham: the former Spice Girl has added ‘director’ to her resumé launched her first fashion film. Called Dresses the film gives an intimate look into her Fall/Winter 2010 collection.

Man's fashion

They said/We said: The dish on Proenza Schouler’s expected new investors

By Peakadey | July 28th, 2011 | 4:00 pm

Photography by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Speculation surrounding a change in Proenza Schouler’s investors has been circulating for quite some time now. That change seems to have been confirmed yesterday by Cathy Horyn of The New York Times. According to the writer, the label’s current backer, the private equity firm Permira (also the primary owner of Valentino), will be selling its shares in the label as early as Friday.
The 45-per-cent stake will reportedly be transferred over to a group of New York investors including Andrew Rosen, CEO of Theory and Helmut Lang. Designers and founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez will likely hold onto their control over the other 55 per cent of the company.
While we’re excited to see what Rosen’s plans are for the brand, we’re hoping that too much doesn’t change. New investors can often demand a lot of designers, but that won’t necessarily be the case with Proenza Schouler. McCollough and Hernadez’s It-girl aesthetic seems in keeping with Rosen’s previous ventures (think Olivier Theyskens at Theory). What we are hoping for is the production of more accessories, which seems inevitable with the success of the PS1 bag.

WHAT THEY SAID…

Cathy Horyn: “Although the designers have presented a more coherent vision in recent years and in 2009 introduced a successful handbag style (the P.S. 1) that expanded their reach into the lucrative accessories market, there are still a number of product categories that could be developed, like jeans. Accessories can also be beefed up with more leather goods, including shoes, and eyewear.” [The New York Times]
Kerry Pieri, StyleCaster: “In other words, this sale, which is rumored to go through as early as Friday, would mean more money for Proenza Schouler and more Proenza Schouler for us. Win, win.” [StyleCaster]
Charlotte Cowles, The Cut: “Given the success of Rosen’s investments in Helmut Lang and Olivier Theyskens, not to mention how long people have been banging on about how great this Proenza deal should be, the acquisition seems like a win for all parties involved.” [The Cut]
WHAT WE SAID…

Sarah Casselman, senior editor: “I’m happy that the boys, likely, will still control 55 per cent of the label—would hate to see PS go the way of Roland Mouret and lose the rights to design under their own name. Think I had something else to add here but it’s slipped my mind; news that David Beckham is launching an underwear line for H&M will do that to a girl.”

japan for study

JF Fellow Seminar/Special Lecture
"History of Japanese Literature"
by
Asst. Prof. Dr. Attaya Suwanrada
Japanese Section, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
The Japan Foundation, Bangkok in collaboration with Japanese Studies Center, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University, will co-organize the special lecture on "History of Japanese Literature" by Asst. Prof. Dr. Attaya Suwanrada, Japanese Section, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, on 14th July 2011 (Thu.) from 13:00 - 16:00 at Japanese Studies Center, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University. The purpose of this lecture is to give an overview information of how Japanese literatures have been developed since Yamato-Nara period (A.D. 5) to Edo period (1814). Dr. Attaya will also exchange her opinions and comments with those undergraduate students and faculty’s staffs how to improve Japanese literature-teaching to be widely recognized in Chiang Mai.
Everyone interested in the socio-cultural studies of Japanese literatures since the ancient period is highly welcome to attend the lecture. The language will be only Thai (no translation into English or Japanese) and admission is FREE. For further details and to make a reservation, please contact Khun Wathana at the Japan Foundation, Bangkok, Tel. 0-2260-8560-3 or Japanese Studies Center at Chiang Mai University (Khun Surasri) by telephone at 053-943-284.