Daisy Lowe to launch dress collection

Model and London party fixture Daisy Lowe is to launch her own clothing line. The model will work with her mother, Pearl Lowe, who's known for her delicate lace dresses, to launch a diffusion line in the same vein.

"It's in the embryonic stages," said a spokeswoman for Pearl Lowe. "The collection will be in the signature lace, with more playful pieces, as it's a younger line." The spokeswoman said the collection was set to be launched between the fall and next spring.

17 April 2007

Toyota's Scion launches clothing line

Carmaker Toyota's Scion division has launched a line of sportswear for its youthful drivers. The Scion car models are extremely popular with young, trendsetting individuals. As part of a complete lifestyle offering the company is therefore introducing its new apparel line Release.

The collection, designed by New York based designers Blue Davis and Jupiter Desphy 3 rd , was launched last week. The duo won a competition to design the collection, although neither had any previous fashion designing experience.

“From the start it was a collaboration that allowed it to be more than just promotional merchandise for a car company,” Davis told WWD. “We wanted to put a lot of heart and soul into it.”

“It's designed to cater to a particular mind-set, the Lower East Side skate/urban person,” Scion's sales and promotions manager Jeri Yoshizu told WWD. “It's not for the person who is a thrift store shopper, but for someone who wants everything new, clean and pressed.”

Davis describes the collection as a “hip approach to golf wear”, adding that “it's a combination of conservative and street, like the idea of Jay-Z wearing a button-down shirt.”

The line consists of sweater vests, polo shirts, hoodies, crewneck sweatshirts, sweater vests and trousers and is inspired by traditional Scottish argyle patterns and Japanese rock gardens. Prices at retail range form $65 (£36,40) for a polo shirt to $175 for a jacket.

Initially, the collection will only be available online at scion.com/releaseline, but Yoshizu said distribution might at some point include high-end specialty stores. “Our goal is that Scion continues to represent a certain lifestyle. We need to keep doing things that are centred more around the lifestyle aspects of the brand, versus just a shirt with a car or logo on it. The idea is to recognize designers and give them a platform to design their own line.”

www.scion.com/releaseline
27 April 2006

Diddy suspends women's line

Sean “Diddy” Combs has shut down the contemporary women's line Sean by Sean Combs first launched last year, reports WWD. The hiphopper turned style guru's line had been much anticipated.

“Beginning with the fall 2006 season, we will be suspending the Sean by Sean Combs line,” said a spokesman for the brand. “We're putting it on hiatus in order to concentrate on our new business with G-III for the Sean John women's line. We are not ruling out the possibility of this brand coming back in due time.” He added that the spring and pre-fall collections would still be sold in stores as planned.

Combs announced his interest in establishing a women's sportswear line back in 2000. Although he delayed the launch several times, he first sent a few women's wear looks down the runway after his men's wear show in 2004. At the time he said the collection would hit stores that summer, but again he delayed the launch. When Sean by Sean Combs finally launched last June, Diddy said: “I want women to come into my world. I want to show the diversity of this young, fun, sexy, sophisticated woman. This is the woman we aspire to have. This is the woman the Sean John man wants.”

Sales of Sean by Sean Combs proved disappointing by Combs' standards. During its first six months of retail, the collection generated $3.5 million (£2 million) in wholesale volume. However, he was used to generating $450 million at retail with his men's wear collection.

Two weeks ago, Combs signed a licensing agreement with G-III Apparel Group to manufacture and distribute the young contemporary women's sportswear range called Sean John. This collection is scheduled to launch in spring 2007, with G-III chief executive Morris Goldfarb predicting a growth to $100 million at wholesale.

At the time Combs stated that the two women's brands could definitely coexist while targeting different customers. Sean John would mirror the men's wear in terms of distribution and price point, targeting a younger contemporary shopper. Meanwhile, Sean by Sean Combs would cater to a more high-end contemporary shopper.

Right before the G-III agreement, trouble hit Sean by Sean Combs when the brand's vice president of design, Jenny La Fata, left for a job at Le Tigre. She denied any problems with the Sean Combs collection, but said that “Le Tigre is more my style” and that Sean by Sean Combs “was not a great fit anymore”. A replacement for her had not yet been found.

www.seanjohn.com
23 March 2006

Gharani Strok

If Gharani Strok's AW06 collection is anything to go by, next season is all about colour and not the perennial fashionable black. The feminine silk, chiffon and jersey pieces for which they are best known came in soft pinks, browns and greens accessorised with fur hats, gilets and folkloric pompom necklaces.

Sprig print pink and cream dresses had delicate ruffles on short sleeves and hems while slip dresses in 30s silhouettes were decorated with delicate beading. Other bolder floral prints were flecked with metallics or cut in girlish tea dresses with billowing sleeves.

The London-based duo, who count Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow among their clients, kept a seething audience tapping their feet for more than an hour while waiting for diva model Naomi Campbell to star in their show.

Salute to Ann-Sophie Back

Ann-Sophie Back launched her debut men's collection under her diffusion label BACK for Spring Summer 2006. The collection received critical and commercial success, appearing in Arena Homme+ and 10 men, gaining instant credibility in the men's style stakes.

Back, who has become well known for her subversion of everyday garments, explores clothes and how we wear them to define and disguise ourselves.

Back's application of menswear represents a thoroughly modern approach to design. The Back man shuns fashion but also aspires to be fashionable, a contradiction that permeates through the collection. High-waisted pleated trousers, or jeans rolled up at the bottom forms the starting point of a new silhouette. Worn with double-breasted blazers or double-breasted lambs wool knew and jersey tops in grey or navy.

Jacquard prints on t-shirts, vest tops and button down shirts and jacquard-knit cardigans and sweaters subverts preconceptions of fashionability.

Black leather trousers are awkward and yet sexy. While purple over-dyed lumberjack shirts and jeans provide an unobvious choice of colour that compliments an otherwise somber palette.

Ann-Sofie Back will show her women's mainline collection this week and continues to contribute to Dazed & Confused and Self Service magazines as a stylist.

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A dash of casual at Hardy Amies

Hardy Amies, a Savile Row favourite for tailoring and formalwear, is extending its classic range of well-cut suits to include a casualwear line that will debut at To Be Confirmed in February.

The 45 piece collection features one, two and three-button jackets as part of suits to complement its bespoke tailoring. Core colours are black and charcoal with blue and mulberry highlights. Formal shirts will retail up to £65, whilst the suits will be priced at £400.

The more casual styles will include military jackets, cavalry twill, velvet and nubuck jackets, as well as flannel, herringbone and chino trousers. To Be Confirmed is February 12-13 at Tobacco Dock in London.

Robert Cary-Williams

Robert Cary-Williams' spring summer 2006 collection, unveiled early Wednesday evening, was infused with a raw, unapologetic quality. As if just having appeared from under the belly of a grease-ridden carrosserie of a car, the models sported tie-dyed jersey and cottons in muted, muddy tones of brown and dark blue.

The utilitarian feel of the clothes was accentuated by the military style of cropped jackets and the use of organic materials. However, Cary-Williams managed to embue his designs with a fluidity of movement, creating a raw kind of sensuality.

Cary-Williams veered between the stiff texture of structured jackets and chicken wire hoop skirts and the softer feel of crochet, tulle and jersey. Sequinned tops were paired with organic fabrics, creating a striking effect. Perhaps most striking of all was the grand finale, whereby a model made her way down the catwalk in a chicken wire sculpted bubble skirt, with stuffed birds attached from within, creating the effect of a birdcage.

22 September 2005

Gharani Strok strike the right chord

Gharani Strok have often struck a chord with retailers, but this season their collection rung high notes with the press, too.

Eye-catching jersey dresses and sophisticated shapes didn't go amiss from a house normally associated with hippy-chic. A hint of Hollywood glamour shone through in the red and black gowns – many were adorned with long metal chains.

Metallics were prominent for both day and evening, and shorts and skirts in silver and lamé were teamed with fluid tops or sheer chiffon blouses.

But the show wasn't all lady-like. There was high fashion, too. Creamy cashmere dresses had chiffon blouses peeping above their high necklines, tiny chiffon ice skater girl dresses were held up by silver ribbon, a touch of faded back denim kept things a little bit rebel cool and inky prints on mini kimonos were unmistakably Strok sexy.

20 September 2005

Dirrty Girl Fashion

It appears that the ultimate "dirrty" girl, Christina Aguilera, is to inflict her fashion sense upon the world with her own line of clothing. The scantily dressed, diminutive singer has signed a licensing deal with the UK-based Basic Box Limited. The new collection will be available in stores across Europe next spring.

The line will be aimed at 19 year-olds and over, and will consist of clothes that "mirror Christina's status as a fashion icon". As an added bonus she will be making personal appearances to promote her new foray into fashion. So parents, beware.

20 October 2004

Sainbury's Unveils Clothing Range

Sainbury's has unveiled a new clothing range called TU. The collection replaces the Jeff Banks range it has sold since 2000. Tu includes womenswear, menswear, baby and childrenswear, lingerie, jewellery and accessories and will arrive in stores on September 16. The children's collection will be stocked in 160 stores across the UK, while the other ranges will be available in 120 stores.

Tracey Hodgson, head of design for Tue, said after extensive customer research Sainsbury's had created a collection offering a combination of everyday casualwear and going out pieces. She told WGSN: "We have focussed on quality and attention to details, but we have kept prices realistic and most of the range is under GBP15. With our entry prices we can match the competitions."

For women t-shirts start at GBP5, jeans are prices between GBP12 and GBP25 and core basics, such as long sleeve crew neck shirts are GBP5. Higher end pieces include a black pea coat for GBP45 and a teal tweed coat, prices GBP55.

Sainsbury's has previously lagged behind competitors Asda and Tesco in clothing sales and Tu is up against George at Asda and Tesco's clothing ranges including Florence & Fred and Cherokee.

2 September 2004

Ones To Watch

Danish-born, London-based Stærk showed in New York for the first time with a moody collection that favored hand-
It is highly unlikely that you will be thinking about next summer's fashion when the winter hasn't even set in its forces. Still, there are a few names to be contended with when it comes to next seasons collections, including Danish-born, London based, Camilla Staerk. She showed her collection in New York, which was a moody collaboration that favoured hand-sewn leather and asymmetry.

Keep your eyes peeled, too, for Patrick Robinson, creative director of Perry Ellis, who's triumphant show displayed a heady mix of pure prep and urban attitude: think Daisy Buchanan meets Kirsty Hume.

14 November 2003

Hamnett Collection As Strong As Her Message

Katharine Hamnett, famous for her 80s t-shirts with anti-war slogans, proved she is no less a political campaigner then a top-end designer. In one of her most beautiful collections to date she combined her subtle feminine touch with edgy glamour at her London Fashion Week show yesterday.

Hailed as trash couture versus graceful chic, Naomi Campbell et al showed off 40s style t-dresses in barely there colours, embroidery anglaise dresses with bow detailing and white crisp cotton buckled trousers with sexy, strappy silk and chiffon ruffled tops.

Staying true to herself, Katharine Hamnett ushered the models on the catwalk to Martin Confusion's dark soundtrack in the trendy Notting Hill venue wearing t-shirts with the slogans "Use a Condom" and "Save Africa." An avid campaigner for the African aids epidemic, Naomi Campbell closed the show in a black shoe-string top with giant diamante letters that repeated the message "use a condom." The message couldn't be any clearer than that.

25 September 2003
Don-Alvin Adegeest

Topshop So 1980s

Topshop unveiled its fifth Unique collection last week at the Royal College of Art in London. Devotees such as Meg Mathew and Liberty Ross applauded the collection along with Nicholas Coleridge, head of the British Fashion Council.

The 1980s-inspired collection included floppy off the shoulder jersey tops emblazoned with bold prints, skimpy tube dresses, striped cashmere knits, chunky jumper dresses and buttoned cloaks teamed with spray-on bubblegum pink and orange leggings.

15 May 2003