Lacoste Joins Save Your Logo Campaign

According to Strategy Magazine, Lacoste recently made a 1.5 million Euro pledge to join the Save Your Logo campaign. This initiative—launched in late 2008 by the World Environment Fund (WEF), the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—encourages companies to contribute to the preservation of our planet's biodiversity by assisting in the protection of the animal or species that represents their brand. As quoted in Yahoo! News, at the launch of the campaign, France's Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo announced: "Companies that have profited from the positive image of these animals now have a chance to show their recognition." The IUCN reports that at least one bird out of eight, 25 percent of mammals and one out of every three amphibians are threatened with extinction.

Lacoste has been working with the founding organizations to develop projects for a three-year crusade to protect fifteen species of crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gavials. The Paris-based company is the first international brand to join the Save Your Logo campaign as well as the first apparel company to feature a brand badge—René Lacoste chose the crocodile as his emblem in 1927. Michel Lacoste, chairman of the board of Lacoste, explained: "We feel that any company should behave as citizens of the world, and this goes farther than just looking after alligators."

Hopefully Lacoste's participation will encourage other animal-branded companies to do the same—there are certainly many such examples: Puma, Jaguar, American Eagle, Moosehead Breweries, Alexander Keith's with its deer, Peugeot and MGM with their lions, Esso with its tiger, Airness with its panther, and perhaps even Kelloggs' Froot Loops with its toucan!

The Big Fashion Sale by Quebec Designers: La Grande Braderie de mode québécoise 2009

As much as I love Toronto, this sale definitely makes me wish I lived in Montréal!

La Grande braderie de mode québécoise for Spring 2009 will be held from Thursday, April 16th to Sunday, April 19th at Marché Bonsecours, 350 St-Paul Street East in Old Montréal. The annual fashion sale of the top 50 Quebec fashion designers features samples and inventory-surplus womenswear, menswear, kidswear, handbags, hats, jewellery and accessories all marked at 50% to 80% off. Designers include Nevik, Muse, Dubuc Style, Nadya Toto, Marie Saint-Pierre, Shan, Envers, Michel Desjardins, Jean Airoldi, Sheila Dassin, Silikon, Rudsak, Lili-les-bains, Sylvie Germain, Geneviève Dostaler, Bodybag, Old River, Dino Gaspari. Visit the Braderie website for more information on the sale.

My favourite participant at the Braderie is Mackage, who sent me the below invitation to the VIP night on Wednesday, April 15th. Click on the image to get an enlarged version that you can print out and present at the event to be admitted!

First Ever Zac Posen Ad Published in Fanzine137

According to Women's Wear Daily, Zac Posen has accepted an offer by publisher Luis Venegas to create a double spread print advertisement for the Spain-based international indie fashion magazine Fanzine137. For the campaign, Posen himself directed the photoshoot in December at his friend Lorraine Kirke’s house. He enlisted photographer Ellen von Unwerth, stylist and friend Christopher Niquet and model Alexandra Tomlinson—in the ad she wears one of Posen's spring leopard-kiss print powder pink dresses and holds a cat. The resulting image—Posen's first ad ever—appears in the spring-summer issue of the magazine.

The New York-based fashion designer said he was inspired by Ava Gardner in the movie "The Barefoot Contessa" and classic Fifties Revlon advertising. Posen explained, "The hardest part was selecting the best image. You want something that grabs the attention on the page and something that is simple, direct and cohesive. I wanted it to be pure and true to yourself and to your customer."

Google Street View To Capture Canada's Streets

Looking up Google's Headquarters in Mountain View, Santa Clara, California will
bring up Street Views of Google employees waving, doing handstands and generally
hamming it up for the camera on both Amphitheatre Parkway and Charleston Road.

According to the Globe and Mail and the CBC, Google will soon be bringing its cameras to Canada's public roads to document our cities with its popular Street View application. Street View is available through Google's map applications and provides a "pedestrian's-eye view" of major cities by projecting images captured at street level onto the corresponding road in the virtual map.

Over the coming weeks, employees of Google will be photographing 11 of Canada's largest cities: Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saint John, Saskatoon, Toronto and Vancouver. The service is already available in cities of the United States, Great Britain, Spain, Australia, Japan, France, Italy and a host of other countries around the world. In announcing the Canadian version, the company said, "Using Street View, users can preview holiday accommodation, find meeting spots, explore neighbourhoods and properties, and look up driving directions."

Google has enacted a number of privacy measures for the service and consulted with federal and provincial privacy commissioners in advance of the campaign to photograph Canadian streets. Licence plates and people's faces are automatically blurred out and users can put in requests to remove offensive images. However these types of images have also become part of a recently popular game involving a search for strange happenings captured on Street View. There are even web sites dedicated to finding such sightings, such as people walking in or out of adult stores and clubs, accidentally documented crimes in progress or street fights, and people generally being caught in a range of embarrassing situations.

The Diane von Furstenberg boutique in New York City's Meatpacking District.

H&M Spring 2009: Visually Stunning and Surreal Campaign Commercial

It is rare that I find a television ad that really makes a strong (and positive) impression on me. But I was incredibly taken with H&M's new Spring 2009 campaign spot. Besides being visually stunning—paralleling the aesthetic of the print campaign with its modern white mise-en-scene and bright red accents—the commercials feature a unique and attention-grabbing scenario with actors wearing clothes from the Spring 2009 collection.

The ads—compiled below in a video made available via YouTube—are staged as a series of surreal vignettes involving model Eva Herzigova and actor/director Vincent Gallo. The main narrative of the fun and whimsical yet nightmarish campaign is the perpetual frustration of Herzigova and Gallo's vain attempts to reach each other—a very Freudian premise indeed. The events take place in a veritable funhouse environment in which their pursuit of each other is constantly thwarted by conveyer belts set into the floor, a paradoxical ladder that leads only back to the same room, a narrow hallway replete with red doors that cannot logically or spatially exist, and a staircase that ends abruptly in space. Several of the short scenes feature oversized objects (a telephone, a spool of thread) or people (Herzigova) in a stark white room that evoke Surrealist artist René Magritte's paintings of gigantic objects in claustrophobic spaces, such as Le Tombeau de Lutteurs from 1960. The final spot shows a surreal city of distorted perspective, reminiscent of the impossible scenarios envisioned by the graphic artist M.C. Escher such as "Prentententoonstelling" (or "The Print Gallery"), a mathematically-inspired print from 1956.

The commercials were directed by Johan Renck, a Swedish musician and music video director who has worked with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Madonna, New Order and Beyoncé. The appropriately haunting yet seductive soundtrack comes from the song "I've Seen That Face Before" sung by Swedish vocalist Camilla Henemark. The accordian-laden tango sound was composed by none other than Barry Reynolds and Astor Piazzolla, the renowned Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player.

Meet Jewellery Designer Alexis Bittar at Holt Renfrew

From 1:00pm to 6:00pm on Saturday, April 4, 2009, famed jewellery designer Alexis Bittar will be making a personal appearance at Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street in Toronto. Also, with a minimum purchase of $250.00 in Alexis Bittar jewellery, as a gift you'll receive an Alexis Bittar geometric gloss bangle (while supplies last, of course).

Bittar has designed couture and costume jewellery for just over two decades, working with fine materials as well as stainless steel, lucite, crystal and Italian glass. His first line of jewellery, launched in 1988, featured depression-era glass from the 1920s with tiny hand-cut chandelier parts. His baubles have been worn by celebrities and fashion insiders alike and he has worked with a host of designers and labels like Patricia Field, Michael Kors, Tuleh, Burberry and Alex & Lee.

Check out Holt Renfrew's website for more information and a short Q&A with the designer himself!

Matthew Williamson for H&M Collection Video

On the heels of new images surfacing of the clothes, H&M has released a video—made available here via YouTube—of Matthew Williamson discussing his forthcoming designer capsule collection for H&M. The video allows a glimpse at several key looks from the line before the official preview launches on the H&M website. Williamson explains that the inspiration behind the collection was the chance to look back at his work from the past decade or so on his own designer label and consider the pieces he felt were special and memorable and representative of his strengths as a designer. The video also features H&M's creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch talking about the line.

Jason Wu to Launch Footwear and Makeup Collections

According to British Vogue, Michelle Obama favourite Jason Wu—the Manhattan-based fashion designer who spent some of his youth in Vancouver—announced plans to launch makeup and footwear collections within the next two seasons and may eventually branch out into menswear. Grazia also reported that the 26-year-old designer was keeping his collaborators a secret thus far, but he hinted that he would not be working with shoe designer Manolo Blahnik—who designed the shoes for Wu's Fall/Winter 2009 collection—because he believes it is important that the lines are commercial ranges.

Meanwhile, New York Magazine's The Cut informs that Wu has received various offers for book deals and a reality-TV show since Obama wore a dress of his design at the inauguration. However he has turned them down to focus on expanding his signature label.

Of his celebrated womenswear collections, Wu told British Vogue, "I want to design clothes that real, sophisticated, confident women can wear now but that will still be beautiful in years to come. Everything these days is so disposable - not just fashion, everything - I want my designs to last." Above is one of my favourite looks from Jason Wu's Fall/Winter 2009 collection, images of which can be viewed on his website www.jasonwustudio.com.

Toronto's LG Fashion Week Recap: Joeffer Caoc

Joeffer Caoc presented a very structured and futuristic-looking collection at Toronto's LG Fashion Week on day two: March 17, 2009. The palette was largely dark metallic and matte neutrals, in shades of black, grey, pewter, bronze and gold, accented with deep reds and blues and a paisley print. There was also lots of texture: matte, sheen, tweed, quilting, patent, ruching and sheer elements. The silhouette was overwhelmingly hourglass, with waists accentuated by belts, ties and seaming, shoulders emphasized with sharp tailoring as well as puff- and cap-sleeves, pencil skirts and wide cropped trousers. All looks were paired with black patent knee-high peep-toe boots—this is a trend I personally cannot comprehend and, in any case, I would have appreciated a little variation. My favourite pieces include a charcoal slouchy boiled wool coat with cropped sleeves and tie-waist, a simple black satin crew-neck sleeveness sheath dress cinched at the waist by a black patent belt (perfect LBD), and a two-toned charcoal and gold sheath dress with a sculptural bodice and neckline, held up by very thin straps. And I also loved the metallic bronze one-shoulder frock with ruched seams!

Watch Joeffer Caoc's Fall 2009 runway video from blogTO:



You can also view FASHION Magazine's video of the show and interview with Joeffer Caoc.

Audrey Tautou To Star In Chanel Biopic & Fragrance Ad

Audrey Tautou is set to star in the forthcoming biopic of the legendary French couturière Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The film, "Coco Avant Chanel," will be released in France on April 22 but so far the 2009 North American release has not yet been announced. The French-language trailer, made available here through YouTube, reveals that the movie focuses on the designer's childhood and early womanhood, the years preceding her rise to sartorial fame and the people and events that made her who she was—hence the title, translated as "Coco Before Chanel."

Audrey Tautou is the natural choice for the lead role, as Women's Wear Daily reported last year that she would star in a new mini feature commercial for the fashion house's signature fragrance Chanel No. 5. According to recent reports from Elle UK, the film will chart the story of Audrey and a mystery man who keep missing each other on a journey from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express. The 2 minute 25 second spot is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who worked with Tautou in the Oscar-nominated film Amélie.

Banana Republic To Open Accessories Concept Store

Women's Wear Daily reported yesterday that Edition by Banana Republic—a new 1,400-square-foot accessories, shoes and handbag retail concept store—will open on May 15, 2009 at the Westfield Mall in San Francisco. The pieces will be made of materials like Italian leather for handbags and semiprecious stones for jewelry. The accessories created for Edition will be part of a limited run and won't be sold online or at any other Banana Republic stores. The store will be merchandised differently than other stores to present a sophisticated, feminine and residential image and feel—the product will mainly be shown on open display tables.

The idea behind the launch—in these spendthrift times, women who may be reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars on fashion will be more inclined to purchase a less expensive necklace or clutch. According to Jack Calhoun, president of Banana Republic, “For our customers today, affordability is paramount and being fashionable is always in style. Edition is the perfect place for women to update their wardrobe with exquisite, limited edition and affordable accessories, especially in today’s economy.”

The location will likely serve to test the new retail concept, potentially making way for more of them in the future though no plans have as yet been made. Banana Republic's previous concept outing featured the limited edition BR Monogram collection and opened as a stand-alone store on Bleecker Street in Manhattan—however no other Monogram locations have opened to date. The recession has had an impact on the retailer, as their North American sales fell by 22 percent in January.

Tiffany & Co. To Open a Second Toronto Location

According to a press release from Tiffany & Co., the luxury jeweller will open a second location in Toronto at Yorkdale Shopping Centre (Dufferin Street & Highway 401)—the first and only boutique in the city, until now, is located at 85 Bloor Street West. The release describes the new store as having a "5-foot-high façade with a Mondrian-like stone pattern, Black Zimbabwe marble arch, and Atlas Clock above the entrance. Tiffany's iconic, deco-inspired stainless steel doors will lead to a spacious interior of elegant jewelry salons with gleaming stainless steel showcases, mottled Makore wood and custom furnishings and wall coverings." It will include exclusive Tiffany & Co. collections such as engagement rings, statement jewels, fine and sterling silver jewelry, watches, gifts, accessories, and the designs of Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, Jean Schlumberger and Frank Gehry.

On the subject of the spring 2009 launch, Beth O. Canavan, executive vice president of Tiffany & Co., explained that "Tiffany is well established in Toronto and it gives us great pleasure to provide our growing number of customers with the convenience of shopping in the ideally located Yorkdale. With its recent expansion and elegant upgrade, the centre presents the perfect atmosphere for us to serve everyone with the superior quality, craftsmanship and design excellence that are synonymous with Tiffany & Co."

The new addition comes despite recent news from Women's Wear Daily that Tiffany & Co. reported a 75.6 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings and a "tepid" sales outlook. New York Magazine's The Cut noted that the jeweler—among other companies like Versace and Abercrombie & Fitch—is refusing to lower prices in order to preserve the luxury brand's integrity, despite the rollbacks being unveiled by competitors.

Toronto's LG Fashion Week Recap: David Dixon

Toronto's LG Fashion Week ended this past weekend. David Dixon presented a double bill on the first day—Monday, March 16—that included his own Fall 2009 collection as well as a fun Barbie capsule collection that will be sold at the Bay in the fall.

For his Fall 2009 line, Dixon presented an elegant collection that featured a sombre palette of greys and blacks accented with raspberry and ivory, classic 50s sheath and A-line silhouettes, wide leg cropped trousers, bold jewellery, wide belts, and lots of sheen, texture, organza and feathers and—somewhat out of place—edgy patent-like technofabrics. I particularly loved the sheath dresses with architectural pleats, ruffles and folds, the jackets with sharp shoulders and nipped waists, and the mirrored bib necklaces. Pretty, structured and sophisticated.

With the Barbie collection, Dixon adhered to a largely black and—naturally—Barbie-pink colour scheme with emphasis on taffeta sheen, girly chiffon, 60s inspired houndstooth and tiered ruffles and ribbons. He mixed bold graphic prints with florals, both in classic black and white, and colourful rosecentric madras plaid. Black A-line party dresses were cinched at the waist with candy-pink patent belts and accessorized with slouchy long finger-less gloves and scarves. Cute, wearable and not overly kitschy.

Watch David Dixon's Fall 2009 and Barbie Collection runway videos from blogTO:







You can also check out FASHION Magazine's runway video and interview with David Dixon.

Downsizing Collections: Fall 2009 Runways

According to New York Magazine, the fall 2009 collections shown recently were noticeably abbreviated due to the effects of the current global economic situation. Designers can no longer afford the luxury of parading pieces down the runway that will not sell. Many designers—though not all—are cutting down the number of looks presented in their fashion week shows. Betsey Johnson, for instance, showed only 25 looks this time around, as opposed to 51 looks for spring 2009, 60 for fall 2008 and 41 for spring 2008. She told the Times, "Everything shown will actually hit stores... unlike bigger runway shows where some looks weren't available for sale." Other examples comparing spring 2009 to fall 2009: Narciso Rodriguez cut his collection by 9 looks, Oscar de la Renta and Matthew Williamson each lost 11, John Galliano dropped 17, Giorgio Armani cut 20 and Emporio Armani lost 23 looks.

For a rundown of the top twelve downsized shows this season, check out the article from New York Magazine's The Cut.

Ladies' Man: Alber Elbaz for Lanvin

Last week, The New Yorker profiled Alber Elbaz, the designer of the oldest surviving French fashion house Lanvin.

What I love about Elbaz's designs for Lanvin is his insistence on soignée elegance with a dash of eccentricity and whimsy. Ariel Levy writes that women today want to look "sophisticated and attractive, but not flashy or aggressively sexy" and Lanvin caters to that taste. This is hardly the time for conspicuous consumption—it isn't that Lanvin's clothes are more moderately priced than other designers, but Elbaz's aesthetic is one of a quiet or sedate chic, rather than ferociously or outrageously hip. He describes his work as "classic with a twist"—he does not wish to define trends, rather he wants his designs to be timeless. Levy says that this look is especially fashionable right now: "an elegance that reassuringly summons the past but with some funkiness around the edges that acknowledges our weird present." While many designers seek to make women appear thinner or prettier, Levy says that Elbaz has the ability to make women seem more interesting. Indeed, in a foreward to the Rizzoli coffee table book "Lanvin," Elbaz writes, "The highest compliment a woman can receive is 'My God, she looks smart!' not that 'she's sexy.'" This sensibility is reminiscent of the time in which Jeanne Lanvin herself was working—when The New Woman of the early twentieth century became more self-reliant and the emphasis was on chic rather than prettiness, a self-made sophistication through sartorial choice rather than an innate physical beauty with which one is born. Like Elbaz, Lanvin endeavoured to design clothes that transcended seasonal trends, that would not quickly go out of style but instead could be worn by women throughout their lives. As Coco Chanel once said, "It's not about what's new, it's about what's good."

For a slideshow of Lanvin images (including a collection of precious "Miss Lanvin" porcelain dolls) narrated by Ariel Levy, go the The New Yorker's website.

StyleCaster.com: The Next Generation of Fashion?

Fashion-related conduits like broadsheets and glossy magazines may soon be a thing of the past, as print media seems destined for a future on the internet. According to W Magazine, the next generation of fashion (or "Fashion 3.0") may well be StyleCaster.com. StyleCaster combines both styled content (e.g. a magazine shoot or fashion editorial) and social networking (e.g. Facebook or MySpace) and operates on software that purports to tailor the site's content to the user's personal tastes. Although the success of the site's formula is still being weighed, it's mix of "big money, big talk and big ideas" has had an influence on corporate bigwigs and fashion insiders alike. StyleCaster is privately financed by Dan Gilbert—the chairman and founder of Quicken Loans and majority owner of NBA's Cleveland Cavailiers—while the company's CEO, Ari Goldberg, is formerly of LeBron James' company LRMR Marketing and has been engaged in outreach targeting editors, store owners and designers. Confirmed contributors include Shopbop fashion director Kate Ciepluch, stylist Annabel Tollman and designer Abigail Lorick, whose fashions have been featured on the television show Gossip Girl. Although StyleCaster.com is still in private beta testing, subscribers to Wmagazine.com can participate. Click for details.

Holt Renfrew Bloor Street's Contemporary Floor Redesign

Holt Renfrew has unveiled a newly redesigned fashion-forward women's contemporary floor (level 3) at their flagship location at 50 Bloor Street West in Toronto.

Holt's Creative Director John Gerhardt was influenced by an increasing desire for optimism in a time of economic decline: "It's interesting how people respond to colour, particularly bold colours... It's amazing how colour transforms our mood." Gerhardt drew inspiration from a wide array of references to create a fresh, new look he calls "bold new world": "There is a strong nod to the '80s in our redesign, with 'New Wave' and Japanese influences as well as references to Artists such as Dan Flavin, Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger, infused with a current nod to fashion's new-found fascination with Pantone primaries."

According to Barbara Atkin, Vice President, Fashion Direction for Holt Renfrew, the brand "continues to surprise and delight our customers, and our environments are a great medium to engage... Our new contemporary space makes our fashions more visible, invites our customers to experience elements of whimsy and the unexpected and showcases the accessibility of our great range of contemporary labels, such as Alexander Wang, Elizabeth and James, Opening Ceremony, rag & bone, and 3.1 phillip lim."

From now until the end of May, visit the women's contemporary floor in the Toronto Bloor Street, Montreal and Vancouver locations of Holt Renfrew for a dynamic mix of new fashions and activities ranging from DJs to graffiti artists.

Carine Roitfeld Revealed on CNN

This month CNN: Revealed features one of the most chic and influential women in the world of fashion, Paris Vogue Editor in Chief Carine Roitfeld.

In the segment, Roitfeld dared to utter the "F" word so rarely heard in the elite world of high fashion: Frugal. Although she doesn't want the quality of fashion and her publication to suffer, she is keenly aware of the reality of the global recession and how the industry can cope in a positive way—in times of recession, challenges can be overcome with creativity and innovation instead of excessive funding. According to Roitfeld, "I think we need to become more frugal. Not on quality, just on organization. Some things got too far away. There were people who were flying private jets -- we need to go back to reality. I don't want to take the money out of the beauty of the picture, I don't want to change the paper of the magazine, I don't want to change the materials, but we can do it another way. When it's more difficult you have to be more creative."

CNN: Revealed accompanies Roitfeld to the haute couture shows in Paris, follows her to the U.S. for New York Fashion Week, speaks to her children about growing up with a style icon, and goes behind the scenes at a Vogue photo shoot where Roitfeld discusses her plans for the future.

Watch the videos here.

20% Off at Club Monaco with Student I.D.

As of several months ago, Club Monaco in Canada and the U.S. are offering an extra 20% off regular-priced and sale merchandise when you present valid college or university student identification. And if you read the fine print, you will notice that this promotion is also valid for professors.

In times of recession, retailers have begun to curtail some of their more relaxed return policies. Club Monaco has joined the ranks of French Connection UK in making all sale items final sale. Meanwhile, Banana Republic (as well as sister companies The Gap and Old Navy) are reducing their return policy time frame from 90 days to 30 days. This is reasonable of course, but final sale items leave no room for buyers remorse.

Arch Appeal

Barely a day goes by where I don't encounter someone with either overplucked or overgrown eyebrows; both are equally unsightly—and then there's the woman at my dentist's office who brushes her eyebrow hairs straight up, trims them and sets them in place with brow gel so they take the form of a row of vertical hairs.

In any case, the London Telegraph has published an excellent guide by Shavata Singh, who has 10 eyebrow studios across Britain, on how to create perfect eyebrows. Right now, the most sought after eyebrow shape is very full or natural with an arch—think Brooke Shields circa the 1980s but more manicured. This guide is a must read, especially for my fellow recessionistas who insist on becoming experts at grooming our own brows! But if you're still wary of your brow-grooming abilities, Singh suggests having a professional shape them at first and thereafter maintaining them yourself on a daily basis.