159 posts tagged "Alexander McQueen"
Is India The Next Big Player in Luxury Retail?
Prada is reported to be in talks for an India entry. Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, and Stella McCartney are exploring real estate for stand-alone stores. After opening his first boutique in New Delhi last year, Christian Louboutin is readying himself for a Mumbai launch. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Louis Vuitton’s presence in India—it was the first luxury brand to set foot in the country. Is India finally reawakening to luxury? Historically, it’s a country familiar with all things luxe. After all, in 1925, India’s Sir Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, granted Cartier its single largest commission: the remodeling of his crown jewels, a collection that included an exquisite 234.69-carat De Beers diamond. Vuitton’s gilded links with India go back well over a century, when the Maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir, Bikaner and Baroda, ordered customized trunks from the company.
Then came freedom. For almost forty-four years after Independence, socialist India snapped all ties with luxury. It’s only in the last decade that the romance has rekindled. And it has to do with math. With a population surpassing 1.22 billion, and 81 million households falling into the upper middle class and high-income bracket, India is a serious market for luxury players. In fact, statistics show that India is one of the fastest-growing and largest luxury markets, with sales expected to touch $15 billion by 2015—nearly double what they are today. In November last year, Gucci opened its fifth and largest India store, spanning 4,220 square feet across two floors in Gurgaon, Delhi’s satellite city. Patrizio di Marco, president and CEO, noted, “The flagship store underscores Gucci’s commitment to India. This is our fifth store in this unique country, where we have been operating directly since the end of 2009, and it is a testament to the importance that we are placing on this fast-growing and competitive market.”
But Kalyani Chawla, vice president of marketing and communications at Christian Dior, insists India is taking baby steps. And she is right. The Western notion of luxury hit Indian shores only ten years ago. It’s still a country of salwar kameezes and saris. But the Indian buyer has grown interested in fashion, investing small but precious sums in brands. “Dior has seen a steady and encouraging growth. As is the case globally with most brands, accessories are doing very well [and] clothing is picking up,” she says, noting that this is partly due to the fact that Western wear has finally slipped into a bride’s wedding trousseau. And for Indians, marriage is the occasion for which discerning buyers splurge. Dior launched in 2006, and has three stores across the country. Continue Reading “Is India The Next Big Player in Luxury Retail?” »
McQ’s Renegade Fall ’13
London fashion week is upon us, and who better to get things rolling than McQ? Instead of putting on a show, the label (McQueen’s competitively priced sister line) is launching a sneaky guerrilla campaign that will break tomorrow. The project features McQ’s very first fashion film, which, shot by Roger Deckker, was inspired by twentieth-century avant-garde Czechoslovakian and postwar Italian cinema. (Come on, it’s McQ. Did you really expect anything less?) Shot against backdrops of modern London and the British countryside, the film debuts McQ’s Fall ’13 collections with vignettes that are at once romantic, unsettling, futuristic, and nostalgic. “The film and imagery capture McQ’s youthful aesthetic, offering something that remains true to the brand’s rebellious and urban heritage,” says Alexander McQueen CEO Jonathan Akeroyd. Take a first look at the new men’s and women’s collections in the brand’s Fall ’13 mood images (above) and film (below), both of which debut on Style.com.
Behind the Scenes with Swarovski: Creatures of the Wind
The Swarovski Collective—the crystal house’s initiative to help promising young designers and established names—was started in 1999, after Isabella Blow introduced the Swarovski family to Alexander McQueen. “We saw then the magic that resulted from putting our crystals in the hands of cutting-edge talent, how they push the creative boundaries and limits of creative craftsmanship,” says Nadja Swarovski, the initiative’s founder, who notes that collaborating with young designers has been the “cornerstone” of the project from day one. “The fashion industry is fiercely competitive, and it’s incredibly hard for young designers to fulfill their creative potential season after season,” she adds. Indeed, Swarovski has done its part—the initiative has helped over 150 talents since it launched. This season, fourteen brands—Mary Katrantzou, Creatures of the Wind, Suno, and Eudon Choi among them—have been supported by Swarovski and its stones. And to further celebrate the designers’ creative processes, Swarovski has made behind-the-scenes films that follow every label on its journey down the Fall ’13 runway. Style.com will be giving you exclusive looks at two of Swarovski’s films from each of the four fashion weeks. The series kicks off with Creatures of the Wind, above.
You’re so Vain, Cindy Sherman
Vanity is the theme behind the fourth issue of Dasha Zhukova’s acclaimed Garage magazine. Perhaps not the most surprising subject for a fashion glossy, but the editor’s approach to the concept is definitely original. Garage‘s cover and corresponding spread were shot by Patrick Demarchelier and feature a gaggle of models provocatively posed in looks by Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, McQueen, and Dolce & Gabbana. What’s the twist? Each girl is accessorized with a Cindy Sherman mask created via ThatsMyFace.com. “Cindy Sherman’s work raises such important and challenging questions about the representation of women, both in media and society. There was no better likeness to illustrate issues of identity and facelessness in the fashion industry,” says Zhukova. The artist gave Garage her blessing to create the masks, all of which are based on Untitled #461 (the work was shown in Sherman’s recent MoMA exhibition). However, it would seem Sherman hasn’t yet seen the new issue, which, in addition to the fantastically creepy editorial, includes conversations between Urs Fischer and Neville Wakefield and Boris Mikhailov and Juergen Teller, as well as Aimee Mullins paper dolls and contributions from Theaster Gates, Michael Craig-Martin, and more. “I hope she likes it!” says Zhukova. We suppose we’ll have to wait until the magazine hits newsstands, on February 9, to find out. Unless, of course, she sees the spread’s exclusive debut here, on Style.com.
Ming Xi in 3-D
Nick Knight—famed photographer, founder of SHOWstudio, and all-around digital fashion maverick—has always been ahead of the curve. So no one expected his Spring ’13 campaign for Chinese luxury retailer Lane Crawford to be a traditional photo spread. This season, Knight teamed up with stylist Katy England and enlisted model Ming Xi to star in digital images and films, which he created with 3-D scanning. “Three-D is a step toward the future of our visual language, which was why I started SHOWstudio,” Knight told Style.com. Knight has been fascinated with this particular method of image making (it’s also used for video games) for fifteen years and has, in the past, done 3-D scans of Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, and Naomi Campbell. The ads—which will appear online, in outdoor media, and in print this month—make Ming Xi look like some kind of fantastic high-fashion android. Watch her strut her digital stuff in Alexander McQueen (above) and Givenchy (below), exclusively on Style.com.