Spring 2007 Fashion Week Day 5: Vivienne Westwood + Nine West = Not So Cheap Fashion

September 12, 2006 11:24 AM | Comments (5) | Posted in new_york_city, vogue, macys, nine_west, vivienne_westwood, fashion week, elle, spring_07

I love Vivienne Westwood, so when I heard that the women who some credit with inventing punk was teaming up with Nine West to premiere a line of lower priced (but certainly not cheap) shoes I was thrilled. The shoes, ranging in price from $160 to $350 a pair, will be available at selection Nine West stores. It’s an effort by Nine West to pump up it’s sales and image after years of dismal sales. Unfortunately, the collection will only be available for four weeks.

Viv will be in NYC today, at Macy’s Herald Square, chatting up the line. It’s suppose to be a consumer event, but of course, only the folks at Vogue, Elle and other people who would normal never set foot in a Macy’s store will be invited.

From Fashion Week Daily

Vivienne Westwood will be making a personal appearance at Macy’s Herald Square on September 12 to promote her new line of shoes designed in collaboration with Nine West. Vogue and Macy’s have sent out invitations to attend what is being billed as a primarily consumer-driven event, but look for a healthy sprinkling of the industry to be on hand for the Q&A session that will be led by Mary Alice Stephenson.

I will definitely be in attendance.

Spring Fashion Week 2007 Day 4: The Fashion Hierachy

September 11, 2006 11:35 AM | Comments (4) | Posted in fashion week, spring_07, contemporary, bridge, mass_market, ready_to_wear, haute_couture

New American designer Hilton Hollis has been getting quite a bit of press lately, so when I received an email from a reader about his collection, I decided to take a peek. From a design perspective, the line doesn’t look like anything new, but from a pr, branding and overall marketing perspective, what’s interesting about Hollis’ line is that he is directly targeting those who purchase in the mid price range-skipping higher end customers all together.

This is an interesting approach because it has the possibility of challenging fashion’s hierarchy. So what’s this hierarchy? According to the wonderful blog, Fashion Incubator (who also reviewed the Hollis line), here’s the basic breakdown of the hierarchy (I added in the mass market category) and my very rough definitions of each category:

Fashion Hierarchy
  * Haute Couture—“High Fashion” (Chanel, Dior, made to wear items from top, usually Parisian designers). A much over used term.
  * Designer RTW (Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, pre-made and sold on the racks)
  * Bridge (not quite Chanel, but not quite Jones New York. This term is used a lot and the line between bridge and contemporary seems to be blurred).
  * Contemporary (Basically the stuff sold at the department stores and includes designers like Tracey Reese and Nanette Lepore to Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman)
  * Mass Market (Isaac Mizrahi at Target, Lagerfeld at H&M, etc)

Are young designers starting aspire to be more like Isaac Mizrahi (at Target) than Christian Dior?  Are we going to start to see designers start their lines at places like Target or Wal-Mart and then work their way up the fashion hierarchy? Are we seeing this trend because the line has been so blurred between Haute Couture and Mass Market? Why should a shopper pay $30,000 for a Haute Couture dress when they can get the a dress from the designer for $30 at H&M?

For an excellent glossary on fashion terms and terminology, check out the always informative blog Fashion Incubator. The blog is like 2 years of fashion design school online

Target.com

Wal-Mart