Giles Deacon At Pitti | Source: The Business of Fashion

FLORENCE, Italy — In the world of menswear, January is a full-on month of trade fairs and fashion shows. The super-charged schedule of activities begins with Pitti Uomo, continues on to Milan where mega Italian brands like Gucci, Prada and Armani unveil their collections, and concludes with a bang in Paris, where established Parisian fashion houses like Lanvin and Dior Homme show alongside a cornucopia of international designers from Korea, Belgium, Britain and the United States.

This season, the kind folks at Pitti Immagine invited me to Florence for my first-ever look at what Mesh Chhibber, Managing Partner of Relative|MO, refers to as “the chicest tradeshow on earth.” Indeed, rather than a series of boring stalls, filled with ‘me-too’ product, Pitti Uomo offers an impressive menswear mix of urban and classic, formal and casual, and high-fashion and high-street. There is literally something for everyone in the maze of pavillions on the site of the Fortezza da Basso.

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Reiss Autumn/Winter '09 | Source: Reiss

When a Bottom Line Isn’t Just About Profit (New York Times)
“As the fashion industry struggles with a global economic downturn and a rapidly changing consumer landscape, qualities that are at the heart of family and owner/founder businesses, like a consistent vision and a long-term approach, seem to be helping those companies ride out the storm.”

Fashion house Celine says 2009 year of transition (Reuters)
“French fashion house Celine, owned by luxury goods group LVMH, has been holding off opening new stores this year and hopes collections from creative director Phoebe Philo will underpin sales from 2010.”

Jimmy Choo and Inter Parfums Sign a Fragrance License Agreement (Yahoo)
“Inter Parfums, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Inter Parfums SA, and Jimmy Choo have signed a 12-year worldwide license agreement commencing on January 1, 2010 for the creation, development and distribution of fragrances under the Jimmy Choo brand.”

Paper Scrapes By In Style (Forbes)
“New York City’s Midtown skyscrapers host some of the biggest names in American media: Hearst, Condé Nast, Time Inc., The New York Times, CBS and News Corp. A dozen blocks south in the Koreatown neighborhood are the offices of Paper, a magazine that endures apart from the mainstream.”

Paris match: Giles Deacon’s tough glamour (Independent)
“British designer Giles Deacon’s brand of tough glamour made him a star of the London catwalks. This week he’s going to show the French capital what he’s made of, he tells Susannah Frankel.”

Prabal Gurung and Joseph Altuzarra

Out on Their Own, and Making It Work (New York Times)
“Ever since Prabal Gurung left his employer in the garment district, last winter, and sank his savings into his own label – at the worst possible time – he has been more aware of the silly and duplicitous nature of fashion. It may just be him, or the economy, but he doesn’t think so.”

Italy Fashion Manufacturers Welcome “Made In Italy” Law (WSJ)
“Italy’s association of textile and apparel makers, Sistema Moda Italiana, Wednesday welcomed a new law that will force Italy-based fashion manufacturers to affix a “made in” label on products manufactured overseas.”

The Trouble With Jake (New York Times)
“Jake is just one store struggling to keep up with its bills during the worst retail economy in decades, but its troubles illustrate a dilemma facing an important swath of the fashion industry. While the recession has taken a toll on luxury fashion retailers of all sizes, it is the smaller, independent stores like Jake – known in the industry as specialty stores – that have been hardest hit.”

Giles Deacon Fashion in Motion at the V&A (Catwalk Queen)
“Giles Deacon will be showcasing a selection of his work in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery tomorrow as part of the museum’s Fashion in Motion programme.”

Ossie Clark to close (Drapers)
“Ossie Clark, the iconic fashion label which enjoyed huge popularity in the 1960s, is to close, just one year after it was relaunched.”

Giles Deacon to quadruple sales (Drapers)
Giles Deacon has announced a business partnership with Castor Srl which will help him to achieve the business aspirations he first mentioned to us in our Inside the Studio video series in February. (Watch video here)

EBay May Sell More Luxury Goods Under Draft EU Rules (Bloomberg)
“EBay Inc.’s traders may have fewer restrictions on selling luxury goods under European Union regulators’ plans to break down barriers to Internet sales.”

April clothing sales strongest since 2006 (Drapers)
“Retail like-for-like sales rose 4.6% in April, with clothing showing the strongest growth since late 2006, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).”

Barneys aiming to close 2 stores (Reuters)
“As the impact of the global recession weighs in on wealthy Americans, high-end retailer Barneys New York Inc aims to close two of its seven department stores, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.”

White House Correspondents’ Dinner: Glamour Is Back! (Huffington Post)
Donatella Versace writes her first blog entry on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

“The Surprise of Collaboration…”

Not everyone thinks of fashion designers as business people, but fashion ultimately requires designers, especially independent designers like Giles Deacon, to stay in touch with the realities of managing a business every day.

In the third and final chapter of Giles’ story, we learn how collaborations with major partners like New Look, as well as creatives like LOVE Magazine’s Katie Grand and milliner Stephen Jones, have enabled Giles to bring his designs to a broader audience, elevate the sophistication of his product offering, and therefore have a creative and business impact far beyond what might be expected of an independent fashion label in London.

RSS and email subscribers, click here to watch the video.

Previous chapters:
Chapter I | “Unstructured Exploration…”
Chapter II | “A Designer Who Has Always Drawn…”

Inside the Studio | Giles Deacon was generously supported by Swarovski

“A Designer Who Has Always Drawn…”

Giles Deacon began drawing at the age of three, so it’s not surprising that illustration forms a fundamental part of his creative process.

The second chapter of Giles’ story uncovers the organised randomness behind Giles’ arresting design concoctions, often starting with a sketch. He explains how designs like the now iconic Pacman dress from Spring/Summer 2009 and the much talked-about Bambi dress from Spring/Summer 2008, which landed on the front cover of the New York Times, were conceived and developed.

RSS and email subscribers, click here to watch the video.

Inside the Studio | Giles Deacon was generously supported by Swarovski

Giles Deacon for Smythson

LONDON, United Kingdom — When Giles Deacon developed a set of chic correspondence cards, each with a signature Giles sketch, in collaboration with Smythson earlier this year, the first batch sold out in just one day — on both sides of the Atlantic. For all you hard core Giles fans, the cards appear to have been re-ordered and are now available for sale again.

Even better, here at BoF we were lucky to have had a special sketch from Giles (you can see it below the jump), built around our new brand identity, in celebration of our exclusive Inside the Studio interview series with Giles which debuted earlier this week with Chapter 1, “Unstructured Exploration…”

On Monday, February 9, Chapter II will be released here on The Business of Fashion and on www.swarovskisparkles.tv. In the second installment, which focuses on Giles’ creative process, he tells us that he is “A Designer Who Has Always Drawn,” explaining how illustration forms a key part of his creative process by giving life and meaning to his ideas.

Stay tuned. … Continue Reading

“Unstructured exploration…”

In the years before he became an overnight household name in the United Kingdom, when Linda Evangelista walked down his runway for free, Giles Deacon spent more than 10 years exploring — not the world, but rather the people and environment in which he lived.

The first chapter of Giles’ story explains how he came to be a fashion designer and launch his own label, GILES. It reveals how the accidents of life can change the course of fashion history.

Inside the Studio | Giles Deacon was generously supported by Swarovski

LONDON, United Kingdom — The Business of Fashion is pleased to announce the launch of Inside the Studio, a series of in-depth interviews providing a 360 degree view of the world’s top fashion designers and their roles as both creative and business people.

Supported by Swarovski and produced by and developed in association with Make Believe, the first interview features renowned fashion designer Giles Deacon who celebrated his 10th season at London Fashion Week in September 2008. In a rare one-on-one conversation, Deacon speaks at length about his decision to become a fashion designer, the nature of his creative process, and his approach for managing an independent fashion business in these troubled economic times.

Inside the Studio moves beyond the ephemeral trend- and celebrity-watching common in the fashion media to reveal a fascinating side of the industry that is rarely seen.

Giles’ story will be revealed in three chapters on www.businessoffashion.net and www.swarovskisparkles.tv in the coming weeks:

Chapter I – Foundation
“Unstructured Exploration…” (3 February, 2009)

Chapter II – Creative Process
“A Designer Who Has Always Drawn…” (9 February, 2009)

Chapter III – Business
“The Surprise of Collaboration…” (16 February, 2009)

Stay tuned for the first video which debuts on Tuesday, 3 February at 12:00 noon, London time.

“Australia”, Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and … Ferragamo  (WSJ)
As part of Salvatore Ferragamo’s “long standing brand strategy,” it has made accessories for the movie Australia starring Nicole Kidman.

Giles Hearts Boys, Too (Fashionista)
Giles Deacon has launched a menswear range in collaboration with New Look.

Retail Rx for a Hip Mom-and-Pop (NY Times)
By George, a small retailer in Austin, Texas is emblematic of the challenges for mom-and-pop retailers in the current economic environment.

Ugg sales soar at John Lewis (Drapers)
At John Lewis, Uggs, the ubiquitous Australian boots, “saw a 300% increase in sales.”

Scene from Australia, photo courtesy of TV.com.