Fashion people are notoriously slow to adapt to technology; they thought Natalie Massenet was nuts when she began Net-A-Porter, but the company has been purchased by luxury conglomerate Richemont for £350 million and she's laughing all the way to the bank. So I found Cathy Horyn's article about millennials and online shopping interesting yet odd. The article basically questions why Net-A-Porter, Shopbop, and La Garconne are so successful; her conclusion is that Gen Y wants its fashion NOW and looks to these websites for editorial inspiration, and if brands like Chanel want to court this younger customer, they're going to have to get with the program. Obviously, as a blogger (and as an e-commerce copywriter, which is my day job), I agree that the Internet is a major force; what is puzzling to me is why visionaries like Diane von Furstenburg (who Tweets, by the way!) are puzzled as to the success of these companies. There are many different ways to shop, and when it comes to convenience, really, nothing beats the Internet. Gen Y just happens to be the generation that's fully grown up with it. Is that so hard to figure out?
On a lighter note, Lila at Madison Avenue Spy interviewed The Cut's Amy Odell as part of her "retail therapy" series, and while I've always been a big fan of Amy's writing, I love her even more after reading this. She refuses to pay retail for anything--truly, a girl after my own heart.
Also, Garance Doré has officially moved to New York (I'm guessing she moved in with her boyfriend, otherwise known as The Sartorialist), and we now have a series of fish-out-of-water posts to look forward to. Her first was this amusing meditation on the unique vocabulary of NYC nail salons.
Showing posts with label Cathy Horyn. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Recommended reading
There are designers I greatly admire and want to wear if I had the financial wherewithal--Marni, Lanvin, Olivier Theyskens--and then there are designers who I appreciate and respect, but who don't quite appeal to me on a personal level. I am not a sexy dresser (I'm from the Midwest after all) so the latter tend to be the more sexual, body-conscious, and even "loud" designers: Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Cavalli, etc. Of course, no one personified this "sexy" category better than Gianni Versace, who pushed so many boundaries in his career, all the while tailoring with an incredibly sharp eye and a strong identity. I was incredibly upset by his death, which, as Cathy Horyn notes in her nuanced article from today's Times, was 10 years ago this month. Donatella Versace has since soldiered on, through a divorce, a cocaine addiction, an eating-disordered daughter, and major financial difficulties, and while she clearly doesn't share her brother's prolific talent, she has managed to make the company profitable once again, subtly transforming the Versace customer from a jet-setting party girl to a strong, sexy, confident woman. But that's not what the article is about. It's Horyn's personal memories of the siblings behind the brand and the strangeness of the events following Gianni's death. It's not the tidy memoir you'd expect, but rather a loose, sad, yet moving reminiscence, and by far the best piece I've read on Versace in awhile.
There are designers I greatly admire and want to wear if I had the financial wherewithal--Marni, Lanvin, Olivier Theyskens--and then there are designers who I appreciate and respect, but who don't quite appeal to me on a personal level. I am not a sexy dresser (I'm from the Midwest after all) so the latter tend to be the more sexual, body-conscious, and even "loud" designers: Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Cavalli, etc. Of course, no one personified this "sexy" category better than Gianni Versace, who pushed so many boundaries in his career, all the while tailoring with an incredibly sharp eye and a strong identity. I was incredibly upset by his death, which, as Cathy Horyn notes in her nuanced article from today's Times, was 10 years ago this month. Donatella Versace has since soldiered on, through a divorce, a cocaine addiction, an eating-disordered daughter, and major financial difficulties, and while she clearly doesn't share her brother's prolific talent, she has managed to make the company profitable once again, subtly transforming the Versace customer from a jet-setting party girl to a strong, sexy, confident woman. But that's not what the article is about. It's Horyn's personal memories of the siblings behind the brand and the strangeness of the events following Gianni's death. It's not the tidy memoir you'd expect, but rather a loose, sad, yet moving reminiscence, and by far the best piece I've read on Versace in awhile.
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