Check out the best looks from this years fashion week in the Big Apple.
Dresses on 2009’s New York Runway
Even More Dresses
Something For The Men
The life of a model is glamorous, sexy and very competitive. In this video WatchMojo.com learns what is being judged at model castings for the runway and what it takes to get a modeling career underway.
Check out the feature here.
In this video see different styles that you can get from eco-friendly designers. Discover labels that are recycling, reusing and reducing. Part 2.
If you’re still not sure what to wear during the holidays take some notes from this video!
Move over, Michelle. Another Obama is becoming a style-setter.
Sen. Barack Obama will wear a custom-made Hart Schaffner Marx suit (left) when he accepts the Democratic nomination in Denver on Thursday night (August 28th-2008).
The two-button suit is made of solid navy and worsted wool, with pleated pants that have an inch and a quarter cuffs.
“It’s a flattering fit and has a soft drape, and the material has a nice feel against the skin,” says Lisa Wells, director of public relations for Hickey Freeman, a subsidiary of Hartmarx Corporation –formerly Hart, Schaffner & Marx. “The silhouette is a classic fit; he’s a 40 long with a 33-inch waist.” Continue reading…
According to Jeanine Poggi
Pairing a double-breasted suit jacket with a starched shirt and oversized bow tie is one of fall’s most anticipated trends.But if you think Karl Lagerfeld created this look for a man, think again. This suit jacket-bow tie combo is part of Lagerfeld’s fall line for women. Continue reading…
1- Prada
3- Dior Homme
4- Paul Smith
6- Lanvin
7- Nina Ricci
8- Max Azria
9- Ernst Benz
10- Tommy Hilfiger
According to Jeanine Poggi
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think “Tiger Woods?”
If it’s a Tag Heuer watch rather than a golf course, you’ve just confirmed what ad executives have known for years: celebrities sell. The best pitchers include Woods, Nicole Kidman , Jessica Simpson and Justin Timberlake.
Clothing retailers in particular are looking to celebrity endorsers to lift the bottom line because even though consumer prices rose 0.3% last month, clothing prices fell by 1.3%–the biggest drop in nearly a decade. To help offset this decline, apparel retailers are producing celebrity-branded lines to gain a competitive edge in a difficult market.
Keith Richards - Louis Vuitton
Angelina Jolie - St.John Knits - $12 million paycheck
Nicole Kidman - Chanel No.5 - $12 million paycheck
Jessica Simpson - Guther-Renker - ProActive - $3 million/year paycheck
Gwyneth Paltrow - Estee Lauder - $6 million paycheck
Charlize Theron - Dior - $6 million paycheck
Justin Timberlake - Givenchy
Penelope Cruz - L’Oreal - $4 million paycheck
Eva Mendes - Calvin Klein Fragrances
See WatchMojo.com’s multi-part features, starting here:
The tailors at Chicago-based Oxxford Clothes take over 15 measurements of a client’s body to create a bespoke suit. It’s a process that involves first making a paper pattern that the tailor marks up for details, such as button holes and trouser cuffs; and then, for particularly difficult fits, creating a sample suit from scrap fabric. Six weeks, two or three fittings and around $5,500 later, the client takes home his perfectly fitting suit.This is just one of a handful of companies that are offering custom and made-to-measure pieces–from bespoke two-piece suits for men to customized dresses for women–at a wide range of price points.
A survey of about 50 men’s specialty stores found that sales of men’s custom and made-to-measure suits jumped by 17% in 2007 over the previous year, according to MR Magazine, a trade publication for the men’s fashion industry. Thirty-six percent of all surveyed tailored clothing sold in the stores were either true custom and made from scratch like the one mentioned above (prices can range from $5,000 to $12,000, depending on the fabric and designer) or the more affordable made-to-measure suits that use an existing pattern while accommodating the customer’s measurements and preferences (prices range from $1,000 to $5,000).
This is in stark contrast to struggling off-the-rack suit sales, which saw a 5% decline in 2007, according to the NPD group.
Creating a bespoke suit is an intricate, time-intensive process, and prices can easily exceed $10,000 for the most luxurious fabrics. (At the eponymous, New York-based custom clothier Duncan Quinn, a two-piece suit made of Guanashina, which he calls “the world’s finest fabric,” costs $27,000.) Yet for more and more shoppers, getting the perfect fit is worth the time and extra expense.
“There’s an interest in customizing your wardrobe with certain nuances that make it unique,” says Jeff Farbstein, vice president and general merchandise manager at Harry Rosen in Canada. He says his custom business has grown 50% in the last four years. “Picking your own lining today is like buying a tie. Customers can choose paisleys or bright colors; it allows the customer to reveal a little of his personality.”
Custom suits at Harry Rosen take over 30 hours to handcraft and can cost as much as $12,000. Customers select from 6,000 fabric swatches, and linings are made with tie fabrics from Italy and England. After the first order, measurements are kept on file.
But the benefits go far beyond a fancy lining. Custom or made-to-measure clothing can hide a multitude of sins. A shopper interested in an off-the-rack suit might have to buy a larger jacket to accommodate a wide midsection; it will also be too long and have oversized shoulders and arms. A custom suit would include a few strategically positioned extra inches of fabric where needed, while keeping the rest of the measurements in proportion. Posture also affects the way fabric hangs on the body. A good custom tailor will take diagonal body measurements to fit rounded shoulders or a slight slouch.
While the word “bespoke” may have conjured up images of a stodgy old men’s club in the past, now companies such as Coppley offer more affordable machine-made options, starting at $1,000, that are still created based on the customer’s specific preferences, fabric selection and style, but not at the expense of hand-tailoring. Fashion-forward designers are now refitting this bespoke service for younger customers, adding funky colored linings, bolder fabrics and slim-fitting styles that show off an athletic body.
Slim-fitting custom suits and shirts are the main focus at Lord Willy’s, a small, New York-based store owned by British expats Alex and Betty Wilcox. A glance at their logo–a suit, shirt and tie-clad gentleman with an umbrella and no trousers–signals that this is not your average suit shop. The sense of humor translates to the clothing and accessories lining the walls: Boxer-short sizes range from “big Willy’s” to “massive Willy’s,” and the dress shirts come in bright, unexpected color combinations and patterns, such as an orange and blue gingham or tartan. Suits start at $3,500, and shirts start at $250.
“We don’t make a traditional business suit,” says co-owner Alex Wilcox. “We make a very special slim-fitting, English-cut suit for the eclectic customer.”
Duncan Quinn is another funky tailor who seamlessly combines Savile Row skill with rock ‘n’ roll sensibility. Like most high-end tailors, his technique is traditional, using age-old methods of layering canvas and horsehair inside the front of the jacket to create a perfectly hanging suit. But the silhouettes are usually trim, and the colors range from purple paisley to midnight blue chalk stripe. Custom suits average $3,800 to $5,500.
Mike Cohen, president of Oxxford Clothes, a custom and ready-to-wear tailored clothing company, says that while his ready-to-wear suit business remains stable, his custom business is up an astonishing 85% so far this year.
“It used to be the older gentleman who wanted custom, but now I’m seeing a lot of guys in their 20s and 30s asking for suits and jackets made specifically for them … and they want it to look custom made,” he says. “They like the subtleties of ticket pockets; they want to select the color of the lining, the buttons and a color under the collar.” He adds that younger guys want higher armholes and waistbands with tabs not belt loops. “They want a clean, streamlined suit.”
But while men’s custom options abound, women’s wear has been slow to offer custom services. As an executive in the industrial construction industry in the ’80s, Dara Lamb remembers seeing the kind of exceptional service and options offered to her male colleagues, enabling them to show up to board meetings looking sharp, well-fitted and elegant. She came upon a major stumbling block, however, when it came to comparable choices in the women’s marketplace.
“When I found a dress or suit I liked, I found the tailoring and fabric were inferior to the men’s suits,” she explains. In response, she founded her own company in 1982, designing custom suits, shirts and evening gowns, for women only. Prices start at $1,200 for made-to-measure suits and $3,200 for custom-made suits.
While true custom clothing for women is hard to find, more and more companies recognize the need for women to fine-tune their apparel to their body type.
Rebecca and Drew Manufacturing launched in 2004, focusing on the women’s button-down dress shirt. “The biggest complaint we heard from women was the button pulling that always seemed to happen around the bust area–either you could fit your bust or your waist, but not both at the same time,” says the company’s co-founder, Rebecca Matchett. The New York-based company makes women’s shirts and shirt dresses using a trio-fit sizing system that uses specific measurements (chest circumference, bra cup size and torso height), much like button-downs have been designed for men for years.
Others rushing to fill a void in the market are April Bukofser and Marin Milio, who, in June 2007, launched a contemporary line of affordable custom dresses, coats and suits called AprilMarin. Customers simply fill out a measurement form online, select their style and hit send. Garments are made in Asia and delivered to the customer in two weeks.
Before taking the custom-made plunge, beware–you could miss your instant purchase gratification. Clothes can take anywhere from two weeks to two months to arrive. And once you go custom, you can never go back, because off the rack will never look as good.
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