Exclusive: application to use public money to support staff is withdrawn following criticism
Victoria Beckham has reversed a decision to furlough 30 staff at her fashion label and said that her team’s welfare “means everything to me” after the decision to apply for public money drew heavy criticism.
Following a change of heart by the designer and her board, the application to the government scheme has been withdrawn and all employees concerned restored to their roles.
Continue reading...Kristina Kubiliene can ‘barely open her handbag’, allegedly as a result of working long hours
Victoria Beckham’s clothing brand is being sued by a pattern cutter who claims to have developed a serious hand injury that required surgery after working for up to 15 hours a day in the run-up to New York fashion week.
Kristina Kubiliene, 54, worked for Victoria Beckham Ltd at its London studio for nearly eight years and left last year after developing carpal tunnel syndrome, which left her barely able to open her handbag, her lawyer said.
Continue reading...Pledge comes in response to claims that order cancellations to minimise Covid-19 losses have hurt millions of workers in the developing world
Primark, one of the UK’s most popular retailers, has announced it will create a fund to help pay the wages of the millions of garment workers affected by its decision to cancel tens of millions of pounds worth of clothing orders from factories in developing countries across the world.
The pledge followed sustained criticism of the fashion retailer after data from the Bangladeshi and Garment Exporters Association (BGMEA) revealed it had cancelled all orders already placed with suppliers.
Continue reading...Coronavirus cutbacks amount to a ‘wholesale abandonment’ of garment workers, says labour rights group
More than a million Bangaldeshi garment workers have been sent home without pay or have lost their jobs after western clothing brands cancelled or suspended £2.4bn of existing orders in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic, according to data from the Bangladeshi and Garment Exporters Association (BGMEA).
Primark and the Edinburgh Woollen Mill are among retailers that have collectively cancelled £1.4bn and suspended an additional £1bn of orders as they scramble to minimise losses. This includes nearly £1.3bn of orders that were already in production or had been completed, according to BGMEA.
Continue reading...The humble eight-holed work boot has won over everyone from postal workers to punks, teens to today’s celebrities and influencers. How did it stride to world dominance?
Tony Benn wore them. So did Agyness Deyn. Suggs loved them, also Kathleen Hanna and Joe Strummer. And Jordan Catalano. Hailey Baldwin, Rihanna and Bella Hadid still do. Once you start looking, Dr Martens are everywhere. Sixty years after launching the eight-hole 1460 boot – on, as the name suggests, the 1 April 1960 – it is an undisputed classic, one of those rare-as-hen’s-teeth designs that is as likely to be spotted in a museum as it is (until recently, of course) on the streets outside. It is up there with Levi’s 501s, the Fred Perry polo shirt, the Converse All Star and the Harrington jacket.
And, like these other items, the 1460 is enjoying a fashion moment beyond its classic status. Perhaps because the past decade has been so turbulent – even before we had a global pandemic to contend with – fashion has returned to the dependable. The Hadids, Baldwin and Kaia Gerber are all endorsing Dr Martens. In other words, as Vogue declared in October, they have become “model off-duty staple”. While the vegan range and patterned designs have been credited with a 70% rise in profit for the brand in 2019, the 1460 remains the bestseller and it is this history that is likely to have attracted rumours in March of a potential £300m sale to a US private equity firm.
Continue reading...Over four decades the late German fashion photographer collaborated with many of the biggest names in the industry, from Kate Moss to Naomi Campbell
Continue reading...My favourite video right now shows a variety of Italian mayors telling off their citizens in no uncertain terms – and it is exactly the approach we need here
Is it acceptable to shout at people – not just friends and family, but also strangers – for not practising social distancing?
Martin, London
Status update on me: I am spending every day, all day, inside my home with three children under five and a deranged, underwalked terrier who barks incessantly at his own reflection in the window. Am I lucky? You bet: I have a home and, so far, everyone has their health. But does my life also resemble a Channel 5 reality TV show? Maybe just a touch.
Continue reading...The shoot, featuring musician Dani Miller in mascara, has reignited debate about realistic standards of beauty
One is famed for warts-and-all realism, the other for high-end gloss, so there was always going to be something spectacular in the offing when British photographer Martin Parr was asked to shoot a make-up advertising campaign for the Italian fashion house Gucci.
The imagery – for the brand’s new L’Obscur mascara – features New York punk musician Dani Miller and her now-famous gap-toothed smile. With lashings of heavy black mascara, natural eyebrows (complete with, shock horror, regrowth), and minimal foundation, it has divided customers and started yet another debate about diversity, even in these times of increased body positivity.
Continue reading...As trainer consumption booms, so does the number of unwanted shoes. Can anything be done with them?
Sneaker Con is an aircraft-hangar-sized convention that smells worse and worse as the day goes on. I am at the London edition of the event, but it’s just been in Las Vegas, and is soon due to be in Berlin, then New York. Thousands of sneakerheads have paid the £25 entry fee and are browsing merchandise stalls piled high with sneakers. The price tags on these shoes are not for the faint-hearted: £550, £600, £700.
The attendees are approximately 95% male. Of the women here, many are the mothers of young boys. One of the few women not chaperoning a child is Helen. She lives in a rented three-bedroom house on the outskirts of London with her husband, Luke, and his collection of trainers. The shoes have filled up the loft and the spare room. When they began to invade her bedroom, Helen told Luke she needed some space. The couple booked a table at Sneaker Con, where their stall is piled with trainers which cumulatively cost tens of thousands of pounds. This expense has become a source of tension. “That’s why he had to stop,” Helen tells me. “Some are quick-strike releases: we’d be on a night out and have to pull over on the motorway to follow a Twitter link to get a pair of trainers.”
Continue reading...Campaigners call for fashion brands to protect workers in their supply chains globally as coronavirus causes orders to dry up
The fashion industry is facing calls to step in and protect the wages of the 40 million garment workers in their supply chains around the world who face destitution as factories close and orders dry up in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Many factories in garment-producing countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam are already closing due to a shortage of raw materials from China and declining orders from western clothing brands.
Continue reading...As the Tate Modern prepares to open its new exhibition, a menswear expert – and Warhol superfan – explains why the artist continues to impact on personal style
• Read more from the spring/summer 2020 edition of The Fashion, our biannual style supplement
“Artists aren’t supposed to dress up and I’ll never look right anyway,” Andy Warhol utters in Bob Colacello’s fantastic biographical Holy Terror book. It’s ironic, given that when anyone talks about men having a sartorial uniform, I always think of Warhol. Specifically, the blazer, shirt, tie and jeans era. He often also had a plastic carrier bag in hand, with copies of his magazine Interview inside to give out to potential advertisers. Warhol was never not working. He was his art.
Warhol’s dedication to jeans is also something of a personal obsession; I recently bought three pairs of vintage Levi’s – his favourite denim brand. Arguably, one of the best denim-related stories is of Warhol keeping his Levi’s 501s on under his tuxedo suit – he was going to the White House for the first time – because the trousers were itchy. Then there is the picture of him skating in jeans and a blazer, or a roll neck with New Balance trainers, Basquiat in the foreground, topless and weight-training.
Continue reading...Discovery draws criticism from those who say fashion industry generates too much waste
Hundreds of Victoria’s Secret bras have reportedly been found discarded in a bin close to a recently closed branch of the lingerie store in Colorado.
The discovery comes at a time when the fashion industry is under fire for generating significant levels of waste, while Victoria’s Secret continues to face criticism regarding recent controversies.
Continue reading...McGowan posts Facebook attack on Portman, who wore a gown embroidered with names of female directors snubbed at awards
Activist and actor Rose McGowan has labelled Natalie Portman a “fraud” for wearing a dress to the Oscars embroidered with the names of female film-makers including Greta Gerwig and Lulu Wang who were passed over for best director nominations.
In a post on Facebook, McGowan said Portman had made “the kind of protest that gets rave reviews from the mainstream media” but was “more like an actress acting the part of someone who cares. As so many of them do.”
Continue reading...Follow all the action from Hollywood as we find out who’s wearing what, who’s winning what and whose acceptance speech is dropping jaws
• Oscars tonight: predictions, timetable and all you need to know
• ‘Brad Pitt tells us he’s single’: play Oscars bingo!
Now for best animated feature. Beanie Feldstein just introduced Mindy Kaling. Is that how this is going to work without a host? A person announces a person who announces a winner? That seems like at least one step too many.
We already have a news story about Brad Pitt winning. Not that anyone was expecting it or anything.
Continue reading...A new study finds women who wear heavy makeup are perceived as less competent. Perhaps it’s time to make our own rules
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Continue reading...1,758-carat Sewelô snapped up by luxury brand is world’s second-largest rough diamond
Louis Vuitton has made a splash as it showed off its latest purchase: the world’s second-largest rough diamond.
The LVMH-owned brand, which announced last week that it was the new owner of the 1,758-carat Sewelô, displayed the glinting, blackened stone at its Place Vendôme store in Paris.
Continue reading...Gaultier says his high-end fashion and perfume business will continue along with a new concept as yet to be revealed
The renowned designer Jean-Paul Gaultier is bowing out from creating clothes after a 50-year career, he has said. But he has told fans not to worry, because he will be turning his hand to other creative projects.
Related: Jean Paul Gaultier, challenging those who churn out fast fashion | Rebecca Nicholson
Continue reading...A surreal take on tailoring echoed masculine workwear themes seen elsewhere
On the third day of Milan men’s fashion week, the concept of the working man emerged as a theme in the newest collection from Prada.
The brand, which skipped Milan last season to show instead in Shanghai, showcased a collection which focused on formality and tailoring but with Miuccia Prada’s surreal touches. On a set that was designed to replicate a futuristic town square (a white statue of a man on a horse stood in the centre of the box-like runway), models replicated Prada-ised commuters on their way to work.
Continue reading...Illustrated covers intended to highlight environmental impact of shoots
Vogue Italia will not feature any photoshoots in its January 2020 issue in a bid to make a statement about sustainability. The move is intended to highlight the environmental impact of photoshoots in print magazines.
In his editor’s letter, Emanuele Farneti listed some of the resources it took to fill the September 2019 issue, the biggest of the year, with original photographs: “One hundred and fifty people involved. About 20 flights and a dozen or so train journeys. Forty cars on standby. Sixty international deliveries. Lights switched on for at least ten hours nonstop, partly powered by gasoline-fuelled generators. Food waste from the catering services. Plastic to wrap the garments. Electricity to recharge phones, cameras … ”
Continue reading...Alongside Yves Saint Laurent, Ungaro is seen as having helped establish ready-to-wear as an alternative to couture
Emanuel Ungaro, the French fashion designer who described himself as a sensual obsessive, has died in Paris at the age of 86.
Ungaro was a giant of old-school fashion, once memorably declaring: “One should not wear a dress, one should live in it.”
Continue reading...