Category Archives: Fashion

Dior’s British designer Kim Jones awarded knighthood in Paris

Posted on by

Artistic director collects award at Paris fashion week while rumour mill suggests Gucci, Burberry or Margiela move

Friday afternoon in Paris was a big one for the British designer Kim Jones. The artistic director not only presented his latest menswear collection for Dior, he also collected the prestigious Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, a rarity for someone from outside France. In a fashion moment par excellence, the award was presented to him by Anna Wintour, becoming a knight in the process.

Jones has been at Dior for six years, designing the brand’s menswear collections. During that time, he has explored the brand’s rich archive and also personal interests, including TS Eliot’s The Waste Land and Vanessa Bell’s house Charleston in east Sussex. This show was no different. It took Christian Dior’s mid-50s Ligne H collection as its jump-off, but made Casanova – the 18th-century Italian author known for his multiple relationships with women – its muse.

Continue reading...

Mined diamonds are a waste of money, an expert says. Here’s why

Posted on by

Lab-grown diamonds sell for one-quarter of the price of traditional ones and an Australian wholesale broker says he can’t tell the difference

When Steve Richards, a gemologist trained to identify grades of precious jewels, was considering a Christmas present for his wife, he settled on a pair of diamond earrings.

These diamonds, however, were not formed deep in the Earth over millions or billions of years and brought to the surface through volcanic eruptions. They were grown in a lab over a matter of weeks and bought for a fraction of the price.

Continue reading...

Birkenstock sues ‘copycat’ rivals claiming its sandals are applied art

Posted on by

German maker of fashionable cork-based footwear files three lawsuits alleging copyright infringement

Once sneered at as the preserve of muesli-loving, Guardian-reading hippies, Birkenstocks have more recently been promoted to the status of fashion item, not least since they took a starring role in the Barbie movie. But now cork-soled sandals are facing their day in court as their German makers call for them to be protected in perpetuity – and to be recognised as nothing less than a unique work of art.

Germany’s federal court of justice is to decide on the future of the ergonomic sandal after three lawsuits against alleged copycat competitors were lodged on Thursday by the footwear manufacturer.

Continue reading...

Italian fashion designer and ‘colour genius’ Rosita Missoni dies aged 93

Posted on by

Founder of renowned knitwear brand was at forefront of bringing Italian ready-to-wear industry to global market

Rosita Missoni, the esteemed Italian fashion designer who co-founded the eponymous knitwear brand, has died aged 93.

Internationally admired for her colourful fashion house, which she established with her husband, Ottavio, in 1953, Missoni came to be regarded as fashion royalty for being one of a group of designers who brought the Italian ready-to-wear industry to a global market in the 1950s and 60s.

Continue reading...

Katy Perry wins appeal in trademark legal case against Sydney fashion label Katie Perry

Posted on by

Australian designer says she is devastated and heartbroken by US singer’s successful appeal, adding ‘trademark isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on’

International popstar Katy Perry has had a court win in her long-running trademark battle with an Australian fashion designer over her Katie Perry trademark loungewear.

Sydney designer Katie Jane Taylor, who sells clothes under her birth name Katie Perry , sued the singer in October 2019 because the performer was selling her own merchandise.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Burberry’s turnaround chief plans £40m cuts and ‘scarf bar’ rollout

Posted on by

Shares in fashion brand jump as ‘urgent’ cost-cutting programme announced following half-year losses

Burberry has unveiled a £40m cost-cutting programme as its new chief executive pledged to “stabilise the business” with a turnaround plan aimed at reviving the fortunes of the ailing British luxury fashion brand.

Joshua Schulman, the former Coach boss who replaced his ousted predecessor, Jonathan Akeroyd, in July, said the company was “acting with urgency” after straying too far from its roots of “timeless core collections” and outerwear, including trench coats and scarves with its distinctive Burberry check.

Continue reading...

US model ‘elated’ that sexual assault suit against agency boss revived in New York

Posted on by

Carré Otis speaks after court reverses decision and rules lawsuit accusing Gérald Marie of rape in Paris can proceed

The American model Carré Otis has said she is “elated” her sexual assault lawsuit against the former modeling agency boss Gérald Marie and New York talent agent Trudi Tapscott was revived by a federal appeals court more than two years after a crushing dismissal.

“Definitely mixed feelings and really elated,” Otis told the Guardian in her first interview since the ruling earlier this week, when asked how she felt about the US second circuit court of appeals reversing a lower court’s decision.

Continue reading...

Burberry shares rise after reports Moncler is considering bid

Posted on by

Head of LVMH, an investor in Italy’s Moncler, reportedly keen to get deal done with British luxury brand

Shares in Burberry have risen by more than 7% after reports suggested Italian rival Moncler may be considering a bid for the British luxury fashion brand.

The spike came after the trade journal Miss Tweed reported that Moncler, which also owns Stone Island, was looking at a potential acquisition of Burberry, which has struggled as demand for luxury goods has fallen.

Continue reading...

Louis Vuitton owner LVMH reports surprise sales drop amid China slowdown

Posted on by

Shares in LVMH, which also owns Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon, fell by as much as 7%, briefly hitting two-year low

Shares in luxury goods brands slumped after Louis Vuitton’s LVMH reported an unexpected fall in third-quarter sales amid China’s economic slowdown.

Shares in LVMH, which also owns Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon, fell by as much as 7% in early trading, briefly hitting a two-year low, before regaining slightly, after it warned of an “uncertain economic and geopolitical environment”,with falling sales in Asia.

Continue reading...

Mulberry’s owner rejects increased £111m bid from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group

Posted on by

Majority owner, Challice, says it has no interest in selling shares to group that already owns 37% of luxury brand

The owner of the Mulberry fashion brand has rejected an increased £111m bid from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group to buy the British luxury handbag maker, saying it has “no interest” in selling its shares.

Challice, a group controlled by Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong and her husband, Ong Beng Seng, which owns 56% of Mulberry – giving it the power to block any bid – called on Frasers to ditch plans to take over, saying it came at an “inopportune time” for the struggling brand.

Continue reading...

Naomi Campbell admits failures at fashion charity but denies misconduct

Posted on by

Campbell ‘accepts her accountability’, says spokesperson after watchdog’s scathing report about Fashion for Relief

Naomi Campbell has admitted she failed in her duties as a trustee at the Fashion for Relief charity she founded – but has insisted she never engaged in financial misconduct or used the charity for personal gain during its chaotic nine-year existence.

Campbell was last week banned from running a charity for five years after a scathing report found she and her two fellow trustees were culpable for multiple incidents of serious misconduct and financial mismanagement.

Continue reading...

Dressing for the dancefloor: creative explosion behind 80s’ most colourful club

Posted on by

Fashion Museum exhibition charts how shortlived Taboo and its founder, Leigh Bowery, inspired decade’s fashion

With ITV’s drama Joan on our screens and the bubble skirt back on the catwalks, the 80s are once again having a moment. An exhibition at London’s Fashion Museum, Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London, takes a different look – by going deep into the creative explosion on the dancefloors of the decade.

It focuses on Taboo, a London club that lasted barely a year but was pivotal in the careers of people including the singer Boy George, the designers John Galliano and Katharine Hamnett, the choreographer Michael Clark and the performance artist Leigh Bowery, who started the club in 1985.

Continue reading...

One in three Australians throwing unwanted clothes in rubbish, survey finds

Posted on by

RMIT-led study recommends a national recycling scheme to reduce the 200,000 tonnes of textiles sent to landfill each year

Most Australians are confused about what to do with their unwanted clothes, leading about a third to throw their closet clutter in the rubbish, according to the first national survey of clothing use and disposal habits.

The RMIT-led survey of 3,080 Australians found 84% of people owned garments they hadn’t worn in the past year, including a third who hadn’t touched more than half of their wardrobe.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Valentino steals the show in Paris with Alessandro Michele at the helm

Posted on by

Ex-Gucci star brings 70s haute bourgeoisie ladies in trailing chiffons and Gen Z boys in tattoos and pearls to the runway

Valentino was the hottest ticket of this Paris fashion week, and the show had a sense of occasion to match.

A vast floor was laid with smashed mirror tiles, glittering like a ballroom after an earthquake. Five hundred armchairs and a smattering of glowing lamps lay beneath a shroud of white sheets, as if a grand house had been locked up for a long winter. The house of Valentino was shaking off the cobwebs for a new era and hitting the dancefloor.

Continue reading...

‘Difficult from start to finish’: how Naomi Campbell’s fashion charity unravelled

Posted on by

Once hailed as a philanthropic marvel, Fashion for Relief ran up hefty expenses and left charity partners angry

Five years ago, a glitzy charity fundraising gala in the British Museum organised by the model Naomi Campbell was widely accepted to be a triumph. It was the toast of London fashion week and a powerful showcase for Campbell’s philanthropic mission to raise money for young people in poverty.

Awash with celebrities (the actors Naomie Harris and Pierce Brosnan, the rapper Skepta and the model Alexa Chung) and wealthy paying guests, it combined a catwalk show with a charity auction of art (drawings by Matisse, Dalí and Tracey Emin, a signed Warhol print), jewellery and luxury watches.

Continue reading...

Promise of ‘glass skin’ drives surge in sales of K-beauty products in UK

Posted on by

South Korean skincare brands expected to follow country’s music, film and TV exports in becoming blockbusters

We’ve had South Korean pop, film, fashion and food, and now the latest trend is K-beauty, with sales of Korean skincare brands taking off in the UK as consumers are seduced by products that promise to conjure a radiant complexion.

Britons are cutting back in other areas, but they are still chasing what the beauty industry describes as the “glass skin” look, with retailers reporting a rise in spending on high-end skincare.

Continue reading...

Prada and Max Mara bring strangeness and science to Milan fashion week

Posted on by

Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada celebrate idiosyncrasy, while Ian Griffiths foregrounds mathematical tailoring

A Prada show is never a straightforward beauty pageant, so when the co-designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons go out of their way to be contrary and challenging, the result is, frankly, pretty weird.

Thick woollen tights with belt loops. A boob tube with snap pockets on the nipples. Shoes that peel back at the heels like curls of butter. In the cavernous concrete of Prada’s Milanese headquarters, the catwalk was twisted into hairpin bends, so that the audience couldn’t see what was coming next. Each outfit was crazier than the last. A strapless lemon ballgown with sunglasses the size of a gas mask was followed by black jeans tucked into dirty white cowboy boots.

Continue reading...

‘I constantly was saying no’: ex-Abercrombie & Fitch boss accused of abuse at global sex events

Posted on by

Mike Jeffries, now 80, has been accused of exploiting young men for sex in cities around the world from 2009-15

The former chief executive of the American fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch faces new allegations this weekend of exploitation and abuse at sex events held around the world.

One witness said he attended a sex event in Spain with the former fashion boss Mike Jeffries and his British partner Matthew Smith, believing it was going to be a photoshoot, the BBC reported. Young men were injected with liquid Viagra at other events, according to witnesses.

Continue reading...

Ex-fashion mogul Peter Nygard sentenced to 11 years for sexual assault

Posted on by

Judge says Nygard, 83, ‘used his wealth and power’ to commit four convicted assaults in Toronto

The former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of four counts of sexual assault in attacks on women in his Toronto office building that in some cases date back for decades.

The 11-year sentence is reduced to take into account time he has already spent behind bars. Nygard has about 6.7 years left to serve and will be eligible for full parole after one-third of that.

Continue reading...

Asos to charge shoppers who regularly return large amounts of goods

Posted on by

Online fashion retailer writes to some customers to say they face £3.95 fee unless they keep up to £40 of order

Asos is to start charging UK shoppers who frequently return large amounts of goods a fee of £3.95 to send items back unless they keep up to £40 worth of their order.

The online fashion retailer, which until now has made free returns of unused items within 14 days an important part of its offer in Britain, has written to some shoppers saying it has updated its “fair use” policy for orders made from 8 October.

Continue reading...