Kate Moss for Top Shop launched Today

Tonight is the big night for fashionista in the UK. The highly anticipated Kate Moss for Top Shop was launched in London tonight at GMT 8:00pm. There was a long queue outside, resembling that of H&M opening in Hong Kong outside. And most certainly, I am unable to access the Topshop website due to extremely high traffic. But then it's Kate Moss!! Once let inside, people were scrambling all over, snatching everything in their sight. The interview that BBC did with one store manager was interesting. The reporter inquired that some of those clothes that are based on Kate Moss's closet might not be suitable for the general public The shop keeper replied "certain items like this tuxedo hot pants are manufactured from size 6 to size 16, but it would be highly recommend that those above size 12 to wear the item with caution".....what a mild way to state what Karl Lagerfeld's objection of H&M manufacturing his design in size 14.....

I'm sure many have managed to sneak a peek into Kate Moss' collection from Vogue UK April issue. I do like some of the dresses ad the tuxedo waist coat very much. I can't wait till I have a look and finally examine the quality of the garments and try them on when I go to London in June!

Lunch Bag by Louis Vuitton

Marc Jacobs and his team just never stops amusing me with their new ways of ripping customers off. After the infamous China Town shopper, this new Cabas That's Love satin tote is the newest creation presented by Louis Vuitton. It took me a while to realize that this bag is actually a designer item, since I saw absolutely no design in it....it is just a boxy, rectagular lunch-bag-like bag that seems perfect for my lunch box, with cheesy word "L.O.V.E" sew on it. Seriously, I believe I am capable of producing this lunch bag since I completed my first sewing course in the high school home economics class. And guess how much it is? It is selling at a whopping USD $1610, and you can call any LV store to order one now. I know this bag is made of satin and has sequin sewn on it, but $1610 for a lunch bag? Marc, stop treating us as a moron!

Why is Paris the new Paris?

They have been saying "Paris is the new Paris" in the fashion industry. Paris had enjoyed the status as THE fashion capital of the world for a long time, then the power had been diverged to the passionate Milan, edgy London, and city chic New York. Designing talents had been flourishing in all these fashion capitals in the recent era, yet the roulette seemed to have rotated back to Paris recently. After the F/W 2007 shows, it is almost a unanimous consensus that the calibre of the shows in Paris was a level above its Milan, London, and New York counterparts. While London and New York were never threatening contender to the throne of the world's top fashion capital, I would like to explore why Paris' closest rival, Milan, had been losing ground in the recent days. Yesterday, when I was waiting to attend some department store Trunk Show, I flipped through the Economist magazine. There was an article about the Italian luxury goods market, and I think that article sheds lights on my recent intrigue with the threats of withering in the Italian fashion houses. It is obvious that there are new designing talents budding everywhere in the world, and Italy is no exception, breeding wonderful talents like Stefano Pilati. Nonetheless, we see that the Paris fashion houses have given much more opportunities to the new designers and are more willing to take the risk to let these designers take on more important roles in the prestigious names. We see new designing stars like Alber Elbaz, Nicolas Ghesquiere, and Marc Jacobs respectively leading the designing job in the traditional houses of Lanvin, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton, which all are characterized by substantial historical heritage. This is by no mean a coincidence.


In France, many of the prestigious brands have tapped into the deep capital market or have been bought out by luxury conglomerates like the LVMH. Contrarily, many of the largest and arguably the most successful Italian brands, such as Armani, Prada, and Ferragamo are still held privately as family business. Giorgio Armani believes that "capital markets do not understand fashion", and many Italian designers who share his view perceive that once the brand is sold or is brought to an IPO, designing control might be lost in favour of commercial returns. Although that is a probable disadvantage, leveraging into the capitals provided by public market could also open the brand to new possibilities. With richer capitals, the brand would be enabled to take more risk, which put the brand in better position to allow the introduction of young designers as creative directors, vigorous expansion in the emerging markets, and ability to experiment with new concepts. There could be a more frequent introduction of new design talents to bring new perspective and freshen the brand image.


Looking at the overwhelmingly commercial designs in the New York shows, it could be argue that too much capitalism could lead to conformity and deem detrimental to fashion innovation. However, as we witness from the Paris fashion scene, capital infusion could also encourage new talents to shine. One part of that difference could attributable to the presence of well established brands with long history. These traditional houses serve to nourish new talents in the industry, and the requirement in terms of quality of design and material would inevitably be higher to live up to these brands' long established reputation. By the time these young designers are ready to build their own brand, they have their own talents, as well as the craftmanship and standards that they have acquired from the traditional houses, to their disposal to develop their labels. The luxury of learning from the archive of inspiration and craftmanship in hisotry-rich houses is less accessible to the American designers by comparison, and many of the young desginers are showing under their own labels very early in their career. Constraint by capital, or return requirement from their sponsors, these young desginers are much more subjected to profitability and their designs are inevitably more commercial. The deprivation from taking their innovative perspective to the fullest early in the young designers' careers could arguably take away the potential lustre in the American fashion scene.


In conclusion, since Milan shares the blessing of well established fashion houses and history of design and craftmanship, it could be a big step forward if the Italian fashion giants could also take advantage of the capital markets. I would love to see the Milan fashion scene to flourish and prosper again in the near future.

How to wear the trends in S/S 2007

The Easter weekend is past, and now we're really stepping into spring (or so we hope in the North)....This Spring's trends are strong, bold, eye catching, and very modern, as well as difficult to pull off. On the body conscious side, we have skinny jeans and pants and sky-is-the-limit hemlines. On the other end of the spectrum, we have high waist wide leg trousers and jeans and volumous dresses. Along with the un-figure-flattering trend of shine, this season's looks are not necessarily friendly for people with less than perfect body shapes.

To kick start this season, it is highly recommended that us fashionista start getting active and drop off some of the bulk that we acquired during lazy winter. With this season's tricky trends, it is a challenge to camouflage flaws, especially those stubborn fat in the legs and hips area.

Nonetheless, all is not lost. With some creativity and understanding for your own bodies, it is always possible to update your looks in the most flattering way possible.

Trend 1: The mini dress

The mini dress is one of the key trend of the season. They come in all sort of shapes and colours: neon or vivid hues; the classic little white dress, monotone contrast, fun prints, and even metallic. For shapes, there are trapezoidal shape, body tight, shift dresses...etc. For those with toned bodies, the body conscious dresses are perfect to show off some curves. For those with imperfect waistline or tummies to hide (like myself -_-"), shift dresses and trapezoid shapes would be excellent choices to camouflage the little extra flesh in the mid section. Although the middle part is dealt with, this season's dresses mostly come in rather short length which exposes a gd part of your thighs. A dark washed skinny jeans or black skinny pants worn under mini dresses could help with this issue as they gives illusions of longer, leaner legs. Black tights (tights, no more leggings please) with sky high platforms would also have the same effect. And with the colour choice, go for prints involving darker colour, such as yellow on black or blue on black for more slimming effect. White actually can be a very good choice for volumous dresses with light fabric. White gives off a cooling effect and makes a person look lighter and more comfortable. On top of that, the LWD is always a summer wardrobe staple that never really goes out of fashion. Take advantage of this year's variety of choices and purchase one!

Trend 2: Skinny pants

The mere sound of the name "skinny pants" is intimidating to some as it seems to suggest who should be wearing them. However, they can be pulled off by average people with some skills. the first thing to do is obviously to find the right fit, don't be lazy and try on as many as you could before you make a purchase. Most skinny jeans/ pants tend to accentuate the hip and butt areas, which is what makes it rather unflattering for many. What is being unnoticed is, they tend to be quite flattering for the lower part of the legs and have a elongating effect. Pair a long tunic or a mini dress with the skinny pants/ jeans to take advantage of the elongated legs while covering the unflattered hips! For those who are unsatisfied with their lower legs, wear the skinny jeans with cute, lose fitting summer boots to create the illusion of slender legs.

Trend 3: All that glitters

Shines is another major trend for this season. Shines and metallics inevitably add visual bulk and is never the most flattering shade. The worst of all, they attract more light to all the bulks that are sticking out, making it impossible to hide. As a result, it is almost predestined to be a major miss if you do not have a perfectly slim body and you attempt to wear some kind of metallic tunic or shinny shift dress. The perfect way for most of us to wear this trend is via accessories, as I have been emphasizing. As shown below, the Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti sequin dress is stunning and glamorous, yet hard to pull off. The Doo.Ri simple white dress paired with a metallic belt is simple and more universally flattering. The incorporation of metallic or patent leather shoes and/or bags into an outfit could also serve as an instant update without being too risky.

Trend 4: Wide legs trousers/ jeans

This might seem friendly at the first sight, but that's far from the truth. Wide leg trousers and jeans are actually even harder to pull off than the skinnies. Angelina Jolie wore a pair of high waist wide leg trousers with shirt tucked in for a photo shoot, which is extremely hard to pull off as the love handle and tummy have nowhere to hide. For those with wide hip or large butt, the wide cut could potentially make your legs look like huge pillars found in the ruins in Athens. Wide legs also serve to shorten legs and can hardly look good on those with a petite frame. A more flattering way to wear the wide legs would be to emphasize the small upper body by wearing tops that fit close to the body, as loose fitting top on wide legs pants would cancel out the body shape completely and make you look clumsy. A waist coat (or vest for Americans) would also be a nice addition to accentuate the slender waist. Ensuring that no part of the pant fits too tight is also essential to avoid looking bulky in the bottom.

Designer Capsule Collections Part II

I get quite excited each time a new collaboration deal is announced, although sadly I'm now located in a place where none of these are available -_-". I am extremely excited about the 3.1 Philip Lim collaboration with UNIQLO! Hopefully they will be released in NYC UNIQLO duriing my visit this summer! I'm sure I have made the point clear that Philip is one of my favorite new designers :). I have only managed to catch glimpses of these designs via Japanese fashion magazine. I absolutely adore the LWD, and the other pieces that were shown seem a bit different from the usual 3.1 Philip Lim style. They are yet more minimalistic, has less romantic detail and are more sporty looking.

I remember when Stella McCartney for H&M came out, I was in class and wasn't able to go queuing in the morning. I must say the Stella collection is my favorite for H&M capsules. She striked the right amount of design and detail, such that they actually looke like Stella McCartney design, without carrying too much detail, which could be a disservice given the not-so-exquisite quality. I also liked the Proenza Schouler for Target collection very much for precisely the same reasons. They have designed versions of their signature bustier dresses and tops for the capsule line, as well as the prints, novel proportions and shapes that characterize their designs. Pieces from their collection look incredibly young and fun, almost like a secondary line. That being said, I haven't had the chance to examine the quality and how good they look in real life though. Karl's design are simple, clean and sleek, which does reflect his usual style, but lack the level of elegance and creativity that we see in Chanel and Fendi. Nonetheless it was still a good collection. Viktor and Rolf was probably the most dissapointing for me out of the H&M lines, as the duo had put in too much romantic details which inevitably looked cheap under not-so-great quality fabric and assembly. They also did pieces like classic trench and simple pencil skirts, which require high quality fabric and craftmanship to achieve the desired result. Not to mention that I found the heart motif rather cheesy.

I am really looking forward to seeing the celebrity-designed capsule collections. The eagerly anticipated Kate Moss's first attempt to fashion design is definitely on the top of my list. From photos I have seen from http://www.topshop.com/ and the fitting footages, it appears that her collection is a fine reflection her edgy, cool, and rather careless sexy persona. The collection does look very Brit and fits well with the general image of Topshop. M by Madonna doesn't have the kind of loud, punk, daring statement that I initially expected. The designs look more modern, sexy, and simplistic, and it strangely reminds me of Bebe for some reason. Out of all these collaborations that I have discussed, the one that I really cannot understand would be Scarlett Johanson for Reebok. Reebok started as a brand that sells design-above-performance active apparels. It had been losing ground to Nike's premium performance marketing and Addidas' superior designs and highly successful designer crossover lines. I would say their effort to make a come back with Scarlett's tasteless design is at best futile and is unlikely to attract any clients other than junior high girls who not yet have a good sense of style. The trying-to-be-sweet heart prints look cheap tacky and the heart shaped cutouts make the garments look torn. The cuts and colours lack sophistication and are unflattering. Scarlett might be an acting talent, but definitely not a designing one.

(Above from top: M by Madonna, Kate Moss for Topshop, Scarlett Johanson for Reebok)

Designer Capsule Collections Part I

Designer crossover collections for sport brands had been around for quite a long time: Y-3, Stella McCartney for Addidas, Comme des Garcon x Fred Perry are all product of such collaboration. This is obviously an ingenious idea, since fashionable women all love to stay toned to look good in beautiful clothes, and what is better to motivate us to hit the gym than chic designer sport attires? These collaboration marries functionality with aesthetic perfectly and revolutionize active apparels.

After the sportif collaborations, it is now the new "IT" thing for designers to do capsule collections with lower-priced chain retailers. The highest profile ones should be the H&M collezioni by big names like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, and Viktor & Rolf; and Proenza Schouler for Target. Less widely known new designers are also designing capsule collections: 3.1 Philip Lim for UNIQLO, Vivienne Westwood/Sofia Kokosalaki/Thakoon for Nine West Front-Row Project, just to name a few. Following these designer, the newest hype is for celebrities to design their own collections to be sold by High Street chains/ labels: Kate Moss for Top Shop, M by Madonna for H&M, and Scarlett Johanson for Reebok, for example.

(Above from top: Karl Lagerfeld for H&M, Viktor & Rolf for H&M, 3.1 Philip Lim for UNIQLO)

These capsule collections are multilaterally beneficial. It is obviously a good news for us fashionista: for those with tight budget, they could get a dose of their favorite designers' design for lower price; for those with liberal budget, these capsule pieces can still act as good staples at low cost. Another beauty of these collection is its limited supply, which serve to maintain the exclusivity and uniqueness of their designers so not to undermine their appeal to the fashion society. Although the quality is inevitably much lower than the actual designer lines, they are good enough for the mix-high-and-low looks that are increasingly popular these days.

It is also beneficial for the chains, first it heightens brand image by sheer association with top tier design talents. Second, it attracts patrons who never visit these stores. The best scenario would be that they are attracted by other merchandise in the store and become new regular customers; even if they don't, they still improve sale by attracting new clients just for the one time collections. As a result, the stores broaden their clientele base. Third, these capsule collections are certainly profitable in themselves. Premier designers' names and designers allow them to charge a premium, while the products are still manufactured with the same material and facilities. After paying the designers, there is still room for lucrative profit resulting from the high demand and high premium.

It is of course beneficial for the designers designing for these collections. First, they earn extra income from the capsule collections. Second, f0r lesser known new design talents like Thakoon and Sofia Kokosalaki, capsule collections allow them to leverage on the publicity provided by chain stores' advertisting capital to proliferate their names in the market, which could in turn translate into broadened clientele and more sales in their own lines.

(Above from top : Stella McCartney for H&M, Proenza Schouler for Target)

(Above: Nine West Front-Row Project)

Gucci: Loving hate or brawling love?

During my early university years, I had been into Gucci for a while like many other young girls. Gucci under Tom Ford did have some young and user friendly designs that appeal to students like me and my fellow colleagues at the time. Gucci Group made a massive come back with brands like Gucci and YSL during that period under new CEO and new creative director and was selected as the European company of the year for their major improvement in profitability. Sadly, the creative revitalization by Mr. Ford was rather shortlived and failed to win over continued support by the truly fashionables. Gucci have sooned become too commercial and kitsch. Their canvas monogram products become so ubitiquous on the streets and lacked thoughful design. The quality had also deteriorated, as I can clearly tell that my earlier Gucci bag is of much better quality than newer ones. After season after season, style after style of the same double G monogram, Gucci actually came up with a GUESS-vintage-baseball-player style bowler bags! On top of that, there are more and more tasteless girls on the street using Gucci/ Gucci-knock-off bags in such badly matched and unstylish manner that I decided I have had enough of these boring Gucci products and I will not use them anymore.

However, S/S 2007 did give a spark of hope. Their newest line of shoes and bags are clean, sleek, and has a distinctive design. Their neo-ethnic look for the season incorporated the futuristic and 80's trend through the use of metallic decoration, vivid hue, and the 80's disco inspired shapes without being too literal about it. At least I see an endeavour by Frida Gianinni to deviate from the cliche and overt sexuality that we have been seeing from Gucci. I must applaud for the lack of double-G monogram, at the very least. Although after seeing the F/W 2007 collection, I am not exactly convinced that I'm ready to embrace Gucci again, I figure they perhaps deserve another chance.