The Shophound

Monday's Spree

• A talk with Russian teen-queen designer Kira Plastinina. "She is the story. She is a 15-year-old girl, and she is the brand.” (NYMag)
• Just in time for Memorial Day, Rugby East Hampton is open for your cut-rate Ralph Lauren fix. (RACKED)
• If you haven't heard enough of veal loving/hating (who knew?) designer Rogan Gregory this month, here's yet another Q&A. (The Fashion Informer)
• It's a catalog. It's a magazine. The latest Oakazine is here. (Oak)
• File it under "World's Worst Timing": Chain stores' luxury collections - Banana Republic Monogram, for example - are not setting the word on fire and may be scaled back or eliminated. (Wall Street Journal)
• The bewilderingly popular Kidrobot is diversifying into accessories, so expect to see Kidrobot tote bags everywhere. (Style File)
• Members of Elle's staff are apparently not amused at having to participate in the upcoming reality show "Stylista", and watching their bosses swan around and preen for the cameras while they are forced into wearing a TV show idea of "fashion" outfits. If they had wanted to be in "The Devil Wears Prada" wouldn't they have gone to work for Vogue? (The Cut)
• Retail's in a slump...unless you are in the obscenely expensive jewel business. (WWD)
• Raf Simons makes his version of Converse Chuck Taylor high tops, and probably charges an arm and a leg for them. Why do we still want a pair? (Material Interest)
• A chat with CFDA Award nominee, handbag designer Joy Gryson. (Chic Report)

Sample Sale Déja Vu: John Varvatos...Again

Wait, we're confused.
Didn't we just go to a John Varvatos sample sale less than two weeks ago?
Really, this just goes to prove that if you live in New York, you never have to pay retail.
Yes, there was a Varvatos sale a couple of weeks back, and it was pretty extensive, and held in the Varvatos Flatiron District showroom. This time around, however, the sale is held in a somewhat less luxurious retail space in the garment district, and from what we can gather, the leftovers from the first sale have been taken over by an outfit called Underground NYC, who is now running its own sale. Typically, this would result in a dreary array of picked over, shopworn, out of season goods. We've been lured to more than a few of those cobbled together affairs, and they can really feel like scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The good news is: This isn't like that at all, at least not yet.
There was a pretty abundant looking display of goods, and although the impressive shoe selection was absent here, there was lots of everything else, and the prices looked about the same as they did in the showroom sale (which means that they should drop by the end of the week.)
If you couldn't make the last one, this sale runs through this Friday the 23^rd.
Happy second chance shopping.
John Varvatos Sample Sale, The Sequel 207 W. 38th Street between 7^th & 8^th Avenues, Garment District

F.A.O. Schwarz Joins Forces With Macy's

Look at this as signal of deals to come in the department store world.
F.A.O. Schwarz and Macy's jointly announced on Friday that the legendary toy retailer would be opening toy stores in 275 Macy's branches by this Fall. 75 of those units will be full-sized shops of between 1,000 and 3,500 square feet, and the other 200 will be smaller toy boutiques ranging from 200 to 300 square feet carrying only F.A.O. Schwarz private label merchandise. Ultimately, the toy shops could expand to nearly 700 Macy's stores. This comes after a successful test in the Macy's Chicago flagship (formerly Marshall Field's) last Fall which lifted their children's department business as well.
While decades ago, Macy's had their own toy departments,  those categories have fallen by the wayside along with others like electronics, gourmet foods and many other non-apparel classifications. Lots of us remember when Macy's had a full marketplace in its famous cellar which has since been replaced by leased food service. Bloomingdales' toy departments and popular gourmet shops, for example, have also been mostly eliminated or replaced by outside suppliers.
As department stores have tried to keep their balance sheets healthy over the years, such "marginal" departments have been systematically shaved away, and now the stores are discovering that they need more diversity to attract new customers. Many Macy's locations have no children's sections at all.
This deal is not so different from the one struck between Lord & Taylor and Fortunoff (which now have the same parent comany, NRDC), who will be taking over the jewelry counters in their department stores and adding home furnishings departments in many branches. The specialty retailer gets to expand with a built in customer base while the department store gets to diversify without taking on the overhead of new merchandising staff, inventory and warehouse space. It's a win for both sides.
As for F.A.O. Schwarz, they have made an impressive effort over the past few of years in returning to their exclusive roots. After a painful bankruptcy  due to overexpansion and stiff competition from discounters, they have cleaned up their image, and are hoping that the convenience and high profile offered by Macy's locations will lure customers away from Toys R Us.
Keep an eye out for more similar deals to come together in the future, particularly as the retail climate enters a challenging period.
F.A.O. Schwarz , Macy's Inc. (Press Releases)

Slowly But Surely, Topshop Takes Shape

That big slab of plywood doesn't look like much, but it's a signal that the long awaited U.S. debut of Topshop is only months away.
They are not quite ready for promotional signage, but we are betting that in a couple of months we'll have a giant picture of Kate Moss heralding the store's upcoming launch.
In case any of you were worried about the spot's previous tenant, Yellow Rat Bastard, they have made quick work of transforming the store across the street into a replica of their original grime and graffiti festooned interior.

Opposites Attract: Jeans Meet Jermyn Street as Jean Shop Collaborates With Turnbull & Asser

Here's a designer collaboration we wouldn't have predicted.
Hipster denim meets stuffy high collared shirts in an unexpected twist as the dungaree purists at Jean Shop have collaborated on a special collection of shirtings with Prince Charles's personal shirtmakers, Turnbull & Asser.
According to our friends at RACKED, the collection consists of white shirts only which can be custom dyed the color of your choice for a total of $280.
Listen, none of this stuff ever comes cheap.
In a reciprocal move, Turnbull's shop on East 57th Street, usually the home of classical sartorial splendor, will be offering its customers jeans specially made for them by Jean Shop.
As weary as we are of designers and retailers joining forces in some increasingly ill matched pairings, (Celia Birtwell for Express anyone?) this combination sounds intriguing.
Jean Shop 435 West 14th Street, Meatpacking District and 424 West Broadway, SoHo
Turnbull & Asser 42 East 57th Street, Midtown
Turnbull & Asser Joins Ranks With Jean Shop (RACKED)

Sample Sale Report: Steven Alan

There's a bonanza of sample sales going on right now. You could go to a different one  every day this weekend.
Somehow, we never managed to make it to Steven Alan's sale, but this season we decided to make a concerted effort. Though we heard reports of horrible lines earlier in the day, by mid-afternoon there was only a short queue of three or four people being slowly admitted by a security guard with no apparent method. (Three people leave. One goes in. Six people leave. One goes in.)
Once inside, the sale holds an abundance of the checked shirts and khaki pants that made Alan the fashionable anti-fashion designer of choice for stylish Manhattanites. It's J.Crew with the slight edge that makes it cost four times as much. Except, that is at the sample sale, where the goods are marked down to J.Crew prices.
As sales go, it follows the classic pattern. Held in Alan's showroom space, down the street from his Franklin Street boutique, it is cramped, crowded and frenzied with lots of anxious grabbing and rummaging. The street level is mostly devoted to the Steven Alan label, hence the endless rack of plaid shirts.
Downstairs there is an equally abundant selection of other labels like Cool Hunting People, Hyden Yoo, Gilded Age and others. People furtively try things on in corners. The stacks of women's shoe boxes were naturally a busy spot with shoes flying, but the staff managed to keep things relatively in order by operating the two levels as separate stores. That's right. Shop downstairs, then pay and check your bag so you can shop upstairs and pay again. For a Thursday afternoon it was very busy, so we can't imagine what kind of mess it will be over the weekend, though one saving grace might be the big sale at A.P.C. in Williamsburg that could pull people away.
Oh who are we kidding, you'll go to both.
Steven Alan Showroom Sale 87 Franklin Street between Church Street and Broadway, Tribeca
A.P.C. Big Sale 35 Grand St., near Kent Avenue, Williamsburg

Restaurant Swap at Lord & Taylor: In With Sarabeth's - Out With An American Place

The folks at Lord & Taylor continue to make savvy decisions regarding the revival of their historic Fifth Avenue flagship store. While, to The Shophound, eating at Lord & Taylor will always conjure up images of The Bird Cage (the restaurant, not the movie) with it's elaborate decor of cages and exotic stuffed birds and a fluffy coconut cake for dessert, in recent years the culinary role has been filled by celebrated chef Larry Forgione and his signature restaurant, An American Place. Recognizing that Forgione may have been getting lost in the vast department store, The New York Times tells us that his restaurants will soon be replaced with one of New Yorkers' favorite restaurant chains, Sarabeth's Kitchen. So far, there is no word on the resilient Mr. Forgione's future plans.
We couldn't possibly think of a better way to drive repeat traffic down to Lord & Taylor. Sarabeth's is now poised to go national as they will replace restaurants in other L&T branches over the next two years.
Off the Menu (NYTimes, 8^th item)

Cintra Wilson Goes Shopping:

Just what is it that Cintra Wilson wants from Christian Lacroix?
Today's Thursday Styles features that most critical of Critical Shoppers in a particularly prickly mood as she surveys the recently opened Christian Lacroix boutique on East 57th Street.
The general view of Lacroix these days is that he is finally flourishing now that his company is no longer part of the luxury behemoth that is LVMH, and the new owners have fostered something of a renaissance for the Parisian couturier. Now that his business ducks are all in a row, the designer seems to be firing on all cylinders, but not to La Cintra, who can only associate him with his initial late 1980s emergence and the extravagant pouf dresses that caused a fashion rage at the time.
It's still easy to make fun of 80s fashion even as the styles continue to be systematically revived season after season (neon brights? skinny jeans? asymmetrical haircuts?) When the Lacroix, there's a pretty good expectation of what to expect. Ultra-luxe, inventive extravagance has always been his stock in trade, and the designer would probably be the first to admit that what he makes is not for everyone. What La Cintra sees as recycling the past, most everyone else recognizes as Lacroix being true to signature style. It's not as if he is coming out of a minimalist period or anything.

It’s a fantasy ’80s-ex-’80s, a heyday where drugs never killed the party and AIDS never ravaged the earth. A flush new look for a life of freewheeling decadence, for stepping out of red sports cars with teased hair and a rolled-up hundred in your lipstick case.

So he shouldn't make a new pouf dress without making reference to drug addiction and AIDS? Projecting much? That's a lot of baggage for a ballgown to have to drag around.
Critical Shopper: Christian Lacroix - Advanced Stages of Regression By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Christian Lacroix 36 East 57th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, Midtown

Midweek Spree

• Teenage model Ali Michael, who was famously sent home from Paris earlier this year for gaining five pounds, appears on the "Today" show to discuss firsthand how unhealthy starvation-level eating habits are pervasive among top runway models. Teen Vogue EIC Amy Astley places the blame firmly on designers.(Today Show, includes full video)
• MoMA's Destination Japan shop underwhelms. (RACKED)
• Department of Mysteriously Enduring Appeal: The G-Shock Watch turns 25. (Material Interest)
• The perils of reviving yesterday's labels: Biba is on the rocks. (Draper's)
• Nina Garcia finally lands at Marie Claire. No word on how this will affect her future on Project Runway. (Fashion Week Daily)
• Josh Hartnett follows up Beyoncé as the latest face for Armani's fragrances. (WWD)
• More Apple Store rumors for Wall Street. We'll believe it when we see it. (The Real Deal)
• Bergdorf Goodman named most prestigious retailer. (Fashion Week Daily)

Today In Beauty Queens: Tiaras Cause Drug Addiction Hazard

This weeks Dior resort show looked more extravagant and star studded than any show held during our regular Fashion Week last February (with the possible exception of Marc Jacobs). While J.Lo, Charlize Theron, Christina Aguilera and a requisite Gossip Girl were all in attendance, the "celebrity" (and we are using that term charitably in this case) we find most intriguing is Sherryl Pascal, Mrs. New Jersey, American Beauty.
Yes, that's Mrs. New Jersey.....American Beauty. Why she was there, we have no idea, but she attended the show in full sash and tiara. Somebody loves her regalia. That alone is remarkable, but it's this quote from WWD that we find so entertaining:

She accessorized her peach Dior capris with a proud pageant sash and a giant Swarovski crystal tiara. "It gives me a blinding migraine," she said. "But it's nothing a Percocet can't take care of." Medicated or not, Pascal is willing to suffer, or make others suffer, for her fashion obsession. "I turned my son's room into a shoe closet," she admitted. "He sleeps somewhere else."

This s a woman who takes her title seriously, with a pride that makes Suzanne Sugarbaker look like a shrinking violet. We can just imagine her, a few years down the road, in rehab, explaining to her counselors that she never would have developed that debilitating painkiller addiction if it hadn't been for that damn tiara.
Somebody get her a soap opera.
And a martini.
Resort Mas Grande (WWD)

Pop-Up du Jour: A Bright And Shiny Method For Clean, Green Living

There are lots of things that The Shophound loves. Cleaning is not among them.
How, then, can we get excited about common household products?
Wrap 'em up in tidy ergonomically designed packaging in a cute little pop-up store in SoHo.
In our own way, we are pretty easy and predictable.
That's why we liked Method's new pop-up store on Broadway. The innovative company has a temporary store open through June 7^th to familiarize New Yorkers about the California based company's non-toxic, environmentally friendly products. While we are increasingly weary of having "GREEN" marketed to us incessantly, we liked the way that Method presents us with a whole range of products to easily replace the more toxic conventional ones in our closet. And did we mention the pretty, modern packaging? The dish soap looks so much nicer in a teardrop shaped squeeze bottle.
The store is full of cheery, helpful salespeople who are full of information about the various products. We didn't see anyone using the “dirty little secret” cleaning confessional booth, and we're not exactly sure what sort of confessions it's meant to record, (or maybe it's just a photo booth). We could easily get annoyed by the hard sell, except nearly every item looked like an improvement over what we were already using.
In order to make their products even more appealing, Method is offering a few special deals for New Yorkers. You can bring in your old, toxic cleaning products and exchange them for one, new Method item, or pick any five items and put them in a re-usable nylon market tote along with a bunch of discount coupons and a few free samples for an even $20. The tote alone usually costs $15, so you are coming out way ahead. Or at least we did.
Method through June 7^th 550 Broadway between Prince and Spring Streets, SoHo

Dying A Slow Death: Otto Tootsi Plohound Exits SoHo

Readers of a certain age will remember the disturbing story of Karen Ann Quinlan who was at the center of a landmark legal case during the 1970'a in which her parents famously battled a hospital that refused to end her artificial life support after she had tragically fallen into a persistent vegetative state. After countless headlines and worldwide media attention, the parents won, and the plug was pulled, but in a shocking twist, Karen Ann remained alive but brain-dead for nine more years.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, it's all we can think of whenever we pass a branch of Otto Tootsi Plohound, the once cutting edge chain of shoe stores in Manhattan that has fallen into a steep decline in recent years. We noticed that their large Lafayette street store has finally been shuttered, leaving only it's lower Fifth Avenue store in operation.
Somebody pulled the plug, and it just. Won't. Die.
In order to understand the significance of this, one has to think back about 20 years. While we understand that many of you readers were infants at the time, The Shophound was not, so we remember that two small shoe stores on Prince street, Otto for men and Tootsi Plohound for women were creating a buzz at that time by selling all sorts of innovative new shoes from designers nobody had ever heard of whose lines would often appear at Barneys or Neiman Marcus a season or so later. Eventually, the two merged their names and came together a few blocks away at Otto Tootsi Plohound on West Broadway, offering designer labels like Costume National and  Dsquared2. Even more lavish locations appeared on East 57th Street and in the Flatiron District along with labels like Miu Miu, Prada and exclusive French lines like Rodolphe Menudier. Then, a few years ago, the midtown branch closed, as well as the West Broadway location shortly thereafter. That left two still busy stores with a lineup of brands that had mysteriously slid downmarket. Gone were the exclusive European designers replaced with cheaper labels like Kenneth Cole and Converse, except at sale time when old merchandise would be hauled out for clearance.
We don't usually root for a store closing. Our Karma can't afford that sort of behavior, but it is depressing to see a once glamorous store degenerate so dramatically. For once, we wouldn't mind seeing it just put out of its misery.

Would You Rent Space From Betty Boop? How About Olive Oyl?

Now that the fake stores set up for the filming of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" have been dismantled, the vast reserves of retail space in the Hearst Tower are once again largely empty. In order to remedy this situation, the folks responsible for leasing the place have wrapped the windows with cheesy cheery testimonials extolling the virtues of the building to passersby. The shills range from every Hearst magazine editor to designers like Vera Wang to (presumably) Hearst-owned cartoon characters to The Donald himself, which raises the question: How much money do you have to pay Donald Trump to endorse a building that he hasn't branded with his own name?
This is what happens when you ask prestige rates for space in a building that is essentially the end of a neighborhood convenience strip made up of restaurants, drugstores, newstands, etc., which is what the building's tenants were before they were expelled to allow for the construction of the tower.
We sure hope those new pictures hold up, because we suspect tat they are going to be in the windows for a long time, although, since it's in The Shophound's neighborhood, we wouldn't mind seeing someone put an interesting store or two in all that space.

As A Designer, She's A Great Singer: Beyoncé's Mini-Hoochies

We love Beyoncé. We really do. We think she's a fabulous multi-talented diva who's gorgeous and seems like she might actually be a halfway nice person. We always figured that the whole "House of Deréon" venture was sort of a gift for her stylist mother to keep her busy.
But seriously, what the hell kind of kids' clothes are these?
We all know that little kids love to dress up like grown-ups, and they like to pretend that they have a grown-up job.
It's just that there are some jobs perhaps they shouldn't be encouraged to emulate, like the ones that pay by the hour vs. the whole night.
A good rule of thumb: Nobody should wear high heels until she is at least able to read without moving her (hopefully lipstick-free) lips.
Same thing goes for false eyelashes.
Ads For Beyonce's Children's Line Are Promoting Itty-bitty Hoochie Mama (5 Blogs Before Lunch)

Things Are Looking Questionable at Barneys Again

Things seemed to be going so smoothly at Barneys lately, having completed what appeared to be a seamless transition in ownership with the current executive team intact...until last weekend.
Howard Socol, Barneys' chief executive has mde it clear that he plans to resign not because he is retiring or a better offer has presented itself, but because of what has been reported as sharp disagreement with new owners over the still small chain's business strategy, particularly concerning how overseas expansion would be operated. Apparently, he and Barneys' new owners, Dubai-based Istithmar clash over how to map the company's future to the point where Socol, who helped guide the chain through an embarrassing bankruptcy in during the 1990s, no longer feels able to lead the store.
This of course, leaves the top spot open at a company that has seen more than its fair share of turmoil over the past couple of decades. To it's credit, the retailer's famous cutting edge sensibility has been protected by longtime creative and merchandising executives like Simon Doonan and Julie Gilhart, who have served as the store's public face much more than Socol has. The question is, who will they get to replace Socol who can maintain the store's consistency and work cooperatively with its demanding new owners?
The Chief of Barneys Is Expected to Resign by Michael Barbaro and Eric Wilson (NYTimes)