The Shophound

FASHION FROM THE GREAT BEYOND: CARR Launches A Posthumous Label For Fall 2012

Is it possible to launch a label for a designer who has been dead for over a decade?
George Carr and Edward Jones III are about to find out when they debut the CARR label this fall. The brand is named for designer Zack Carr, who briefly had his own label in the 1980s but was best known as Calvin Klein's longtime Creative Director. He also happened to be George Carr's brother and died from a rare blood cancer in 2000. Well known and liked by fashion insiders, Zack Carr never achieved the kind of immense fame that could help promote a new label, but the new brand's founders are betting on the quality of vast archives of sketches that the designer left to creatively fuel the new collections. Jones tells WWD, “I think there’s an authenticity of design coming from Zack that is the foundation, which is really important, but we don’t have to live on that.” Carr's naturally clean-lined style should lend itself to a timeless point of view, and a design staff will adapt the thousands of sketches for modern modern sensibilities. And major retailers are already on board with the effort, too. Bloomingdale's and and Saks Fifth Avenue will be exclusively carrying the women's and men's collections respectively through Fall 2013.

Priced solidly in the Designer price range, there may also be a secret customer in wait for the launch: former, faithful Calvin Klein Collection customers who haven't been as charmed as the press has by Francisco Costa's take on the label since its namesake stepped away about a decade ago (The Collection component of the brand has diminished commercially since Klein retired). Who would have guessed that their solution would come from beyond?

George Carr Launching New Brand for Fall By Marc Karimzadeh (WWD)

FOOTWEAR FRENZY: Saks' Shoe Sale Shuts Down The Floor

Saks Fifth Avenue has been happy to trumpet its enormous shoe floor with its own zip code, but they may not be as pleased with the news that its shoe sale got so out of control yesterday that they had to shut down the floor before things got really ugly.

The normally refined department store repeated its day-after-Christmas sale doorbuster sale of years past in which all sale items in the store were reduced from 40% to 60% off only between 8 AM and 12 Noon. Naturally, this can lead to all kinds of competitive shopping, but reportedly, customers started panicking in the already hectic shoe department at about 11:30 when they discovered that by the time they made it to the register after waiting in the long line, it would be after 12 PM, and they would no longer be eligible for the extra discount. Saks' in-store security cleared the floor before things could get dangerous leaving hordes of would-be sale customers disgruntled o say the very least.

And this is why The Shophound stayed home on Boxing Day and watched all the episodes of "Homeland" that were filling up our DVR. After all, is it really worth losing your dignity over an extra discount on markdown Louboutins?
All right, you don't have to answer that.

60%-off shoe sale leads to melee at Saks Fifth Avenue: witnesses (NY Daily News via RACKED)

Fashion's Night Out 2011 OR The Shophound Finally Has A Drink With Cintra Wilson

Having Fashion's Night Out at the beginning of Fashion Week can feel at times like something of an imposition to The Shophoun,, especially since it seems to be on its way to becoming an annual institution. After all, we already have more than enough to do this time of year without having to figure out a way to cover an immense event that is essentially un-coverable. There seems to be everything going on all at the same time all over the place.

We can't very well ignore it, as much as we might like to sometimes. Frankly, we don't really need celebrities or a party to get us to go out to stores because we do that all the time, and shopping with crowds is typically something we try to avoid. Our solution is to take a minimalistic approach and pick a few friends to visit and get out before things get crazy. We started out at Saks Fifth Avenue which is arguably an epicenter for FNO madness. Thankfully, years working the selling floor taught The Shophound how to quickly make our way through a crowded store, and we made it past, among other things, Jo Malone's fairy fragrance model (above right), a digital graffiti wall, a buoyant choir and crowds scrambling to shoot baskets with the new Mr. Kardashian, Kris Humphries, to visit our friends from Sebago who were showing off their new Artisan Collection collaborations with Vane and Ronnie Fieg (pictured at left). As if we didn't know, good shoes remain worth going out of our way for.

Next we headed a mere two blocks up the street to Gant where Michael Bastian and Rugger designer Christopher Bastin were appearing in support of their respective lines. We talked blogging with Bastian whose Sunshine Days blog about his upcoming Spring 2012 collaboration collection is thoroughly entertaining, in no small part because he genuinely writes every word himself. We hope he keeps it up as a regular thing, not that designing two collections a season and reorganizing his own brand is likely to leave him much extra time.

By this point we would have called it a night and headed home to get to work on Fashion Week posts, but we heard that Cintra Wilson, our very favorite erstwhile Critical Shopper, would be making an appearance at Bergdorf Goodman's men's store with Whoopi Goldberg and a panel of other luminaries including designers Marlon Gobel, Alexander Olch and Philip Crangi, David Coggins, writers Max Blagg and Glenn O'Brien to discuss the merits and shortcomings of the various forms of male facial hair (pictured in the sadly grainy picture at right). We missed most of the panel, so we really can't report their conclusions, but we got there just in time to meet La Cintra in person for the first time. We had corresponded occasionally over the past few years but had never actually met face to face, so when we discovered that we might have an opportunity to correct this obvious lapse, we put on our stalking hat (and by that we mean the king that Sherlock Holmes famously wore, of course) for just a moment and set out to find her. And find her we did, and we're happy to report that she is every bit as funny, witty and generally delightful as we could have hoped all wrapped up in a sleek black ensemble and a killer pair of PHI boots.. She's the kind of lady anyone would want to have a few drinks with, and so, thanks to Bergdorf's convenient open bar, we did. What did we talk about? Scandalous things we couldn't possibly recount here, of course. All we can say is Fashion's Night Out turned out to be more satisfying than we could have expected —not an imposition at all.

SCANDAL FALLOUT: Galliano Pulled from Saks ...Except For Kids?

While all seems quiet on the John Galliano front for the moment,The New York Post has discovered that Saks Fifth Avenue has pulled whatever Galliano they were selling, menswear in this case, from the floor of its New York flagship. The Shophound's check of its website, however, reveals, as of this morning, 41 items listed from John Galliano's children's collection. What are the sales prospects of those items?

While Christian Dior has protected itself and its brand by disassociating itself from its disgraced designer, the label bearing Galliano's own name is harder to defend. While it's clear that the designer is out at Dior, the fate of the John Galliano brand seems somewhat more murky, especially since it is almost entirely owned by Christian Dior and has several licensing obligations that are presumably ongoing, and employs plenty of people who are not the designer himself. While continuing the brand with a new designer seems like a fool's errand at best, we have to wonder what will happen when Galliano, after much rehab and the inevitable mea culpa, wants to get back to work? If you don't think that this is possible, try to remember that the revered doyenne of French Couture, Coco Chanel enjoyed the privelige of living at the Ritz Hotel during World War II, had an affair with a Nazi Officer and is widely believed to have actually worked for the Gestapo. Her memory seems to have been long since forgiven for crimes far worse than Galliano's.

The Galliano website remains up and running, showing a video of the scaled back Fall 2011 presentation presentation which, interestingly, recalls many of the designer's pre-Dior shows. Dior has released little information about the future disposition of the brand, however dim its immediate prospects may be. Will the designer be reunited with his own label at some point in the furure, or will he be forever estranged from his own brand like Lacroix, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander and many other designers? This story may be on a hiatus at the moment, but it is far from finished.

John Galliano Kids at SaksFifthAvenue.com
Dior, yes- Galliano, no (NYPost)

SPRING PREVIEWS: Saks Fifth Avenue's Men's Collection Gets Pulled Together

Usually when a department store holds a spring preview, what you see is a finely edited selection of its various merchandise managers' favorite picks for the season —typically from third party vendors and designers. When we went to see Saks Ffith Avenue's Men's preview for Spring 2011 yesterday, what we saw was a private label program so well integrated that it could easily fill a freestanding boutique of its own. Rather than having their buyers select private label items to round out their individual department's assortments or provide opening price points, Saks has re-conceived its house brand as an elegant collection of classics based on its customers' needs and tastes, so a light trenchcoat, for example, is developed with Italian outerwear specialists Allegri. Fine gauge cashmere is knitted from Scottish yarns and Italian suits are made by celebrated Neapolitan tailor Gianluca Isaia. Of course, a retailer's instinct for quick response figures into the mix as well, so last year's sellout linen shirts will be back in abundance.

The collection is not meant to be a fashion line to compete with Armani or Zegna, but The Shophound was really impressed by the thoughtful sourcing and the remarkable value of much of the products. Shoes, an ongiong program, have been developed with a single manufacturer, so Spring offers classic Italian made dress shoes in a new cognac shade coming in under $400, but looking far more expensive. Wallets in pricey American alligator are stitched together by the same Louisiana source who farms the skins. The collection even includes socks and sterling silver accessories, but that wasn't all Saks had to show us yesterday.

In a separate corner was the Crown Collection, rolling out to stores next year. Conceived with a different customer in mind, this completely separate label is aimed at a guy interested in something bolder than refined classics, and that means graphic printed "restaurant" shirts, velvet jackets and even s specially designed collection of sunglasses. We can immediately see it selling well in Vegas and Miami, but mainly is shows that Saks is aware of its need to appeal to a diversity customers and tastes, putting them in a good position to ride out a still tricky time for every retailer.

After the jump, a few more images.
Click all for a larger view in a new window.

More Christmas Creep: In Which We Are Further Annoyed By Barneys & Cartier

We are not really given to ranting that much over here at The Shophound, but last week we felt compelled to express our displeasure at seeing early Christmas decorations going up before Halloween at the Bloomingdale's flagship on 59^th Street. Well, Halloween has just passed, but its still too early, and we were disappointed to see that both Barneys and Cartier are also jumping the gun.
Let's clarify.
We don't want to see Christmas trees and tinsel until we do, and not a moment before.
It's like seeing someone in a gorgeous winter coat in September. You know someone can't wait to wear this fabulous thing, but no matter how stupendous it may be, it's still ridiculously out of season. That's how we felt about Barney's main floor yesterday (pictured above). We are actually excited about their "Saturday Night Live" inspired Holiday theme, we just don't want to see it until it's time.
As for Cartier (below with Saks), their decorations are the same as they are every year, so what's the rush? They stick out like quite the sore thumb at the moment.
Saks Fifth Avenue gets a reprieve. Although they already have their animated snowflake light show installed on the Fifth Avenue storefront, it isn't turned on, and the main floor, as of yesterday, is still happily free of Holiday décor.
Of the big stores we surveyed this week, only Bergdorf Goodman remains untouched by Holiday Elves. Though their current windows, created in conjunction with Dell Computers, are incredibly lavish, they are not in fact the store's Holiday windows, as some other bloggers had assumed.
When will we be ready for Holiday decorations?
The week before Thanksgiving at the earliest
So to recap:
It's still too early for Christmas decorations.
Gold Star for Bergdorf's. ★
Booby Prizes for Barneys and Cartier. ☹
That is all.
Previously:
Today In Jumping The Gun: In Which We Get Annoyed By Christmas In October

Diffusion Du Jour: Saks Scores An Armani Exclusive

Few designers are as skillful at managing multiple collections at varying price points as Giorgio Armani. Ever since his premier diffusion line Emporio Armani was made available here during the 1980s, it has been one of the most sparingly distributed, sold only at Emporio Armani stores of which there are still only fourteen in the United States. Now that the label's licensed accessories have been distributed more widely, and the Beckhams have drawn huge awareness to the brand's underwear, the fine people at Armani have kindly informed us that Saks Fifth Avenue will now be the first retailer to launch the main Emporio Armani men's collection in seven stores starting around now. Those locations will include Fifth Avenue, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Diego and Tyson's Corner Virginia outside of Washington DC. This is the sort of introduction that, in our humble observation, typically leads to a storewide rollout if successful, and could possibly push a similar expansion of the ladies' line.
The thought crossed our mind that this may be some consolation for the fact that, due to tight distribution and exclusivity conflicts, Saks has few (if any) stores that are permitted to sell the top Giorgio Armani Collection for men, though the women's counterpart is sold in several of it's branches including New York. Perhaps the folks at Armani are mollifying the folks at Saks, who have surely been anxious to add the top line for quite some time now. They may ultimately be better off with an even more exclusive label at gentler, far more appealing prices. We'll call it a coup.
Emporio Armani (Official Site)

Sale Sale: Sale Sale Sale Sale Sale

The city is still sale-obsessed, and nobody can seem to forget last November's 70% off frenzy. The mere inkling of price breaking for Spring seems to send those who follow such things into feverish frothing at the mouth. Add to that the torrent of sample sales that seem to be proliferating at a stunning rate, and it's a wonder that anyone buys anything at full price. Once strictly controlled, Friends & Family events have practically become public sales offering blanket discounts throughout entire department stores, and now that those are mostly over, the "Private" sales are starting, which will lead to first markdowns sometime later this month, which is a few weeks earlier than normal.
If you are waiting for the deep-discount-free-for-all that happened last fall, don't hold your breath. That affair (spurred by Saks) angered vendors and destroyed margins throughout the industry, and this season, the retailers have much less stock to mark down. The other unplanned effect was that when it came time for After-Christmas sales, there was nothing left for customers in January and February. don't expect retailers to give away the store this early in the game again. They'll some merchandise to sell through the Summer.
Here's what we know (and we have to give a great deal of credit to The Choosy Beggar and Madison Avenue Spy for tirelessly chronicling every markdown)

Barneys is planning a one-day sale on May 4^th featuring 40% off selected merchandise.
Saks is reportedly running a 2-day sale for Mother's Day Weekend with pre-sale (that means reserving of sale merchandise) starting Monday May 4^th as well.
Bloomingdale's Private Shoe Sale begins this Thursday, April 30^th to May 4^th with discounts from 30% to 40% off, and an additional 20% if you buy 2 or more pairs of shoes.

Is this all starting to sound more like Walmart? We are less concerned about finding things for ourself to buy than whether these stores are ever going to be able to get customers to buy full price again.
And here's just a small selection of the mountain of Sample Sale notices we get, including some we don't often see:

Nancy Gonzalez, April 29^th (TODAY) - 30^th
10 am-6 pm, 575 Madison Avenue, 8^th floor between 56^th & 57^th
Spurr menswear, April 30^th - May 3^rd
Thursday & Friday, 12 pm – 7 pm, Saturday & Sunday, 12 pm – 5 pm
at Starworks, 5 Crosby Street, Suite 3D between Grand and Howard Streets. Cash and major credit cards accepted.
Barry Kieselstein-Cord Jewelry, handbags & Acessories (Have we ever heard of a BK-C sample sale before), May 7^th - 9^th
Thursday 12 pm – 7 pm, Friday 8 am - 7 pm Saturday 9 am – 4 pm
The Warwick Hotel, 65 West 54th Street, Essex Suite on the 2^nd Floor. Cash and major credit cards accepted.
Delman, May 5^th - 8^th
Wednesday - Thursday 10 am - 7 pm Friday 10 am - 3 pm
at Savvy, 145 West 18^th Street between Sixth & Seventh Avenues
Domenico Vacca, May 6^th - 8^th
10 am - 6 pm
14 East 60^th Street, Suite 900
Fred Perry (Incl. Raf Simons for Fred Perry) May 11^th -17^th
Weekdays 10 am - 7 pm, Saturday & Sunday 12 - 5 PM
547 West 27^th street. 3^rd floor between 10^th & 11^th Avenues, CASH ONLY
To Boot New York May 1^st - 3^rd
Friday  8:30 am - 6:30 pm, Saturday 10 am - 6 pm, Sunday 12 - 5 pm
603 Washington Street between Morton & Leroy Streets CASH ONLY

And let's not forget about GILT GROUPE, which allows us to forgo the hassle of waiting in line and squeezing into a cramped showroom. This week, the ever-growing website is featuring limited time sales from, among several others: Milly, AG Jeans for men, Jack Spade, Alexander McQueen RTW & Accessories, Alice Ritter, Alexandro Ingelmo, Vince for men, Gianfranco Ferré, Miguelina, J Brand, Bonpoint and our favorite upscale naughty store, Kiki de Montparnasse. Click HERE now for your personal invitation.
Got any money left now?

Today In Quasi-Remorse: Saks Admits They Went Overboard With Markdowns Last Fall

Perhaps it's in the spirit of our new president admitting the he "screwed up" with some of his cabinet appointments, or maybe not, but Saks Fifth Avenue's chief merchandising officer Ron Frasch, admitted that at least some of the early, deep markdowns the store took last fall were a bit deeper than necessary. "We didn't need to do what we did in accessories," he told The Wall Street Journal, and also indicated that shoes would probably have sold at less of a discount as well.
Well, that's something.
Saks royally pissed off most of the fashion industry last November with its drastic November sales that forced competitors to slash their prices in response, and, even worse, forced several well known and much loved independent boutiques out of business altogether. The Journal has an in depth look at the ramifications of these markdowns, including the possibility that some stores may make only parts of their collections available to department stores, reserving the rest for their own stores so they won't have to compete with reckless markdowns again. Apparently, many Saks execs wanted to hold the markdowns at 50%, but Frasch and chief executive Steve Sadove insisted on 70% practically across the board. Basically, Saks is on everyone's $#!‡ list.
Here are some quotes:

In the end, [Los Angeles boutique owner Tracey Ross] says, she had to discount so steeply that she couldn't pay her designers. "I am like, 'Do the math. I sold your $800 shoes for $50.' " She closed her store and filed for bankruptcy protection on Christmas Eve.

In New York, American designers started contacting [Diane] von Furstenberg, the head of their trade group [CFDA], looking for advice. "I was very upset. Everyone was," the designer says. That level of price-cutting "cannot happen again," she says.

Has Saks singlehandedly ruined full price selling? Time will tell, but as buyers go into market for the Fall collections, they will have a lot of fence mending to do with designers who will have to decide if they can afford to do business with a major store who has undercut their business with all their other accounts.
Saks Upends Luxury Market With Strategy to Slash Prices (The Wall Street Journal)

Today In Corporate Identity:Saks Turns To Soviet PropagandaTo "Encourage" Sales

So, tough times call for extraordinarily creative measures when you are a big department store chain coming off one of its worst seasons ever.
Saks Fifth Avenue has drafted Shepard Fairey, who created Barack Obama's iconic "Hope" poster, to apply his talents to their advertising and shopping bag design for Spring. What he came up with is an intriguing evocation of the Russian Constructivist graphics closely identified with Soviet Union propaganda posters from the 1920s and '30s. We can appreciate the artistic reference, but it sure comes with a lot of baggage, and it's not the kind that comes from Gucci.
We're not sure if this hilarious, offensive or just hilariously offensive. It is sort of alarming to see Saks' current slogan "Want It!" converted from a playful suggestion to an assertive command. We're all for the solidarity of big slouchy bag holders, but what happens when we don't want it?
Is that when the KGB comes in the middle of the night to take us away?
Front Row: Consumers of the World Unite By Eric Wilson (NYTimes)