Vh1's Agency Represents Its Industry...Entirely Without Flattery

Vh1 premiered their latest reality entry, "The Agency" last night, and will doubtlessly be rerunning it incessantly throughout the week. Playing off the success of "America's Next Top Model", "The Agency" goes behind the scenes of Wilhelmina Models, one of New York's most well established agencies, and if you were expecting to see crisp professionalism, then think again. We would suggest that any parent whose teenage daughter is aching to be a supermodel watch this show, and then lock up their daughter. The show's opening teaser consists of a large gentleman named Pink who heads the Women's Fashion division dispensing withering critiques to a succession of prospective models, which sets the tone for the entire show which sped along for 30 minutes in much the same vein. Wilhelmina represents most of the top men in the industry, but their women's lineup is anemic, perhaps from the constant berating their current models appear to receive regarding their substandard appearance. One young model Chloe, is upbraided by two agents over her failure to excercise and lose weight, and after the willowy girl leaves, she is referred to as "Doughy Chloe".
Nice.
And they wonder why models are so skinny. Another prospect, Robin, is chided for her southern breakfast (biscuits and bacon) and awkward walk, and ordered to lose 10 lbs, but manages to redeem herself by booking a small runway show during fashion week, possibly the only Wilhelmina girl to do so. Meanwhile, male model Tyler Wood easily revives his stagnant career by trimming his surfer locks for a more mature look, and makes a good impression at a cattle call for Macy's Advertising people (shades of Unwrapping Macy's) offering multiple opportunities for Tyler and other male models to take off their shirts. You can't say Vh1 doesn't know their audience for this show. The action really centers around the agents who, at least in this episode, come off as a mostly miserable, foulmouthed bunch, half of whom are under pressure as Becky, the women's agent with the heavy Worcestershire accent says, to pull supermodels out of their asses. Repellent, yes, but surprisingly entertaining if you can get over the fact that every fourth word out of their mouths has to be edited. As the counterpoint to "Top Model", "The Agency" succeeds impressively in stripping away any last bit of glamor the modeling industry had left.

Posh is Coming (Whether We Want Her or Not)

It's sort of astonishing that after all this time we are talking about any of the Spice Girls. While none of them have gone on to any remarkable achievements, Ginger, Sporty and Baby have gone on to have minor hits here and there, Scary may or may not be having Eddie Murphy's baby, and then there's Posh, now known as Victoria Beckham, who is now hugely famous here mainly for being hugely famous in Europe where she married her hugely famous soccer-star husband David. Beckham is now a paparazzi magnet and tabloid fixture for not doing much besides showing up places looking thin, spray bronzed and styled to the last millimeter. Hanging around with Katie Holmes hasn't hurt her profile either. Ironic, isn't it, that the very least interesting of all the Spice Girls is now the most attention getting one? Get ready, because if you think you are already being assaulted with her image for no reason at all, you haven't seen anything yet. She is becoming a brand and coming to a mall near you. Today's Women's Wear Daily carries a lengthy interview with Beckham where she outlines her plans for the DVB product line, aimed at generating $150 million this year alone. The question is, in a crowded field of celebrity brands, many rising and falling along with the fortunes of their namesakes (we're talking to you, Bald Britney) why her?

Scoop on Steroids in SoHo

Scoop has taken the upper hand in its rivalry with Intermix and Barney's Co-op. Last Friday marked the opening of the largest unit in the mini-chain to date with an enormous 10,000 square foot flagship combining all the company's store concepts under one roof. The previous SoHo branch, a relatively tiny 2,000 square feet at Broadway and Spring Street has been turned into a clearance outlet and renamed Scoop It Up, which is exactly what happy customers were doing on Saturday, as Scoop's clearance prices routinely go as low as 75% off. Who needs that warehouse sale? But back to the main event, that gigantic store on Broadway just above Grand Street. It extends from it's entrance clear through to Mercer Street in the back, offering a refreshingly uncluttered environment compared to other branches which often feature racks and tables crammed with closely hung and stacked goods. The décor maintains the typical Scoop mininmalist aesthetic with a SoHo style exposed ceiling and a central register area backed with blue plexiglass strewn with Scoop logos. The vast space allows the merchandise to breathe a little, making it much easier to shop. One side is devoted to women's, the other to men's and the rear section holds an expanded children's department from the same designers, for anyone who fells it necessary to clothe their toddlers in Earnest Sewn jeans they will surely outgrow in a matter of months, if not weeks. The designer lineup features all the expected favorites like Diane von Furstenberg, Milly and Tory Burch among other labels and every premium denim line of any importance. They are also expanding their own label of shoes and accessories which are showcased here. The Men's side also contains the usual suspects, and as at other Scoops, the labels are all mixed in together, merchandising the store by look and category rather than by brand. This continues to work exceedingly well in the women's area, as the trends create new interest every season, but not as much on the men's side, mostly because for all their women's fashion leadership, Scoop is surprisingly timid on the other side of the store. Their buyers continue to cling to the patterned shirt-denim-printed pseudo vintage tee formula that is wearing thin. Even great pieces from a designer as innovative as Neil Barrett get lost in a sea of jeans and striped button-downs. Men's footwear is again limited to the latest Pumas and Nikes, but with so much space, one would have hoped co-owner Stefani Greenfield would have taken a few more chances with the men's merchandise mix. Does anyone really need to see one more shelf of faux '80s concert tee-shirts? Uninspired men's merchandising and absurdly extravagant children's wear aside, this giant version of Scoop should go a long way in solidifying the store's prominence in the minds of those who throng lower Broadway every weekend, as well as draw that traffic further downtown past Broome Street. Look for the narrow sidewalks of Grand street to get a bit more crowded this year.

Scoop 473-475 Broadway between Broome & Grand Streets, SoHo

Scoop It Up 532 Broadway between Prince & Spring Streets

Belated Advertiser Valentines

We must extend roses and a box of chocolates to the fine advertisers who help keep The Shophound shopping. Click early and often!

The Shophound will be watching The Agency's premiere Tuesday the 20th on VH1 as they follow the goings on inside Wilhelmina, a real modeling agency, hear that Janice Dickinson? Click on the ad and win a prize!

Find all those new designers you never knew you wanted at Fashion Indie  .

MaxDelivery will deliver whatever you need, which is good for us since you know we spend every waking here hour in front of our computer.

The Warehouse is Open. Don't Push!

If it's freezing cold and the stores are full of spring clothes, then that can only mean one thing, it must be time once again for the Barney's Warehouse Sale.
For those of you who are newer visitors to The Shophound our standard Warehouse sale advice can be found here. having just done our semi-annual tour of the premises, we can report that it looks like they have finally weeded out some of the old goods that have been hanging around season after season. Though it started just yesterday, and it looks like there is still some worthwhile stuff left including a lot of women's shoes, and plenty of men's suits and sportcoats. Most of the merchandise arrives at the sale priced the same as it was during the Final Clearance at Barney's full-line stores. We were tempted by a pair of Martin Margiela boots that was obviously mismarked at $99, but then we realized that a) we didn't really need them and b) we didn't actually like them that much. Temptation averted. As we have mentioned in the past, the best bargains can be found near the end when they start piling additional discounts on top of the ticket prices. Since it ends on Sunday March 4th, we expect those price adjustments to start after next weekend. If you're going to go, that would be the time, but whenever you decide to stop in, remember, shop carefully, but be quick and decisive. Good luck!

Barney's New York Warehouse Sale 255 west 17th Street, Chelsea
Through March 4th, 2007

Alex K Doesn't Go Shopping: Another Return to the Lower East Side

Today we welcome Zarah Crawford to the ranks of those would be 'Critical Shoppers' chosen to substitute for Alex Kuczynski while she either continues to flog her book (futile endeavor) or hits the slopes (more likely). It seems that whenever Alex is off-duty, they send her substitute down to the Lower East Side. We have to admit we were unable to make it down to Frock on Orchard Street for a variety of reasons, (cold and slush being primary among them).  We genuinely regret this, not only because we like to make a thorough report, but because we love that kind of vintage store. Frock is the sort of place, like Resurrection on Mott Street, that trades in vintage designer gems. It's always fun to go in those places and see just how much today's designers have been ripping off Alaïa or Ossie Clark lately. Zarah has decided to tell her story through her own experience of shopping for a dress, but has, unfortunately, opted not to take he opportunity to embarrass herself with a series of barely relevant anecdotes, and that's really what this column is all about. Still, we applaud her taste, as she succeeded in scoring a vintage Norma Kamali for herself, but we take issue with her opinion of '80s footwear, as she writes, "To my eye the shoes at Frock, mostly circa ’80s and high quality, are kind of dowdy, leading one to conclude that this was not a halcyon age for the shoemaker’s art." Zarah, before you write another word, we strongly suggest you acquaint yourself with the work of Maud Frizon, Walter Steiger, Guido Pasquali and Andrea Pfister. We think you may change your opinion.

Frock Vintage 148 Orchard Street, Lower East Side

Critical Shopper: Vintage Clothes With an Eye on Tomorrow by Zarah Crawford (NYTimes)

Back to the Future for Féraud on Madison

If you look closely you can see that the Féraud boutique will be opening last month. We can't wait! Hopefully Dr. Emmett Brown will lend us his magic flying Delorean for the ride. Perhaps it was too ambitious of a projection, but it looks more like it will be ready to open in January 2008. Hopefully they will finish sooner rather than later. We can't help but wonder if it is such a great idea to replace Stephane Kélian a once shining brand from the 80's that dwindled away at 717 Madison with another once shining brand from the 80's that seems to be on a rocky road of its own, having changed hands and designers a few times in recent years. Really, we wish the best for Féraud (they dropped the Louis a while ago), but they really need to fix those signs.

Fashion Week Wrap-Up: All the Remainders • Chris Han • Jayson Brunsdon • Twinkle • Generra • Max Azria • Alexandre Herchcovitch • Maticevski • Dragana Ognjenovic

As The Shophound continues to adjust to not having runway shows to rush to and from, and the Fashion Week fog lifts, we thought we might give a final wrap-up before it all turns to a haze of opaque hose and skirts with suspenders (an odd trend we saw in more than one place that kept reminding us of Jennifer Aniston in early episodes of "Friends"). We'll keep it simple. Sometimes it's better to collate all this information after the fact rather than while it's all happening, and we wanted to give some attention to some of the designers we haven't mentioned yet who kindly invited us to their shows.
THE NEW KIDS: CHRIS HAN • JAYSON BRUNSDON
Newcomer Chris Han showed some well tailored sportswear  in neutral grays and creams that showed a promising eye for shape and volume, but she faltered a bit for evening with some overly complicated metallics and sheer overlays. Like many this season, she did well when keeping things simpler. Jayson Brunsdon made his debut in New York joining the growing ranks of Australians showing here. Brunsdon is no beginner, and he has already developed a business in the US.   His collection was inspired by artist Tamara de Lempicka, which could have meant yet another retro ode to Art Deco glamor, but to his credit, he avoided literal references and showed eveningwear that, while not particularly adventurous, was very pretty and should have plenty of appeal for his customers at Neiman-Marcus and Saks. Standouts included draped satin dresses that recalled the luminous surfaces in their inspiration's paintings.

Roger Vivier Tiptoes Open on Madison

We were sort of expecting them to open last Fall, but having just visited the new Roger Vivier boutique on Madison Avenue, we can see why they took so long. The new shop is an opulent multilevel affair befitting the legendary brand that has been recently resuscitated by Diego Della Valle, the man behind Tod's and Hogan. The space at 65th and Madison was once home to luxury linen purveyor Léron has been transformed with suede paneled walls and blond wood floors. The first floor is small, showcasing the brand's new handbag line, and a small mezzanine displays sunglasses and small leathergoods. It's the upper level which sprawls luxuriously with leather upholstered benches and ottomans and shoes displayed in lightboxes set into the tufted walls. At the rear is a separate room with a desk that was graciously set this morning with chocolates and macaroons. Normally we would have tucked right into free sweets, but it seemed rude to disrupt their careful arrangement on the trays. The room was otherwised filled with the most luxurious of the brands offerings, satin boots studded with crystals, and stiletto sandals festooned with feathers or explosions of ribbons. The new Vivier collection is designed by Bruno Frisoni who has skillfully culled styles from the archives and adapted them to contemporary designs. The most prominent of these iconic pieces is the pump with a big square buckle ornament which has been made in versions with every heel height, while the buckle has been turned into a signature of sorts for the brand, most notably as a prominent decoration for their new handbags and even the oversized pulls for the shop's front doors. The store should please shoe fiends everywhere. Vivier was the couture chausseur in the 50's and 60's, reaching a peak with his 10 year collaboration with Christian Dior when he developed his slender underslung and comma shaped heels. Frisoni has cunningly recreated these looks in updated versions without skimping on the opulence that made Vivier a legend. As we overheard a salesperson explaining to another customer, they rushed the opening of the shop to take advantage of fashion Week publicity, and you will see the same shoes displayed repeatedly all over the store until more stock comes in, but we predict that by the end of Spring, the Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik faithfuls will be tempted to defect to the revived Parisian rival.

Roger Vivier 750 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side

Goodbye Clary & Co.: Coach to Officially Transform Bleecker Into a Mall

We knew it was inevitable, In fact we just mentioned it only a couple of weeks ago. Clary & Co. the charming antique shop at 372-374 Bleecker Street couldn't be long for that address as rents were skyrocketing on those few precious blocks. And just last week it was announced that Coach would be taking over the location, because Manhattan needs another Coach store. Apparently the NINE we have already aren't serving the market adequately. Of course, this being Bleecker, it will not be any regular coach store. Obviously it will be small, and this branch will be a "Legacy Store". It will carry a special collection that is 45% more expensive that the regular collection. Coach, like so many more reasonably priced prestige labels is not content to simply have a massive business. They must produce an expensive "premium" collection to prove that they are really a designer label too. Since Coach transformed itself from a sleepy, classic brand to a more aspirational fashion driven label, they have been gunning for recognition as a designer brand despite the fact that their products are in a decidedly lower price category. We get the feeling that the folks at Coach get together periodically with Tommy Hilfiger and Max Azria to try to figure out how they can get Calvin, Ralph and Donna to play with them.
We liked Clary & Co. because, never having shopped there before, we purchased a gift there a few years ago with a check. When we asked if they wanted to take a credit card number for ID or security, the saleslady said, "Oh, it's not necessary. Our customers never bounce checks." We were sort of astonished and charmed at the same time, and even though we are not a big antique buyer, we always held that little shop in high regard for its gracious service. We hope they are just moving instead of being driven totally out of existence.
Now that Coach is moviing in, it only reinforces what we said before. Bleecker is officially over.