Vintage News: Gucci Looks Back And Sets Prices

It's strangely slow starting this week over at The Shophound. Even the first Menswear shows for Fall 2010 are looking sedate and self referential. In the spirit of looking back, the story of the day concerns Gucci and Christie's who have joined forces to launch the Gucci Collector mini-site today. It's an unusual team-up that allows the luxury house to participate more closely in the valuation of its heritage, and We're sure the folks at Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Chanel are watching closely to see how things progress with this venture.
The subsection of Christie's website allows people who have been keeping or collecting vintage Gucci pieces to have them appraised by the auction house —and by vintage we really mean pre-Tom Ford or earlier, and are pretty confident that Christie's does too. They are also offering the possible opportunity of Gucci buying special pieces back for their own upcoming museum or Christie's including items in future vintage fashion sales. All they need are clear color images of the front and back of the item, and a close-up of the Gucci signature or mark as well as dimensions, materials and other details. A history of the item as well as any authenticating receipts or tags or other materials are also requested. Christie's promises a response within two to four weeks.
Mom's old purse might turn out to be a little gold mine after all.
• In other news, the folks at Refinery 29 has gotten their hands of the look books for Target's upcoming Jean Paul Gaultier and Zac Posen collections, but were then promptly asked to remove the images! As far as we can tell from what we briefly glimpsed, they both look a lot better than the disappointing Rodarte items we finally saw in person at Target in Brooklyn yesterday.
• Alessandro Dell'Acqua is back in the game with a new, sportier label called N^o 21 launching at Milan's upcoming fashion week. Much like Roland Mouret, Joseph Abboud and many others, Dell'Acqua no longer owns the commercial rights to his own name, and has titled the line after his December birthday. The designer promises wearable everyday clothes.
• And, yes, you have heard correctly, Sarah Jessica Parker is now the President and Chief Creative Officer of Halston. It's more than the advisory position we had heard about, and yet with her previous fashion experience (remember Bitten?) and smart business sense, we think this could actually work. Marios Schwab, who has yet to début his first Halston collection, will remain in position, while Parker is initially expected to focus on the Halston Heritage line, which revives vintage designs from the label's archives. Somehow, we expect a warmer reception for this development than there was for Lindsay Lohan's infamous collaboration at Emanuel Ungaro, mainly because SJP is not an erratic party girl, but now the pressure is really on for Halston's owners to finally engineer a successful revival of the brand.
Speaking of Ungaro, WWD has a look at current designer Estrella Arch's pre-fall looks. The jury is still out on Archs, but conspicuously absent are sequined nipple pasties and any mention of La Lohan.