HELLO LADIES: Ghurka Brings Back Bags For Her

The past few seasons have been very strong for Ghurka. The beloved brand had fallen out of favor under corporate direction, but with new owners it has relaunched itself by returning to its Made-In-America roots, opening two stylish new stores in Manhattan and paring back the sprawling product line that had lost its way. Unfortunately, one of the results of that shakeup was the end of Ghurka's women's products. Though the label has always had something of a unisex appeal, lately it has been putting its efforts toward growing its men's business, but that's about to change. The leathergoods brand has just re-introduced its women's line by bringing back the Charlie II, a newly revived style clearly designed for the ladies but with all the classic Ghurka hallmarks. Available in classic heavy twill with bridle leather (pictured above) or in full leather constructions (below), Charlie II (no, we have no idea what happened to Charlie I) features a very ladylike shape with a hand-turned wooden dowel opening and the brand's signature check lining. Find it at Ghurka's shops and think of it as an appetizer for more women's styles to come.

Ghurka (Official Site) 
 

HOLIDAY POP-UPS: Divine Details Pop-Up Brings Perfectly Picked Products

Is it too early for Holiday Shopping?
Well, Hannukah starts before Thanksgiving this year, so not really.
Starting this Saturday and running through December 28th, New York design studio Little Fury has joined forces with AIGA The Professional Association for Design to stage Divine Details, a collection of 33 beautifully designed and crafted everyday goods at AIGA's Flatiron district Design Gallery. Items range from Grain Audio's Bluetooth speaker to Click & Grow's countertop garden to Tegu's magnetic wooden blocks to name a few. Think of it as Gift List that has been curated by experts. Each selection will be accompanied by an original, fictional story by an up-and-coming New York writer.

"We’ve created this space with AIGA to transform the holiday shopping rush into an experience that’s thoughtful and imaginative, that engages culture as opposed to being consumers of it," says creative director Tina Chang. "It’s an exhibition committed to the little ‘Ah-ha!’ moments we all have when a well-designed object comes to life.” The shop will also host a series of special events combining design, food, music and story of the course of it's run starting with “Further Details: Food,” a five-course farm-to-table feast with Brooklyn chef team The Pixie & The Scout, whom you might know from Blue Hill and Applewood.

Of course, the main appeal may be just imagining the satisfaction you always feel when you have crossed one more name off your Holiday list. That is always an accomplishment in and of itself. Since the shop opens this weekend, there should be enough time to shop for whatever Holidays you might celebrate, but the concept doesn't end with the Holidays. Starting in January, the Divine Monthly seasonal subscription program will launch featuring three Divine objects delivered over the course of three months, each with an original story included. Take a look at the upcoming shop and some of its offerings in our gallery below.

Divine Details starting November 2 at the AIGA National Design Center Gallery through December 28, 164 Fifth Avenue between 21st & 22nd Streets, Flatiron District

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COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Uniqlo Taps Fashion Icons Inès de la Fressange And Nigo

As Uniqlo's American stores proliferate, the chain is also adding projects to boost its fashion quotient. First up is a just-announced collaboration line with French model, designer and brand ambassador Inès de la Fressange (pictured at right). She is best known as a longtime face of Chanel during the 1980s who later started her own lifestyle brand that briefly found its way into American stores like Saks Fifth Avenue before changes in ownership and a separation from its namesake fizzled its future prospects. De la Fressange went on to help relaunch the Roger Vivier shoe collection as a brand ambassador and is soon to be reunited with her own brand. Her one-off women's capsule collection inspired by classic "Parisian Style" will arrive in Uniqlo stores early next year. It will be the first step in reviving the Inès de la Fressange brand which she has rejoined as creative director as it is now under new ownership. Uniqlo design director Naoki Takizawa told WWD, "Ines' own lifestyle and approach to fashion closely mirror [Uniqlo's], and I am very pleased to be launching the new line that we have created together."

The willowy Gallic icon is not the only admired fashion figure joining forces with Uniqlo. Looking closer to home, the chain also announced that Nigo, the founder and former designer of cult streetwear brand A Bathing Ape, will act as creative director for the UT t-shirt collection on an ongoing basis. Nigo will be responsible for choosing and curating the designs which find their way to the fronts of the vast collection of t-shirts that typically appear in Uniqlo stores come Springtime. In his heyday at A Bathing Ape, a new collection launch could spawn block long lines outside the label's stores, so look for some extra excitement when his first efforts appear this Spring.

Uniqlo Links With Inès de la Fressange, Nigo (WWD)

REVOLVING DOOR: Jeremy Scott Is The New Moschino Designer

It wouldn't be a fashion season if some prominent brand didn't make a high profile creative switch. Next season it will be the Italian label Moschino which, in an inspired but unexpected move, has tapped American designer Jeremy Scott as its new creative director. The label's founding namesake designer, Franco Moschino, made a reputation for himself as fashion's court jester of sorts, regularly showing collections full of visual puns and emblazoning otherwise classic items with snarky and sometimes subversive phrases that frequently poked fun at his willing audiences. Scott, who started his label during the 1990s, is known for a similar irreverence having presented exaggerated, cartoonlike collections inspired by The Flintstones and Muppets. His biggest commercial success has been a long running collaboration with Adidas Originals that, among other things added wings to a classic hi-top basketball shoe in one of his signature styles. Though the new job will have Scott working in a more expensive price range with tougher commercial demands than his own collection, he seems like a natural fit to carry on the Moschino label's cheeky attitude. 

Outgoing creative director Rosella Jardini's most recent runway show was also a 30th Anniversary extravaganza which was live-streamed online and featured some of the label's most famous vintage looks on Franco Moschino's favorite models like Pat Cleveland and Gisele Zelauy as disco diva Gloria Gaynor sang onstage. It is not known, however, whether  Jadini knew that this would be her swan song for Moschino. After the designer's death, the prospects of the label surviving when it was so closely tied to its namesake's particular sense of humor looked pretty slim. Jardini is credited with defying most expectations and keeping the company alive and ultimately thriving by staying in the background, downplaying the jokes and refocusing on solid ready-to-wear with lighter touches of Moschino's signatures that garnered a strong commercial following. Though Moschino's Madison Avenue boutique closed shortly after the designer's death, a new one opened a few years ago in the Meatpacking District proving the label's endurance. It would be one of the industry's cruel but not uncommon ironies that Jardini may have learned of the personnel change along with the rest of the industry while she was representing the company at a party celebrating Moschino's anniversary at Chicago's Ikram. At any rate, next season will bring new attention and scrutiny to Moschino as the industry is again poised to see if a new designer can inject some more excitement into a veteran label.

Moschino Names Jeremy Scott Creative Director (WWD)
Moschino (Official Site)
Jeremy Scott (Official Site) 

UNLIKELY OUTLETS: Is Banksy's Next Pop-Up Shop On HauteLook?

All month, New Yorkers have been hearing about Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist who has descended upon New York City for a monthlong "residency" that has his followers scrambling all over the city to see his latest works, announced on a special photoblog, for as long as they might last wherever he chooses to paint them. A couple of weeks ago, he quietly arranged, with no advance notice, a table in Central Park to sell small signed canvases for the bargain price of $60 each (portable pieces regularly go for thousands in more rarefied galleries) which was gone by the time most people heard about it having only sold a few pieces to savvy passersby. This week, buried in the listings for upcoming flash sales on HauteLook.com, we discovered one sale titled Banksy: The Elusive Street Artist which starts today at 1 PM Pacific Time (that's 4 PM on the East Coast). HauteLook's description reads:

Who is Banksy? While the elusive street artist may never reveal the answer, we get more than a glimpse of the man behind the graffiti through his art. The pseudonymous artist offers his take on myriad topics—from politics to pop culture—through bold stencil-style works charged with dark wit. This array features some of his most thought-provoking pieces, all turned into ready-to-hang canvas prints.

Are these more official Banksy works for sale in an unlikely place? HauteLook is more known for off-price fashion than underground street art, and the preview photos (pictured above) remove the artist's designs from their gritty settings and place them in tidy bourgeois interiors. Is this one more piece of the artist's residency as it reaches its final days, or has the sale site found a way to jump on the Banksy publicity bandwagon that has been rolling through the month of October, or both? We may find out more later today. Stay tuned...

HauteLook (Official Site)
Better Out Than In (Official Banksy Photoblog) 

COMING SOON: Robert Graham To Bring Bright, Fancy Shirts And More To Bleecker Street

One particular store on Bleecker Street is about to get a lot louder.
Robert Graham, the men's designer label started twelve years ago with some very colorful shirts is coming to Bleecker Street sometime during this Holiday season. Coincidentally, the brand will be taking over the whitewashed storefront at 380 Bleecker that, for many years housed various shops run by founder Robert Stock's former business associate Ralph Lauren. After years designing under his own name, Stock created Robert Graham as an antidote for boring, bland menswear, and his colorful shirts, which often combine two or three or more different patterns in a single garment (see example below), have proved to be very successful in upscale department stores without particularly impressing the more rarefied Men's fashion press or editors. It's not an unusual or necessarily unfavorably place for a brand to be. It's where you will find Coogi sweaters and anything from Jhane Barnes. Some of the limited edition Robert Graham shirt styles go for nealy $600, and they are all very patterned and colorful —usually at the same time.

This appears to be the brand's 11th store. Now that it has grown to include a full sportswear collection as well as womenswear, it remains to be seen how much of it a typically diminutive Bleecker Street shop can feasibly hold and still have room for customers. We will have to wait until sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas to see exactly how Robert Graham will fit in on the trendy street.

Robert Graham (Official Site)
 

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: Last Minute Additions from Naeem Khan, Free People, Tucker, Derek Lam & Gilded Age

For Sample Sale devotées, this is the time of year when you need to be extra alert.
While some designers give shoppers a couple of weeks lead time to plan for shopping, others announce only one or two days ahead of time, like NAEEM KHAN, the FLOTUS favorite eveningwear designer (pictured at right) who will host a three-day sale starting tomorrow featuring regular stock as well as unique runway samples including exclusive Manolo Blahnik footwear and Ranjana Khan jewelry.

Other last minute notices that have come across The Shophound's desk today include:

• A one-day FREE PEOPLE sale tomorrow only at Chelsea Market
• TUCKER by Gaby Basora also starting tomorrow and running through Friday
• FASHIONHAUS Showroom featuring a host of smaller, European luxury brands for men and women starting tomorrow
• GILDED AGE men's sportswear and jeans starting Thursday
• DEREK LAM and his lower priced line 10 Crosby starting Friday.

Those are just the last minute notices. Keep an eye on our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for more updates and mark your calendars. It's going to be a busy next few weeks.

THIS WEEK ONLINE: Charlotte Olympia, Rachel Roy, Band Of Outsiders, Jonathan Adler, Max Mara, Halston Heritage, Bottega Veneta, Dr. Martens, Porsche Design

Here is your weekly sampling of some of the brands you can expect to find on the bigger online Flash Sale Sites this week. You should click over to the sites themselves for a full schedule of events, and be sure to check for the correct start time for each sale. Happy clicking!

GILT GROUPE

Tom Ford, Shae, Gorjana, Rachel Roy, Elorie Cashmere, Blush Lingerie, Charriol Watches & Jewelry, MinkPink, Lucca Couture, Suzanna Dai, Hikaru Noguchi Knits, Band of Outsiders, Clapham Socks, Dartmoor Cashmere, Emporio Armani, WeSC, Jonathan Adler, Fred Perry Accessories, Hart Schaffner Marx, Versace Scarves, Stuhrling Watches, Eastland Shoe Co., Sucre D'Orge Baby, Aden + Anais/Halo Baby, Bugaboo, Sealy & Downlite Bedding, Nova Lighting, Area Bedding, Seda France —join HERE

RUE LA LA

Max Mara, Halston Heritage, FAO Schwarz, Lancaster Watches, Joyfolie, BCBGMaxAzria, Le Mystere, Andrea Candela, BearPaw, Candice Olson Lighting, NatureBox, 7 For All Mankind, Safavieh, David Meister, Luxury Rebel, Oscar Blandi, Vince Camuto Men's, Lilly Pulitzer, Gottex, Charlotte Olympia, Kassatex —join HERE

BELLE & CLIVE

Bottega Veneta/Jimmy Choo/Fendi, Prada, Mir Scarves, Balmain/Nina Ricci Sunglasses, Cliché, Melange Home, Stadler Form, nuLoom, Walter Baker Jewelry, James Jeans, TOD's, Gucci, Inhabit, Ermenegildo Zegna, Lucien Piccard, Canali, Jardin Jewelry, RED Valentino, Skagen, Sone Rose, Mezlan, Hugo Boss, Kenneth Cole —join HERE

HAUTE LOOK

Citizens Of Humanity, Molton Brown, Cullen, PAUL & JOE Sister, Nine West, T-Tech by TUMI, Liebeskind/Pour La Victoire, Donald J. Pliner, Radiance Pearl, Inhabit, Gorjana, Nixon Watches, MAXSTUDIO.com, BearPaw, John Varvatos ★ USA, Susana Monaco, Kenneth Cole, Psycho Bunny, Erica Anenberg, Laura Ashley/Kensie Girl, Kinerase, French Connection, Jessica Simpson, PUR Minerals, Dooney & Bourke, Marilyn Monroe Intimates, Asics ONITSUKA TIGER, Nautica, TART, Minnie Mouse —join HERE

MY HABIT

GF Ferré, Massimo Bizzocchi Ties, Bruno Magli, Calvin Klein Collection, Just a Cheap Shirt, Farah, Bottega Veneta Eyewear, Ellen Tracy, Isabella Fiore, JB by Julie Brown, Kensie, Desigual, Cynthia Rowley, Trina Turk Home, Rogue, Marc New York, Porsche Design Jewelry, Whiting & Davis Handbags, Carolina Amato, Edun —join HERE

VENTE PRIVEE

Travelpro, Hart Schaffner Marx, Hawke & Co., Dr. Martens, Ike Behar, Natori —join HERE

DAMAGE CONTROL: Your Guide To Barneys New York's Snowballing Scandal

Barneys really stepped in it this week.
In case you haven't heard, he luxury department store is in the middle of a racial profiling scandal that seems at once appalling and also familiar to anyone who has ever worked in such an establishment.
The story broke on Tuesday that, after purchasing a $350 Ferragamo belt at Barneys' Madison Avenue store, a young, black gentleman named Trayon Christian was detained by undercover police who released him only after he proved that he had legitimately purchased item. A lawsuit against both Barneys and the NYPD followed, the filing of which appears to have sparked the firestorm of publicity.

Within 24 hours, another young black woman, Kayla Phillips of Brooklyn reported a similar story of purchasing a coveted $2,500 Céline handbag from the store and subsequently being accosted by undercover police in the nearby subway station who demanded identification and grilled her about details of the sale which they could only have known from communicating with Barneys staff. She will be suing too.

Obviously, New York's tabloids have been having a field day with the story this week. Interestingly, The New York Times' coverage has been minimal at best. Barneys has immediately shifted to damage control mode, using its Facebook page to issue two statements in two days, initially denying a specific role in the incidents and thus attempting to shift the blame to the Police, and then, yesterday evening, releasing a more apologetic statement from the store's CEO, Mark Lee, promising to work with Civil Rights experts and community leaders to review, and presumably improve security and customer service issues

The latest, inevitable twist has the store's highly touted Holiday promotion with Jay Z called into question with a Change.org petition calling for the star to end his partnership with the store that, as of this posting, has 1,664 supporters.
So far Jay Z has not responded.

Now that the scandal has reached the national news level, you can expect it to hang around for a while. Barneys executives are set to meet next week with local civil rights leaders, and social media is currently amplifying the issue and will continue to do so for the foreseeable news cycle. Here are a few things to know about this sort of situation from someone who has worked under the roof, not of Barneys, but other very similar types of establishments in New York.

There are undercover cops in every department store in the city.
The biggest ones like Macy's and Saks probably have more than one on the premises at any given moment that the store is open.
In addition, many of the security personnel in such stores are often retired Police officers.
Modern department store security cameras can follow customers through the premises from the moment they walk inside with little or no break. More often than not, any sort of confrontation involving security, police and a potential shoplifter or fraud are set in motion by security staff, not, as many assume, sale staff.
And finally, complicating the obvious race issues raised by Barneys' current scandal, store security or "Loss Prevention" teams, as they like to be called, in such establishments are typically quite diverse. You shouldn't necessarily assume that it is white security personnel who are profiling black customers.
Make of all this what you will.
There will surely be much more of this story to come. 

PERFORMANCE POWERHOUSE: Under Armour's Brand House Coming To SoHo Early Next Year

SoHo's Broadway corridor is about to welcome yet another big brand as performance gear phenomenon Under Armour officially announced plans for a major flagship at 583 Broadway. The elegant building has recently housed Esprit and a temporary Pac-Sun store and was once the longtime home of The New Museum. The store will weigh in at a whopping 20,300 square feet on three levels which will qualify it as one of the brand's "Brand Houses", showplaces that present Under Armour's complete product offerings which will include a new men's lifestyle collection to launch later this year. The 35th and O label, named for the address in Washington DC's Georgetown neighborhood where the brand was initially conceived, will reportedly offer premium but classic sportswear pieces enhanced with touches from Under Armour's performance sport lines like mesh underarm insets, stretch fibers and the brand's proprietary "Storm" water-resistance technology. 

The store will be well situated only a half a block from the Adidas flagship at Broadway and Houston and one block away from REI in the Puck Building. For good measure, Nike is rumored to be searching the vicinity for space for a second Niketown, which will make SoHo extra sporty in the coming months.

Of course, if you can't wait until next year, Under Armour's seasonal sample sale starts next Tuesday at 260 Fifth Avenue. Check the SALE ROLL at left for details.

Under Armour to bow on lower Broadway (Crain's)
Under Armour to Open N.Y. Store (WWD)