LEGAL BRIEFS: Dolce & Gabbana Will Not Go To Jail

Fashion watchers can lay off the Designer Schadenfreude for the moment. Italy's highest court has declared that the designing duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are not guilty of tax evasion. This overturns two lower courts' verdicts and logically should be the end of the appeals process for the designers (although the Italian justice system does operate differently from what we are familiar with in the U.S., so who knows if this closes the case or not?).
Anyone who was picturing the two behind bars in impeccably styled prison wear will have to wait for the next high profile tax evasion case which shouldn't be too far off. Italy's post-Silvio Berlusconi prime minister, Matteo Renzi has pledged to clean up rampant tax corruption. He is obviously not afraid of going after wealthy and famous figures like movie stars and fashion designers, so expect more of these court cases as long as he is in office.

Dolce, Gabbana Found Innocent (WWD)

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: Fashion Scions Strike Edition

In today's Thursday Styles, this week's Critical Shopper, Alexandra Jacobs seems mildly impressed with Trademark, the debut boutique from the sisters Pookie and Louisa Burch who are apparently required to be identified as the daughters of J. Christopher Burch. Mr. Burch is , of course known as the man behind the successful C.Wonder chain and the somewhat less well-fared Monika Chiang venture as well as having initially helped his former wife Tory Burch develop her wildly popular fashion  brand. This is all to make sure everyone knows that Pookie and Louisa have a strong background in the fashion business even though pretty much nobody had ever heard of them before their label had appeared. Our shopper has few major complaints about Trademark, and is even pleased with the "extremely flattering" fit of the jeans and the distinctive look of the current collection,

For this season, Trademark is proposing a silhouette I’d describe as “modified French schoolgirl”: A-line on bottom, modest and crisp on top, accessorized with tights and a clear or black plastic headband: sort of as if A.P.C., the line of gamin basics by Jean Touitou, had a torrid affair with Talbots in its General Mills-owned prime and this was the happy result.

A bit of Euro-sportswear mixed with all-American classics sounds like a recipe for potential success. Given that this is a Burch-adjacent project, that is the likely goal, and it sounds like Trademark is off to a good start. 

Critical Shopper: Staying Within the Lines, Sister Style By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
Trademark 95 Grand Street between, Greene & Mercer Streets, SoHo

FOOT FETISH: Australia's Sneakerboy To Bring Luxe Kicks to SoHo

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SoHo is about to get a new place to buy fancy sneakers that may raise the game for everyone else who offers athletic footwear that will never touch a playing field or track. Australia's Sneakerboy is coming halfway across the planet to set up shop on the golden block of Mercer Street between Houston and Prince Streets in 2,000 square feet at number 170, formerly the home of Niko restaurant. Nestled among Marc Jacobs, two Balenciaga stores, Vera Wang and Versace, Sneakerboy will be perfectly situated to sell luxury sneakers from designers like Maison Martin Margiela, Pierre Hardy, Buscemi, Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Common Projects and many others whose "athletic" shoe prices start above $500 and go on to the stratosphere. Though the retailer counts special items from Nike, Reebok and Adidas among it offerings, it tends to favor the more costly collaborations with designers like Raf Simons and Rick Owens over your basic Sambas and Stan Smiths. The twist is that Sneakerboy's two Australian stores (pictured above) carry no stock on-site and check out customers via apps on their phones or iPads in-store. Whether or not the company will replicate this format in New York and ship customers their purchases all the way from Australia remains to be seen. A U.S. based warehouse seems a more likely prospect that might allow a faster rollout of stateside store/showrooms with a central distribution center. 
Though Sneakerboy will on the same block as some of SoHo's most exclusive boutiques, it is also only a couple of blocks away from New York's current top sneaker store, Kith NYC, which has just taken more space inside Atrium at Bleecker Street and Broadway as well as collectors' favorite Flight Club on Greene Street, but while those stores may dabble in designers, they tend to focus more on curated styles from the big brands for connoisseurs. Sneakerboy may be the city's first store to gather the exploding luxury sneaker labels under one roof which will either be a delight for extravagant shoppers or shocking depending on how much you think sneakers should cost. No opening date has been announced.

Designer Sneaker Company Coming to Soho With First North American Shop (NYObserver)

REMEMBRANCES: A Round-Up Of Oscar de la Renta Tributes

The Internet is full of tributes to and remembrances of beloved designer Oscar de la Renta who died yesterday at 82 at his Kent, Connecticut home. We have linked to several of them below so you can save time Googling and appreciate the elegance and grace he left behind.

There may be no better way to pay tribute to this beloved designer than admiring his work over the years. The Cut has a slideshow of some of his greatest runway over the past decades HERE as well as a look at some of his best red carpet moments HERE.

Some of the most personal remembrances came from Andre Leon Talley, who wrote about his dear friend only hours after his passing. Anna Wintour also added an equally personal remembrance. Both are found on Vogue.com

The New York Times has a detailed obituary by Enid Nemy and Cathy Horyn, whose "feud" with the designer last year was really no more than a bit of friendly ribbing blown out of proportion by scandal-hungry media.

WWD's equally thorough obituary comes with a complete 61-image retrospective slideshow.

Finally, The Fug Girls have their own remembrance of the designer who rarely disappointed them with 44 of their favorite red carpet looks.

ONLINE TO WALK-IN: Trunk Club To Step Off The Web On To Madison Avenue

Yet another online retailer is taking the plunge into New York City retail by opening a brick-and-mortar store in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. Menswear outfitting service Trunk Club has leased a whopping 26,190 square feet over six floors on the corner of Madison Avenue and 51st Street in the historic Villard Houses (pictured above) at 455 Madison Avenue just west of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Trunk Club joins a roster of online retailers who have opened stores in New York including Bonobos, Birchbox and Warby Parker and even Amazon which is planning a 34th Street store for the coming Holiday Season. This won't be Trunk Club's first freestanding store, there are already units in Los Angeles and Chicago, but it will be its most prominent as well as its first after being acquired for $350 million by Nordstrom over the summer. situated between park Avenue's business corridor and Fifth Avenue's parade of flagship, the upcoming store should be able to take advantage of tourist traffic as well as the floors and floors of nearby businessmen who are happy to leave their wardrobing choices to a subscription service. There's no word yet on an opening date, but it will be interesting to see how Trunk Club will translate the concept of a personally curated clothing delivery to a store that is open every day.

Trunk Club to try on Madison Avenue for size (Crains)

FASHION ON DISPLAY: The Costume Institute's "Death Becomes Her" Is Now Strangely Timely

There is no possible way it could have been planned, but the Costume Institute's new exhibition, Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire has suddenly taken on new significance. There's a strange sort of symmetry in having New York's pre-eminent fashion museum opening a major exhibition dedicated to the elaborate traditions of mourning attire one day after Oscar de la Renta, "the doyen of American fashion" as he was described in the New York Times, passed away at 82. It's almost as if the Costume Institute has taken on the mantle of designated mourner for the entire fashion industry who is, at the moment, feeling the loss of a particularly beloved, towering figure.

Of course, there are no Oscar de la Renta dresses in Death Becomes Her. It covers traditions of mourning that faded about a century ago, and at yesterday's preview, the sad news of his death had not yet reached the public, so visitors were more concerned with the elegant but often macabre issues at hand, mainly the highly codified rules of dress imposed on those who had lost loved ones, and the disproportionate responsibilities (and expense) placed on women to express their grief through clothes. Exactly why Western society in the 19th Century was so obsessed with death remains unclear. Possibly it was just the fact that people died younger then, and medicine was unable to treat illnesses that are now curable. Perhaps part of it had to do with bloody conflicts like the Civil War which brought mass casualties to the U.S. or maybe it was the example of Queen Victoria, who went into mourning after the death of her husband Prince Albert in 1861 and didn't come out of it until her own death 40 years later. A monarch in perpetual widows weeds, one dress of whose is prominently included in the show (pictured above left), could really cast a pall in the 1800s, and in contrast to Victoria's steadfast display of grief, the exhibition includes two lavishly sequined gowns worn (at right) by her daughter-in-law Queen Alexandra during the later stages of mourning when lighter colors like mauve and lavender were officially allowed and seem to presage the end of elaborately dour mourning dress rules. In contrast to the stark, mostly black silhouettes on display, they hardly seem like mourning wear at all —even by modern standards. The exhibition, curated by Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute along with Assistant Curator Jessica Regan goes beyond merely presenting the silhouettes of the day rendered in a range of black materials to show how clothes contained specific information and spoke to people. A series of prints on display by Charles Dana Gibson gently satirizes how an attractive woman in mourning was often seen as threatening disruption to polite society, carrying a host of unspoken fears and desires that becomes so weighty she winds up fleeing to a nunnery for her own peace of mind. 

Death Becomes Her is the Costume Institute's first Fall show at the Met in seven years, but now that the Anna Wintour Costume Center is finished, we can now expect two shows a year there in the future. Taking advantage of the time of year, the Met has organized a special Halloween event on October 31st, and the gift counters on the edge of the exhibition room have cobbled together jet jewelry, Victorian period-inspired items and books ranging from macabre-themed art volumes to Edward Gorey's darkly humorous picture books. Given the surprising turn of recent events, however, the show's elegant mannequins now seem to form a silent tribute of sorts to New York most elegant designer, at least until the Costume Institute announces its own Oscar de la Renta show which, if past form holds, is likely to happen within the next year or so.

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire through February 1, 2005 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, Upper East Side

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: A Cavalcade Of Sales Starring HERMÈS + The Row, David Yurman, Vivienne Westwood, Duckie Brown & More

We are in one of those big sample sale weeks that will have eager bargain hunters getting up early and lining up on sidewalks all over Manhattan, so brace yourselvs and plan carefully.Every single prominent sample sale facility has a major sela this week. The big star this week is the HERMÈS sale which starts this Thursday the 23rd at Soiffer Haskin on Weest 33rd Street. This one is always a draw for obvious reasons, and is the pinnacle of sale shopping for the faithful followers of the exclusive French luxury brand. Past seasons have been a mixed bag for shoppers hoping to stock up on scarves or ties. Sometimes the selection is abundant, sometimes it is nonexistent. It's always kind of a crapshoot in that respect. Veterans know better than to expect to find a Kelly or Birkin bag, but one will find seasonal apparel and shoes for women and men as well as selected accessory items which may or may not include silks. Usually the discount is around 50% off, which, considering Hermès' regular price points, can still mean prices that are generally staggering. Prepare to check everything but the clothes on your back at the door.

But that's not all that's happening this week. There are two popular jewelry brands holding sales this week with JOHN HARDY setting up shop on Tuesday the 21st only at the Westin Times Square Hotel, and DAVID YURMAN returning to The Altman Building in Chelsea for four days starting on Thursday the 23rd with his seasonal blowout.

Looking for Vintage? WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND will be at 225 Fifth Avenue starting on Tuesday through the weekend offering deep discounts from its warehouse collection of vintage designer clothes and accessories. They are promising nearly every covetable designer label including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Gucci, Céline, Balenciaga, Fendi and more. The dealer's non-vintage private label line will be on sale as well along with leather and fur outerwear.

Perhaps you are looking for something more casual. CLUB MONACO opened yesterday and will be at Clothingline's Garment District facility through Friday featuring an abundance of samples and stock on sale including apparel, shoes and accessories for men and women. Starting today, JAMES PERSE will hold his seasonal sale at 260 Fifth Avenue featuring rack after rack of his popular T-shirts and relaxed sportswear for men and women including the Yosemite collection.

Is more refined fashion fare more your thing? Wednesday the 22nd brings pioneering British designer VIVIENNE WESTWOOD back to the Garment District with savings on her men's and women's collections including apparel, accessories, handbags and shoes. We do not expect to see any of Pharrell's oversized "Buffalo Gals" hats there, but you never know. For more understated but extra luxurious fare, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen will be holding another sample sale for THE ROW at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Up to 85% off retail prices is the promised discount on clothes and accessories starting on Thursday the 23rd.

Looking for menswear? Denim and Sportswear label GILDED AGE will be on sale in SoHo starting on Thursday, and for the more adventurous guy DUCKIE BROWN will be holding a rare VIP Sample Sale on Saturday and Sunday in its Meatpacking District showroom which promises items from the Fall 2014 and previous season's collections as well as one-of-a-kind archive pieces and a $20 bin.

And there's plenty more including Italian luxury bed and bath from SFERRA at Chelsea Market, luxury baby and kids clothes from BONPOINT, contemporary sportswear from RAMY BROOK, HUNTER BELL and MARISSA WEBB plus more. Be sure to check out SALE ROLL sidebar at left for details and late breaking sales.

BOUTIQUE SHUFFLE: Valextra To Take Over For Cesare Paciotti On Madison Avenue

Exclusive Italian leathergoods brand Valextra has wasted no time in finding its own spot on Madison Avenue's luxury corridor. The former Cesare Paciotti boutique at no. 833 between 69th and 70th Streets is currently in the process of becoming the luxurious brand's New York flagship. Recently purchased by a London based investment group, Valextra is being repositioned from being a small, independent and exclusive brand known for elegant, minimalist-inspired bags and accessories for the in-the-know to something that can support an IPO within the nest 5 to 10 years. Naturally, a higher profile is in order, hence the Madison Avenue flagship (with a few more likely to follow in the appropriately prominent major cities). The upcoming 1,620 square foot store is slated to open in November, just in time for the Holidays, with a new U.S. e-commerce site expected to debut any day now. Have a peek at the progress in the picture below, and start saving up. Those sleek Milanese leathergoods don't come cheap.

STEALTH ARRIVAL: Tomas Maier's Deceptively Low-Key Boutique Is Open

In fashion and retailing right now, it seems like there is no megaphone loud enough to announce any designer's new store, collaboration line, runway collection, fragrance or whatever. That's what makes it so counterintuitively impressive that Tomas Maier quietly opened his first New York city boutique last week to little self generated fanfare at all. The new store replaces the DeLorenzo Gallery at 956 Madison Avenue, but retains its former occupant's distinctive metal gates and many other aspects of its original 1925 design. “I always liked this store,” Maier tells WWD. “For me, it was important to keep the integrity and the details — such as the grilles, the metalwork, the door handles, the architectural elements — and then I started to look at the concept around that.” How unlike the typical designer's inclination to gut and re-construct any potential retail space to drive home a unique, but endlessly replicated "brand image". The seemingly laid back attitude extends to the collections inside. Maier has achieved great success in forging a consistent fashion direction for Bottega Veneta after it was purchased by the then Gucci Group (now Kering) from its family owners in 2001, so The Shophound wasn't surprised to find equally well designed handbags and leather goods under his own label on the first floor when we stopped in over the weekend. The prices, however, may raise an eyebrow or two, but in a good way, with many bags priced well under the $1,000 price point that is so commonplace on Madison Avenue. Perhaps as the collection develops, we may see more lavish materials and embellishments, but for now, Maier is keeping things simple and saving the flash for his other gig. The same goes for the apparel collections upstairs, featuring well-cut basics and military-inspired sportswear for men, and sleek minimalist knits and leathers for women. Though the shapes seem simple, details are carefully considered, such as in the simple cashmere v-neck sweater which upon closer inspection reveals a completely seamless construction.

The recent appearance of Maier's own 17-year-old label on Madison Avenue, is partly due to an infusion of funding and support from Kering and represents a strengthening of the relationship between the designer and the company that owns his major employer. You will be seeing more Tomas Maier stores in major cities soon including a second New York unit set to open in April on Bleecker Street in the West Village (Where? The former Juicy Couture space? Or maybe in the recently closed Manatus Restaurant?). In the meantime, don't worry about Maier's relatively low-profile new store getting lost in the general fashion clamor. Placed within a few steps of the Whitney Museum (which is soon to be turned over to the Met) and a block from another building that is in the process of being turned into the city's latest Apple Store, Maier's new store is likely to get plenty of valuable foot traffic without having to scream too loudly.
Have a few more looks at the store in our slideshow below.

Tomas Maier 956 Madison Avenue between 75th and 76th Streets, Upper East Side
Tomas Maier Opens New York Boutique (WWD)

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THIS WEEK ONLINE: Lanvin, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Billy Reid, Alexis Bittar, Christian Louboutin, Sonia Rykiel, BLK DNM, Gilded Age, Ghurka, Burberry, Ben Sherman

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

Prada, Badgley Mischka, Erno Laszlo, Vince, W118 by Walter Baker, Ali Ro, Stella McCartney, Miguel Ases Jewelry, Vianna Brasil, Ben Sherman, Kenneth Cole, BLK DNM, Stuhrling Watches, Miansai, Lanvin —join HERE

RUE LA LA

Pandora, Teri Jon by Rickie Freeman, KEEN, Cushe, Hanro, Pureology, Joan Vass, Sharper Image, Børn, C&C California, Karastan Rugs, BCBG Max Azria, Judith Ripka, Gucci Watches, French Connection, Hasbeens Clogs, PUMA, Catherine Malandrino —join HERE

BELLE & CLIVE

Vince Camuto, Alexis Bittar, Christian Louboutin, Angela & Roi, Kenneth Jay Lane, Burberry, Tory Burch, Sonia Rykiel, Ode Kids, Gucci, James Jeans, Rose Pierre Jewelry, Ravi Rattan Cufflinks —join HERE

HAUTE LOOK

Marc Jacobs, LOVE Moschino, Velvet by Graham & Spencer, SPANX, Donald J Pliner, Current/Elliott, Nadri, Ash Rain Oak, KEDs, Archipelago, Mackage, Kork-Ease, Aerosoles, Nicole Miller, English Laundry, Gilded Age, Giogio Fedon 1919, Y-3 Adidas, Stephen Oliver Men's Jewelry, Portolano, Ghurka, Wolverine 1000 Mile —join HERE

MY HABIT

Versace Collection, Christopher Kon, Stuart Weitzman, Cole Haan, BUlova, Trina Turk, Vince Camuto, TOD's, Repetto, Phyto Haircare, Noir Jewelry, Tom Ford Sunglasses, Todd Snyder, Toscano Sweaters, Zachary Prell, Victorinox Watches, Prada, Billy Reid —join HERE

VENTE PRIVEE

Cosabella, Antony Morato, Roberto Coin, Splendid, Ksumi Tea, Mephisto, Rösle, PRPS, Carolina Bucci, Ulysse Nardin —join HERE