Fashion Notebook

What the 2008 CFDA Nominations Tell Us About American Fashion

Another spring, another awards season for the Council of Fashion Designers of America. We always look forward to this announcement, and yet we always walk away from the press release disappointed. Why? Well, because year after year, it all just feels the same and it's gotten to the point where we feel we could pick out the nominees, blindfolded and drunk, and probably get them right about 90% of the time. But first, the nominees.

In case you haven't heard, the group, whose prez is none other than that lullaby-talking Diane Von Furstenberg, has announced the following nominations for 2008: [Note: The Swarovski awards recognize emerging design talent.]

Womenswear Designer of the Year                                   Swarovski Award for Womenswear
Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein)                                            Kate & Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte)
Lazaro Hernandez & Jack McCollough (Proenza Schouler)     Thakoon Panichgul (Thakoon)
Marc Jacobs                                                                      Alexander Wang

Menswear Designer of the Year                                        Swarovski Award for Menswear
Thom Browne                                                                   Patrik Ervell
Michael Bastian                                                                Tim Hamilton
Tom Ford                                                                         Scott Sternberg (Band of Outsiders)

Accessory Designer of the Year                                        Swarovski Award for Accessory Design   Tory Burch                                                                       Philip Crangi
Marc Jacobs                                                                      Justin Giunta (Subversive Jewelry)
Michael Kors                                                                     Joy Gryson

Well, congratulations to all the winners. Then again, we're sure they've heard it all before. Actually, they have. Let's take a quick, two-year trip down memory lane, just with the marquee awards.

CFDA Nominees 2007                                                     CFDA Nominees 2006     

Womenswear:                                                                  Womenswear:
Oscar de  la Renta                                                            Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein)
L. Hernandez and J. McCollough (Proenza Schouler)            L. Hernandez and J. McCollough (PS)
Marc Jacobs                                                                     Marc Jacobs

Menswear:                                                                       Menswear:
Steven Cox and Daniel Silver (Duckie Brown)                      Thom Browne
Ralph Lauren                                                                    Ralph Lauren
Italo Zucchelli (Calvin Klein)                                              Alexandre Plokhov (Cloak)

Accessory Designer of the Year:                                          Accessory Designer of the Year:
Marc Jacobs                                                                      Marc Jacobs    
Michael Kors                                                                     Michael Kors
Derek Lam                                                                        Tom Binns

Notice anything? Like maybe the fact that the nominees in the
womenswear category have remained virtually unchanged (with the
exception of Oscar de la Renta) for the past three years? Or that Michael Kors (pictured, right, doing his Project Runway duties) and Marc Jacobs have been the accessory designer of the year nominees for three years running, as well? The only thing that seems to have changed much at all is the men's category.

In his statement regarding this year's nominees, CFDA executive director Steven Kolb lauds the way in which "this year's nominees and honorees reflect the strength and vitality of the American fashion industry."

Really? It seems to us that it suggests the industry is rather stagnant, with only the same three names worthy of distinction in each of the categories. And let's not forget that chief among those names, Mr. Marc Jacobs, seemed poised, only a season ago, to take his whole operation to Paris. But we digress.

In essence, it would seem that the CFDA nominations this year, and as we've demonstrated above, the past several years, prove that American fashion is a pretty rarified echelon in which only a standard round of top names compete for industry prizes. For an industry where the bread and butter is creativity, the stagnancy (why does that word keep coming to us?) of the nominations list seems to imply a less thoughtful approach. That said, if asked which designers we thought were tops in American design, we'd be hard pressed to come up with a different list. Perhaps the fault then, dear readers, is not within the CFDA nominating committee but within our American fashion selves.

It's hard for American designers—hell, for ANY designers—to become established like these award winners anymore, given the difficulties of getting funding and the fact that we live in a world that no longer seems to care about the development of talent as much as they do about constantly having something new, something chic, and something with a name that others will recognize. To that end, CFDA (and Vogue) are to be commended for their work to bring notoriety to new design labels, as they have with Proenza Schouler, who now top the ranks of their regular awards, having graduated from the Swarovski Award for Womenswear. But it's hard to see any kind of sea change in American fashion coming—and perhaps no one wants it—given that these guys are always at the top of the list for women's design.

Here's hoping that maybe Christian Siriano, recent Project Runway winner (whom we can't help ourselves but to shill for), will liven up those ranks in the coming years.

And full disclaimer: This post is not a statement, by Fashion Notebook, that we think any of the nominated designers aren't talented, or are not worthy of awards. Rather, it is a statement that we've seen these same people getting awards and nominations for years, and we're wondering why there's no one else in the American fashion ring worthy of such distinction by the CFDA.

Week in Review Pt. 1: Louis Vuitton Rocks Out, Kohl's Gets Punked, and More Rumbles for the Luxury Market

OK, so we've kinda been bad lovers the past two weeks. Yeah, we admit it;
we haven't been updating as often as we, or you, would like. But our offline
job got a bit crazed last week and that prevented us from posting. So, in effect, it's not you, it's us.

Also, we were, like, on pins and needles waiting for the finale of Project Runway. And, hopefully you'll agree, we're so, so, so, fiercely happy that Christian Siriano won we can barely contain ourselves. Kid has some serious talent, and we're sure that we'll be hearing from him sometime soon. Is he adoptable  by the way? We might just forego that Boston Terrier we'd been planning on bringing home and swap it for that adorable pocket-gay (though he'll have to sleep in a closet, as we're still living in a New York state of reality folks!).

But let's leave all this relationship drama to the Spitzers! It's time to take a look at what's happened, what it means, and where we see things going... So without further ado...

Louis Vuitton's New Bag
Unless you've been hiding out under a mountain of paperwork (like us), you've probably already heard that Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is the new, wrinkly face of Louis Vuitton (SEE PHOTO, BELOW, LEFT). (Insert "Vuitton's new, iconic wrinkled bag" joke here, hell, everyone else has. For SHAME Saturday Night Live! You, like fashion, were more inventive in the 1980s.) If you haven't seen the spot already, check the photo at right.

We have to say to say that this is an interesting choice, and it's already done its job many times over in terms of exposure (more than we'd imagine placing, say, Katherine Heigl, or some other, safer choice, in front of the camera). But hasn't Vuitton really missed the rebel-rock-me boat by like, say, 40 years? We would prefer to see the ads featuring this Keith.

Also, how does John Varvatos feel about all of this. Certainly, the Stones trump Cheap Trick, not to mention the fact that the campaign pretty much cribs from Varvatos' own advertising mantra: Bring back old rockers and consumers will come. Of  course, Varvatos seems to have more credibility here and we're still not sure what a great cover boy Richards is for the brand. After all, while he's definitely rich beyond words—and amazingly still alive—we're just not sold on him as a real luxury guy. Then again, maybe that's what rehab and old age will do to you. I'm sure that he has a wonderful assortment of organic teas backstage, but is he really throwing those outfits in a Vuitton steamer?

Love to hear your thoughts on this. Drop us a line, here.

Kohls Pumps Up Its Juniors Jam with Avril Lavigne
Yeah, the girl ain't punk kids. Then again, Richards sold his ass to Louis Vuitton, so what does define the legitimate rocker persona? Anyways, Avril Lavigne maybe didn't steal your boyfriend, but she did ink a deal with Kohl's to produce "Abbey Dawn," a collection of apparel (priced $24 to $48) and accessories (read: jewelry, for now) that will hit the mass merchant's doors nationwide in July.

The move obviously means that Lavigne will get some dollars in her coffers—seriously, is she even that hot anymore?—but it also seems to really define her audience in a way that could be limiting for the popstar. Launching just in time for back-to-school shopping, the line is allegedly for the "broad group of shoppers" that Lavigne attracts, according to SVP Don Brennan, but we're calling bullshit. If it's B-T-S, the tricks are for kids, and that's fine, after all, those are the types that will pay retail for her album "The Best Damn Thing," which came out last year and for which the star began touring to support last week.

According to spokeswoman Vicki Shamian, the line shouldn't cannibalize any of the retailer's other exclusive brands, like Candies given Avril (and by proxy, her collection's) "feminine yet rock n' roll attitude." [Side note: Meanwhile, no notes on how the Simply Vera collection is doing. If you've got deets, or reactions, or if you've tried on the products, send a note here]. Advertising, on which details aren't yet available, will be handled by the Kohl's in-house team, in conjunction with lead agency McCann Erickson, New York. Stayed tuned.

 

Financial Desk: Luxury Retail's Mixed Bag
Ok, so we've probably hammered this to death, but there might be trouble with the luxury market.

Saks Fifth Avenue announced last week that it had approached roughly $1 billion in sales for the quarter ended Feb. 2, up almost 5% from the year-earlier period, but with comp store sales increasing by 9%. Meanwhile, net income rose dramatically, some 83% drama, to $39.5 million, or 26 cents a diluted share. However, gross margin slipped about 50 basis points to 37.4% of sales.

But there's trouble ahead. According to a statement by chairman and CEO Steven Sadove, January and February comp store sales grew by only 4.1% and 3.4%, respectively, and "previously high-growth rate businesses such as handbags, footwear and men's have slowed."

"As expected, the more challenging promotional and overall macroeconomic environment that we began to experience in the third quarter continued throughout the fourth quarter and put pressure on our merchandise margins," Sadove continued. "Our outsized comparable store sales growth indicates that we significantly improved our competitive positioning by market, driven by our merchandise, service marketing and capital investments."

And then  came the wahn-wahn moment.

"Nothwithstanding our improved performance and the longer-term outlook for the luxury channel, we expect to continue to face an increasingly challenging macroeconomic and promotional environment in 2008, and are taking a more conservative approach to planning the business this year," Sadove said, adding that the company expects to see comp store sales growth in the mid-single digits for 2008, with low-to-mid single digit growth in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, at Neiman Marcus, positive earnings were also overcast by ominous notes. Revenues at the luxury department store grew almost 6% to $1.37 billion in the second quarter ended Jan. 26, while net earnings grew 8% to $44.3 million. However, February comp stores sales posted a 7.3% decrease.

In a conference call, Neiman Marcus chairman and CEO Burt Tansky seemed to feel, well, pretty much like every other luxury retailer these days. He's playing a cautious game as the news of a buckling economy and decreased consumer spending prophecies an even rougher year.

"As we all know, the entire U.S. retail sector has seen sales growth diminish somewhat, and this slowdown has affected some parts of the luxury market," he said in the call. "Our sense is that the aspirational customer has pulled back somewhat in response to concerns about the U.S. economy in stock and housing markets. However, this aspirational customer appreciates quality and can be expected to buy more as the economy improves. Nevertheless, we feel confident that the pure luxury customer, the affluent to the very affluent, will continue to demand only the finest."

Seems plausible, of course, except that we're not getting at raw numbers here. What's the proportion of aspirational consumers to pure luxury consumers? Wethinks it be disproportionate and that Neiman's might have a few, hopefully not too many, pricey dresses that are staying on the racks as Sex and the City fangirls start closing up their upper-middle class purses.