Prada will launch a Eau de Toilette version of Infusion d’Iris in August. The new fragrance for women focuses on the iris flower — or “a memory of iris”, since most iris flowers are not scented — instead of the more traditionally used iris root…
Jewelry With Stories to Tell (IHT)
“You don’t need 3-D glasses for the sculpted shapes to stand out and the colors to pop. But the high jewelry that had an open day during last week’s haute couture season is finely tuned to the latest fashion.”
Christian Lacroix’s New Creative Director is Up for the Challenge (Fashionista)
“Besides Sarah [...]
Prada Is Aiming at a Valuation of More Than $4.9 Billion (Bloomberg)
“Prada is aiming for a valuation of over 4 billion euros ($4.95 billion), while bankers estimate the Italian fashion label is worth between 3 billion euros and 4 billion euros.”
Takashimaya Says It Will End U.S. Operations (Bloomberg)
“Takashimaya Co., a Japanese department-store operator, said it [...]
All Saints smashes sales targets after low-key New York launch (Retail Week)
“All Saints has put British fashion firmly on the global map after it racked up sales of nearly $1m (£680,000) in its first week of trading on New York’s Broadway. ”
Weak euro helps European luxury through crisis (Reuters)
“Italian jeweler Bulgari (BULG.MI), fashion house Valentino [...]
Early summer thoughts on the Marina Abramovic dinner, the resort collections, Prada’s new bags and what Parisian women are wearing.
Giles Deacon confirmed as Creative Director of Ungaro (Vogue.com)
“The new appointment is bound to bring a close to an unsettled atmosphere at the French house that has reigned since Emanuel Ungaro himself retired in 2004.” (RSS and email subscribers: watch exclusive BoF interview here)
Phillips-Van Heusen beats, but Tommy weighs in Q2 [...]
Model Lara Stone for Prada Infusion d’Iris.
Tommy Hilfiger Replants His American Flag (NY Times)
“Once a preppy kingpin and then a megabrand designer of urban streetwear, with over $1.9 billion in sales… at his peak, Mr. Hilfiger, in the 1990s, was very cool. But then, about 10 years ago, he just wasn’t…When did Tommy Hilfiger become cool again?”
H&M Examining Latin America, Australia [...]
Cinema à la Prada (WSJ)
“With the Internet and digital technology, industry executives say short online videos have become an essential part of the fashion marketing tool box, offering customers a new way to interact with a brand and show clothing in motion.”
Web-only luxury retailers fared well during the recession (Internet Retailer)
“Luxury goods retailers that sell [...]
Ralph Lauren: New in an Old World (IHT)
“Standing shoulder to shoulder at the Élysée Palace, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the American legend Ralph Lauren held a mutual admiration society.”
New York’s Fifth Ave. Sets Record with Uniqlo Lease (Bloomberg)
“New York’s Fifth Avenue is claiming a city retail record: Japanese clothier Uniqlo agreed to pay [...]
My vetiver cup runneth over. You’d laugh if I told you how many vetiver fragrances I own. It’s rare for me to come across a vetiver perfume I hate, but after disliking Prada’s take on another perfume note I love, orange blossom (Infusion de Fleur d’Oranger), I wondered if its interpretation of vetiver would also be a disappointment.
Infusion de Vétiver is a limited edition Eau de Toilette developed by perfumer Daniela Andrier. Apart from vetiver, the listed fragrance notes include tarragon, pepper and purple ginger. The first time I smelled Infusion de Vétiver was on paper, and it smelled like watery, slightly peppery vetiver: plain. When I wore the fragrance, I detected other notes but the composition remained aqueous and simple.
On my skin, Infusion de Vétiver starts with the scents of powerful, acidic “citrus” (just a second or two) followed by fresh tarragon….
LONDON, United Kingdom — The fashion film movement has hit the mainstream, with well-known brands like Prada and Y-3 running integrated, cross-channel campaigns around high-impact digital videos and a dedicated Digital Schedule for fashion films and catwalk streams now in place at London Fashion Week.
But there were no signs that the medium was condensing around [...]
I like Prada. Not because of the fashion — regular readers here know I don’t know a thing about fashion — but because of the perfumes, which for the most part (I’m ignoring Prada Tendré) have eschewed the aim-for-the-lowest-common-denominator approach of your average mainstream designer perfume brand. The Prada perfumes aren’t wacky or outré, and they’re not necessarily the sort of thing that will please your jaded, niche-snob perfumista, but they’re well-crafted, and they strike me as perfumes made by people who care about the product as much as they care about making money. I’m as jaded as anybody, but I’m entirely willing to believe perfumer Daniela Andrier when she says Prada gives her more money to work with than other brands.1
It is precisely because I like Prada so much that last year’s Infusion de Fleur d’Oranger was such a disappointment. It was the first in a new series of limited editions, the Ephemeral Infusions.2 According to Andrier, the “idea of Infusion is almost as an imprint of the chosen material in water, a kind of watercolor fragrance reworked with colorful pastel crayon”3 — doesn’t that sound delightful? And it worked out perfectly, for me anyway, in the original that preceded the series, Prada Infusion d’Iris, and also in Prada’s recent L’Eau Ambrée, which was not part of the series but which took a very similar approach…
Japan’s Ambassadors of cute (FT)
“Economists are now looking at Japan and going: ‘Well, they don’t have the economic clout they had before, but they have a kind of soft power in view of the incredible global popularity of manga and anime.’”
Prada’s core profit up 3 percent in 2009 (Reuters)
“Italian fashion house Prada said 2009 core [...]
Prada Parfums has launched a new advertising campaign for Prada Infusion d’Iris which features model Lara Stone, shot by famed photographer, Steven Meisel.
Prada Infusion d’Iris: Since its arrival in 2007, Infusion d’Iris has redefined the rules of contemporary perfumery through its delicately balanced mix of tradition and sensuality: an inspiring and joyful vision of what [...]
Net-a-Porter is being acquired for up to £350m by Richemont (Telegraph)
“The deal, expected to be completed this week, will see founder Natalie Massenet, a former fashion journalist, become at least £50m richer as Richemont acquires the remaining 70pc of the company it doesn’t already own.”
Phillips-Van Heusen Acquires Hilfiger for $3 Billion (NY Times)
“Phillips-Van Heusen, the [...]
Louis Vuitton seemed to provide the perfect bookend to the Milan-Paris ready-to-wear season, which ended tonight.
Remembering a pair of old boots while still musing on modernity and fashion.
THE CLASSICS: Iconic brands Prada, Nina Ricci, and Carolina Herrera know that throughout the ever- changing world of fashion, only one thing remains: the classics. Simple, harmonious, and elegant, these four fragrances adhere to the established notes of timeless design and sophisticated scent.
Carolina Herrera combines rose petal, jasmine, and amber
Prada Eau de Toilette, with bergamont, [...]
Miuccia Prada’s fall collection tonight dealt with women oblivious of fads, brands, red carpets and warnings about taking the extra helping.
In Italy’s Mills, a New Spin Emerges (WSJ)
“Factories in China are proving as adept at copying fabrics as films and handbags… While worried, Mr. Ferla is relying on his quality-focused business strategy.”
Luxury Shame Thrives on Facebook (Slate)
“According to a new report from research firm Unity Marketing, nearly 80% of ‘affluent luxury consumers’ belong to a [...]
Next up from the Ephemeral Infusions line at Prada: Infusion de Tubéreuse (shown above left) and Infusion de Vétiver (above right). Both are limited edition, and both were developed by perfumer Daniela Andrier, who also created Infusion d’Iris, Infusion d’Homme and Infusion de Fleur d’Oranger…
George Davies has further designs on women (Guardian)
“The man who invented Next and George at Asda is launching a spring collection with a brand new label. …GIVe – Davies’s fourth attempt to capture the hearts and minds of British women. With the launch of its spring collection only days away, he cautiously reflects: ‘We are [...]
Today’s post came out of a quick email conversation with Kevin, who noted that he thought that Van Cleef & Arpels Bois d’Iris smelled an awful lot like Odori Iris.1 I remembered liking the Odori well enough when I tried it, but it certainly wasn’t love-at-first-sniff like the Van Cleef & Arpels. It seemed worth pulling the sample out to investigate. As so often happens, the one sample you need is the one you can’t find, but I’ll spare you the details of the 2-hour search: I did emerge victorious.
Odori, if you remember, is an offshoot of the Italian niche line Bois 1920. The six fragrances that launched in 2008 were all supposed to be masculine, as is reflected by the heavy wood packaging.
Odori’s Iris starts out with the dry, rooty iris that I love, but it quickly turns sweet…
Istithmar World chief resigns (FT)
“The chief executive of Dubai World’s investment arm has resigned as the emirate focuses on unwinding Istithmar World’s debt-laden portfolio of overseas assets amid the restructuring of its holding company.”
Chinese outspend Russians in France (Reuters)
“Tourists from China spend more in French boutiques than visitors from Russia, and they tend to splash [...]