Stella McCartney’s stock-in-trade is offering up pieces that strike the right balance between being effortless to wear, but actually additive to one’s wardrobe. There’s often a tomboyish influence that makes her women’s line always seem just a bit cooler than the rest on the fashion block. It wasn’t a total surprise that she announced this summer that she was working on a menswear collection. The first sneak peek of McCartney’s new line was seen at the Spring/Summer 2017 fashion show in Paris last month, when her husband Alasdhair Willis wore a four-button double-breasted jacket and matching trousers. The first impression conveyed the mood of her menswear: streamlined, uncomplicated, and…
-
-
American Apparel’s Farewell ?
American Apparel, the Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer, figment of Dov Charney’s imagination and entrepreneurial nature, running since 1989, is now indisputably one of the largest apparel manufacturer in North America. At least virtually… A growing rumor, supported among others by Bloomberg, has it that the double A brand would be preparing its second bankruptcy filling within the next few weeks, making it the second one in less than two years. But one shall fully comprehend what American Apparel has been through also by considering the founder’s attitude, Mr.Charney, whose role in the brand’s downturn is not to be ignored. Let’s have a quick remainder of what happened up to now.…
-
From London, With Love!
I was lucky enough to pass the week in London! As it’s my first time in the city, I have to say I’m really enjoying myself. As an American girl living in a fashion capital, Milan, my eyes of course went immediately to the fashion of the locals. From afar I’ve always said that the London fashion was a bit daring for me personally. The animal prints, the oversized jewels, the colors and oh so many textures… I could never pull it off. Now that I am up-close, I’m able to reanalyze and recognize that there is a really elegant spirit underneath the loud exterior. I noted that Britain seems…
-
The G(h)o(s)ths Week.
Outside is dark. Winter is knocking at the doors. Fog is winding through the streets on the notes of “The Dark Side of the Moon”. This is the week in which everyone wants to be a Goth. But how to? How can one actually pretend to be so, even for one night? And what does it mean? Is it still a contemporary style? Everything started at the end of the Seventies, in the train of the Punk Era. Many of the so called Post-Punk music bands found the headquarter in the just opened Batcave nightclub in London, developing a social music movement and a new dress code characterising it. So,…
-
Il Nuovo Gucci: in the Backstage of the Italian Empire’s Rebirth.
We’re in December 2014, and the mutli-brand luxury group Kering announces the departure of Patrizio di Marco and Frida Giannini, respectively Gucci’s CEO and artistic director. This wave of departures from Gucci comes as no surprise, and marks the beginning of a fresh start for the Florentine brand. Set up in 1921 by Guccio Gucci and acquired in 1999 by the ancestor of Kering, PPR, the double G brand was, at the time, going through a rough patch. 2013 has proved to be a downturn in the brand’s sales, a situation that worsened in 2014, with lower sales volume of 1.8% at 3,49 billion euros. Considering that Gucci is the…
-
Decades of Fashion: the 60s
“Hey mama hey mama – Look around -Everybody’s groovin’ to a brand new sound” Welcome to the 60s, Hairspray At the beginning of the Sixties, the world felt that something was changing. A rush of optimism was spreading around cities and, with the election of the new president of US, John F. Kennedy, in 1961, people believed that a new golden age had to start. The key actors of those years where those who were born after the World War II, also called the baby boomers. Having reached the teen age, the joyful, lighthearted youth embraced the pleasures of life without the knowledge of the dreads of past wars. They…
-
Brunello Cucinelli – “Beauty Will Save the World”
“Balance sheets are not saved through lives.” It is with this quote by Adriano Olivetti that the conference held on October 18th, organised by Gianfranco De Nigris, Roberto Montaruli, Bocconi Students for Fashion and B.lab Bocconi, and hosting Brunello Cucinelli, led off. The main focus of the event was sustainability and, as Francesco Perrini – full Professor of Management at Bocconi University and Senior Professor of Corporate Finance & Real Estate at SDA Bocconi – said, on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), or better in this case, to a return to the concept of Community. Introducing Brunello Cucinelli, Professor Perrini described him as a revolutionist, promoter of an alternative entrepreneurial path.…
-
Chiaja: a New Luxury Brand Rising
With a few weeks of delay, Milan is finally blossoming, trees are green again and summer seems to be finally coming. The time to make a choice about the look to wear on the beach this year is approaching, and with it the birth (and fast death) of many aspiring and unstructured swimwear fashion brands. But one seems to be different from the others, and has its roots in places very close to where we all study every day.The startup I want to tell you about today is Chiaja, born from three Bocconi students, Alessando, Umberto and Gabriele, with the dream to re-invent the way men’s swim shorts are worn…
-
Fashion Small Businesses: The risks, the successes and the women who run the world (or at least Canada)
As my last week in Canada I wanted to take this moment to celebrate some truly inspiring Canadian women who have taken the risk of starting their own fashion small businesses in the country. Now I am going to be very honest with you (especially all you readers who do not live in Canada), our country is very very big and there is no way for me to be able to know, have met or justly recognize all the Canadian women making their mark in the small business fashion sector. However it has been my privilege to see the growth of the following women and see their risks pay off…
-
Leather Jacket: The History of an Icon
From Fonzie to Tyler Durden, from Maverick to Indiana Jones, the leather jacket has been a symbol of coolness and a must have for many men and women. But do you really know what hides behind this item? Leather jacket isn’t just a simple jacket, it’s an iconic piece of fashion that finds its roots in the first World War, when it was worn as a protective outerwear layer by the Germany’s army pilots. It will appear on the fashion scene only in the late 20s, thanks to the Harley Davidson motorcycle jacket designed by Irving Schott. He decided to reproduce the military jacket but in a more versatile way,…
