The Luxe Chronicles

Ab Fab For Alexis Bittar? Well Why Not Sweetie?!

I love that rather than enlisting a celebrity to front her ad campaign, New York-based accessories designer Alexis Bittar has chosen the beloved Ab Fab characters "Edie" and "Patsy" in all their obnoxious, politically incorrect, drunken fabulousness to do the job. I love the statement it makes about the Alexis Bittar brand even more: Humour. Most brands have too little of it. Kudos to you for taking the risk Ms. Bittar!

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Well Said Indeed Olympia Le Tan!

Paris-based accessories designer Olympia Le Tan has been designing whimsical handbags in the shape of classic novels, milk cartons and other unusual shapes favored by discerning Parisians for years. Hand beaded by Ms. Le Tan herself, a single bag can require up to thirty hours of meticulous stitching and fetch upwards of £1000 GBP. The outspoken Ms. Le Tan was recently asked about her bags' hefty pricetags to which she rightly retorted:

Luxury: Harrods Taps Young Emerging Brand Ethan K.

I know countless well-established brands who would give their right arm to land a coveted spot in Harrods' accessories department alongside prestigeous names such as Hermes and Lanvin. In luxury retail terms, a presence in London's most iconic department store would be a coveted notch on any belt. Imagine therefore what it represents for a young artisan such as Ethan Koh whose brand Ethan K is barely two years old.

What A Week!

It has been another roller-coaster week thanks to the Greek debt crisis and its impact on the G20 Summit currently unfolding in Cannes. Try as I might to tune out the constant flow of bad news, I can't seem to turn off France Info and the FT's Twitter feed. It feels like I'm watching a slow-motion train wreck with no way of stopping it. This sorry state of affairs makes the robust sales and upbeat forecasts being reported by the likes of Hermes, PPR and LVMH all the more surreal to me.

Social Media Purchases: What Price Convenience?

Few things in life are free and nowhere is this more true than on the Internet. Search engines, social media platforms and countless "free" sites all exact a form of payment from end users although most end users remain alarmingly unaware of just what price they're paying. Take for instance the "convenience" of making purchases via Facebook.

What Luxury Can Learn From J. Crew.

This weekend's Financial Times had an interesting feature on Mickey Drexler, CEO of American clothing retailer J.Crew. Drexler, who took the company public in 2006 only to bring it private again last November, had this to say about the controversial move:

Carine Roitfeld: "There Is a Very Fine Line Between Accepting a Gift and Being Bought."

Unless you live deep within the caves of Afghanistan with little or no communication with the outside world, you no doubt are aware that "Irreverent", the tribute book dedicated to former Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld penned by Olivier Zahm (Purple Magazine) is set to drop just in time for Paris Fashion Week. Ms. Roitfeld is therefore currently doing a series of press interviews for the book including one in which she graciously sat down with a group of French fashion bloggers.

Fashion: Less Description, More Critique Please!

The fashion industry is currently awash in fashion editors, fashion writers, fashion stylists and fashion bloggers but the bona fides fashion critic is increasingly a rare breed. This is why during the succession of fashion weeks, I log on daily to the New York Times site, click on the "Fashion & Style" section and immediately read Suzy Menkes and Cathy Horyn before anything else. As far as I'm concerned, Ms. Horyn and Ms. Menkes (and Robyn Givhan when she's not being blinded by her admiration for the First Lady) are the last of what I consider to be genuine fashion critics.

Luxury: Here We Go Again.

Recent weeks have brought almost unanimously rosy headlines trumpeting reports of strong sales of luxury goods in the U.S., Europe and of course China. Despite a stubbornly high U.S. unemployment rate, anaemic economic growth in the U.S. and Europe and the Greek debt crisis, the wealthy have been spending again and luxury brands are reaping the profits with LVMH, PPR, Richemont and Hermes showing strong stock performances.

Fashion: Bloggers In Bed With Brands ...

Isn't it ironic that fashion bloggers, once plucky outsiders who were unafraid to speak their mind honestly and hold brands accountable for their missteps are now eagerly embracing business opportunities with those same brands? Fashion blogging has obviously come a long way. The latest high-profile blogger/brand alliance features controversial US-based high street fast fashion chain Forever 21 and UK-based blogger Bip Ling. The latter is fronting the media campaign for the opening of the chain's first UK store.