Gilly Hicks - Abercrombie Guns For Victoria's Secret

Abercrombie & Fitch is launching a new lingerie concept ("Concept 5" in internal A&F jargon) called Gilly Hicks. The new brand isn't Montauk-flavored (A&F) or California-influenced (Hollister), but rather down-under-ified (is that a word?), straight-outta Sydney.

The brand uses the same old A&F tricks: youthful, fit models shot on black and white film who prefer gallivanting-about sans clothing to anything else. Their intro video (click) is playful and exotic, reminiscent of cliché 90's television perfume ads.

What Abercrombie is trying to sell here, indeed, as they always have, is a lifestyle. They got teens and twenty-somethings hooked on their rugged, old-school outdoorsy theme at their original branded stores, sold us a piece of California's surf and punk culture at Hollister, and now they're trying to sell us Australian swimwear like it's some sort of nouveau Brazil. Is Australia the best image to sell for lingerie?

Aside from having the distinction of the highest skin cancer rates on earth, Australia might be a tough sell.

Only the future will divine whether Australia is a marketing dream: the first 5 to 7 Gilly Hicks boutiques open up around the US during January and February.

Stores Opening Soon

NATICK
1245 WORCESTER STREET
NATICK, MA 01760

SMITH HAVEN
313 SMITH HAVEN MALL, ROUTES 25 AND 347
LAKE GROVE, NY 11755

FOX VALLEY
195 FOX VALLEY CENTER DRIVE
AURORA, IL 60504

MALL OF AMERICA
240 WEST MARKET
BLOOMINGTON, MN 55425

WESTFARMS
500 WESTFARMS MALL
SPACE #201-204A
FARMINGTON, CT 06032

Not much info is yet available on Gilly Hicks, just a little mention in an article over at the Columbus Dispatch:

Abercrombie and Fitch - Not Just All-American

Cobain's Daughter New Face of Chanel

The 15 year old daughter of the late Kurt Cobain, Frances Bean Cobain, has been reported by Styledash to be the next Chanel poster child. We guess having over 130 pairs of shoes and 200 pairs of jeans as well as being "relatively" famous gets you into a contract with a high end fashion house these days.

The rock world's most famous offspring is widely rumored to be the front runner for the face of Chanel's 2008 campaign -- and she's only 15!

I had no idea she was even a model, but apparently Frances Bean is "overwhelmed" by the opportunity and ready for "what the Chanel experience may offer."
-Via Styledash (full article)

Loeffler Randall for Target - Cheap and Moderately Chic

Loeffler Randall, the New York shoe and accessories line designed by Jessie Randall since 2004, has picked up a lot of editorial coverage lately, and buyers across the country have taken note. Ms. Randall's shoe collection can now be found everywhere from tiny shoe boutiques, like Lamb's Ear in Fremont, to extreme luxury landmarks, like Bergdorf Goodman in New York. The company recently expanded to include a clothing collection, now carried at Nordstrom, Les Amis, and Tulip in Seattle. With all the buzz, it was only natural that a collaboration with target was next.

Already in stores, the collection consists of two styles of flats, two styles of handbags, and three styles of clutches, all offered in a variety of fabrics or faux leathers. The shoes are all $29.99, while the clutches are all under $25 and the handbags under $50. For those prices, are they any good? A recent trip to my local Target revealed that the shoes were surprisingly chic for the money. The metallic rose cinched flats looked and felt on par with several shoes that cost twice as much. The rosette ballet flats avoided kitsch by using less conventional colors. All in all, these are all perfectly serviceable pieces of footwear for a very agreeable $30.

The bags, on the other, feel exactly as they should for their price. While their woven design is attractive enough, clearly a riff on Bottega Veneta's increasingly popular Intrecciato weaving, the material used is what one would expect at these under $50 price points. The satchel and large tote have handsome proportions, but the brown patent looks, feels, and, worst of all sounds cheap. The vinyl squeal elicited by the patent is painful to hear. The faux leather versions of these bags are much less offensive, but they still lack the feel of genuine leather. For the money, fabrics almost always looks better than faux leathers at the bottom end of the price spectrum. Instead, these bags come off as trying too hard to be something they're not, too hampered down by price constraints that result in excessively cheap materials. something that previous Target designer collections have also suffered from, most notably those from Rafe Totengco and Devi Kroell.

Hideous? We think so...

True ugliness, courtesy of Balenciaga and their new face, Jennifer Connelly.

Via Perez.

Coach: Bulls versus Bears

From time to time, internet stock banter can be pretty entertaining. Take this exchange we were involved in on Google Finance Discussions:

(Coach Bear): "Younger consumers have jumped off the coach bandwagon almost completely...Their purses are tacky...None of the college kids I talk to are even considering buying anything else from this brand. Sorry."

(Coach Bull): "I think its pretty drastic to assume that NO college kids are interested in this brand simply because it had one low season. At 24, i can say that a good percentage of my friends recieved coach this holiday season-myself included-and I would bet a bunch of them are looking to buy in the future. The retail market did terribly this holiday, I do not think that is an indication that Coach is done for."

(Coach Bear): "I'm really sorry to hear that you received Coach stuff (and liked it). My mother had the misfortune of receiving a Coach purse this Christmas, but she's old and doesn't understand. Coach emblazoned their logo all over every piece in their stores, and the fashion-conscious got tired of it. Repeating logos is not a long-term strategy. It works for a season. Look at what happened to Burberry in the late 90's: they focused on their signature check, and then forfeiters jumped on it, everyone had it, and, surprise, NOBODY WANTED IT! Coach has done the same, and for this failure I have no respect for them."

I'm guessing the CoachBull is the same fashion-victim suburban girl caught pairing hideous Uggs with a big branded AF hoodie, a loud Coach purse and a 2-year old Motorola RAZR while thinking she's a godess on par with Anna f***ing-Wintour.

The internet, grace be to god, is full of nutjobs. To another entertaining year.

The Pope: Enemy Of Luxury

First we had to worry about evil fashion designers like Mugatu, but now luxury fashion has another enemy in.....the pope.

At a speech marking Epiphany yesterday, the pope remarked that we are creating a world where the haves and the have-nots are far apart, and want of luxury goods is partly to blame.

Funny, considering this pope is well-known for sporting Gucci and Prada.


IHT via Luxist.

Coach Heads To The Bargain Bin

Coach, the once lusted-after luxury marque, has officially hit the bargain bin. Long available at discounters like Costco (no, we're not kidding), we've seen a bunch of Coach loot show up at Nordstrom Rack locations. Usually, luxo-brands showing up on the cheap would be cause for celebration. For example, all Marc by Marc Jacobs shoes are 90% off at his boutiques. That's something to celebrate. But due to Coach's weakened cachet (and generally poor design [Is splattering your logo all over everything you make really a design direction?]), it's really a sign of caution to investors unlucky enough to be holding Coach shares.

Coach stock has already fallen more than 47% from its peak in August, it's slide only accelerating in October and December. Looks like a bloodbath.

Perhaps if Coach focused more on design and not over-emblazoning their logo on everything (not to mention maintaining exclusivity by limiting supply), they would've sold more goods at higher prices, maintaining their streak they've had going for the last few years and avoiding their newfound reliance on discounters. It could get worse, much, much worse. Personally, we hope the stock prices' precipitous fall will awaken management to the fact that heads need to roll at Coach HQ.