Swarovski Time

Swarovski is crystalizing time. The Austrian crystal house and accessories firm is introducing a collection of watches at Basel, with high expectations that it will be the firm’s next big thing. Hitting stores this summer in high-end watch boutiques and in over 1,500 Swarovski shops around the world, Swarovski watches are expected to garner between $80 million and $100 million in sales over the next five years.

Swarovski is no stranger to the watch category. About 10 years ago, the firm launched a collection of fashion watches, but considered it a supplement to the jewelry as opposed to a standalone product.

“When we entered the category the first time we saw relative success, but only distributed them in our own stores,” said Robert Buchbauer, global leader of Swarovski’s Consumer Goods Business. “The first collection was really  onsidered an add-on to existing jewelry products and they sold pretty well. But then we said, ‘What if we really played by the rules of the watch industry in the future and came up with a nice, credible collection for independent watch distribution?’ Our brand is definitely capable of carrying the category forward and what we have now we’re very confident about.”

The centerpiece of the line is the Octea Sport, a stainless steel sporty style with a quartz calibre movement. Each piece features crystal facets and accents for which the brand is known. Swarovski is banking on the accessible price points, ranging between $500 and $1,000, noting its relatively untapped place within the category.

“We entered a range where you do not see too many offerings, we did thorough research and it’s a nice, wide place to be, which is great especially in this economy,” Buchbauer said.

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Fashion reFRESHing for Eurovision

It’s confirmed that the sisters’ image and stage performance design will be made by Fresh Art. Inga & Anush visited Moscow and during the visit they had a photosession made by Fresh Art. During their visit to Moscow the sisters had an interview with and said: [Read more]

Madonna – new face for Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs

I was totally just blown away by it, and moved by her performance, by what she had to say, and her energy.”

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MADONNA AND MARC: When Marc Jacobs found himself in a meeting on a recent Monday morning to brainstorm about Louis Vuitton’s next fashion advertising campaign, inspiration struck. “I just blurted out, ‘I think we should do Madonna,’” said the designer, Vuitton’s creative director, mentioning he’d attended a concert by the pop icon the night before in Paris. “I was totally just blown away by it, and moved by her performance, by what she had to say, and her energy.”

[Read more]

Michelle Obama by Michael Kors

The Michelle Obama fashion watch continues as the first lady returns to the classics that suit her so well as she chooses a Michael Kors racer back sheath for her White House portrait, immortalizing his design for ever.

Mrs. Obama dons a black crepe jersey racer-back gown from Kors’ spring collection. The designer had been approached by Obama’s unofficial style consultant, Ikram Goldman, to make a few pieces, but didn’t know if she was going to wear the dress until the photo was released Friday.

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Fashion civilization crisis by McQueen

Alexander McQueen may be the last designer standing who is brave or foolhardy enough to present a collection that is an unadulterated piece of hard and ballsy showmanship. The heated arguments that broke out afterward were testament to that. There were those who found his picture of women with sex-doll lips and sometimes painfully theatrical costumes ugly and misogynistic. Others—mainly young spectators who haven’t been thrilled by the season’s many sensible pitches to middle-aged working women—were energized by the sheer spectacle, as well as the couture-level drama in the execution of the clothes. [Read more]

Christian Dior vs financial crisis

According to Dior president and chief executive officer Sidney Toledano, the crisis will only speed up a trend the French firm already spied: a widening gulf between ultraluxury players and also-rans.

“What we have done the last two years is consolidate our position at the summit of the luxury pyramid,” Toledano said. “It was the right choice. You either choose to be at the top, or down.”

Dior was prescient in another way: In marking its 60th anniversary last year, the fashion house and its couturier, John Galliano, tuned into the house’s codes — from the famous “bar” jacket to the cane-work print — and turned up the volume on its heritage via products and advertising. In the midst of a glut of “It” bags and shoes, “we were foreseeing that the customer might be saturated with the offer, and that they would at one point return to the strong players,” Toledano said in an interview in Dior’s stately gray offices on the Avenue Montaigne. “I think the crisis will accelerate this momentum.” [Read more]