* FASHION
Friday, February 13, 2004 19
The casual cool
By Oliver Horton
MILAN
hen we think about cat-
W walk fashion, the image is
often the all-black sophisti-
cation of brands like Gucci
or perhaps the glitz and glamour of Ver-
sace. But a new casual sensibility is
emerging, one that values jeans and
sweatshirts more than the traditional
emblems of luxury culture. The exem-
plar of this movement is the Italian line
DSquared. Designed by Dean and Dan
Caten, a pair of Canadian twins, the
theme for autumn/winter 2004/05 was
‘‘coming home.’’
For the men’s show in Milan this
January, this meant Mountie looks and
woodcutter shirts — and the women’s
show later this month will be a sexy
take on this style.
However, most fashion businesses do
not make their money from the outré
pieces on the front pages, but from the
more democratic items like jeans — es-
pecially in today’s conservative cli-
mate. To appeal to people today, you
have to dress like them, it seems. And
since the modern uniform is denim,
then this is what fashion designers are
offering — albeit a pair of jeans made to
exacting standards. It’s a facet of fash-
ion being picked up by more established
players. For summer 2004, Gucci
dressed its male models like cowboys, a
look not immediately associated with
the heritage of this 97-year-old leather
goods specialist.
‘‘It’s just to do with modern-day living
really,’’ said Paul Smith, the British fash-
ion designer, whose business ranges
from tailored suiting through fashion
lines and jeanswear. ‘‘Casualwear on the
catwalk is a reflection of the times. A lot
of people are in jobs where they are al-
lowed to dress in a more casual manner.
I wear a suit every day, but I wear it with
a denim shirt and sneakers.’’
The British designer Neil Barrett
counts Gucci and Prada on his CV, and
now runs his own Neil Barrett label. He
recently signed a four-year contract
with the German sports giant Puma as
creative director. ‘‘The world has
changed. Everyone is more relaxed
now. There’s not the same pressure on
the way you dress. You can almost get
away with anything,’’ he said. In his
view, the perfect metaphor for fashion’s
democratization is the height of the cat-
walk. ‘‘You used to have to look up at the
runway. It was up in the air — fashion
was on a pedestal. And now most cat-
walks are down on the ground.’’
For Barrett, this shift has emerged
over the last six or seven years with the
demise of the minimalism fashion
movement of the 1990s and with it the
head-to-toe designer outfit. ‘‘I hate
people who wear full looks now, even if
they’re wearing my label,’’ he said. ‘‘The
concept of being an individual through
your clothes used to be only for people
Putting the bag into branding
By Katie Weisman
PARIS
he shopping bag. It’s what a cli-
T ent walks away with after mak-
ing a purchase. It can be quaint
and tiny, the size for a box of
perfume. Or huge to hold a great spring
trench wrapped in tissue paper or a
sweater wrapped in a box. It is a brain-
less form of advertising for a label but
many designer fashion labels don’t fully
exploit this item, or other forms of pack-
aging, as a means to heighten their iden-
tity in the worldwide branding game.
‘‘Too often in the fashion arena,
branding is restricted to a logo or the
clothes. But in order to be most success-
ful, branding needs to be a central idea
for a label,’’ said Rita Clifton, the chair-
man of InterBrand consultancy in Lon-
don. ‘‘Executives need to think about
how a brand should show up at retail,
how the company phones should be
answered, how the goods should be
packaged and how to communicate.’’
Few companies can boast the kind of
brand recognition that Tiffany & Co.
Invenit et Fecit: “invented and made”.
The motto of a contemporary brand building its own history.
with taste. But now taste can be ac-
quired through magazines and just pay-
ing attention.’’
The abiding tone of fashion is ec-
lecticism, the mixing and matches of in-
dividual pieces, whether they are
sportswear, denim or a tailored jacket.
This is what passes for good taste in
London, New York, Paris and Milan and
this is the effect designers desire to cre-
ate season by season.
Fashion’s democratization has also
had a positive effect for the companies
traditionally producing more casual
products. The French sports label
Lacoste went to the catwalk with the
help of the designer Christophe
Lemaire. The German brand Adidas
brought in the Japanese designer Yohji
Yamamoto to transform its sporting
history into a fashion line called Y3.
And Renzo Rosso, the Italian entrepre-
neur who owns the Diesel denim
brands, has invested in avant-garde de-
signer names including Martin Mar-
giela and DSquared.
‘‘I came from the two best designer
homes [Prada and Gucci] but that world
is the past now,’’ said Barrett. ‘‘Prada
and Gucci are no longer alternative,
they’re institutional.’’ He attributes this
change to the growing influence of
small, independent fashion firms.
But not everyone believes that the
casual catwalk is the way of the future.
‘‘I remember around 1989-90, sud-
denly all the shows were full of
sportswear and no one was showing
suits,’’ said Dylan Jones, editor of Brit-
ish GQ. ‘‘That lasted a couple of seasons
and then it went back to something far
more formal. It’s what fashion does.
And besides, the collections are so big
that you can find six different themes in
one collection. Gucci showed cowboys,
but there was also an element that was
very elegant.’’
With the economy still uncertain,
there is also a suspicion that people are
shying away from the conspicuous con-
sumption of obvious designer gear and
instead buying democratic items like
jeans. This attitude could well change if
the economy really picks up this year.
Yet the feeling in much of the industry
is that people have got used to comfort
dressing and they’re unlikely to return
to the hairshirt of more formal items.
Anne Tyrrell, vice chairman of the
British Fashion Council, the organiza-
tion behind London Fashion Week, be-
lieves that developments in fabrics give
designers much more scope in creating
casual garments. ‘‘But it comes back to
what is the individual designer’s theme.
Most of the new generation designers
will mix in casual elements with
tailored pieces,’’ she said.
Smith agrees that ‘‘the selection of
fabrics available for casualwear is so
fantastic.’’ But he added: ‘‘If you look at
the way most designers dress, they’re
mostly dressed in a very casual way.’’
The Caten brothers, who founded
enjoys with its light blue bags and boxes
with white satin ribbons. The color mix
is emblematic of the legendary Ameri-
can jeweler as are the orange boxes and
shopping bags of France’s Hermès.
True, many luxury brands, including
Louis Vuitton or Cartier, have success-
fully incorporated packaging into their
brand-building programs. Even mass-
market Gap and its navy blue and white
packaging is an identifiable brand
code.
Branding and design consultants say
Chanel is one fashion and fragrance
house whose timeless packaging and
use of classic black and white graphics
are consistent with its fashion design,
store interiors and raison d’être.
‘‘The universe of the shapes they use
in packaging is very recognizable. It’s
never baroque and it is a great classic.
Even with their new fragrance, Chance,
and its circle shape and use of pink, is
coherent,’’ said Sophie Romet, the man-
aging director and partner of the
French design firm Dragon Rouge.
‘‘Those brands who rely on their origins
tend to be most successful in creating
catwalking.com
Even Gucci showed a modern-day cowboy
during its summer 2004 collections.
DSquared, have watched the fashion in-
dustry adopt more casual styles over
their eight-year career. ‘‘We were
turned down by our first showroom be-
cause we were too casual. We didn’t
look like all the other lines in there.
Fashion was about all-dressed-up and
that was the law. But we stuck to our
guns and sooner or later the people that
turned us down were chasing our
ideas,’’ said Dan Caten.
The brothers think that casual styles
are so obviously popular — after all,
they drive sales for most fashion busi-
nesses — that they have to work. ‘‘It’s
fashionable but understandable,’’ said
Dean Caten.
Added Dan: ‘‘Our whole trip is mak-
ing clothes people really want to wear.
Lots of times we see shows and think:
‘Oh my god those guys look retarded.’
People don’t want to get too dressed up.
We wear jeans everyday, so we make the
most beautiful jeans. And maybe you
pay a couple of hundred bucks more for
them. Or like a great sweatshirt. Our fa-
vorite one is 10 years old so we try to
make it like that. It’s the stupid little
things that you can’t find in every store.
Perfect classics.’’
Oliver Horton is a freelance journalist
based in London.
brand-building packaging. Hermès’s
use of the open carriage design en-
graved on their very simple fra-
grance bottles is an example.’’
So if luxury brands or Gap
can successfully carry out pack-
aging and make it part of the
brand experience, why are so many
designer fashion labels unable to follow
suit?
For one, observers note that execu-
tives at fashion labels tend to focus too
much on product in their communica-
tions programs and not enough on the
brand itself. It’s as if the creativity ends
in the design studio.
‘‘I think companies have a lot of diffi-
culty moving from a product-oriented
strategy to a brand strategy,’’ said Rich-
ard Simonin, the chief executive officer
of Harrod’s and a long-time fashion ex-
ecutive who has worked at fashion la-
bels such as Kenzo, Givenchy and Es-
cada. ‘‘It’s as if they are afraid that the
line between the label and the product
will be broken in the mind of the con-
sumer.’’
‘‘Fashion houses want to show their
clothes. Just look at the advertising. I
bet if you covered up the logo on print
ads, how many clothes would actually
be distinguishable?’’ asked Clifton. ‘‘It’s
that ‘smart tart in frock’ syndrome that
ad agency creatives loathe. Clearly, ads
can have a seasonal impact, but at the
same time, you want to project a time-
less image of a brand.’’
Simonin, like others, cites Chanel as
a branding success story.
From Michael Kors,
a bright, cheery optimism
From Page 18
spring green floral dress? She
whispered that she had an appointment
with her friend, Marc Jacobs, to talk
Oscar dressing.
The haute Bohemia that is the essence
of the Matthew Williamson label came
out in an adult and controlled way on
the New York runway. The British de-
signer celebrated the opening of his
new London boutique with a collection
that mixed fur with tweed, thick knit
sweaters with long velvet skirts and
worked hard within those parameters.
Tweed might be cut and braided into
the bodice of a jacket or fur strips made
into a poncho.
With L.A. clients in mind (or perhaps
Ibiza resident and front row guest Jade
Jagger), Williamson made winter even-
ing dresses into one long hot summer
with fresh white cotton skirts and high-
waisted wafting chiffon gowns in colors
such as green and pink. They would
need more than a touch of fur to brave a Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of
winter climate. the International Herald Tribune.
Tapping lingerie’s rich lining
By Jessica Michault
PARIS
t had to happen. After designers
I made underwear part of high fash-
ion. They have now decided to turn
their talents to lingerie. In the fu-
ture those visible slips showing through
sheer dresses will be carrying A-list la-
bels.
Designers like Diane Von Fursten-
berg, John Galliano, Stella McCartney
and Hedi Slimane are some of the top
names that are tapping into a market
that has been generally ignored by the
fashion industry.
‘‘The lingerie collection is a natural
progression for us,’’ said Galliano about
his eponymous lingerie line. Galliano,
whose Paris shop windows have been
decked out in limited-edition, red heart
Galliano Gazette lingerie for Valentine’s
Day, sees lingerie as ‘‘a perfect apparel
that works with any other clothes.’’
For Stella McCartney, whose clothes
are the epitome of everything girly and
sexy, starting her Butterfly lingerie line
was an obvious step. ‘‘I like the idea of
mixing lingerie up with an outfit when
going out or just wearing it to stay in,’’
said the designer.
The lingerie designer Chantal
Thomass, who has been in the business
for 20 years, gave her first runway show
since 1998 during the January haute cou-
ture collections in Paris. Thomass is
taking full advantage of the lingerie ex-
plosion. Victoria’s Secret has been car-
rying her line for the past two years and
now Thomass has agreed to design a
line exclusively for the company.
She said the slew of new designer
lines was inevitable. ‘‘Women who buy
beautiful lingerie, buy it their entire
life, there is no age limit. Whereas with
ready-to-wear, there is,’’ she added.
Looking back, this latest fashion trend
can be traced to 1999 and the first Victor-
ia’s Secrets runway show. This leading
American mail order lingerie company
gained international attention when its
inaugural show led to the crash of the
Victoria’s Secrets Web site because it
couldn’t handle the number of people
trying to log on to watch the show live.
For many fashionistas who want to
One of
Tiffany’s
emblematic
light blue boxes. The
packaging helps give the
American jeweler immediate
brand recognition with consumers.
Wi
‘‘They are so part of the fashion land-
scape that we take them for granted,’’ he
said. ‘‘At first, Chanel was a couture la-
bel, now it’s a luxury universe with all
the codes that go along. They are stable,
coherent, and here for the long term.’’
Simonin, however, credits the fact
that the designer Karl Lagerfeld has
been with Chanel for more than two de-
cades. This stability has helped Chanel
steer its course in brand development
via packaging and other communica-
tions tools. The fashion, the accessories
and the fragrances all share one vision
and this can then be transplanted to
marketing and communications which,
of course, include packaging.
But many fashion houses have not
been able to enjoy the kind of creative
or managerial longevity that Chanel has
experienced with Lagerfeld. The de-
The revival of fur as a playful and col-
orful material seems to have surprised
even the industry. JP Mendel, New
York’s most famous furrier, played
down fur as Gilles Mendel showed
clothing for the first time on the official
runway. The workmanship was excep-
tional for skirts worked with ribbons
and mink with embedded feathers. But
just when the company should have
been celebrating the joy of fur, it chose
to create elegant and somber clothes
with only a dashing broadtail cape or a
leopard-patterned muff to give a boost
to the client-pleasing clothes.
Another first was the women’s cloth-
ing by John Varvatos introduced with
his established menswear range. But
the tailored sportswear, including coats
over brief mini dresses, showed the
streamlined, minimalism of 20th-cen-
tury American fashion — not the new
spirit of quirky clothes with a kooky el-
egance that look right for now.
International Herald Tribune
keep up with the latest trends but don’t
have the bank account to do so, lingerie
could be the answer. The next best thing
to possessing the must-have bag or
shoes, designer underwear can quench
a thirst for a brand name especially in a
world where exposed bra straps and vis-
ible waist bands are de rigueur.
‘‘Lingerie is most important even if
you don’t see it. It is an extension of the
clothes. It is secret apparel,’’ said Von
Furstenberg, whose signature line deb-
uted in January.
Thomass agrees. ‘‘Lingerie is above
all a personal pleasure that can not only
give a woman more self-confidence, but
it can also change her silhouette,’’ she
sa id.
In France, where 88 percent of the fe-
male population say above all they buy
lingerie as a treat for themselves and 87
percent see lingerie as an integral part of
their wardrobe, it comes as no surprise
to learn that the world’s largest one-stop
shopping area for lingerie is located in
Pa ris.
Last November, after a six-month re-
furbishment, Galeries Lafayette un-
veiled a 2,600 square meter lingerie de-
partment on the third floor of its
flagship store. Perks include a nail bar
for manicures and a Chanel beauty cen-
ter for women. For men, who might find
all this intimidating when looking for a
gift, there are two male staff members
designated to help guide them through
the 80 different brands.
Other designers like Karl Lagerfeld
and the French duo, E2, have also been
very successful working with the lead-
ing intimate apparel companies
Wolford and Dim, respectively, to cre-
ate fashionable skivvies for the masses.
Michele Chantenet, of E2, described
her collaboration with Dim as an eye
signer John Galliano has been with
Christian Dior only since 1996. It’s
only in recent seasons that all
the women’s products
have a coherent
style and that ad
campaigns for the
women’s fashion re-
flect this. Givenchy
and Yves Saint Laurent
Rive Gauche have had
three different designers
in less than eight years, in
addition to management
changes, and both brands are
preparing for new designers as
T
IH
early as next month. Burberry,
in/
Ferragamo, Jil Sander have all ex-
nk
Ra
perienced designer changes in the
am
past several years.
lli
With such internal instability, cre-
ative packaging, let alone projecting a
brand image, is difficult.
‘‘Fashion labels are inevitably linked
to the vision of the designer and brand-
ing cannot work without continuity.
Jean Paul Gaultier is showing real
branding,’’ said Romet.
Clifton agrees, noting that Gaultier
has gone way beyond exploiting his
logo, citing the logic and continuity of
‘‘the packaging of his fragrances; the ad-
TTourbillon Souverain
with remontoir and dead second
Distribution: Montres Journe SA, Geneva
Designers like Dior Homme, top, John
Galliano, center, and Chantal Thomass
are taking advantage of boom in lingerie.
opener about what women want.
‘‘Women love bras that have padding
and you can’t have a line without in-
cluding a G-string,’’ she said. ‘‘There
also has to be a balance between func-
tion and creativity. No one is going to
buy a bra that has three cups. There is a
limit to how creative one can be.’’
This philosophy led to a line of un-
derwear that used inventive prints and
patterns to create a collection that had
universal appeal.
But while behemoths like Victoria’s
Secret and Galeries Lafayette cater to
the masses, some designers are taking
the idea of intimate appeal further. Sli-
mane decided that the launch of his line
would be just that — Intimate. ‘‘We
didn’t launch them large-scale. They
are quite protected, and really intimate,
almost fetishistic,’’ said Slimane, who
chose a lean model to wear his line in
the advertising campaign.
So is designer lingerie the next must-
have accessory? Slimane seems to think
so. ‘‘It is the most difficult thing to find,
and everyone badly needs good under-
wear,’’ he said.
Jessica Michault is on the staff of the
International Herald Tribune.
vertising with a theme of eccentric
sex.’’
‘‘Packaging is an integral part of
branding and branding is essential to
the longevity of a label,’’ said Clifton,
noting that 90 percent of a brand’s total
market capitalisation is attributed to
the brand itself. Sticking a logo on a bag
is not enough, just as it is no longer val-
id to focus simply on developing a
graphic identity for a brand.
A fashion company must develop a
total brand identity which applies to
every possible point of contact with the
consumer, notes Romet.
As for the shopping bag, so few in
fashion actually stand out. Some excep-
tions include the Burberry check, the
black and white stripes of Joseph and
the navy blue with polo player from
Ralph Lauren. But the norm seems to be
dark logo on plain, often white, back-
ground.
‘‘There is not a lot of creativity going
into shopping bags, yet it is one of your
chief forms of publicity,’’ said Clifton.
‘‘That’s a missed opportunity. And no
brand can afford to miss an opportuni-
ty in such a competitive marketplace.’’
Katie Weisman is a freelance journa-
list based in Paris.
www.fpjourne.com