Universal Standard offers body-positive size swap for women

Direct consumer plus-size brand Universal Standard has just decided to offer a new launch entitled Universal Fit Liberty (UFL). The fresh program includes revolutionizing the shopping experience by allowing a size swap for customers.
The idea came from the body positive message of Universal Standard. As women of all sizes have fluctuating weights and experience emotional burdens of replacing clothes because of it, Universal Standard has come up with a unique solution.
Universal Standard has confirmed that if clothes you bought from the brand’s core collection no longer fit due to “size fluctuation within a year of purchase,” the brand will replace them in a new size for free, according to a statement released by the company. This will be the first program of its kind to offer this type of swap in the apparel industry. With Universal Fit Liberty’s introduction on April 17, any purchased U.S. pieces can be replaced without any worry or hassle. “Whether you’re a size 6, 16, or 26, weight fluctuates. It can go up and down, creating not only an emotional rollercoaster, but a financial burden,” the brand states on its website.

Universal Standard launches first-ever size swap for women's clothing

The returned clothing will be laundered and then donated. Universal Standard will donate these clothes to charities that support women in need including Dress for Success, American Red Cross and others. These clothes are meant to help make a difference in the apparel industry. “As a brand, we intend to create real, lasting, and much-needed change in the fashion business - particularly the 10+ segment, which still sits on the wrong side of an arbitrary size line, and segregates 100mn American women from their peers," co-founder and creative director Alexandra Waldman said in a statement.
Founders Waldman and Polina Veksler created the elevated chic brand in 2015 to offer women’s clothing from sizes 10-28. Using a direct-to-consumer model, the brand offers new products weekly and retails season-less clothes that retail from 60 to 160 dollars. With the new launch of UFL, Universal Standard is planning to take its clothes to the next level by empathizing with women and their needs with fluctuating weights. "Our goal with UFL is to lead this sector with big, bold innovations based on insight and a deep understanding of our customers' needs,” Waldman stated.

Sara Ehlers  Tuesday, 25 April 2017

Cutting foundation courses will lead to “simplistic education”, says art school dean

The art college’s associate dean of pre-degree has spoken out about the importance of one-year foundation courses in providing students with “excitement, variety and experimentation”.

By Sarah Dawood April 24, 2017 6:08 pm

Plymouth College of Art

Closing foundation art and design courses will result in “simplistic” routes into creativity that do not offer the “richness and excitement” that students currently benefit from, says an associate dean from Plymouth College of Art.
Matias Shortcook, associate dean of pre-degree at the college, has spoken out to Design Week about the cutting of foundations, following institutions such as Falmouth University and Norwich University of the Arts dropping their courses. Falmouth’s was dropped last year, but Norwich was unable to confirm at the time of publishing when its course was discontinued.

Studying creative subjects will become “ticking boxes”

Shortcook has concerns that studying art and design will become about “dutifully following instructions” and “ticking boxes” if students are left to follow a more traditional educational path.
“Without foundation courses, you’ll get a set of very dogmatic, simplistic investigations into the world – and design isn’t that,” says Shortcook.
“Design needs variety, multiplicity and excitement,” he continues. “To chart a simplistic educational course from GCSEs to A-Levels straight into a degree does not give the richness that many students benefit from.”
Shortcook has spoken to Design Week in light of Plymouth College of Art’s plans to open a new building dedicated to its Foundation Diploma in Art and Design.

Plymouth College of Art, Palace Court

Palace Studios is due to open August 2017, and will include two studio spaces alongside a courtyard social area. It will sit next to Palace Court; the college’s dedicated pre-degree campus for 16-19-year-olds, which opened last year.
The Foundation Diploma in Art and Design is a low-fee, or often free, year-long course that acts as an intermediary for many design students between college and university.

Foundations offer “a year of vital experimentation”

Foundation Diplomas in the UK are run at multiple universities, but often awarded by University of the Arts London (UAL), as is the case with Plymouth College of Art’s diploma.
They offer students the opportunity to try different creative disciplines, such as graphics, advertising, fashion design, textiles and fine art, which gives them “a year of vital experimentation” and “confidence”, says Shortcook.
“A foundation allows students to explore and touch upon different art and design forms, before going into an undergraduate and refining that,” he says. “It’s like 100 foundation courses in one. Students then arrive at their degree confident that it is the right one for them, and are therefore happier.”

Government cuts have resulted in closing of courses

Shortcook adds that Government cuts to funding towards the arts have “certainly informed the decision” to close courses.
Universities have seen funding slashed in recent years, with humanities and the arts bearing the brunt as the Government focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.
Universities such as UAL and Goldsmiths were hit by cuts in 2011, while Falmouth University’s director of communications Robert Hillier confirmed last year that the university’s foundation course was closed because it was “expensive to run”.

Boden to open concessions in John Lewis

British online fashion retailer Boden will open womenswear concessions in five John Lewis department stores from October, bringing Boden’s clothing to the UK high street for the first time.
The first five concessions will launch in John Lewis shops in Oxford Street, London, Cambridge, Reading, Southampton and Oxford this autumn, with the fashion brand planning to open more in 2018.
In addition to the concessions, the Boden range available in-store at John Lewis will also be available on the department store's website.
“We are delighted to bring Boden directly to a new customer base through our partnership with such an iconic British retailer,” said Jill Easterbrook, Boden chief executive. “As we continue to grow the business, we are excited to be expanding the Boden brand beyond our existing catalogue and online platforms.”

Boden to launch on the high street with John Lewis

Boden currently operates almost entirely through catalogue orders and e-commerce, with just one bricks-and-mortar store in West London. The British brand founded by creative director Johnnie Boden in 1991 has more than 1.5 million customers worldwide and is known for its womenswear and childrenswear.
Christine Kasoulis, John Lewis buying director fashion, added: “The introduction of Boden builds on our continued strategy to provide our customers with an inspiring selection of unique brands that they cannot find anywhere else on the high street. We are thrilled to be exclusively launching Boden in our shops.”
In launching their high street presence in John Lewis shops, Boden join other online fashion brands including Hush and Finery. Last year, John Lewis opened five concessions with Hush and six concessions with Finery and has since added a further 12 concessions with these brands.

 

Danielle Wightman-Stone

Monday, 24 April 2017

Fashion houses appoint 'number twos' as creative directors

In 2009 when Lindsay Lohan was named creative director of French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro, celebrities moonlighting as fashion designers hadn't yet reached its peak.
Brands had been looking to fill creative positions with big names, big personalities and even bigger followings, where fame often gets the upper hand over talent. Unsurprisingly, these jobs have often come at the expense of those second in command, the designers behind the creative director, the number twos, who have the technical and creative skill to fulfill these roles, but lack the celebrity status.
Things took a change in 2015 when Gucci, previously led by big personalities like Tom Ford and Frida Giannini, opted to choose unknown designer Alessandro Michele to lead its billion euro business.

Gucci led the way with hiring an anonymous designer

Gucci's CEO Marco Bizzarri didn't have Michele on his shortlist of potential candidates when it was decided Giannini should be replaced. Michele began as a junior designer under Tom Ford, and remained anonymous throughout his ten year tenure. Even under Giannini, nobody knew who Michele was.
It was a courtesy meeting with Bizzarri that started the course of Michele being appointed creative director. He had already seen two well-known designers, but it was Michele, with his near archive knowledge of the house and passion for the brand, that led to him being given an assignment to come up with a men's collection in just five days. Two years later and it is fair to say Michele has transformed Gucci both aesthetically and profitably, and brands are looking toward Gucci to emulate its success.

Should fashion houses be led by big personalities?

One of the problems in fashion is the "old guard believes that fashion, as an art form, should be led by visionaries with big personalities and even bigger reputations," notes Refinery29. It is the newer generation, however, that embraces fashion as a business, and should be led by creatives with an understanding of what modern customers want from their clothes. "This tension between old versus new, number ones versus number twos, gets at the heart of the industry’s most fundamental question: Is fashion mostly art? Or is it mostly a business?"
Fashion, of course, is both. The artform can't exist without the business, and the business would be nothing without the aspirational and creativity. CEO's of fashion companies are realizing that number twos can be good for business as well as the creative.

Fashion houses are hiring number two's

The past two years have seen an ascension of number twos take the roles of number ones. Take for example Raf Simons' former number two, Serge Ruffieux, who is now creative director at Carven. Last month Natacha Ramsay-Levi was appointed as head of Chloé, but she was Nicholas Ghesquiere's number two at Louis Vuitton. Last October Marni hired Miuccia Prada’s number two Francesco Risso and Mulberry onboarded Johnny Coca, previously Phoebe Philo's number two at Celine.
All these designers were largely anonymous until their appointments, all the while leading their own quiet revolution behind the scenes.

Photo credit: Marco Bizzarri, Alessandro Michele @ British Fashion Awards, source: Gucci Facebook

Don-Alvin Adegeest

Sunday, 23 April 2017

Why do fashion designers dress themselves in uniforms?

What does Giorgio Armani have in common with Steve Jobs, Karl Lagerfeld with Mark Zuckerberg, Anna Wintour with Mother Teresa? They are associated with wearing an instantly recognizable daily uniform. Jobs and Zuckerberg might be said to dress for the technology industry, Mother Teresa had little time for trends, but fashion designers and magazine editors? Aren’t they in the business of telling us what to buy and what to discard every six months? What gall, what sense of entitlement, what perverse elitism affords them the luxury of getting to stay the same?
“All change!” they decree from their ivory towers to us commoners below, then watch as we’re buffeted about against the waves: Get the New Strong Shoulder! Say goodbye to the Skinny! High waists are back! Embrace Fall’s New Volumes! Do as I say not as I do seems to be their modus operandi. But what is behind their abstinence? Are they lazy? Uninspired? Having a laugh at our expense? Is this the ultimate power play of master puppeteers tugging the strings of their colorful playthings?
Former president Barack Obama told Vanity Fair, “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.”

The Trivia of Necessity

Yes, but with all due respect, Mr President, what constitutes trivia in the world of politics is the raison d’être of the fashion industry. Yet our most powerful sartorial leaders don’t buy into the magic and energy of their own runways, nor cave to the oppressive need for uniqueness, nor succumb to the sense of adventure they peddle each season.
While Obama might argue the idea of a uniform is liberating, there might be something else at work with our designers, as Giorgio Armani explains to The Guardian, “When I look at myself in the mirror, I am super-critical. I have to think of what I can wear that will look good on me. I can't wear stripes or bright colours because they make me expand. I like to wear navy trousers with a white T-shirt from Emporio Armani during the day, with white trainers. For evening, I wear black velvet dinner jackets and handmade shirts from Giorgio Armani, hand-made to measure. I almost always wear the same thing. I have an athletic body but am only 1m 70cm tall, sadly, and I know what suits me best.”
So instead of freedom, uniform dressing offers a form of damage control for figures who must represent their brand every waking moment. It becomes referred to as their “signature look.”

Shades of Black

From Riccardo Tisci’s casual separates and pristine white sneakers to Tom Ford’s immaculately tailored suit, from Thom Browne’s schoolboy knee-length shorts with shirt and tie, Michael Kors’s tonal blazer over t-shirt and trousers, Alexander Wang’s T-shirt and jeans accessorized with only his glossy dark locks, they all have one. But the focus of this signature look is even more honed: the only acceptable color of it appears to be black––unless it’s Armani’s equally neutral navy. Yohji Yamamoto delivered this assessment of their favored palette, “Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy - but mysterious. But above all black says this: "I don’t bother you - don’t bother me".
But uniform dressing is not just for the male designers. Carolina Herrera’s white shirt with popped collar and monochrome skirt, Diane Von Furstenberg’s printed tunic, Donna Karan’s voluminous black with statement necklace, Miuccia Prada’s knee-length pleated skirt and blouse.

Workwear

Uniform dressing represents consistency and is perhaps an attempt by the designer to remove themselves from the seasonal hue and cry of magazine editorials and trends, allowing them to remain in the background. Martin Margiela famously took this one step farther wearing a white lab coat and refusing interviews.
The uniform projects sobriety and authority, awarding designers the stature of lifestyle gurus who administer selflessly for the benefit of their followers. Their humble “regulation-wear” in the face of constant change may even ironically borrow from the idea of the blue-collar worker by evoking the tradition of a trade, a craft, possibly artisanal, which is under threat, and often passed down through generations.
What will I wear today? Whatever works.
By contributing guest editor Jackie Mallon, who is on the teaching faculty of several NYC fashion programmes and is the author of Silk for the Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.
Images: All from Catwalkpictures

Jackie Mallon  Friday, 21 April 2017

Government “must be braver in using design”

The Design Council has called on Government to embed design at a strategic level, in order to “realise its full potential”. By Angus Montgomery on May 29, 2015

The Design Council has called on the Government to take “a braver approach” to using design as it reacted to the Queen’s Speech this week.
In the Queen’s Speech, David Cameron’s new Conservative majority Government set out its policy priorities for the coming Parliament.
This included measures around local government, housing, and the creation of a single public service ombudsman to identify and respond to issues in public services.
Design Council chief executive John Mathers says that design can have “a major impact” in the delivery of public services and called on Government to take full advantage of this.
Mathers says: “Many of our Design Challenges have explored ways to solve difficult public service problems, and we’ve seen some great results. For example, our Reducing Violence and Aggression in A&E work saw threatening body language and aggressive behaviour fall by 50 per cent, while for every £1 spent on the design solutions, £3 was generated in benefits.

“Innovating at the margins will only get us so far”

“However, innovating at the margins will only get us so far. To realise the full potential of design, it needs to be embedded at a strategic level, just as many leading businesses are doing. This requires a braver approach from the government.”
Mathers adds: “Design is a means, not an end in itself. And I do not suggest that it is a cure-all. It is simply an approach that helps identify the real issues at play, allows for difficult problems to be reframed in practical ways, and results in more appropriate and effective solutions.”
The All-Party Parliamentary Design & Innovation Group – a cross party group of leading parliamentarians – had previously called on Government to put design at the heart of the UK’s political, economic and education systems to ensure “the opportunities of the future are fully realised”.

Design should be a “central pillar”, not a “nice to have”

The group’s manifesto for design, which was published in March, ahead of the recent General Election, said that design should be given the same consideration as sustainability – no longer a “nice to have” but instead a central pillar of government policy.
It also recommended that civil servants should be trained in basic service design methods and that there should be an improved understanding of design and innovation spend in the public sector.
Last year the Cabinet Office government department launched the Policy Lab initiative, headed up by former Design Council chief design officer Andrea Siodmok. The Policy Lab works with government policy teams to test how design methods and principles can improve public service delivery.

PG tips rolls out new “contemporary” brand

The tea brand, which is almost 150 years old, has more simple, “contemporary” branding and packaging, developed by JKR.

By Sarah Dawood on May 21, 2015

PG tips is introducing new branding and packaging, swapping out the field and blue skies for a white background.
The new look, designed by JKR, has been implemented with the aim of making the brand easier to source in-store and “more contemporary”, says a spokesperson for brand-owner Unilever, while retaining the red, green and white colours of the previous identity.

The redesign also features an updated logo, which is still red and green but is no longer embossed, and has more simple, translucent lettering.
“We’ve made the brand more relevant to shoppers, especially the younger consumer,” says Kate Hearn, senior brand manager for PG tips at Unilever UK.
She adds: “The clear, fresh new look, with a bigger, bolder PG tips logo will also make it easier for shoppers to find the tea brand in the busy supermarket aisle.”
Unilever says this is the first major brand change for PG tips in 19 years, following on from its pyramid-shaped teabag redesign in 1996.