Fashion Models and the Hottest Designer Trends

Why is that when a person dies, everyone suddenly notices how great he or she was? Alexander McQueen was an amazingly creative designer that has definitely impacted the fashion world in a large way, and with the news of his tragic death, everyone is chasing after his creations to keep his memory alive.

Since the first news of his death, McQueen’s iconic skull-print scarf has been “flying off the shelves” retailing for £200 having worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Liv Tyler, and Nicole Richie.

The Head of Press of the London department store Liberty Kate Brindley said, “The response was immediate. At about 4pm, just after the news broke, all of our Alexander McQueen stock started flying off the shelves. The scarf was such an iconic piece of his design.”

The second most popular item right now is the black shoulder-pad tee from McQueen’s summer collection. The Buying and Merchandising Director of Selfridges Anne Pitcher also said, “We fully expect customers to want to buy something by him – anything – to keep as a memento, but also as a genuine tribute to his craft and spirit.”

Doing her part to raise money for Haiti relief, 39-year-old British supermodel Naomi Campbell did what she does best by organizing the Fashion For Relief Haiti runway show on Friday, February 12th at Bryant Park’s The Tent in part of Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week hosted by 50-year-old Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.

The show consisted of models and celebrities walking the runway in some fabulous designers threads styled by Rachel Zoe with celebrity models in the likes of Chris Brown, Fergie, and Kelly Osbourne. The show featured designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Donna Karan with looks from Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, and Carolina Herrera to be auctioned online at at Net-A-Porter.com starting Monday, March 15th. Having held 950 guests and with tickets from $100 to $150 per seat, all the proceeds are going to CARE, an organization dedicated to rebuilding Haiti’s health-care system for women and children.

Although she rarely walks the runway nowadays, Naomi took three trips down the runway with her last look being dedicated to her good friend designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide just one day prior, in a thigh-high, multi-colored graphic print dress by McQueen. Along with Naomi, seven other models paid tribute to McQueen by showcasing his creations in a tribute set to Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” to close out the show.

For the finally farewell, Sarah Ferguson told guests, “Thank you, by being here you’ve made a difference.”

In the past, Naomi has also staged Fashion For Relief shows in New York after the Hurricane Katrina disaster as well as the massacre in Mumbai, India. To further benefit Haitian women, Naomi is holding a similar show this Thursday, February 18th during London Fashion Week.

Tragedy has struck the fashion world with the news of 40-year-old British designer Alexander, or Lee, McQueen having taken his own life yesterday in his luxury Mayfair flat in Central London. Known for his flamboyant and outrageous sense of style, he has designed creations for the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga. Having lost his mother just days prior and his close friend and style guru Isabella Blow, who jumped start his career, three years earlier, it is said that Lee hung himself. Lee was also scheduled to show one of his lines, McQ, in New York this afternoon in part of Mercedez Benz Fashion Week.

In a statement from the designer’s company, they stated, “On behalf of Lee McQueen’s family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home. At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family. Lee’s family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”

Lee McQueen, born in the East End of London becoming the son of a taxi driver, started his career as an apprentice at age 16 in Savile Row making suits for Prince Charles. He was first discovered in the 90’s by Tatler fashion director Isabella Blow, who killed herself in May of 2007 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, buying his entire first collection for £5,000. Lee was initially known as the “enfant terrible” in the fashion world sporting ultra-short hair and Doc Marten combat boots. In 1996, Givenchy appointed him as their head designer succeeding John Galliano and later joined forces with Gucci, who bought 51 percent of his company. Throughout his career, he was given many awards being named British Designer of the Year four times between 1996 and 2003, the International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards, and received a CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, in 2003.

Not only was Lee an amazing designer, he was openly gay having once described himself as the “pink sheep of the family.” About his open sexuality, he once said, “I was sure of myself and my sexuality and I’ve got nothing to hide. I went straight from my mother’s womb onto the gay parade.”

In 2000, he married his partner and filmmaker George Forsyth on a yacht owned by the prince of Gambia in Ibiza with friend and supermodel Kate Moss as bridesmaid. With the marriage lasting for about nine years, as of last February, Lee was single and dating porn star ‘Mr. Stag.’

Moments following the news of Lee’s death, a statement was released on behalf of Kate Moss saying, “Kate is shocked and devastated at the tragic loss of her dear friend Lee McQueen. Her thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”

Editor of Vogue Alexandra Shulman said, “Lee McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs. At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn’t.”

McQueen’s former CEO Sue Whiteley said, “This is devastating news. He was an unforgettable part of my life. He was a talent who was beyond others. People who worked with him would give 100 per cent and more because he was totally inspiring. This is an unimaginable loss for the fashion world. He was able to bring creativity to whatever he turns his hand to, from perfume bottles to every piece of clothing. It is a dark, dark day to hear this news. he was a British icon in fashion whose loss is unimaginable.”

The British Fashion Council sent their condolences saying, “We are deeply saddened at the news of Alexander McQueen’s untimely death. He was a unique talent and one of the world’s greatest designers. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time.”

The news of the death of designer Alexander ‘Lee’ McQueen has definitely cast a shadow on the fashion world today leaving us with two decades of his amazing art seen through his eccentric collections.

Recently, friends, and now design partners, singer Mary J. Blige and designer Catherine Malandrino have teamed up to create a line of empowering tees for women. The inspiration for the collaboration came from Mary’s Foundation For the Achievement of Women Now (FFAWN), a charity founded by Mary in 2008, to be called FFAWN + Catherine Malandrino. The duo conceived the term ‘T-Luxe’ to describe their hand-painted tunics featuring messages such as “I’m Free,” “I’m Power,” and “I’m Love.”

The first glimpse of this line will be shown at Catherine’s show at New York Fashion Week this Sunday along with her fall/winter 2010 collection. The collection will hit stores next week with an in-store appearance by Mary on Wednesday, February 17th at the new Bloomingdale’s dedicated to Catherine in Manhattan in hopes of spreading the empower women message. This collection of tees will be retailing at $39 each available at all Bloomingdale’s stores as well as at Bloomingdales.com.

With the goal of becoming a “designer hotel,” the boutique chain W Hotels, which operates 36 properties worldwide and a unit of Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc., has found stylist Amanda Ross after a grueling two-year search appointing her as fashion director to be announced on February 11th, the first day of New York Fashion Week.

The position of a fashion director are usually hired by retailers to keep them on the cutting edge of design, be on good terms with designers, and maintain a high profile. W Hotels has hired Amanda due to the fact that she has consulted for designers including Elie Tahari, Dennis Basso, Julien Macdonald, and has ties in the Hollywood world.

W Hotels’ Global Brand Leader Eva Ziegler said, “She will definitely help us be more credible in our outlook on fashion [and] associate us with the right designers.”

Amanda’s main duties with W Hotels include assisting with the designs of staff uniforms and special collections to be sold at the hotels and assist with styling the rooms, lobbies, and other common areas. Earlier this week Amanda said, “I’ve always wanted to work with a lifestyle brand.” With this opportunity, she is working to create a “fashion point of view” for their leading hotels and bring in designers to create exclusive collections inspired by the hotels.

After a couple years of speculation, American casual fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch has opened its doors in December for the first time in Tokyo, Japan. The store is 11-stories high in Tokyo’s upscale neighborhood Ginza just steps away from retailers Uniqlo and H&M.

On opening day, the store saw lines wrapping around the building and sales of about $550,000 without throwing an opening party or holding a press event. Although after the first day, hopes were high, but Abercrombie has not been able to win over Japanese fans.

Currently, the fashion industry in Japan is going through a low-boom with only chain retailers such as Uniqlo, Forever 21, H&M, and other cheap domestic labels in the Shibuya109 shopping building being profitable. Even with this fact, Abercrombie refuses to lower its prices and has charged Japanese consumers nearly double its American prices. According to a poll taken by Nikkei’s Marketing Journal on the first day Abercrombie & Fitch opened its doors, 61.7 percent of consumers found prices to be ‘a bit high’, 18.3 percent find prices to be ‘too high’, and less than one-fifth finding prices to be fair.

Along with the problem of cost, Abercrombie will not drive away from their American ways to better accommodate their Japanese consumers. For instance, they have not hired any staff members that customers would consider authentically Japanese, the staff greets customers in English, the staff fails to follow widely recognized principles of Japanese politeness singing and dancing in the store cramping up space on the sales floor, and the male staff exposes their chest, which does not translate to ‘sex appeal’ for Japanese consumers.

With issues not related to the staff, Japanese consumers are not too fond with cologne, which Abercrombie pipes through their ventilation, the lighting is so dim that customers cannot judge the colors of garments accurately, the elevator only goes to the 7th floor making the customer walk the last four flights, and most importantly, Japanese consumers are finding it difficult to incorporate pieces from Abercrombie’s collections into their own lives.

Being such a large company, it is strange to see them operate in this manner with no concerns of the industry around them. If they want to keep their doors open in Japan, Abercrombie & Fitch need to thoroughly revise their business ways to better accommodate their Japanese consumers.

Neiman Marcus was created in 1907 to present the best clothing money could buy to the rich men in Texas who struck it rich with the oil boom. Regretfully during the last couple of years, the recession hit Neiman Marcus hard having dropped 12.7 percent of sales in November from the year before, which caused the company to cut jobs, trim inventories, and experience heavy losses. Even with all the loss, Neiman Marcus will not stray from their original mantra.

Neiman Marcus Chief Executive Burt Tansky told Wall Street Analysts, “We have no intention of changing our business model or trading down. It’s important to reiterate that we will continue to offer our customers the luxury and designer merchandise that they want to buy and, in fact, some of our best-selling merchandise is at the upper end of our price ranges.”

By not lowering their relevance in luxury, it keeps the Wall Street Bankers with money busting wallets to keep Neiman Marcus close to their fashionable hearts. A clinical assistant professor of economics at New York University’s Stem School of Business said, “I expect watches, high-end men’s suits, fur coats, things like that. Families are going to reward themselves once the money is in the bank. The partial restoration of many affluent families’ net worth, given the stock market recovery in ’09, will lead to bigger spending at the Bloomingdale’s and Nordstroms of the world.”

This has already shown true with the slight flock to Neiman Marcus in December with sales going up 4.9 percent. With people longing to again embrace luxury items, Neiman Marcus has always and will always offer style, fashion, and excellent service for all.