FASHION Magazine

Looks like Tyra’s gaining another female perspective. It was announced this morning that Kelly Cutrone will replace Andre Leon Talley as the fourth America’s Next Top Model judge next season. Known for her intense attitude (and that’s putting it mildly) on The Hills and The City, the founder of now-famed PR firm People’s Revolution will no doubt up the drama ante on the panel.

As for the rumours that a tiff with Banks is the reason for Talley’s departure, he dismissed them, telling Page Six “It’s all good in the neighborhood.” (Oh, okay.)  Although we’re sad to see Talley’s high-fashion credibility go, Cutrone’s blunt and quote-worthy advice is sure to bring some entertaining moments. Cue the waterworks.

Last week it seemed that Marc Jacobs’ replacement of John Galliano at Dior would be announced any day. Now, it’s being rumoured that, wait for it, Alexander Wang is the newest frontrunner to take Galliano’s job. A source close to Louis Vuitton told Vogue UK that Vuitton wants Jacobs to stay put and Haider Ackermann and Riccardo Tisci, who were also being considered, are out because Ackermann is “too edgy” and Tisci is just not interested.

If Ackermann is too edgy for Dior, what does that make Wang? He’s surely been successful with his own collections, but his downtown wears are certainly not anything close to the frothy couture gowns that are Dior’s signature.  While the news about Wang is most likely just a rumour, one thing is for sure: we’re tired of all the hearsay and just want some factual details released!

After a few lackluster seasons and being reportedly difficult to work with, it’s been rumoured that Stefano Pilati will be out at Yves St Laurent once his contract is up in March 2012. The fashion world is dying to know who his replacement will be. According to the New York Times’ Suzy Menkes, who suggested the move in her review of Sander’s Spring 2012 collection, Raf Simons will be YSL’s new head designer.

Menkes’ comments on Simons replacing Pilati sent the blogosphere and Twitterverse into a frenzy with even her colleague Jessica Michault tweeting that Menkes broke the news. Both YSL and Jil Sander have denied rumours. YSL told WWD that “Stefano Pilati continues to dedicate his talent and energies to Yves Saint Laurent and the coming fashion show.”  On Sander’s end, it’s being reported that Simons has signed on to do four more seasons for the label.

While it doesn’t look like Pilanti is going anywhere in the next week or so, it isn’t confirmed that he’s renewed his contract with YSL. We’re hoping for some fresh blood at YSL sometime in the near future, even if it isn’t Simons, although we have our fingers crossed that it will be.

Galliano debacle aside, we’ve not been reminded of certain “unpleasant” associations in the fashion industry for quite some time. Well, the past has resurfaced again, as news of a new Hugo Boss investigation has made headlines.

The company recently financed a historical study of the period between 1924 and 1945, the times leading up to and during the Second World War to clear the air about Boss’s association with the Nazis. So far we already all knew that Hugo Ferdinand Boss himself was a member of the Nazi party, but after the war he claimed to have joined only to save his business, which was facing bankruptcy in the early ‘30s.

The new study shows that Boss was a loyal member of the Nazis, won the bid to make the infamous brown shirts worn by the party, and was a personal tailor to Hitler. Boss’ factories used forced, mostly-female labour during the war, about 140 kidnapped Poles and French, brought in during a wartime employee shortage. Something nice to say about him (if you can call it nice?) is that he showed some concern for their welfare.

The company has issued an apology on its website but isn’t it pretty irrelevant at this point, over 60 years later? We are unsure as to why Hugo Boss chose now to bring all this info to light. We just hope it didn’t cost too much.

Rumours have been circulating for months that Dolce & Gabbana’s D&G line would soon be folding, and the announcement came this morning that now is the time, making today’s Spring 2012 runway show the last.

D&G was created as a sort of younger, fresher, and cheaper alternative to the traditional line, but lately retailers have noticed that while the pieces are popular, the prices were getting too high. Having a roughly similar price point was hurting both brands, so while this decision isn’t a surprise, neither is it a huge disappointment. While some European retailers are confused by the decision, claiming that the D&G line was far more commercial and popular for shoppers, the designers said in a press statement that the decision will bring “even more strength and energy to [their] collections.”

The Spring 2012 collections, taking place October 17–21, will mark the 25^th Toronto fashion week. Having previously announced the location of the new venue, the Fashion Design Council of Canada has now released the schedule and details about the week.

While we’re not sure what to expect with the week’s theme of “CanadaCool,” we’re excited about the new venue, David Pecaut Square. With the new venue being downtown, we no longer have to teeter down to the exhibition in four-inch heels.

Each season showcases Canada’s design talent and Spring 2012 is no different, with collections from fashion heavyweights Joeffer Caoc, Pink Tartan, Denis Gagnon, and the new and exciting Amanda Lew Kee and Chloe Comme Parris. This season is also going international with established American designer Cynthia Rowley showing three never-before-seen looks.

With a new name and venue, we hope that the collections from Canadian designers are equally as fresh and thrilling.

Sandwiched in between New York’s and Milan’s fashion weeks, the organizers behind London Fashion Week have often complained about time constraints in the past but this season has added stress with Gucci deciding to move their Spring 2012 show up to Wednesday, the last day of LFW.

To make matters worse, Gucci had scheduled castings and fittings this past weekend, meaning models had to abandon London in hopes of walking in the high-profile show. A number of shows have been affected including those of Canadian boys Erdem and Todd Lynn, the latter of who lost 10 out of 19 girls who were cast for his show. This hasn’t been the only scheduling conflict this season, either. Many models and editors were late arriving to LFW because Marc Jacobs pushed his show back to Thursday night due to delays caused by Hurricane Irene.

Many designers and casting agents are frustrated and threatening to boycott future LFWs if the British Fashion Council doesn’t intervene, which would be a shame since London is known for showing exciting new designers.

Barely a week after New York fashion week there’s already speculation that Fashion’s Night Out, the part shopping extravaganza, part charity event that kick starts NYFW every September won’t be returning next year.

Vogue, the mag that notoriously spearheaded the effort, says that it’s too much work to organize the event, which takes place during one of fashion’s busiest weeks of the year. Larger retailers who take part in FNO agree, saying they don’t generate enough revenue to cover the costs of participating in the event because people aren’t actually shopping during the night but looking for freebies and celeb sightings.

Never far from controversy, clothing company American Apparel is in the news again after a plus-size-model search gone awry. Recently, they launched a contest to find “booty-ful,” “XLent” girls 18+ “with a little extra wiggle room where it counts” to model their new, larger sizes in basic styles. Nancy Upton, being “super ooged out by American Apparel in the past,” decided to poke a little fun at the company, and sent in pictures that she thought were equally as condescending and mocking as the search itself.

These pictures include Upton in the following scenarios: posing naked, in the position of a pig on a spit, with an apple in her mouth; bathing in ranch dressing; splayed on the kitchen floor, guzzling chocolate syrup; and fully clothed, old Hollywood—glamour style, in a pool, shoving a roasted chicken into her mouth.

Upton won the contest by an overwhelmingly popular vote but received a letter yesterday from creative director of American Apparel Iris Alonso, scolding her for her pictures and her attitude. Alonso, for some reason, also sent her snippy letter to various media sources, essentially giving the press another reason to prey on the company’s practices.

It’s a shame that your project attempts to discredit the positive intentions of our challenge based on your personal distaste for our use of light-hearted language, and that “bootylicous” was too much for you to handle. While we may be a bit TOO inspired by Beyoncé, and do have a tendency to occasionally go pun-crazy, we try not to take ourselves too seriously around here. I wonder if you had taken just a moment to imagine that this campaign could actually be well intentioned, and that my team and I are not out to offend and insult women, would you have still behaved in the same way, mocking the confident and excited participants who put themselves out there?

Turns out that although she won the contest, Upton will not be used to model the clothes, which doesn’t seem like something she wanted to do anyway. After reading extensively on this story we are hungry and exhausted, and even more weary of AA’s business practices.

This morning, news broke that Giles Deacon is no longer working as creative director and leading designer at Ungaro. The story of the reported mutual breakup is being met with surprise, coming just weeks shy of Paris fashion week, and after only two collections (and two very well received collections at that) with the Parisian fashion house. The Spring 2012 line will be the last collab between Deacon and Ungaro, and is rumoured to not even have been designed by Deacon himself, but instead “reflect the work of the design team.”

Deacon was the latest in a long list of short-lived collaborations with the likes of Giambattista Valli, Peter Dundas, Esteban Cortazar and even Lindsay Lohan. His departure begs the question: is the brand stable?

Having such a tumultuous staff does not bode well, and with no replacement named, we will wait with baited breath to see what the future holds for the Ungaro name as well as its place within the industry.

Missoni for Target, the latest designer collaboration with the American retailer launched yesterday online and at all Target locations and no one, not even Target, expected such a high demand for the line.

Shortly after launching online at 6:00 a.m. EST the Target site crashed leaving shoppers frantic for ways to try to buy the coveted clothes. The site was back up later that morning but continued to crash throughout the day with customers resorting Target’s mobile site or calling customer service. Blogs like Racked and Fashionista gave shoppers a play by play of the site’s status.

Now it’s reported that most stores are sold out of the collection—but fear not—a few items are left online and currently, if you search “Missoni for Target” on Ebay, 22,220 results are found. Happy bidding.

Following the recent conviction of John Galliano, the buzz around Marc Jacobs replacing him at Dior intensifies. The latest rumour is that Jacobs and business partner Robert Duffy are in negotiations and asking for a salary package of $10 million.

If Jacobs cashes in on the deal, he’ll be one of the highest-paid designers in the world. The new position of creative director also means more work for Jacobs, adding Dior’s two couture shows on top of his existing workload.

Now that it’s looking more and more likely that Jacobs will say goodbye to Louis Vuitton, the people at Vuitton seem to be scrambling to find a replacement. Apparently they’ve approached many of fashion’s heavyweights including Alber Elbaz, the Proenza Schouler boys, Nicolas Ghesquiere, Sarah Burton, and Hedi Slimane. So far, Elbaz, Ghesquiere and Burton have declined.