A new era for fabrics

By: Anne Robinson

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If you have totally ignored all of the "go green" and eco-friendly media for the last few years, it's time to stop ignoring and jump on this bandwagon...because it isn't going away anytime soon!

This whole slew of new eco-friendly designer collections makes me think maybe I should "green" up my wardrobe. Eco-friendly fabrics have moved way past being bamboo and stiff and into a new era of fashionable fabrics made from very creative recycled materials.

A Taiwanese designer has started using....drum role please...coffee grounds to make sportwear! The coffee grounds are turned into material and then injected with carbon (from coconuts) which makes the material water and sweat resistant. Any guesses as to how many coffee grounds are needed to make a shirt? Surprisingly, one cup of grounds makes a couple of shirts! This guy is brilliant! Stopping in for a morning coffee at Starbucks could benefit your wardrobe as well as your need for caffeine.

I'm sure the first thing that comes to your mind when looking at this plant is clothing. Well, ok maybe it's not your first thought.

This stinging nettle plant is easy to grow, it needs very little water and can be grown organically.

Using fabric spun from nettles was popular before the 15th century when cotton came along.

By nature, it is anti-bacterial and resists the growth of mould.

Nettle can be spun in a way which makes it's texture similar to linen.

A lot of European (particularly Dutch) countries have started growing stinging nettles to use in the production of fabrics.

Hemp is another eco-friendly alternative. The fibers are durable and flexible.

Hemp plants can be grown organically (without pesticides).

Hemp is a cousin to the marijuana plant; however, hemp is legal to grow and sell.

It is known for being incredibly soft and breathable. Check out a previous post I did on fabrics for more information on hemp: http://designerlanddetector.blogspot.com/2009/06/facts-about-fabrics.html

If you are set in your ways and can't part with your cotton pants and top at least consider taking the organic cotton route. I posted about the benefits of organic cotton in a previous post so be sure to check that out before your next shopping excursion. http://designerlanddetector.blogspot.com/2009/07/differences-between-organic-and.html

Dressing in eco-friendly materials doesn't have to hurt your sense of style. Eco-friendly is becoming the new way to be fashion forward.

Fashion designers: who is from where

By: Anne Robinson
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We all know that fashion has always thrived in Europe. But there are also some amazingly well known American designers. So here's a little guide to designers and who came from where.

Knowing a designer's origins and where their collections are made today can also keep you from getting a fake or knock-off. If your handbag made by an Italian designer says it was made in China, I hate to break it to you, but it's probably not authentic...but I'm hoping you knew that already.

So, just to be patriotic and show a sense of nationalism, I'll start with the top American designers.

Marc Jacobs (I'm sure you know by now that I love this man's designs!) is an American designer even though he has gone international, working with Louis Vuitton while living and working a lot in France.

Vera Wang is another designer that America has to be thankful for. Her name is embedded in pop culture and celebrities love to call her up when they get engaged.

You might be surprised, but Oscar de la Renta is considered an American brand. He is from the Domincan Republic but came to the U.S. to start his career.

Our good old American boy, Calvin Klein, his collections may have changed, but his roots haven't.

Can you get more American than Ralph Lauren? I don't think so... Mr. Lauren lives and works from within the U.S.

Donna Karan's designs are recognized throughout the world, but she lives and works in New York City. (Hence forth her brand, DKNY)

You might ask yourself, with these amazing designers why ever buy from an international designer? Well...America is lucky to boast some impressive fashion natives, but we can't forget about the amazing collections that come from Europe.

Let's travel to Italy next...or pretend anyway.

Giorgio Armani, who is the king of making men on the red carpet look fabulous, is one of Italy's most successful designers. Just an interesting piece of info, he was also the first designer to ban models who have a BMI of under 18 after one of his runway models died of anorexia nervosa.

Roberto Cavalli, born and raised in Florence loves to experiment and try new techniques. He lives with his wife and children in a villa overlooking Florence.

Fendi italian fashion house is best known for it's handbags. Fendi is based in Italy but has boutiques all over the world.

This is Italy, so as you can imagine the list goes on and on. Just a few more of the many amazing Italian fashion designers include: Gucci, Prada, Versace, Nina Ricci, and Salvatore Feragamo.

Now, on to France--home of haute-couture.

Pierre Cardin studied architecture in Paris, he is well known throughout the world. Sadly, he recently sold everything...an unfortunate hit for the fashion world. (Because I know you want to know...I wear his glasses and they are fabulous).

Chanel has improved fashion for the entire world, her skill and creativity is why she was the only fashion designer to be included in TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the 20th century.

Christian Dior, who hails from Normandy, actually opened up an art gallery before starting his career in fashion design. He died at the age of 52, although there were mixed reports as to how: some say he had a heart attack from: playing cards, having sex, or choking on a fish bone, while some other reports claim he died of a seizure.

To end out the French list I'll throw a few more names at you: Louis Vuitton (like you didn't already know that), Hermes, Christian Lacroix, and Yves Saint Laurent.

As you can see, fashion can thrive and spread anywhere in the world. But, you don't have to run off to Paris to be the ultimate fashionista.

Celebrity fashion lines falling off the radar

By: Anne Robinson

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What do Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Simpson, Jay-Z, Lauren Conrad, Carlos Santana, Patrick Dempsey, Mandy Moore, and about a thousand other celebrities have in common? Well, for starters, they all have their own line of clothing/accessoriers/perfume or cologne.

Is it just me or does it seem like celebrities feel the need to be a part of everything? Singers become actors and vice versa, they design their own clothing labels, they run for political offices....what's next? Will they continue until they've mastered every field possible?

So, how did this fad of celebrities needing to integrate into the design world start and is it really coming to end due to the bad economy?

In general, people tend to be drawn to celebrity collections. They are often much less expensive than other high-end designers and they design their clothes and accessories with their fans in mind. You can buy their collections at stores like Kmart, Target, JCPenney, and other relatively cheap and very accessible stores.

It can be a win-win situation for retailers and celebrity designers. In the case of Miley Cyrus designing for Wal Mart, both reap benefits. Miley already has a following of fans who will undoubtedly buy items from her collection, which benefits Wal Mart. Wal Mart is now sponsoring her upcoming tour, when benefits Miley. What a nice working relationship...

However, it is not always a successful business venture. Many celebrities overestimate how well their collections will sell to people outside their fan base or simply lose interest in the design process after a short time.

So, are they on top of the game or losing steam? Celebrity clothing lines are definitly taking a hit this year, many have halted production or shut down all together.

Both Mandy Moore's and Lauren Conrad's collections were put on hold last Spring. Jennifer Lopez recently halted production on her line, Sweetface. Sarah Jessica Parker's line, Bitten, has an unknown future after the only store that carries the line, Steve & Barry's, filed for bankruptcy.

So, you decide. Should celebrities dive into the design wolrd or leave it up to the true designers who have been doing this for years...as a career...and not a short lived new hobby.

Pret-a-Porter Fashion

By: Anne Robinson

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Recently, my fashion sense has changed. I am more aware of eco-friendly fashion options and am definitely never buying anything from a street vendor ever again (or even looking at their selection for that matter).

With all of this, is a new found interest in really understanding how and where my clothes and accessories were made.

Incase you had to ask yourself, when you read this post title, what is pret-a-porter fashion, I'll translate for you. Pret-a-porter means ready-to-wear fashion.

Basically, reread my haute couture post ( http://designerlanddetector.blogspot.com/2009/06/truth-behind-haute-couture.html ) and then think opposites. Ready-to-wear fashion is, in a sense, the opposite of haute couture fashion.

These designs are manufactured, by a machine, in bulk and are sized according to standard sizing charts. Then, they go on the shelves. You may have also heard this fashion style referred to as "off the rack". These designs are much cheaper than couture and much more accessible to consumers.

I feel a little history coming on.
The clothing industry first began to flourish in the 1700s, mostly in the U.S., China, and Europe.

Surprisingly, it was the need for military uniforms that started the production of different styles of clothing.

In 1790, the first sewing machine was invented by Thomas Saint. In the following decades, many other inventors tried to improve the machine. In 1830, Frenchman Barthelemy Thimmonier invented the first fully-functional sewing machine.

Just to throw in an interesting fact, Thimmonier's shop was burnt down after his invention went public by tailors who worried the invention would cause them to lose their jobs.

A few years later, Elias Howe and Walter Hunt improved the invention and patented it. In the 1850's sewing machines became mass produced.

Ready-to-wear clothing is produced based on the U.S. standard clothing sizes chart, developed in the 1940s. However, over the years sizes have become bigger and now do not closely resemble the original chart. These sizes are referred to as 'catalogue sizes'.

As people (women mostly) began to get bigger, so did sizes. A woman is more likely to buy something if it's a smaller size than she usually wears. What used to be considered a size 12 is now a size 6.

So, to sum up, the two big distinctions in fashion are haute couture and ready-to-wear or pret-a-porter. Haute couture is hand-made to fit a specific person's measurements and is extremely expensive. Ready-to-wear clothes are manufactured by machines, based on the standardized clothing sizes and goes right to store shelves, making the clothes more available to the average consumer.

How designers are combating the counterfeit market

By: Anne Robinson

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It amazes me that some people can justify buying a fake or counterfeit designer item, by assuming that designers make enough money off their collections that the counterfeit market doesn't really hurt them.

Supporting this illegal market is the same as saying we have the right to determine when a wealthy person no longer deserves to make money off their work. Fashion is a business, not a hobby. It's about money.

High end fashion designers are very aware of the fact that their designs are being copied and sold around the world. There is a misconception that they don't care and ignore this fact. Designers are on top of this issue and have done a lot in attempt to end the counterfeit market.

Not only do designers lose millions of dollars each year because of the counterfeit market; they are now forced to employ people to fight against it and protect the company's trademark, which also costs millions of dollars.

Many counterfeit sales take place online, especially on online auction sites, such as ebay. Some designers have people employed whose only job is to monitor these sites. As soon as products go up for sale, the site or company is sued. In some cases, ebay has been sued for allowing the items to be posted.

Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany, L'Oreal, and Rolex are among the list of designers who have taken ebay to court over counterfeit items.

Some designers have gotten a little more face-to-face contact with the people selling counterfeit items. Thousands of raids have occurred. Most notably, Louis Vuitton is known for leading over 30,000 raids (mostly in China) of stores that are selling counterfeit items. In the case of a raid, store owners are arrested and sued, and the store is shut down.

Not surprisingly, technology is also used to combat the problem. The difficult part is making something that will be easy to detect but hard to replicate. Special chemically altered dyes are sometimes added to fabrics. Some designers are embedding devices to track what subcontractors do with the products. Tags with holograms are also becoming popular.

So, is the government cooperative in helping designers shut down counterfeit trade? In general, the answer is yes. This market costs the government millions of dollars. It also is bad for national security. The profits made from counterfeit sales often contribute to organized crime and terrorism.

In the end, remember what the Harpar Bazaar campaign against counterfeiting states, "Fakes are

never in fashion." If we could all live by this, we could quickly put the counterfeit market to shame.

Who's who among designers

By: Anne Robinson
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This post is really just for fun. Are you familiar with a designer's name but couldn't put a face to their name or spout off facts about them? Here are some of my favorite designers and a little info about them.

Vera Wang: (born in 1949) Best known for her wedding gowns which she started designing after her own wedding, because she couldn't find a dress she liked. Vera wanted to be a professional figure skater and even tried out for the U.S. Olympic Figuring Skating Team.

celebrity clients include: Michelle Kwan, Jessica Simpson, Uma Thurman, and Jennifer Lopez.

Marc Jacobs: (born in 1963) Studied at the Parsons School of Art and Design in New York. Jacobs was working for Louis Vuitton when he started his first ready-to-wear line. He lives mostly in Paris.

celebrity clients include: Victoria Beckham, Naomi Campbell, and Dakota Fanning.

Prada: started in 1913, today is run by a great-granddaughter, Muiccia Prada (born in 1949). Distinctive trademark is using materials in a unusual context. Prada clothes are desribed as simple and minimalist, loud colors and patterns are avoided.

celebrity clients include: Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Katie Holmes, and Eva Longoria Parker.

Oscar de la Renta: (born in 1932) Left his native, Dominican Republic, at the age of 18, to go study in Madrid. He came to NY in 1963 to design the couture collection for Elizabeth Arden. He is a patron of the arts, and helped build a school for 1,200 children in the Dominican Republic.

celebrity clients include: Jackie Kennedy, Beyonce, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Well that puts you off to a good start about knowing a little bit about some of the world's greatest designers. Where would we be without their amazing collections?

Great labels with great discounts

By: Anne Robinson

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Believe it or not, there are legal ways to buy authentic designer items for less than their original retail value. The key is knowing which designers allow their collections to be sold at discounted prices.

It would be impossible to go through the policies for every designer. So, instead I'll highlight a few.

Outlet malls are a great place to do some bargain designer label shopping. Designers such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Calvin Klein have stores in many outlet mall shopping centers. This selling technique allows designers to interact with a new level of consumers. The products are usually from a previous season's collection and are sold at discounted prices. In general, consumers save an average of 20% off the original retail price. Although savings can be less, or much greater.

An alternative to buying a designer item is to borrow one. Websites such as Wear Today Gone Tomorrow, have members who borrow clothes. The average savings is about 90%. So, you don't get to keep the borrowed items, but you have them to wear a few times.

Some designers have special collections that are priced lower than their regular lines. Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange, designed for younger buyers, are less expensive than the exclusive Giorgio Armani collection. A pair of jeans averages around $130 and a shirt around $80.

Marc Jacobs started his Marc by Marc Jacobs collection which is less expensive and more accessible to the average consumer. To keep the discounts even better, there is a new line called Don't Miss the Marc (it's under the Marc by Marc Jacobs label). Everything in the collection is priced under $200.

Some high-end department stores, such as Saks Fifth Ave and Neiman Marcus, sell designer collections. It's possible to catch some good sales toward the end of the season. The stores will be clearing out left-over stock to make room for the new season's items.

Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Dior, and Caroline Herrara are some of the many designers who have collections at Neiman Marcus. Saks boasts an impressive list as well with Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, and Oscar de la Renta.

Stores that sell things at only discounted prices, like TJ Maxx and Marshalls, can be a gold mine. It may take patience, shuffling through multiple racks of clothes, purses, and shoes, until you find something with a designer label. Everything is discounted to begin with, but because they are constantly bringing in new items, additional sales are common.

See? I told you it was possible to buy items from certain designers that are priced below the original price. It just takes some investigation...which is, afterall, why I am here for you.

Fake Louis Vuitton handbags

By: Anne Robinson

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As you know, I am about quality. So, naturally, I want you to have an authentic Louis Vuitton handbag.

There are only three ways to buy an authentic Louis Vuitton handbag and have a sale that is approved by Louis Vuitton representatives. They are: online at http://www.eluxury.com/, at Louis Vuitton stores, or by calling 866-VUITTON. If you buy from another source, the sale is not authorized by Louis Vuitton and may be a fake or counterfeit product.

If you are buying from an unauthorized site, consider these tips that may help you spot the knock-offs.

Louis Vuitton uses brass and gold metal hardware, so any painted plastic buttons or zippers are not real LV.

The number of stitches is the same on each side, find the bag on the LV website, count the number of stitches and compare it to the one you are buying.

Authentic LV bags have symmetrical seams with no tilted material, this is true for the logo too.
Monograms that are cut-out, solid colored, or any color but gold are not authentic.

Louis Vuitton items are never sold at discounted prices.

So, how do vendors get counterfeit items into the United States? Without labels. Labels and tags are added to items after they are smuggled into the country. Therefore, officials have no proof that they are counterfeit when they pass through customs. Even if officials notice the strong resemblence between a bag and that of a designer's, that isn't enough proof without a label. Personally, I think this is crazy.

It is not uncommon for the Louis Vuitton company to take vendors to court. In 2008, Celine Dion bought counterfeit Louis Vuitton items at a store in China. The items showed up at one of her concerts, gaining the attention of Louis Vuitton. The store owners were sued and arrested.

A New York court in Manhattan rewarded Louis Vuitton Malletier SA $3.5 million in damages after the company sued LY USA Inc., Coco USA Inc., and Marco Leather Goods LTD, for selling counterfeit items.

In 2008, a French court ruled in favor of Louis Vuitton, making ebay pay $61 million to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton for the sale of counterfeit items.

Hopefully quality is as important to you as it is to me. So, do your research and make a smart LV purchase.

Differences between organic and conventional cotton

By: Anne Robinson
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We are currently in a "go-green" phase. We are being pushed to make everything from our houses to our cars to our clothes and make-up green. Unless you actually understand the benefits of "green" it's hard to jump on the band wagon.

I found a spectacularly great chart that highlights how conventional cotton is different from organic cotton. It came from an amazing site (http://www.aboutorganiccotton.org/OCdiff.html). The site has tons of other information so look it over...you may consider buying clothes made from organic cotton!

Click to discover the secrets of cotton!!! http://www.aboutorganiccotton.org/OCdiff.html

Designers need you (really, they do!)

By: Anne Robinson

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The fashion industry has one main goal: "to provide a desirable and appealing product to satisfy customer needs, demands, or aspire to have."

You might ask yourself then, why is it harder to buy a designer item than it is to go to the mall and find a new outfit. Designer items can be hard to find at stores and may require months of saving up for the big buy.

Coco Chanel once said, "I like fashion to go down to the street, but I can't accept that it should originate there." High end designers don't want their collections to be easily accessible to every person on the street. An extremely high level of craftsmanship goes into the creation of every product.

Designers do need consumers though. They need us to be interested in them and their collections. Chanel also said, "Those who create are rare; those who cannot are numerous. Therefore, the latter are stronger." Without any interest from consumers, designers would be out of luck (and work).

I have to insist that you follow this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGm8egzGiPY). It will bring you to a clip showing how Louis Vuitton shoes are made. It's really amazing, so go watch it...now!

Buying designer labels gives you the satisfaction of knowing how and where your clothes and accessories were made. These items are created through hours of human labor. Everytime you pick up a piece of clothing from the shelf of a retail shelf, you should wonder if it was made by a machine, operated by some poor child in China.

Buy from a designer and you will know, without a doubt, that the item was created by a skilled professional in excellent working conditions.

So, whether you are the type to run out and buy new collections as soon as they are available, or you just keep up to date on the new season's styles, you are doing your part to keep high end designers in business.

It's almost like designers work for us. (Well not really, but it's a nice thought.)

Paparazzi pictures becoming a new form of advertisement for designers

By: Anne Robinson

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This little tid-bit of information recently came to my attention. But, I found it interesting/concerning enough to share.

Everyone knows, unless you are Brittney Spears, celebrities aren't too fond of the paparazzi. Of course, who would be "buddy-buddy" with a person following your every step and constantly sticking a camera in your face.

But, pictures published by paparazzi, of celebrities, actually serve as a weird form of free advertisement for designers. Many designers give celebrities free clothes, hoping they will wear the outfit on a day when they have a run-in with the photogs. The designer then hopes that the picture will make a gossip website like E!, the insider, or People, with a caption of who the celebrity is wearing. Thus, gaining attention without paying for costly advertisements.

Sounds a little stingy but I guess it works...

Fashion cycles

By: Anne Robinson

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High heels...flats. Skinny jeans...wide-leg pants. A-line...pencil. Keeping up with trends is exhausting!

Once again, my mom was right. How does she do it? She always told me, "keep your old clothes because if you wait long enough they'll be back in style." I'm more of the throw it out after the season is over and make room to buy new clothes type. She took her own advice and saved many of her things growing up. This came in handy for me: when tall leather boots became the new must-have, I fell in love with an old pair of hers, same with an old pair of bell-bottom jeans...although I'm glad that style didn't last long this last time around.

So, why is it that fashion trends repeat themselves? Well simply put, the answer is money. Trends must change or else no one would have a reason to continually shop. Every season, consumers go out and update their wardrobes, based on the new styles.

Fashion plays hard on our emotions. Designers know that making someone feel that their outfit is uncool and out dated will force them to the store. Scientists are continually doing research about how our senses react to colors, shapes, patterns, etc...don't be fooled into thinking that the interior design of a store and the appearance of a website are randomly selected.

Fashion trends are repeated because designers work off what has worked in the past, often fusing together two or more previous trends to make a new one.

Here's a look at the stages of a fashion cycle:

First stage:

A new trend or style is introduced, consumers begin to notice the trend in many different stores and see it repeatedly.

Second stage:
The trend is seen with designer labels attached to it, and in bigger well-known department stores.

Third stage:

The trend is in full-blown style with more availability.

Fourth stage:

Trend starts losing steam, hits clearance racks, everyone has caught on and many are losing interest.

Fifth stage:

No longer a trend, now a fad.

We really should be thankful for fashion cycles. If not for them, it would be hard to continually come up with one excuse after another to justify our frequent trips to the mall.

Facts about fabrics

By: Anne Robinson

Amr8798@gmail.com

Fabric is one of the most important aspects of a design. It determines how the garment will feel, look, and withstand it's environment. Knowing about the different classifications and types of fabric can help you in your shopping. It also partly explains the costly price tags on many high end designer collections.

Fabric is made up of many interconnected fibers. This interconnection can occur from many processes, such as: knitting, weaving, chemical bonding, and felting.

Manufactured fibers have helped fashion come a long way by expanding the possibilities of fabric. Before manufactured fibers were available, people found certain fabrics hard to work with: wool shrunk, silk was delicate, linen wrinkled and was hard to wash.

In 1910, the United States began manufacturing rayon which was referred to as an "artificial silk". Nylon was invented in 1931, by American chemists, and was known as the "miracle fiber". And to throw in one more date for you history-interested readers, polyester hit the market in 1953.

There are five different types of natural fabrics: wool, cotton, silk, linen, and hemp, ramie, and jute. All of these are made from fibers taken from plants, animal coats, and silkworm cocoons. Here is a quick breakdown:

Wool-from animal coats

Cotton-from a cotton plant's seed pod

Silk-from a silkworm's cocoon

Linen-from the stalk of a plant

Hemp, ramie, jute-same as linen but processed a little differently

There are many more categories for manufactured or man-made fabrics. These fabrics start out as filaments that are made into fibers. Acrylic, lastex, nylon, rayon, polyester, and spandex are all examples of man-made fabrics.

The infamous 'Burn Test' can be done to determine if a fabric is natural, man-made, or a mix of the two. This test is common among fashion designers and fabric stores. During this test, a small piece of fabric is burned, depending on the way it burns, you can determine the probable make-up of the fabric. The burn test should be done carefully, realizing that all fabrics will catch fire.

Natural fibers are more expensive than manufactured or man-made fabrics because they are harder to come by, and can't be produced by a machine. High end designers gravitate toward using natural fabrics. After all, you pay for quality, so a sweater made from silk, that someone hand-picked off a silkworm cocoon, will undoubtedly be more expensive than one produced by a machine and manufactured fibers.