Amal Clooney’s date-night shoes double as pants — POPSUGAR Fashion

Amal and George Clooney are calling NYC home for the time being. Weeks after attending the March For Our Lives, the duo was spotted going on several dinner dates.

via Amal Clooney’s Date-Night Shoes Double as Pants – Yes, They Go That High — POPSUGAR Fashion

Meh. The thing I don’t like about extremely high boots, as seen above, is that they tend to get very crinkly around the knees… but I suppose that’s true for every pair of trousers. In addition to that, what material are those boots made of? I can’t imagine having a night around town and not being able to bend my own knees, all because of a pair of very high hard material boots. Might be fashionable but is it comfortable?

Adidas to close stores in online push

Adidas’ chief executive says he expects to close down stores in the coming years as part of a shift towards selling more goods online.

via Adidas to Close Stores in Online Push — The Business of Fashion

Source: Shutterstock

Wasn’t surprised reading this; this is the direction shopping is moving towards, and the future will see a significant decrease in brick and mortar stores compared to those online.

Nothing, however, can compare to actually going to a store and physically seeing the clothes. I personally don’t shop online – a size 6 in one store isn’t the same as a size 6 in another. There are differences in arm length, how it falls on your body, how long an item is, for example, that you wouldn’t be able to know through a screen. I bought two pairs of trousers once from two difference shops; they were the same size, but one pair of trousers was far looser on me than the other!

The jewellery industry and sustainability

Cherie Blair, the UN’s Lene Wendland and others discuss how jewellery businesses can integrate the United Nations’ sustainable development goals into their strategies.

via The BoF Podcast: How the Jewellery Industry Can Uphold Human Rights and Be More Sustainable — The Business of Fashion

Source: Business of Fashion

The jewellery industry is frankly not something I know very much about, but I saw this article on the Business of Fashion and after giving it read and listening to the podcast of the event (Baselworld 2018), I’ve become a bit more aware about the issues surrounding sustainability in jewellery. Not just with the environmental costs involved in the mining of gold or diamonds, but concerning ethical issues too – one of the speakers mentioned that even children in some countries were exploited due to their small statures, allowing them to go into mines with greater ease.

I had a look at Chopard’s website after listening to the podcast and was quite impressed with their commitment towards sustainability; they’ve implemented a programme of sustainable change called The Journey, whose aim is to set new environmental and social standards for jewellery and watchmaking. In fact, Chopard announced as well during the event that they will use 100% responsibly sourced gold in all jewellery and watches by July of this year, as well as measure impact against UN Global Goals for sustainable development.

I think Cherie Blair put it quite well: “How can we make sure that the things we’re looking at here are not just beautiful to look at but beautiful at source?”

LABEL vs Fast Fashion — Double Pi(e)

via LABEL vs Fast Fashion — Double Pi(e)

An interesting post about the possibility of going back to handcrafted clothing like how it used to be in fashion’s beginnings. However, I had a conversation recently with one of my professors about the likelihood of consumers ever moving away from the fast fashion model. He said, and I quote: “My opinion is that fast fashion has strong roots in customer demand and will not go away anytime soon.”

He feels instead that advancements in technology of sustainable fabrics and circular solutions in fashion are key to a more sustainable industry. And I have to agree, the chances of the mass market in current times moving back to a ‘slow fashion’ model now are slim to none.

Dubai’s modest Fashion Week

A weeklong fashion event in Dubai is being held without catwalks, models or skin-baring designs.

via Dubai Showcases Modest Fashion Without Runways or Models — The Business of Fashion

Source: Islamic Fashion and Design Council

An immense sense of pride came over me as I read this article, not only for the fact that modest fashion targeted towards Muslim women is starting to emerge on an international scale, but also for the fact that a Malaysian designer, Vivy Yusof, was featured in this article.

An interesting thing I noticed concerning this event was their decision to do away with catwalks and models – an element many would think to be rooted in the very traditions of Fashion Week. And yet Alia Khan of IFDC thinks otherwise, calling it an antiqued mode of presenting fashion.

But perhaps she has a point. Anya Hindmarch, a British designer known for her quirky style, decided just last year to no longer participate in London Fashion Weeks; she finds the fashion show format to be outdated, and feels it best to target instead what’s right for the consumer. She focuses now on smaller, in-store consumer events.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed when I heard the news – Anya Hindmarch is one of my favourite brands and their Fashion Week shows have always been some of the best. There was never a dull moment on the catwalk, with their themes ranging from ski slopes to fairground rides. On the other hand, one can only imagine the costs and resources involved in the making of such shows.

For all we know, the nixing of the catwalk may very well be the future of fashion.

Fishy fashion

Advanced technology has allowed for salmon leather to be a remarkable material for fashion design and upholstery.

via Salmon Leather: A Sustainable and Exotic Material for the Future – Le Souk

Source: anovaculinary

Sustainability in the fashion industry is at the moment an issue of broad and fervent interest, what with population growth, climate change and the depletion of resources. I decided then, during my magazine’s last meeting, to pitch an article concerning the matter. It just so happened that the editor of the magazine was doing her thesis on the exact same topic, and so we talked about the issue at greater length after the meeting. I remember her mentioning that some brands now are even looking to use salmon skin for leather in lieu of more traditional animal rawhides, like cattle.

According to the article, salmon leather is more durable than cow leather, and is of a similar texture to snakeskin. The great thing about salmon skin is that it’s a byproduct of the fish industry, and is therefore a repurposed material. This is not however a new method; the usage of fish byproducts to create leather has apparently been around for centuries. The salmon leather industry is starting to crop up in countries such as Alaska and Iceland – where the salmon industry itself is already a very established one.

Their cow leather counterparts are a huge cause of increases in CO2 emissions, and so the usage of fish leather, once widespread, can mean strides in the fashion industry in terms of sustainability.

Kiko looking to fund growth in Asia and the Middle East

The Italian fast-beauty brand is in talks to bring in a minority investor to help fund growth in India, the Middle East and Asia.

via Kiko Milano May Bring in New Investor to Fund Growth — The Business of Fashion

Source: Intu

Italy’s beauty sector isn’t as well known as its fashion and luxury industry. I too, having only lived in Asia and the Middle East prior to this had never heard of Kiko Milano. Nonetheless, I am a fan now after coming to Milan and trying the brand out for myself, and so I was pleasantly surprised after reading this article (at least this might mean being able to head back over the holidays and stock up on makeup!).

A point I found quite interesting however was the fact that Kiko filed for bankruptcy in the US and had to close 27 out of 30 stores, I wasn’t aware they were struggling so much in the American market. In Milan at least, they recently opened a new store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II – the second Kiko on that same street. In fact, if you walk further down past the Duomo, you’d find yet another on Via Torino; that’s 3 Kikos, all of which are about 5 minutes away from each other.