It’s the place to get your NYC hipster fix, your vintage-reclaimed woolly jumpers and your on-trend skinny jeans. However, Urban Outfitters is in trouble.
2011 was a bad year in PR for the brand, which encountered scandal after scandal due to its propensity to put ‘Najavo’ on items. This earned them the ire of the Native American tribe and the American press.
Now things are going further downhill – Women’s Wear Daily reports that the company’s CEO has done a surprise bunk.
Glen Senk, who made the company into the Brooklynite darling it is, has been poached by jeweller David Yurman, and abruptly quit early in the New Year.
The news made share prices tumble. So was Shenk leaving a sinking ship? Is Urban Outfitters hiding some deep trouble? Better stay tuned to Rescu. as we fill you in…
Image: Urban Outfitters.
She hasn’t had an easy ‘fashion’ career – her guest designing stint at Ungaro is still cited as the thing which doomed the house – but Lindsay Lohan is still trying.
Surrounded by paparazzi and to the annoyance of her probation officer, Lohan shot ads for little-known European label Philipp Plein in Italy last year.
The question is – are they any good?
The line features mini-dresses, a set of pleather red suitings and an American-flag purse. The overall look? Cannes chic – not for the imaginative or fashion-forward, but decent for looking expensive and put-together in a high-end town.
Lohan herself had apparently not heard of Philipp Plein before she took the campaign.
Lohan’s most lauded outing for a fashion house was her brief time as the red-headed face of Miu Miu.
Do you like the clothes, and believe Lohan can carry a campaign (if she stays out of trouble)? Image: Lohan For Philipp Plein.
So it’s post-Boxing Day, post-New Year, and the big fashion retailers are cleaning out their stocks. Time to go crazy? Not quite. Any fashionista will tell you that the most important part of negotiating sales is being sensible – not wildly grabbing every deal that lies in your path.
Here are RESCU’s top tips on how to sales-shop.
TIP 1: Don’t buy things that don’t fit, don’t suit or are radically out of style. The lure of a bargain – even an astonishing one – might appeal to the frugal, but if you’re not going to wear it, it’s no bargain at all.
TIP 2: Take a friend – an honest one. This is not the time to go shopping with the person who encourages you to buy everything you touch. Since you have so much choice, you can be picky – and what better than a personal choosing-assistant? Just pick a diplomatic friend, not one who’ll point out your cellulite loudly.
TIP 3: Shop out of season, but don’t get pulled in by trends. Buying for winter right now is a very good idea, but don’t buy things that will look hopelessly backward in June.
TIP 4: Don’t be seduced by price-juggling. If an item is expensive, it’s expensive. Just because it used to be 40% MORE expensive does not make it less hard on your wallet.
Keep your wits about you and you should come home with a plethora of new items – not just junk you’ll regret in a week.
It seems that one chapter of the seemingly endless Dior controversy is over.
Marc Jacobs admitted this week that he would not be helming the fashion house, which has floundered since John Galliano was fired last year.
However, he wouldn’t admit to anything more about the negotiations. When asked if he simply wanted more money (as the rumour mill dictated), he said:
“Well, it’s a little bit more complicated than that… but we agreed it was probably best for everyone.”
So Marc Jacobs for Dior is no more. The next round of candidates is endless – Olivier Theyskens, Jason Wu, and the list goes on. However, nobody (as yet) is talking.
There are whispers that Galliano himself might be allowed back into the fold, but LVMH, the parent company, is unlikely to let him return after such public scandal.
Would you have loved Marc Jacobs at Dior, or is this a good move? Image: Marc Jacobs Spring 2011.
