fashion blog

Jackman: Size matters for `Wolverine' and Oscars

2009-04-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES – Hugh Jackman relied on his Wolverine alter ego to pack on muscle for the "X-Men" role, and he turned to the Oscars to slim back down.

The 40-year-old actor trained for a year to achieve his character's look.

"My goal was to make him look like an animal," a much leaner Jackman said recently. "I wanted people to be unnerved when they saw him."

Among the first to be unnerved? "Australia" director Baz Luhrmann.

Jackman was co-starring with Nicole Kidman in the epic love story when he started bulking up for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

"Baz said, `Mate, whatever you're eating, can you slow down a bit because I'm going to struggle to edit this together,'" Jackman recalled, adding that there are a few scenes in "Australia" where he's "beefier" than he ought to be.

The director had issues with Jackman's size again when the two collaborated on the opening song-and-dance number for the Academy Awards.

"Baz was like, `You've got to lose weight ... You're too bulky,'" Jackman said.

Luckily, Jackman discovered the ideal weight-loss plan: "Singing and dancing is the greatest diet in the history of the planet," he said. "Well, that and performing in front of a billion people."

Despite the pressures of the Oscar performance, the gregarious actor said he'd take on the hosting task again without hesitation.

"I'd do it again if I was asked," Jackman said. "I loved every second of it."

UK graduates face poor job prospects

2009-04-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

LONDON: Almost two-thirds of students leaving universities this summer do not expect to find a graduate-level job in an economy hit by recession and rising unemployment.

A survey of over 16,000 final year students showed confidence in the graduate employment market has dropped to a 15-year low; many students fear an uncertain start to their working life.

The number of leavers who have already secured a definite job offer during the annual student recruitment round has dropped by a third this year compared with 2008, the survey by independent researchers High Fliers showed.

Half of student job hunters fear that even if they do find a job, the offer may be withdrawn before they start work or they will be made redundant in their first year of work.

"Final year students due to leave UK universities this summer are gloomy and frustrated about their employment prospects," said Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers Research.

"Having invested an average of 15,000 pounds ($21,600) in their degrees, thousands of finalists are now set to leave university without a job offer and feel they have little prospect."

The survey showed a dramatic fall in applications for graduate jobs in banking, finance and property - all sectors which have suffered badly since the credit crunch which prompted a global financial crisis and sharp economic decline.

Instead, more university-leavers have applied to work in the public sector, teaching, engineering, the charity or voluntary sectors and the armed forces.

Tom Hanks arrives for Film Society Gala Tribute to honor him with the Chaplin Award in NY

2009-04-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

Actress Charlize Theron arrives for a Film Society Gala Tribute to honor actor Tom Hanks with the Chaplin Award in New York April 27, 2009

Actor Tom Hanks smiles as he arrives for a Film Society Gala Tribute to honor him with the Chaplin Award in New York April 27, 2009.

Jennifer Aniston tests the New York City nightlife

2009-04-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

A gorgeous-looking Jennifer Aniston tests the New York City nightlife accompanied by a female pal. Jennifer is in town to film 'The Baster 'which also stars Jason Bateman.

Beyonce says "definitely" wants Broadway role

2009-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK- Grammy Award winning singer and actress Beyonce Knowles has a plan to settle down in a couple of years and have some children with her husband, hip hop mogul Jay-Z, do less touring and -- debut on Broadway.
"It's my ideal job," Knowles told Reuters, while promoting her latest film role in "Obsessed," in which she plays a wife who takes on her husband's stalker.
"I'll be able to go to the theater every day and drop my kids off and maybe make some food -- maybe I'll know how to cook by then -- and then go do what I love and have some normalcy and have a regular schedule."
"I definitely want to do Broadway."
Related readings: Beyonce talks tour, movie, Etta James and Twitter Beyonce announces ‘I Am…’ tour dates Angelina Jolie voted most beautiful woman Beyonce knowles rocks Vancouver Knowles, 27, said she loved playing Sharon Charles in "Obsessed," which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, her first non-singing film role after performances in screen musicals including "Cadillac Records" and "Dreamgirls."
"I love this role because in most of these movies the man comes in and saves the day. And my character Sharon is the hero. She's strong and doesn't choose to be the victim, call her husband, call the police, hide in the attic -- she fights," said Knowles.
The singer's "I Am..." world tour, which begins this week in Croatia, is dramatic but, "I wouldn't say Broadway," said Knowles , who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.
"It's really theatrical and I do, of course, all of the singles."

NRF: Consumers cautious on Mother's Day spending

2009-04-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Washington--Americans will spend an average of $123.89 on Mother's Day gifts this year, down slightly from last year's $138.63, with the majority purchasing flowers, according to the latest research from the National Retail Federation(NRF).According to the NRF's 2009 Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by Big Research, total Mother's Day spending is expected to reach $14.10 billion, which is slightly more than Easter.Of the four in five Americans (83.3 percent) who will celebrate Mother's Day this year, the majority will focus on the women with whom they are closest. Most people (62.4 percent) will purchase gifts for their mother/stepmother or wife (21.7 percent) and scale back on gifts for daughters (8.8 percent vs. 9.4 percent in 2008), friends (6.8 percent vs. 7.1 percent in 2008) and godmothers (1.6 percent vs. 2.1 percent in 2008) to save money."No one will forgo celebrating Mother's Day because of the bad economy, but they will put careful thought into what they buy and how much they spend," Big Research Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Phil Rist said in a media release. "Moms will understand that kids may be spending on a budget, so inexpensive, personal gifts will go a long way."The majority of people (66.8 percent) will buy flowers for mom, spending a total of $1.9 billion on those purchases. Slightly more than half (54.8 percent) will treat mom to a special outing such as dinner or brunch, for a total of $2.7 billion. People will also spend $2.3 billion on jewelry, $1.5 billion on gift cards, $1.2 billion on clothing or clothing accessories, and $1.1 million on personal services such as a day at the spa. In addition, consumers will spend $857 million on electronics or computer-related accessories, $587 million on housewares and gardening tools, and $487 million on books or CDs."Retailers understand that people are on strict budgets, even for important holidays," NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Tracy Mullin said in the release. "Budget-friendly gift ideas will abound this Mother's Day: discounted digital cameras, books and apparel still show mom how much she is appreciated."In the search for the best bargains, one-third (30.2 percent) of Mother's Day shoppers will purchase mom's gift from discount stores, while 27.2 percent will go to department stores. Others will head to specialty stores such as florists, gift stores and electronics stores (33 percent) and specialty clothing stores (5.5 percent).As evidence that the Internet continues to play an important role in the way people shop, 18.2 percent will shop online.The NRF 2009 Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Mother's Day holiday. The poll of 8,667 consumers was conducted from March 31-April 7, 2009, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.

SimplexDiam's liquidation business thriving

2009-04-14T01:53:00.000-07:00

New York--SimplexDiam Inc. has made more than $15 million in closeout jewelry acquisitions in the past 30 days, the company announced recently.In what is a sign of the recessionary times, SimplexDiam made the purchases at multiple auctions, including the closeout jewelry auction of the now-bankrupt chain Christian Bernard Stores Corp.Designers represented in the acquired inventory include Cacharel, Christian Bernard, David Yurman, Feraud, Guy Laroche, Hearts On Fire, John Hardy, Lagos, Mikimoto, Ritani and Tacori. (These designers are not copyrights or trademarks of SimplexDiam and are not affiliated with the company in any way.)SimplexDiam Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Yogesh Madhvani said the company's unique liquidation style has caught the industry's attention."Retailers, wholesalers and banks have noticed that we aren't the typical jewelry liquidator," Madhvani said in a media release. "We are looking for a small margin, and we aim to move product as quickly as possible. This means the seller gets a higher recovery, and the buyer gets a better price. In this recessionary cycle, people flock to companies like ours because the difference in value crystallizes."SimplexDiam also was the backup bidder for more than $7 million of the closeout jewelry of manufacturer The Colibri Group and worked on the Whitehall Jewelers, Friedman's and LID bankruptcies.

Bridal proves a recession-proof category

2009-04-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

Mining giant De Beers popularized the diamond as the stone of choice for engagement rings with its famous "A diamond is forever" tagline and the suggestion that "two months' salary" is the appropriate spend on an engagement ring. Consumers still choose to say "I do" with diamonds, even in the midst of a stark recession. In fact, 71 percent of National Jeweler's product panelists who were asked about bridal sales reported that over the past three years, their sales of loose diamonds, diamond engagement rings and weddings bands have either increased (41 percent) or held steady as a percentage of overall sales (30 percent), while only 29 percent reported that bridal sales fell. See more results by downloading National Jeweler's exclusive product panel on bridal jewelry, "Hitched up to bridal."Virtual rivalsWhen asked how the bridal market has changed in the past 10 years, the majority of panelists were able to sum up the shifts in two words: the Internet."The market has become more competitive," one retailer said. "With the Internet, people pre-shop all the time and have an idea of what they want for how much. The two are not always realistic if you are selling quality and service."However, one panelist said the Internet can lend jewelers more authority, in store."Customers are not as happy with the purchase from the Internet," the panelist noted. "Several customers told me that information received was not accurate." No recession for bridalFor some jewelers, bridal appears to be the one bright spot in their stores' sales recently.When asked how the economy has altered the way retailers handle the bridal business, panelists' responses were all across the board.But the strongest theme that emerged was that retailers aren't changing the way they do bridal business, with some noting their bridal business is up or unaffected by the recession."Ironically, our bridal business has gone up," one retailer wrote. "It's just the rest of the categories that are suffering because of the economic turn. People don't stop falling in love!"Another jeweler strongly agreed, "[Our bridal business] remains steady while other segments decreased last year, increasing our percentage of overall sales that are bridal. Since this segment remains strong, we will focus our marketing dollars on engagement customers."Did you know?Here are some pieces of wedding trivia to throw out to customers when trying to close a sale, courtesy of popular wedding planning Web site The Knot.Seventy percent of brides stick with tradition, wearing their wedding set on the fourth finger of their left hand. It was once believed that a vein in this finger led directly to the heart.If a prospective groom is about to walk because he can't afford a diamond ring, suggest some alternatives instead of losing the sale: According to The Knot, a sapphire in an engagement ring signifies marital happiness, while aquamarine is said to ensure a long and happy marriage.Pearl engagement rings, common among brides in ancient times, are no longer a popular pick, with The Knot claiming that the organic gems are bad luck because they resemble a tear shape.But perhaps a more practical reason for their decline as an engagement ring option relates to durability. Pearls measure just 3 on the Mohs scale for hardness, compared with diamonds, which are a 10.

Doug Kass to Support Buffett's Berkshire

2009-04-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Doug Kass criticize that the downgrade of Berkshire by Moody's is irony. His reasons are as follows:

As to the effect on Berkshire Hathaway's balance sheet and income statement, it is negligible. Gross debt expenses will only rise slightly -- thanks to the company's still large cash hoard and given the fact that Berkshire is overcapitalized (both absolutely and vis-?vis other insurance companies). Importantly, Berkshire has structured its derivative contracts ingenuously in the fact that it did not have to provide additional collateral when the major world stock market indices dropped precipitously; it simply recorded non-cash charges.

The irony is that the Moody's downgrade has coincided with:
1. a substantial improvement in the value of Berkshire's investment portfolio; and
2. a reversal in some of the losses from Buffett's foray into shorting puts on the major world indices.

As it relates to Berkshire's common shares, I have been conspicuously negative toward the composition of Buffett's investment portfolio and what I described as his "style drift" regarding the foray into derivatives. My concerns peaked regarding the plight of Berkshire Hathaway's shares with a column I wrote as the U.S. stock market was bottoming in early March, "Buy American? I'm Damned!"

So, do you agree with Doug Kass? Considering the economy and the performance of Berkshire, I think Doug Kass' opinion is right.

Top talents are crucial in a slump economy

2009-04-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Given the new rounds of store closings, mergers, bankruptcies and layoffs happening nearly every day in the jewelry industry--and across the retail industry at large--there's a growing talent pool of good employees looking for new career opportunities.
But don't be fooled into thinking that just because the economy is slow, these employees will be available indefinitely. There's always a market for top talent, and strong performers never have to look very long to land a new position, even in a struggling economy.
Unfortunately, many jewelers have yet to learn this critical lesson. In recent months, we have found ourselves really leaning on clients to pull the trigger on hiring some of the wonderful talent we have identified for them. The old maxim "You snooze, you lose" really applies here, because even in this market, waiting too long to make a hiring decision on a great candidate could mean having a competitor grab the person right out from under your nose.
Indecision over hiring a good candidate can cost a company thousands of dollars in terms of time wasted and potential business lost.
Another troubling phenomenon that has resulted from the struggling economy is a growing number of hiring decisions being made by committee.
Many companies are so worried about making a hiring mistake, that groups of five to 10 staffers (or more) are assembled to interview and assess candidates in an attempt to somehow lessen the risk of a bad hire. The problem with this strategy is that these staff members often have different (and conflicting) hiring styles, needs, objectives and criteria for selecting candidates. Furthermore, even if they all manage to agree on a candidate, the candidate will not get hired if the highest-ranking staff member says no.
Our company had one such situation with a client company recently. We selected a candidate that was a fantastic talent and a perfect fit for the company, and others in the organization agreed. However, the president, who was having a tough day, interviewed the candidate for 10 minutes and decided to "pass" on her because he felt she did not have an "immediate chemistry" with him. Needless to say, the company did not hire her.
Because of his position, no one would challenge the president on his decision. But quite honestly, this kind of behavior does an outrageous disservice to your company, the candidate, your future business and the internal or external hiring people who have spent hours finding these candidates, prepping them and then doing background, credit and reference checks, and the like.
Our advice to jewelry personnel decision-makers is this: When you see a great candidate, make the decision and hire that person, even if it means taking a long, hard look at your staff and letting a lesser performer go.
Be sensitive to what you are putting the candidate through. This is not an exercise in interviewing skills. Candidates are there because an agency such as Diamond Staffing Solutions or your own management team thought they were qualified and went to great lengths to pre-qualify and prepare them. You cannot afford to delay bringing on a great candidate for fear that it would be a hiring mistake. You usually will know within 30 days anyway if the candidate is going to be a good hire or not.
If you have numerous staff members interviewing a candidate, have a hiring plan and questions that each person will ask of the candidate, even if some of the questions are the same. And remember that not everyone might "like" the candidate. After all, this is business, and "liking" the candidate is merely a bonus.
The real issue is whether or not the candidate can execute the responsibilities of the position, add value to your business and improve its bottom line. After the interview, it is important to gather everyone together to exchange thoughts. You might come away from the meeting feeling totally different about the candidate after hearing what colleagues have to say.
Although it has never been more important to hire the best talent available, make sure you do not "overthink" and second-guess your hiring decisions. Utilize the same skills you drew upon when the market was good. In other words, go with your gut instinct.
Also, keep in mind that not every candidate is a professional interviewer. Rather than interrogating prospective hires, be prepared to grant these candidates some grace and help them to relax and be themselves. Always bring candidates back for a follow-up interview, but not with 10 people. And limit your decision-makers; otherwise, the process becomes far too complicated.
Lastly, accept that you cannot run your business in fear of making a hiring mistake. We have all made them. Risk is a part of life, and every new hire is a risk, no matter how good he or she initially appears to be. You cannot afford to freeze up on hiring great talent simply because the market is down. It is far better to risk making a good hire than to let your competitor take the risk and end up with the best candidate.

Britain's "worst song" Agadoo re-released

2009-04-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

LONDON – "Agadoo," a jaunty party hit voted the worst song of all time by a panel of experts six years ago, has been re-released to mark the 25th anniversary of its chart success in Britain.
The song was performed by pop due Black Lace and made it to No. 2 in the singles charts in 1984. It was kept from the top spot by George Michael's "Careless Whisper."
Black Lace represented the United Kingdom at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest where it finished seventh, and two years later the quartet split leaving just Colin Routh and Alan Barton.
According to the band's online profile, Black Lace lost all their royalties from Agadoo, "a million selling single," when their distribution company went bust in 1984.
But their first album "Party Party" reached the top 10 in the album charts and sold around 650,000 copies in five weeks.
Barton, who had gone on to join the band Smokie, died after a bus crash in 1995.
Q magazine described Agadoo as "magnificently dreadful" in its poll of the worst pop songs in 2003.
"It sounded like the school disco you were forced to attend, your middle-aged relatives forming a conga at a wedding party, a traveling DJ act based in Wolverhampton, every party cliche you ever heard," the panel of experts said.
A spokesman for Black Lace said the re-released single went on sale on Monday.

From trash to vintage, time change things

2009-04-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

When Tian Li, a fashion design teacher, first bought second-hand clothes from Japan 20 years ago, she did it for both aesthetic and financial reasons.
"First of all, they were really cheap - you could get a woolen skirt for a couple of dozen kuai," she recalls. "Another reason, perhaps the more important one, was that you couldn't find such 'trendy' designs in shops back then."
In 1980s China, the dominant fashion aesthetic - if there were any - was still heavily influenced by the era of "cultural revolution" (1966-76) that preceded it. The sudden availability of imported clothes offered a break from the despotic era of black and gray, she says, referring to the daring palette of orange, purple and green turquoise that was typical of clothes made in Japan.
In the late '80s and '90s, Tian tirelessly amassed more than 100 pieces of such clothing - including dresses, suits and overcoats - from local "night bazaars" in Shenyang, northeastern China's Liaoning province, where she taught at a fashion school for two decades.
" I still wear some of these things today," she says, sounding slightly nostalgic about the days she bent over piles of clothes heaped on the ground, sometimes for hours, searching for pieces that would suit her personal style.
Tian recalls that at its peak, an entire outdoor square in Shenyang was taken over by sellers of second-hand Japanese clothes, similar to what was happening in many other Chinese cities, including Dalian, Qingdao and even Beijing.
All that ended abruptly in the early '90s, however, when the government decided that the deluge of such clothes, rumored to have been dumped in China by people who would actually have paid to get rid of the "unwanted rubbish", posed a serious sanitary problem.
"There was a nationwide 'anti-dumping' if you like, and all those clothes disappeared almost overnight," says Tian. What she couldn't have imagined back then was that the demand for them would stage a sneaky revival, albeit in a different guise.
Japanese clothes with the same bright colors and exaggerated outlines of the '80s are no longer simply regarded as "second-hand". In certain, albeit small, parts of the fashion community, they are proudly known as "vintage".
Jiang Yi, an independent fashion designer based in Beijing, attributes the phenomenon to what he dubs "the discrepancy in fashion tenses". "In terms of fashion, what is pass in one time zone may be very happening in another," he says.
He considers the trend to have nothing to do with one country recycling the "sartorial waste" of another. "To think in that way would be to miss the whole point of it," he says. "In the 1980s, the majority of linen produced in China, where it was treated as inferior to other materials, such as silk and wool, was exported to Japan.
"These days, to wear pure linen and cotton represents the ultimate style and luxury. In fashion as in love affairs, people sometimes need others to remind them of what they've got."
Jiang does, however, lament China's lack of recent fashion heritage. "Because of this dramatic fault-line that exists in the country's contemporary fashion scene, it's unfair to compare vintage fashion here with that of America, Europe or even Japan," he says. "To look back for our own legacy would be to look past the three decades from the '50s and '80s, and directly into the pre-PRC era."
"But there's not a lot there that can be borrowed for today."
All that, according to Jiang, explains why young people rely overly on "borrowed fashion" when they seek to make a statement by reconnecting with the past. Most of them are blissfully unaware of China's previous and not-so-sweet encounter with these clothes.
And it is in their determination to strike out stylistically that the designer sees a distinct difference between people who shop for second-hand clothes today and those who did 20 years ago. "Between then and now, China has experienced a fashion awakening that has imbued an old trend with new meaning," he says. "Young people are looking for style, not necessarily bargains."

Tips on Keeping Your Money in Cash Accounts

2009-04-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

Suddenly, cash is king again. With more and more Americans worried about their job security, the personal savings rate has climbed to 3.6%, up from next to nothing two years ago. Investors, meanwhile, have parked billions of dollars on the sidelines while they wait for better days. But with interest rates on savings near record lows, it pays to be savvy about where you stockpile your rainy-day funds. Here's what you should keep in mind.
1. Don't keep all your cash in the same place. There are four ways to use cash, and an ideal account for each. Grocery money goes in checking. Your emergency fund - cash you'll need if you lose a job - must be in a bank account that's 100% safe but needn't be so convenient; if you get a good yield, don't worry if it takes a day or two to transfer the money. Money for a specific purpose, like a wedding, can get a higher yield if locked in a certificate of deposit set to mature when you need it. Your investment portfolio's cash might belong in a money-market fund, but not always (see No. 3).
2. It's safe to shop around. Uncle Sam has your back. For your emergency and special-purpose money, there's no need to settle for low rates at your local bank. You can trust your money to any account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which guarantees up to $250,000 in deposits per depositor per bank (individual, joint, IRA, and trust accounts are insured separately). You can go to Bankrate.com to check the financial health of any bank. Plenty of top-rated online banks now offer 2% yields.
3. Money-market mutual funds aren't a no-brainer anymore. These funds are not FDIC-insured. (Banks' money-market deposit accounts typically are - just be sure the bank says so.) Money-market funds almost never lose a penny, but the crisis has changed the rules: After one fund lost principal last fall, the feds had to step in with a temporary rescue plan. Meanwhile, yields on many funds are now under 2%. If you'll keep part of your portfolio in cash for a while, an insured bank account may be the better deal. But money funds can still be useful. They may be the safest option in a 401(k) plan, and can be convenient when linked to a brokerage account. (Some brokers now offer FDIC-insured accounts too.) Just stick with the big, solid firms. And if a fund promises an unusually high yield, it's probably courting too much risk to be considered cash, says Peter Crane of Crane Data, which tracks the industry.
4. A 2% yield is better than it looks. Low interest rates are bad news if you live off your investment income. But if you are just worried about your savings keeping ahead of rising prices, a 2% yield isn't bad at all with inflation running close to zero, notes Greg McBride of Bankrate.com.
5. You might be better off with "almost cash." There's a whole spectrum of risk between money markets and the typical bond fund. So if the market has you spooked and you want to trim your portfolio's risk, consider some higher-yielding options, advises Evelyn MacIntyre, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., financial planner. High-quality short-term bond funds may lose money - they fell 4% in 2008 - but they yield over 4%. Stable-value funds also hold bonds but add some insurance on top. They are available only within 401(k) plans and some other tax-advantaged accounts.

Toy, luxury stores set conservative attitude toward Christmas 2009

2009-04-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Toy, luxury retailers, which order earliest for Christmas, are proceeding with caution
NEW YORK -- Shoppers may be thinking about spring, but some retailers are reluctantly setting their sights on Christmas.
Still suffering whiplash from the worst holiday selling season in at least four decades, major toy sellers and upscale merchants -- who must order Christmas stock earlier than most retailers -- are exercising extreme caution as they plan for the rest of the year.
They're ordering at lower prices, they're keeping orders small and they're planning to buy more only if consumer demand picks up, said David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, which consults with stores on apparel buying.
For shoppers, this hesitance will translate into fewer choices and, if demand increases at all, fewer bargains. For factories abroad, it's feeding desperation at the time of year when manufacturers usually start ramping up to fill summer and Christmas orders.
But retailers are more worried they'll be stuck with unsold merchandise they'll have to discount than that their shelves will go bare.
"We would rather chase than not and, if we cannot get it, we would rather not get it than have too much inventory," J. Crew Group Chairman and CEO Millard Drexler told investors during a recent conference call. "Because none of us really have figured out where this thing is going, where is the bottom, where is it settling in at."
Saks Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Sadove recently reminded investors that full-price selling is "largely a result of supply and demand."
Shoppers are more likely to buy on sight if stores have something they want and know will be in limited distribution, lest the item sell out while they wait for the price to fall, explained retail consultant Walter Loeb. So Saks is cutting inventory 20 percent this year. And both Saks and rival Neiman Marcus have pressed top designer suppliers to lower their prices.
Clothing and other specialty retailers must get their Christmas orders right because they do as much as 40 percent of their business at the end of each year, said Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC. For the toy industry, at least half of all revenue and profit come during the winter holiday shopping season.
So expect fewer $200 robotic pets on toy store shelves in the fall. And at luxury stores look for a higher proportion of classics and specialty items like fur-trimmed gloves and jackets -- nothing too trendy that could soon look passe. Jewelry stores also plan to highlight classic styles and keepsakes.
Factories abroad "are on edge," said Josh Green, chief executive of Panjiva, which tracks U.S. Customs data on shipments by global suppliers to the United States. One in four major Chinese manufacturers shipped less than half as much to U.S. customers in November through January than they did a year earlier, he said.
Shrunken, delayed and staggered orders are also making planning hard for folks like Harold Chizick, vice president of marketing for toy maker Mega Brands. He said buyers are not making their typical full-year commitments to order products other than its much anticipated Battle Strikers -- electronically charged tops that retail for $15.
The silver lining may be greater flexibility for retailers like Denis Hofstetter, owner of The Toy Store in Atlanta. Small stores like his usually put their orders in later than their bigger competitors since they order smaller quantities.
Ordering summer toys now, he said, he can buy 150 kites instead of the 300 his supplier might have required in years past. He expects to order more as summer approaches, but he also plans to follow this cautious strategy again when he starts placing Christmas orders in June.
"Business is so erratic," said Hofstetter. "Customers are being very careful. They're holding on to their money."

Play it safe when you dress for recession success

2009-04-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

LONDON - It's tricky to know what to wear in a recession if you are job-hunting, but the advice from professionals is to play it safe and formal.
In boom times, wearing casual or quirky clothes to an interview could suggest a free-thinking, risk-taker.
But when risk-taking has got a bad name and jobs are scarce it's better to turn up in a plain, dark suit and white shirt if you are a man and a sober skirt, jacket and blouse if you are a woman, say image consultants.
"What people don't want now is 'different', they want what they know," said Sandy Ruddock, founder of image consultants Public i.
Debenhams, the British department store chain, has already seen a 50 percent rise in sales of white shirts.
"These days people don't want to look too flamboyant," said Bryan Morel, spokesman for Debenhams. "The white classic shirt has flown off the shelves. Serious times call for serious clothing."
The people doing the hiring these days are more likely to be older, more conservative executives who have avoided redundancy themselves because they are more expensive to lay-off.
They are more likely to want to employ what they see as solid, reliable-looking types for the struggle ahead.
"There is absolutely a move back to more formal dress for interviews. I would err completely on the side of looking conservative and traditional," said Ruddock.
In the current environment people also need to be seen to be trying harder.
"There is a link between formality and control," said Lucinda Slater, founder of consultancy Best Foot Forward.
"It's about not wanting to leave anything to chance," she said. "Dressing more formally is a way of looking like you really care about your job."
Slater's firm has seen increased demand for advice and guidance on how to get staff to look their best.
"Enquiries from professionals for advice for themselves have included phrases like: 'I know I need to sharpen up/upgrade, look like I belong," she said.
She attended a conference recently where male Human Resources managers were all in suits and ties when last year they were dressed more casually.
"HR people being in the front line of the jobs market know when it's time to smarten up."
A backlash against bankers for wrecking the global financial system and precipitating a deep recession has also had a noticeable impact on dress codes in the financial district of the British capital known as the City of London.
Flamboyant dress in the financial or business world risks being seen in poor taste.
"People want to blend in a bit more now," said Gabriel John, retail manager at the City branch of high-class British shirtmakers Turnbull & Asser.
The shirtmaker, founded in 1883, counts the Prince of Wales as well as Hollywood stars such as Sean Penn and Michael Caine among its clientele.
John said they were selling more classic white or simple striped shirts at the moment, instead of shirts and ties in bold colors, often popular with City bankers and traders.
"There is much more conformity," said John. "The 'Dandys' in the City are in hiding at the moment."
In terms of role models for hard times, the new occupants of the White House Barack and Michelle Obama are seen as having a an impact in terms of current dress codes.
"He and his wife dress very traditionally," said Ruddock. "They are bringing back an element of that old-fashioned Sunday best." She said this was in tune with the current climate.
"You are going back to old values. Old values were: if you didn't have money you didn't spend it."
Checklist - What to wear to an interview
Men
Charcoal grey or navy suit.
Formal style, but not old-fashioned - three buttons with a high-break (where the lapels cross-over)
Pale shirt, white, off-white or very pale blue or pale pink.
A silk tie with polka dots or small geometric pattern.
Black socks
Black lace-up shoes
Women
A matching skirt suit or dress and jacket, not trousers - they are regarded as less formal.
Shirt with button-down collar - a collar carries more authority than no collar.
Plain navy or black court shoes with heels.
Skin color tights
A woman also needs to be careful about now showing too much flesh - thigh, upper arm and cleavage.
Make-up (as important for a women as shaving is for a man), but avoid bright pink glossy nails and garish lipstick.

Money & Happiness -- Women, Men, and Work

2009-03-29T15:59:00.001-07:00

Last Thanksgiving Ohio graphic designer Seth Grossi, 35, was laid off. His wife, DeAnna Starn, 35, works a full-time job in public relations. Their income has declined 25 percent, with unemployment and Grossi's freelance work offsetting some of the loss. But when the daycare center their son attended part time raised its rates this month, they pulled him out.
Grossi now cares for one-year-old Nicholas during the day and works at night, trying to build a freelance business, when Starn comes home. "The hardest thing about being laid off is that I want to work," says Grossi. "I've worked since I was 14, and this is a first-time thing for me, so it's a little odd. At the same time, I enjoy playing with my son more than I possibly could have imagined."
That scenario is playing out across the country. Since December 2007, more than 80 percent of the 2.5 million jobs lost in the U.S. were held by men, as industries such as manufacturing, construction, and finance bear the brunt of the recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women make up 46 percent of the labor pool, but if current trends continue, they could soon be the majority.
Slow and Steady ChangePast recessions have seen unemployed men rejecting new roles at home. A study of men cast out of the steel-belt industries in the 1970s, for example, found about half went into a tailspin, withdrawing from family life. "Men who have strong identities as breadwinners don't want to feel even further feminized, so they resist doing housework and childcare," says Stephanie Coontz, director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families, and author of ‘Marriage: A History'.
But this time may be different. "I'm convinced from my studies that a substantial number of men and women will be able to handle this, and learn new ways to organize and share breadwinning, housework, and child care," says Coontz.
Time-use studies have found slow but steady change: Over the past three decades, men have doubled their contribution to household chores, and since 1965, they have tripled the time spent caring for children. But women still do about two-thirds of those activities.
Expecting More of Men Now
"We expect more of women, but what we expect of men has grown," says sociologist Scott Coltrane, dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and co-author of the 2008 book ‘Gender and Families'.Time-use diaries provide a coarse overview of household activity, Coltrane argues, and don't look at people in the same household. "When you drill down inside families, it's much more equitable," he says. "It looks more like divisions of labor we saw back in the 1800s, when men and women were more economically dependent on each other."
Coltrane has found that men share more family chores if their female partners work more hours, earn more money, and have spent more years on their education.
When Gender Isn't an Issue
Grossi, for one, says gender roles aren't an issue. "I try to make it convenient, so when Deanna gets home she's not stressed about the house being a wreck," he says. "I have friends whose wives have nice jobs, and they stay home and take care of children, and also situations where the wives stay home and the husband works. If it's a good environment for the child, that's the most important thing."
Meanwhile, while men shoulder more responsibility at home, increasing numbers of women want to contribute to household income. "There has been a sharp increase in the number of people trying to get jobs, especially women, and not being able to find them," says Heather Boushey, senior economist with the Center for American Progress.
In December 2007, some 1.1 million women reported a change in status from the previous month -- from being out of the workforce with no desire for a job to being "unemployed" -- meaning they were actively seeking work and couldn't find it. One year later, 1.3 million women reported a similar change of status.
Motivated by Money
Allison O'Kelly, founder of MomCorps, a placement firm for highly skilled workers (mostly stay-at-home mothers) seeking flexible assignments, has found a majority of applicants are now motivated by money. In a recent survey of the 35,000 women in her database, 63 percent reported they were seeking work because of the economic crisis.
"In the past, they wanted a little extra money or to keep their minds busy or keep their skills fresh," says O'Kelly, adding that 5 percent cited "loss of partner's income" as the reason they registered with her firm. "What we're hearing is, even if their partners haven't lost their jobs, women are starting to think they're really putting family in a vulnerable position if they don't have the opportunity to work."
Caren Cohen, 36, an Atlanta mother of two, is feeling that pressure. Her husband, Reese, 39, works in the mortgage industry. Cohen runs an online business, Djbabyclothing.com, selling washable, hand-painted denim and T-shirts. She got the idea two years ago when she began painting on her son's clothes so she could pass them on to her daughter. She sells new items and repurposes old denim that clients supply.
Cohen used to run her own public relations agency, earning about 30 percent of the household income. Her contribution is now negligible as she tries to grow her business. Cohen, whose kids are now 6 and 4, recently signed on with MomCorps to do PR work 10 to 20 hours a week.
"We don't know where [my husband's] industry will be in six months, so this is something I can do that will give him breathing room," says Cohen, adding that there is no financial urgency at the moment. "We have never been people who live on credit. But if opportunity comes up and I can bring in income, it's less worry."
Childcare: A Sticky Issue
Childcare can pose sticky issues as men and women transition in and out of the workforce. A 40-something New Jersey publishing executive who asked not to be named is facing that dilemma. She left publishing after her son was born and ran a small retail business, where he could be by her side while she worked. She sold her stake in the business just after her husband lost his finance job.
He had been out of work for six months when she accepted a full-time job in publishing. "My offer came through and he didn't have one, so he was going to take care of our son," she recalls. "But hours after I accepted my offer, he got one, too."
She didn't back out: "I was afraid I wouldn't get another chance with the economy changing." She also wanted to help repair the damage to their retirement portfolio.
"I feel positive that I was able to quickly get my stuff together and hit the road and get a good-paying job," she says. "But my son is in care from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. I never worked more than part time since he was born, so it's been a real adjustment. My son has had a lot of problems this year; I keep getting phone calls from school, and that has added a lot of stress. But it's been slow for [my husband] at work; it would be great if he could have more security and I could have more freedom."
Coltrane says that, while many working women want egalitarian households, they still struggle with relinquishing control. "What we find is there is not a negative impact of putting children in daycare, but women still feel there would be," he explains. "They feel more responsible if the kids are dressed funny, or the house is not clean -- that it's a reflection of themselves, whereas men haven't integrated that into their psyches."
Both Starn and Grossi agree that the right attitude is the key to making their situation work. "It stinks, but it could be worse, so we just hang in there -- we don't have a doomsday attitude," says Starn. "Nicholas is getting the opportunity to bond with his dad, and Seth is able to work on something that he might never have taken the risk to start."
Adds Grossi, "Even the bad days are good ones if you look at it the right way."

Google to cut 200 jobs in its largest layoffs

2009-03-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. is jettisoning nearly 200 workers in its largest round of layoffs yet, demonstrating that even highly profitable companies are feeling the recession's pinch.

The job cuts announced Thursday affected less than 1 percent of the 20,200 workers employed by the Internet's search leader.

That's modest compared with the massive shake-ups in the newspaper, retailing, automobile and financial services industries during the past year.

Google's housecleaning nevertheless is a sobering sign of the hard times around the globe.
Coming off a year in which earned $4.2 billion on revenue of $22 billion, Google still is trimming its expenses in attempt to protect its profit margins and prevent its slumping stock price from falling even further.

Google's fortunes are tied to ad spending that's dwindling as both marketers and consumers squirrel away more cash. Although Google's revenue has continued to rise during 15-month-old recession, some analysts say they believe the Mountain View-based company may finally be suffering its first quarter-to-quarter decline since it went public in 2004.

It's a guessing game because Google steadfastly refuses to offer financial guidance. But Google's recent actions have left little doubt that management is bracing for a possible downturn.
Once renowned for its free-spending ways, Google already has curtailed some employee perquisites, dumped outside contractors and closed services that aren't paying off. Pulling the plug on a radio advertising division in February eliminated as many as 40 jobs.

Management also has clamped down on hiring after adding more than 17,000 workers in Google's first 4 1/2 years as public company. That decision prompted Google to dump 100 employee recruiters in January.

The latest layoffs are concentrated in the division that sells Google's advertising.
In a blog posting, Google said it had hired too many employees doing the same jobs during its rapid expansion.

"Making changes of this kind is never easy -- and we recognize that the recession makes the timing even more difficult for the Googlers concerned," wrote Omid Kordestani, the company's senior vice president of global sales and business development.
Google shares gained $9.22, or 2.7 percent, Thursday to close at $353.29.

for more articles, please visit irispancy fashion magazine fortune channel

revolutionary stimulus comes along with continuous crysis news

2009-03-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mar 23, 2009, washington -- obama announced its ambitious but controversial plan to sop up bad bank assets. The administration said the program could grow to $1 trillion in purchases eventually, if it proves successful in attacking the bad-books problem that has been at the heart of the banking crisis.

To achieve the goal of freeing up more lending, the program would entice private investors with low-cost loans provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve. The government would also shoulder the vast bulk of the risk.

In one example used in the fact sheet, the purchase of a batch of bad mortgage loans would see the private investor put up 6 percent of the cost with the rest provided by the government, with the FDIC covering 84 percent of the cost with a loan and the remaining 6 percent coming from funds from the $700 billion bailout program.

Stocks were pointing to a sharply higher opening Monday as investors began getting details of the new program. That offered a sharp contrast to the reaction that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner got on Feb. 10 when he unveiled the new administration's first bailout initiative. Investor disappointment sent the Dow Jones industrial average crashing by 380 points that day.

On the other hand, however, the world's economic keep humble at the same time.

In fashion industry, Leading Italian fashion houses put a brave, even chipper face on their Milan shows this season, despite being hard hit by the global economic downturn and the spectre of bankruptcy hanging over Gianfranco Ferre and Just Cavalli.

Normally reserved for VIP fashionistas, Ferre's front row on Friday included three government-appointed special administrators for its owner IT Holding as it faces bankruptcy proceedings.
Aimed at protecting a company and its creditors until a viable recovery plan is adopted, the procedure was initially applied only to IT Holding's main subsidiary Ittierre.

If IT Holding does go under, it will drag down not only Gianfranco Ferre but also Just Cavalli, Roberto Cavalli's lower-priced youth-oriented line, as well as Galliano, Versace Sport and Malo, designer labels run by Ittierre under licence and also facing an uncertain future.

The gathering financial crisis took its toll just two days before the start of Milan Fashion Week when Just Cavalli cancelled its show after half of the collection failed to materialise due to lack of funds.

Showing he is not a quitter, Roberto Cavalli staged a successful show of his top line, which he still controls 100 percent, with a sexy collection featuring full-length zippered boots and lots of see-through appeal.

"It's not a time for romance," the Florentine couturier told reporters. "You have to be aggressive to win," he said, adding that he had "declared war on the (financial) crisis."

We have "the duty to be optimistic," said Giorgio Armani, stressing that the fashion world had been "too euphoric" in recent years, "spending outrageously to get (magazine) covers."

"You should realise that lots of stores are selling 25 to 40 percent less, that lots of factories are closing," said Armani, who described his look this season as one for "gritty go-getters."

Milan Fashion Week was indisputably alive with creativity and craftsmanship, but buyers stayed away in droves, with some major fashion houses straining to fill their shows.

And smaller fashion houses simply did not attend this season, which saw a shortfall of about a dozen shows.

The overall situation for the fashion sector is no more reassuring: Michele Tronconi, president of Italy's Textile and Fashion Federation, said there was an "urgent and dire need" for government aid such as that enjoyed by the auto sector.

In Prato, in the Tuscan heartland of the Italian textile industry, some 8,000 people staged a protest on Saturday to defend their jobs and call for government help.

The government of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who himself hails from Milan, last week promised to unveil some initial support measures in mid-March.

In 2008, Italy's some 60,000 textile and fashion enterprises, employing more than half a million people, suffered a three percent drop in turnover to 53 billion euros (67 billion dollars), according to figures published last week.

WTO Sees 9% Drop in 2009 Global Trade Amid Recession
Global trade will plunge 9 percent this year, the most since World War II, as the recession deepens, the World Trade Organization said.

“Economic contraction in most of the industrial world and steep export declines already posted in the early months of this year by most major economies -- particularly those in Asia -- make for an unusually bleak 2009 trade assessment,” the Geneva- based WTO said in its annual assessment of world trade.

Manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Asia are struggling as the worst recession in 60 years broadens. Exporters from Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, and ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the largest U.S. tiremaker, and Sony Corp., the world’s No. 2 consumer-electronics maker, are slashing output and cutting jobs to cope with collapsing demand.

“The contraction in developed countries will be particularly severe, with exports falling by 10 percent this year,” the report said. “In developing countries, which are far more dependent on trade for growth, exports will shrink by some 2 percent to 3 percent in 2009.”

European exports to the U.S. fell the most in five years in 2008 as the financial crisis curtailed demand in the region’s main trading partners, data released on March 23 show. U.S. shipments abroad, which tumbled in January to the lowest level since 2006, have slumped at a 44 percent annual pace in the most recent six months of data, with imports shrinking 51 percent as Americans stop buying everything from OPEC oil to Japanese cars.

China, Germany

Overseas shipments from China, the world’s second-largest goods exporter after Germany, dropped a record 26 percent in February after a 28 percent decline in January. Germany shipped $1.47 trillion of goods last year, according to the WTO, just ahead of China’s $1.43 trillion.

Dressing leads to success in sliding economic

2009-03-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's tricky to know what to wear in a recession if you are job-hunting, but the advice from professionals is to play it safe and formal.
In boom times, wearing casual or quirky clothes to an interview could suggest a free-thinking, risk-taker.
But when risk-taking has got a bad name and jobs are scarce it's better to turn up in a plain, dark suit and white shirt if you are a man and a sober skirt, jacket and blouse if you are a woman, say image consultants.
"What people don't want now is 'different', they want what they know," said Sandy Ruddock, founder of image consultants Public i.
Debenhams, the British department store chain, has already seen a 50 percent rise in sales of white shirts.
"These days people don't want to look too flamboyant," said Bryan Morel, spokesman for Debenhams. "The white classic shirt has flown off the shelves. Serious times call for serious clothing."
The people doing the hiring these days are more likely to be older, more conservative executives who have avoided redundancy themselves because they are more expensive to lay-off.
They are more likely to want to employ what they see as solid, reliable-looking types for the struggle ahead.
"There is absolutely a move back to more formal dress for interviews. I would err completely on the side of looking conservative and traditional," said Ruddock.
In the current environment people also need to be seen to be trying harder.
"There is a link between formality and control," said Lucinda Slater, founder of consultancy Best Foot Forward.
"It's about not wanting to leave anything to chance," she said. "Dressing more formally is a way of looking like you really care about your job."
Slater's firm has seen increased demand for advice and guidance on how to get staff to look their best.
"Enquiries from professionals for advice for themselves have included phrases like: 'I know I need to sharpen up/upgrade, look like I belong," she said.
She attended a conference recently where male Human Resources managers were all in suits and ties when last year they were dressed more casually.
"HR people being in the front line of the jobs market know when it's time to smarten up."
A backlash against bankers for wrecking the global financial system and precipitating a deep recession has also had a noticeable impact on dress codes in the financial district of the British capital known as the City of London.
Flamboyant dress in the financial or business world risks being seen in poor taste.
"People want to blend in a bit more now," said Gabriel John, retail manager at the City branch of high-class British shirtmakers Turnbull & Asser.
The shirtmaker, founded in 1883, counts the Prince of Wales as well as Hollywood stars such as Sean Penn and Michael Caine among its clientele.
John said they were selling more classic white or simple striped shirts at the moment, instead of shirts and ties in bold colors, often popular with City bankers and traders.
"There is much more conformity," said John. "The 'Dandys' in the City are in hiding at the moment."
In terms of role models for hard times, the new occupants of the White House Barack and Michelle Obama are seen as having a an impact in terms of current dress codes.
"He and his wife dress very traditionally," said Ruddock. "They are bringing back an element of that old-fashioned Sunday best." She said this was in tune with the current climate.
"You are going back to old values. Old values were: if you didn't have money you didn't spend it."
Checklist - What to wear to an interview
Men
Charcoal grey or navy suit.
Formal style, but not old-fashioned - three buttons with a high-break (where the lapels cross-over)
Pale shirt, white, off-white or very pale blue or pale pink.
A silk tie with polka dots or small geometric pattern.
Black socks
Black lace-up shoes
Women
A matching skirt suit or dress and jacket, not trousers - they are regarded as less formal.
Shirt with button-down collar - a collar carries more authority than no collar.
Plain navy or black court shoes with heels.
Skin color tights
A woman also needs to be careful about now showing too much flesh - thigh, upper arm and cleavage.
Make-up (as important for a women as shaving is for a man), but avoid bright pink glossy nails and garish lipstick.

2009-03-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Some people criticize that London fashion week, held in early March this week, is too conservative to see sensational concepts. They cited that designers in London Fashion Week should introduce something beyond mainstream fashion, though such "innovative" ideas may not be accepted by the mass.

In my opinion, the conservation, however, just reflects a trend in such a recession period. Consumers become more conservative not only to their shopping behavior, but to their living styles. The publics' attitude toward fashion has significantly changed. Now, lots of people concern about saving. They are looking for value products with moderate price. They believe something luxurious are equal to waste. For example, car buyers concern more about the efficiency of the cars. They think that great horse power doesn't mean luxurious but polution and waste. So do the fashion industry.

I believe that London Fashion week catch this slight switch. And such a key or trend, may dominate consumers' choice in the upcoming years.

Time will prove that if such a conservation style will succeed, like this jewelry, fashion accessories and apparel styles. The odds, in my biewpoint, is great.

2009-03-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

The fashion producers continue to launch new products, adding extra such values as environmental concept and saving advocation to their products, even their packing. They are striving to tell consumers that, I am different, I am unusual, I care about not only your wallet, but the world in which you live.

So we can find out another trends in fashion industry. Now, the trend setters commence to attach things beyond materials, designs, designers' inspiration and special stories to their new product lines. These new value may bot belong to fashion, but they may affect consumers' living. Some companies succeeded to combine the new value to their products and attract more clients. An online fashion jewelry company, recorded an incredible 80% growth in 2008 in spite of financial crysis. However, some companies are failed to deliver the extra new value to the targeted consumers. In such a harsh economic period, people sometimes are reluctant to pay additional penny for special value, especially those look non-sense to them.

So we may see two factors may play key roles in fashion producers' success in a recession time -- pricing and value adding. While some company manage to maintain their average price by deploying new concepts, some other competitors apply discount strategy, which is an old, but always effective way to gain market shares.

No matter what methods producers use to survive in fashion industry. The trend to add values will be widely spread among those creative enterprises.

Jewelry trend 2009: Designers will drive palladium

2009-03-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

New York--It's purely a matter of time: Palladium fashion jewelry will be the next designer darling.
Tenthio Fine Jewelry's "Flutura Pendant" in palladium with pink tourmaline and diamonds on an 18-inch cable chain; suggested retail price is $550. (212) 937-5290 or Tenthio.com
Despite reluctance from jewelers who fear consumers are too unfamiliar with the 95 percent pure metal, the consensus (even from retailers) is that throughout this year, designers will drive the category beyond bridal and men's, where it has slowly been gaining converts over the past several years.
One clear yet unexpected sign of the trend emerged at the 2009 American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) Spectrum Awards.
"We had a 55 percent increase over last year in entries using palladium," says Adam Graham, marketing manager of AGTA, which sponsors the awards.
For a 25-year-old competition that recognizes artistic excellence from some of the nation's best jewelry designers and lapidary artists, that's a significant statistic.
"It definitely indicates that palladium is gaining more and more acceptance in the designer world," Graham says.
All in all, acceptance might be putting it mildly. Some, including Tenthio, Sasha Primak and Michael Sugarman, seem to be embracing the platinum group metal with gusto. All three are developing entire palladium collections on top of their usual high-karat gold and platinum lines. At the summer trade shows, retailers will see these and many more fashion palladium pieces. Those planning to adopt the metal are some of the most recognized names in the design world, including such innovators and award winners as Robert Lee Morris, Paul Morelli, Zoltan David, Alishan, Michael Bondanza and Barry Kronen.
Of course, the uncertain economy and anemic retail environment have played a big part in nudging designers to take advantage of the relatively reasonable price of this noble white metal.
It's no wonder, really, for anyone doing the math. As of Feb. 24, palladium was trading at $198 an ounce, compared with gold at $962 and platinum at $1,041.
That said, it needs to be noted that for more than a year now, other factors have been fueling favor for palladium as a precious metal option for items such as pendants, earrings and bracelets, particularly when designs are large in scale. For one, somewhat recent changes in technology and metallurgy now allow refiners to alloy palladium with exotic metals. Also, the Palladium Alliance International (PAI) has been marketing and promoting the metal and gearing up for this year, when it will make an aggressive consumer push. Sometime this spring, for example, a consumer Web site for palladium jewelry will launch, directing site visitors to retailers who offer palladium pieces.
Still unknown entity in U.S.
Although PAI launched LuxuryPalladium.com (primarily for the trade) in mid 2006, retailers, by and large, remain unfamiliar with the metal.
"Some stores don't know anything about it, so it's not sold in a lot of shops yet," says Sofia Elliot, designer and founder of New York-based Tenthio, which has offered a 30-piece palladium collection for two years. "But I've seen that once it's in the store, the customer will like the piece first, then they ask what it's made of. That's why it's important that designers are now pushing palladium to this next fashion level."
Elliot also mentions that over the past year, major brands such as Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci have been using pure palladium hardware on their accessories.
"Before that, they were just using palladium plating on their handbags and belts," she says.
Maybe this increased general awareness is one reason why Tenthio's palladium jewelry sells well in the Thai Privilege Spa in New York's trendy SoHo neighborhood. The spa caters to an affluent and sophisticated clientele, says Jess Thidadon, marketing and operation executive of the franchised spa, which also has locations in China, India and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
"Ours is a gallery-like environment, and I carry the jewelry because our target customer group is the same as the Tenthio customer," she says. "For me, though, it's not so much about palladium jewelry being a luxury product as it is about palladium making it unique and a metal that appeals to the customer who wants unique."
So far, most of the spa's customers know what palladium is, perhaps, Thidadon says, "because most of them travel abroad, and it's more known there."
Joe Del Mauro, sales manager of Sasha Primak, agrees that consumers overseas understand the metal better, especially in Europe. "It doesn't scare them, and the Eastern Europeans, particularly, have done extremely well with our palladium jewelry," Del Mauro says.
Until a short time ago, Sasha Primak was a luxury brand working only in high-karat gold and platinum. But last June, the established New York-based firm premiered two palladium collections, a fashion line for women and a line for men.
"We now look at palladium as a metal option for a customer who wants an option," says Igor Shersher, general manager of Sasha Primak. Like Thidadon, he emphasizes that there is no such thing as a palladium customer.
"At Sasha Primak, we do luxury lines, so our palladium is also a luxury line," he says.
The company's palladium jewelry for women ranges from $500 to $3,000 at retail, while the men's jewelry price points range from $400 to $2,000.
Again and again, the concept of "palladium as an option" comes up in conversation. Last month, Sasha Primak launched an e-commerce Web site that offers customers who want to create custom designs online the choice of having any piece done in palladium.
As for Sugarman-Frantz Designs in Santa Fe, N.M., Christie Frantz says this year's company plans also allow for the option of having any piece to be made in palladium.
"I think jewelers actually have started educating customers about palladium, but it's partially to those customers who want custom design," she says.
Since he started his design firm in 1976, Michael Sugarman, Frantz's husband, business partner and fellow designer, has been creating contemporary pieces in platinum and high-karat gold. Yet, going forward, some of his work will also be in palladium.
"It's a beautiful metal and so much prettier than 18-karat white gold," Frantz says. "It has all of the virtues and none of the drawbacks." Among the virtues? Frantz refers to qualities including palladium's natural whiteness, hardness and durability, 95- percent purity, hypoallergenic quality, lightness in weight, lower price per ounce relative to gold and platinum, high malleability, great color when polished, lack of brittleness and lower density than white gold.
Its status as one of the six platinum group metals, and also as one of the four noble metals (palladium shares that exclusive station with gold, platinum and sterling silver), are important to Frantz as well.
Indeed, its drawbacks are few, but, as Steve Kaufman, owner of Ladyfingers Jewelry, a high-end designer retail shop in Carmel, Calif., says, the precious metal's biggest disadvantage is that the public knows very little about it.
"I haven't bought any palladium fashion jewelry, but mostly because I haven't seen much of it," Kaufman says. "So far, we haven't been exposed to it in any big way from the designers."
However, if early 2009 predictions about palladium come to pass, that situation is soon to change. And Kauffman's reaction to that? "The timing for it is probably excellent," he says.
A primer on palladium
Facts on palladium to help you introduce the metal to customers.
--Palladium is a precious metal and one of only four noble metals: gold, platinum, sterling silver and palladium.
--It's part of "the platinum family." There are six Platinum Group Metals (PGMs): platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium. As a PGM, palladium shares many common traits with platinum.
--It's a comparatively affordable precious metal, especially given the higher platinum and gold prices in recent years.
--It's durable. Palladium is actually 12.6 percent harder than platinum, offering great resistance to wear.
It's light in weight. Some 40 percent lighter than platinum due to its lower density, palladium is a great option for earrings, especially.
--It's identifiable by the marking "Pd." Just as "K" indicates karat gold, "Pt" or "Plat" are the symbols for platinum, and sterling silver is stamped "925", the "Pd" symbol marks palladium's authenticity.
--It's naturally white. Palladium's white color is almost identical to that of platinum. It doesn't tarnish, yellow or become dull, and requires no plating to make it extra white.
--It's rare. Mined in only a few regions worldwide, palladium is as rare as platinum and many times rarer than gold.
--It's hypoallergenic and doesn't contain any possible skin-irritating metals such as cobalt, zinc or nickel (which is in some karat golds and causes an allergic reaction in 10 percent of the population).
--It has 95 percent purity. In North America and Europe, the current standard for palladium jewelry is to use a 950 alloy, so the finished piece has a 95 percent purity.

prologue at fashion observer blog

2009-03-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

In this blog, I am going to public my viewpoint towards various kinds of fashion. As we know, their are so many definitions about fashion. Does fashion merely belong to those walking on the runway, or it is a popular factors among the public? I think both points are correct.

In some website, you can find different kind of fashion, such as www.style.com, Irispancy online fashion magazine. You can find some different experience at the above two website. One is runway-oriented, the other, however, brings you more living style information.

Okay, I commence to prepare the first article about fashion, maybe it is a review or something else.