In The News (Page 7)

Something is rotten in the state of Louisiana.

As we all know by now, the luxury market was hit hard by last year’s economic collapse. Despite what some snide fashion-haters would tell you, the industry in fact does affect people at every level of the economy, and Louisiana’s alligator farmers are just the most recent people to feel the pressure as a result of tough economic conditions in the fashion industry, according to The New York Times.

It would follow logically that reduced retail sales have lead to a drop in international interest in exotic skins, of which alligator is among the most expensive, but the farmers tell it a bit differently. According to them, it’s all Hermes‘s fault.

Can’t make this stuff up, folks.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Dooney & Bourke chairman and co-founder Frederic Bourke has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Travel Act by bribing Azerbaijani oil officials.

Who knew that being rich from selling mid-range handbags could eventually get you in so much trouble with your money? And wouldn’t it have been more fun to be arrested for, I don’t know, buying a bunch of drugs and expensive call girls like the rest of the rich people in this country?

More accurately, trouble has been brewing for quite some time now.

We make light of Versace‘s relatively piddling bag efforts on a regular basis (or whenever I can’t think of something more interesting to write about), but based on Dana Thomas’s very interesting article on the company’s troubles for the latest Newsweek, bad bags aren’t the only problems that Donatella & Co. are having.

Whether or not we want to hear it, handbags are one of the most profitable and important sectors of a worldwide luxury business – the only thing that makes more money for companies like Chanel and Dior is beauty. So is it true that as go purses, so goes the company?

We are a day late reporting the news, but we are reporting nonetheless. Taylor Jacobson, who worked for Rachel Zoe, is no longer with Rachel Zoe Inc as of yesterday. The news is conflicting whether Taylor was fired or quit. If you followed the Rachel Zoe Project (one of my many guilty pleasures), Taylor Jacobson continued to express her disdain for her job and where her job was going. Though the end of the season showed things looking up between Tay and Rachel, Taylor is gone.

Everyone at Luna Boston loves a good party, and a couple weeks ago was no exception. The Diane von Furstenberg event was one of the biggest we’ve ever had – there was a line around the block to get in before the doors even opened! Amanda and Jennifer started setting up for the event at 9am and didn’t stop until 10 minutes before the event started, when they finally had time to get ready!

For those of you that weren’t able to attend, we held the event in a penthouse suite at the FP3 condominiums in the Fort Point section of Boston. I felt like a rockstar at this place – it has 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a terrace, and a roof deck! (And it’s on the market for a cool $2.5 mil if you’re interested!) Hillary France, our representative from the Diane von Furstenberg showroom, was there to help us show the Fall collection to attendees. (Did we mention that Hillary looks like a goddess? Tall with long, bright red hair, looks awesome in everything she wears… Basically, she’s perfect. We’re jealous. But I digress.)

I’ve got some good news, kids: we just might make it after all.

Making an even better case that luxury brands need to step up their online game, online sales for July 2009 were up almost 16% from the previous month, and 17% from July 2008, which was before the year’s economic collapse took place. The fastest growing sector? Clothing, shoes and accessories.

Since online sales on the whole are gaining at a steeper rate than those of brick-and-mortar locations, luxury brands look like dinosaurs more than ever for their reluctance to enter a marketplace that could save their businesses. More importantly, sales of luxury goods in particular are down in stores, while the same types of goods are experiencing a bit of a resurgence online, and most of the brands we know and love are poorly equipped to reap the benefits of this rally.

We’ll have a more in-depth look next week at what the slowly recovering economy means for designers and brands, but for now, an increase in consumer confidence and willingness to spend, encouraged by new collections and enticing discounts, means that the brands you love are more likely to live to fight another day and more able to take design risks and fully flush out their vision. But none of that will matter if they can’t get their products placed in a way that makes them enticing to consumers that are increasingly looking to shop online.

I must admit, this came as quite a shock tonight. As I was sitting at home watching one of the best movies ever, Kindergarten Cop, and browsing the Purse Forum, I stumbled upon a story that I could not believe.

Perez Hilton, notorious trashy celebrity blogger, will be launching a sister site tomorrow named CocoPerez which will be a fashion focused site.