Italian Fashion Watch

It looks like Michael Jackson has decided to go in his first world tour in almost ten years. For such an event, he must look spectacular.

That’s why he chose Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli to be the one to design his stage suits and present the world an impeccable image of him.

The two met in Dublin where they decided the look for the first on stage appearance that will take place on Wembley Stadium, in London.

“Michael Jackson is a musical icon. It was a great honor for me to design something special for him. His personal style has had a great influence on the pop culture,” Cavalli said in a statement.

The pop star was involved in the previous years in a few scandals, but he was finally was called not guilty in 2005.

The fight against anorexia began a few months ago when the officials at Madrid Fashion Week banned extremely thin models from the catwalk, claiming they promote a false and unhealthy model of beauty. Amongst the first designers stood up and supported the decision was Giorgio Armani.

This really got to the public’s attention only last month when 21 years old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died in hospital weighing only 88 pounds.

Now, the Italian government is teaming up with more and more fashion designers to promote a “healthy, sunny, generous, Mediterranean model of beauty.”

The new regulations require models to prove they do not suffer from eating disorders, as well as banning models younger than 16.

The code was signed Friday by Melandri and Mario Boselli, president of the Italian Fashion Chamber, which includes fashion houses like Versace, Prada and Missoni.

It will probably be adopted internationally after some time. Designers who will not comply to the regulations, will be subject to some sanctions, like being assigned less favorable hours or days for their shows.

Looks like fashion designers are trying to take over the world. After hotels, restaurants and mobile phones, they’re now going for the airports.

San Francisco’s airport is the first to have the pleasure of hosting a Gucci boutique. Already renowned worldwide for its high quality items, Gucci is now omnipresent.

Being paced in an airport, it has a huge potential to generate enormous profits, given that many businessmen are in a hurry and don’t have the time to check a shop that may be on the other side of the city. But now, being right in your face as soon as your plane lands, there’s no excuse for not even taking a look.

The smell of high quality Italian leather hypnotizes its customers, and well, they do pay big money for some of Gucci’s most exquisite handbags or belts.

Other fashion houses that have boutiques in airports so far are Bulgari and Hermes.

The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the fastest growing hotel empire in the world. With 272 hotels in 47 countries, the group is planning a massive expansion in the near future.

In its expansion plans, the group included a multi million dollar deal with Italian fashion house Missoni in order to build and operate several lifestyle hotels, wearing the fashion brand’s name: Hotel Missoni.

This deal will benefit both parties involved, and follows a trend that was started by other Italian designers like Armani and Versace, who also signed deals to have hotels worldwide wearing their powerful name.

I mentioned in a previous article that Roberto Cavalli was hired by Christina Aguilera to design her outfits for her current world tour promoting the new album.

All was good until she got issues with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the largest organization of it’s kind in the US, for wearing real fox fur on stage.

Christina Aguilera made Roberto Cavalli responsible for it, because he tricked her into wearing real fur, although she claims to have instructed him to only use fake fur her the costumes she wears on stage.

Whether this claim is true or not, Cavalli himself admitted to Women’s Wear Daily that he sent Christina a stole out of real fox fur before the concert.

A PETA spokesman said that before she went on stage, she received an email with a video of a fox being killed in a very inhumane way for her fur.

It’s been reported that Christina immediately changed all real fur items in her world tour wardrobe for synthetic fur, so that she will avoid further issues with PETA and other environmental organizations.

FENDI’S first flagship store to carry the new concept design by Peter Marino is a mirror of Fendi’s and Rome’s history and present. 

Palazzo Fendi is housed in a grand 19th century neo-Classical building originally known as the Palazzo Boncompagni. It is sited at the crossroads of old and modern Rome, a fitting address for a brand with a rich Roman tradition. 

Palazzo Fendi is in the centre of Largo Goldoni, a crossroads of Rome’s most famous and ancient roads – the Via dei Condotti, Via del Corso, and Via di Fontanella Borghese, near the Spanish Steps. 

The area has an ancient history. During the Renaissance between the 16th and 17th centuries, some of Rome’s most important aristocratic buildings were constructed here.

Read the whole article here.

Last year, Gianfranco Ferre has collaborated with Julia Roberts, who promoted his creation with an enormous success.

This season, Ferre decided to hire Skin, the lead vocalist of Skunk Anastasie, which disbanded in 2001. Now, at 29, she’s got her own band.

In the next ad campaign for Ferre, she will be partnered with Patrick Petitjean.

“Strength and charm, energy and sensuality are, for me, indivisible in contemporary femininity. In choosing Skin - her body, the expressiveness of her eyes, her face most of all - I consciously put a special accent on the free, natural, easy and even aggressive spirit I sought… Yet, without forgetting the notes of composure, grace and languor I always consider essential. These surely contrasting and contradictory qualities I identify in Skin, as the primary and innate elements of her singular allure,” said Ferre.

The campaign will be shot by Mario Testino, with Skin and Petitjean in a nightclub setting with an imperial purple silk background.

Italian fashion retailer Gucci has made plans to move its flagship to Trump Tower and create the world’s largest Gucci store.

The four-floor, 46,000-square-foot site at 725 Fifth Ave., at East 56th Street, has been vacant since British jeweler Asprey moved out earlier this year. Asking rents for ground floor space on that section of Fifth Avenue start at $1,500 per square foot and can top $2,000 per square foot.

Jeweler Graff and watchmaker Swatch were reportedly interested in the space, but the landlord wanted to give the long-term lease to a powerful luxury company that could feasibly turn a profit in the large store after Asprey foundered there.

“Gucci is the ideal tenant for the space,” says Andrew Goldberg, executive vice president of the CB Richard Ellis retail group, which negotiated the deal on behalf of property owner Donald Trump. “Gucci can make sense out of it,” he says.

Gucci will relocate to the new site from its current holding at 685 Fifth Ave., at East 54th Street, in 2008.

Looks like every designer started deigning fashion phones for various companies in the mobile phone and electronics industry. I think it’s becoming a new trend, and I’m sure the future offers us plenty surprises.

First, there were the two Italian designers, Dolce and Gabbana, who designed the extremely good looking MOTORAZR Motorola Phone. I must say, that’s one of the coolest phones I’ve seen in my life. With it’s gold color, it’s catches your eyes instantly. Too bad I’m not a Motorola fan.

Then, Giorgio Armani designed the Samsung Limited Edition Armani Exchange Ultra Edition 6.9 in Blue, for the well known Korean company which manufactures everything electronics. I have two Samsung TVs and a D600 phone by the way, but that’s another story.

The phone presents itself as great. It has a more simple look. Very modern. The only reason I don’t like is because I already have the technologically more advanced D600, which has way more interesting features for the technology addict

Now I see that Prada is also moving into the fashion phones design industry. The company they’re working with is LG, another important mobile phone manufacturer. They’ve just launched their new creation these days.

With all of this, I wonder which designer will go for Nokia. I’m sure the design is already in progress. I bet we’ll hear about it in the next two or three weeks maximum. Nokia can’t remain behind in this new venture.

Will it be Versace or Gucci…

Designer brands Prada, Versace and Armani have agreed to ban skinny models from the catwalk.

The Italian label’s action was prompted by the death of two models and comes into force in Milan Fashion Week.

Madrid Fashion Week kick started the initiative which Milan and Paris initially resisted.

However it is believed that Camera Nazionelle della Moda Italiano, which represents the county’s top fashion brands, changed position and has agreed a January deadline in time for Milan Fashion Week 2007.

Italian youth minister Giovanna Melandri told the Metro: “The Camera della Moda will take action against designers who do not respect the manifesto.

They could be removed from the fashion calendar or, in the most serious cases, banned from the fashion week.”