SHOP.CASE – LEMAIRE EBISU

Fashion, Retail

There are stores that make you want to shop there just because. If you had to break down that aura, it would probably come down to a great location, a beautiful exterior and interior, great merchandising and great service. The Lemaire boutique, which opened in November of this year in Tokyo’s Ebisu neighborhood is such a store. This 2,000 sq foot store is housed in a beautiful private two-story home built in the 1960s. Walking through the front gate and through the front door is a bit like going through a portal from the city to the countryside. The space is as tranquil as its small backyard garden, and it is one of the most inviting shops we have been to. Shopping here feels like you are simply borrowing from the closet of your incredibly stylish, design-conscious friend.

SHOP.CASE — Jil Sander Ginza

Fashion, Retail

The newly opened Jil Sander flagship in Tokyo’s Ginza district, designed by the architecture firm Casper, Mueller, Kneer, is a testament to the power of materials. CMK came to prominence designing stores for Celine under Phoebe Philo, including its Ginza flagship, whose arresting façade is still one of the premier shopping neighborhood’s attractions. With the Jil Sander store, CMK continues its tradition of letting the materials do the talking. The shop is refreshingly devoid of ornamentation, yet it feels warm and inviting. With their intricate, rich textures, marble, travertine, and concrete become ornaments in themselves. Details like a Dieter Rams classic Braun sound system provide subtle nods to the history of minimalist German design, not unrelated to Jil Sander’s origin. Last but not least, the layout of the shop provides a ton of open space, proving once again that today space is the ultimate luxury.

Book Review: Madame Grès Couture Paris

Fashion

Madame Grès Couture Paris, recently published by Rizzoli, is the latest book by fashion historian and curator Olivier Saillard. Saillard, whose extensive accomplishments at Paris’ Palais Galleria are credited with invigorating an interest in fashion beyond that of the more established Musée des Arts Décoratifs, is one of the leading voices on the work of Madame Grès. His recent “Alaïa / Grès” exhibition at the Alaïa Fondation, and “Madame Grès, The Art Of Draping” at SCAD last year, continues to further the legacy of one of the most innovative couturiers in the history of fashion.

Op-Ed: Why There May Never Be Another McQueen

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

Speak to fashion enthusiasts today, and they will tell you how impoverished today’s fashion has become, and how hard it is to envision a change. Inevitably they look back, more often than not to the ‘80s and the ‘90s, which many see as the golden age of fashion, the era when a generation of designers created clothes that did not serve as status symbols but had deep cultural roots. In this new, exciting milieu, the Camp greats like Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler coexisted with the seriousness of Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto, the sober minimalism of Helmut Lang and Jil Sander was juxtaposed against the playfulness of Franco Moschino and John Galliano, and the Antwerp Six and Martin Margiela ushered in a post-bourgeois sensibility that was taken up by the second wave of Belgian designers and culminated in the brutalism of Rick Owens. The idea that fashion could be the provenance of intelligent, culturally educated people, and not that of Houston oil housewives and Thai princesses, came to a climax in the late ‘90s in London with the awe-inspiring work of Hussein Chalayan. And then there was Alexander McQueen, whose clothes-making skills equaled his aesthetic edge.

Op-Ed: Is the Era of Primacy of the Brand Over the Designer Coming to an End?

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

In 2004 Gucci was flying high. Tom Ford, its designer, and Domenico De Sole, its CEO, were on top of the world, having turned around a flailing brand in the mid-90s and making it one of the hottest tickets in the world of luxury fashion. The pair seemed untouchable; after fighting off a takeover attempt by Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH, and having found its perfect white knight in François-Henri Pinault, they formed a rival conglomerate. Who in their right mind would fire them? Pinault did, sending a very clear message across the industry that was in the throes of corporatization – no designer was as important as the brand, even the one who brought it back from the brink.