Accolade Not Enough To Keep Rochas Afloat
Sun Herald
Sunday July 23, 2006
ONLY 1 1/2 months after Rochas designer Olivier Theyskens took out the International Award at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards, it looks as if he will be job hunting. The label's owner, Procter & Gamble, announced last week it would shut down the operation. Rochas, one of a group of historic French fashion houses that has placed young designers at the helm to reinvigorate their brands, has been prospering artistically under the direction of the Brussels-born Theyskens, who has been in situ for three years. However, according to an article on the British Vogue website, the business was operating at a loss despite business growing by 30 per cent in the last year under his command. Marcel Rochas launched Maison Rochas in 1925 at just 22 years of age and closed it at the height of his career in 1953. Undoubtedly, 29-year-old Theyskens still has plenty of time up his fluted sleeves to make his mark elsewhere. Apparently the autumn/winter 06/07 collection will still be delivered - locally at Belinda for the first, and only, time - and will most likely become collectors' items in the process.
Design sabbaticalCOLLETTE Dinnigan might be giving new meaning to the term sabbatical. While she isn't showing at the Paris collections this year, the designer is holed up with daughter Estella in London getting back to the creative process and, yes, finding time to launch her children's range on top of that. "I'm spending time designing for the show that I'm doing in March [in Paris] and working with a stylist here who I'm doing the show with in March," said Dinnigan, putting paid to any suggestion that opting out of the Paris shows this year might jeopardise future catwalk outings in the City of Light. "The Chambre Syndicale knows that I've taken this year off and I'm back again in March in Paris," she said. "We've discussed it at great length and this is the time for me to do it. This is my sabbatical for one year." Now, how about that holiday in Fiji?The boots have itIT'S a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superman in boots by Andrew McDonald! The Paddington cobbler is certainly getting a taste for the silver screen. Following his fancy foot work for Star Wars, and for Abbie Cornish in Candy, McDonald created boots for Brandon Routh as the Lycra-clad hero as well as shoes for Parker Posey's character and a handbag for Lois Lane. "In total we made about 30 pairs of the boots for different situations," said McDonald. That included for Routh's three stunt doubles. Having met the well-chiselled Routh "at least 10 times", McDonald can report that "he's a nice bloke". And a hardworking one, by all accounts. "People always think that actors have cruisy jobs," said McDonald, "but they worked him hard. He was undergoing Alexander technique, he had a nutritionist, a weight trainer, this whole team getting him ready for the role." Beads become Hawkins JENNIFER Hawkins might have posed for only 10 minutes or so at the Lovable show last week, but another Sydney girl had been getting very hands-on with the same set of underwear for a little longer. Jewellery designer Sarina Suriano got the go-ahead to embellish the bra and knickers for the show finale "just the week before", she said on the night. "It took about 100 hours to do all the beading. There was a lot of very small, fiddly work!." Certainly every man in the house would have considered it worth all the blood, sweat and bugle beads. Although that handiwork probably wasn't foremost on their minds. Bedazzler on the wayPREPARATION for the Myer spring/summer showing is revving up, thanks to input from styling supremo Michelle Jank and event maestro Tony Assness. "This summer show was always going to be the show to end all shows," said Assness. "I hope it shocks a few people and outrages a few people and makes people laugh and cry. I'm sure there will be some dramas." Jank agreed it would be the usual Assness "spectacular spectacular - it will be a really fabulous entertainment". Bring on the Bedazzler!NOT JUST YET, BOYFRIENDWHILE the rest of the world is getting comfortable in their "boyfriend jeans" - baggier, slouchier, cosier - it seems Australian girls still enjoy squeezing into skinny styles, as evidenced by the latest from Levi's, the Levi's Black Sharps (so named for a Melbourne street gang in the '70s, apparently). The women's style details include a flat waist tab and longer cuff - and still require a minimum of hips and thighs. "The skinny fit still has some legs in Australia," Levi's managing director Steve Williams said. "We're finding that sales are on the up - although we also have the boyfriend style. Come summer you'll still see girls wearing skinny jeans at night with stilettos and boyfriend jeans during the day - which is great for us."S0 LOVELeona Edmiston continues to expand her empire with her latest range, Nighties. The sleepwear includes crisp white cotton pieces and the rather more saucy polka-dot mesh ensemble (pictured) among others. After seeing these, don't let anyone tell you that nighties are for nannas.SO HATEParis Hilton's well-documented ego hit a new high last week when she told The Times in London: "There's nobody in the world like me. I think every decade has an iconic blonde - like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana - and right now, I'm that icon." Did she also consider that they both died prematurely?WATCH THIS SPACEDead on Strings (www.deadonstrings.com) is a new unisex Sydney label focusing solely on "strong and sexy upper-body wear" - read tanks, tees, henleys, and hoodies, all in fine cotton and classic colours. The rough and ready, Polaroid-style campaign shots are some of the coolest we've seen in a while.
© 2006 Sun Herald