Generation Jones

Fashionista was excited to hear that one of her good friends, publicist Vicki Day, has launched a new website this month called "Generation Jones". The website is aimed at the 39-54 year old market, the so-called "late" baby boomers, and will highlight those stores, brands and other products that are successfully targeting this particular market, all based on the reviews and recommendations of its members. There is an interesting quiz to take part in if you want to find out what type of "Jones" you are and, although she falls just below the age range, Fashionista couldn't resist taking the quiz to discover that she is a "radical Jones" - who knew!


To take the test yourself or to find out more about the site, please visit the website.

Sister Act

Fashionista was thrilled to receive an invitation from the Fashion Business Club to attend their recent event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Daniela and Annette Felder, the talented twin sisters behind the Felder Felder brand were interviewed by illustrator, Daisy De Villeneuve and provided insight into the inspirations behind their unique designs.

During the interview, the audience was shown a video of their A/W 08 and 09 collections which were inspired by such icons as Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain and Iggy Pop. The interview charted their origins in a small village in Germany, the influence of their fashionable mother and their love of music, through to their studies (they were accepted separately) at Central St Martins and finally to starting their own brand for "women who like to show the different sides of their personality".

The sisters hope that the Felder Felder brand will expand internationally - it is now stocked by Browns Focus - and have recently been asked to design the uniforms for Nobu, Berkeley Square, which will "have the essence of Felder Felder" but won't be exact copies as few people would want to be served by a waitress wearing the same dress as them!

Fashionista then took the opportunity to mingle with other members of the Fashion Business Club over a drink. Fashion Business Club is a members-only club, created on the basis of bringing bright-minded, fashion business professionals together six times a year at an informal venue to listen, learn and do business together. For more details of the Fashion Business Club and their future events, click here

Why cash is king (over gift vouchers)...

Fashionista has learned from Retail Week that some very unhappy customers (or should she say creditors) of Principles have been plaguing the administrators at Deloitte with up to 200 calls a day about how they may go about redeeming their gift vouchers.

In most instances, on the insolvency of a retailer, holders of gift vouchers are just unsecured creditors of the insolvent company and have to stand in line with everyone else for little or no recovery. Occasionally though, where the business and assets of the retailer are sold, the buyer offers as a gesture of good will to honour all, or a reduced proportion, of the value of the gift voucher. They are, however, generally under no legal obligation to do so.

Fashionista has been frantically searching through her purse for all unused vouchers with a view to going on a major spree this weekend. Who knows, if such panic spending were to take off across the country, the recession could well be over before we know it.

From Zero to Hero: but who really wins?

Just over a month ago, Fashionista brought you the news that Woody Allen was suing American Apparel for $10million for the unauthorised use of Woody Allen's image in an advertising campaign. Mr Allen claimed enormous damages. American Apparel refused to pay up.

A month later, and on the morning of the trial, news broke that settlement had been reached just as the parties were due to appear in court. It's the sort of high octane tension that Fashionista would expect from a good Hollywood drama! At the last minute, American Apparel decided to cut their losses and agreed to pay out $5million.

Were American Apparel afraid of a jury siding with Mr Allen and awarding the damages he sought? Fashionista's questions have been answered by the statement on American Apparel's website which comes from the company's CEO and President, Dov Charney. So, the settlement was at the insistence (and expense) of the insurance company - and not (apparently) an overt admission of liability, which Dov Charney is keen to clarify: "for the record, I personally think we had a really good case..."

Fashionista was even more surprised that a confidentiality agreement was not agreed as part of the settlement. After all, a u-turn resulting in a settlement payout of $5million certainly sounds like an admission of liability, so why take litigation so far?

And why not keep the settlement details private? Well, if you can't win litigation, at least try to win new business from it. Consumers will have already made up their own minds whose side they were on. There are those who will have sided with Mr Allen. But there are also those who will have sided with American Apparel, and those who will feel inclined to do so after hearing about the settlement. Those in the "Americal Apparel Camp" who feel the company was "robbed" (relatively speaking) may show their solidarity by making online orders or store visits which would not otherwise have been made.

As for those who had not previously heard of American Apparel before this case became news, Fashionista suspects that most will at least have visited American Apparel's website in the last month, if not a store. And so, Fashionista expects the business may actually do rather well in the long term as a result. With the right spin, a loss at court does not have to mean a loss of business.

Guess who Gucci's suing ...

Taking a break from her glamour mags, Fashionista thought she'd take a look at Business Week for a change -- and that's where she read that French-owned Italian fashion house Gucci is suing rival fashion and leather goods label Guess Inc. for copying one of its dress designs as well as several trade marked logos. The latter included a green and red stripe, a repeated interlocking GG mark and stylized G mark. Damages are being sought.

It occurred to Fashionista that, while it may be expensive to litigate a trade mark dispute in a Manhattan federal courts, the publicity that the media give the spat may well help justify the outlay on lawyers, apart from emphasising that Gucci is prepared to fight, fight and fight again to keep some space between its designs and logos and those of its competitors.

This is not just any sale. This is the M&S 125th anniversary sale...

Hundreds of shoppers queued patiently outside select Marks & Spencer stores today as M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose - together with Twiggy, one of the faces of M&S - announced that the Penny Bazaar was now open. Fashionista was at the flagship London store at Marble Arch at 9am this morning when Sir Rose made his announcement, informing shoppers (and the media) that M&S is celebrating its 125th birthday this year by returning to its Penny Bazaar roots and hosting a 3 day sale of a range of 20 products (ranging from jewellery to teatowels) for 1p each. Every "Penny Bazaar" penny raised will increase the pot for the M&S 125 Charity Challenge, which aims to raise £1.25 million for local and regional charities.

Having seen the TV advert and read the press release, Fashionista had hoped to buy one of her "up-to-a-maximum-of-5-per-customer" pieces of M&S anniversary memorabilia this morning. Alas, hundreds of others had the same idea and the queues outside both the Marble Arch and Oxford Circus stores were so long that Fashionista couldn't see where they ended. Not wanting to admit defeat, Fashionista will - of course - try again tomorrow.

This is a great marketing move because it taps into nostalgia towards one of our oldest brands which in turn reminds consumers of brand value and loyalty - something which is increasingly valued by brand owners in the current economic climate. Although no profit will be made from the Penny Bazaar sales, the Penny Bazaar will pull immense crowds into M&S stores over the next 3 days and sales of full price stock must surely benefit as a result.

Well done M&S for reviving the shopping bug (even if only for three days...) and all for a good cause! Some deserved good publicity after yesterday's news of slashed dividends. Fashionista says "watch this space" for a further post celebrating M&S's 125th birthday later in the year as part of Fashionista's new, monthly Anniversary Feature. She started with Selfridges this month and has another iconic British brand celebrating its 125th anniversary lined up for June...any guesses?

M&S

M&S has found itself in the headlines over the last week for the wrong reasons. First there was the "bigger bras pay more" story which saw the business back-track on its pricing policy in the face of a Facebook campaign.

This week, Fashionista has read in Retail Week that M&S is back in the headlines facing a claim for unfair dismissal. In August last year, an employee leaked an internal memo to the press about the company's proposals to cut its redundancy pay scheme by up to 25% and this sparked fears of imminent redundancies at the company. M&S promptly did some email detective work, traced the leads back to the offending employee and summarily dismissed him for gross misconduct. Now the retailer is in the spotlight again as it goes head to head with the former employee, whose claim for unfair dismissal and breach of human rights is being heard in the Employment Tribunal this week.

Leaks to the press can be very damaging for reputations as well as being expensive. Fashionista can see a few lessons to learn here. Consultations with employees must be genuine and this will help to avoid disgruntled employees trying to gain a wider audience (the ex M&S employee says he leaked the memo because he felt the consultation about the cuts was a sham). Also, employers and employees need to pay close attention to what their contracts and the business' rules say about things like confidentiality, grievances, disciplinary action, email monitoring and whistle blowing when dealing with confidential information leaks to the press. Finally, Fashionista reminds all fashion businesses that employers will always need to pay statutory redundancy pay as a minimum where a redundant employee has been employed for two years or more.