When Madonna opens her world tour in Montreal on September 9 she will be wearing designer togs from the likes of Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, Moschino’s Creative Director Jeremy Scott and Alexander Wang. Madonna’s upcoming “Rebel Heart” seems to be moving forward without stage costumes from the “Material Girl’s” decade-long collaborator Donatella Versace. This announcement caused tongues to wag on social media.
Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour starts in Montreal, Canada and ends on March 27 in Brisbane, Australia.
Intern power
Forty past and present interns have filed a class-action lawsuit against Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for failure to compensate them for their work for the Olsen’s fashion brand, The Row. Dualstar Entertainment Group, the multimillion-dollar business headed by Mary-Kate and Ashley, owns The Row.
The lawsuit contends that interns worked full-time hours in jobs that workers at The Row were financially compensated for. The lawsuit also contends interns also did not receive academic or vocational credit for the work that they did.
“She was very demanding,” Shahista Lalani, a former design intern, told Page Six. “I was doing the work of three interns. I was talking to her all day, all night. Emails at nighttime for the next day, like 10 p.m. at night.” Lalani maintains that she sometimes worked 50-hour workweeks for no pay.
“As an initial matter, Dualstar is an organization that is committed to treating all individuals fairly and in accordance with all applicable laws. The allegations in the complaint filed against Dualstar are groundless, and Dualstar will vigorously defend itself against plaintiff’s claims in court, not before the media. Dualstar is confident that once the true facts of this case are revealed, the lawsuit will be dismissed in its entirety,” explained a spokeswoman for Dualstar.
Star Wars glam
Max Factor and Covergirl have gotten into the “Star Wars” game. To promote the new “Star Wars” film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens“, due to open on December 18, both brands, as well as, five others household brands have teamed up with the Star Wars franchise. Superstar makeup artist, Pat McGrath and Proctor and Gamble Global Creative Director, has created two looks that will appear on the poster campaign.
Campaign images for the film were released on Thursday with makeup looks inspired by the film’s iconic characters, Droid and Stormtrooper, In September a product line will be released with a branded makeup collection that will include lipstick colors, mascara and nail polish.
The product line will hit the US market in mid-September, while limited edition items will be available at Max Factor in Europe, Asia and the United Arab Emirates from November.
A down under triumph
New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is trying to be more inclusive this season. And there is no better evidence of this inclusion than having Australian model Madeline Stuart model for the NYFW spring/summer 2016 collections. Madeline Stuart has Down syndrome.
“When we were asked to do New York Fashion Week, it didn’t surpriseme,” said her mother, Rosanne Stuart, in an interview with Cosmopolitan. “I don’t think anything really surprises me anymore. She’s been asked to do a lot of stuff and I was hoping to she’d get asked to do NYFW but I assumed it would happen. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious.”
No, it doesn’t sound pretentious. Madeline will walk in NYFW on September 13 in the Moda show associated with the Christopher Reeves Foundation.
Hard times in Germany
Germany’s Luxury Brands are experiencing some difficult times these days. As most European luxury brands appear to be posting good results in spite of a flattened European market, Germany’s luxury brands seem to have hit a wall.
Some of the hard times may be due to staff turnover at some very important brands, but at the heart of the economic stalemates is Germany’s difficulty in keeping up the fast paced, ever-evolving fashion market. “It’s in the nature of fashion to be constantly moving. It’s not that [German] people are unaware of new trends or that there is a lack of creative potential. We have incredibly talented people in Germany”,” explained Anna Tillman, CEO of Premium.
Germany’s younger consumers are moving away from brick and mortar venues and shopping for luxury items on e-commerce sites like Munich-based mytheresa.com. And emerging German designers are experiencing difficulty getting traction in the industry because of quickly changing trends and a lack of financial resources and investors.
“Financial resources are very important for a major breakthrough but sometimes also a little bit of luck is needed,” says Mark Siever, partner at the accounting firm KPMG, as reported in fashionmag.com. Siever also contends that Germany also has a lack of visionaries who want to take on the challenge of breathing new life into a traditional name.”
—William S. Gooch
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