Yves Saint Laurent must have been anticipating a global recession when he said, "Fashion fades, style is eternal" because that's exactly what's happening now.My real-life Becky Bloomwood friend Stephanie was out this week perusing through the racks at the high-end stores in Yorkville, picking up a Pucci scarf on her way. She came to a vacant shop and wondered what could have closed down there. With a horrified look on her face she realized that this exact spot, this desolate area once belonged to Hazel Luxury for Women. She immediately sent me a BBM detailing her nauseating discovery and frankly, I was not so surprised to hear about the store's demise. A rep from the store declares that Hazel had succumbed to "the vagaries of the economic climate which engulfed her." Boasting fashions from designers including Giambattista Valli and celebrity clients including Kim Cattrall, this little fashion house seemed to be here to stay. So what is to be said about the state of the fashion industry during this grim time?
This week saw the collapse of French designer Christian Lacroix which makes me wonder what's in store for the rest of the European fashion brigade. "I skipped the last buying trip to Paris altogether," says Erin Crandall, head buyer of designer collections for online retail site ShopBop.com. "The cost of the trip would have outweighed the money we'd have made on the lines." ShopBob chose to replace French and Italian designers with collections from American brands such as Derek Lam, Chris Benz, Rachel Roy, and Tory Burch. The hottest thing coming from Europe right now is none other than the affordable-chic superstore H&M. Among the H&M imports, there are smuggled (I mean guest designer) pieces from sell-out designers such as Viktor & Rolf, Roberto Cavalli and this season Matthew Williamson.
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