Image courtesy of nytimes.com
According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, US retail increased by 3.4% for the 2019 holiday shopping season. This occurred from November 1 to December 24. Online sales rose at a faster pace, up 18.8% from last year. Online shopping made up nearly 15% of total retail sales.
According to The New York Times, apparel sales gained 1 percent over 2018 and 17 percent online. Spending on jewelry went up 1.8 percent overall and 8.8 percent online.
As online holiday sales increased in 2019, brick-and-mortar sales didn’t grow nearly as much. In 2019 alone, the retail industry experienced 9,000 brick-and-mortar closings.
Image courtesy of vogue.com
Rodarte returns to Gotham
Based on the CFDA’s preliminary calendar for New York Fashion Week: The Shows (NYFWS) fall 2020 season, after a short hiatus, Rodarte is returning to the NYFWS calendar.
Rodarte last showed during NYFWS in September 2018. Since that time, The Mulleavy sisters, creative directors of the brand, have presented Rodarte collections in Paris and Los Angeles. Kate and Laura Mulleavy, in Rodarte’s absence from NYFWS, have been producing incredible lookbooks for their collections, with some lookbooks being star studded—Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union, Lili Reinhardt, Yalitza Aparicio, and others are featured.
That said; as Rodarte is coming back to the NYFWS calendar, Tom Ford is moving on to greener pastures for the fall 2020 season. Tom Ford will be showing in Los Angeles for the fall 2020 season instead of New York.
Image courtesy of bbc.com
Emanuel Ungaro transitions
This past Saturday Emanuel Ungaro passed away in Paris. He was 86 years old. According to a family member, as told to the AFP, Ungaro had been in a weakened state of health for the last two years.
Born in the south of France to Italian immigrants, Ungaro moved to Paris in 1956, studying under Cristobal Balenciaga. In 1965, Ungaro opened his own couture house in Paris, and opened a women’s ready-to-wear line in 1968, with a men’s line following a few years later. Eventually, his fashion empire would include accessories, fragrances, and eyewear.
“A simple sweater, by the softness of its material, calls for a caress; a dress is cut to move, accompany the body in its movements, show and conceal: because it loves women, Emanuel knows the limits of male tolerance—he will create a garment too beautiful to be torn off, but clever enough to suggest to take it off with tenderness,” said Ungaro, as reported in a fashionnetwork.com.
Emanuel Ungaro retired from fashion in 2004, with Giambattista Valli becoming creative director in 2001 of his company.
—William S. Gooch
Speak Your Mind