Black Friday Bloggers

Julie of Almost Girl invited us to join a "Black Friday" Blogging event. We’re pleased to participate.

Check
back this week for our thoughts on why fashion is important to us,
fashion as art and commerce, and fashion and individuality.

November 20th, 2005

H&M SF Grand Opening Madness

We’re
not line people, so we just ended up hitting up H&M Post later that
day once the line had died down to a mere half-block. Saw some
interesting items (mostly left only in Large sizes), but we saw a good
amount of the merchandise a couple of months ago on our NYC/Boston
"working vacations."

What will Trisha be wearing to the office next week? A particularly cute grayed jersey blazer with clipped seams ($29.90).

Our good friend Goldie
made a comment about the expectant crowd: "The people waiting fall
under one of three categories: (1) The Uber-trendy people who decked
themselves out for the grand opening, (2) The Blah people who dressed
very plainly, and (3) The Frighteningly dressed people whose outfits
didn’t quite make it."

To see a particularly uniquely dressed example from Category 1, check back in a bit for another episode of "Profiles in Style!"

November 19th, 2005

H&M SF Grand Opening Giveaway

In case you hadn’t already heard, H&M San Francisco is giving 20% off to the first 200 customers at either store along with a free limited edition T-shirt.

However, to be in that lucky 400, we figure that we’d either (1) have to drag ourselves out of bed pre-dawn to line up, or (2) sell our souls to the fashion devil (A.Wintour?).

We’ll be there…but closer to 10am. We enjoy our beauty sleep.

November 18th, 2005

Design as the New Frontier for Marketing

AdWeek magazine is reporting that design is the new frontier for marketers:

"In the past five years, design has climbed to the front of the American consciousness, and people not only expect form-beyond-function in public spaces, but they want stylish products to bring into their homes. As part of this new preoccupation, a growing number of clients are looking to design-centric brands for inspiration, specifically, Apple’s small (and getting smaller) miracle. From the iPod’s shape and size to its advertising, packaging and point of sale, it is a modern marketing marvel that other advertisers are looking to emulate."

Makes perfect sense, considering the intensely crowded product marketplace. When you’re out shopping for a commodity good, like hand soap, what helps you make a decision on which product to buy?

• Price? Maybe, if there were significant price differences, like one bottle for $5 and another for $2.
• Quality? How can you really tell by looking at the product on the shelf? Also, if it’s something like soap, where quality doesn’t differ greatly between products, how important is the quality?
• Brand? The brand might give me an indication of quality, and if it’s a familiar one, it might give me a reassurance that the product is going to perform well. But what helps define the brand and make it memorable?

That’s right–it’s design.

In our humble opinion, design helps to elevate products–from portable music devices like the iPod to basic consumer packaged goods like soap–above the masses. Faced with so many choices, consumers (ourselves included) need quick, easy cues to help us make buying decisions. And great product design goes beyond providing those easy visual cues, as it also can make product use easier.

That’s our two cents. What do you think?

What do you look for when making a product purchase? And does design play a role in your purchasing decision?

1 comment November 14th, 2005

Retail Trend: Cheap Chic Fashion, Part III

We’ll close this series with the line in the SF Gate article that we found particularly interesting. Lois Huff, senior vice president for Retail Forward, a market research firm, noted that “The idea of disposable as opposed to building a wardrobe is more popular now.”

Interesting idea, but we don’t think it’s a black and white issue. As with everything in life, there are shades of grey, and while people certainly aren’t meticulously building a static wardrobe, the average consumer is likely not replacing the entire closet each season (or every couple of seasons) with cheap chic clothes.

Our wardrobe advice? First build a solid foundation of good quality clothes. On top of that foundation, you can then have some fun with cheap chic, disposable fashion. Buy the cute, but cheap uber-cropped jacket that will last till the end of the season. Buy the slim tailored wool pants whose quality will elevate the look of everything you pair with it.

But know what to invest in and what to buy on the cheap, as that’s the key to a balanced wardrobe.

Need help? That’s what we’re here for. Leave a message, or shoot us an email at styleintelligence at gmail dot com!

2 comments November 9th, 2005

Retail Trend: Cheap Chic Fashion, Part II

In Part I of this article, we discussed the basics of so-called cheap chic fashion: what it is, and why it’s so appealing. Now that we have a background on why cheap chic is gaining popularity, we can discuss what it may mean from both a consumer and business perspective.

Consumer Perspective:

• More clothes, less overall quality. Cheap chic, with its lower quality standards, leads to the wearing of clothes for a season or less, for so-called “disposable fashion.”
• Reinforced acceleration of trends. Fashion information is moving faster, and so are physical items of clothing. The average time it used to take between the start and end of a trend used to be measured in years. Now, fashion trends come and go in months.
• Challenge: Keep up with the speed of fashion. Since fashion trends are now measured in months, not years, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the speed of fashion. More information sources will pop up (such as this blog) to keep people informed as to what’s in and what’s out.
• Personal Style more important. As average consumers gain access to a larger number of garments and trends (due to the “cheap” in the chic), the idea of personal style is going to become more paramount. Now, anyone with a copy of Lucky magazine and access to H&M can deck themselves out head-to-toe in the latest trend. Is this true style? We think not. Fashion forward individuals will need to look for new means of expressing their style and individuality, be it through unique combinations of garments, status accessories, clothing alterations, or something else.
• Importance of Editing. With so many trends flying around, one of the most important skills to have will be the ability to edit down the season’s trends to those that fit one’s personal style, lifestyle, and body type. Those that cannot or choose not to edit might fall under the…
• New definition of “Fashion Victim.” Fashion Victims have traditionally been those who slavishly follow trends. They might wear one designer head to toe, or they might combine two or more contrasting trends into one outfit. But a new classification will likely emerge: the fashion victim as one who hops along after each fast-moving trend, trying to wear each look before it goes out of style. She’s the girl who doesn’t just keep up with what’s happening with fashion–she actually tries to wear Everything that’s new and stylish.

Business Perspective:

• Improved supply chains needed. Companies like Zara have long been proponents of a supply chain based on the idea of postponing each production decision to the last possible moment to preserve production flexibility. Why postponement? It allows the retailer to more accurately forecast demand for a particular style good. Estimating December demand for a wool coat, for instance, would be easier and more accurate to do in November than it would be in June.
• Need to address human rights issue. Cheap comes at a price, and it’s often at the cost of third-world garment workers. Sweatshops are an industrywide problem, unless something drastic is done, the human rights violations that they cause will likely only get worse with the growing popularity of cheap chic fashion.

Check back later today for our last post in this series, where we’ll be touch on wardrobe building in an era of disposable fashion.

Add comment November 9th, 2005

Retail Trend: Cheap Chic Fashion, Part I

Thanks, Mat, for sending us an article from SFGate on cheap chic fashion.

Our first take? Interesting article, but while H&M might be bringing the cheap chic phenomenon to the fashion forefront in San Francisco with its November 19 opening, the idea is anything but new.

Forever 21, Zara, H&M, Mango, and others have been playing in this space for over a decade. However, it wasn’t until 2000 that the US womenswear market got a real taste of the cheap chic trend, when H&M opened its doors in New York.

We’ve got a lot to say on the topic of cheap chic fashion, as it’s near and dear to our hearts and closets. To make reading more manageable, we’re going to split our thoughts into three posts.

In Part I, we’ll go back to basics and discuss what cheap chic fashion is as well as why it’s so appealing. In Part II, we’ll dig deeper and tackle what cheap chic means from both a consumer and a business perspective. And in Part III, we’ll touch on wardrobe building in an era of disposable clothing.

What is cheap chic fashion?
Just what it sounds like–moderate to discount priced clothing that, due to its trend value, quickly moves from the runway to production to the retail floor to consumers’ closets. Clothing is generally merchandised from an item-based, rather than a collection-based perspective.

Retailers like H&M and Zara, who specialize in this cheap chic phenomenon, move new goods into the stores on a daily to weekly basis to replace the items being sold. From a business perspective, this means producing a greater variety of styles, but each in a lower quantity.

Consider it the opposite of the traditional retail model, which has a retailer like Gap producing a set collection for each season. Instead of item-based merchandising, we see items being sold as part of a greater collection. When consumers buy merchandise, the shelves are replenished with more of the same clothes. Here, there exists less variety in styles, but each style is produced in a higher quantity.

Why is cheap chic so appealing? Two reasons:

• For one, it’s cheap. You can afford to buy a greater variety and number of items. The inherent flexibility here, combined with the American create-your-own-look individualism is extremely powerful.
• Secondly, it’s a logical outgrowth of the acceleration of fashion information. We’re getting our trend information faster and faster these days. We used to have to wait for fashion magazines to publish information on the latest runway shows. Now, with websites like NY Metro (same day coverage) and Style.com (next day coverage), the wait time is almost negligible. As fashion information moves faster, trends accelerate. The next logical step in the chain is for fashion garments themselves to move faster, and that’s precisely what’s happening through cheap chic fashion.

Add comment November 8th, 2005

SF Int’l Fashion Week Cancelled?

We’re disappointed to report that SF International Fashion Week shows have been cancelled for today and tomorrow–only a small selection of shows will be held on Sunday.

Upon arrival at Terra Gallery, the new venue after the shows were moved from Fort Mason, we discovered that all Friday and Saturday shows had been cancelled. A man was handing out flyers with the updated event schedule for Sunday, with little explanation for what happened. We did, however, hear though the grapevine that the planning for the event was last minute–the model selection for Saturday’s shows, for instance, was scheduled for today. Hearsay, but we wanted to pass along as much info as we could get.

On Sunday, six fashion shows are scheduled, with an afterparty sponsored by Haamonii Smooth, Blavod Black Vodka, Player’s Xtreme, Rock Star Energy Drink, Selona Beauty, Factio Magazine, BlackBook Magazine, and TheAList.org.

We hope that we get to see the results of the designers’ hard work…

Event Schedule | Sunday, October 23
1pm: Doors Open
2pm: Emerging Artists
3pm: Cari Borja
4pm: Joseph Domingo
5pm: Paul Monroe
6pm: Black Coffee
7pm: Anu Mahal
8pm: Afterparty

4 comments October 22nd, 2005

Coming Attractions

We’re back from LA Textile, where we got the scoop on upcoming trends, color forecasts, silhouettes, and more! There’s exciting stuff in the works here…and *ahem* it’s not limited to content.

Upcoming on Style Intelligence Report:

• Carlin International’s Menswear Trend Forecast for Fall/Winter 2006-2007.
• Promostyl’s Womenswear Trend Forecast for Fall/Winter 2006-2007.
• Cotton Inc.’s Color Trends for Fall/Winter 2006-2007.
• LA StreetStyle: Third Street Promenade. A warning–a preliminary lookover shows that the pictures are grainy-chic, the result of poor lighting from bad weather. Great trend info though, so we wanted to share.

Also–San Francisco International Fashion Week starts on Friday. Style Intelligence Report will be there, front and center, to give you the rundown from the runway!

Add comment October 20th, 2005

Fashion Notebook | Gen Art San Francisco’s Fresh Faces in Fashion

At the VIP reception before the show, San Francisco’s finest dressed were busy working the lounge area & complimentary bar (courtesy of Beck’s, X Rated Fusion Liqueur and Jean Marc XO Vodka.) Some of our favorite hipsters:

1 comment October 17th, 2005