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I feel as though some people need to be properly educated on Fashion Terminology.
Fashion: A fashion consists of a current (constantly changing) trend, favoured for frivolous rather than practical, logical, or intellectual reasons.
Fashion Designer: couturier: someone who designs clothing
Fashion Merchandiser: Fashion merchandisers track and analyze market trends, production costs, and previous sales numbers to determine the product direction that the manufacturer will take each season. Merchandisers are some of the most powerful employees within an apparel company with large bottom-line and personnel management responsibilities.
Couture: Fashion; the term for the clothing that designers create for an exclusive market of individual customers and exclusive boutiques that will be made to each customer’s measurements. // High fashion. The highest levels of fashion design, usually features designs that are only affordable to the very wealthy. Example: Chanel, Christian Dior, Valentino, Lanvin.
HAUTE Couture: very expensive handmade individual fashion garments, referred to as ‘high fashion’. // High fashion; the most exclusive designs, often unique pieces created for individual customers.
Trendsetter: someone who popularizes a new fashion.
Glamour: alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal.)
Glamorous: having an air of allure, romance and excitement; “glamorous movie stars.”
Fashionista: A fashionista is a complimentary term used to describe an avid follower of fashion, one working in or deeply involved with the high-fashion industry, such as a fashion designer, fashion model, photographer, buyer, fashion writer, or wearer; a devotee to clothing trends and fashion.
Ready-To-Wear: ready-made clothing; “she couldn’t find anything in ready-to-wear that she liked” // off-the-rack: (especially of clothing) made in standard sizes and available from merchandise in stock; “a ready-made jacket”; “ready-to-wear clothes”
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. (Euronext: MC) : usually shortened to LVMH, is a French holding company and the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate. It is the parent of around 50 sub-companies that each manage a small number of prestigious brands. The child companies are run, to a large extent, autonomously. The group was formed after mergers brought together champagne producer Moët et Chandon and Hennessy, a leading manufacturer of brandy. In 1987, they merged with fashion house Louis Vuitton to form the current group. The group is partly owned by the Christian Dior group, and Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of both companies. His successful integration of various famous aspirational brands into the group has inspired other luxury companies into doing the same. Thus Gucci (now part of the French conglomerate PPR) and Richemont have also created extended portfolios of luxury brands. The oldest of the LVMH brands is wine producer Château d’Yquem, which dates its origins back to 1593.
I also thought I’d inform those of you who are uninformed entirely about fashion, the head designers and other facts about some of the major design houses which are popular in todays times.
DIOR: The current head designer is John Galliano. who was working for Givenchy until October 14, 1996, when LVMH moved him to Dior. Christian Dior, himself, however, had established his main fashion house in 1949; Christian Dior New York, Inc. He died in 1957.
The House of Chanel, more commonly known as Chanel, is a Parisian fashion house in France founded by Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel (b.1883 - d.1971). According to Forbes, the privately held House of Chanel is jointly owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer who are the grandsons of the early (1924) Chanel partner Pierre Wertheimer. See? COCO was not her real name, only a nickname. Currently, Chanel is under the command of Karl Lagerfeld, who has defined the style and fashion of Chanel as being the five essentials: audacious, perfectionist, unique, passionate, and visionary.
Louis Vuitton: Let me start out by saying that the current stat’s show, that 90% of the LV merchandise being bought up by people is counterfeit! Louis Vuitton Malletier à Paris, more commonly known simply as Louis Vuitton, is a luxury French fashion and leather goods brand and company headquartered in Paris, France. In February 2007, they bought majority stake in British luxury car Aston Martin from Ford. The company is named after its founder Louis Vuitton (August 4, 1821-February 27, 1892), who designed and manufactured luggage during the second half of the nineteenth century. Vuitton was born in Jura, France (now part of the commune of Lavans-sur-Valouse), but moved to Paris in 1835 and two years later, at the age of 16, he apprenticed for the luggage manufacturer Monsieur Marechal. In 1854, he founded the company, which is now owned by LVMH, a French-based holding company helmed by Bernard Arnault. Marc Jacobs is their head designer.
Gucci, or the House of Gucci, is an Italian fashion and leather goods label. It was founded by Guccio Gucci (1881-1953) in Florence in 1921. Gucci is one of the most famous, prestigious and easily recognizable fashion labels in the world. John Ray is their Head designer.
Prada, S.p.A. is an Italian fashion company (also known as a “label” or “house”) with retail outlets worldwide. The company, originally known in Italy as (”Prada Brothers”), was founded in 1913 by Mario Prada in Milan. In 1978, Mario’s granddaughter Miuccia Prada inherited what was still a leather goods business from her mother, and led the company’s expansion into couture.
Fendi is an Italian fashion designer brand founded in 1918, most famous for its selection of shoes and furs. Fendi boutiques can be found all over the world. In recent years, Fendi entered the American market with stores in New York, Bal Harbour, and the Galleria in Houston. Today, as part of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. group, its creative director is Karl Lagerfeld.
Gianni Versace S.p.A. is an Italian clothier founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. After Gianni Versace was killed by Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997, his sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, stepped in as creative director of the designing House and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO. Currently, Donatella Versace controls the majority of the company’s assets until her daughter, Allegra, the sole-heiress of the Versace fortune, is prepared to take an active role. The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan’s Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world’s leading international fashion houses. Versace designs, markets and distributes luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings under the various brands of the Versace Group. Versace’s Style Department employs a group of designers and stylists who work in teams. Each team is specifically dedicated to each fashion line or label. These teams operate under the close supervision and guidance of Creative Director, Donatella Versace.
Manolo Blahnik (born November 27, 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and an eponymous fashion label, one of the world’s most prominent in women’s shoes. Born in Santa Cruz de La Palma in the Canary Islands to a Czech father and a Spanish mother and raised on a banana plantation, Blahnik graduated from the University of Geneva with a degree in literature in 1965 and went on to study art in Paris. He moved to London in 1970 and opened his first shop in 1973 by buying out an existing shop called Zapata in Chelsea. His shoes, now sold in stores bearing his name around the world, range in price from about $500 to $2500. They often come with stiletto heels, which can reach as high as five and a half inches, and embellishments like beads or ribbons. The television show Sex and the City mentioned his shoes so often that it helped cement his place in pop culture, and he was said to be the “fifth star” of the show after the show’s four lead actresses.
Jimmy Choo: A Hakka Chinese shoe designer based in London and is best known for his exquisitely hand-made, incredibly expensive shoes and handbags. Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia, and studied at Cordwainers’ Technical College. Born into a family of shoemakers, it comes as no surprise that he created his first shoe at the tender age of 11. A piece of trivia that most people are unaware of is that Jimmy Choo’s name is actually Jimmy Chow. When he was born the registrar spelled his name incorrectly on his birth certificate, resulting in the now well-known name of Jimmy Choo - a name that makes shoe- savvy women swoon. In May of 1996 Tamara Mellon, former UK Vogue accessories editor, bought 50% of Choo’s company and she along with Choo’s niece, Sandra Choi, then launched the ready-to-wear line. Since then the company has expanded across the globe and garnered a slew of celebrity clientele. The late Diana, Princess of Wales, was a huge fan of Choo’s designs. He is said to have lost count of the number of shoes he made for Princess Diana. After she separated from Prince Charles she was frequently seen out and about in his delicate high-heeled shoes, a style that she could not wear when she was still with her shorter husband. In June 2003, Jimmy Choo was awarded an OBE by the Queen of England, for his services in making London the design center of the world for the fashion industry.
Just to name a few…
