Fashion

Kathleen Ruiz Creates Division to Take on Global Event Production

Published

2 weeks ago

March 14, 2023

Kathleen Ruiz has had a productive consulting career since leaving Hudson’s Bay Co. and its Saks Fifth Avenue division.

Ruiz, the former senior vice president of partnerships and media for Hudson’s Bay and vice president of marketing for Saks, formed KRW Consulting in 2017, shortly after exiting the retailer.

And now, she’s forming KRW Productions, a new events division to provide clients with global event production, strategy, marketing and management.

Although the consulting firm had always produced events, by creating a separate division, the company can take on larger-scale productions in the U.S. and internationally, Ruiz said. The plan is to manage all aspects of the event, from concept and logistics to marketing and execution. “If that means helping you build your guest list, inviting influencers, garnering media buzz or developing your event advertising strategy, we are with you every step of the way,” Ruiz said. “We don’t start and stop when the event does.”

Kuiz said KRW Consulting has “produced dozens of events across multiple industries since its inception in 2017, most recently, a large-scale fashion show in Tampa featuring Sachin & Babi’s spring 2023 collection to celebrate the new Ritz Carlton Residences by The Related Group. Other events have included a series of beauty launch activations across the country, press preview events in New York, London, and a global fashion production in Riyadh celebrating Saudi designers.” There have also been smaller-scale, intimate events, such as top client dinners and exclusive trunk shows.

“Post-pandemic when things started opening up and people wanted to do more in-person events, we started seeing an increased demand for event services,” Ruiz said. “It was then we decided to expand our capabilities and offer a new division hyper-focused on this area of growth.

“By allocating additional resources and expertise to event marketing and production, we will have the ability to not only take on more types of events but also larger scale events on a global stage,” noted Ruiz.

The new division will also be adding some new faces, she said. “We are bringing on experts in event production and logistics with the goal of providing an exceptional experience for our clients and their guests.” She said she is in the process of finalizing some hires now.

KRW employs a team that includes former Saks executives Gretchen Manolakis, Cara Fratto and Steven Salton as well as Emily Crinage, formerly of MM Luxe Consulting and the chief of staff at Fernbrook Capital Management.

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Fashion

Claire McCardell’s American Style to Be Spotlighted at Museum at FIT

Published

4 hours ago

March 29, 2023

ironity

The renewed interest in the work of Claire McCardell is still going strong, with the Museum at FIT gearing up for Wednesday’s opening of “Claire McCardell: Practicality, Liberation, Innovation.”

Decades have passed since the designer pioneered the American look, but her influence on American sportswear prevails. Zippers, pockets, ballet flats and wrap dresses were all part of the designer’s arsenals of firsts. Tory Burch, whose spring-summer 2022 collection was inspired by McCardell, is a champion of her work. Somehow, 65 years after her death in 1958 at the age of 52, the designer’s work is gaining more interest with new generations of creatives.

Strong-willed and pragmatic, McCardell’s indelible mark — the understated (but not undone) casual American look — was forward-thinking in the previously cookie-cutter dressing of the mid-’50s. Well-proportioned and affordable, her clothes, which spanned from bathing suits to ready-to-wear, were designed with a wide range of body types in mind. Understanding that “clothes may make the woman, but the woman can also make the clothes,” McCardell once said, “When the dress runs away with the woman, it’s a horror.”

Nine McCardell-crafted garments drawn from the Study Collection at the Museum at FIT will be on display through April 16 on the FIT campus. Seniors in the school’s art history and museum professions undergraduate program Nico Frederick, Christina Pene, and Emma Sosebee have curated the show, which also includes reproductions of advertising,

In addition to the student-curated show at the Museum at FIT, the “Claire McCardell” exhibition is on view at the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Museum in Baltimore through November. McCardell’s designs are featured with family letters, interviews and archival documents. The show was curated by the Tory Burch Claire McCardell fashion fellow Robyn Levy, whose fellowship was made possible by the Tory Burch Foundation. Last year Burch penned the foreword for the reissue of McCardell’s 1956 book “What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When and How Much of Fashion.”

On another front, the Museum at FIT will unveil “¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today” on May 31. The exhibition will celebrate the work of designers of Latin American descent including stalwarts like Aldolfo Sardiña, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Edmundo Castillo, Victor Alfaro, and Haider Ackermann, as well as Willy Chavarria, Maria Cornejo, Isabel Toledo, Gabriela Hearst, Jonathan Cohen, Nous Etudions’ Romina Cardillo, Luar’s Raul Lopez and Kika Vargas. With text in English and Spanish, the show will feature 60 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, including multiple new acquisitions. The show will run through Nov. 12.

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Fashion

Diane von Furstenberg Exhibition Slated for Brussels Fashion & Lace Museum

Published

5 hours ago

March 29, 2023

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Diane von Furstenberg will be the subject of an upcoming exhibition at The Fashion and Lace Museum in Brussels, where the designer was born.

“Woman Before Fashion,” which will be on view from April 21 to Jan. 7, 2024, will explore von Furstenberg’s career in fashion with a focus on the iconic wrap dress, as the silhouette prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024.

The museum’s curator, Nicolas Lor, has divided the exhibition into four chapters, recognizing von Furstenberg as both a person and a designer. The pieces presented in the exhibition came from the archives of the House of Diane von Furstenberg.

“It is both exciting and emotional to be honored with the first European exhibition of my work in my native city, Brussels,” said von Furstenberg.

The Fashion & Lace Museum, founded in 1977, is housed in a group of historic houses in the heart of Brussels close to the Grand-Place. It holds some 20,000 items. Lace, clothing and accessories are on display dating from the 16th century. Its collections are the most important in the world for Brussels’ creation and clothing.

As reported, Lor has also written a book called “Woman Before Fashion,” which will be published by Rizzoli in late September and ties in with the exhibition. The book features nostalgic and contemporary photographs of DVF’s journey as a designer, featuring original essays discussing the intersection of DVF and her designs with feminism, gender politics and entrepreneurship. It also shows the wrap dress worn by DVF, and models such as Jerry Hall, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford.

In addition, von Furstenberg is the subject of a documentary being directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Pakistani-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and activist, which will be out in January on Hulu.

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Fashion

G-Star Raw Releases AI-designed Denim Collection

Published

10 hours ago

March 28, 2023

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G-Star Raw is going deeper into the technology space with its latest denim launch.

The fashion brand on Tuesday released an AI-designed denim collection that was created with AI app Midjourney. With the app, G-Star Raw created 12 cape-like denim designs and ultimately manufactured one style, which will be displayed at the brand’s Antwerp store.

“Innovation is ingrained in the G-Star DNA,” said Gwenda van Vliet, chief merchandising officer at G-Star Raw. “We believe in giving our fashion designers the freedom to bring their dreams through AI. While anyone could make a design using AI, at G-Star Raw we have the craftsmanship to make those designs into real garments. We should see AI as enhancing the creative process, rather than taking it over.”

G-Star Raw’s AI-designed denim collection falls in line with the recent wave of AI technology infiltrating the fashion industry. There have been apps such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which are art and image generators, and ChatGPT, which generates elaborate written responses based on a user’s prompt.

While these AI platforms are still new to the fashion world, some companies have already started embracing them. For example, Pantone looked to Midjourney last December to create an immersive visual experience for its 2023 Pantone color of the year, Viva Magenta.

The AI-designed collection is also G-Star Raw’s first major initiative of the year. Last year the brand introduced a “Haute Denim” hat collection created by designer Stephen Jones. The brand also released a campaign last fall featuring model Cara Delevingne for its fall denim campaign.

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