District L

This Pre-Fall 2012 season, Alice + Olivia just returned from Paris and they want to tell you all about it. They’re back in their knit berets, round black sunglasses, and 60s-printed sheaths, informing you how many crepes they ate and showing you every single picture they took. And even though they were only gone for a few weeks, they somehow managed to come back with an indistinguishable accent and a tendency to overuse phrases like, “C'est la vie!” and “N'est-ce pas?”

That’s right… their trip was “like, literally, life-changing,” and they won’t let you forget it. So, the least they can do is wrap up a fur-trim cape or floor-length accordion skirt and place it under our Christmas tree, right?

Post by Amanda LaMela

Topshop Heartschallenger Van Gives Out Free Topshop Goody-bags

District L is just as excited as every other twittering, line standing, fashion obsessed New Yorker about the grand opening of TopShop in Soho today; we spent a considerable amount of time in the UK last year and came to love them for providing clothing that went above and beyond the commonly held conception about "fast fashion" quality (think of any H&M thing you bought last year- what happened to it? Exactly.)

One of the advantages that fast clothing chains have over other retailers is that they receive something in the neighborood of 10 shipments annually. Plain old vanilla wonder bread locales like J. Crew and Gap still get the regular 3 or 4, making it rather difficult to keep up. And when someone like Kate Moss swoops in and designs a diffusion line, like she did for TopShop, you've got a lot of stepping up to do.

So sounds great right? It would seem though that the introduction of TopShop to the states is a double edged sword. Yes, you're introducing a new wellspring of fabulous, well designed and affordable fashion to the United States. But you're also introducing a new wellspring fabulous, well designed and affordable fashion to everyone in the United States. It makes me shudder, some of the sundry fashion faux pas that I can forsee innocent TopShop clothing playing unwittingly into.

Also- do we really want places like American Eagle and Abercrombie stepping up their game and infiltrating the collection American fashion conscience even more than necessary with their tacky clobber?

After Peter Som famously stepped down from his position as creative director at Bill Blass, which was owned by NexCen Brands at the time, we've heard nary a pindrop from the great American sportswear house.

Well apparently, the Bill Blass name has now come under the control of Korean company Peacock International Holdings L.C.C. who, according to WWD, are currently on the hunt for a new creative director to spearhead the re-launch of the Bill Blass brand.

How refreshing! Let's hope Peacock's management doesn't butt heads with whomever they decide to bring on board as much as NexCen did with Peter Som.

Saks Fifth Avenue Previews Bill Blass Fall 2008 Collection

Saks Fifth Avenue Previews Bill Blass Fall 2008 Collection