Fashion Business Club

SECOND ANNUAL WGSN GLOBAL FASHION AWARDS ANNOUNCE OPEN ENTRY

WGSN will once again honour fashion’s most inspirational and innovative at the second annual Global Fashion Awards in New York City. The Global Fashion Awards were created by WGSN in 2010 to recognise and reward those who are pushing the boundaries of fashion, propelling the industry forward and setting the style agenda on a global scale. The second annual WGSN Global Fashion Awards open entry launches today and is a call for all individuals and businesses working across the fashion industry around the world. Entries can be made online via www.globalfashionawards.com.

“The WGSN Global Fashion Awards celebrate the fashion industry as a completely connected, global platform.  In order to be successful in this universe, one needs the talents and expertise of a wide variety of players, from designers to business leaders, retailers to editors and marketers to models – it takes a whole village…but a very chic one”. Fern Mallis, Founder of New York Fashion Week

The shortlist will be announced in London at a party on the 20th of June at the St Martins Lane Hotel and the winners will be announced at a ceremony that will take place at the Global Fashion Awards’ larger and more fabulous new venue, Gotham Hall in New York City on the 20th of October in front of an audience of fashion’s most influential industry insiders.

“As a creative company, we are constantly looking for new experiences. Getting in contact with new realities, markets, cultures and interesting people is our every day basis. Since WGSN has clients all over the world, the Global Fashion Awards exposure and event was great for us and our clients who joined us on the journey”. Fernanda Pigatto, Institutional Relationship Manager, La Estampa

This year’s categories will again encompass all major business and creative disciplines in fashion including design, retail (off and online), buying, visual merchandising, store design, marketing and ethical practice. The WGSN Global Fashion Awards are the first and only awards that recognise these achievements on a global scale.

The winners will be selected by an expert panel of judges, made up of some of the most prominent people in the fashion and style industries, including designers, buying directors, stylists, merchants and marketing executives. The judges’ panel was carefully selected by WGSN to ensure impartiality and global expertise. The 2011 panel includes:

Chee Au, Chief Creative Officer, Shanghai Tang

June Haynes, Senior Vice President of Retail, Valentino USA

Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz, Creative Directors, Bally

Orsola de Castro, Founder and Curator of the British Fashion Council’s Estethica

Dolly Jones, Editor, VOGUE.COM UK

Simon Kneen, Creative Director and Executive Vice President of Design, Banana Republic

Averyl Oates, Buying Director, Harvey Nichols – Menswear, Womenswear and Accessories

Jana Ririnui, Founder and Director, Academy of Freelance Makeup

William Tempest, Founder and Designer, William Tempest

Daisy de Villeneuve, Illustrator, Designer and Writer

Rebekah Roy, Fashion & Celebrity Stylist

“The landscape of the fashion industry has become more transparent and open. The Internet and social media have fostered new relationships, opportunities and means of operation for fashion businesses and exposed the fashion marketplace to a new global consumer. As the largest and foremost style and design forecaster, WGSN is charged with finding and honouring the world’s idea-makers – the ones whose actions and influence inspire the fashion industry and the broader consumer market”. Susanna Kempe, CEO of WGSN

For more press information on the WGSN Global Fashion Awards and to register your interest, please contact Courtney Blackman. Email: courtney.blackman@forwardpr.com Phone: +44 20 7839 5059

About WGSN

WGSN is the global authority on style and design. The company identifies and analyzes current and future style trends and provides its customers with state-of-the-art online tools that that can be used to create commercially successful products and services. WGSN defines and shapes wining style and design for over 36,000 customers globally. WGSN customers include many of the world’s leading apparel, style, design and retail companies including Levi Strauss & Co., Adidas, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, Benetton Group, and Marks and Spencers, among others. WGSN is head quartered in London and has offices all over the world including Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.wgsn.com. Follow WGSN on Twitter: @wgsn.

FBC board member and illustrator Daisy de Villeneuve sits on the Fine Cell Work committee. Fine Cell Work is a social enterprise that teaches tapestry to prison inmates and sells their products! Daisy will be donating a number of designs which the prisoners will then turn into tapestries and cushions.

Fine Cell Work is having a Christmas Emporium. There are cushions, throws, quilts, cosies, bags and cute patchwork items made by inmates in 30 of the UK’s prisons.  The homeware collections are created by leading names in design such as Charlene Mullen, Kaffe Fassett, Cath Kidston and Nicky Haslam providing diverse styles and patterns.

Items  are on sale November 10th at 20th Century Yheatre, 291 Westbourne Grove, London www.finecellwork.co.uk

FBC’s media partner VOGUE.COM is hosting Fashion’s Night In, where shoppers will be the first to shop exclusive collections created especially for the event.

FBC board member and VOGUE.COM editor Dolly Jones says that VOGUE.COM is, “delighted to be in a position to undertake this enterprise and to bring the world of online fashion into the hands of dedicated shoppers for this unique and exciting occasion. It’s a first for the online community and we’re incredibly proud to be its host.”

Among the participating leading e-tailers will be my-wardrobe.com. On the night, shoppers will be able to see inside the wardrobes of some of the industry’s most stylish women and they will be able to click-to-buy looks straight from a live catwak show streaming on the site. Shoppers can also look forward to gifts with purchase and fabulous competition prizes.

FBC member and my-wardrobe.com founder and CEO, Sarah Curran comments, “We are thrilled to be working with VOGUE.COM to pioneer the launch of the first ever Fashion’s Night In. Following the success of the global Fashion’s Night Out, Fashion’s Night In is going to be a unique event in the fashion calendar, which brings together leading e-tailers on a global platform for one night only, celebrating the phenomenal growth of fashion e-tail.

Our focus has always been centred around the customer experience and for Fashion’s Night In, we are creating an exceptionally unique and unforgettable online shopping experience for the my-wardrobe.com shopper.”

Also participating, FBC blog editor and fashion & celebrity stylist Rebekah Roy will be a special guest in my-wardrobe’s Style Surgery, giving advice to my-wardrobe customers and FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve will be filmed for MY-TV, showing her favourite wardrobe itmes, her must-haves for the season and choosing an item from my-wardrobe for the AW10 season that shoppers can win during Fashion’s Night In.

Matches, where FBC member Frances Card is the merchandise director, will launch Lulu Kennedy’s debut Lulu & Co collection exclusively online during the event and ten per cent of the night’s sales will go to KidsCo.

FBC members can look forward to the big night on November 1^st and for more information on Fashion’s Night In visit www.vogue.co.uk

From dresses to jumpsuits to handbags, FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve’s custom designed prints grace almost everything in Zac Posen’s diffusion line, Z Spoke, which was shown on the catwalk for the first time during New York Fashion Week.

“For Spring, Z Spoke has a decidedly young, cartoon-y and slightly madcap sensibility, partly via illustrator Daisy de Villeneuve’s kooky-chic prints of smiling fruit, and a Celia Birtwell-esque motif of multi-culti faces,” says Meenal Mistry on Style.com,

Read the full review here: Daisy de Villeneuve for Z Spoke

Images from Style.com by Yannis Vlamos / GoRunway.com

Official Z Spoke invitation in original Daisy de Villeneuve print with Daisy de Villeneuve signature

Neely Reyes (centre) and Ian Warren (far right) with models and staff

FBC‘ers turned out in their fashion finery on Wednesday night as fellow members and managing partners of Sapphires Model Management hosted their London launch party in the Billiard Room of the Sanderson.

The event was packed thick with with the industry’s finest from Sapphires’ Neely Reyes and Ian Warren to models, fashion stylists and editors, film directors, designers and artists.

Daisy de Villeneve & Neely Reyes

Amongst the guests were FBC members: Rita Nazareno, FBC membership director & special projects manager of S.C. Vizcarra; Daisy de Villeneuve, FBC board member, illustrator, designer & writer; Courtney Blackman, FBC co-chair and MD of Forward PR; Giovanna Velasquez, founder & creative director of Magenta 8; Rebekah Roy, FBC blog edior, fashion stylist & creative director; Daniella Steadman, FBCtv’s new producer and executive producer of fashion & beauty at Love; Frances Card, merchandise manager at Matches & Drapers blogger; Sam Fearn, MD of Fearnhurst PR & founder of Fashion Press Week; Martyn Roberts & John Walford of Vauxhall Fashion Scout; myself, Anne Look, fashion stylist and blogger; and Rachael Sardelich, head of fashion & beauty at Morgans Hotels.

Rebekah Roy & John Walford

The two-hour event, commemorating the opening of Sapphires’ Soho office, spilled over into nearly five hours as guests chatted to background music mixed by internationally renowned DJ, Jeffrey Louis-Reed and sipped cocktails made from Aussie Spirits’ Vodka O & Kinky Rum, and Jameson Irish Whiskey.

Guests countered the cocktails with Mojito, chocolate-banana and coconut-lime cupcakes from Sweetie Darling’s (the Mojito cupcake was possibly the best). The VIP gift bags were overflowing with beauty products, drinks, sumptuous vouchers, a lovely handwritten scroll from Neely and Ian, and even clothes!

DJ Jeffrey Louis-Reed with Anne Look & Rachael Sardelich

Neely and Ian were delighted at the overwhelming turnout. “We’re very grateful to have the support of so many leading industry figures,” says Neely, “Sapphires’ move to Soho is a big step for the company and we can’t wait to see where this new adventure takes us.”

Congratulations, Neely & Ian!

An interview with Ian Warren,  FBC member and managing partner of  Sapphires Model Management. Ian is also a prolific writer and will be the guest FBC Blog editor for the July 29 Edward Enninful/Michael Herz meeting.

How did you come to run your own modeling agency?

I come from an online retail background and my career moves have always been in the fashion industry. I knew Neely Reyes (the founder of Sapphires) from university and we spoke extensively about her idea to open an ethical boutique agency. Our skill sets seemed to uncannily mesh; the areas where Neely would need help were my strengths and vice versa. We decided to put our heads together and Sapphires Model Management was born! Five years on and we’re very proud of the agency. We’ve managed to work with Selfridges, House of Fraser, Umberto Giannini, Uniqlo with FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve, the Drapers/WGSN Fashion Summit 2009 with FBC member Lauretta Roberts, and Harvey Nichols with FBC member Anne Look. We’ve just opened a London office, which we’ll be celebrating next week at the Sanderson, and we have some exciting projects up our sleeve, so stay tuned for more details.

What did you do before Sapphires?

I was the website manager for a big high street retailer that is no longer with us (although I maintain I had nothing to do with it’s downfall!). Although the work was enjoyable, the job was very restrictive. Saying that though, I learned a lot and at the very least I have a story about the spectacular collapse of a fashion brand that will make a great novel someday!

What is a typical day like for a partner of a modeling agency?

Most of the day is spent meeting clients and models, interpreting briefs and organising castings and bookings. We also spend time planning shoots for our models. We are still very hands on at the agency so we spend a lot of time thinking about PR projects with the lovely Courtney Blackman, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman of FBC who is actually our PR. Finally, we always take the time out to make the occasional tweet or status update!

How does being part of FBC have a positive affect on your business?

FBC is a great networking tool and really has helped to expand our business. An FBC membership is like having the best contact book at your fingertips. We’ve referred some really good work to our fellow members and it’s great to be part of something so highly regarded within the industry!

Say hello to Ian on the 29th of July at Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ when FBC member and creative director of Bally, Michael Herz interviews superstar stylist and creative director, Edward Enninful. For details: membership@fashionbusinessclub.net or press@fashionbusinessclub.net

To celebrate the start of its Beauty Month, QVC has commissioned FBC member and illustrator Daisy de Villeneuve to create portraits of the top beauty icons… in make-up!
The subjects of Daisy’s portraits were chosen via a public vote. Using foundation, lipstick and mascara, Daisy created one off pieces of art and immortalised the top four leading ladies.

The make-up portraits will be auctioned by QVC with net proceeds being donated to Breast Cancer Care.
The top ten QVC Beauty Icons are;
1. Audrey Hepburn (13%)
2. Cheryl Cole (12%)
3. Marilyn Monroe (8%)
4. Angelina Jolie (6%)
5. Grace Kelly (5%)
6. Scarlett Johansson (4%)
7. Halle Berry (4%)
8. Princess Diana (3%)
9. Kelly Brook (3%)
10. Jennifer Aniston (2%)

The Sanderson’s Long Bar

The Sanderson celebrated their tenth anniversary and our board member Daisy de Villeneuve, was invited to sit on the executive committee along with industry mainstays including Jasmine Guinness, Olivia Inge, Nicholas Kirkwood, Richard Mortimer and Todd Lynn. All were at the event, centered around The Sanderson’s Long Bar and outside space where Florence + the Machine performed.

A photo booth was set up for added fun and we played a little game called ‘have your photo taken with two of FBC’s board members.’

We started easy with fellow FBC member and vice president of international sales and business development at Diane von Furstenberg, Gabriella Piccinni and handbag designer Ethan Koh. We then got Brian Jones, senior vice president of sales for the Morgans Hotel Group to join us; then model/actress, Camilla Rutherford for a Charlie’s Angels-inspired session, complete with wind machine. We capped it off with an FBC board members only shoot. Daisy is wearing Diane von Furstenberg and I’m in Jasper Garvida, with bags by FBC’s, Rita Nazareno and her label, S.C. Vizcarra.

*Overdone trend of the evening: very high knotted hair, on both women and (long-haired) men.

FBC board member Daisy de Villeneuve nipped over to New York to join an old friend – Zac Posen – for his launch for Target. Daisy wore a long, flowing red dress and nabbed herself a cool, red leather jacket from from the collection. Who else was there? Daisy shared the VIP section with Alek Wek, Patricia Field, Coco Rocha, Claire Danes, Selma Blair and Maggie Gyllenhall.

Read all about it on Style.com: Zac Posen’s Launch Party

NB – Daisy is working on getting Zac in as a guest speaker for FBC!

FBC board member, Daisy de Villeneuve is doing her first solo exhibition, In Her Shoes, at Liberty! With cult status in Britain and abroad, the designer/illustrator/author is looking forward to occupying Liberty’s 4th Floor with forty new works in pen and ink featuring things like clothing, handbags, perfume bottles, necklaces and shoes in her trademark style.

Daisy will also be launching her own label: D de V London, with a range of luxury scented candles. Each candle from the Daisy Rose collection will feature artwork from her show and will be available exclusively at Liberty until the show finishes. Then they’ll be available all over the UK!

Says Daisy, “I’m very excited to be showcasing my artwork at Liberty especially because it’s one of my all-time favourite British department stores. It’s the perfect place to launch my D de V London collection!”

The exhibition runs from 29 March through to the end of April, so get yourself to Liberty and get started on your own D de V London collection.

Congratulations, Daisy!