IT'S a warm evening and from this multi-million-dollar Manhattan apartment, the sun setting over Central Park and the New York skyline is magnificent.
The interior has exquisite furnishings and the walk-in wardrobe is filled with Chanel, Gucci and other designer clothes, shoes and handbags.
Thing is, it's not an apartment, but a set on TV drama Ringer, the twist-and-turn-laden drama starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as two characters - Siobhan and recovering addict twin Bridget Kelly.
The apartment is not in Manhattan. It's a set in Stage 3 on Los Angeles' landmark Culver Studios.
To make the balcony view realistic, a 24m x 6m canvas print of the sunset over the city skyline and Central Park was erected.
"I think we've done a pretty amazing job," Gellar says. "I mean, I'm a born and raised New Yorker and it's important to me that we keep not just the look of New York City but the feel of it."
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Ringer marked Gellar's return to starring in a TV series.
After her seven-year run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, she concentrated on films, but that changed in September 2009, with the birth of daughter Charlotte.
When the 34-year-old, married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr, was offered the roles of Siobhan and Bridget, and the opportunity to executive produce Ringer, she signed up.
With the series shot in LA, she could work and always be close to Charlotte.
"I realised, 'I can be somewhere the entire year. I can take my child for the first day of school'," she says.
"Two weeks ago my daughter was very sick and I got to go home and be with her."
Gellar created a creche on the Culver Studio lot so the actors and crew could bring their children to work.
2012年3月27日星期二
2012年2月22日星期三
Apex Worldwide Logistics Has a New Hire
The Apex Group of Companies, a global consortium of companies that are leaders in providing business consulting, insurance and financial services, manufacturing, vendor management, equipment supply and logistics to the renewable energy, naval, and defense sectors has hired Dionni De La Cruz as a new account manager for Apex Worldwide Logistics. Apex Worldwide Logistics is an integrated supplier committed to providing its customers with quality products and services, cost savings and on-time delivery, while providing superior service through its alliance partners with their respective distribution networks and state-of-the-art warehouse systems. Apex Worldwide Logistics has provided logistics solutions for various products from construction and farming equipment, to the procurement of diverse metals, minerals, and materials for clients both domestically and abroad.
Dionni brings a wealth of experience first as a sales manager at Kirkland's Department Store for home decor and uniquely distinctive gifts. It is here where she learned the fundamentals of high quality customer service and the skills necessary to process large quantity transactions, unload shipments, and track and maintain inventory. After receiving numerous employee of the month honors, Dionni left Kirkland's to pursue a job at Coach, Inc. a leading American designer and maker of luxury lifestyle handbags. Her job duties there included maintaining the stock room and working out the logistics involved with receiving and sending large volumes of shipments to their nearly 500 locations in the United States and Canada.
Apex Worldwide Logistics provides cost savings and efficiency in the supply chain to both customers and suppliers by serving as a procurement arm for customers as well as the marketing and selling arm for suppliers. With a focus on international logistics chain, Apex Worldwide Logistics connects both the customer and supplier in order to expedite products and services in the most efficient way possible consistently meeting the needs of our customers.
The Apex Group of Companies has a global focus on government agencies and Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries including Defense, Safety & Security, Healthcare, Finance, Shipbuilding, various lines of Insurance, Energy (Conservation, Aggregating & Trading), Oil & Gas, IT Solutions, Renewable Energy, and Engineering & Construction services. With global headquarters in Washington, DC and regional district offices located in the energy capital of the world, Houston, Texas - Apex Worldwide Logistics is well represented in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and South & Central Americas, supporting logistics for both customers and suppliers alike.
Dionni brings a wealth of experience first as a sales manager at Kirkland's Department Store for home decor and uniquely distinctive gifts. It is here where she learned the fundamentals of high quality customer service and the skills necessary to process large quantity transactions, unload shipments, and track and maintain inventory. After receiving numerous employee of the month honors, Dionni left Kirkland's to pursue a job at Coach, Inc. a leading American designer and maker of luxury lifestyle handbags. Her job duties there included maintaining the stock room and working out the logistics involved with receiving and sending large volumes of shipments to their nearly 500 locations in the United States and Canada.
Apex Worldwide Logistics provides cost savings and efficiency in the supply chain to both customers and suppliers by serving as a procurement arm for customers as well as the marketing and selling arm for suppliers. With a focus on international logistics chain, Apex Worldwide Logistics connects both the customer and supplier in order to expedite products and services in the most efficient way possible consistently meeting the needs of our customers.
The Apex Group of Companies has a global focus on government agencies and Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries including Defense, Safety & Security, Healthcare, Finance, Shipbuilding, various lines of Insurance, Energy (Conservation, Aggregating & Trading), Oil & Gas, IT Solutions, Renewable Energy, and Engineering & Construction services. With global headquarters in Washington, DC and regional district offices located in the energy capital of the world, Houston, Texas - Apex Worldwide Logistics is well represented in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and South & Central Americas, supporting logistics for both customers and suppliers alike.
2012年2月21日星期二
Tantrums and handbags with Pixie Lott and Lana Del Rey
Tantrums and handbags with Pixie Lott and Lana Del Rey - Dianne Bourne braves the front line at London Fashion Week
If you thought movies like The Devil Wears Prada rather overcooked the cut-throat nature of the fashion world, then think again. When it comes to the style hierarchy at London Fashion Week – the bi-annual showcase of the big seasonal trends – then expect elbows sharper than a towering Christian Louboutin stiletto. Especially if you are an A list star expecting a seat right on the front row – or 'Frow' as the fash pack like to call it. For me, on my first visit to London Fashion Week on behalf of the M.E.N., I was braced for frostiness and diva demands. But I wasn't expecting to encounter a full-blown outbreak of handbags at dawn. And how ironic it should come at the Mulberry show – whose most famous product is those super-bling bags.
For alas, there were one too many celebrities at this glitzy event, and when socialite Pixie Geldof and chart-topper Pixie Lott were coveting that last teensy space on the fur-covered front row something had to give. That something was pop star Pixie, and finding there was no room on said front row, she promptly spun on her heel and left the event rather than simply sitting in the, gulp, second row behind the likes of Oscar-winning actress Michelle Williams and US singer Lana Del Rey.
These shows are all invite-only affairs, but the sheer number of celebrities, journalists and fashion bloggers vying, nay, demanding their place on the 'Frow' can be a serious nightmare for organisers. One fashion insider told me, under strict rules of anonymity of course, that it can be an 'impossible jigsaw' trying to get the seating right at the big shows. “Everyone thinks they are 'frow-worthy', but when you are trying to fit in some of the world's biggest celebrities, opinion-formers and fashion editors you are looking at an impossible jigsaw,” he sighed. With hundreds of fragile egos to attend to, it's hardly a surprise there are plenty of diva strops. Me, being a first timer and all, found myself at the monster-themed Mulberry show on the very furthest furry bench from the catwalk.
We had both opted for all-black ensembles for the occasion, in my case mainly to try to fade into the background and escape the wrath of any eagle-eyed fashionistas who might have noticed my dress was most definitely from 'last season'. My colleague, a seasoned attendee at fashion week, laughed: “There's no point trying to compete with the fashionistas, so it's always safer to wear black – and sunglasses.” Ah yes, sunglasses. I was warned before I came that these are obligatory – even in the darkened rooms of most catwalk shows. Meanwhile even at the more fringey-fashion events at this year's extravaganza I watched a-gog as style people threw their weight around to gain a place on that all-important 'Frow'.
If you thought movies like The Devil Wears Prada rather overcooked the cut-throat nature of the fashion world, then think again. When it comes to the style hierarchy at London Fashion Week – the bi-annual showcase of the big seasonal trends – then expect elbows sharper than a towering Christian Louboutin stiletto. Especially if you are an A list star expecting a seat right on the front row – or 'Frow' as the fash pack like to call it. For me, on my first visit to London Fashion Week on behalf of the M.E.N., I was braced for frostiness and diva demands. But I wasn't expecting to encounter a full-blown outbreak of handbags at dawn. And how ironic it should come at the Mulberry show – whose most famous product is those super-bling bags.
For alas, there were one too many celebrities at this glitzy event, and when socialite Pixie Geldof and chart-topper Pixie Lott were coveting that last teensy space on the fur-covered front row something had to give. That something was pop star Pixie, and finding there was no room on said front row, she promptly spun on her heel and left the event rather than simply sitting in the, gulp, second row behind the likes of Oscar-winning actress Michelle Williams and US singer Lana Del Rey.
These shows are all invite-only affairs, but the sheer number of celebrities, journalists and fashion bloggers vying, nay, demanding their place on the 'Frow' can be a serious nightmare for organisers. One fashion insider told me, under strict rules of anonymity of course, that it can be an 'impossible jigsaw' trying to get the seating right at the big shows. “Everyone thinks they are 'frow-worthy', but when you are trying to fit in some of the world's biggest celebrities, opinion-formers and fashion editors you are looking at an impossible jigsaw,” he sighed. With hundreds of fragile egos to attend to, it's hardly a surprise there are plenty of diva strops. Me, being a first timer and all, found myself at the monster-themed Mulberry show on the very furthest furry bench from the catwalk.
We had both opted for all-black ensembles for the occasion, in my case mainly to try to fade into the background and escape the wrath of any eagle-eyed fashionistas who might have noticed my dress was most definitely from 'last season'. My colleague, a seasoned attendee at fashion week, laughed: “There's no point trying to compete with the fashionistas, so it's always safer to wear black – and sunglasses.” Ah yes, sunglasses. I was warned before I came that these are obligatory – even in the darkened rooms of most catwalk shows. Meanwhile even at the more fringey-fashion events at this year's extravaganza I watched a-gog as style people threw their weight around to gain a place on that all-important 'Frow'.
2012年2月16日星期四
Coach Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend
Coach, with headquarters in New York, is a leading American marketer of fine accessories and gifts for women and men, including handbags, men's bags, women's and men's small leathergoods, weekend and travel accessories, footwear, watches, outerwear, scarves, sunwear, fragrance, jewelry and related accessories. Coach is sold worldwide through Coach stores, select department stores and specialty stores, and through Coach's website at www.coach.com . Coach's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COH and Coach's Hong Kong Depositary Receipts are traded on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the symbol 6388.
Neither the Hong Kong Depositary Receipts nor the Hong Kong Depositary Shares evidenced thereby have been or will be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account of, a U.S. Person (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act), absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. Hedging transactions involving these securities may not be conducted unless in compliance with the Securities Act.
Neither the Hong Kong Depositary Receipts nor the Hong Kong Depositary Shares evidenced thereby have been or will be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account of, a U.S. Person (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act), absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. Hedging transactions involving these securities may not be conducted unless in compliance with the Securities Act.
2012年2月14日星期二
Fashion Retailer Michael Kors Rocks Q3 Earnings
Strong sales of leather handbags, watches and jewelry propelled Michael Kors (KORS) ahead of earnings estimates, with huge same-store sales growth in its first public earnings report Tuesday.
The luxury apparel and accessory retailer said its wholesale, retail and licensing divisions all saw growth, and it remains bullish going forward, on the spending strength of its more affluent clientele.
Michael Kors shares rocketed to fresh highs, rising 27.5% to 42.85. They debuted at 20 in December.
The fashion house reported earnings of 20 cents per share in its fiscal third quarter — 28 cents excluding one-time items. Analysts expected 9 cents. Revenue surged 68% to $373.6 million. Sales at stores open more than a year climbed 38% in North America and 34% in Europe.
Michael Kors sees fourth-quarter EPS of 10 to 12 cents on revenue of $350 million to $355 million. Analysts expect 11 cents per share on $347.4 million in sales.
The firm guided same-store sales growth of 25% to 30%. Margins would be slightly tighter due to markdowns, partially offset by a sales shift to higher-margin retail stores, the company said.
"The luxury segment continues to grow globally, and our positioning as an American lifestyle luxury brand will enable us to continue our global expansion," CEO John Idol said in a conference call with analysts.
Michael Kors is named after its founder — a fashion designer and "Project Runway" reality show judge. It sells $300 purses, $500 suede jumpsuits, and other must-haves for young aspirational buyers.
It ended the quarter with 231 retail stores, up from 156 a year ago. Retail sales climbed 83% to $199.4 million.
Michael Kors is headquartered in Hong Kong, but its products are sold in 2,300 department stores and other retailers in the U.S. and Europe. Wholesale division sales climbed 55% to $154.6 million.
Royalty revenue grew 44% to $19.6 million.
The quarter benefited from a slight shift to higher-margin retail and European sales.
Europe's economic woes have not hurt, the company said. And rising commodity costs had a minimal impact
The brand is still building awareness and cache, said Robert W. Baird analyst Erika Maschmeyer. And new products keep existing customers coming back. "They're finding incremental ways to get women to open their pocketbooks," she said.
Also Tuesday, watch and accessory retailer Fossil (FOSL) beat earnings forecasts and rocketed 15% to 119.82, a six-month high.
Fossil supplies Michael Kors with its branded watches that retail for $150 to $500. Fossil also supplies necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry that Michael Kors sells for $45 to $400.
Kors said jewelry sales are on track to reach the targeted 5% of sales at its free-standing stores.
"We don't know how high is high because we ran out of product, quite frankly," Idol said in the conference call.
Luxury handbag and accessories maker and retailer Coach (COH) rose fractionally to a fresh high. The upscale company reported better-than-expected quarterly results last month.
The luxury apparel and accessory retailer said its wholesale, retail and licensing divisions all saw growth, and it remains bullish going forward, on the spending strength of its more affluent clientele.
Michael Kors shares rocketed to fresh highs, rising 27.5% to 42.85. They debuted at 20 in December.
The fashion house reported earnings of 20 cents per share in its fiscal third quarter — 28 cents excluding one-time items. Analysts expected 9 cents. Revenue surged 68% to $373.6 million. Sales at stores open more than a year climbed 38% in North America and 34% in Europe.
Michael Kors sees fourth-quarter EPS of 10 to 12 cents on revenue of $350 million to $355 million. Analysts expect 11 cents per share on $347.4 million in sales.
The firm guided same-store sales growth of 25% to 30%. Margins would be slightly tighter due to markdowns, partially offset by a sales shift to higher-margin retail stores, the company said.
"The luxury segment continues to grow globally, and our positioning as an American lifestyle luxury brand will enable us to continue our global expansion," CEO John Idol said in a conference call with analysts.
Michael Kors is named after its founder — a fashion designer and "Project Runway" reality show judge. It sells $300 purses, $500 suede jumpsuits, and other must-haves for young aspirational buyers.
It ended the quarter with 231 retail stores, up from 156 a year ago. Retail sales climbed 83% to $199.4 million.
Michael Kors is headquartered in Hong Kong, but its products are sold in 2,300 department stores and other retailers in the U.S. and Europe. Wholesale division sales climbed 55% to $154.6 million.
Royalty revenue grew 44% to $19.6 million.
The quarter benefited from a slight shift to higher-margin retail and European sales.
Europe's economic woes have not hurt, the company said. And rising commodity costs had a minimal impact
The brand is still building awareness and cache, said Robert W. Baird analyst Erika Maschmeyer. And new products keep existing customers coming back. "They're finding incremental ways to get women to open their pocketbooks," she said.
Also Tuesday, watch and accessory retailer Fossil (FOSL) beat earnings forecasts and rocketed 15% to 119.82, a six-month high.
Fossil supplies Michael Kors with its branded watches that retail for $150 to $500. Fossil also supplies necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry that Michael Kors sells for $45 to $400.
Kors said jewelry sales are on track to reach the targeted 5% of sales at its free-standing stores.
"We don't know how high is high because we ran out of product, quite frankly," Idol said in the conference call.
Luxury handbag and accessories maker and retailer Coach (COH) rose fractionally to a fresh high. The upscale company reported better-than-expected quarterly results last month.
2012年2月13日星期一
Ringer perfect for Gellar's new life
It is a warm evening and from the balcony of the multi-million dollar upper-east side Manhattan apartment the sun can be seen setting over Central Park and the New York skyline.
It is a magnificent sight.
The apartment's interior is also easy on the eye, with wall-to-wall affluence making it any New Yorker's dream abode.
The furnishings are exquisite and the walk-in closet in the master bedroom is filled with Chanel, Gucci, Elie Tahari and other designer clothes, shoes and handbags.
The lucky inhabitants are Andrew and Siobhan Martin.
Well, not really.
Mr and Ms Martin don't live in the apartment. Mr and Ms Martin don't exist. It is not an actual apartment.
The apartment is a set and Mr and Ms Martin are characters in the TV series Ringer, the twist-and-turn laden drama starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays two characters - Siobhan and her recovering addict identical twin sister Bridget Kelly.
Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd plays Andrew Martin.
The apartment is not located on Manhattan's upper-east side, but is a set in Stage 3 on Los Angeles' landmark Culver Studios, a 94-year-old complex where film classics including Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca were made.
The magic continues with Ringer, with great detail invested in the apartment and other sets by production designers and set decorators.
To make the Martins' balcony view realistic, a 24 metre by six metre canvas print of the sunset over the city skyline and Central Park was erected.
"I think we've done a pretty amazing job," Gellar said in a recent interview on the studio lot.
"I mean, I'm a born and raised New Yorker and it's important to me that we keep not just the look of New York City, but the feel of it."
Ringer marked the return of Gellar to a starring role in a TV series.
After her seven-year run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, she concentrated on film projects, but that changed in September, 2009, with the birth of daughter, Charlotte.
The 34-year-old, who is married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr, found the jet-setting needed to work on movies did not fit her philosophy in raising Charlotte, so when the opportunity to star as twins Siobhan and Bridget, and executive produce Ringer, was offered she signed up.
"That was the first time pretty much in my entire life that I had taken time off and I couldn't believe how happy I was and how satisfied that I was, being at home and sort of experiencing the other side of life that I hadn't for so long," Gellar said of her almost two-year hiatus raising Charlotte.
With the series shot in LA, she could work and always be close to her daughter.
"I realised, 'Wait a second. I can be somewhere the entire year. I can take my child for the first day of school'.
"Two weeks ago my daughter was very sick and I got to go home and be with her and we were able to work around it so that I could be there when she needed me.
"As soon as she was getting better I could come back and that's just not a lifestyle that's really offered anywhere else.
"Then you combine that with the lack of female roles in films, it just seemed like the perfect time and then it's just a matter of finding the right project."
Ringer began with Bridget six months sober. Her life, however, was turned upside down when she witnessed a professional hit by mobsters. Authorities placed her in federal protection for her own safety, but frightened, she fled to New York where she met up with twin, Siobahn.
When Siobahn went missing, Bridget took her sister's identity and discovered Siobahn's marriage was on the rocks and she had been having an affair with her best friend's husband.
"It's really interesting because there I am playing these two characters when I sort of feel like for the first time in my life I'm leading two lives," Gellar said of her new dual role of actress and mother.
Gellar created a creche on the Culver Studio lot so the actors and crew could bring their children to work, something Gruffudd took advantage of with his daughter Ella, just 13 days older than Charlotte.
"Sarah has erected a beautiful little playroom for them to all play together whenever they're here," Gruffudd said.
Shooting a series in LA that is set in New York had plenty of hurdles, but Gellar said downtown LA and the Paramount studio lot successfully filled in for the urban landscape of Manhattan. Although, LA's heat caused problems when shooting an outside New York winter scene.
"Downtown LA is pretty spectacular these days and we're very careful with the taxi cabs and making sure there are no buses and getting the trees out and really sticking true to what that is, even if it means that we're sweating in downtown LA in coats and hats and gloves while it's ninety degrees (32 degrees Celsius) in Los Angeles," she said.
It is a magnificent sight.
The apartment's interior is also easy on the eye, with wall-to-wall affluence making it any New Yorker's dream abode.
The furnishings are exquisite and the walk-in closet in the master bedroom is filled with Chanel, Gucci, Elie Tahari and other designer clothes, shoes and handbags.
The lucky inhabitants are Andrew and Siobhan Martin.
Well, not really.
Mr and Ms Martin don't live in the apartment. Mr and Ms Martin don't exist. It is not an actual apartment.
The apartment is a set and Mr and Ms Martin are characters in the TV series Ringer, the twist-and-turn laden drama starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays two characters - Siobhan and her recovering addict identical twin sister Bridget Kelly.
Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd plays Andrew Martin.
The apartment is not located on Manhattan's upper-east side, but is a set in Stage 3 on Los Angeles' landmark Culver Studios, a 94-year-old complex where film classics including Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca were made.
The magic continues with Ringer, with great detail invested in the apartment and other sets by production designers and set decorators.
To make the Martins' balcony view realistic, a 24 metre by six metre canvas print of the sunset over the city skyline and Central Park was erected.
"I think we've done a pretty amazing job," Gellar said in a recent interview on the studio lot.
"I mean, I'm a born and raised New Yorker and it's important to me that we keep not just the look of New York City, but the feel of it."
Ringer marked the return of Gellar to a starring role in a TV series.
After her seven-year run on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, she concentrated on film projects, but that changed in September, 2009, with the birth of daughter, Charlotte.
The 34-year-old, who is married to actor Freddie Prinze Jr, found the jet-setting needed to work on movies did not fit her philosophy in raising Charlotte, so when the opportunity to star as twins Siobhan and Bridget, and executive produce Ringer, was offered she signed up.
"That was the first time pretty much in my entire life that I had taken time off and I couldn't believe how happy I was and how satisfied that I was, being at home and sort of experiencing the other side of life that I hadn't for so long," Gellar said of her almost two-year hiatus raising Charlotte.
With the series shot in LA, she could work and always be close to her daughter.
"I realised, 'Wait a second. I can be somewhere the entire year. I can take my child for the first day of school'.
"Two weeks ago my daughter was very sick and I got to go home and be with her and we were able to work around it so that I could be there when she needed me.
"As soon as she was getting better I could come back and that's just not a lifestyle that's really offered anywhere else.
"Then you combine that with the lack of female roles in films, it just seemed like the perfect time and then it's just a matter of finding the right project."
Ringer began with Bridget six months sober. Her life, however, was turned upside down when she witnessed a professional hit by mobsters. Authorities placed her in federal protection for her own safety, but frightened, she fled to New York where she met up with twin, Siobahn.
When Siobahn went missing, Bridget took her sister's identity and discovered Siobahn's marriage was on the rocks and she had been having an affair with her best friend's husband.
"It's really interesting because there I am playing these two characters when I sort of feel like for the first time in my life I'm leading two lives," Gellar said of her new dual role of actress and mother.
Gellar created a creche on the Culver Studio lot so the actors and crew could bring their children to work, something Gruffudd took advantage of with his daughter Ella, just 13 days older than Charlotte.
"Sarah has erected a beautiful little playroom for them to all play together whenever they're here," Gruffudd said.
Shooting a series in LA that is set in New York had plenty of hurdles, but Gellar said downtown LA and the Paramount studio lot successfully filled in for the urban landscape of Manhattan. Although, LA's heat caused problems when shooting an outside New York winter scene.
"Downtown LA is pretty spectacular these days and we're very careful with the taxi cabs and making sure there are no buses and getting the trees out and really sticking true to what that is, even if it means that we're sweating in downtown LA in coats and hats and gloves while it's ninety degrees (32 degrees Celsius) in Los Angeles," she said.
2012年2月6日星期一
A style full of Grace
FOR next month's Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition, Bendigo Art Gallery director Karen Quinlan wanted most to conjure the woman "to get a clear view of this ordinary person". Quinlan knew the refined, chaste elegance of Kelly's dresses and suits, sunglasses, shoes, handbags and gloves on the way to the gallery from London's Victoria and Albert Museum would convey volumes about her public persona but Quinlan wanted even more intimacy for her visitors. She wanted more "food for thought about this amazing woman who pre-dates all we know about celebrity today".
Quinlan saw Kelly's absence (Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco died in a car crash in 1982 at the age of 52) like a pressing item on her "to do" list, a vacuum that had to be filled.
Bendigo's tribute to Kelly consequently has more photos and filmed fragments from her public persona and private life, more evidence of her real body language and the way she looked when she thought no one was looking. There are more triggers, in other words, to nut out just how the language of Kelly's wardrobe worked for her and in its wider social, historic and cultural contexts.
"It's usually the hardest thing about displaying fashion: that absence," Quinlan says. "And remember here, we're dealing with the absence of a very special, real person."
Most of the mannequins to be dressed in about 40 of Kelly's gowns and outfits - which date from 1954 to the year before her death - for the Bendigo exhibition are headless to minimise distraction, to enable a kind of Brechtian "suspension of disbelief". We can mentally conjure Kelly in that suit or this gown on that day without a replica of her head adding to our sensory confusion. Or, so the theory goes.
"You'll be looking at those garments and you'll be imagining her there," Quinlan says.
Beyond the whimsical spectre of Kelly herself, there is also a doctorate's worth of data to deduce from her clothes. The exhibition traces her sartorial timeline from lean teen collegiate to elegant royal matron in garments from American and Parisian high-fashion collections including some by Madame Gres, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Chanel, Hermes and Oleg Cassini.
Quinlan saw Kelly's absence (Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco died in a car crash in 1982 at the age of 52) like a pressing item on her "to do" list, a vacuum that had to be filled.
Bendigo's tribute to Kelly consequently has more photos and filmed fragments from her public persona and private life, more evidence of her real body language and the way she looked when she thought no one was looking. There are more triggers, in other words, to nut out just how the language of Kelly's wardrobe worked for her and in its wider social, historic and cultural contexts.
"It's usually the hardest thing about displaying fashion: that absence," Quinlan says. "And remember here, we're dealing with the absence of a very special, real person."
Most of the mannequins to be dressed in about 40 of Kelly's gowns and outfits - which date from 1954 to the year before her death - for the Bendigo exhibition are headless to minimise distraction, to enable a kind of Brechtian "suspension of disbelief". We can mentally conjure Kelly in that suit or this gown on that day without a replica of her head adding to our sensory confusion. Or, so the theory goes.
"You'll be looking at those garments and you'll be imagining her there," Quinlan says.
Beyond the whimsical spectre of Kelly herself, there is also a doctorate's worth of data to deduce from her clothes. The exhibition traces her sartorial timeline from lean teen collegiate to elegant royal matron in garments from American and Parisian high-fashion collections including some by Madame Gres, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Chanel, Hermes and Oleg Cassini.
Designers scratch back, tell copycats to knock it off
Last summer, fashion designer Moriah Carlson noticed a woman wearing a dress printed with a series of crosshatched, tepee-type slashes pass by her on the street in Brooklyn. Ms. Carlson recognized the garment's print—it was a copyrighted design she and her business partner, Alice Wu, had created for the 2009 collection of their Brooklyn-based clothing label, Feral Childe. But the dress was unfamiliar.
After running into a colleague wearing the same item, Ms. Carlson discovered that Forever 21, the Los Angeles-based mass-market discount store, was selling its own line of tepee-printed apparel.
"We had gotten some great press from that collection, but we never thought we would see it in this context," said Ms. Wu, who along with Ms. Carlson is embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit with Forever 21. The retailer did not respond to calls requesting comment.
Trend goes mainstream
Knockoff designs, whether hanging on the racks at chain stores like Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters or selling via e-commerce sites, have graduated from back alleys to Main Street. Retail lawyers blame the increased use of the Internet as a shopping tool, as well as the shift in production from local facilities to overseas factories in countries such as China, where retailers have less control over manufacturing.
Each year, U.S. designers lose hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of copycat products, including handbags, printed apparel and jewelry. Many brands, such as Coach, employ entire departments to police the Internet and the brick-and-mortar landscape for counterfeits, while several apparel designers are working hard to win passage of legislation in Congress to protect their styles.
"The biggest thing is the Internet," said Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University School of Law. "Years ago, you used to have to sneak into a fashion show in Paris, then come back out and sketch from memory. Now the images are available instantaneously."
Fighting to protect your designs can be prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest companies. For Feral Childe, which generates less than $1 million in annual revenue, monitoring the masses for copycat looks is a near impossibility—it's simply too costly. But not so for Coach Inc. The $4.2 billion handbag company, along with Louis Vuitton and Chanel, is one of the most copied brands in the world. Each year, Coach spends millions of dollars to prevent counterfeit activity.
Investigators on the job
Three years ago, the Manhattan-based firm launched Operation Turnlock in an effort to curb such illegal activity. It now employs some 20 investigators who scour websites and stores for counterfeit Coach products. Since the program's debut, Coach has entered into 600 lawsuits. Todd Kahn, the company's general counsel, said the money is well spent.
Most bags are not protected by copyrights, but Coach does have trademark protection for its high-end Reed Krakoff Boxer bag, thanks to the purse's innovative shape. Already, just over a year into the Boxer's existence, Coach is enmeshed in three lawsuits over copycats of the bag.
"We're going to be very innovative and go after people," said Mr. Kahn. "If you sell counterfeits, we'll find you, we'll sue you, and we'll win."
Trademark protection is not available on all products, however. Generally, prints and jewelry are protected by copyrights, but not fashion designs, because of their functionality as clothing. Days after last month's Golden Globes, copies of Charlize Theron's pink Dior gown appeared online for under $500. Similarly, inexpensive knockoffs of Kate Middleton's wedding dress appeared two days after the royal wedding—all perfectly legal under American law.
"In Europe, those designs are protected, but in the U.S. they're not, and the result is that a designer comes out with a dress and the other stores come out with the exact duplicates," said Randy Lipsitz, a partner at law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
After running into a colleague wearing the same item, Ms. Carlson discovered that Forever 21, the Los Angeles-based mass-market discount store, was selling its own line of tepee-printed apparel.
"We had gotten some great press from that collection, but we never thought we would see it in this context," said Ms. Wu, who along with Ms. Carlson is embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit with Forever 21. The retailer did not respond to calls requesting comment.
Trend goes mainstream
Knockoff designs, whether hanging on the racks at chain stores like Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters or selling via e-commerce sites, have graduated from back alleys to Main Street. Retail lawyers blame the increased use of the Internet as a shopping tool, as well as the shift in production from local facilities to overseas factories in countries such as China, where retailers have less control over manufacturing.
Each year, U.S. designers lose hundreds of millions of dollars from sales of copycat products, including handbags, printed apparel and jewelry. Many brands, such as Coach, employ entire departments to police the Internet and the brick-and-mortar landscape for counterfeits, while several apparel designers are working hard to win passage of legislation in Congress to protect their styles.
"The biggest thing is the Internet," said Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University School of Law. "Years ago, you used to have to sneak into a fashion show in Paris, then come back out and sketch from memory. Now the images are available instantaneously."
Fighting to protect your designs can be prohibitively expensive for all but the biggest companies. For Feral Childe, which generates less than $1 million in annual revenue, monitoring the masses for copycat looks is a near impossibility—it's simply too costly. But not so for Coach Inc. The $4.2 billion handbag company, along with Louis Vuitton and Chanel, is one of the most copied brands in the world. Each year, Coach spends millions of dollars to prevent counterfeit activity.
Investigators on the job
Three years ago, the Manhattan-based firm launched Operation Turnlock in an effort to curb such illegal activity. It now employs some 20 investigators who scour websites and stores for counterfeit Coach products. Since the program's debut, Coach has entered into 600 lawsuits. Todd Kahn, the company's general counsel, said the money is well spent.
Most bags are not protected by copyrights, but Coach does have trademark protection for its high-end Reed Krakoff Boxer bag, thanks to the purse's innovative shape. Already, just over a year into the Boxer's existence, Coach is enmeshed in three lawsuits over copycats of the bag.
"We're going to be very innovative and go after people," said Mr. Kahn. "If you sell counterfeits, we'll find you, we'll sue you, and we'll win."
Trademark protection is not available on all products, however. Generally, prints and jewelry are protected by copyrights, but not fashion designs, because of their functionality as clothing. Days after last month's Golden Globes, copies of Charlize Theron's pink Dior gown appeared online for under $500. Similarly, inexpensive knockoffs of Kate Middleton's wedding dress appeared two days after the royal wedding—all perfectly legal under American law.
"In Europe, those designs are protected, but in the U.S. they're not, and the result is that a designer comes out with a dress and the other stores come out with the exact duplicates," said Randy Lipsitz, a partner at law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
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