November 3, 2010 - 2:44 am
J Brand has launched its “5 x 5 Collection” a unique collaboration with five rising British designers. Each designer worked tirelessly with the J Brand design team to create a unique J Brand style that will each be available at select luxury retailers in the UK: Christopher Kane for 5 x 5 will be available at Harvey Nichols, Erdem at Harrods, Meadham Kirchhoff at Browns, Peter Pilotto at Selfridges, and Richard Nicoll‘s inspired pair will be available at Liberty. Creating classic and sophisticated jeans, the brand has positioned itself as a leader in the premium denim market. JBrand has been expanding its presence exponentially, especially since the expansion of its menswear line in Fall 2008, which reflected modern classics with a masculine sensibility. J Brand has expanded to include non-denim styles such as the Cargo Houlihan pant, which has been a cult hit and seen on celebrities worldwide. J Brand is featured in more than 2,000 specialty stores and luxury retailers in more than 20 countries. All styles will retail in the United States at Jeffrey New York and Intermix online.
*photos: (c) courtesy of JBrand
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April 5, 2010 - 11:52 pm
Canadian designer Erdem Moralioglu is the most recent winner of the British Fashion Council’s Vogue Designer Fashion Fund award.
The 30-year-old, London-based designer and former Ryerson University and Royal College of Art student grew up in Montreal, then worked for Diane von Furstenberg in New York before starting his own label. He has been getting a lot of attention from Brits lately, enough to be the very first Canadian to garner the prestigious BFC Vogue Designer Fashion Fund award. The accolade helps to secure his name among other fashion names and will offer him a ton of bespoke business mentoring—and cash. His £200,000 prize (certainly one way to build on an already blossoming fashion label) will help with the development of his eponymous brand—and not that he seems to need it. His collections are sold in more than 50 luxury retailers worldwide, he’s a favourite to Michelle Obama and UK first lady Sarah Brown, and here in Toronto he is also exclusively sold at The Room, in The Bay on Queen Street.
For Erdem, this recent win is one of many awards: Erdem won the Swarovski British Fashion Council Fashion Enterprise Award, and also picked up the Fashion Forward award from the BFC in 2008. Fashion publications have also placed Erdem at the top of the pedestal, with Elle Magazine awarding Erdem the “Fashion Future Award” in 2009 and also a nod at the Elle Style awards in London. We also gushed about Erdem’s huge popularity during fall-winter 2010 fashion week in London, months ago.
While the CFDA 2010 nominees have already been announced (Alexander Wang, Donna Karan and Marc Jacobs making the Womenswear Designer of the Year category) I’m thinking that Erdem stands to win an award on U.S. soil in the future. Since, Diane von Furstenberg’s term as CFDA president has been extended to 2012, I think she won’t turn a blind eye to her former employee, especially with so many awards under his belt.
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