Marc Jacobs Gets Sued

Fashion designer Marc Jacob's company was slapped with a $1 million fine for bribing the head of the Lexington Ave. Marc Jacobs International paid the superintendent, James Jackson, more than $35,000 in cash and goods for access to the armory, a highly desirable location because it is one of the few spaces in the city that can hold thousands of people with unobstructed views. This arrangement was made for fashion week. Mr. Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced in State Supreme Court in Manhattan next month and could face 5 to 15 years in prison. This is surprising to me that this kind of stuff goes on in the fashion world. I wonder if this kind of thing happens on a regular basis in the fashion industry and how many people actually get caught. This comes as shocking news to me, especially coming from Marc Jacobs. The label makes a lot of money, so you would think that they would be able to pay out right for the expenses legitimately. It is a good thing that Mr. Jackson got put into jail for what her did, and shows the tolerance level for an act like this. It is not clear how he was caught in the act, and I am curious to know.

Target and Wal-Mart Battle it out against the Economy

Wal-Mart has been out doing Target in sales recently because of the state of the economy. Wal-Mart has replaced their logo of "always low prices" with the "save money, live better."This has influenced the customers in a positive way, and draws them in even more right now becuase everyone is looking to save as much money as possible.
Target is now following the same trend with hopes of increasing sales and surpassing Wal'Mart once again. They too have replaced their saying; "expect more, pay less" with "get more for less." Even their prices have dropped and things are offered at a lesser value. Target is even incorporating this new philosophy in with their products. For example, a new Target spot, set to a Dolly Parton song, shows a woman with her dog and Beneful dog foodmpanied by the words, "more dinner, less dollar." This strategy will hopefully increase sales since all of the advertisements to come will have some form of the saviing money aspect incorported into it.
Target however will not get away from the stylish view that it has over Wal-Mart. The products will still be designer looking products; they are just going to be offered at a much lower price. The concern I have is that I wonder if quality of the products will be sacraficed. Lets hope that Target will not loose the image it has or cheapen the brand.

Macys to close stores

Macy's to close stores!!!

Macy's is scheduled to close 9 stores after the 1st of the year. This leaves me wondering if they might be going out of bussiness. Sales have been down over the last year, especially in many other retail establishments. Other high end retailers are set to close stores and file for bankruptcy including: Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, Cache, Lane Bryant, Gap, Foot Locker, Bombay,Ethan Allen, Sharper Image, Dillards, and Liz Claiborne just to name a few. There are a few others that have not been publically announced to the public, so be careful when buying gift cards this season and try to only buy visa or american express cards. The economy is not only affecting the everyday people like us, but the fashion industry and the retail establishements. This is going to put many people out of jobs and increase the unemployment rate tremendously. The fashion world is trying to keep people spendign by developing sales strategies and promotions that appeal to the decline in the economy and people that are loosing money and jobs. I am interested to see if this turns itself around and starts to go in the oposite direction in a more positive flow. Macys was the last department store or retail establishment that I thought would ever close. This is scary!!!!

Metro Sexual Fashion

Metro Sexual Fashion: Society Accepted

By: Paris Bell

Fashion over the years has evolved into another of a different kind- men accept a part of feminism into their own lives and incorporate that into their daily routine. Metro sexual men are slowly rising in numbers within the last eighteen years or so, and why do you ask? Men are not the same type of man anymore, fashion is now becoming a large part of society and the men are grabbing hold!

The rate of men staying single longer has risen over the last twenty years. According to the census in 1990, for every 100 women there were 80 single men, now as of 2008 the percentage of single men has risen to almost fifty percent. Many say that this could be because the rate of gay men in America is rising as well, and there is a small line between the gay man and the metro sexual man.

More feminine activities such as spas geared toward men and products that normally women would use are starting to be used by men, even some fashion seen for women are now being seen or being created for men. Deep V sweaters and shirts are set to hit the runway in 2009 for men, a fashion that was seen in the years prior as a womanly fashion.

The metro sexual man is becoming more and more accepted by society, and retailers and designers are seeing that this target customer can make them a very big profit. The rise in metro sexual men will have a positive effect on the fashion industry and over time will be something America will not think twice about judging.

Fashion Research and Communication/ Blogs

Blogs are and interesting way to express yourself and display your personal feelings on a subject. Blogs are like a journal entry or a diary enrty that goes in chronological order, and may follow an even or a sequence of events. I personally do not like blogs. I do not like them because they are posted on the web for everyone to view, and I feel like if you have something personal to express, it should not be done on the world wide web. Blogs are helpful on the other hand to understand how a person may be feeling about a specific topic. A blog is an opinion. It may not have any factual information, which may or may not be helpful to the reader. Blogs can be biased toward one particualr view on a subject, and may offend some people. Blogs can be unclear to the reader. If the person writing the blog is feeling a certain emotion, then this may come out in the blog and sway the reader’s opinion on the subject matter.
Blogs can be helpful on the other hand by helpign the reader see a series of events that the blogger may have experienced and understanding the outcome of the certain experience or why the bloggre reacted in the way that they did. It is a helpful way to get to know a person. Blogging would be a good way for an employer to understand the type of person that they might be hiring. You can see what is on a person’s mind, and their thought process of different topics and ideas that they may be talking about on a personal perspective.