Sometimes, you have your problems. As in, if you're a fashion brand like Bill Blass, your head designer (Peter Som) might leave, and your new owners (Peacock International Holdings) might file bankruptcy. It's The Recession, people!
But don't count Bill Blass out. The company is reportedly in talks with designer Richard Chai, who could potentially help bring the line back to the runway. A final decision is expected in about a month.
Bill Blass has not been without its fair share of drama and changes. Last year, after a declaration of bankruptcy, Peter Som left the house and it was taken over by Peacock Holdings.
In March, rumours surfaced that Richard Chai was set to take the big position of creative director for the house. However, Peacock Holdings have been quiet over the past few months and have been reluctant to reveal who will definitely get the job. "We're talking to people, but there's nothing I can divulge," Peacock executive Scott Patti tells The Cut. Keeping up?
With all that said, it is looking increasingly unlikely that the brand will produce a show this September.
After leaving Bill Blass, is Peter Som headed to Tommy Hilfiger? Maybe, although details are pretty cloudy now. Hilfiger reportedly is it talks with the designer to bring him on as a part-time creative consultant. TH has been looking for a creative director since 2007, according to WWD.
Som left Blass, where he served as women's wear creative director, last year - and also cut ties with his then-backer, a Lord & Taylor subsidiary called Creative Design Studios. Currently, he has a licensing deal with Milan clothing manufacturer Margon and ADC, a New York-based multiline showroom.
The economic downturn must be hitting home right now for Derek Lam, who has reportedly been losing $1 million a month, and expects his label to have lost between $12 million and $15 million by the end of this year.
A 'fashion industry insider' told Page Six, "It's only propped up by money coming from Italian investors". The Chinese American designer started his career at Michael Kors before setting up his own label, Derek Lam in 2003. According to the source, not only is Lam coming across hard times with his finances, but his CEO, Jan Schlottman is rumoured to have only turned up to work three times throughout August - something he strongly denies. "Everyone has had difficulty this year, but the actual [monthly] figure is far less than that." He claims that he only had ten vacation days that month, and had his laptop with him at all times. Lam won the CFDA Perry Ellis Swarovski Award for New Designers in 2005, so lets hope for his sake that he doesn't have the bad luck that Peter Som experienced with label Bill Blass back in 2008.
Sitting front row of the shows last season you were more likely to hear about the world’s economy and a moan and groan or two about increasing energy bills, than the clothes on the catwalk or the gossip from last night’s event. Never have politics and the economic downturn been more apparent in fashion than right now. The buzz words on the mouths of all the top buyers are ‘investment pieces’. In lay man terms that means that it is not only us fashionstas that are feeling the pinch and a pull on the ol’ purse strings (if that makes you feel any better).
