Anyone that has been lucky enough to go to Vogue House will know about their library but don't be fooled, this isn't like any other library. The whole floor plan of the building is full of just every issue of every magazine that matters and their team of fashion librarians can you tell you who appeared in the main fashion story in the 1982 December issue of Vogue, for example, from the top of their heads. You can see the value here, no? So with that in mind it's always perplexed me that such a service has not been made available to the fashion industry at large but finally it has - at least for American Vogue.
Today the magazine confirmed that Vogue Archive is complete and ready to go. Created out of a partnership with WGSN, the new initiative will enable you to access every page from every issue of American Vogue from 1892 including ad campaigns and print and share your favourite pages. The only problem? To have American Vogue at the end of your fingertips expect to pay a whopping $1,575 a year for it but luckily for students, the service will be made available in fashion school libraries.
The Mad Men series has quicklyhad us all glued to our TV screens so much so that the only thing left to do was for AMC to launch a clothing range. Unsurprisingly, the show's costume designer, Janie Bryant, has decided to give the masses what they want, by designing a few pieces inspired by the cast's sartorial wardrobes. Her first offering is a limited-edition grey sharkskin 'Mad Men' suit, which she has designed for Brooks Brothers and became available as of yesterday at the price of $998. Fear not ladies, as Bryant has stated that she also plans to add evening gowns, 'rear-enhancing sheaths', office wear and men's accessories to the line at some point in the near future.
It seems that the evergrowing trend of designers leaving their eponymous line is continuing, this time with the ever so mysterious Martin Margiela. Always known for being evidently reclusive, Margiela rarely gave interviews, and never took a catwalk bow for the label that ran under his own name. His face had been relatively unseen by the public until a photograph of the camera shy Belgian designer was published in an article for the New York Times last year.
After much speculation, today it was confirmed that Ossie Clark officially will close its doors.
The company was bought in 2007 by WGSN founder Marc Worth, who planned to rejuvenate the brand with the help of young designer Avsh Alom Gur. "[OssieClark] had so much potential, and it was unfulfilled," Worth said of the brand at the time, a sentiment I'm sure he was feeling today when the news was released.
Earlier in the year it was announced that the designer was leaving his position as creative director at the brand and was being replaced by Gharani Strok co-designer Nargees Gharani. Unfortunately we will never get to see what she had planned for the brand.
This comes at a time when several brands, established and new, are feeling the effect of the credit crunch. Escada and Christian Lacroix are only two of the many examples of companies that have filed for bankruptcy in the past couple of weeks.
