Pinching Pennies: Designer Runways Take Budget Route

MILAN — There’s plenty to be said for pretty, graceful clothes, and Giorgio Armani stated it eloquently in the notably feminine fall collection that he showed on Monday. The focus was on short lengths, in the form of minis and shorts,…

LVMH and Morgan Stanley ended their court day Monday in procedural bickering as each party blamed the other of tactical posturing.

Barneys New York reported estimated results for the fiscal year ended Feb. 1 showed improvement in both the top and bottom lines.

A CHALLENGING DISCUSSION: The Council of Fashion Designers of America and Gen Art are teaming up to host their first panel discussion on March 25, called “The Future of Fashion: A Panel Discussion on the Challenges Facing Young Designers Today.” The…

MILAN — Versace is looking at Column B.

After planting stores in key Chinese cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, the house is now expanding in secondary cities with an aggressive plan for growth in the world’s most populous…

NEW YORK — Watching photographer Romaine Orthwein stand in the center of her exhibition, “Presence,” at the Miller/Geisler Gallery has the dizzying effect of walking through a set of fun house mirrors. In every direction, the artist’s…

Following in the vein of Isaac Mizrahi’s documentary “Unzipped,” photographer and filmmaker Julia Bidermann has captured seven designers in the throes of the creative process in her photo documentary, “Pick-Up.” The tome, produced in a limited…

It’s chic to be fashionably frugal. While fashion spectacles still can run over $500,000, the days of extravagant spending are more or less on the wane.

LONDON — It was a shining but all-too-brief moment in British history, and now it’s the subject of a documentary starring the Gallagher brothers, Jarvis Cocker and Damien Hirst. “Live Forever,” released here on Monday, is the story of the…

Finding one’s place…A “Pick Up” for the fashion crowd…Call him Karl the Piano Man…Who wants to live forever?

Phillips-Van Heusen swung back to the black in the fourth quarter and generated substantial free cash to drive the expansion of the Calvin Klein brand.

Pacific Sunwear said strong sales helped it to finish its fourth quarter with a double-digit rise in total sales, earnings and comparable-store sales.

NEW YORK — Here’s a piece of advice about being a fashion designer, coming from the last place one might expect it.

“You have to remember what you’re doing is a service,” Arnold Scaasi told a class of 250 Fashion Institute of…

Montblanc has nailed one of Manhattan’s chicest retail locations – Madison and 57th – where it will open its largest store, WWD has learned.

NEW YORK — Bloomingdale’s is “the quintessential New York store” and the city’s most popular, too, according to the new “Zagat Survey of New York City Shopping,” released Monday. The guide rates 2,193 stores based on reviews from…

NEW YORK — Avon has hired away Prada Beauty’s senior executive.

Jill Scalamandre, general manager of Prada’s beauty arm, Cosmetics International Distribution, is joining Avon April 1 as group vice president of global…

IFFE: Faced with mounting competitive pressure, U.S. fabric resources are evolving with overseas production and new business strategies.

NEW YORK — The slow market in the U.S. and prospects for quota-free business were top topics of conversation when a contingent of 21 South Korean textile manufacturers came to New York last week to show their wares.

Korea Preview, an…

Turkey’s parliament last week voted down a U.S. request to use that nation as a staging area for a northern front in the potential war against Iraq, but some Turkish officials are pushing the parliament to reconsider. A multibillion-dollar…

NEW YORK — This month’s IFFE will offer buyers lots of color in a variety of ways. From punchy prints on crisp cotton and more traditional floral looks colorfully displayed on silk to the more romantic feel of burnouts and laces and knits…

NEW YORK — Striped fabric will have an added bonus come next spring: stretch. European mills introduced a variety of stripes in both stretch wovens and knits at last month’s Première Vision in Paris. This, said exhibitors, was in…

TOKYO — Citing continuing competition from other Asian manufacturers and the ongoing weakness in the Japanese economy, Toyobo Co. said it plans to close three of its six domestic textile mills in June.

The closure of the three mills by…

NEW YORK — The latest round of hotel trade shows in New York covered a wide range of apparel categories and price points. There were elaborately beaded gowns in one room and minimal gowns in matte jersey in the next; daytime suits in wool blends…

NEW YORK — Suits have become a stand-in for many women, but a new off-Broadway show, “Tea at Five,” puts pantsuits in a starring role.

The show is based on the life of Katharine Hepburn, who adopted trousers the way some women acquire…

MORE FROM CHINA: China’s man-made fiber production in 2002 increased 20.1 percent from the previous year to 9.91 million metric tons (21.8 billion pounds), according to the Japan Chemical Fibers Association, a national organization of fiber…

NEW YORK — With 11 months left on their contract, Chico’s founders Marvin and Helene Gralnick are devoting their time to developing the new Chico’s offshoot, called Pazo, according to Scott Edmonds, president of Chico’s….

ONE WOLF(F) TO ANOTHER: New York Magazine’s media columnist Michael Wolff won an ASME last year for deconstructing beleaguered moguls, but now someone has come along to deconstruct him: Wired writer Gary Wolf. His new book “Wired — A…

NEW YORK — In these days of rising gas prices amid increased Mideast tensions, some people might be wondering what to do in the face of an oil shortage.

In its upcoming TV ad campaign, Diesel offers a suggestion: Auto lovers can just push…

CUT IT SHORT, REBECCA: Two nights ago, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos went to bed an actress and on Monday woke up a model. “I got a phone call this morning asking me whether I would accompany [Giorgio] Armani on the runway today. I was just supposed to be a…

A LA MODE: Despite the luxury chill, France’s fashion magazine market is getting warm. Several Condé Nast France employees have been conscripted to start working on a secret project: the launch of French Glamour. Condé Nast France…

When Rebecca Moses first began her quest to create a leather goods and lifestyle collection for Pineider last season, she drew parallels between the art of writing and the art of living. Now she’s having some fun with those equations.

“I…