The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

It’s very easy to be weighed down by doom and gloom. We have only to pick up the newspapers or turn on the radio for the latest awful news to seep into our consciousness. Good news just doesn’t make it except as a ‘triumph over adversity’ story. The Fashion business is by it’s nature upbeat and is sometimes seen as trivial. That is something I would argue very heavily against. Ok we women do love clothes and the business is sometimes built around the striving for that idea of ‘want rather than need.’ The reality is that we need to feel good about ourselves. To get up and get ourselves dressed in a way that means we can hold our heads up high and face the day and whatever it brings. We want and need to feel good about special occasions and love when we find that perfect dress or pair of shoes. Constantly striving to be better is not something to be in any way ashamed of.

Our local boutiques and great Irish Independent Fashion Stores do a fantastic job of presenting to the customers the best of what the world has to offer. At the moment buyers are travelling to shows in Paris, London, Berlin, Denmark and further a field to Australia and America. They are picking the best from the ranges and deciding what will look good on their customers. Many of the buyers come into my show room; they go through the ranges and buy for individual customers often remarking that this or that garment would be perfect for Mrs So and So. Irish shoppers who support their local boutiques get tremendous personal service from the owners who go to enormous trouble to bring interesting and new as well as old faithful labels onto their rails.

So my message for this week is to enjoy looking at the new collections for Spring Summer, they are just hitting the shop floors. Happy shopping…..

http://www.nickysragtales.com

twitter.com/nickysragtales

From The Blogs

the fashion illustrator - Givenchy

Mondays Roundup of the Irish Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Stylebible: Top Designer Joanne Hynes to Mentor the Nokia Young Designers
The Nokia Young Fashion Designer Award - Ireland’s most prestigious fashion competition - is now in its seventh year and has proven to unearth some of Ireland’s best design talent. Last week, Nokia teamed up with leading Irish fashion and jewellery designer, Joanne Hynes, to host a breakfast for the 21 Nokia Young Designer Award 2010 finalists at the fashionable Morrison Hotel on Ormond Quay more

Whatshewears.ie Top 5 Spring Hats

Hats and headwear are a part of daily life for most Irish women, yet with our ever changing weather it is hard to know what to go for as the seasons change.As usual on WhatSheWears.ie, I turned to both the catwalk and cool celebrity style makers for today’s inspiration and so here are my top five choices to decorate your crowning glory with this spring….more

OffShoot: Circus Store closing down

Just two quick things before i go off to bed. Firstly, we were very disappointed to hear today that Circus in Powerscourt Shopping Centre is closing down. It's an awful pity because they're lovely people (they very kindly let us borrow a few pieces for our college fashion shoot last year) and it was a great shop. They'll be having a closing down sale from February 1st till 7th. I got a more

Nicky's Rag Tales: Weekly Roundup

A round up of my chosen news items from the fashion world from last weekHaiti is a major manufacturing centre for the clothing Industry and naturally a lot of the factories have been devastated by the earthquake. Lets not let Haiti slide to the back of our minds in the coming months and endeavour to keep helping in whatever way we can.

The Savvy Shopper: Make Love in Hayfield
In case he didn’t catch the not very subtle hints you’ve been throwing him, the five star Hayfield Manor Hotel in Cork might just be able to rescue the romance – they got in touch to offer a free Valentines package to a SavvyShopper reader. more

RockinFashion: Grammy Style 2010
Our First link to this new Irish Fashion Blog by Roisin Moloney - It looks good - have a look here

From the Blogs

The Fashion Illustrator: Gucci Spring 2009

A Roundup of the Irish Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Nicky's Rag Tales: Bermondsey Boutique Pussy Willow
Bermondsey is a stones throw from London Bridge. It’s where old London meets new, you get a real sense of history just being there, you can almost imagine yourself back in time, a timeless oasis within a big city. Even though it was Monday when I was there, the quietest day of the week ( I suspect), I felt a vibrancy from renewal and a sense of community more

Stylebible: Check it out
WIth check patterns appearing on a lot of celebs at the moment, you might want to incorporate some tartan fun into your own looks this spring summer. The rule of thumb for any pattern as statmemt ... more

Irish Fashion Blog: Dior Couture in Paris:
Some of my favourite looks from the Dior Couture show yesterday. I would attempt to review it and give you endless reasons as to why it’s fabulous and worthy of your hard-earned cash. Instead, I’ll leave it to the wonderful Hillary Alexander who always seems to do it so honestly and eloquently…more

I Blog Fashion: Nuxe Launch
Check out the latest installment of StyleNation at the launch of Nuxe in Dublin's Radisson Hotel.

Beaut.ie: Decor, Colour and Fragrance: Joe Malone meets Farrow and Ball
Most of us already do use posh our candles as a decor tool, but in April Jo Malone and Farrow and Ball will take the idea a little further with a limited-edition range of candles matched to classic Farrow and Ball colours. more

Whatshewears.ie: Ski Wear for kids
Today’s episode of Ski Wear for Kids is inspired by my nephews and nieces Luca, Finn, Oscar, Anna, Molly and Ciara who were skiing in Austria earlier this month. more

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

I arrived in London yesterday for a series of Range Meetings, which are ‘de rigeur’ in the life of a Fashion Agent. They are billed as a run through of the new collection and a meeting where the nuts and bolts of business discussed.

Well that’s it in theory. Of course the collections are already in our Showrooms and the business dealings can be sorted over email and phone. The truth is that we need to do the ‘Face Work’ that is the sitting down at table together. Meeting up with other Agents from the different countries and the collective discussion about all aspects of our business. I am always in awe of those agents who work in the larger countries because of course they deal in many multiples of the Irish market.

One good thing about the Fashion Business is that far from being bitchy and nasty it is filled with the kindest bunch of souls you could hope to meet

Tomorrow it’s the turn of Yummie Tummie, which is an American company with distribution throughout Europe. The new ready to wear tops and yoga pants with the secret shaping panel look ab fab bringing the product to an even wider audience. Heather Thompson the designer and celebrity LA stylist will be there and I’m really looking forward to finding all about her BF’s Heidi Klum and Beyonce! If I hear any juicy gossip I will let you know but for now I need to dress up for Dinner. There is a car arriving at seven. It’s a hard life this Fashion Business you know!!!

http://www.nickysragtales.com
Twitter.com/nickysragtales

From the Blogs

A Roundup of the Irish Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Whisty Blogs Dublin Fashion : Jennifer Rothwell to show at showcase Ireland
Among many other designers in attendance, of course, Jennifer Rothwell will be debuting her AW10 collection this weekend at Showcase Ireland. Her design talents have brought her from NCAD to New York and back again, and earned her the “Brown Thomas Designer Mentor Programme Award” a mere 7 months after launching her label.more

I Blog Fashion: Slogan Tights
First there were slogan tees; now there are slogan tights. It appears Henry Holland, master of Cockney rhyming slang, has taken his cheeky epithets to lower levels - the legs that is. more

Nicky's Rag Tales: The 'It' Bag is dead, Long Live the 'It' Bag
I usually write a round up of the weeks fashion news on a Sunday but I’m totally off the point today. Perhaps because The Sunday Times Style Magazine used to be my must have newspaper fashion insert of the week and I’m oh so fed up with it. I used to rip off the plastic ( with the same thought each week -what a waste of plastic) before I even glanced more

Stylebible.ie: Sizzling summer wear from Pepe
The SS10 Pepe Jeans Ladies fashion collection is here and wow it doesn’t disappoint. We love the versatility of this range – where every single item can be mixed and matched with other clothes or with items from their fab denim collection too. more

Chiconomics: Covet Sample Sale
Clear the diary ladies, and take your marks, as Covet is hosting an intimate sample sale of select pieces more

Springwise: Design your own Jeans
Customers of indiDenim—whose parent company runs a like-minded site for custom-made dress shirts—begin by selecting from among several jeans cuts, including slim and relaxed fits. They then choose the fabric, rise and styles they'd like for the pants' fly, leg, hem, pocket and overall treatment. Women’s options at indiDenim include super-low to high-rises, multiple leg styles and more than 30 different back pocket options; men can make their jean a basic five-pocket or add carpenter styling more

www.indidenim.com

From the Blogs

Jak and jil blog

A Roundup of the Irish Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Simon Cowell To Produce Haiti Hit – Simon Cowell has stepped up to the charitable plate and announced that he’s organizing a “We Are the World”-style charity single to benefit the Haiti relief efforts. And while it might have been nicer had he come up with the idea himself, the orders apparently came from a bit higher up.(eonline)

Beaut.ie: Sneaky Peak: New Celebridee perfumes for 2010
No doubt there will be more than two stars lepping on the lucrative celebridee fragrance bandwagon this year, but the first two to announce their scint-tentions are my favourite Desperate Housewive Eva Longoria-Parker and superstar songstress Beyoncé.more

Whisty Blogs Dublin Fashion : (A make up interview with the Indo)
After cleansing and moisturising, it probably takes about 10 -15 minutes to do my make-up depending on where I’m going. Nights out can take twice that time more

I Blog Fashion : StyleNation 2010
Wanna know what you'll be doing in 2010? Check out my fashion calendar lowdown in the first epidode for 2010 by the StyleNation team!

Irish Fashion Blog by Angela Scanlon Awsome Lego Table by Dublin Designer Duo
It may not be fashion but it’s creativity at its best. Designed and constructed by Gearoid Carvill and Andrew Brady, video by Cormac Browne (all Dublin based). 1 word: GENIUS.

Nickys Rag Tales: Beautiful Handmade Bags from Erica Devine
Erica Devine called into the showroom today to have a chat. She had some of her beautiful bags with her and I was excited to see them up close more

Stylebible: Julianne Moore Smitten with Ford
Julianne Moore was "swept of her feet" when she first met Tom Ford.The stunning actress was introduced to the designer in 1998, when he was making her dress for that year's Academy Awards. more

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

News from the Showroom on ‘Miserable Monday’

Well the news bit is true but the Miserable Monday bit? not likely ! I always look forward to Mondays and especially at this busy time of the year. Luckily one of my showroom assistants arrived back last week and just in time too. I’m afraid my organisational skills are a little lacking and the presence of some one else is sometimes all I need to get me more organised.

Some samples have arrived and others are still on the way. The minute they arrive then emails of changes to the range start flooding in. Each day these changes have to be noted. They can simply be colour changes but invariably they are cancellations. Samples that will never be made and sometimes these are items that we love and think would sell. Marketing brochures by the lorry load gather in large boxes and take up valuable room. Sometimes they are worthy of giving out to prospective customers but often they are of such bad pictorial quality or are photographs of the wrong samples for this market that I tear my hair out at the waste. Waste of money, paper, time and effort only to be consigned to that big recycling bin.

Catwalk dates for the Jaeger London range (which is our newest collection) are still to be confirmed. It seems that London Fashion Week is as organised as me, which gives me some peculiar comfort.

I’m off to London on Sunday so will be blogging from there next week. It will be interesting to see what’s happening and London is one of those rare Fashion Vibrant cities. A quick run around my favourite Indies is on the cards. That’s if the flights go and we haven’t been hit by another weather related catastrophe. Which if we are thinking about catastrophe’s lets do something for the beleaguered and struggling people of Haiti and remember how truly lucky we all are.

Have a good week ahead………..

Nicky

www.nickysragtales.com
Twitter.com/nickysragtales

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

I suspended the Fashion Police last week as I along with half the country was snowed in. Venturing out to forage for provisions amounted to donning my hill walking gear. Boots that have taken me hundreds of kilometres across three continents. Boots that clung to wet rocks, boots that sank into deep wet bogs in the Wicklow hills and the same boots that were washed away in a tidal river (along with me attached) in Brazil last year! Needless to say the top half was covered in several layers of thermal and hiking gear. Not a pretty sight I agree, but boy did I care? Not a jot.

Back in the showroom for the first time after a few days the less than glamerous side of the life of a Fashion Agent was the order of the day. Writing envelopes (lots of them) sorting samples and pricing them. Oh and cutting off labels from tights to bring to the Charity shop.

Last week in New York in a lane behind H&M on 34th st in Manhattan lots and lots of unwanted clothes were being sorted. Unfortunately the clothes had been slashed as to make them totally unwearable. Fingers were cut off gloves. Arms off dresses. Legs off trousers… You get the picture. These clothes weren’t for the Charity Shops nearby they were for the garbage collectors. Within minutes the story was on- line in the NY Times, minutes later Twitterville was all a-Tweet. I was one of those Tweeters (I’m addicted since I got my iPhone) and the story made the second top trending Twitter subject within hours. People were tweeting for boycotts and protests against H&M. Not good PR at all. What was needed was very swift damage control. It took H&M one whole day to respond and apologise stating that it was not company policy and that they were treating the matter very seriously indeed. Tweeters responded in kind and are a forgiving lot.

The moral of the story. If you are a retailer embrace Social Media and respond immediately to any negative publicity. Old Media may tell the story the outcome may very well depend on Facebook, Bloggers and Twitter.

Have a good week ahead.. Nicky

http://www.nickysragtales.com

twitter.com/nickysragtales

Nickys Ragtales!

Planning, planning and more planning sums up the week in hand in the life of a Fashion Agent. Showroom matters include a huge sample clearout and this entails several black sacks of socks and tights, which get de-labelled and dropped to the local charity shop.

I wonder if any of you have had the eerie experience of passing a charity shop and seeing your old clothes in the window? This happened to me last year and they looked even better there, than hanging in my wardrobe. I took a different route home for a couple of weeks, as it was such an odd feeling. It’s true that we have emotional connections with our clothes and shoes. Recent research has discovered that women remember buying their first pair of fashion shoes and this has confirmed that there is a very strong emotional connection with our clothing. We, of course have always known this and it’s what makes us so fascinated and in love with fashion.

Booking my (several) plane tickets I was reminded of my first excursion to London Fashion Week way back when I worked with Red or Dead. Fifteen years ago. A Fashion Week Virgin is the only way I can describe myself. I thoughtfully dressed in what I thought was a suitable ensemble, a cream suit and if memory serves me right a red! Coat. My fringe (as I remember) was blue or orange? I know, I know ! what was I thinking about.

Upon arrival at the queue as I looked around, every single person (bar me) was in top to toe black. The Prada nylon bags were in at the time and to a person there was a Prada fest going on.

I felt like a clown but head held high walked in. One good thing about standing out in the crowd for me that day was that even though I looked like Zandra Rhodes I ended up in a room with Vidal Sasoon where we had a lovely chat and back stage with the models including the one and only Kate Moss. There is life after the wrong clothes after all!. Have a good week ahead.

http://www.nickysragtales.com
twitter.com/nickysragtales

Fashion Industry Insider Blog

The Fashion Insider : Reflection!!!

'As I reflect back on 2009 and polish off the remains of the Christmas Cake I can't help feeling that amid all the uncertainty and difficult trading there were enormous positives. Will we look back at 2009 as the year that defined who we really are? Had we really lost the 'run of ourselves' and have we now streamlined our businesses ready to take on 2010?
Personally for me 2009 was a positive year, a year where I sharpened up my business. As an agent I am always one step ahead and like many boutiques I focused on the add on sales with 'little and often' being the buzz words. Fashion trends battled between the 80's and the 40's. Lady Gaga sported shoulders of American football proportions while Joan Collins had the right idea and sold all her 80's power suits for charity.
Skinny Jeans, leggings and ankle boots marched on apace with the ankle boot outselling the humble shoe. Retailers sharpened up their businesses and spent more time at home rather than away. They offered better service, better prices and good old fashioned better buying.
On a personal note I joined a pack of Fashion Bloggers who present a unique take on the world of fashion. Some commentators say we're 'pissing in the wind' but with bloggers now sitting alongside Ms Wintour (who did her own about turn with her 'reality' documentary) I can't help but say 'watch this space'

Best Regards and a Very Happy, Prosperous and above all Healthy New Year,

Nicky

http://www.nickysragtales.com
twitter.com/nickysragtales

The Fashion Industry Insider by Nicky Harris

Working as a Fashion Agent and since last July as a blogger means I have one foot firmly in the next Season and the other fixed in the present

Working as a Fashion Agent and since last July as a blogger means I have one foot firmly in the next Season and the other fixed in the present. Selling Fashion a season forward means that by the time the clothes hit the shops I am already finished selling the following Seasons ranges. If that sounds confusing it’s because it is! Right now as I struggle to get all the gifts and all the last minute cooking sorted for Christmas I find myself continually looking at my calendar for January. I see already that I have a range meeting early in January in South Molton Street, London where we will preview the next Autumn Winter Falke hosiery range. It’s a meeting I can’t miss as it’s really important to go through the range and predict what the strengths and weaknesses are before I see my first customer. I also have a Yummie Tummie range meeting in London later in the month plus a Jaeger meeting. A Nicowa meeting in Munich is sandwiched somewhere in between. It’s just my luck that the meetings aren’t concurrent which means that I will be spending huge amounts of time in that horrible tunnel hanger in Heathrow and the last time I went to Munich I got lost from the Airport and arrived in a bar with thirty Germans playing poker in an Industrial estate miles from my hotel at one O’clock in the morning! I won’t survive any of the travel without a good book and my Iphone. In between all that I will be planning and sending out invitations to all my retailers for the selling season which will start in earnest at the end of January. Organising the ranges as they arrive into the showrooms, ringing customers, talking and making appointments are all part of the lead up. Doing a spot on ‘Off the Rails’ another on Tubridy and writing a daily blog are just on the side…. Phew I’m getting tired just looking at the list.

Oh by the way if any of you great Irish boutiques owners are reading this and don’t have a website I’d like to know why? Ireland is a small country going through what can only be described as a torrent of difficulties. Don’t hide your particular unique brand under a bushel. Shout it from the rooftops and put yourself out there…

www.nickysragtales.com

From The Blogs

Mohawk Heels :SHALA MONROQUE WEARING PRADA HEELS Jak & Jil

Michael Jackson Movie Goes To Number 1 – Los Angeles – Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” is the No. 1 Halloween thriller for movie audiences. This Is It led the weekend box office with a domestic debut of $21.3m and raised its five-day total worldwide to $101m. The low-budget horror sensation Paranormal Activity slipped from first-place to second domestically with $16.5 million. Paranormal Activity raised its total to $84.8m[news24]

Angelina Jolie’s Long Lost Modeling Photos – Sweet 16? More like Sexy 16. Before Billy Bob Thornton, Brad Pitt or the adoption agency, Angelina Jolie posed for some racy, provocative photos at 16. The provocative pics, taken in 1991, show a tattoo-less Jolie mugging it up like a Los Angeles Lolita during a wild child, coming-of-age period of her youth. [radar]

Handbags and Gladrags: An email from my sister Mags: You probably don't think of fashion and finance in the same sentence...but let me tell you what's been going on here in Citi Ireland. A Fundraising Day for the Irish Cancer Society (Citi's 2009 Charity of the Year) happened today with the theme "Handbags and Gladrags".[Iblogfashion]

Breast Support: Last week my friend Cathy and I accompanied our mutual friend Joan for the last miles of the Dublin City Marathon. Waiting for Joan we whiled away the time observing the passing runners/walkers. Women and men in all shapes, sizes and ages took on the marathon challenge. Raising vast amounts for personal favorite charities or simply challenging themselves. [Nickys Rag Tales]

From The Blogs

ISABEL MARANT’S HIGHLY COVETED CHAIN WRAPPED BOOTS FROM SPRING/SUMMER 2009 from Jak and Jil

Hellwafashion: Dubai's Beautiful Fashionable Web-Site: The smart people at Melissa Beth, figured that fashionista’s like us would most likely be struggling to find a laptop bag we liked & they’d be right. So they sent us some.read more

Nicky's Rag Tales:A few weeks ago I, along with some other Fashion Bloggers, was handed a bib, given a box of bling and some glue and told to go ‘Bling a Bib‘! read more

Stylebible.ie: You look like a star, you sound like a star and you totally made that song your own ....read more

I Blog Fashion: Attention Galwegians. Check out Freedom's new home on Lwr. Abbeygate Street and net yourself some cool savings

The Savvy Shopper: ASOS have knocked up to 75% off selected lines and we’ve found some gems including read more

From The Blogs

Paris Fashion week

Picture from Irish Independent of Alexander McQueen by Getty Images

Stylebible.ie : Grainne Seoige supports breast cancer awarness month
Gráinne Supports Breast Cancer MonthOctober is breast cancer awareness month and broadcaster and Patron of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI), Gráinne Seoige, is read more
I Blog Fashion: Joan Collins Does Glamour
When I was 8 years old, I wrote an 'About Me' essay. I lived in Blue Point, New York. I wanted to be a ballerina and my hero was Joan Collins read more
Nicky's Rag Tales: An Evening at Arnotts New Ground Floor Shopping Experiance
Anybody been to Arnotts lately? My invitation in my hand my BF Joan and I put on our glad rags and arrived outside Arnotts Main Entrance on Henry street in Dublin at 7 O’clock this evening read more
The Savvy Shopper: Fran and Jane Open an Outlet Store:
Calling all Fran & Jane Fans.They’ve just opened an outlet store in Dunboyne Co. Meath….ok so it’s a bit of a trek but you’ll pick up some Fran & Jane goodies at a discount! read more

From The Sartorialist