Emily Current and Meritt Elliott Team With Old Navy
Emily Current and Meritt Elliott are partnering with Old Navy for a two-month stint as style ambassadors this month. The longtime collaborators are unveiling a series of videos and look books detailing the major trends for spring. In addition to a short film featuring themselves, they called upon Jen Coleman and Laura Wiertzema from online boutique Ascot & Hart to illustrate boyfriend dressing with their sons in tow. They also recruited blogger Jacey Duprie, from Damsel in Dior, to pack travel essentials and actress Jamie Chung to embody the music-festival-hopping bohemian.
Filmed at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, the styles mix Old Navy’s basics with the fashionista’s, such as Wiertzema’s wide-brim hat and Coleman’s beat-up high-top sneakers. “It reinforces the notion that Old Navy is a family brand,” said Elliott, who, like Current, used her personal experience dressing her own kids to style the tykes. “We want to make sure people understood it’s a great place to go for one-stop shopping.”
Chinese Government Criticizes Alibaba Counterfeits
A top government official has issued a warning to Alibaba’s executive chairman Jack Ma that the company’s alleged selling of counterfeit and low quality goods on its online platforms is potentially damaging China’s reputation overseas as well as Chinese consumers’ confidence in purchasing products online. In a statement released Tuesday, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, also known as the AQSIQ, said that Zhi Shuping, director general of AQSIQ, told Ma during a meeting Monday that the e-commerce giant has a social responsibility to “combat counterfeiting problems” on its online retail platforms, which include Taobao.com, China’s largest consumer-to-consumer site, and Tmall.com, the country’s biggest business-to-consumer e-commerce site.
“We must pay close attention to the existence of fake products on e-commerce sites,” Zhi said to Ma, according to AQSIQ. “The Communist Party and the government attach great importance to quality and safety issues. The popularity of fake or poor quality goods must not be promoted online.”
Michael Kors Biggest Store
Michael Kors recently opened his biggest store to date at 520 Broadway, a three-story, 22,000-square-foot behemoth that near Uniqlo and Topshop. This Michael Kors emporium marks a series of firsts for the designer’s retail operations, not only in square footage. It’s the first Kors store to house the men’s collection and the first time men’s shoes are available at retail. The entire men’s concept has its own floor, the 4,000-square-foot lower level. There’s also an entire floor dedicated to accessories from Michael Kors Collection and Michael Michael Kors, including watches, jewelry, eyewear and fragrance, and the first official shoe salon.
The men’s floor is the real novelty in the store, but the designer doesn’t consider it the anchor. “Men have never been able to walk into our store and find the product and shop the same as women shopping,” said Kors. “We’ve always mixed men and women into our ad campaign. I’m thinking about a couple in our life. It’s a story I’ve been telling, but I’ve never told it at retail before.” There is a men’s suit shop and exclusive product, including the slimmer cut 520 suit style. More freestanding men’s stores are planned to open in the next year.
– Carol Calacci
Source & Photos: WWD
