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Love Saved the Day

After 40-some years (and over 20 at its location on Second Avenue and 7th Street), Love Saves the Day will close on January 15th. The East Village will never be the same again. We loved you and now we will miss you, too.

 

You Be Styling

FIT has some great one and two day summer seminars.  You can find vintage stores, where to buy eco-friendly fashion and best of all, learn where stylists shop.  Think those great photos in fashion magazines just naturally happen?  Well, think again.  Robin Zachery, stylist and prop director, shares the shopping secrets of the trade.  Sign up now--the first session is this Friday. 

Fabric Stores Struggle to Stay in Business

When Irving Lederich first opened the doors to Tru-Mart Discount Fabrics in the mid 1970’s, 25th St. and Seventh Ave. was the considered southern end of New York’s vast garment district.  At that time, the heart of the garment district extended from 40th Street and Eighth Avenue and all the way to 23rd and Sixth.  Chelsea was full of cutting rooms, furriers, sewing machine shops and had a handful of other fabric stores.  Back then, even banks had names that reflected the character of the city—Irving Trust, Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover.  “We were in Chelsea before it was cool,” said David, Lederich’s grandson and store manager.  Those banks have since folded into others.  Nearly all of the machine shops have closed.  Gritty workrooms in squat buildings have transformed into glossy storefronts and sleek high-rises.  But Tru-Mart remains on the corner, looking exactly as it did over thirty years ago.

New York City’s fabric stores are an endangered species.  This weekend, Regent Fabrics, the last remaining retail fabric store on the Upper East Side, closed its doors.   The upscale fabric stores of 57th Street are all gone, some forever, while others relocated to the garment district.  Those garment district stores also feel the threats of rezoning, rising rents and development.  The construction of The New York Times building alone displaced five street level retail fabric stores.

While the number of fabric stores are shrinking, the amount of customers remain steady. The city’s three major design schools, Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons and Pratt Institute, not only keep fabric stores busy but also provide a steady pipeline of future clients. Designers, decorators and dressmakers from all over the U.S., Europe and even South America come here to shop.  New York is still the top destination, especially since it is ever harder to find good fabric.  When fabric mills were plentiful in the U.S., it was easier to buy inexpensive high quality goods.  Now textiles are rarely produced in the U.S. Most mills are in Asia, and it’s difficult to get good cuttings.

Paron Fabrics is one of the few small businesses that have not only survived, but prospered.  Originally located on 57th Street, it had two floors of designer fabrics, mostly Italian wools.  Salesperson Lucy Dawid said most of their fabrics come from closeouts of designers like Armani and Missoni. Paron also started a web-based business.  Gary Babyatzky, owner of Paron and  ManhattanFabrics.com, initially thought it would be hard to sell fabric on line, but is pleased to find they have plenty of customers. At the 57th Street store, he said, “A lot of our customers were women who would just come in to touch the fabrics on their lunch hour, just to relax,” he said, smiling at the thought.  “It gets their creative juices flowing.”   He has even thought of integrating a sewing café into the 40th Street store, possibly using machines on a rental basis. “Maybe we could do something vertical,” he said, thinking he could add another floor.

Paron was the last fabric store left on the 57th Street. In 1996, their landlord refused to renew their lease.  “We were lucky to find space in the garment district,” said Babyatzky.  Their former shop was taken over by a card store.  That business lasted about a year and has remained empty since.  The storefront, located on the south side of 57th near Sixth Avenue, has graffiti and a poster warning about rats on its entrance door.

Like Paron, Regent’s landlord refused to renew their lease.  Since the owner had been ill, Babyatzky was helping Regent liquidate their stock these past few months. Regent had at least one part-time and four full-time employees, all of whom are now unemployed.  It’s a familiar story in the garment district.  Dawid said back in the 70’s she worked in another garment center store and their rent was $2,000 a month. In 1980, the landlord suddenly demanded $20,000 and they were forced to close.  “It’s a salad bar now,” she said.

Irving Lederich came to America from Poland in 1953 and settled in Borough Park, Brooklyn.  He, like countless other eastern European immigrants, got work in the garment center.  His first job in America was sewing piece goods for seventy-five cents an hour.  “It was rough,” he said.  He quickly switched to textiles and worked in the velvet business for over 20 years at Majestic Mills.  “Velvet is good,” he said.  “Prints change every year.  But velvet is stable.”

When Majestic moved to Pennsylvania in the mid 70’s, Lederich bought the building and its existing fabric store.  Since 1978, Lederich and his wife, Ana, worked in the store together until she passed away five years ago.  Lederich still travels to work each day from his home in Brooklyn but most of the day-to-day tasks belong to his grandson. FIT students make up a large part of their business, but designers, stylists and set dressers keep them busy all year round.  Their discount fabrics also bring in a lot of Mermaid Parade and Halloween customers.

Even though Paron is more upscale, their prices have remained stable over the past few years.  Expensive fabric stores like Jerry Brown and Weller are no longer in business.  Today, even wholesalers need to cater to retail traffic just to stay profitable.  At Paron, they have pared back selling notions and patterns.  “Patterns are a loss leader,” Babyatzky said, “and pattern companies are not so cooperative.  There used to be Butterick, Simplicity and Vogue.  Then Butterick bought Vogue and they got huffy.  We used to be their biggest customer in the country.  Now we don’t carry them anymore.” 

The retail fabric business is struggling, but this is just one segment of the many long-time businesses that have fallen away in the past few years. Chelsea, like the rest of the city, is undergoing a massive conversion away from family-owned businesses to chain stores and restaurants that continually open, close and reopen as something else.  New buildings are owned by real estate investment trusts instead the people who live and work in them.  David admits he is concerned about the future of the neighborhood.  Lederich has a more philosophical take.  “I know I could make more by renting this out then by selling schmatas,” he said.  “But I do it for my grandson.  He likes the business.”—Sherry Mazzocchi

Eco-Fashion

Julie Gilhart, Fashion Director of Barneys New York, said that their Creative Director Simon Doonan had originally wanted to do a Hitchcock Holiday for 2007.  “Personally I was having a really hard time with it,” she said, “because Hitchcock didn’t mean anything.”  Eventually they decided to do a Green Holiday – with sustainable fair-trade fashion, organic fabrics and recycled paper shopping bags.

Speaking last night’s panel on Eco-Fashion at FIT, she stressed that green fashion had to be chic and stylish before it would even be considered for sale at the store.  Barneys asked Stella McCartney to design an all organic line.  Gilhart was initially concerned that they wouldn’t have enough green products for sale.  “We had to start the learning curve.  As a fashion director, I never used words like supply chain before.  I had never asked designers ‘Where is that made?’ and  ‘What is your factory like?’”

Each of the five panelists stressed that eco-fashion has evolved from a crunchy chic to a commitment to a whole new way of envisioning the fashion business.  The audience, mostly students, young designers and industry insiders, were receptive and excited.  Many asked questions about where they could study new ideas like sustainability in design and how they could incorporate it into their emerging businesses.  Instructor Sass Brown said FIT is currently formulating new curriculum to encompass these changes.

Designer Susan Cianciolo, who normally works with recycled and reused fabric, said clothes made with organic fabrics have ‘a powerful energy.’  She described her process for an all organic line, designed for retailer Johanna Hofring, who was also present last night.  After she studied natural dyeing techniques, she wanted to use natural vegetable, tea and flower dyes.  She and her mother searched a forest in winter for untouched materials to work with.

Not everyone has that slow-paced process.  Sass Brown talked about her work with Coopa Roca.  Located in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro’s largest favella, Coopa Roca a women’s cooperative that partners with designers like Carlos Miele and Cacharel.  Most of the women who work at the cooperative have unique skills in working with fabrics and embroidery.  Designers who work with them design with their artisanal skills in mind so they become part of the design process and not just the manufacturing process.

Johanna Hofring was inspired early on to work with organic clothing.  She talked about the contrast of a village in India who’s environment was so damaged by effluents from a local factory that they could no longer grow their own food and instead had to work in the place that was responsible for polluting their village.  She contrasted this with bio-dynamic and organic farmers where she grew up in Sweden.   Eventually she opened an organic clothings store, Ekovaruhuset, in Manhattan.  “The few people who came to the store in the were really excited about it,” she said.  “There were a handful of people who kept me alive for the first couple of years.  They bought way more clothes than they ever had before.”

After the Swedish Fashion Council did a spread on their website about fair trade and sustainable production, Hofring’s business has boomed.  “All of the magazines called at once,” she said, “because there was no one else except for a couple of girls from Gothenburg who had a fair trade factory in Sri Lanka.  Now it’s mainstream and it’s taken a major turn.”  She said it is incredible how people react to her store.  Customers thank her for having opened it, saying there is hope for the future. 

Hofring said that the textile industry along has a devastating effect on the planet.  “Fashion used to be something kind of shallow,” she said.  “But now we have the possibility to do so much.  We have such an important role.”

Britt Bivens, the owner of 4.5 Productions said even big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are getting on the sustainable bandwagon.  She showed a picture of a $22 Wal-Mart sweater made from 80 percent organic cotton and five percent cashmere.  “Companies with big names have to do more,” she said, “because we don’t trust them.”  She contrasted Wal-Mart’s $22 sweater with an early pioneer in the field, Project Alabama.  A lot of people didn’t understand their $600 t-shirts she said. 

Gilhart responded to that saying, their customers were the ones who bought those t-shirts.  If it had been priced any lower, she said, her customers would have perceived it as ”not so nice.”--Sherry Mazzocchi

The Black Dress

Last night at Fashion Institute of Technology, Dr. Valerie Steele discussed her latest book, The Black Dress. Centuries before Coco Chanel set up shop, black was a coveted color.  The dye was so expensive that even aristocrats could afford only a few clothes made of black.  After the discovery of the new world and rise of Spain’s economic and military might, Spanish black became the most fashionable color in Europe. It was even chic in non-Catholic that considered Spain an enemy. 

Its popularity lapsed when the French rose to power and white became the preferred color.  But it came roaring back in the 19th century when chemical dyes were formulated that made black affordable to everyone.

She also talked about how designers can get so many varied effects from black—wet shiny looks to muted matte tones to midnight velvety blacks.  She showed Greta Garbo in black and coq feathers, Helmut Lang’s laser cut leather dress and Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Steele, who is the Director at The Museum at FIT, even explained why black is so popular in New York.  Since black can be aristocratic, elegant, punk, dangerous, sexy, stark, rebellious and bohemian, it is suitably complex and perfect for all parts of town, from Wall Street to the Upper West Side.  Black is a city color.  “No one wears black in the country,” she said, “unless you’re Amish.” There is also the quality of light to be considered.  In sunnier and tropical climates, heavily saturated colors look better next to the skin.  But in a clear and cloudy city filled with stone, glass and steel, black not only looks better, it also resonates with the abstract feel of the city.--Sherry Mazzocchi

MaximEyes Optical Reopens

For many years MaximEyes provided great fashionable eyewear from their location on 23rd between 6th and 7th Avenues.  They were forced out of that location over a year ago because of a huge rent increase.  They have now reopened in the Chelsea neighborhood at 200 West 24th Street, just off of 7th Avenue. 

 

Fashion, Luxury and Black

It is not always meaningful to describe clothing as timeless.  “If something is timeless it’s also not fashionable at any given moment,” said Dr. Valerie Steele.  “Fashion is about change, novelty and silhouette.  Saying something is timeless is a lazy way of looking at the issue.”  Steele, the Director of The Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, understands the nuances of fashion.  Her latest book, The Black Dress, will be published in November. She also curated the latest exhibit at the museum, Luxury, which traces changes in taste and status of clothing for the past 250 years.

The exhibit begins with the juxtaposition of a fall '07 Prada ensemble and 1939 Ben Kahn fur coat.  The Prada skirt has plastic fringe and there is a fake orange fur, while the Kahn coat is a wild Canadian mink.  Steele said that for the middle class, mink was the traditional status symbol.  But now, mink carries more controversy than prestige.  “Prada is the prestige—it’s very of the moment,” she said.  “If they come out with a fake fur, it is a status symbol.  There is no simple relationship between status and luxury.”

The exhibit features gowns by the great couturiers Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, and Coco Chanel.  Couture, said Steel, is the ultimate luxury.  “Houses like Hermes and Louis Vuitton have tremendous status not just because of their quality and workmanship but also because of the pedigree of their clients.”  As if to prove her point, a few days ago Vuitton launched a new ad campaign that features former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sitting next to a LV bag as he rides by the Berlin Wall in a limo.

In addition to Hermes handbags, an ice blue beaded Maggy Rouff evening gown from 1949, and peach colored Paquin slips, the exhibit also has little gems like a rare 1889 ribbon sample book from France.  The book displays the most lavish and finely woven silk and velvet ribbons in the Museum’s collection. While Paris is the capital of women’s fashion, London--the economic powerhouse of the world—becomes the center of men’s fashion.  With the rise of capitalism and democracy, men’s clothing becomes dark and sober—while women’s attire remains colorful and artistic.  The Industrial Revolution changed fashion.  Automation in spinning and weaving and advances in dyes and fabric printing resulted in cheaper and more affordable textiles. A wonderful c. 1919 Liberty & Co. olive green silk chiffon afternoon dress that is described in the show as having a soft color aesthetic for the upper middle class-- a distinction from the brighter, more vulgar colors of the lower class.

Even though technology made finery more affordable, Steele says that Americans are ambivalent about fashion, mostly because of our Puritan heritage.  “We are split historically,” she said.  “The Puritan approach is that clothing is necessary for modesty but fashion is dangerous, wasteful and extreme.  This has been reinforced for a long time.  Thoreau said ‘beware of any occasion that requires new clothes.’”

Steele said the Italian idea of bella figura, of putting your best foot forward, contrasts sharply with the Protestant philosophy that clothes should mirror the inner soul—and you shouldn’t try to be any better than you are.  “Also, since we are a republic/democracy, fashion is also an elitist problem.”  The exhibition ends with a display of '07 black stretch Acne Jeans.  Not possessing the outward displays of ostentation or luxury, their status depends simply on just being able to recognize them.

Steele’s upcoming book, The Black Dress, will unfortunately not have an accompanying exhibit.  But she is quick to run down the upcoming exhibits for the museum:  starting in October with Chic Chicago, in November a 250 year look at Exoticism, in February a Madame Gris retrospective and in the fall of 2008, Gothic.  “It’s a dark, glamorous show,” she said.  “With lots of black.”

Black is a chic, bohemian, rebellious, and erotic color.  While black is the preferred color by stylish women in New York and London, it's not so prevalent in other cities.  “Black is right for New York because it is an intense, highly competitive place.  It is perfect for a sexy, sophisticated avant guard culture.  In other cities, like Los Angeles or Dallas, there is a different quality of light.  Different cultures favor stereotypes where women wear more feminine, lighter and more glowing colors.”

Steele is noted for wearing black almost exclusively, saying “It’s the most complicated non-color, the most interesting.” When explaining how powerful black can be, she alluded to the movie Reservoir Dogs.  One of the characters asks, “Why can’t we choose our own color?  The answer:  Then you get four guys who all want to be Mr. Black.—Sherry Mazzocchi

The Museum at FIT                   
Fashion Institute of Technology       
10am-5pm
New York City 10001-5992
Admission is free

top photo: courtesy The Museum at FIT
middle photo: AP/Annie Leibovitz

A Show On Color--Upstaged By Black

With all of the jewel tones that shine in this exhibit, it is the black costumes that leap out and demand the viewer take notice. Black—the ultimate color of power and gravitas—demands attention to cut, style and texture. The gowns in emerald green and shimmering purple make you stand back and slowly drink in the reverberating color. The whites and pinks nearly warn the viewer away.
Maybe my eyes are jaded by living in the black dress capital of the universe, but it’s hard to get past the hot numbers by Halston and Thierry Mugler to admire the fabulous 1968 mini dress by Pierre Cardin. Even the dark navy blue 1942 U.S. WAVES Navy uniform designed by Mainbocher (who knew they were so chic back then?) is more stunning and elegant than the floral Arnold Scassi.
-Sherry Mazzocchi
She’s Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion
The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue at 27^th Street
Until May 12, 2007

BI coming to 18th and Eighth

You won't have to travel to SoHo anymore to get your hipster-approved t-shirts and messenger bags, as a Brooklyn Industries will be filling the spot where the Pine Tree Market used to be at the corner of 18th and Eighth. Those of you fearing a McDonalds would be arriving can breath easy.

The Sartorialist

Well-dressed New Yorkers + people-watching = a fun, inspiring new blog, The Sartorialist.

Link courtesy MUG.