Thursday, January 31, 2019

meet Russ Hardin... a fashion perennial


Today we are going to speak with one of the perennials that I referenced a few weeks ago… one of those rare people who possess talents that allow themselves to reinvent themselves in new ways. Russ Hardin may not have even known he could or was in ownership of these talents that is paving a new path in his professional life. 
click image to enlarge
As you will read, one might say he has been around the block a few times and yet, he found still one more milieu to utilize his well-known and self-aware skillset while discovering unknown talents to work on a new venture. Speaking from experience, I can say that there is a time in one’s life when you just have to gather yourself up and say fuck it… I can do this and then you just make it happen ... a company of one to start with and then who knows?
click image to enlarge; Marshall Fields
So, in his own words, you will hear/read how this perennial is back at it again even if things unexpectedly happened in this life;  if there is one thing I have learned is that simply said  “we make plans and god laughs!” but that doesn’t mean it’s the last laugh! Maybe there was a plan we weren’t even aware of for each of us….
click image to enlarge




Jeffrey Felner: Let’s talk about your career path... was this the plan? How did you arrive at your present position?

RUSS Hardin: Well…my current position is working for myself again. I Joined Bon Ton Stores in February of 2017 it proceeded to go bankrupt June 2018. I’d joined at the request of the CEO who I’d known for 20 years in order to “help” him keep it from going over the cliff, but the damage was done. Needless to say it was a terrible experience to watch so many long time employees basically lose everything. Over the last 10 years since I closed my own business in NYC in 2008 crash I’ve worked locally on individual projects and taken on long-term consultancies with companies like Kohl’s where I spent two years. It’s actually worked out due to my high tolerance for endless meetings and corporate/spread sheet side getting in the way of making creatively based business decisions. As far as my “career path” my only real plan was to get the Hell out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and get to New York. My father had all his suits made and when I was 8 years old he started taking me to his tailor and letting me pick out the linings for his suit and sport jackets. To say he was tolerant when I’d choose brash stripes or multi-colored polka dots for his business attire was an understatement. I’d always been inexplicably drawn to fashion AS IS my wife as well. She worked for Yves St. Laurent in Paris, Valentino and Guy Laroche. I’ve been busy developing a collection of home décor, cards, scarves, pillows and other related products under the name of, “mr. hardin says…”. The name derived from what I overheard numerous managers say that to staff as to why they had to do something. So I’m having a lot of fun; initial shipments hit the stores just before Christmas. I can’t say it’s the best timing for a new line—but I wanted to get a quick read on whether it was going to work. I’ve always been a good salesman for my ideas with clients and employers so I am a one man band.  


JF: Can you tell what was your most amazing experience in your career and what was the worst experience you encountered and why?

RH: I always tell people that my 5 years at Avon was the best and worst job I’d ever had because CEO Andrea Jung gave me seemingly impossible projects to handle (best). Aside from managing a team of 200 designers, art directors, writers, financial analysts, paper and print budgets ($150million), I opened a two floor Spa & Store on Fifth Avenue. Besides all that I was also building a corporate art collection based on beauty as seen through women’s eyes meaning the photographic works of Louise Dahl Wolfe, Shelia Metzner, Imogene Cunningham and 100s of others. The collection was displayed in the public areas of the company for all to see only to have it auctioned off 10 years later when Avon really hit the skids. Thanks to Andrea Jung it was five years of surprise, terror, invention, guts and stamina. I’d begun my career with Grace Mirabella at Vogue and had worked through the retail greats such Marshall Field’s, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and The Hudson Bay Company. Each had their unique challenges and opportunities but Avon was the most overwhelming experience that I’d had to date. My wife once said to me when I came home sort of dumbfounded, speechless and bleary-eyed, “Well you’ve finally done it. You’ve landed the job that not even you can do!” But I did…. (Re-read the intro)
click image to enlarge
JF: If you could invite any 5 people to dinner, who would they be and why?
RH: Geez …dinner with five amazing people. Well, in no special order: Joni Mitchell; Picasso; Richard Nixon; Andy Warhol & Shakespeare. I can’t imagine the conversation but it certainly wouldn’t be boring. And if we could cajole Joni into singing a few, Picasso might paint a few dinner plates, Andy would be visibly bored as only he could be, Shakespeare certainly would recite a few sonnets and Richard Nixon could finally spill what was on the 18 minutes of missing tapes—I think it would be an evening well spent. 
click image to enlarge
JF: Okay it’s time to speak about this new enterprise you’re working on so let’s have at it. Explain and expound on it
RH: I’ve worked as a writer and artist throughout my entire career so this new line of product makes perfect sense to me. It’s based on a “mash-up” of Victorian etchings of which I’m certainly not the first creative to mess around with. These old etchings have been repeated and massaged in different ways for decades. All my designs own copyrights and are registered with the Library of Congress. My work usually combines from three to 10 different etchings assembled into a single new artwork. Specifically for the “angel” series, I’ve added unique painted backgrounds to them in order to fend off their inherent “quaint” factor as I want them to feel new and contemporary. So far, I have greeting cards, giftwrap, tags, velvet pillows, scarves, porcelain dessert plates and trays in the assortment. 
click image to enlarge
It’s a lot of fun and people, merchants and vendors have been incredibly enthusiastic. I’m doing a PA this January for one store and another in February. There’s also some discussion of wallpaper. One store wants to trick out an entire room with one of the designs and a good friend; the British author Jane Green has also expressed her interest to “do a room”. It’s all been very satisfying and a great deal of fun.
click image to enlarge

JF: What’s the advice you would give to fledgling designers and those wanting to go into the fashion business or any related profession and why? Pros and cons?  
RH: I was recently having lunch with Philip Miller, former CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. We were discussing our time in the glory days of department stores and how lucky we were to be there when it was at that time. Phil encouraged me to do my own work and he believes the new line is extremely marketable and that I’m “onto something.” With regard to the fashion world in general it’s become so splintered, specialized and unremarkable. For a new designer to even try to get their ”goods” marketed it’s now an epic journey through investors, factoring agents and other obstacles.  Fashion has become just another business … a business that must make money immediately and cannot withstand any missteps. I think it’s a huge challenge to venture into fashion today unless it’s approached as strictly business. If you have grandiose ideas that it’s some magical place where profoundly talented people create extraordinary things... then you’ll be sorely disappointed as a rule; that ship has sailed. This evolution has occurred due to a confluence of changing consumer needs, living costs, lifestyle erosion and a general lack of style from both consumer and designer. Style is a delicate little creature that can be bruised and damaged so easily. When I moved to New York almost 40 years ago to work at Vogue you did walk the streets and marvel at both the architecture and the people. What was on the street was inventive, unexpected and above all else—stylish. Individuality was coveted and most everyone I knew was driven to make their mark that day by what they wore each day. So to answer your question I’d say, ‘go ahead’ and give fashion a try. There are lots of jobs in the related areas that support that business, But what remains of the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” era is gone and been replaced by the pedestrian and classless Kardashians and their ilk.

 I’m sure there are young creative minds at work right now thinking they’ll be the ones to break through and change everything.  It’s happened before. Let’s recall Dior’s “The New Look”, YSL’s “Le Smoking” and Marc Jacob’s groundbreaking “Grunge”. Creativity is after all—endless.
 www.russhardin.com

Thursday, January 24, 2019

on aura tout vu hc spring 2019


ALCHIMIA represents the 20th anniversary of on aura tout vu and isn’t it interesting that what once seemed so out of the realm of reality has actually become the reality of what haute couture has evolved into at this time.
click image to enlarge
click image to enlarge
The clothes which at one time might have seemed so theatrical and costumey that fashionphiles turned up their noses at the brand  but now this design team has shown those snobs they too can compete in the haute couture arena; in short those snobs should have their noses rubbed into this collection since it was on aura tout vu who did it first!
click image to enlarge
 Yes, some of the clothes straddle the line of reality but then again look at Balmain, look at Gaultier, Valentino, look at Margiela and tell me if these clothes don’t actually appear to be tame and wearable in comparison.
click image to enlarge
All of it is made by hand and keeping in mind that all the clothes can be adjusted at the client’s request there are some mighty easy to wear shapes and certainly some entrance making forever pieces. Here’s the thing, they haven’t strayed from their roots and whether the fashion establishment admits it or not the world of haute couture has caught up to them and when put into context they are no longer the black sheep of couture to be dismissed as outrageous or ridiculous. 
click image to enlarge
The astute follower of fashion who has an eye for detail can plainly see that what on aura tout vu has been doing for years is now being done by so many. I have always said that sometimes being on trend too early is as costly as being on trend too late!
click image to enlarge
Bon Anniversaire à tous!

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Valentino hc spring 2019 .. a requiem


Haute couture stands or translates to “high sewing" or "high dressmaking" or "high fashion") and is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable sewers - often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking" but may also refer to fashion, sewing, or needlework and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture and refers to the same thing in spirit. Haute translates literally to "high". An haute couture garment is always made for an individual client, tailored specifically for the wearer's measurements and body stance. Considering the amount of time, money, and skill allotted to each completed piece, haute couture garments are also described as having no price tag: budget is not relevant. Wikipedia definition 
click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge
These days it seems to be about exaggeration and how big of a train a dress may have or how much beading on nude tulle is done to build a garment. No question haute couture is for a rarefied world of women who can afford quite literally anything and not ask the price of anything. With this in mind there is no reason for standing room only audiences made up of wannabes so called influencers who have not the vaguest clue of what they are looking at and to some degree I blame the designers.
click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge
Currently, there is a fine line between ready to wear and haute couture at least from the outside but its biggest difference lies is what you can’t see on the inside of the so called shell. Moons ago, haute couture was a laboratory for what was to come in ready to wear … not in total but usually there was a hint of a trend started in haute couture that filtered down into the ready wear collections by the same designers. Now it’s just an utter free for all … dresses that can only be worn when standing even while being transported from home to an event a ( standing up in the back of a pickup truck)  and never mind sitting down,  that dare the wearer to wear them and not in a good way. More is better and bigger is better and sadly we have a so called fashion media that is either written in praise of big advertisers or illiterate in the world of fashion and that impacts how haute couture is seen by readers since they speak of venue and bullshit rather than the fine points of the clothes.
click image to enlarge
What brought this on is Valentino where Pierpaolo Piccioli showed dresses that were as if inflated and floating in air and yet they were dresses that would swallow up a wearer. Meticulously finished and made but dresses that that could pass for Thanksgiving Day parade floats. What came to mind were the times of Sao Schlumberger and her ilk as well as the Italian designers of the 60’s and 70s who surely knew a thing or two about entrance making clothes and construction. Some of what was shown echoed of Balenciaga on steroids and some of the great 50s and 60s coutouriers who also knew a thing or 2 about statement making clothes. The difference is that in those years the clothes were worn, bought and chronicled in newspapers and magazines and not just on the red carpet. Today the clothes are practically unwearable as a rule and worn publicly only when loaned. By the way as if the dresses and prints weren’t enough why did you need that absurd make up and printed hose?
click image to enlarge
 Haute couture is all about the art and craft of fashion and not to be critiqued the same way one would for ready to wear and yet the clothes force it upon the reviewer to write as if these clothes would ever hang on a rail in any store. How sad that the skillsets that are taught and still used reflect  a time where the clothes reflected not only  great design, but style and creativity as well. Nowadays it seems to be of a sheep mentality rather than of extravagance, aspiration and awe. It is most certainly not about bigger is better and sadly the aspect of haute couture day clothes has fallen by the wayside for practically all of the so called coutouriers. We should mourn the loss as we have lost so much in such a short time.