Michael Tonello's Blog, page 12

Hermès Opens Wanderland Exhibition

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: Hermès is taking a trip — to nowhere in particular — with an exhibition that opens today dedicated to flânerie, or the act of wandering the city streets and drinking in the details of everyday life. Wanderland will run until May 2 at the Saatchi Gallery in London, and move to Paris in September, Turin, Italy, in December and China next year.Hermès has dedicated 2015 to the theme of flânerie and transformed an upper floor of the gallery into a series of whimsical and surreal settings across 11 rooms. One features vintage walking sticks — including one for the dandy, with a built-in bit of chalk for cleaning the collar and a brush for dusting down the suit — while another is filled with graffiti created by the artist known as Cept, and another with floor panels that “talk” when a visitor walks on them. A café dedicated to lost objects features little tables inset with pocket watches or tiny paint boxes that, on closer inspection, feature film screens the size of postage stamps. A pillbox and glass bottle on one table glow with psychedelic colors while the image of a lady dances at the bottom of a coffee cup.Objects have been taken from the Hermès archive, the museum collection of Emile Hermès at 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris and Hermès’ contemporary collections and displays have been created from a variety of media.Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic director of Hermès, loves the buzz and beauty of London, and could not resist opening the show there. “Paris would have been the obvious choice, but London is the ideal city for the 21st century flâneur. There is something happening here,” he said.Dumas said his aim was to create an exhibition that would embody “what wandering is about. My hope is that people come to the show, maybe forget reality, and then look at their own city with new eyes. We must never lose our ability to dream, to wander, to go with the flow and let ourselves be surprised.”The exhibition was created by Bruno Gaudichon, curator of La Piscine-Musée d’Art et d’Industrie in Roubaix, while the set designer was Hubert le Gall. The brand has also created a book of kooky collages with Actes Sud that reflect the rooms and objects on show. Dumas said the show is also a meditation on the act of creation, and hopes it will awaken visitors’ empathy, so they can “think about the world we live in, and feel the presence of those who made the objects.”

Bringing Home the Birkin

Now in it's Ninth Printing and published in thirteen languages. Special shout-out to "Mistikat" at the Purse Forum for helping to spread the word.

Hermès Birkin Himalaya Bag Sets New Record at Christie’s Paris at $171,675

This Hermès Birkin Himalaya bag set a new record. A Birkin Himalaya bag by Hermès in white crocodile, circa 2009, set a new record at Christie’s Paris, selling for $171,675 on March 9.
Hermes offerings dominated Christie’s inaugural handbag and accessory sale in Paris, which raised a total of $2.79 million, double the pre-sale estimate. 
All the top 10 lots were by Hermès, primarily Birkin models, though other models went several times over their pre-sale estimates including a tricolor Kelly Sellier bag, circa 1992, selling for $99,735 and a Kelly picnic, circa 2011, selling for $53,955.

 

Invest in a Birkin Bag or Invest in the Stock Market? Something to Think About...

The world of fashion may appear to some as a fluffy, vacuous domain populated by models and fashionistas draped in the latest bizarre creations, but it is a valuable sector – demonstrated this week by the £2.3billion mega-merger of luxury fashion websites Net-a-Porter and Italian giant Yoox.Combined sales of the two websites is almost £1billion, and the desire to purchase the latest 1970s-inspired designer fringe handbag or bohemian floral cape has fuelled these businesses’ growth.Dedicated followers of fashion who often spend the average monthly salary on Net-a-Porter items justify their extravagance by calling it an ‘investment’ piece – as do fashion addicts, though they sometimes comfort themselves with the thought that what they are buying is a ‘classic’.



But rather than buying a handbag should a savvy shopper instead invest in the retailers themselves?Shares in the major luxury brands have soared over the past half decade, and even British upstart Mulberry, whose shares crashed in 2012, is still a top performer if you take a five-year view. Even with Italian brand Prada lacklustre this month – because of the crackdown on lavish spending in China – investors have not been put off the sector.Rahul Sharma, consumer analyst at Neev Capital, said: ‘In the past five years luxury stocks have done very well. Some are up 15 per cent year on year. Many have tripled in value, though the average handbag has not lasted as well.’But with clothing re-sale websites springing up around the world, which are doing a roaring trade, is it really better to buy shares in a fashion retailer or its latest ‘it’ bag?Looking at the returns on some items on websites including Tags On, Vestiaire Collective, Asos-owned Covetique and flash sales website Secretsales.com reveals that well-kept items such as handbags can sometimes be sold for near the purchase price. Some will use the product for a few months before selling it again.But there are no guaranteed returns from a luxury resale website – it depends on the brand and the product.Nicola McClafferty, chief executive and co-founder of Covetique, says French brand Hermès has the ‘most key investment pieces’. Some sell at auction for thousands and a Hermès Himalayan Nilo Crocodile Birkin bag with 18c white-gold accessories sold for $185,000 (£125,000) last month. She adds: ‘High resell values in Hermès is driven not just by the highly coveted nature of the brand but also by the fact it is one of the few brands that consistently raises prices annually.’Requiring a little less outlay could be a bag from Mulberry. The British brand tried to reinvent itself in 2012 and hired Bruno Guillon from Hermès. But after multiple profit warnings, Guillon left last year. Last month it appointed foreign fashion veteran Thierry Andretta as chief executive and hired a new creative director – former Céline accessories design director Johnny Coca – who starts this summer.Sharma says: ‘I am not overly keen on Mulberry shares but they are doing the right thing now.’ He adds that Hermès is an exception, saying: ‘Many companies have introduced so many different styles that very few of the older items – except perhaps Hermès – have held their value. As investments they don’t compare with investing in actual shares.’Looking at the stats, Sharma is right. The return on a Burberry trench coat or Louis Vuitton handbag is paltry compared with the rise in share price: LVMH shares have more than doubled and Burberry nearly trebled since the start of 2010. If, five years ago, you’d spent the price of a Louis Vuitton Alma bag on shares, you’d now be able to buy the handbag with the profit.Shoes might not represent such a good return. Jimmy Choo listed in October at 140p a share: its shoes resell for about 45 per cent but shares are up more than 20 per cent.But have luxury stocks peaked? Sharma thinks not: ‘The sector is still in good shape and I believe it is still a good investment.’Laura Levy, luxury research analyst at Barclays, adds: ‘We see luxury as an attractive sector to invest in driven by the emerging market consumer.’For the shopper who is both fashion conscious and investment savvy, the solution might be to buy shares and shop – Mulberry offers a 20pc discount on up to £5,000 of purchases to investors who have a minimum of 250 shares. So, splash out just north of £2,000 on shares and you can snap up a £995 Bayswater, a £1,200 Cara Delevingne rucksack, a £595 Tessie tote and a £1,600 Willow Tote each year – funds permitting – and save almost £1,000.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mark...?

The Real Real Not So real real

While it's no secret that we all love Hermès and the Birkin bag there comes a point when we just have to say enough is enough. Hermès has been perpetuating this myth (and allowing others to perpetuate it for them) that all leather-goods at Hermès are saddle stitched by hand. In this Real Real video (above) about authenticating a Birkin bag the host incorrectly states that Hermes craftsmen "hand sew every stitch". This is totally false. While some portions of a leather Birkin bag are indeed hand stitched, much of the bag is machine stitched. While the image of a craftsman with a leather apron sitting at an old workbench hand stitching a bag does indeed make for a lovely visual - and a great advertising campaign - it simply isn't reality.

Much is made of how Hermès is so secretive and not forthcoming with information. Well perhaps this is why. Maybe they don't want to shatter the image that so many people have in their minds of this old world technique.

Hermes Handbags Arriving in Stores with No Date Stamp (blindstamp)

News of Hermès handbags arriving in some of the stores without a date-stamp (blindstamp) have some people talking.Word on the street is that Birkin (and to a lesser degree Kelly) handbag sales are down. Way down. The Rumor is that Hermès is going to stop using date stamps (unlike the photo above) on bags so that merchandise sitting in the stores doesn't begin to appear old to the trained eye (read: people knowledgeable of blindstamp dating). As it is it's already difficult to sell certain people (from certain countries) a bag with a blindstamp from a previous year...so one can only begin to imagine the turmoil if bags were to sit around in the stores with old date stamps (quelle horreur). Perhaps this is meant to squash that mess before it even happens? One also has to wonder if years from now Hermès handbags with blindstamps will become collectible?

Bringing Home the Birkin and The Purse Forum

Always nice to see Bringing Home the Birkin the topic of conversation on The Purse Forum!

Dolce and Gabbana Attack Same Sex Marriage and Gay Families

The gay men behind Dolce & Gabbana, one of fashion's top labels, say that gay families are not real families.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, fashion design icons, business partners for decades, and a same-sex couple until they split several years ago, not only don't support same-sex marriage, but they've now come out attacking it.
I've never purchased anything Dolce and Gabbana in my life and now I never will.

Hermes Rubber Flip Flops vs Old Navy Rubber Flip Flops - Side by Side

Old Navy Rubber Flip Flops (top) $3.50 - oldnavy.com

Hermès Rubber Flip FLops (bottom) $405.00 - hermes.com

The New Sneaker (or, if You're Brit, Trainer) Birkin