Michael Tonello's Blog, page 8

The Hermes Apple watch is here just like you wanted

The HermèsApple watch has arrived - an item you never knew you wanted, but now lust for more than Michael Fassbender.
PA Photos It was only a matter of time before the fashion industry got in on the Apple watch action, but Hermès' involvement is slightly more surprising, as a fashion house steeped in tradition, history and discreet elegance.
"Apple and Hermès make very different products, but they reflect the deep appreciation of quality design," said Apple's chief design officer Jonathan Ive. "Both companies are motivated by a sincere pursuit of excellence and the desire to create something that is not compromised. Apple Watch Hermès is a true testament to that belief."
So, for those who have $1250 (£800) to spend, what can we expect? Each watch will come engraved with the label's signature; the watch straps will be made in Paris with Hermès' Barenia leather; and the typeface can be altered to the brand's famous orange shade.
The collection will be available from October 5. Here's six stars who we think will be clamouring for one ASAP:
Kim and Kanye WestLewis HamiltonDavid BeckhamScott DisickCristiano Ronaldo

Beware of Authentication Sites

Many sites, such as this one (shown below), often give out misleading if not totally incorrect information. Also question who owns such sites and what their ulterior motive might be.

Hermes Alligators / Crocodiles PETA Petition

So this petition popped up on my radar today. Umm what about Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Nancy Gonzalez, Prada, ets (the list is long)...do their crocodiles/alligators live in condos and die of natural causes?
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A single Hermès Kelly bag made from baby alligator skin costs $43,000. But the price these alligators and crocodiles pay is far greater. Their short lives are spent packed in fetid pools and dank, dark sheds without sunshine, fresh air, clean water, or basic medical care.This misery ends with their inhumane and unthinkably painful slaughter, after which only their bellies are used for these luxury goods.
Join me in asking Hermès help put a stop to the unethical farming of alligators and crocodiles, and discontinue use of these skins in their products.
At just one year old, baby alligators are shot with a captive-bolt gun and crudely hacked into while still conscious and fully able to feel pain. All for a “luxurious” watch band that rarely even lasts a year. PETA has documented this horrifying abuse and slaughter at farms in Zimbabwe and Texas, which contract exclusively with Hermès. You can watch their gruesome video here.
Alligators and crocodiles are highly intelligent and social animals. They work together to capture their prey. They have even been recorded using tools to hunt. They are devoted mothers, who stand guard over their eggs for months and stay with their babies for years. In the wild, their life expectancy is longer than humans’. But the fashion industry kills them in cold blood when they are no more than three years old.
Hermès has a die-hard and devoted following. They could do so much for animal welfare by ending their contracts with these cruel farms and announcing they will no longer use alligator and crocodile skins.
I am calling on animal lovers everywhere to help stop this carnage posing as “luxury.”Please join me in asking Hermès to take the higher ground, and discontinue its support of cruel alligator and crocodile farming.

Hermes Birkin bag for sale at Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH

$12,999
Bizarre.

Birkin bag: from status symbol to badge of shame

The ne plus ultra of luxury fashion status symbols is the target of a take-down by its celebrity namesake.
The crocodile Hermès Birkin bag, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, has spawned waiting lists of lore and is carried like a trophy by celebs from Oprah to Lady Gaga, is at the center of a controversy that has the power to affect the future of luxury fashion.
In case you missed it, British model/singer Jane Birkin is demanding that the bag be renamed, after she learned about the cruelty to crocodiles used to make the bags.
"Having been alerted to the cruel practices endured by crocodiles during their slaughter for the production of Hermès bags carrying my name....I have asked Hermès Group to rename the Birkin until better practices responding to international norms can be implemented for the production of this bag," Birkin said in a statement published at Her response came after she viewed the animal rights organization’s stomach-turning expose “Belly of the Beast,” which looks at the farming and slaughter of reptiles in undercover videos from Texas and Zimbabwe farms, including a scene where a crocodile is sawed open alive. The skins are not only used for bags, but also shoes and watch bands.
Hermès has denied that the farms in the video are theirs, and issued a statement saying, “Hermes respects and shares her emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast.” The bag was created by former Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas ‎in 1984.
But that hasn't quieted the outrage, which PETA has been stoking for several weeks by organizing protests around luxury shopping districts, promoting thehashtag #killedforhermes on social media and teaming up with the group Freedom of Animals to create a mockcroc, vegan "Virkin” bag, selling for $400, with 20% of sales of the style to be donated to PETA. (PETA gifted the bag to at least one celeb and Birkin collector, Victoria Beckham, in hopes of getting her to turn on the brand, according to the Daily Mail in London.)
ocial media’s court of public opinion ‎has mostly applauded Birkin's high-profile diss, with some Twitter users calling her a "fashion hero."
The controversy is interesting for a few reasons. Animal rights protesters used to be a mainstay at fashion weeks in New York and Europe, storming the runways with predictable regularity at high-profile shows by Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier and others. But in recent years, they have been largely silent as PETA shifted its message online to social media. This controversy is a victory for the group, which has half a million Twitter followers, and further proof of how celebrity shaming can be a tactic to promote outrage and activism.
It could also signal a tipping point in the trend of ethical consumerism, and how it will define the future of luxury. So far, the discussion has centered around sustainability, with images of the Rana Plaza factory disaster in Bangladesh, and the recent film “The True Cost” increasing shoppers’ awareness of the human and environmental toll of consumption.  The Hermes Birkin controversy is expanding the discussion to include fashion’s toll on the animal kingdom in the most high-profile way, by targeting the very symbol of luxury, the vaunted Hermes brand.
Whether all of this influences the Hermes bottom line is another story.
Forty-five percent of the French luxury goods firm’s sales come from leather goods, including crocodile, ostrich and calf, and the Birkin is the brand’s most famous design. Waiting lists for the bags, which are made by hand, are legendary, with shoppers waiting months to pay six figures for the coveted carry-alls. Several books have been published about the phenomenon, including “Bringing Home The Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag,” in 2009.
In recent years, though, the ostentatious style has been so overexposed in paparazzi photos and on reality TV that it’s almost become outre. Last year, many pop culture observers gagged when Kanye West gave Kim Kardashian an Hermes Birkin bag for her 34th birthday that had been hand painted by their 1-year-old daughter, North. And in 2010, Lady Gaga made headlines for defacing her white Birkin with a Sharpie.
Meanwhile, Hermes has been downplaying flash in favor of a more stealth-wealth look. And when Hermes’ newly appointed design director Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski (who came from The Row) showed her first collection for the brand at Paris Fashion Week in March, there wasn’t a Birkin to be seen on the runway. Instead, the collection was quiet and minimal, right down to the new, structured Octogone handbag.
Will this be the beginning of a true movement away from trophy bags in exotic skins or a momentary social media blip? Will the Birkin bag go from status symbol to badge of shame? Only time will tell.

http://www.latimes.com/fashion/allthe...
booth.moore@latimes.com

Hermes Vancouver store robbed, truck driven through window

Around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, the Hermes Vancouver store on Alberni Street in downtown was broken into as a truck was driven into the storefront window.
The individual (unknown how many people were involved) then broke the store’s security camera and stole merchandise, according to repair workers.

Bill Clinton Gets in Some Retail Therapy at Hermès in Paris

Bill Clinton

When in Paris, even former President Bill Clinton can apparently spare a little time for shopping – at Hermès.

A five-car convoy carrying the former president and a security detachment arrived out front of the luxury brand's landmark boutique on Monday at noon.

"There were about a dozen security men – American and French – with him and they went inside," an observer tells PEOPLE.

Hermès on Faubourg St Honoré is a shopper's mecca known for scarves, leather goods and luxury items. A spokesperson for the shop tells PEOPLE, it "never discloses details about its clientele."

Clinton, 68, spent more than an hour on the shop's third floor section, where windows were closed after his arrival. The observer speculated: "He's up there, probably buying the store."

He reportedly left with several shopping bags though they're hard to spot in the video below. We can't help but wonder what he purchased and whether Clinton was shopping for himself or his wife and U.S. presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton. The luxury store sells ties for about $225; a leather belt can set you back nearly $1,000.

It certainly seems like the former president would be able to afford the luxe shopping trip – as the New York Times reported June 17, the Clintons' net worth is somewhere between $11.3 million and $52.7 million, according to public disclosure statements filed earlier this year, among other assets and earnings under the Former Presidents Act of 1958.



Messages left with the Clinton Foundation have not yet been returned.

Author claims infamous Birkin bag ‘waiting list’ doesn’t exist

In “Primates of Park Avenue,” Dr. Wednesday Martin writes about a supposed epic “waiting list” that upscale ladies clamor to get on to procure Birkin bags from fashion house Hermès.
But “Bringing Home the Birkin” author Michael ­Tonello has said the “list” no long­er exists — if it ever did.
“They no longer use the term ‘waiting list,’ ” he said. Instead, “They encourage people to ‘establish a relationship’ with a salesperson who will help them try to get a Birkin.”
Tonello was at consignment shop 2nd Time Around on Wednesday, and certified that all its Birkins were legit as he signed copies of his book, which chronicles his life as a specialist traveling the world to nab Hermès bags for clients.

http://pagesix.com/2015/06/27/author-...

An Open Invitation to My Friends and Readers

Clean Out Your Closets - There's LOTS of $$$ in Luxury Resale!

A Re-branded 2nd Time Around to Expand Second Time Around, which operates 40 stores across the U.S., wants to capture a bigger piece of the $14 billion to $16 billion resale market.The retailer, whose tag line is “Resale Goes Upscale,” plans to more than double its store count by 2017. It’s also re-branding itself as 2nd Time Around and launching e-commerce in the third or fourth quarter of this year.Kristin Burrows, president and chief executive officer, envisions six to eight new stores in Manhattan, which has 10 existing units. “We haven’t touched Brooklyn yet,” she said. And with stores clustered along the Eastern Seaboard, Chicago and Miami are priorities, along with heading West.Top stores in the chain do $1.5 million to $1.8 million in annual sales, Burrows said. The stores average 1,250 to 1,500 square feet in size.A new 2nd Time Around logo is visible on stores’ exterior and interior signage and the Web site has been redesigned with bigger images and a modern, less cluttered layout. “The logo and creative identity were inconsistent and looked very thrifty,” Burrows said. “We wanted to create something that was fresh.”Top-selling brands include Theory, Helmut Lang, J. Crew Black Label, Diane von Furstenberg, Alexander Wang, T Alexander Wang, Missoni, M Missoni, Vince, Chanel, Burberry and Givenchy.“It’s a very fragmented market,” Burrows said of resale. “It’s gone through different ebbs and flows.”According to Burrows, 2nd Time Around competes with mom-and-pop consignment shops and new online players such as The Real Real and Vaunt.“We have an opportunity to own the contemporary market on up through designer,” she said. “We have the largest base of brick-and-mortar stores and we use them as an asset.”The two groups of constituents, shoppers and consignors, make the business unique. Burrows wants to make consigning easier, so 2nd Time Around will offer a pick-up service. The company provides online accounts for consignors to track their sales in real time.Items are put on the sales floor within 48 hours and sell within three weeks on average, she said. Each store has two racks at the front designated “Style Editor Picks,” where looks are merchandised by outfit.The company has “call-to-purchase” options on its social channels. “We do 10 percent to 12 percent of our sales on social media, especially Instagram,” Burrows said. When e-commerce launches, it will be mobile first and desktop second. “We’ll be adding a CRM database.”Sales associates are trained to “style like Intermix,” Burrows said. “It’s all about wardrobing.“We want women to leave feeling beautiful and smart,” Burrows said, noting that prices are generally one-third of retail. Consignors receive 40 percent of apparel sales and 70 percent of sales of trophy handbags such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermès.“We just got two Birkin bags in,” Burrows said, standing in the Chelsea store. “People are looking for unique pieces.”The firm is introducing a formal loyalty program. About 80 percent of the retailer’s business is generated by 30 percent of its customers.
By Sharon Edelson WWDhttp://wwd.com/retail-news/mass-off-p...