"Clean lines with athletic elements sum up Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s resort lineup for The Row. The high-quality fabrics and imaginative details give the collection an austere yet luxurious feel — as in a double-face chiffon maxidress with angled stitching at the bottom or a ribbed, washed cashmere skirt and pullover that look simple but have plenty of tactile appeal."
"An architectural current courses through Vera Wang’s resort collection, grounding her signature languid, layered silhouette in smoky grays and rich jewel tones. Winding seams and asymmetric cuts have a relaxed, artsy effect on the strong knitwear — filmy cardigans and jersey T-shirts — and silk shorts, while sculptural rosettes and a bustier with a molded peplum provide a structured counterpoint to the long and lean."
(wwd)Google Launches Retail Search Product
"Google on Thursday released Version 2.0 of a service that it hopes the nation’s top 1,000 retailers will use to power the searches on their e-commerce sites. Unlike most competing search products, Google Commerce Search is a cloud service, so it can be set up and customized relatively quickly, and performance will not vary even during unusually busy times such as holidays and sales, according to the company. “A good search technology dramatically improves conversion rates because users find what they are looking for,” said Google senior product manager Nitin Mangtani. For example, retailer DiscountOfficeItems.com experienced a 6 percent increase in sales revenue a few weeks after adopting the first version, which made its debut in November. Version 2.0 comes with a dashboard through which retailers can easily and quickly customize searching and browsing on their sites. For example, merchants can set up menus with categories of their choice, such as denim, tops, brands, dresses under $99 or pencil skirts. If retailers want to promote certain types of items — latest arrivals, sale or private label, for example — they can arrange to have those show up first on search results. They can also create an endless number of special promotions that automatically start and end on dates of their choosing. No coding is required."
(wsj)Keeping It Masculine
Dolce & Gabbana Explain Why Men Favor Style Over Fashion
"Over the past 20 years, Messrs. Dolce and Gabbana have built one of the biggest and most successful men's businesses by navigating the fine line between style and fashion. "Women are into fashion, men are into style," said Mr. Dolce, in between fittings for the 20th anniversary runway collection. "Style is forever."
The difference between the two meant a striped linen jacket and a silk blouse didn't make the cut from the new collection, whose motto -- "Sensual, Sartorial, Sicilian" -- marks a return to the brand's roots. A nautical theme permeated the looks that made the cut, from the sailing rope Mr. Dolce stranded through belt loops to a rugged beige fisherman's sweater. Dolce & Gabbana's show kicks off Milan men's fashion week, which runs from June 19 to 22." read more
(wwd)Rodarte Wins Cooper-Hewitt Award
"Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy planned to celebrate their 2010 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion Design win by commandeering the jukebox Thursday night at their favorite Los Angeles hangout. The sisters outperformed Behnaz Sarafpour and Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for the honor. The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will present an array of Design awards at an Oct. 14 gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. “This is such a big deal because there is always the question [of] if you approach to design in an artistic way and whether you view your work as art,” Laura Mulleavy said. “It is amazing to have a community you are not always part of recognize your work.” As for Thursday’s celebration, she said, “The Lakers are playing tonight and they have kind of taken over our town, so we will probably just take over the jukebox at this little place we like to go to. And then, of course, we will just get back to work.” Other honorees include Stephen Doyle for Communication Design, Kiernan Timberlake for Architectural Design, William Sofield for Interior Design, Lisa Strausfeld for Interactive Design, Ralph Caplan for Design Mind, Jane Thompson for Lifetime Achievement and the U.S./Green Building Council for Corporate and Institutional Investment. First Lady Michelle Obama is honorary patron of the event, which is made possible in part by Bloomberg and Procter & Gamble. Target will once again sponsor National Design Week, which will run Oct. 9 to 17. Rodarte is a familiar name to the Cooper-Hewitt. During fashion week in February, a Quicktake exhibition of Rodarte’s designs was staged in the Upper East Side museum."