Gwen Stefani at a party at The Four Seasons, promoting her clothing line, L.A.M.B.
lots of talk regarding pop stars turning to fashion, here some business facts from the recent NYT article
Hot on the Charts? Then How About the Racks?
By TRACIE ROZHON
Published: May 13, 2004
As the number of hip-hop and rock stars in the clothing business grows, it is getting harder for shoppers to know whether they're in Macy's or Tower Records.
In department stores all over America, shoppers are finding the Fetish line by the rapper Eve, and men's clothing by 50 Cent and Eminem. There are green track suits by Sean Combs, a k a the rapper P. Diddy, and whole boutiques of Jennifer Lopez's white stretch jumpsuits and Gwen Stefani's handbags. On Tuesday, the Grammy Award-winning singer Beyoncé Knowles announced that she, too, would try for a crossover hit on Seventh Avenue.
"They're jumping on the bandwagon, even celebrities not known for their fashion are taking a shot," Mr. Combs said. "A lot of people can lose their shirts messing with this business. It's one of the hardest businesses in this world."
Inspired by the successes of recording moguls like Russell Simmons, Jay-Z and Mr. Combs - who has announced he will expand his repertory of casual street clothes to include pinstriped suits this fall - a new pop star seems to make the leap from performer to designer every week.
They have seen that there is money to be made and a chance to extend the fleeting fame of a music video star into a brand that could last far longer. Mr. Combs's five-year-old Sean John Clothing company, one of the most successful of the lines created by music stars, sold $300 million at retail last year in more than 2,000 stores; executives dream of reaching $1 billion in sales in five years and eventually rivaling Ralph Lauren.
Ms. Knowles, who won five Grammys this year for her solo CD "Dangerously in Love," said in an interview this week that many artists "have more insight into fashion than people think."
"We have a lot of experience on the red carpet and fashion shows," she said. "We might as well have our own lines."
Yet, clothing manufacturers and licensing experts predict that for every platinum-level fashion hit like Sean John, some other brands will end up in half-off bins, as their creators discover that clothing shoppers can be even more fickle than music fans.
"Some are clearly winners; some are not doing so well," said George L. Jones, the president and chief executive of the Saks Department Store Group of Saks Inc., which also operates Proffitt's and Carson Pirie Scott. The top performers, he said, include Sean John and Rocawear, the line of hip-hop artist Jay-Z; the ones not doing so well are the Shady line by Eminem and G-Unit clothes from the rapper 50 Cent.
Eve, a 24-year-old rap star who favors pink cornrows and Dolce & Gabbana outfits, created her Fetish label last year under circumstances that now seem typical - she was a noted influence on pop clothing styles, and had appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue. So she sold a license to use the Fetish name to a California company with experience making and selling clothes.
"I don't sketch; I can't draw or anything like that," Eve said. "But I have a design team, and they come up with ideas. I approve or disapprove."
Does her current line of tie-dyed tank tops and denim miniskirts represent her style? "Not really," she said, adding that she was dissatisfied with her licensee and intended to switch to another one for her fall collection. "The new clothes," she said, "are much more like me, you know, my personal style."
Even taking into account her dissatisfaction with the earlier line, Eve's brand of clothing and accessories has sold $50 million at retail, according to Anthony Ottimo, a division president of Innovo Group, the California company that currently handles Fetish.
Ms. Stefani, the sexy singer and songwriter who fronts the band No Doubt and styles herself a punk Marilyn Monroe, has placed her L.A.M.B. clothing collection at Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman. An executive in her company says she took in $55 million at retail in her first two seasons.
Popular music has influenced fashion since, well, the beginning of popular music. Whether it was Frank Sinatra's porkpie hat (tilted just so), the Beatles' Nehru jackets or Billie Holiday's single white flower, what singers and performers wore had enormous sway over their fans' wardrobes. For most of pop-music history, though, performers were content to limit their clothing ventures to concert T-shirts.
Various celebrities have created fashion lines, including the actress Jaclyn Smith for Kmart (one of the most successful celebrity lines of all time, analysts say) and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, actresses who are twins, for Wal-Mart. But music stars did not seriously enter the business until Mr. Simmons, the hip-hop impresario, founded Phat Fashions in 1992. The company was sold early this year for $140 million to the Kellwood Company, a major clothing producer based in St. Louis.
Emil Wilbekin, the editorial director of Vibe magazine, said that branching beyond the recording business into clothing was pioneered by African-American producers and artists, out of a sense of pride. "It started in the black community," he said. "Hip-hop was centered on retaining black ownership of black culture."
Seth M. Siegel, a licensing expert who heads the Beanstalk Group, a consulting business in New York, agreed. "Russell Simmons empowered an urban audience and authenticated the brand as a fashion name," he said. By contrast, many of the celebrities signing up now "are just fakes" he said, "trying to piggyback on the success of others."
"Everyone is saying I want to be the next one in, but as with most gold-rush scenarios, it's the first ones who will make the money - and there will be a lot of wreckage later," Mr. Siegel said.
Because they are private companies, the pop star lines are not required to disclose their financial results. Retailers and other experts say the most successful are often the ones in which the celebrity is intimately involved and has a clearly defined fashion image.
Jennifer Lopez's clothing venture has been viewed skeptically within the industry since its founding in 2001, but executives at her company, Sweetface Fashion, say it is doing well. Estimates of total revenue in 2004 are $375 million, they said, compared with sales of $250 million last year.
Mr. Siegel suggested it was a stretch for a singer and actress like Ms. Lopez to assume she could also be a fashion designer. "What authority does she have about fashion?" he said. "This is the nature of licensing in general: just because someone is an authority in their field - music, for instance - that doesn't mean their name is extendable."
But even the naysayers concede that Ms. Lopez's perfume, Glow, has been a commercial success, and her lingerie line appears to be exceeding initial projections. Over Memorial Day weekend, Ms. Lopez will be in Moscow for a fashion show to celebrate the opening of her first JLo by Jennifer Lopez retail store.
Denise V. Seegal, the chief executive of Ms. Lopez's clothing company, acknowledged that the apparel for teenagers was selling less well than she had expected, but said it was still doing better than many of its rivals in the same market.
"Velour track suits drove our business last year," she said. "That business slowed down terrifically, and we've had to make it up with denim and young fashion. The good news is that you can change your product."
To Crystal Williams, a 19-year-old student at Bronx Regional High School who was shopping at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square on Tuesday, the fact that an article of clothing has a celebrity's label does not necessarily make her want to buy it.
"It's quality and pricing, too - a lot of celebrities' clothes are reasonably priced," said Ms. Williams, who was dressed in a red jersey, jeans, Nike sneakers and a red plaid hat with "Von Dutch" on it. "I like J. Lo's, and Eve's clothes are pretty hip now." She paused. "They're not leaving any room for anyone new, but I guess it's good to stretch your abilities."
Keith Sean, a 33-year-old choreographer from Los Angeles who was shopping in the Sean John shop in Macy's, agreed. "If I was a celebrity," he said, "I'd definitely do it."
artcile and photos from NYT
