is anyone familiar with this designer? 
Macy’s Gets Fast Fashion
By ERIC WILSON
ANY retailer on earth would just about die to create the kind of consumer craze that takes place when H & M introduces a discount designer collaboration (like the heavily touted one from Lanvin coming on Nov. 20). The high-low concept has worked well for Target, Gap and Uniqlo, but the latest store to delve into fast fashion is a bit unexpected in that it is the classically mainstream Macy’s.
Macy’s is expected to announce today that it will sell a series of limited-edition designer collections, beginning in February. Each will be on sale for about two months, until the next collaboration is announced. The first is by Kinder Aggugini, a rising star of the London runways who is practically unknown in the United States, where his clothes are sold only at If in New York and Ikram in Chicago.
The collection for Macy’s, which will be sold at about 250 locations, will cost $50 to $300 and is targeted toward younger customers who shop in its Impulse departments. “This customer loves to shop,” said Jeff Gennette, the chief merchandising officer of Macy’s. “She wants to be in our store all the time, and we’d better be interesting.”
Mr. Aggugini is interesting. Having designed for Versace, Calvin Klein and Vivienne Westwood, he started his label about four years ago based on his fantasy of what a marriage between Coco Chanel and Sid Vicious might look like. That is to say a tailored punk look, or an offhanded treatment of luxury fabrics.
When Nicole Fischelis, the fashion director of Macy’s, approached him, Mr. Aggugini thought there had been some sort of mistake. “I thought maybe they wanted me to go to the parade,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s going to be a Kinder balloon!’ ”
But Mr. Aggugini was enticed by the notion of creating something affordable that still felt like a runway collection — draped dresses in washed silk paired with a tailored military or leather jacket, for example — especially for shoppers who may have never heard of him.
“How cool,” he said. “Something that sells on the strength of what it is, rather than who I am.”
Macy’s Gets Fast Fashion
By ERIC WILSON
ANY retailer on earth would just about die to create the kind of consumer craze that takes place when H & M introduces a discount designer collaboration (like the heavily touted one from Lanvin coming on Nov. 20). The high-low concept has worked well for Target, Gap and Uniqlo, but the latest store to delve into fast fashion is a bit unexpected in that it is the classically mainstream Macy’s.
Macy’s is expected to announce today that it will sell a series of limited-edition designer collections, beginning in February. Each will be on sale for about two months, until the next collaboration is announced. The first is by Kinder Aggugini, a rising star of the London runways who is practically unknown in the United States, where his clothes are sold only at If in New York and Ikram in Chicago.
The collection for Macy’s, which will be sold at about 250 locations, will cost $50 to $300 and is targeted toward younger customers who shop in its Impulse departments. “This customer loves to shop,” said Jeff Gennette, the chief merchandising officer of Macy’s. “She wants to be in our store all the time, and we’d better be interesting.”
Mr. Aggugini is interesting. Having designed for Versace, Calvin Klein and Vivienne Westwood, he started his label about four years ago based on his fantasy of what a marriage between Coco Chanel and Sid Vicious might look like. That is to say a tailored punk look, or an offhanded treatment of luxury fabrics.
When Nicole Fischelis, the fashion director of Macy’s, approached him, Mr. Aggugini thought there had been some sort of mistake. “I thought maybe they wanted me to go to the parade,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s going to be a Kinder balloon!’ ”
But Mr. Aggugini was enticed by the notion of creating something affordable that still felt like a runway collection — draped dresses in washed silk paired with a tailored military or leather jacket, for example — especially for shoppers who may have never heard of him.
“How cool,” he said. “Something that sells on the strength of what it is, rather than who I am.”
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