Juliette Longuet

Hot on the heels of its successful line with Comme des Garçons, H&M has announced that the next guest designer will be Matthew Williamson. Matthew Williamson for H&M will be launched on April 23 in select stores with a spring/summer womenswear collection and will continue with both men’s and women’s pieces for summer from mid-May in all stores.

The English fashion designer is known for using vivid prints and Indian influences in his creations.

“Matthew has such a good eye and a way for working with prints that he mixes up in a new way. When he combines these things, you get a very contemporary London look. It’s for people who want to look special, but his clothes can also be worn in a nonchalant way, you can really play around with them. He is fantastic with piling on color, it’s a very stylish collaboration for H&M, and very much in line with the way we’re thinking about fashion for spring/summer, “says Margareta Van Den Bosch, Creative Advisor at H&M. His clothes are worn regularly by celebrities such as Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The designer, who recently split from Emilio Pucci to focus on his own label, is opening his first U.S. flagship in the Meatpacking District early next year.

Miu Miu’s third Manhattan outpost has opened in the former home of Jil Sander on 57th Street. Shiny, golden, three floors and 4,860 square feet, it symbolizes everything the economy is not.

Patrizio Bertelli, Prada’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said that “Miu Miu, with its strong and independent identity, has reached in just a few years a worldwide success and recognition. The growth registered in all of its sectors confirms its position as one of the global reference brands in the luxury industry. The opening of the new store on 57th Street in New York is consistent with this approach and with the brand’s values.”

The flagship will feature a gallery on its third floor which will be devoted to special events revolving around art, culture and fashion. The first exhibit called “Modern Portrait Gallery” consists of renditions of Miu Miu ad campaigns starring celebrities like Kisten Dunst, Vanessa Paradis, Lou Doillon, Lindsay Lohan and Chloe Sevigny.

M.A.C officially announced their collaboration with Sanrio’s Global Consumer Products to create a Hello Kitty Color Cosmetics Collection. The line will arrive on M.A.C’s Website on February 10, in North American stores on February 12 and into overseas stores in March.

“M.A.C has been mining pop culture since the brand was founded”, said John Demsey, Group President of Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. “This is a sexy and innocent fashion line, and a true M.A.C moment. In these times, everyone can use a little fun and a little Kitty.”

“The partnership was a no-brainer”, said James Gager, Senior Vice President and Creative Director of M.A.C Worldwide.”We cater to people who love to play with makeup.”

There will be two M.A.C Hello Kitty Collections: the Hello Kitty Color Collection and the more high-end Hello Kitty Kouture. “We wanted to have affordable luxury and a high-low aspect, so it made sense to do the Hello Kitty Color Collection and Hello Kitty Kouture, “said John Demsey.

The line will be bright, colorful and fun. It will feature lipstick, lip glosses, eye shadows, pigment, glitter, nail polish, and more in shades of pink, turquoise, lavender and green.

A waiting list will go live on January 7 on maccosmetics.com. And John Demsey promises the surprises aren’t over.”There will be more products to come in the next three months with this partnership,” he said.

For its flagship store on Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton covers the facade of the building with Takashi Murakami’s iconic  Monogram Multicolore print.

Daniel Lalonde, CEO of Louis Vuitton North America said that “the idea to wrap the Fifth Avenue Maison in Monogram Multicolore came about earlier this year in an effort to do something truly unique for the holiday season and that the store’s white and glass facade lends itself to a variety of creative ideas. Louis Vuitton wanted to do something that was festive and exceptional, but at the same time true to the brand. Throughout the past year we have collaborated with Takashi Murakami on a variety of projects and thought his Multicolore print, displaying the Louis Vuitton monogram in 33 cheerful colors, would be a perfect combination of tradition and excitement.”

Takashi Murakami is one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking Japanese artists of the 90’s. Murakami is internationally recognized for his collaboration with designer Marc Jacobs to create handbags and other products for the Louis Vuitton fashion house.

There is also the “Bag Bar” on the flagship’s mezzanine level. The bar, designed by Peter Marino, includes bar stools and installation of moving display fixtures to highlight different handbag styles.

It was a crazy rumor in August, and now it’s official. Alexander McQueen will be designing a line for Target. In March, the collection inspired by McQueen’s diffusion line McQ, will be  the first one of the mega-retailer’s new “Designer Collaborations” series, which features established designers. The collection is inspired by The Duck Spirit, a British band. Indeed, lead singer Leila Moss was McQueen’s muse for the collection. The collection will have rock’n'roll influences and edgy details such as tattoo-print fabrics.

The line will be available in stores and online from March 1 to April 11, 2009. Prices haven’t been determined but the program will bring the styles of well-established designers at typical Target Price. Target said additional Designer Collections will be announced in the future. Each Collection will be available in stores for a limited time.

Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy have decided to cancel their “Rock and Roll Circus”  holiday party, which was to take place at the Rainbow Room in December 10.

“Due to the financial climate, I had to make the decision to cancel the 2008 holiday party” Duffy said in an e-mail. “It pains me as this has been a Marc Jacobs tradition for the past 18 years. Hopefully it will be reinstated next year.”

The Manhattan skyline will lose a bit of New York and gain a touch of London in coming months. Next March, Burberry will move its US headquarters to 444 Madison Avenue (a 68,000 square foot building , formerly owned by The New York Times), between 49th and 50th Streets and will top off the 42-story Art Deco tower with three glowing Burberry signs, which will also show the time and temperature. 

The building will also include space for a retail store.Currently, Burberry has two stores in Manhattan: one on 57th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues, and the other in SoHo.

Peter Som may have officially resigned from Bill Blass on October 28, he’s wasted no time finding new projects. Luxury children’s brand Best & Co. signed the designer to create a seven-item limited-edition capsule collection, four pieces for boys and three for girls, for the holidays, launched on November 6 at Bergdorf Goodman.

And while Som’s Bill Blass line may have had financing problems, this collection certainly doesn’t. The price tags are hefty, reaching upwards of $1,195 for a girl’s double-breasted coat or $995 for a girl’s organza dress. And for the boys, a full navy suit with trouser, shirt, vest and blazer comes to the grand total of $1,715. And though this may seem excessively expensive given the current economic outlook, the launch reminds us that there’s a market for high-end, well-made children’s clothes.

Teen Vogue is beefing up ad pages by opening a pop-up shop at a mall in Short Hills, New Jersey. But merchandise won’t be for sale. Instead girls can stop by to relax, try on clothes, play with makeup, charge cellphones and Ipods, and drink smoothies. Some Teen Vogue advertisers featuring wares in the space were asked to buy an extra ad page or two to participate. The magazine plans to open more pup-ups around prom season and in August for back-to-school.

Sanrio, the parent company of the Hello Kitty brand, has opened its first Sanrio Luxe concept shop in Times Square, at 233 West 42nd Street.

The idea behind the new concept is to attract fashion-forward women in their 20s who grew up with the Hello Kitty brand, said Janet Hsu, President of Sanrio global consumer products.

The 1,200 square-foot shop boasts a new design by LA-based interior designer Tracy Beckmann. Beckmann created the store glossy display tables, black and white interior design, making way for glass jewelry cases, fixtures and dramatic black framed mirrors. Shiny white-clad fixtures feature cashmere cardigans & silk scarves.

Clothing ranges from about $75 for a pair of cashmere gloves to $250 for a knit cashmere cardigan sweater. $550 will get you a leather jacket, and almost every item found in the newly renovated Sanrio Luxe store is exclusive.

You’ll be able to find pieces made in collaboration with Kimora Lee Simmons, Victoria Couture, Mabel Palacio & more.