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Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



    [:O] This is truly angering. How can they just do this?

    Jones to Abandon Anne Klein Designer Collection













    Jones Apparel Group Inc. is pulling the plug on its Anne Klein designer collection after just two seasons in stores.

    The
    apparel conglomerate decided to abandon the Isabel Toledo-designed
    collection and will focus on the brand?s bridge Anne Klein New York and
    better-priced AK Anne Klein collections.

    While the upscale line,
    which launched at retail this fall, was never viewed as a volume
    business for Jones Apparel, it nevertheless was slated to set a new
    tone for the entire brand and serve as a halo for the other divisions.
    Resort, which typically hits stores next month, will be the last
    shipment.

    Toledo?s efforts were widely lauded by the fashion
    press and opened up new retail opportunities for Anne Klein in stores
    such as Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, as well as
    specialty stores such as Ikram in Chicago.


    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • laika
    moderator
    • Sep 2006
    • 3787

    #2
    Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



    Very sad, and a bit shocking...[72]



    I wonder why they didn't give the label more time? It was looking very promising, I thought.



    ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo

      [quote user="laika"]

      Very sad, and a bit shocking...[72]



      I wonder why they didn't give the label more time? It was looking very promising, I thought.





      [/quote]



      That's why it angers me. Give her a chance! Heartless capitalists!

      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • laika
        moderator
        • Sep 2006
        • 3787

        #4
        Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo

        Stupid capitalists, it seems to me. Keeping the mainline would have been very profitable in the long term, I should think, especially since the brand has been so diluted. And who the hell makes a profit after just two collections?! I don't get it, really, I don't. [:'(]
        ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

        Comment

        • zamb
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2006
          • 5834

          #5
          Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



          it is at times and in situations such as these, that i really disdain this industry,
          Oftentimes the really horrible and tacky survives, while those who would accomplish something meaningful and lasting are scarcely given a chance...............



          I personally have absolutely no desire whatsoever, to work for another fashion house, its too insecure and mercurial. for her caliber of talent, it took too long for her to land this kind of Job, matter of fact, she deserves a better job than this even................. and now when she got this, after two seasons they close it? RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!



          “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
          .................................................. .......................


          Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

          Comment

          • bakla
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2006
            • 902

            #6
            Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



            Seems like it's a typical changing of the guard story: Anne Klein's former chief exec championed her, but left this July, along with other execs who supported the Toledo hire. See the more informative article from the NY Times (taken from nytimes.com):



            Anne Klein Dresses Down



            Published: November 22, 2007















            LAST year, Jones Apparel Group hired
            Isabel Toledo, a remarkably unsung force in American fashion, to do
            something with Anne Klein, its flagging sportswear label, which, of
            course, she did.









            Lee Clower for The New York Times


            CUT LOOSE The designer Isabel Toledo is parting ways with Anne Klein.









            Ms. Toledo had the critics
            falling on their knees during the two seasons she designed Anne Klein.
            Hers was a higher-priced, higher-fashion collection than the house had
            seen during a decade of attempts at designer C.P.R., or Couture
            Perception Resuscitation. Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus carried
            the new Anne Klein, with its intricately pleated and crinkled dresses
            and artsy coats, which is saying something for a brand once considered
            to be a relic of career clothing departments. Ms. Toledo and her
            husband, the illustrator Ruben Toledo, were toasted as a couple on
            Vanity Fair?s International Best Dressed list.



            But on Tuesday,
            Jones announced that it would no longer produce the designer line and
            that Ms. Toledo would leave the company upon completing her contract.
            Sharon Stern, a spokeswoman for Jones, said the company is focusing on
            the lower-priced collections, where the real business lies.



            The
            move represents an about-face from the strategy detailed last year, to
            upgrade the overall image of Anne Klein by creating a high-end design
            aesthetic that would have a halo effect on the less expensive lines.
            That was part of the long-term Jones turnaround envisioned by Peter
            Boneparth, its chief executive at the time, which began to unravel
            after he disagreed with the company?s board over its desire to sell
            Jones to a private equity fund. Mr. Boneparth left Jones in July and
            was followed by other executives who supported Ms. Toledo?s hire,
            leaving the fate of the collection in limbo.



            In one sense, this
            is a familiar story of a critically heralded designer who nevertheless
            fails to become a commercial success (see Isaac Mizrahi, John Bartlett, Miguel Adrover,
            et al.). But the circumstances in this case point to a broader problem
            with mainstream sportswear corporations dabbling in upstream designs.



            ?It?s
            a disaster,? said Kim Hastreiter, an editor of Paper magazine. ?The sad
            part to me is that this happened when she finally got her due. The more
            creative the designer is, the more difficult it becomes to function in
            this world called fashion.?



            Comment

            • katie
              Junior Member
              • Nov 2007
              • 7

              #7
              Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



              I was just at Barneys the other day when I first looked at Toledo's Anne Klein designs - I don't know how I missed them before. How great, I thought, these designs have her distinctive nouvelle femme fatale flair, at a much lower price than her quite expensive second floor eponymous line. It's too bad that they're abandoning her so soon after picking her up. It is representative of American capitalism at its most shortsighted and worst.



              On a philosophical note, it's too bad that the medium of fashion, like film-making, is so dependent on $$$ in order to survive. It's not like writing, which you can do practically for free as long as you can support yourself - it's extremely expensive, and that means investors are going to want to see profit, not just beautiful clothes. I guess I just kind of find it ironic that I'm here writing about how shallow capitalism is, when the whole reason I can afford to buy all my costly pieces of fluff is that my fiance is at work right now, maybe making the kind of decisions the Anne Klein group did when they decided to axe her line.



              Having said all that, it does seem premature to drop her so soon, and I wonder if any attempts at all were made to make the line work. Business can be so cold-hearted, downright mean! I'm still fuming about the demise of Olivier Theyskiens at Rochas - such beautiful clothes, and for some (perhaps $-related) reason his new stuff for Nina RIcci falls flat.

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                #8
                Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo



                I love Olivier in all incarnations, so I am not too upset about him going to NR, as long as he is able to create. [64]



                And, yea, we all (ok, i guess most of us) went through these reconciliations of spending large amounts of money on clothes while trying to stay more or less morally clean.



                Laika is right, however - I can't think of any smart reason to drop the line without giving it a chance. It looks like she was a political victim (see bakla's article).

                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • bakla
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2006
                  • 902

                  #9
                  Re: Jones NY Pulls Plug on Anne Klein Designer/Toledo

                  Sadly, not many designers are 'given a chance' to prove themselves on someone else's dime. It sounds like the new management didn't approve of the strategy to begin with so Toledo, beautiful clothes or not, was not a factor in their plans. She isn't the first nor will she be the last of short-lived designer tenures at bigger houses. Come to think of it, they haven't had a designer with a name since Louis Dell'Olio died. I think he died, right? But then again there are similar situations at Halston, Bill Blass and the like. Hopefully Toledo will find success elsewhere.

                  Comment

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