Michael Kors may very well be the most influential person in New York fashion—or at least the one with the most business prowess. 

The brand was just named the most-searched American fashion brand worldwide, beating out prominent names like Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein in a study by Digital Luxury Group.

Launched in the early 80's, the designer's clothing and accessories company continues to beat Wall Street expectations and reel in more HENRYS, or "High Earners Not Rich Yet" shoppers, with fashionable yet accessible handbags, watches and sportswear. Rightfully so, the designer's Fall 2013 collection debuted at New York Fashion Week with a survival theme, perhaps a reflection of its leading man's reputation in the industry. 

Arguably the new Coach, Kors claimed market share from its rival accessories manufacturer after the holiday shopping season. Coach has seen a slowdown as of late, with competitors like Tory Burch and Kate Spade—both of which appeared in the most-searched top 10—taking a strong stand in the luxury goods market.Continue reading...

Moisturizing jeans? Wrangler’s Denim Spa jeans come replete with moisturizers that can last up to 15 days after your first wear and then fashionistas can purchase a spray formula to maintain the silky-smoothness for 97 more wearings.

Announced last summer, the Denim Spa jeans “come infused with an array of beauty repairs that aim to soothe and moisture skin and even rid your legs of dreaded cellulite,” according to Smart Planet.

Three skinny-leg styles with different waist cuts will be available January 28th on the Asos online shopping site, with three different finishes: aloe vera to soothe the skin, olive extract to moisturize and smooth legs to fight cellulite, and a price tag of about $140. That’s right, Wrangler claims the "Smooth Legs" jeans help fight cellulite. 

Asos describes the line as a “collection of great fitting jeans infused with cosmetic ingredients that will provide treatments for your legs as you wear them, keeping them silky smooth throughout the day.”Continue reading...

It’s getting harder and harder to get television viewers to actually sit and watch commercials, which means product placement continues to rise as a means to show consumers just how great a product is.

TV will be filled with awards shows for the next few months, live events often attract high tune-in, sprinkled with tune-out during commercial breaks. 

PepsiCo's Aquafina brand is partnering with fashion TV powerhouse Project Runway (which jumped from Bravo to Lifetime TV in 2009) with a contest inviting aspiring designers to submit their designs for a chance to attend the season 11 finale at the Fall 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York next month.

According to the press release, "Narrowed down from the pool of design submissions gathered over the past month, the four designers who receive the most votes will compete in a one-hour, live design competition in New York City on February 6, 2013. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000, Aquafina for a year and recognition among the esteemed Project Runway and fashion communities."Continue reading...

Call it Babes in the Woods — Burberry is wooing fans to its Autumn/Winter 2012 collection with a new "Woodland Adventure" trailer, featuring models parading its fashions along with "magical woodland creatures" and a sprightly sountrack: "Numb" by Marina and the Diamonds.

The British luxury brand revealed its new face for Sping/Summer 2013, the offspring of two of Britain's biggest brands in their own right: Romeo Beckham, the second son of Victoria and David Beckham:Continue reading...

Dockers 2013 “Get Dressed Like You Mean It”

Dockers, the Levis Strauss brand of khaki garments and accessories, has been helping men get dressed since 1986, when "business casual" and "casual Fridays" came into vogue. While Dockers introduced a line for women in 1987, its core emphasis remains the sartorially-smarter male with belts, pants, leather wallets and shoes – all along with comfort and ease. 

When "metrosexuals" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" urged men to spiff up, Dockers premiered its "Wear The Pants" campaign during the 2010 Super Bowl, the first Super Bowl ad offering an exclusive, limited time online offer for viewers with the hopes of skewing younger.

But now we're heading into 2013, and workplace attire has evolved (look at Levi's commuter line and even how streetwear brands like BAPE are office-acceptable — for creatives, at least), so Dockers is promoting a “Get Dressed Like You Mean It” social/video platform, one “designed to equip guys with a solid foundation of refined yet rugged wardrobe essentials that take the guess-work out of “what-to-wear” and “how-to-wear it.”Continue reading...

Yoko Ono has always been full of surprises. Whether it’s spending a week in an Amsterdam hotel bed with John Lennon to promote world peace, coming onstage in Tokyo and having audience members cut her garments off until she was naked, and directing a film that consists pretty much entirely of people’s buttocks as they walk on a treadmill. It's all in a day's work for the avant garde artist/musician.

Well, Ono has added another interesting twist to her long and fascinating career. She has launched a limited edition menswear collection, Fashions For Men 1969-2012, for New York-based indie fashion retailer Opening Ceremony based on sketches that she gave Lennon in 1969 before they were married. “The designs were intended to emphasize his 'very sexy bod,'” according to the Daily Mail.

Thankfully we may never know if Lennon donned any of the 18 designs for jock straps, light-up bras and hoodies emblazoned with butt prints, but the 79-year-old Ono is hoping that men across the globe will. But you have to get them while they’re hot. There are only 52 of each product except for the sweatshirts and posters that will likely be desired by a much larger audience. Prices range from $75 to $750.

Ono, of course, is still keeping her personal brand in the news while also keeping Lennon's brand alive and well heading into 2013. Still, she argues, it's a labor of love: “I made this whole series with love for his hot bod and gave it to him as a wedding present,” Ono stated about the collection. “You can imagine how he went wild and fell in love with me even more.”Continue reading...

Gap’s last design director, Patrick Robinson, was hailed as a “savior” when he first signed on with the company. But he was thrown off the ship more than a year ago — and Gap Inc. has finally named a new savior to oversee its flagship brand.

Gap’s next look across all of its departments will be molded by 42-year-old Danish-born Rebekka Bay, who has been named creative director and head of global design. She was plucked from Danish design house Bruuns Bazaar, where she oversaw women’s and men’s apparel design and won kudos for turning out a Spring/Summer 2012 collection at Copenhagen Fashion Week that was described as "young, but also fetching on adults. And all of it came in a timeless style with a twist and edge controlled by a designer who made no compromise with processing or quality."

Before that, she was a top exec at H&M, where she launched and developed the high-end COS brand in 2006, which has had much success in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Daily Mail notes. Bay's design chops and global experience and mens/womenswear experience should bode well for the Gap brand.Continue reading...

Gap has unveiled its global marketing campaign for its fall/winter collection, featuring musicians and dancers you may not have heard much about – until now.

The campaign brings its clothing to life as they wear Gap's signature pieces while performing, with the theme of "Icons Redefined" in a nod to the retailer's black and white icons campaigns shot by Annie Leibovitz featuring bigger names. This new collection continues its (summer) commitment to bright colors with a slightly more muted palette and the tagline, "Show Your Colors." (Or rolling it all up, “The icons of tomorrow Shine at GAP this fall.”)

The retailer tapped up and coming musicians — the Avett Brothers, Karmin, Lia Ices, Kaki King, Nicki Bluhm (above) — and dancers Lil’ Buck, whose freestyle "jookin" is described as "urban ballet" by some and "gangster walking by others, plus classical dancer Yuan Yuan Tan of the San Francisco Ballet. (Check out the TV commercials below.) The collection can now be viewed on its Facebook page, with commercials starting to hit TV screens.Continue reading...