Word: fendi
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...This is a market where [the customer] doesn't want what her girlfriend has; she wants something different," says Fendi CEO Michael Burke, who became intrigued by the Istanbullu consumer when he clocked Fendi's wholesale demand rising over $1.28 million. "The definition of luxury here is individuality, as opposed to the more Eastern approach which is, 'I'm buying to belong.' In the West, you are buying to be different. In that sense, Istanbul is Western?although of course, it's also the gateway to the East...
...locals here are known?prefer to get around by boat when they can. Newly reinvigorated by a burgeoning young population of trendy, extravagant professionals like Kocabiyikoglu, Istanbul is suddenly the focus of luxury-goods purveyors looking to expand in what up to now has been a small market. Fendi has three retail doors with a fourth on the slate, Louis Vuitton is expanding its small store on the Asian side of the Bosporus next year, while Dolce & Gabbana, Dior and Prada are all actively looking for appropriate sites on the European side...
...When Fendi's Burke caught a plane to Istanbul last June just to take in the scene, he started in Nisantasi?known as the Beverly Hills of the city?checking out the fashion group Beymen's premier store. Most of the Fendi bags were sold out or back-ordered on waiting lists. Next, he headed to Kanyon, an architecturally splendid new development comprising living, working and shopping areas with sweeping, cantilevered elevations, broad thoroughfares and intriguing side streets...
Kanyon's anchor store is the just-opened Harvey Nichols?the 10th branch of the London landmark?where Fendi's in-store boutique sits alongside those of Balenciaga, Luella, Sergio Rossi, Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren. What's striking is how attractive the store is, with hand-blown glass orbs suspended above the cosmetics counters, walls of black tiles studded with Swarovski crystals and floors of glittering mosaics. Fine Turkish workmanship is also evident in the personal-shopping suites, which include opulent sitting rooms, changing rooms and even shower rooms where customers can buy, bathe and have their makeup done...
Sure, there was a futuristic mood on many runways--including silver-streaked trapeze dresses at Fendi, plastic corsets at Dolce & Gabbana and even articulated gold-colored robot leggings at Balenciaga (right). There was a hint of the high-tech future in Hussein Chalayan's remote-controlled dresses, as they shifted from long to short. (Disappearing hemlines are also a trend--most are upper-thigh high). And the '80s notion that fashion will be about athletic wear in ever more technologically advanced fabrics still has plenty of currency...