Fashion Finance No.1 - January 2012

Hello everyone and happy new year 2012 !

I will start the year with a - pretty - serious but very interesting topic:

As a finance employee, understanding fashion companies from the financial side gives me an invaluable insight into their strategic decisions.

Here is a short summary that analyses the Fashion year 2011 under a different angle for those of you who are interested: indeed, different things of large importance happened from a financial point of view in 2011:

-    Feb 2011: Paris Group (Dubai retailer) buys Gianfranco Ferre

-    May 2011: Labelux (German luxury-goods holding company) buys Jimmy Choo for over £500m 

-    June 2011: Jones Group (New York-based firm which owns fashion brands such as Nine West)  buys Kurt Geiger for about £215m

-    June 2011: LBO France takes a 20% stake in The Kooples

-    June 2011: Prada’s listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

-    June 2011: High-street fashion chain Jane Norman sells 31 stores after falling into administration 

-    June 2011: Ferragamo’s listing on the Milan Stock Exchange

  

From now on I will make “financial markets updates” on the fashion sector as soon as major events take place, aside of my other usual articles about the main fashion shows and my modelling experience.

See you soon !

Ispirazioni E Visioni, Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, 27 May 2011 to 12 March 2012

The exhibition currently taking place in the Palazzo Spini Ferroni in Florence displays some of the most iconic and interesting pieces ever created by Salvatore Ferragamo, since the brand's creation in 1927. 99 shoes created by Ferragamo between the 20s and the 50s can be found along 6 rooms, some of them paired with hats created by Stephen Jones, a british designer, or pieces from other artists. 

 

 

It was impossible to take pictures but the website of the museum shows some of the models on display, and I was able to recreate some of them by drawing – I let you judge of the quality!

Here are some of the shoes which I found most impressive:

 Sandal prototype, 1930, kid upper and pyramidal heel

 

 

1936, kid and canvas upper decorated by patchwork embroidery. 
Octogonal cork heel lined with kid.

  

                              Source: www.museoferragamo.it

 Sandal, 1938, cork heel and platform sole covered with suede. 

The model was created for Judy Garland.

1939, suede and kid upper. Cork wedge heel covered with suede and kid.

Sandal, 1939 – 1940, velvet and kid upper. 

Wood high heel and “flat through” sole covered with kid.

Cork platform sole covered with kid.

 

                                                                                                                              Source: www.museoferragamo.it

 Sandal, 1956, 18 Karat gold upper

Decolleté, 1959, Black suede with kid lining. 

The shoes were created for Marilyn Monroe.

                                           Source: www.vogue.it

1947, kid and vinyl upper, wood wedge heel covered with kid.

 Sandal, 1939, kid upper, cork platform sole covered with bakelite and kid. 

Bakelite heel.

This is one of the hats created by Stephen Jones, which was displayed with the Ferragamo shoes:

 2010, “je ne sais quoi”, “ABC” collection, London.  

Straw and satin cocked hat.