Kim Kardashian wants you to buy her handbags but she'd rather carry Balenciaga

splash via the daily mail

Sydney-based entrepreneur Bruno Schiavi managed to convince Kim Kardashian to sign a global fashion and accessories deal, so you'd figure he would have taken care of a little detail like what brand handbag she was carrying when she arrived at Sydney Airport yesterday, wouldn't you? But apparently not. Kardashian and sister Khloe are in town specifically to spruik their Kardashian Kollection handbags, an exclusive capsule collection of which has just gone on sale in Australia. In the reality television star's first public appearance since her announcement on Monday that she would be filing for divorce from her husband of 72 days, NBA player Kris Humphries, she waltzed into the waiting media scrum carrying not a Kardashian Kollection, but a black Balenciaga City bag (aka Motorcycle bag). The distressed leather and hand-stitched handle are unmistakable. The bag is one of many Balenciagas from Kardashian's personal collection. 

Given Kardashian's predilection towards the French luxury brand, so thoughtful of her then to inject what looks to be a little Balenciaga love into the Kardashian Kollection line for her more budget-conscious fans. 

Here is the new Kardashian Kollection Zip Feature Bag in black, which retails for AUD 59.95:

bagsac.com.au

It bears more than a passing resemblance to Balenciaga's Giant Gold Part Time bag, which sells for USD 1,945:

balenciaga.com

UPDATE 4/11: The Kardashian Kollection Zip Feature Bag, although still visible from the bagsac.com.au link, above, appears to have been pulled from the main Kardashian Kollection lineup on bagsac.com.au. A company spokesperson has so far been unable to provide any clarification. 

It wouldn't be the first time that the Kardashians have been accused of borrowing ideas.

In August, New York-based handbag designer Monica Botkier issued a cease-and-desist letter to the US Sears department store, over a Kardashian Kollection for Sears pre-collection bag which Botkier claimed was a copy of her Trigger Clyde style - prompting Sears to remove the handbag from its website. 

Botkier claims that the buck stops with licensee Schiavi. She told Brand Channel in August:

"Most likely the Kardashians have no idea but should definitely pay closer attention to the products they put their name on. The licensee probably does know and the design department within. Shame on them, it's a small industry. That's why the CFDA [Council of Fashion Designers of America], which I am a member of, is fighting so hard to protect original design and fight piracy. Brands and companies are built on that, piracy is extremely devastating."  

However the Kardashians have been telling the Australian media that they are very "hands-on" in the design process of their products, which are being manufactured by Schiavi's Jupi Corp.

In this interview on the Seven Network's Sunrise breakfast show this morning (UPDATE: which may have so pissed off the Kardashians, they decided to up stumps and leave Australia ahead of schedule), Khloe tells hosts David Koch and Melissa Doyle (6.38):

"We’re not people who just lend our name to someone and say 'Oh do what you want. We just want handbags, use our name'. These are our designs. We design everything from the shapes to the fabrics to the zipper pulls to how the label stitching is on the inside. We’re very controlling. But that’s the blessing of working with each other".

With Kim adding (7.38):

"We're extremely involved in every last process" 

Frockwriter has sought comment from Schiavi and the Kardashians, with so far no response.

The issue of copying appears to be front-of-mind for Kim Kardashian who, one month prior to the Botkier brouhaha, ironically, commenced legal proceedings in the Los Angeles Superior Court against Gap Inc, alleging damages as the result of ads for Gap's Old Navy brand starring Kardashian lookalike Melissa Molinaro. 

According to the court documents, Kardashian has:

"invested substantial time, energy, finances and entrepreneurial effort in developing her considerable professional and commercial achievements and success, as well as in developing her popularity, fame, and prominence in the public eye”

 

There's no other store like... Balenciaga - Spring/Summer 2011

Much will be made over the coming days of the inclusion of a five months pregnant supermodel in the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2011 show in Paris. It's not the first time a pregnant model has walked a runway. But this is Balenciaga. And given how much hoo-haa is normally made about model weight at the elite end of the fashion business, it does seem like some kind of watershed moment. The model in question, Miranda Kerr, is of course now not just a model, but a celebrity. And she has already walked in Balenciaga's shows on two previous occasions. Kerr's appearance at Balenciaga comes almost two months after she pulled out of the Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase of Australian department store David Jones, to which she is currently contracted, after marrying fiance Orlando Bloom. Since confirming her pregnancy, Kerr has spoken of her morning sickness in the first trimester, which presumably would have made the David Jones show difficult for her. That's assuming that David Jones would have been perfectly happy to put a pregnant model on its runway. In an odd coincidence, Balenciaga creative director Nicolas Ghesquière chose a large abstract houndstooth motif for this collection. The houndstooth motif being an integral part of DJs' brand identity (as is the advertising slogan, "There's no other store like David Jones").

One of the stronger collections of the season, it saw a tribe of warrior women in sequinned, armour-like cocoon coats, wrap skirts and embellished, one-shouldered toga dresses worn over illusion netting - the latter normally seen in ice skating costumes.

In a season of great trousers, Ghesquière also sent out some undoubtedly soon-to-be coveted cropped, loose drill pants, reminiscent of Japanese fishermens' trousers, whose waistbands were softly wrapped over grometted belts that had been laser-cut into geometric shapes. Over these were layered leather motocross jackets and loose mens shirts in devoré silks.

Joining Kerr were two other Australian models, Bambi Northwood-Blyth and Julia Nobis, in addition to several street cast girls and runway veterans Stella Tennant, Amber Valletta, Carolyn Murphy and new mother Gisele Bundchen, who closed the show.

See the complete collection on nowfashion.com.

all images: nowfashion.com

Related:

IN FULL BLOOM: AFTER DITCHING DJs, FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT MIRANDA KERR WALKS FOR BALENCIAGA

BAMBI BAGS BALENCIAGA

Bambi bags Balenciaga - Spring/Summer 2011

balenciaga SS11/nowfashion.com

Did we say there was buzz about Bambi Northwood-Blyth going into Spring/Summer 2011? We did. Far more importantly, of course, so did Ashley Brokaw, one of the world’s top casting directors who started beating the Bambi drum in an interview with The New York Times’ Cathy Horyn on the eve of New York Fashion Week three weeks ago. And then cast her in her first international show, Rag & Bone, alongside Julia Nobis. Brokaw had told Horyn that both Northwood-Blyth and Nobis were at the top of her casting list this season. Well Brokaw has just cast the duo again - along with five months pregnant Miranda Kerr - this time, in the Balenciaga show in Paris. Given that Nobis already has one international show season under her belt and is regulation runway height, however, it’s nothing less than an extraordinary coup for Northwood-Blyth, who started modelling six months ago and also happens to be 5’7” tall – that’s the official version, with some suggesting she may in fact be 5’6”. How many girls have been turned down by model agents because they’re too small? Legions of them. Kate Moss is one of the rare exceptions and you have to say, Northwood-Blyth could be shaping up to be Australia’s version. 
 

She walked four shows in New York, two in London – second girl out at Giles Deacon and closing the Topshop Unique show. Balenciaga is of course far bigger news than any of the other shows. According to her mother agency, Priscillas, the Balenciaga option was in the pipeline for some time. Northwood-Blyth nearly blew it by blabbing to UK Vogue's blog - a post that was later removed.

Priscillas also reports that she is currently on hold for a major photographic name for a major international fashion title.  

Related:

THERE'S NO OTHER STORE LIKE....BALENCIAGA (more images)
IN FULL BLOOM: AFTER DITCHING DJs, FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT MIRANDA KERR WALKS FOR BALENCIAGA


 

In full Bloom: After ditching DJs, five months pregnant Miranda Kerr walks for Balenciaga

balenciaga SS11/in my shoes

Last month, much was made of Miranda Kerr's mysterious pullout of the David Jones Spring/Summer 2010/2011 runway showcase in Sydney. Kerr, who is under contract as the new face of the upmarket Australian department store chain, released a statement at the time saying she had just eloped with her fiancee Orlando Bloom and the couple wanted to spend some quality time together. Abbey Lee Kershaw, Catherine McNeil, Nicole Trunfio and Alexandra Agoston filled in as high profile replacements. A deafening chorus of gossip pegged her as being three months pregnant at the time - later confirmed by Kerr. Well, while a pregnant model may have been far too awkward for DJs, this just in: Kerr, now five months pregnant, is about to walk in the Balenciaga show in Paris. According to WWD's Twitter, husband Orlando Bloom is front row waiting to see Kerr on the runway. Interesting times indeed. You have to wonder exactly what David Jones thinks about this. And hilariously, the collection - including the outfit worn by Kerr - features a giant abstract houndstooth check. David Jones uses a black and white houndstooth check for its corporate identity. 



Related:

THERE'S NO OTHER STORE LIKE........BALENCIAGA (more images)

BAMBI BAGS BALENCIAGA

Miranda Kerr definitely hooked up with Balenciaga last week - and that's definitely not her Twitter account

The Balenciaga plot thickens. This morning frockwriter mentioned the mystery surrounding a new photo of Miranda Kerr. According to the @MirandaMayKerr Twitter account, it was just taken during a Balenciaga Resort collection shoot. Well Kerr's personal publicist, Carlii Lyon, who just spoke with Kerr in New York, tells frockwriter that the shot was definitely taken during a Balenciaga "event" in New York last week. What was Kerr doing there and why is the makeup she's wearing identical to that seen on Balenciaga's models in these photographs of the collection which were published on Style.com and wwd.com on June 9? Lyon said she was unable to elaborate on the nature of Kerr's involvement with the brand, other than to say she was definitely working with it in some capacity. Nor does Lyon - or indeed Kerr, she claims - know who took the photo. One thing Lyon could confirm was that @MirandaMayKerr is a fake account. Lyon said that she and Kerr are attempting to have it shut down - as they have done with several others. Lyon confirmed that @MirandaKerr is the only bona fide Miranda Kerr Twitter account. Unfortunately, it's not particularly active at the moment. Nor has it been verified with Twitter, which doesn't help. They're working on it, says Lyon.

Miranda's Balenciaga hat trick?

@mirandamkerr

Well that new "cardinal rule for models" (ie do not leak information from jobs on social media) might not apply to Miranda Kerr. In what is either an elaborate fake Twitter account ruse - or the real deal - "@MirandaMKerr" left several Twitter clues from the set of a "Balenciaga Resort" shoot yesterday. "Back from Balenciaga Resort, It was awesome moment. Always fun to work with talented people" they noted, before posting an autoportrait showing an interesting winged pink smokey eye beauty look - identical to that sported by Balenciaga's models in these images of the same collection that were published last week on Style.com. But is this in fact Miranda Kerr? The account has not yet been verified by Twitter and there have been fake Miranda Kerr accounts before. Frockwriter is checking with her agents in Sydney and New York. If it is a ruse, then at least one bona fide supermodel Twitterer has been sucked in by it - fellow Victoria's Secret model Selita Ebanks - whose Twitter account has been verified by Twitter - is following @MirandaMayKerr. See updated post: It's a fake Twitter account, but that's definitely Kerr at Balenciaga last week.

It seems like a lot of trouble and expense to go to for a lookbook. Campaign? If the photos do emerge, then they would represent the third consecutive Balenciaga gig for Kerr, who walked in the French brand's Spring/Summer 2010 and Fall/Winter 2010/2011 runway shows.

It would also be the latest coup in Kerr's quest to refashion herself from a purely "commercial" star of Victoria's Secret lingerie fame, to high fashion ice queen, a trajectory that has also seen her book campaigns for Prada and Jil Sander, walk for Prada and model for edgier publications such as French Numéro and Britain's i-D.

Frockwriter can't help thinking that this is definitely a two-way street, with some of those far less accessible high fashion brands hoping for some commercial ruboff in the prevailing challenging economic climate.

Lauren Brown bags Balenciaga

nowfashion.com

Well Priscillas is having a great season. Frockwriter mentioned that the Sydney agency had three hot newcomers heading to the FW1011 show season. In addition to Christina Carey - who walked in the Marc Jacobs show in New York. And now, after Julia Nobis landed a Calvin Klein exclusive in New York, comes word (confirmed by Priscillas) that Lauren Brown has just walked in another equally prestigious show: Balenciaga. Fantastic get for Brown and Priscillas, which is presumably having a terrific day, following the news that a model Priscillas and its New York affiliate Elite unsuccessfully attempted to sign after Australia's Next Top Model Cycle 5 - Cassi van den Dungen - has just flown back to Oz after missing out on one of Paris Fashion Week's most high profile shows. With Brown apparently having already appeared at last week's Emporio Armani show in Milan, it does not appear to have been a season exclusive. Priscillas reports that Brown has been confirmed for only one other Paris show, as the arrangement with that show and Balenciaga was "semi exclusive" (ie in Paris). It's not the first time a Priscillas model has walked Balenciaga. Stephanie Carta made several appearances. But it's interesting that the agency didn't tip any media outlets in this leadup - as it did with Nobis in Milan, at least according to Pedestrian.tv, which ran a story about Nobis' future coup. Fortunately for Nobis, it didn't kill the option.

Balenciaga packs it in for Fall

nowfashion.com

Reportedly inspired by packing materials and the work of American photographer Irving Penn and French video artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, here are the first shots of Balenciaga’s Fall Winter 2010/2011 collection which just walked the runway in Paris. Both wildly colourful and intellectual - with Australia’s Miranda Kerr walking for the second consecutive season, as tipped by frockwriter, alongside Australian newcomer Lauren Brown - the collection was a futuristic mélange of embellished knit tunic dresses; graphic, colourblocked sweaters over lace-look bellbottom clamdiggers with turnups; sculpted charcoal suiting with origami panelling; and an intriguing series of what appeared to be skinny-legged, ski bib n'brace-look overalls in black and gunmetal grey. The zippered bodices of the latter peeled down to create trapeze-shaped, trompe l'oeil 'tops' out of the lining, which was emblazoned with newspaper graphics. The late, great Alexander McQueen once said he dressed women in "armour". Nicolas Ghesquière just bubble-wrapped them.













nowfashion.com