BUSINESS

Fashion statement: Wigs, ballgowns and real women versus models

It's been a week of tonsorial revelation, high-octane glamour and debate about whether skinny really sells ...

A model at Madrid Fashion Week. Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images

Women want clothes modelled by women who look like them
There has been no shortage of complaints over the years about the decreasing body fat of professional models, but one man has decided to tackle the issue from a business point of view. Ben Barry, who runs an eponymous modelling agency, conducted a survey into the buying habits of over 2,000 women. "My study found that women increased their purchase intentions by more than 200% when the models in the mock ads were their size. In the subgroup over size 6, women increased their purchase intentions by a dramatic 300% when they saw curvier models," he wrote in Canadian Elle. "Conversely, when women saw models who didn't reflect their size, they decreased their purchase intentions by 60%, and women over size 6 dropped their purchase intentions by 76%." Read more in the Guardian's blog, 'Skinny White models could be bad for business'.

Prints for men, by D&G, Prada and Burberry Prorsum.

Be brave, men. Be braveThis summer will see an explosion of print on the high street, and Simon Chilvers thinks British men are just about ready for it. He writes: "As the rain pelted down Tuesday, Marks & Spencer reported that men are buying rather a lot of lemon-yellow and rose-pink chinos, and perhaps even more surprisingly, Hawaiian shirts. Tony O'Connor, head of menswear design at M&S, says that "Hawaiian and vintage-looking prints, even in this adverse weather, have gone off really well", helped no doubt by George Clooney pulling off a decent Hawaiian shirt look in The Descendants. (OK, he was in Hawaii at the time, but the point remains.)". Want some tips on where to buy for patterns bold and busy? Look no further.

The May issue of L'Uomo Vogue. Photograph: Vogue Italy

Ban Ki-moon strikes a pose
The UN secretary-general is not necessarily the first man you think of to grace the cover of Vogue, and yet Ban Ki-moon is doing just that on the May issue of Vogue L'uomo, Italy's men's edition. His presence, and accompanying interview, is there to highlight the magazine's decision to "rebrand Africa" with an edition devoted to positive coverage of cultural and political aspects of the continent.

Adele has said that she names her wigs. Photograph: Picture Perfect / Rex Features

'That's not your hair!' 'Yeah it is, because I bought it'
Wigs are officially okay. Or officially cool. Or maybe they're over? Oh, we can't keep up with celebrity trends, and their penchant for wigs is one we may well swerve. "Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj: all young women, all proud to talk about their wigs. Adele announced on US TV that she names her wigs ("This is June … This is Jackie ...") while according to a (somewhat dubious, admittedly) US magazine report, Beyoncé has more than $1m worth of wig action," writes Hadley Freeman. "For celebrities to admit that, actually, their hair doesn't really look that luscious because it is, in fact, entirely synthetic, this may well be a Wizard of Oz moment. The great and powerful Oz is proven to be just a little old man behind a curtain or, in this case, a big ol' wig named Jackie".

Spheres of influence: the V&A's 'Ballgowns' exhibition. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

You all shall go to the ball. Kinda 
"It isn't an item that hangs in most people's wardrobes, but even so the ballgown does a decent job of summing up British culture," writes Imogen Fox, the Guardian's deputy fashion editor. "From the country's long-standing obsession with royalty and class to its more recent love-hate relationship with the glitz of the red carpet, posh formal wear is about much more than the skill of a designer and the measurements of a wealthy client." And so nothing speaks to this intirgue more than Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950s, a new exhibition at the V&A that times nicely with a summer of Jubilee pomp and Olympic celebration in the capital. If you want a sneak preview of the frocks on offer, here are the red carpet robes and sparkly dresses on view this summer.

And for your fashion dessert
If you're still hungry for more fashion, here is Jess Cartner-Morley on Hawaiian prints, the Invisible Woman on swimwear and Simon Chilvers on whether Bicester Village is worth a trip for men's fashion.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, STELLA MCCARTNEY AMONG DESIGNERS SEEKING END TO HOMEMADE CLOTHES

September 17 2008

London, England – With London Fashion week coming to a close, a surprising revelation has come from some of the world’s top designers. Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney are among the fashion superstars creating an advocacy group designed to eliminate homemade clothing manufacture. 

“We as an industry have begun need to take action. We are starting to see the negative effects of individuals designing and make clothes on their own, It is hurting our business now, but in the long term it will be devastating to our livelihood,” said McCartney at a press conference. “What we have learned from watching the struggle the music industry has endured is that we need to take an aggressive approach to protect our business. What really brought this home for me was a conversation I had with my father and hearing him talk about the hardship music piracy has caused him. This is taking food out of the mouths of retailers, designers, and models. Um, well maybe not so much the last one but you get the picture.”

‘Fashion for Fashion’ will comprise high profile designers as well models and support personnel from all across the industry. The focus will not only be on advocacy, but also on aiding those hurt by potential economic downturn.

“When people look at fashion all they see are the faces,” said Westwood. “The models, the high profile designers, the critics. But what people don’t see are the behind the scenes people whose lives have been devastated by this piracy. Show producers, photographers, fit models; these are all people that are hurt by this dishonest practice.”

The announcement has understandably caused an outcry amongst those in the home design industry. Singer, one of the largest sewing machine manufacturers in the world, hit back against the plans.

“We have worked hand in hand with the fashion industry for years providing support equipment for nearly every major fashion line in history. We see this as an attack against our core consumers and the lifeblood of our business model,” said a spokesperson for the company. “We will of course work with ‘Fashion for Fashion’ to come to a reasoned and rational resolution to this issue.”

Both designers seemingly have little sympathy for the Singer position, stating that sacrifices have to be made to protect the industry as a whole and that revenue from high level fashion and sweat shops are more than enough to sustain equipment manufacturers.

“With the rise of discounted clothing at places like Wal-Mart it is totally unnecessary for people to make their own clothing anymore,” continued McCartney. “There was a time when people had no option but to make their own clothes but that just isn’t the case anymore. This is the Twenty-first century .There was a time when people had to build their own houses but that just isn’t the case anymore. We have outlawed making your own liquor, making your own CDs and DVDs, now it is time to outlaw making your own clothing. We cannot allow pirates to destroy our industry. There may be some hardships, but we all need to make sacrifices for the betterment of everyone, or at least for us.”

The move by the Commerce Department is certain to infuriate Chinese officials already upset after recent bilateral frictions over China’s human rights policies and its increasingly confrontational approach toward American allies like the Philippines and Japan.

The antidumping decision is among the biggest in American history, covering one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of imports from China, the world’s largest exporter.

The department said the United States bought $3.1 billion worth of Chinese solar cells last year, giving China more than half the American market for the devices.

Many solar panel installers in the United States have opposed tariffs on Chinese panels, contending that inexpensive imports have helped spur many homeowners and businesses to put solar panels on their rooftops. The new tariffs are likely to mean a substantial increase in the price of solar panels here.

Chinese officials have been indignant at American criticism of their solar power industry, pointing out that the United States has urged China for years to embrace renewable energy as a way to reduce air pollution, combat climate change and limit the need for oil imports from politically volatile countries in the Mideast.

Government support for solar energy is an important feature of China’s current Five-Year Plan, which runs through 2015, although Premier Wen Jiabao publicly cautioned in March that he was becoming concerned about overcapacity in the sector.

Li Junfeng, an energy policy maker and regulator in the Chinese government who is also the president of the government-controlled Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, responded angrily to the American decision.

“This is really a surprise,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s really dangerous.” Mr. Li said that Chinese companies would “certainly” retaliate by filing a trade case at China’s commerce ministry accusing big American chemical companies of dumping polysilicon, the main ingredient in solar panels, on the Chinese market.

The American decision was made by civil servants in a quasi-judicial process that is heavily insulated by law from political interference and does not represent a deliberate attempt by the Obama administration to confront China on trade policy. But that distinction has been largely lost in China, where the solar panel issue has been one of many causes embraced online by the country’s vociferous ultranationalists, who put heavy pressure on Chinese officials to respond forcefully to perceived snubs to China.

Further complicating matters is a similar case against China and Vietnam over the manufacture of steel towers for wind turbines, charging that steep government subsidies were giving foreign companies an unfair advantage over American manufacturers. A preliminary ruling is due on May 30 in that case.

The solar tariffs, which are retroactive to 90 days before the decision is officially published in the next several days, are in addition to antisubsidy tariffs of 2.9 to 4.73 percent that the department imposed in March.

SolarWorld Industries America, which led the coalition of manufacturers that filed the solar dumping case, welcomed the department’s ruling. The decision “is a very positive step in the process. It’s also in line with what we expected,” said Ben Santarris, a company spokesman. “We consider this a bellwether case. It underscores the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. economy.”

Alan Price, a partner who heads the international trade practice at Wiley Rein, the law firm representing the United States companies in both the solar and wind cases, said that China posed a particular threat to America’s developing green energy sector.

“China’s method is straightforward: it sets forth industry-specific Five-Year Plans and then uses all forms of national and local subsidies and other governmental support to quickly transfer jobs, supply chains, intellectual property and wealth, to the permanent detriment of U.S. and global manufacturers,” he said. “China’s ability to ramp up and overwhelm an industry is unique and particularly devastating with new and emerging technologies, where global competitors may be less established and can be knocked out more easily and quickly.”

Several large Chinese manufacturers expressed disappointment with the decision and said they would try to convince the Commerce Department that it was unjustified.