only TEL AVIV

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10 International Herald Tribune

Monday, October 2, 2006
Milan Menkes
The
Suzy
Collections
Cavalli and Missoni:
A nod to noble women
Continued from Page 9
more familiar girlish sexpots and it
represented a step forward for the de-
signer, who contained his lavish decor-
ation and froufrou effects within the
relatively severe silhouette.
The show was based on the small
jacket, often encrusted with embellish-
ment in relief, worn over a wispy
blouse with frothy lace jabot and a satin
bow at the neck. The effect was rich but
easily digestible and when Cavalli sent
out a single pants suit, embroidered
with Florentine lions, you could see
how the masculine part of the collec-
tion presented a genuine wardrobe.
Long dresses floating from a high
waist had more of the gypsy glamour
that is in Cavalli’s soul. But he dosed
those light confections with other su-
perb pieces, such as an oriental wrap
coat. And when he used his signature
animal print it was as an imaginative re-
invention: a dress that opened like a star
burst with the prints on winged sleeves.
This was an important collection for
Cavalli, because, after a big success in
the recent Boho-de-luxe era, his look
was threatened with irrelevance. With
this show he adapted his aesthetic beau-
tifully and proved that he is a designer
with more than one ribbon to his bow.
Angela Missoni has the advantage of
being a woman designer in a big fash-
ion family. And there was a sense in
this fine collection that after a few sea-
sons of channeling the desires of her
sparky young daughters, she had de-
cided to focus on herself. Out went the
super-young, super-short silhouette
and crazy mixes. In came a new fluid-
ity and femininity.
Fashion
Online market draws
South Korea shoppers
The Associated Press
SEOUL
The thumping pop music and blaring
‘‘You know me — I like anything lights at Seoul’s Dongdaemun market
easy,’’ said Missoni backstage. ‘‘The keep going all night long as shoppers
shapes and the softness came easily.’’ swarm around merchants hawking the
The nub of the collection was the latest trendy fashions at rock-bottom
modern idea of layering desirable prices.
pieces, yet making them seem not ran- South Korea’s Gmarket seems to
dom, but part of an outfit. So when a have captured the energy of that raw
dress was worn over trousers, the commerce and made a home for it on
former was in a colorful take on a cam- the Internet, creating a Web site that
ouflage print, with the chiffon pants has quickly become a top online des-
picking up one of the tones. The volume tination in this computer-savvy nation.
that was also key to the collection might It’s going head-to-head with eBay’s
bring a generously cut top — but it was Korean subsidiary.
carefully teamed with cuffed shorts. Originally launched in 2000 under a
A sporty ease, but always soft and different name, the company became
light, was insinuated as a rounded Gmarket in October 2003 and refo-
blouson with an egg-shaped skirt. Yet cused its efforts on capturing online
graphic accessories, such as bags and markets such as clothing.
even a neck plaque with geometric dec- Now, some 40 percent of Gmarket’s
oration on fine mesh, prevented the sales are from fashion.
collection from looking droopy. For consumers, it offers the variety
Missoni had brought in long skirts, of a shopping mall, said Ku Young Bae,
which were a little heavy with cargo chief executive of Gmarket.
pockets, but had a slouchy stylishness. ‘‘People try to make their own fash-
And she invented one Missoni piece ions — Gmarket is at the center of that
that looks like an instant classic: a scarf cultural trend,’’ he said in an interview
cardigan, wrapped across the body. at the company’s headquarters in the
That, as well as wrap dresses, edged in chic southern Gangnam district of
sweet colored ribbon, reinforced the Seoul.
message of the big easy. Gmarket has drawn the interest of
As the shows move on to Paris, there Yahoo in the United States, which re-
is a higher expectation than ever that cently bought a 9 percent stake. It went
the City of Light must shine. For all the public in June, offering shares on the
beautiful and luxurious clothes in Mi- Nasdaq Stock Market, and is pondering
lan, there was often a disconnect be- future expansion, with an eye to enter-
tween runway and reality. And there ing Japan next year and later moving
was little sense that these clothes or into China and the United States.
even the accessories would enthuse po- The company, which doesn’t stock in-
tential clients to keep the mills turning ventory, offers online storefronts and a
and the tills ringing. variety of tools to make it easier for
sellers to set up shop and manage inven-
Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of tory. Gmarket handles payments, earn-
the International Herald Tribune. ing its revenue from transaction fees
that vary depending on the product.
ICEBERG The value of all the merchandise
ternet Auction, which like its eBay par-
ent focuses on directly connecting in-
dividuals to each other to sell new and
used goods. That site plays a more neu-
tral role, instead of Gmarket’s helping
sellers manage transactions and ensur-
ing service, like monitoring shipping
and ensuring that returns are properly
handled.
Gmarket sells new goods mostly at
fixed prices, but also allows sellers to
use an auction format.
According to Internet usage statis-
tics from the online consultancy
KoreanClick, Internet Auction has
faced increasingly strong competition
with users flocking to Gmarket in re-
cent months. In August, Internet Auc-
tion had some 17.3 million unique visit-
ors, with Gmarket at 16.2 million.
While Internet Auction once held a
monopoly on the online shopping mar-
ket here, Gmarket has changed the situ-
ation into an oligopoly of two domi-
nant players, said an analyst at
KoreanClick, Kwon Min Jung.
Kim Li La, 29, an employee at a trad-
ing company, said she shops once a
week at Gmarket, purchasing mostly
low-cost clothes as a way to relieve
stress. She said she doesn’t worry about
problems associated with online buy-
ing, such as identity theft, because the
site has a reputation for security.
‘‘The price is cheap, delivery is fast
and above all Gmarket is more reliable’’
than other sites, said Kim.
David Chung, an executive director
at Goldman Sachs, said Gmarket was
able to take advantage of South Korea’s
well-established Internet infrastruc-
ture and payment systems to offer a
unique way for merchants to sell to on-
line customers.
‘‘We did not see any markets with
this model able to offer this kind of op-
portunity for sellers,’’ said Chung,
whose company was an underwriter
for Gmarket’s U.S. stock offering.

Trend alert: Season highlights traded on Gmarket’s site in the second Gmarket hopes its model can also
Christopher Moore/Karl Prouse
quarter of this year was 543.8 billion work abroad. The company is looking

Iceberg, anything but cold

won, or $567 million, a 163 percent in- to open a Japanese site next year where
µ Legs: on display in barely-there shorts or wider cuffed styles. crease from the same period in 2005. it will take on the dominant online
µ Skirts: short and rounded or long and soft. Nothing knee length. The site has more than 9.2 million seller Rakuten. With the intensely
µ Dresses: volume in 1960s triangular shifts or high-waist bubbles; long and registered users in a country of 48 mil- brand-conscious Japanese loyal to es-
floaty.
µ Pants: cropped, soft and wide, wispy, disappearing under tunics.
µ Jackets: sportswear revival with mesh inserts; shrunken bolero lengths;
G iambattista Valli, designer of the
Iceberg line sent out a sporty, fun-
in-the-sun show, one filled with
soleil cream. But this was just the de-
signer’s way of cleansing the audi-
ence’s palette for his summer evening
lion people, with the most active being
women in their 20s and 30s.
Choi Sang Hyun tried but failed at
tablished names, Gmarket will likely
face a struggle to establish its presence.
In the United States, the company
matador tailored. minidresses spiced up with a bit of ath- dresses. All of the sudden Valli’s years running a brick-and-mortar shop, and would face leading online merchants
µ Blouses: dickie or bib front tucks; lace, ribbon ties and full sleeves. letic netting or industrial zippers snak- at Emanuel Ungaro burst through with he’s found more success with online like Amazon.com and eBay, and China
µ Fabrics: must-have shine from duchess satin to patent leather, vinyl and ing across the bodice. To toughen a tropical zing of hot pink, tangerine, malls like Gmarket, where he offers poses its own issues due to a lack of ad-
plastic. Athletic mesh, gauze, chiffon and metal mesh. things up a bit, jackets and cropped emerald green and lemon yellow, palm trendy clothes aimed at young women. vanced payment systems.
µ Bags: ultra big or tiny, from pouchy sacks to rectangular purses pants were adorned with oversized tree-print short dresses. Their lightly ‘‘There were limitations selling offline, Still, Gmarket’s executives say they
µ Shoes: metallic, mirrored, clear Lucite for club-sandwich platforms. metallic buttons, while the use of para- ruffled hems should billow nicely in so I studied the Internet,’’ said Choi, 34, aren’t aiming to dominate the global
µ Colors: overwhelmingly silver, gold and all metallics; white; pigments like chute fabric to create skirts and dresses the warm winds of next summer’s who now makes his living from online online marketplace — yet. They also
cobalt blue and marigold; or smudgy mauve, kingfisher and gray. Graphic also added to the military undertone. steamy nights. sales. are still working to determine how to
patterns with geometrical lines and curves. The clothes shimmered in colors of Gmarket’s model is different from use their alliance with Yahoo to fuel fu-
sandy gold, sun-burnt brown and après — Jessica Michault the other top Korean online retailer, In- ture growth.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The world’s most prestigious conference on the business of fashion and luxury
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The International Herald Tribune will hold its sixth annual luxury conference at The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul on

Black December 7 & 8.

Suzy Menkes, the IHT’s renowned fashion editor, will give the opening address at Istanbul Luxury 06 and will be

is back, à joined by an illustrious line-up of leaders and key decision-makers from the world of fashion and luxury.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

la Hepburn Keynote addresses will be given by:

François-Henri Pinault Thomas Heatherwick
Chairman and CEO, PPR Founder and Director, Heatherwick Studio
Reuters
Bernard Fornas Paola Antonelli
NEW YORK President and CEO, Cartier International Curator, Design and Architecture

T
he Hollywood legend
Audrey Hepburn is back in
vogue as a style icon more
than 13 years after her death — but
a biographer fears the revival will
feed a misconceived image of the
actress, who never cared much
about fashion.
Hepburn, who is often named
as one of the most beautiful wom-
en of all time, is inspiring the
new season’s fashion line-up
with her classic but simple
style of skinny black pants,
flat pumps and little, black
dresses.
The retailer Gap is lead-
ing the drive, using pictures
of the actress in skinny
black pants on billboards
and in a television and Web
ad, dancing in the 1957
movie ‘‘Funny Face’’ set to
the rock band AC/DC’s
song ‘‘Back in Black.’’
Another U.S. retailer, J.
Crew, has set up a Little
Black Dress Shop in its
stores.
The author Donald Spoto, who this
week released a new biography on the
Oscar-winning actress called ‘‘En-
chantment: The Life of Audrey Hep-
burn,’’ said he is not surprised by the
renewed focus on Hepburn.
‘‘Audrey Hepburn represents a kind
of elegance that may be especially ap-
preciated in an era of torn jeans. Her
combination of modesty and simplicity
are a wonderful corrective in these
times of vulgar and empty celebrity,’’
he said.
But he said he felt this emphasis on
fashion and style minimized Hepburn’s
significant achievements as an actress.
Later in life Hepburn was very active in
humanitarian work.
He said it ‘‘also directly contradicts
her own sense of values, which did not
place clothes very highly on a list of im-
portant things.’’
Hepburn, who died of colon cancer
in 1993 aged 63, always played down her
own beauty, saying her look was attain-
able.
‘‘Women can look like Audrey Hep-
burn by flipping out their hair, buying
the large sunglasses, and the little
sleeveless dresses,’’ she once said.
The Gap, via Reuters
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Audrey Hepburn Ermenegildo Zegna
from the film Chief Executive Officer, Ermenegildo Zegna Alice Rawsthorn
‘‘Funny Face’’ Design Critic, International Herald Tribune
(1957), as seen in Gianfranco Ferré
an ad for Co-Founder, Honorary Chairman and Creative Souren Melikian
The Gap. Director, Gianfranco Ferré SpA Art Editor, International Herald Tribune
Other illustrious speakers are: Designer debate by:
Massimo Ferretti Rifat Ozbek
President, Aeffe Group
Hussein Chalayan
Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo Nicole Farhi
Managing Director, Charme Investments,
and Vice President, Poltrona Frau Group
Kim L.Winser, OBE
President and CEO, Aquascutum
Cem Boyner
Vice Chairman and CEO, Boyner Holding
Norman Stone
Professor of History, Koç University
But her classic style has endured and
remained in demand. The black
Givenchy dress she wore in the 1961
movie ‘‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’’ is expec-
ted to sell at an auction in December
for about $100,000.
Spoto said he wrote about Hepburn
because he was disappointed in previ- For further information:
ous works on her, with the actress Brenda Erdmann Hagerty
treated as a ‘‘stained glass window fig- International Herald Tribune
ure’’ rather than a human being who Worldwide Events
str uggled.
His book reveals Hepburn desper-
Tel: +44 20 7510 5707
Email: bhagerty@iht.com luxury 06
ately wanted children but had bad luck
with famous boyfriends who were
sterile.
She did finally have a son, Sean, with
the American actor Mel Ferrer in 1960.
Sean Ferrer allowed Gap to use his
mother in their campaign with a signif-
icant donation to be made to the Sponsors:
Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund. She +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
had another son in 1970 with second
husband, the Italian psychologist An- Convened by:
drea Doretti.
‘‘The most surprising thing was the
constant thread of heartache and dis-
appointment in her life, which she bore
with magnificent grace and courage,’’
said Spoto.