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Fashion 50

11/10/08

Just because there are fashion victims that doesn’t make fashion itself a crime. • Indeed, there are those who consider fashion to be high art and the very best of those people make up the Fashion 50, HFN’s exclusive—not to mention highly subjective —listing of the people who most lead and influence fashion and design trends in the home furnishings business. • As there is no quantifiable way to rank these people, consider this more one magazine’s opinion on the subject. And so as to not confuse the matter any further, the names here are grouped according to their disciplines rather than numerically ranked. • It’s the fashionable thing to do.

The Designers

By Andrea Lillo

Designers are always a busy bunch, continuing to extend their brand into new areas, and this year was no exception.

Martha Stewart’s Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia saw a lot of activity within the past year. The company purchased chef Emeril Lagasse’s television shows, cookbooks, Web site, licensed kitchen products and food products in February.

In addition, Susan Lyne stepped down as president and chief executive officer of MSLO after four years and was replaced by Robin Marino, president of merchandising, and Wenda Harris Millard, president of media, who were named to the positions of co-chief executive officers.

Executives have also said that come 2010, when its contract with Kmart ends, the company would be looking for another mass chain to sell her brand.

Polo Ralph Lauren celebrated 25 years in the home furnishings category and named Frank Guzzetta as president, Ralph Lauren Home Collection. The company also launched its American Living brand at J.C. Penney. The exclusive home and apparel line is from Global Brand Concepts, a division of Polo Ralph Lauren, and though the Lauren name is nowhere on the product, J.C. Penney felt the designer’s look would be enough to drive customers to the brand.

Designers also launched into new product categories during the year. Vera Wang’s luxury bedding collection debuted on her new Web site in April, and, 15 years after his home textiles launch, Calvin Klein released his first furniture line, to hit stores early next year. Klein also added an e-commerce feature on his Web site, calvinklein.com, which included home products.

Tabletop was another popular area. Stewart’s collection at Macy’s expanded into formal tabletop, created by Wedgwood and inspired by some of Stewart’s favorite pieces of china. Decoupage designer John Derian saw his line of tabletop and stationery launched at Target in September. Donna Karan and Rosenthal are set to collaborate on a new tabletop and giftware line to launch in late 2009 in the designer’s Donna Karan Collection and pureDKNY brands.

And earlier this year, Isaac Mizrahi, the award-winning designer of apparel and home furnishings, left Target to take on the role of creative director for Liz Claiborne Inc.