William Rast by Justin Timberlake and Trace Ayala are best known for their premium jeans. They will show this season at New York Fashion Week. Naturally they have a celebrity following, including Cameron Diaz, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson just to name a few.

The brand was created in 2006 and the name "William Rast" is a combination of their grandfather’s names. The feel of the collection is inspired from growing up in Memphis and first collection had 60 pieces of men’s and women’s wear.

I have very mixed feeling about "celebrity" designers. Many artists have the resources to create and build their brand.They already love clothes, they understand their style and they know what they like and what works for them. Part of enjoying someone’s music is that you also like their style, you identify with them – so there’s already a market.

In 1985 Jaclyn Smith from Charlies Angles did a line for K-mart. Since then lots of singers, models and actors have created their own line: Kate Moss, Gwen Stephanie, Puff Daddy, JLo, Liz Hurly and the list goes on and on.  I don’t really resent it – part of it’s just business and it makes sense but part of me really sympathizes with fashion designers. I just know how hard it is for the new designer. There are so many young (and well established ) designers who can’t afford to show this season.

 William Rast Spring 09

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The Credit Crunch has started to affect NY Fashion Week. I would think that more than a few designers will pull out of showing at the Bryant Park Tents or scale down their plans. So far:

• Betsey Johnson (who has shown her last 5 collections there) will put on a more intimate show.
• Vera Wang (who has shown there for the last 4 years) will show at her new downtown store instead.
• Carmen Marc Valvo (who has shown there for the last 10 years!) will either do a show at a showroom or a cocktail reception.

Valvo’s comments are especially interesting:

"If I had shown in the tents, it would have been ‘over the top, no worries, life is wonderful, isn’t this great?’ and we all know it’s not…Retailers are going to be hit so hard this Christmas season, to flaunt the excessive expense of a show at a time when everybody is suffering, and it’s terrible with all the layoffs, I didn’t feel it is the right message."

It might not be a smart buy at the point either: a show can cost anywhere from $100K to $750K, and with retailers hit so hard by the slump in sales less buyers are coming to the shows, and those that are have much tighter budgets. Magazines are having to slash budgets as well, so fewer editors are going as well.

It’s not like there will be any empty slots at NY Fashion Week though: other designers who had opted out are deciding to snap up the spots that are opening up…

The huge fashion show might go the way of the 90s supermodel – they’ll only continue if they make financial sense. Many people are expecting this recession to be temporary, but it might turn out to be just wishful thinking. What’s happening is a restructuring of all industries, and the fashion industry won’t be spared.

On the other hand, maybe the only reason it costs so much to put on a show is that people are charging what the market will bear – prices will go down if enough high-profile designers opt out.

…maybe they should just start planning to show at London Fashion Week! It’s cheaper!

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