Woman sues Prada after she couldn't get champagne splashes out of her £1,000 skirt - and wins

MELBOURNE woman has successfully sued luxury fashion label Prada because champagne stains on a £971 ($1660) skirt she wore once won't clean off, reports the  Australian paper, the Herald Sun.

Catherine Whitty  spent £971 ($1,660 in Australian dollars) on the silk skirt for her 40th birthday party, but a guest dampened the night by spilling French bubbly over the Italian creation.

Ms Whitty was surprised when her drycleaner said the stains couldn't be removed, and that any liquid - including rain or splashes from washing hands - would have damaged the delicate silk.

Catherine Whitty sued Prada over a champagne-stained skirt. Picture: Stuart Walmsley Source: HeraldSun

She launched tribunal action, arguing sales staff at Prada's flagship store on Collins St knew she was buying the piece for a champagne celebration and should have warned it was unsuitable.

Ms Whitty told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal she'd chosen the A-line skirt because it was a timeless piece that she expected to wear many times.

The frequent Prada patron said she expected the garment would be fit for "common usage" and that she would be able to remove simple stains to allow for multiple outings.

The Princes Hill physiotherapist said she'd checked the washing instructions on the skirt before purchase, and the label said "professionally dryclean".

Ms Whitty said no Prada sales assistants had advised her the fabric would be irreparably damaged if alcohol - or water - were spilt on it.

Prada retail operations manager Albin Cheng said staff had proffered the skirt based on fashion, not what would be served at the party.

He argued the stains were not a fault of the garment, but of Ms Whitty's failure to take due care while wearing it.

"This was not caused by us," Mr Cheng told Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Ms Whitty's delay in taking the skirt for cleaning hadn't helped, he claimed.

The party host waited until Monday morning after the Saturday-night mishap in the belief her preferred shop was shut on Sundays.

Mr Cheng said a search of Prada's customer database revealed that four months after the party, Ms Whitty had bought another item of the same material, raising questions about whether she really did doubt its quality and wearability.

Ms Whitty told the tribunal she'd bought other silk items from Prada and was "usually a very happy customer".

Ms Whitty in the skirt at her birthday party. Source: HeraldSun

But she was highly dissatisfied at being able to wear the damaged skirt only once, and also by Prada Australia's handling of her complaint.

She said she'd spent several frustrating months trying to get the brand to respond to her concerns before launching tribunal proceedings.

Tribunal member Peter Moloney found in favour of Ms Whitty, and ordered Prada Australia refund the full £971 ($1660) to her.

Mr Moloney noted unless sold with a warning, garments were usually be expected to withstand some use and exposure to normal hazards of life such as spills or a rain shower.

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Content thanks:HeraldSun

Christian Louboutin wins case against anti-Islamic group

Christian Louboutin

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN has won an injunction in Antwerp against Belgian activists Women Against Islamisation, an anti-Islamic group which used one of it's famous red soled shoes in advertising images without permission. The Belgian anti-Islam campaigners must remove all posters including imagery from the luxury foot wear company.

Thee campaign group Women Against Islamisation featured a image of a woman's legs wearing Louboutin heels with the distinctive red sole, visible on one of it's posters.

Women Against Islamisation unauthorised poster pic:AFP/GETTY

Beside the image of her wearing the shoes a key showed what it claimed was Islam's view of a woman, as measured by the length of her skirt, Words ranging from "Sharia compatible from "whore" just above the knee to "stoning" at the top of the thigh.

Women Against Islamisation unauthorised poster  pic:AFP/GETTY

The poster by the far-right Vlaams Belang shows a woman wearing the iconic red-soled stilettos.
The legs belong to Anke Van dermeersch, a senator from the party.
A judge at the Antwerp court has given the party 24 hours in which to take down the posters.

Miss Van dermeersch, a former Miss Belgium, called the decision a political ruling. Her party has issued another advert, this time with the senator lying down and wearing similar-looking, but yellow-soled stilettos.

Revised poster showing yellow sole and heel

Louboutin said it had not authorised the posters and said the original advert tarnished his image.

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Victoria Beckham to open her own boutique in Mayfair, London

Victoria Beckham is set to open her own boutique in London's upmarket Mayfair

VICTORIA BECKHAM is set to further cement her career as a fashion designer by opening her own boutique in London’s upmarket Mayfair as reported by Daily Mail UK.

After months of negotiations, the 39-year-old former Spice Girl has signed a deal to open the shop, selling her collections of clothing and handbags by joining the fashion elite with a store located in Dover Street in the heart of the fashion district, in Dover Street, just a short walk from Old  Bond Street - places Victoria at the heart of the capital’s fashion district.


Victoria first hinted at her desire to open a flagship store for her brand in April, when she told British Vogue that London would be the perfect location.

She said at the time: ‘This is where I want to have my first store. I’d like to do something that is really new, really fresh.  Something a little bit conceptual – but not too much.’

Her designs have proved popular with the likes of Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow, but have previously only been available online, in fashion outlets and department stores.

A source close to Victoria said: ‘She’s really excited about getting things moving quickly.

‘Obviously there is still a lot to do, but the hope is to open the store properly early next year with one of the biggest fashion parties of the year.’

It was reported last week that Victoria and husband David's business empire now boasts earnings of almost £100,000 a day

The news comes after it was reported last week that Victoria and husband David’s business empire now boasts earnings of almost £100,000 a day.

The Dover Street location, just a short walk from Old Bond Street, places Victoria at the heart of the capital's fashion district

The three companies which handle their family’s branding empire recorded combined turnover of more than £35 million a year, according to Companies House documents.

Content thanks: DailyMailUK

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Future of Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton in doubt

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Jacobs greets the audience during his Spring/Summer 2014 collection show during New York Fashion Week September 12, 2013. Pic:Reuters/Eric Thayer

MARC JACOBS may be on the verge of leaving Louis Vuitton when his contract ends next month as designer's future at the French luxury brand remains unresolved, an industry source told Reuters on Wednesday 25 September 2013.

Since joining the group in 1997 Jacobs has steered Vuitton's growth into a global luxury brand which generates nearly 7 billion euros ($9.46 billion) of revenues a year and more than half of parent LVMH's (LVMH.PA) operating profits.

"His contract may not be renewed," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity, without going into further detail. The French magazine Challenges this week said his departure had already been approved internally.

Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton declined to comment on Wednesday.
The potential move comes as the brand, famous for its LV-embossed canvas bags, is trying to regain some of its lost prestige, having failed to anticipate quickly enough consumers' move away from logo-branded products, particularly in China.

Louis Vuitton's sales growth has slowed down to 5-6 percent this year after decades of more than 10 percent annual sales growth, driven by an aggressive international expansion and demand in Asia, where it opened shops earlier than rivals.

Uncertainty about future growth at Louis Vuitton has been weighing on the stock price of LVMH shares which have gained 7 percent since the beginning of the year while the European luxury sector has gained more than 17 percent on average.

Marc Jacobs helped develop Louis Vuitton's women and men's ready-to-wear lines and runs his own eponymous brand which ranks among the most profitable smaller fashion subsidiaries within LVMH, fuelled by demand in the United States and Japan.

The Marc Jacobs brand also launched in August a cosmetics products line in the United States, exclusively distributed by Sephora, LVMH's beauty products retail chain.

"Nothing has been decided yet," a separate industry source told Reuters about Jacobs' contract.

On Tuesday Louis Vuitton announced it had hired Proenza Schouler accessories designer Darren Spaziani as part of its upmarket drive and efforts to beef up its high-end offering of leather bags.

Earlier this month, signs emerged that Louis Vuitton's revamp could be yielding results as the brand's new bags have been flying off the shelves since their summer launch, according to a Reuters survey of shops in Milan, Paris and London.

Looking ahead, names in the hat to replace Marc Jacobs include that of Nicolas Ghesquiere, a darling of fashion editors, who left Balenciaga last year after having successfully infused new life into the Kering (PRTP.PA) fashion brand.

Ghesquiere is regarded as close to Delphine Arnault, Louis Vuitton's deputy chief executive and one of LVMH's main talent-spotters. She is also the eldest child of Bernard Arnault, founder and chief executive of LVMH and France's richest man.

Industry sources said it was possible that Marc Jacobs's fashion show on October 2, as part of Paris Fashion Week, could be his last.

Jacobs introduced collaborations with famous artists such as Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami and Stephen Sprouse to help make Louis Vuitton bags more relevant to fashion followers.

"Marc Jacbos has done fantastic work at Vuitton but I think that today we need to reframe the leather goods and fashion proposition which has until now mainly been focused on the bags," a luxury goods expert said, declining to be named.

Content thanks: Reuters

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