Karl Lagerfeld designs for Macy's arrive

Macy's video still
Karl Lagerfeld poses with his model in one of his creations for Macy's Impulse department. The outfit she's wearing looks as if it comprises three separates, but is actually a one-piece dress ($139).

Karl Lagerfeld‘s capsule collection for Macy’s has arrived and I got a sneak preview at Macy’s Ala Moana Center store this morning. Don't rush in yet, as sales nationwide won't begin until tomorrow, Aug. 31.

The store and the Waikiki store, home to the Impulse department, will be carrying 30 pieces of the 45-piece collection. The looks feature the designer’s signature black-and-white suiting, high collars, "tweedy" poly-wool separates and dresses, romantic dresses and tees and tanks emblazoned with his image, recalling similar tees created for H&M a few years ago.

It's a great collaboration for those who have admired the designer's work, but could never afford his creations for Chanel, Fendi or his own eponymous line. The quality of the pieces is much better than designer collaborations I've seen at other mass retailers, with more detail and substantial fabric. I'm tempted by some of his fall shorts and white shirts that will go with a black waistcoat I'm picking up from All Saints.

Prices start at $49 for the tees, with dress prices ranging from about $119 to $139.

Video: Lagerfeld working on illustrations for Macy's. Click on the photo to see the designer at work.

Nadine Kam photos
At Macy's Ala Moana store this morning, Tani Lynn wears the dress modeled in the top photo, featuring Karl Lagerfeld's signature black-and-white, high-collared look. Morgan Clark wears a LBD version of the look.

Morgan shows a more casual look of a T-shirt ($49) bearing Lagerfeld's image, worn with leggings.

Tani Lynn shows a more romantic aspect of the collection. This dress is $119. More detail is show below.

Katie Min models separates of poly-wool belted vest ($79) and city short ($89).

Designer bootcamp put hopefuls on path to fame

iPhone photo
David Tyreman and Theo Garcia hold designers' attention at the "Launch Your Line Bootcamp" Aug. 27 at The Venue.

Designers got a practical earful during the "Launch Your Line Bootcamp" presented by Hawaii Red magazine and Hawaii Fashion Incubator Aug. 27 at The Venue on Bethel Street.

Fashion and branding experts Theo Garcia and David Tyreman of The World Famous Company where the speakers for the day. Although I had to leave midday for a prior appointment, I saw how the workshop's exercises, in which designers had to articulate their ideas to a partner, put the process of clarifying their ideas in motion. In trying to get the other person to understand their lines, they really had to focus on fleshing out ideas that often started out generic and nebulous, like "I design T-shirts."

One person said she wanted to start the next Crazy Shirts, but how does a person get there when there hasn't been a local T-shirt brand that has topped that name in more than 40 years? Another well-known local brand is Cane Haul Road, and more recently, Organik is making its name with its eco wear.

From a editor's point of view, there are hundreds of T-shirt companies out there, so you really have to differentiate yourself to stand out. Garcia said key to effective branding is honing in on your brand DNA. That is, your story and your values that go into painting a vivid picture of who you are as a designer and what your brand stands for. His belief, for instance, is that men should be peacocks and he brings processes he learned in childhood to his designs.

Designers also tend to live inside their own heads but it helps to read and know what's going on in the world. Garcia talked about trend spotting and it's really hard to spot trends if you're creating in a vacuum, without considering what's going on in media, film, music and the way people live in general. Companies like DKNY hire directors of inspiration to spot trends years in advance of various seasons.

About two years ago, I started predicting that a Hawaii moment in fashion was coming based on Hawaii's high profile in the long-running series "Lost," to the number of Hawaii designers who have turned up on "Project Runway," to the then-pending reboot of "Hawaii Five-O." In journalistic calculus, two events are coincidence, three mark the start of a trend. Then, when John Galliano sent tropical colors and hibiscus prints down the Dior Paris runway in fall 2010, it became literal.

Singer memories wanted

Singer Sewing Co.
The first Singer sewing machine debuted in 1851.

The Singer Sewing Co. has launched www.my­SINGERstory.com, an interactive website that invites sewing fans across the country to share their stories and memories of Singer sewing machines in honor of the brand's 160th anniversary.

The website includes a historical feature that allows people to learn where and when their antique machines were manufactured by entering a serial number.

Anyone who uses the website will be registered to win one of the limited-edition commemorative machines to be made available in January. The commemorative machine will be technologically advanced, with an antique design and appearance true to the company’s iconic designs.

The 1940s Featherweight.

Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation seeks next design stars

Ecco Domani photo
Robert Verdi, center, with the 2011 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation designers, from left, Kyle Fitzgibbons of Native Son, Maayan Zilberman and Nikki Dekker of The Lake & Stars, Tara St. James of Study NY, Mandy Coon, Marcia Patmos of M. Patmos, Bibhu Mohapatra and jeweler Pamela Love.

The Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation is giving designers the opportunity to join the ranks of some of fashion's biggest names by showing at New York Fashion Week

Since 2001, Ecco Domani Wines of Italy has helped to launch the careers of more than 60 renowned designers including Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam, Rodarte, Erin Fetherston, and Alexander Wang. This year, a new class of seven talented emerging designers will be selected to each receive a $25,000 grant to show their collections during New York's Fall 2012 Fashion Week.

In 2012, seven designers (four womenswear, one menswear, one accessories and one sustainable design) will be selected and given the opportunity to present their work on fashion's biggest stage, New York Fall Fashion Week. Award recipients will be chosen by a panel of fashion experts who comb through hundreds of applications each year to identify the industry's future stars.

In addition to the application forms and recommendation letters, entrants will be asked to submit a 2- to 3-minute video describing their design aesthetic and why they deserve to be an Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award recipient.

Interested candidates can find out more and download an application form at www.eccodomani.com. Closing date for submission is 5 p.m. EST on Oct. 14, 2011. Finalists will be announced in January 2012. Complete requirements and official rules are available online.

You can see previous winners' work on the website.

Prada fall men's collection arrives

Nadine Kam photos
Robert Gibson was among the Prada fans who showed up at the Ala Moana Center boutique Aug. 21 to view the fall men's collection, including the shimmery Lurex polo he's wearing. The statement fabric also appears in a long-sleeve style, ties, socks and womenswear.

Prada's Ala Moana Center boutique hosted a trunk show of its Fall-Winter 2011 men's collection on Aug. 21, giving fans an opportunity to show off pieces they had pre-ordered.

Lurex polos are already proving popular here, where the short sleeves can ease from late summer through the end of the year. Also on the racks were sweaters, suiting, denim and luxurious suede jackets with intarsia designs.

Of course I also gravitated to the women's area, where '70s-inspired drop-waist and Mondrian-style color-blocked dresses were being shown along with real and eco-fur capes, as well as eco-fur bags in to-die-for splashes of color.

From left, shoppers John Schamber, Wayne Yoshigai, Kimiko Hill and Richard Kuwada, already in pieces from the new Prada collections.

Prada photos
The Prada Lurex shirts as styled on the ready-to-wear runway.

Stuart Ing shows a Lurex tie with its small touch of shine for more conservative dressers.

There was a raffle for a Prada book, and Prada Area Manager Candace Konjevic presents the tome to winner Kimiko Hill.

Pages from the book trace Prada's nearly 100-year history, up to the present, including these sketches reflecting Miuccia Prada's fairytale inspiration for Spring 2008. The book, $125, is available at the boutique.

A couple of the Prada dresses for fall.

Prada photo
The strapped clutch is a woman's new shield. The large buttons on the dress are a key design element for fall at Prada, and the trompe l'oeil boot mimics the look of a grownup Mary Jane worn with knee-high socks.

Meet Q-Pot designer Sunday

Nadine Kam photo
In Waikiki Aug. 18, Q-Pot designer Tadaaki Wakamatsu shows pieces from his new Winnie-the-Pooh collection that will be in the store Sept. 21.

Q-Pot designer Tadaaki Wakamatsu will be at the Ala Moana Center store 1:30 to 3 p.m. Aug. 21 for a meet-and-greet with fans, as a thank-you for their support of his boutique since it opened last July.

Special offers during the occasion include making 12 of his Japan exclusive Brownie Macaron cell phone charms available, at $58 each; and a gift of the Q-Pot Mook Book, Vol. 3, with any purchase of $100 or more. The Q-Pot book and catalog comes with a Chocolate-print apron and mini bag.

The day after the earthquake, he had come up with Peace bands in his Chocolate design, with 100 percent of proceeds from sales of the $7 bands (so far amounting to $300,000) going to the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief effort to aid his country's recovery. A shipment of 500 bracelets to the Hawaii store sold out in a week.

The day after the earthquake, he had come up with a rubber bracelet in his Chocolate design, with 100 percent of proceeds ($300,000) benefitting his country's recovery. A shipment of 500 bracelets to the Hawaii store sold out in a week.

He and his staff spoke of the nation's resilience in light of disasters that have struck their country, as well as continuing tremors. Then they told me I should come visit them in Japan! I told them I would be so freaked out if I felt that rumbling.

Q-Pot photos
Q-Pot Peace Chocolate Wristbands sold out in a week locally.

A closer look at the Winnie the Pooh & Honey Necklace ($189), Winnie Pooh Honey Biscuit cell phone charm ($88) and necklace ($230).

Winnie the Pooh Honey Macaron cell phone charm ($61) and necklace ($115).

Tiffany Fall 2011 Leather Collection arrives

Nadine Kam photos
Tiffany Leather Collection designers John Truex and Richard Lambertson were in town to introduce the Fall-Winter 2011 designs. They're shown with their classic TRT (Tiffany Reversible Tote, small) in Tiffany Blue/Silver. My first encounter with the leather collection came at the Junior League of Honolulu's "Sacs in the City" event in March, where a version of the Avenue shopper in Tiffany Blue was the subject of a bidding war at silent auction. That led me to the store, where I picked up TRT in pink/metallic.

Tiffany Leather Collection designers John Truex and Richard Lambertson were at the Waikiki boutique Aug. 17, and the Ala Moana Center store Aug. 18, with a Waikiki reception later that evening to introduce the full Fall-Winter 2011 collection.

The introduction of the new line was a great opportunity for the two designers to build a collection seemingly from scratch. In my interview with John and story that appeared in the paper Aug. 18, he noted that of course with a history like Tiffany's, dating to 1837, there is an iconic association with its diamond engagement rings and wedding bands, silver and fine jewelry. But, because they are first and foremost a jewelry company, they had few signatures when it came to leather.

That left the designers free to create, and create they did. The collection is vast, covering the gamut from small leather goods, to shoppers, evening bags, men's leather bags and wallets to serious handbags from exotic leathers.

The very first collection caught handbag lovers' attention, and they're well on their way to achieving icon status equal to some of the best known bags of the last century. An amazing job for a line that's been public for only a year.

Its creation was just as fast. John said it took six months from their start to delivering samples, and a year for the first pieces to arrive at the store. With a company as big as Tiffany, that amounts to moving a mountain, with everyone from supply management team to marketing and advertising departments moving in unison.

Tiffany photo
TRTs (Tiffany Reversible Totes) in fall colorways, including Pesto and Light Walnut. Love the green, as well as the Bordeaux (not pictured)! Not quite ready to jump into fall, though. It's the summer light!

Truex and Lambertson's work for evening.

I love all the leather goods details that read "Tiffany," from silver-tone hardware to Tiffany Blue stitching, as well as discreet logo hardware. (Note that I have boosted the contrast to show the blue, which makes the silver appear black.)

Tiffany Vivian soft clutches for fall.

Confections in Tiffany Blue, served at the open house.

After a while, with Tiffany on the brain, I noticed that the color of the Ilikai is quite close.