Thursday, July 16, 2009

YSL, Meet JNY

Wow. I am rubbing my eyes in disbelief. I mean it, my mouth is hanging open.

I was reading Sydne's great blog Think Through Fashion when what to my wondering eyes should appear?



This cute top from Jones New York. Of course, that in and of itself would not cause disbelief, Sydne posts lots of great stuff. The disbelief is because of this




Yves Saint Laurent skirt that I own and have posted about here once or twice.

Um, yeah. That is the same fabric.

My skirt is from YSL Resort 2008. The Jones New York top is current. How on earth did it ever come to pass that the mill that created this fabric sold it to YSL and then two years later to a mid-level department store line? I am puzzled by this. Don't the high-end houses get exclusives on their fabrics? How did this happen? Anyone have any ideas about this? I think I'm going to try calling the YSL boutique in New York tomorrow and see if I can get any info.

So -- good news! If you loved that skirt but didn't manage to scoop one up, well, here's your chance!




The even better news? It'll only set you back about an eighth of what the YSL cost.

Seriously, I'm slack-jawed. Mouth. Hanging. Open.



Update: Have just spoken to an extremely nice young man named Chris at the Mad Ave YSL boutique about this. He took my information and is going to pass it on to someone else, who I hope will get back to me about it. I'll keep you posted!



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8 comments:

Claudia said...

um. Wow. Me too. How is this POSSIBLE??

Susan B said...

StyleSpy, your YSL skirt is MUCH better looking.

The JNY top is cute, though.

Is it really the exact same fabric? Or I'm wondering if someone at JNY liked the YSL version and had the fabric copied?

materfamilias said...

As soon as I Google-Reader-scrolled into your post over this top, I recognized the fabric as being from your skirt! (I agree with Pseu that your YSL skirt beats the JNY one, style/cut-wise altho' the latter might better please someone who wasn't as figure-confident)
Last weekend, I tried on a few JNY skirts because the fabrics were so gorgeous -- great prints, exciting-but-wearable rich colours, ethnic-y but not too. Didn't buy them because I wasn't convinced about the cut of the skirts, but I keep thinking about the fabric . . .

Belle de Ville said...

Jaw dropping indeed.

Duchesse said...

What a hawk-eye! I'm wondering the same as Pseu.

I think the JNY top would look fab with white jeans and since I can't afford YSL, I'd be happy.

Sydne said...

That's so crazy! The skirt is extra fab. I would definitely wear that all summer long with white tanks and tees.

Thumbelina Fashionista said...

Wow. But I have to say that often I do have that "deja vu" fashion moment when I see fabrics/patterns that reappear. But this one is NUTS!

madame suggia said...

What *may* have happened is this...often, fabric print designs are available on licence. You (in this case, YSL) can buy them outright, in which case no-one else gets to use them, they're yours for ever and ever, or you can buy them on a limited time licence, say, for a season or a year or whatever. If you do buy them with a limited licence, once your time is up, that's it, the print design is available to whoever else wants it. My guess is that this print has followed the usual fashion food-chain, eg top end, then a couple of years later bridge or better range, and in another couple of years we'll see it somewhere like Banana Republic. Also IMHO it will have great application for home dec. But I have to say, I'm surprised at YSL not generating their own prints...using a print house is a real cost-cuting measure for a house like YSL, and I'm assuming thay must have used a print house for JNY to be able and willing to go ahead and use this print...too much of a risk for JNY to just rip off the YSL print, no? Hmmm, interested to hear what the man from YSL tells you...