Pop star style to rock New York's Fashion Week

Fashion Wire Daily

By Elizabeth Lazarowitz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pop stars with their own clothing labels are increasingly trying to hit a higher fashion note and Gwen Stefani is the latest to venture onto the haute couture runways of New York.

One of the hottest tickets at Fashion Week is the debut of Stefani's L.A.M.B. spring collection on Friday. Stefani, vocalist for the band "No Doubt," launched the brand (which stands for "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.") two years ago.

Pop stars have been setting fashion trends for decades. The Beatles sparked a run on shaggy haircuts, David Bowie popularized the "glam" look, and Madonna brought us thrift-shop chic.

Americans are increasingly taking their fashion cues from style-conscious celebrities whose candid photos are splashed across the pages of magazines like US Weekly, InTouch and Life & Style, and that has not escaped the notice of both retailers and the stars themselves.

Now, many rockers want to make sure they get a piece of the action when their styles begin to sell.

"It's well observed that if a celebrity is spotted in clothes and that's captured in a magazine that the sales of those clothes through the roof," said Jeanne Sottile, vice president of contemporary sportswear at department store Bloomingdale's. She said celebrities have begun to think: "Well, I'm selling someone else's (clothes), I might as well do my own line."

Jessica Simpson, Nelly, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez all have their own clothing lines, along with Wu-Tang and Kelly Osbourne. Singers Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and Outkast star Andre "3000" Benjamin have also recently announced plans to debut their own apparel labels.

But an A-list name does not automatically guarantee success.

Top fashion editors often turn their noses up at brands they view as more analogous to fast food than haute cuisine. Industry insiders who understand the difficulty of producing a successful collection are sometimes skeptical of stars who have little or no design experience.

In February, pop diva Jennifer Lopez unveiled her "Sweetface" line, a more upscale counterpart to her J.Lo brand, in the tents at New York's Fashion Week to mixed reviews. Crowds clustered around the flat-screen monitors just outside of the venue booed her when she made an appearance at the end of the show.

"It doesn't matter whose celebrity name is on the label. It has to fit, it has to have quality, it has to have a reason for being," said Michael Fink, senior fashion director at New York's Saks Fifth Avenue. "That's what's going to separate everyone in this new arena."

Luckily for Stefani, her eclectic, sexy styles have already built a solid following among fashionistas. After being introduced just two weeks ago at Bloomingdale's, sales of the collection have been extremely strong. At Saks, which has carried the line for a year and a half, a L.A.M.B. full-length leather trench coat with ruffles priced at $925 has been flying off the racks.

Stefani's decision to not use her own name on the line and to give full credit to her collaborators, like veteran designer Zaldy, rather than using a "ghost" designer, have helped endear her to the fashion crowd, Fink said.

"What separates L.A.M.B. from what else is going on is that there's a real, intelligent business plan," he said. "If they do what they've been doing, it will be fantastic."

That's So New York