Kimora Talks Fashion of the Future

I was just about to start watching season two of Entourage (shuddup!) when I decided I'd better do a quick search to make sure I hadn't missed anything that needed to go up here today.  The failure to post the information about Michael Kramer's departure from Kellwood Company until over two weeks after he'd crawled away is haunting me.  The jerks don't deserve a second of a break. I wanna ride those arses like a Thorouhbred!

Anyway, I checked the Facebook page for this site, then clicked the link to Kimora's Facebook page to make sure she hadn't posted something there that I need to post here when I saw a comment that piqued my interest.  A guy named Patrick McHale wrote: "Just Fabulous Inc. and you featured on front page of LA Times Business section...all this, while at the beach!" I knew it was going to be good, so I headed on over to the L.A. Times website and found this article, Online Shoe Clubs are in Step With Fashion Forward Women. I'm guessing the picture that McHale mentioned was in the print edition, because the picture above is from a previous shoot. But, that's a small matter.  Let's get to it.

Kellwood's Top Rat Jumps Ship

Former Kellwood Company CEO, Michael Kramer

A couple weeks ago when I read a few articles talking about Baby Phat's licensor filing for bankruptcy protection, I should've taken a moment to see how things are going at Kellwood Company, owners of the Baby Phat brand since 2004.  It's a mess.

Michael Kramer (that's him with Satan's overbite in the picture above), the most recent chief executive officer at Kellwood, recently departed, like two weeks ago, to take the chief operating officer position at J.C. Penney Company.  He's also now on the board at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.  No biggie, right? Wrong.  Kramer told Kavita Kumar at the St. Louis Post Dispatch this back in November when she asked him about the rumors that he was leaving Kellwood:

"But if I were to leave Kellwood, I'm not running from anything because this is a phenomenal company," he said. "There's a lot of good things going on here."

Sure, and that's why just over a year after acquiring "upscale contemporary sportswear line" Adam, Kellwood is now dropping it...right?  Because things are going so well?  Yeah, right.  This is what Kramer, the new COO at J.C. Penney Company, told Kumar right after the August, 2010 acquisition:

"Adam is the first one we've nailed. Hopefully, this is the first of many to come."

Maybe he meant nailing a coffin, because the party is over.  And, I do mean party:

After all, for most of its history, the Town and Country-based apparel company has been more accustomed to making private-label clothes for Walmart and moderate-priced brands such as Sag Harbor and Koret.

And yet, last month, there was Michael Kramer, Kellwood's fast-moving and acquisition-hungry chief executive, sitting in the front row at Lincoln Center as models showcasing the designs of two of his most recently purchased brands - Adam and Rebecca Taylor - strutted on the catwalk. [From: STL Dispatch, March, 2011]

Kramer, the "acquisition-hungry chief executive" was poppin bottles with models. Oh yes, he was living it up at Fashion Week.  Now, he's jumped ship because he knows the whole damn thing is about to sink.  I mean, seriously.  Why would he leave a perfectly good chief executive officer post at a company that has "a lot of good things going on" to be somebody's COO?  There's nothing wrong with a COO post, without a doubt, but it's like a demotion for him....unless, it isn't..........

These idiots.  Now, I'm going to have to keep a close eye on Kellwood Company and not just those things related to Baby Phat, because I suspect that some big changes are about to occur.  And, notice the way Kumar (at the STL Post Dispatch) rarely mentions Baby Phat in any of those articles?  It's just a matter of time.  --Sugar

Walmart Doesn't Even Want Baby Phat

I swear, you can't make this stuff up. I was reading an article about Baby Phat's licensor, (NOT Kimora Lee Simmons) BP Clothing, having to file for bankruptcy protection when I happened upon these sentences:

According to court papers, the company has been battling a cash-flow problem that hampered its ability to finance its Baby Phat production. Subsequently, BP Clothing early this year lost its license to sell Baby Phat clothing to Wal-Mart.

When not even Walmart wants you, just give up.  Just give UP!!! The only place left to go is the Slauson Swap Meet and absolutely, you can do that, but I don't think that Erin accepted a job with you morons to promote sales at a swap meet.  The article goes on:

According to court papers, “The debtor seeks to efficiently reduce the substantial debt burden that hinders its ability to effectively compete in a competitive market that has been challenged by overall economic conditions. A successful restructuring will allow the debtor to concentrate its resources on generating revenue and expanding market share.”

Without a doubt, the economy is taking a beating and I'm sure sales in many sectors are down, but the economy is not the reason why Baby Phat is suffering.  Hell, you can buy about 10 Baby Phat shirts for a $1 in Walmart! Okay, that's not true, but it sounds funny.  But, seriously, Baby Phat is not as expensive in Walmart as it once was in say Macy's Herald Square 5 years ago.  It's very affordable and when you can't sell a brand with such iconic appeal in WALmart, Houston, we have a problem!

The reason why sales are down is because karma is ripping you jagoffs a new one.  You so poorly handled your separation with Kimora, I'm guessing under the assumption that she really wasn't as integral a part of that brand as I'm sure you now know she is.  You can't just handle things in such a disrespectful manner and expect for the universe to repay you with wheelbarrows full of filthy stinkin lucre.  It ain't happnin.

I told you fools months ago to fix this and I know you've been reading because I can see you in the stats. From the very moment you so foolishly dismissed Kimora and members of her team without so much as a press release, you had a short window to make it right. Apologize to supporters, give Kimora and her team a proper sendoff and reintroduce yourselves to the urban community and indeed the world.  But, no. You decided to take the less sensible path and now here we are.

I know how these things go.  The suits had probably been giving Kimora and her team hell for months and months on end, pushing them to play ball your way.  But, why?  When she and Russell sold that company to you, that should not have given you the foolish idea that you could do it better, but rather that financially you were willing to take things to a different level. You should have kept your grubby hands off the creative side of things, because as you must now realize, that is not your expertise.  Fools.  Kimora had built that brand into a behemoth, with supporters spanning the globe!  Many of them still don't even know she isn't there any longer!  Oh, but they are finding out--one at a time--and they are not happy about it. This is why you are in freefall right now.  Fools.

It is only a matter of time before Baby Phat, will be no more.  I'm sure that Kimora will consider it a very bittersweet moment.  She didn't put all of her heart and soul into the brand only to have it crumble in such a manner.  And, I'm sure that while she will feel a bit of satisfaction and "I told you so" deep down inside when it happens, she will mourn for the good times that she and her team had while building that brand and honing her business acumen.  I think that we all will.......But, until then? We don't need no water, let the muthaf*cka burn! --Sugar

Baby Phat Limps Along on Crutches

Picture sent to Kimora by @ToppDogg1201 on Twitter.

I was going to search for a picture of some crutches, but I think this picture sent to Kimora by @ToppDogg1201 sorta just kinda punches those bastards in the gut a little bit harder.  Lord knows they've been doing more poaching, scheming and lying than the law allows to keep Baby Phat afloat!  Need to call it Copy Cat instead of Baby Phat because they can't seem to give Kimora Lee Simmons a rest!  Didn't want her there any longer, but can't manage to keep traffic flowing to that website without buying her name as a keyword.

I've had a very busy day, but I took a little stroll across my timeline every now and again (addict) to make sure everything was okay out there.  Imagine my shock when I received a tweet with a link to an article that said this, Baby Phat Licensor Files for Bankruptcy.  I was nearly speechless.  I'm too exhausted to break the article down proper like right now, but this weekend, let's give it a whirl why don't we? 

Read the article, very, very carefully.  Read it once.  Read it twice.  Read it a third time if you need to in order to get the gist of what's being stated between the lines, because there's some funny style business even in the information that's being released about this bankruptcy.  It's not Kellwood Company announcing that the Baby Phat brand is now defunct, but it's close.  Thisclose.  It's only a matter of time. --Sugar

HOT Kimora Covers Harper's Singapore!

Kimora Lee Simmons has done what I'm sure many, many individuals didn't think possible (hint hint >>> these idiots) at this stage of the game.  She has reinvented herself in a way that only she could manage, proving that anyone foolish enough to count her out does so at their own peril.  Feast your eyes on the January 2012 cover of Harper's Bazaar Singapore above!  This is the way to get a new year started! Keep a close watch on her website, KLS.com where she'll most likely post the article when it's sent to her.  She was the cover for the December 2011 edition of Harper's Malaysia and now this!  Baby who?  --Sugar

Kimora is Team Nook

Okay, it's a commercial. I'm not sure if she uses a Nook on a regular basis, but she could have told Barnes and Noble no if she didn't think it was a good product.  @KLSH_Fanclub (on Twitter) sent some tweets Saturday mentioning that Kimora Lee Simmons was in a new Nook television commercial.  I thought, "Great!" because I've owned a Nook since last year and I love it. I don't think that Barnes and Noble has done enough to fight back and promote it the way Amazon has been pushing the Kindle.  Yes, I think about these things.  I work in communications. It's a habit, okay?

Anyway, I was ecstatic to see Glee's Jane Lynch in a new commercial touting the Nook a couple weeks ago and now Kimora's added celebrity support is even better. I tend to do things a little differently than most.  When the digital music craze started sweeping the nation, we were all told that we had to have an iPod.  Right away, I knew I had to see what else was out there because when "they" tell you that one product is the best of them all, there's probably something just as good or even better.  So, I did some research and just as I thought, Microsoft's Zune was a solid machine with just as many options as the iPod, but with one piece de resistance that made it clearly the better choice: the Zune Pass.  To date, I've owned two Zunes and the main reason I bought the second was to upgrade to the HD version.  I love it.  Microsoft has announced that they don't intend to manufacture them anymore (suffocated by the iPod I'm sure) and that makes me sad, but the Zune Pass platform will still be available in Windows phones, XBOX and PCs. 

So, on to the point of this post. Kimora's Nook commercial.  The very first book I bought for my Nook was Kimora's Fabulosity: What it is and How to Get It.  Hopefully, her next book will be a Nook book as well. Check out the commercial below.  --Sugar

Kimora SLAYS on Harper's Malaysia Cover

It's been killing me to have to wait to post this, but I was checking something out and I wanted to get an accurate gauge.  If you haven't seen this by now, what rock have you been under?!  Kimora Lee Simmons's Harper's Bazaar Malaysia cover came out a week or so ago and it's gorgeous. The spreads are even more fantastic.  Check out the full spread and article at Kimora's site and brace yourself for the Harper's Singapore cover which should be out within the next couple weeks or so.  It should be hot!  Of all of the stupid decisions any company could have made in the past couple years, I think it's safe to say that Kellwood Company wins the gold medal for parting ways with Kimora. She's one of only a handful of Americans who have graced the cover of Harper's Malaysia in the past year, including Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cindy Crawford. Baby who?

Oh, and please don't be out here buying Baby Phat for your family and friends this holiday season.  I saw a little baby today with one of those coats on. Terrible. --Sugar