topic Re: Louis D in Fashion

Louis D

PhillyGirl23 — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 02:15:34 GMT

I miss seeing his presentations/shows! His clothing was polished, pretty, and of good quality.

It's too bad that he didn't have another venue! QVC really scr**ed him!!!

He's likely, not interested, but I'd love to see him sell clothing independently!

Re: Louis D

phoenixbrd — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 02:18:45 GMT

No one at the Q fills his shoes. This is a recurring theme....such a loss.

Re: Louis D

chrystaltree — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 02:44:24 GMT

Lovely though they were, you folks weren't buying his clothes. You were enjoying the shows and waltzing down memory when you did wear clothes like that. He wasn't selling enough to be profitable for QVC. The world became more casual and younger customers were not buying his designs either. He had amazing career and he's enjoying a well deserved retirement. When you like a particular designer, you support them with your purchases. My friend shops the Lafayette 148 NY catalog. Beautiful things that remind me of what Louis once sold but $$$.

Re: Louis D

qbetzforreal — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 03:34:34 GMT

@chrystaltree wrote:
Lovely though they were, you folks weren't buying his clothes. You were enjoying the shows and waltzing down memory when you did wear clothes like that. He wasn't selling enough to be profitable for QVC. The world became more casual and younger customers were not buying his designs either. He had amazing career and he's enjoying a well deserved retirement. When you like a particular designer, you support them with your purchases. My friend shops the Lafayette 148 NY catalog. Beautiful things that remind me of what Louis once sold but $$$.

People were buying his clothing. He had and still has a large fan base.

Re: Louis D

chrystaltree — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 04:01:26 GMT

@qbetzforreal wrote:

@chrystaltree wrote:

Lovely though they were, you folks weren't buying his clothes. You were enjoying the shows and waltzing down memory when you did wear clothes like that. He wasn't selling enough to be profitable for QVC. The world became more casual and younger customers were not buying his designs either. He had amazing career and he's enjoying a well deserved retirement. When you like a particular designer, you support them with your purchases. My friend shops the Lafayette 148 NY catalog. Beautiful things that remind me of what Louis once sold but $$$.

People were buying his clothing. He had and still has a large fan base.

Obviously there were not enough sales to be profitable for QVC to continuing with him. If he was selling like Lori Goldstein or Women With Control, he'd still be on QVC. It's a business, it's ALL about sales.

Re: Louis D

millieshops — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 13:35:59 GMT

@PhillyGirl23 I am not as sure as Louis' faithful following that his leaving QVC was all their choice - maybe your thought that Louis himself is not all that interested in running a business elsewhere now was already in his mind when he and QVC were looking at the hard numbers years ago.

Was his brand not only maintaining itself, but showing growth? Was Louis still loving the deadlines, the traveling, etc. now that his life companion and really it seems to me an inspiration for so many of his styles? I'm close to Louis in age and I know I miss some parts of my past, but that doesn't mean I want to be back in that whole life.

Re: Louis D

the geeger — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 15:13:18 GMT

I miss his clothing also. Timeless style and great, durable materials. I still have so many of his clothing items and have no intention of discarding them. I'm not a Logo fan and so many of the newer vendors have items that might last a season or two; but their fabrics seem less durable.

Re: Louis D

chrystaltree — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:35:52 GMT

@the geeger wrote:

I miss his clothing also. Timeless style and great, durable materials. I still have so many of his clothing items and have no intention of discarding them. I'm not a Logo fan and so many of the newer vendors have items that might last a season or two; but their fabrics seem less durable.

And that's what QVC wants. That's what those designers want. They want abd need customers who shop. That's why they do trendy styles and bright colors that people tire of. The don't make make any money off customers who buy one or two things a year.

Re: Louis D

Kroppie — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 17:02:49 GMT

Re: Louis D

Kroppie — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 17:07:50 GMT

Sorry about the empty comment. I didn't comment so I don't know how this happened.
I have logged out of my account numerous times and it keeps putting me in. Says a lot about the security of this site.

Louis had no interest in ending his business.
He has reaffirmed this point numerous times. QVC screwed him over.

Re: Louis D

FancyPhillyshopper — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 18:03:54 GMT

I heard that the manufacturer who made Louis' clothes was no longer functioning. My understanding is that company also made Bob Mackie's clothes. Perhaps it was too much trouble for QVC to find a new company with the same standards for such small amounts of clothing.

Those two designers were brilliant and produced outstanding clothes. QVC brought them millions of new customers. I purchased a lot of designs from both of them, but I agree that they focused more on traditional fashion looks for work or evening, versus stay-at-home cuddly clothes, which became all the rage during the pandemic.

Yes, they are both missed, but they were at the very beginning on QVC and were highly successful. Of course it is hard to "retire," but they can look back on their careers with a smile. We are all getting older. At least they should have VERY comfortable (financially) retirements.

Re: Louis D

Makawao — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 18:10:38 GMT

Had been a Louis fan for many years. I shopped his shows regularly. My job required executive level clothing and that is why I shopped the line. There is nothing at the Q that compares to his line and quality. Casual clothing is fine and has a place but to be taken seriously in the executive arena the Q offers nothing comparable.

There is no brand currently at the Q that caters to the business woman. Can't walk into the courtroom, boardroom or executive suite with the brands the Q carries now.

Re: Louis D

Somertime — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 19:10:44 GMT

Regarding Louis' manufacturer, she retired her business because Louis and Bob Mackie were no longer with QVC. Both Louis' line, Bob Mackie's line, George Simington's line and so of the other notable designers were considered "boutique" and not subject to the same quota of sales as the larger brands.

When QVC was forced by customer demand to have Louis return to QVC the first time his line was let go, the writing was on the wall. QVC gave him horrid hours, late evening/early morning time slots. would fight hi on his designs, reduce his budget, etc. They were not happy to have to bring him back and he was only one ever that was brought back by a very successful customer campaign. One of the great nd powerful part of the campaign was QVC was told to look at the demographics as well as the spending of the Linea customer base that analysis is why QVC brought him back. We were more than willing to do the same once again but Louis said no.

I have not purchased anything on QVC since Louis left.

Re: Louis D

qbetzforreal — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:04:14 GMT

At some point in 2019, QVC started moving towards more casual wear, athleisure wear. And by the beginning of the pandemic, there was more leggings, jeggings and joggers.

We saw more Cuddle-duds, Muk-Luks etc. QVC even created its own brand to compete with Cuddle-duds-Anybody.

QVC/xcel brands paid a lot of money to acquire LOGO as proprietary brand. Something had to give and it was Linea.

Re: Louis D

kindred cats — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:37:33 GMT

@the geeger ....... Personally, I don't know how Logo manages to sell so much and stay in business. Her fashions are a big thumbs down IMO. I thought maybe Louis had personal reasons for stepping away. Just guessing though....

Re: Louis D

santorini — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 22:48:01 GMT

@qbetzforreal wrote:
Something had to give and it was Linea.

I disagree with that. Nothing had to "give." They could have kept him in the lineup. His line was unique and I loved it. I still wear his clothes and the quality is excellent.

Re: Louis D

qbetzforreal — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 23:01:06 GMT

@santorini wrote:
@qbetzforreal wrote:
Something had to give and it was Linea.

I disagree with that. Nothing had to "give." They could have kept him in the lineup. His line was unique and I loved it. I still wear his clothes and the quality is excellent.

@santorini- My point was Linea was sacrificed.

Re: Louis D

RollTide2008 — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 23:08:57 GMT

@Makawao wrote:
Had been a Louis fan for many years. I shopped his shows regularly. My job required executive level clothing and that is why I shopped the line. There is nothing at the Q that compares to his line and quality. Casual clothing is fine and has a place but to be taken seriously in the executive arena the Q offers nothing comparable.
There is no brand currently at the Q that caters to the business woman. Can't walk into the courtroom, boardroom or executive suite with the brands the Q carries now.

I sit in the C-suite at my company. We wear jeans. The last meeting I had to dress up for I wore a Susan Graver ponte knit dress and boots. None of the men, not even our bankers, wore ties.

Re: Louis D

AuntG — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 23:30:14 GMT

@RollTide2008 That is so surprising. When I retired in 2018, the higher ups still dressed in business attire. Can a person even find a nice woman's suit anymore?

Re: Louis D

santorini — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:29:46 GMT

@qbetzforreal wrote:
@santorini wrote:
@qbetzforreal wrote:
Something had to give and it was Linea.

I disagree with that. Nothing had to "give." They could have kept him in the lineup. His line was unique and I loved it. I still wear his clothes and the quality is excellent.
@santorini- My point was Linea was sacrificed.

Sorry. I misunderstood that. I certainly agree with you.