Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York

But with a recall that is so far reaching into more than 60 countries, why would Toyoda wait so long to re-assure its consumers, retailers and shareholders that the automaker has the situation under control and re-assert that quality and consumer safety are its top priority? More importantly, how can Toyota recover from such highly publicized criticism and uncertainty over the safety of their vehicles?

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But even with the occasional laugh, we can’t help but wonder when is it time to say good-bye to the Southern Cal gals? Ever since The Real Housewives of New Jersey showed up, Orange County doesn’t seem to have quite the same flair as the girls from the Garden state. Maybe it’s the thick Jersey accents or the dramatic table flipping. Regardless something is missing this season from our California housewives.

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Fashion PR News: New York Fashion Week is fast approaching, but this season young, budding students  will also get the chance to showcase their products. Global luxury brand LVMH announced the launch of a new project “The Art of Craftsmanship Revisited: New York". A back-to-basics approach to craftsmanship and creativity, Parsons students were partners with local New York City artisans in late 2009, to learn from and shadow.

As a result of the project the students created an original fashion piece and documentary shorts, that were inspired by the Master Artisan their shadowed, and applied the skills they had learned throughout their experience. On February 17 the students' fashion creations and films will be unveiled at Milk Studios, as a part of MAC & MILK Fashion Week. A panel of judges will select the three winning teams.

This is not the only project with a focus on grooming or fostering new or established talent in New York. The Design Trust recently announced Project Fellows for "Made In Midtown," a Landmark Study with the CFDA of NYC's Garment District. The project will illustrate the huge role the garment district plays in the fashion industry, and interviews with key people such as designers, garment workers, landlords and suppliers will be shown on a dedicated website. Project Fellows will demonstrate how fashion industry businesses are tied to each other, and to the buildings and to the public spaces.

Both projects are integral to the growth of craftsmen and fashion designers, both established and up and coming. Each project is important in helping to secure and solidifying  New York’s place on the international fashion map.

Bravo gave Shear Genius a casting makeover before returning the hair styling show to its schedule for a third season. Gone is former host Jaclyn Smith, famous for her Charlie's Angels days. In her place, welcome Camila Alves. An International super model and girlfriend of Matthew McConaughey, Camila brings her Brazilian looks and (Bravo hopes) a fresher, younger angle to the third season.

Also joining the cast as a judge is Jonathan Antin, who’s no stranger to Bravo. His series “Blow Out” aired on the channel in 2004 and viewers watched the process of opening and maintaining a high end hair salon. Dubbed “Simon Scissorhands” Jonathan promises to be more than straightforward when reviewing the stylists’ work.

Orlando Pita enters as the new mentor, replacing Rene Fris. Orlando’s stylings have graced the runways of Dior, Versace, Michael Kors, YSL, to name a few.

Will the new cast make this season sharper than ever? With a cast of international hair stylists on hand, as well as a number of B-list guest judges in place, Bravo’s putting the scissors to the test this season. Here’s to hoping Matt McConaughey will show up for a guest appearance. Now that would put some life into a flat hairstyle!

Photo Credit: Bravo.com

Fashion PR: written by Shannon Nelson

Karl Lagerfeld, brilliant fashion designer and an undeniably eccentric man, has a new paperback book coming out this May called The Beauty of Violence. Lagerfeld's muse, Italian fashion model Baptiste Giabiconi, is said to be enacting an "erotic seizure" through body language and fashion throughout the 96 pages of what is sure to have art and fashion lovers talking. Let me say that again just in case your eyes glazed over like mine did, "erotic seizure."

Continue reading "Fashion Communicated w/ Karl Lagerfeld's New Book; The Beauty of Violence" »

The fashion industry has never seemed so cutthroat before Bravo’s latest reality show, “Kell On Earth.” Premiering tonight, the series follows Kelly Cutrone, head of the fashion PR firm People’s Revolution.

The show follows the intensely demanding Kelly and her team. There's Emily, nicknamed by Kelly “The Slayer,” Robyn “Snow White with Razorblades”, Andrew, Stephanie, and of course, the team of interns. The series chronicles the People’s Revolution team as they deal with the high stress of fashion week, the daily drama of the fashion industry, and Kelly’s blunt, straightforward, take no prisoners, approach to fashion PR.

We’ve seen PR on television before. The 2005 MTV show “PoweR Girls” starring socialite/publicist Lizzie Grubman failed to attract audiences. And it received heat from the PR community for misrepresenting the industry. So will “Kell On Earth” be another dose of bad PR? If her lack of make-up tells us anything, “Kell On Earth” looks to be an honest and real interpretation of the highly competitive and often intense PR world. Well, as “real” as reality television can be.

Check out all of the tweets that streamed while the show was on tonight: Kell on Earth Tweets

Photo Credit: Zap 2 It

Jenny Gucci, former wife of Paolo Gucci, is set to have her tell-all book come to paperback this summer. For those who haven't caught her expose on what it was like inside this powerful fashion family, you surely won't want to miss this captivating and engaging tale of what it was like living the life of a Gucci wife (can you imagine having access to everything Gucci? Oh my. A well-dressed woman I would be!)

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In the last week GlaxoSmithKline has had a PR crisis on their hands as the story broke that counterfeit alli, the over the counter weight loss drug, was being sold on eBay. While many times counterfeit anything is made to be similar to the real thing, there is one major difference with the counterfeit diet pill: it contains sibutramine. Sibutramine is something that is typically the ingredient in Dr. prescribed weight loss medications, therefore it can be dangerous to the health of those who unknowingly take it.

GSK has already begun to take steps to warn the public by the alert posted on their main website. They are working closely with eBay to deal with this issue and news outlets are beginning to spread the story.

Here are some PR suggestions to what other things they need to do during this time:

Continue reading "Pierce Mattie PR Tips for GlaxoSmithKline's alli by Shannon Nelson" »

There comes a time in your life when you’re forced to take a stand for what you believe in. And we at Pierce Mattie believe in fashion. Wholeheartedly. From the sublime to the downright outrageous, I believe in high-heeled shoes, off-duty ensembles and above all, a well-worn wardrobe. More than that, I am a fan of love-labored designs, runway shows and, perhaps unheard of from a fashion PR, advertising.

So a recent article, by a historical novelist no less, that suggested models have been “taking it easy” by lying down on recent high-end ad campaigns prompted me to draw for my sword (read biro) and prepare for dual.

One would assume that the point of contention was the models posing on their backs, legs akimbo, to advertise various luxury items. The author highlights Lara Stone for Louis Vuitton and Georgia Jagger for Versace as “offenders” of this resurfacing trend.  However, it’s not the position of the girls he has a problem with (go figure); it’s the regularity of which he is presented with the pictures “it is unusual to see so many similarly posed images of women on their backs, back to back in magazines”. Herein lies my problem. Fashion is about trends, point one. Yes we enthusiastically applaud those who dare not to follow them but in the long-run, the whole industry relies on ten designers showing nautical themes in their cruise collections, for example. It is not that “the spring fashions were so restrained that they didn’t know what else to do” as the author suggests, it’s that a tried and tested method has made a comeback, because that’s what trends do.

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Anyone that has ever met me knows how anti-indoor tanning I am. This comes from a place of experience, having been a huge indoor tanning lover for years while growing up in Florida, needless to say I have the skin cancer marks on my face to show for it. I salute any communication efforts made to shut down the industry all together. Especially the use of the tanning beds under any circumstance.

This week The American Academy of Dermatology applauded the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for issuing a consent order that prohibits the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) from making false health and safety claims about indoor tanning. There is nothing safe about indoor tanning. The Academy raised its concerns about the false statements being made by the ITA with the FTC in 2008 after the ITA launched an advertising campaign designed to portray indoor tanning as safe and beneficial. The Academy and several of its leading members cooperated fully with the agency's investigation into this important public health issue. The FTC is the federal government agency that works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

Continue reading "Let's Put an End to Indoor Tanning: AAD & FTC Gear Up Against ITA" »