Daily Front Row

2010 May 6

Milly Launches Bags and E-Commerce

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Michelle Smith
BEN GABBE/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) Michelle Smith is on a winning streak. The designer, whose brand Milly is carried at over 800 stores worldwide, has just launched an e-commerce platform on her website, MillyNY.com. But unlike most likeminded sites, Smith's incorporates runway video, which begins playing immediately upon clicking the "Runway" tab and enables customers to shop the head-to-toe look---minus the runway accessories, of course. Milly's shopping portal also invites visitors to shop by occasion, as well as by product category.

And speaking of new product categories, Milly will add a full collection of handbags to the line for Spring 2011, ramping up her presence in the accessories. (Smith launched costume jewelry for Spring 2010.) Expect a full line of approximately ten styles, which will be delivered ten times a year.

Clearly, Milly is enjoying a healthy growth spurt. The brand was founded in 2000 by Smith and her husband, Andrew Oshrin, atfter Smith graduated from FIT and Esmod in Paris and worked at several French houses including Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. A long-term participant in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Milly has grown from a "rack of clothes at Barneys," as Smith puts it, to a bona-fide lifestyle brand. In Spring 2009, Milly opened its first freestanding store in Tokyo. Will a New York store follow? Keep your eyes focused on Madison Avenue...
ASHLEY BAKER