Margo Manhattan Brings Her Divine Jewelry To Evine Live

Last month Evine Live announced a bunch of vendors who were coming to the network this fall, including jewelry designer Margo Manhattan. We didn’t know who she was, but we do now.

We looked her up because lo and behold, Evine Live invited us to a launch party this Tuesday for her jewelry line. That shindig will be held at Studio 450 Penthouse in Manhattan, of course.

So what’s the deal with Ms. Manhattan?

She makes jewelry for celebs such as Selena Gomez, and Beyonce wore one of her necklaces for her “Blow” video.

The pieces are chunky sterling silver and gold, and remind us of the late Scott Kay’s work. In fact, we have a large Scott Kay silver cross that looks very much like the one Beyonce had on.

Super star Bey is wearing Manhattan’s necklace in a scene where she’s decked out in a colorful bustier.

http://www.jckonline.com/BLOGS/RETAIL-DETAILS/2013/12/18/BEYONCE-DRAPED-IN-MARGO-MANHATTAN-JEWELRY-HER-VISUAL-ALBUM

We can’t wait to see what her Evine Live pieces look like. We hope that they are not so scaled down that they lose the appeal of Manhattan’s more upscale jewelry.

Manhattan made headlines in New York City a few years back when her shop on tony Madison Avenue was robbed. In fact, the necklace that Beyonce wore was reportedly one of the items taken.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/13/margo-manhattan-jewelry-store_n_5138636.html

We liked the fact that Manhattan said she wasn’t worried the lose of $54,000 in merchandise, she was just happy that her saleswoman was unharmed by the thief.

My Big Bad: Miss Tina Is Now At Walmart, Not Kmart

We apologize for getting our “marts” mixed up.

As our vigilant and astute readers quickly noted, Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles, a former HSN vendor, has launched a clothing line at Walmart, not Kmart as we incorrectly posted late last night.

Our only excuse is too much work in the wee hous when we are tired.

Sorry guys, and thanks for correcting me ASAP.

Beyonce’s Mom Miss Tina, A Former HSN Vendor, Has Landed At Kmart

Sorry we’re a month late on this folks, but former HSN vendor Tina Knowles has landed at Kmart.

Knowles, the stylish mother of pop superstar Beyonce, is doing a clothing line for Kmart called Miss Tina for Kmart. The blog Posh On a Budget reported the news in October, when the line debuted.

Miss Tina is now at Kmart

Knowles, co-founder of the House of Dereon, had a line on HSN, Miss Tina by Tina Knowles, that included apparel and accessories. But earlier this year it suddenly disappeared, along with another African-American HSN vendor, Terry Lewis.

HSN CEO Mindy Grossman’s strategy has been to bring name-brand clothing and designers to the home shopping network, and that lead to an exodus of HSN vendors, including Suzanne Somers.

Looking on Knowles, you can see where Beyonce gets her style and class from.

The Miss Tina Kmart line has a lot of soft, drapey knit blouses, which we love, at prices that are just silly, like $15. Everything is under $20 in the collection of 30 pieces. We just may have to venture into our local Kmart to check them out.

Mary J. Blige Breaks Records On HSN, Which Stiffed Us, By Selling More Than 60,000 Bottles Of ‘My Life’ Perfume

What took so long, HSN? We were expecting this Mary J. Blige press release by Monday, at the latest.

We watched some of her shows, and had heard that singer Blige shattered sales records Saturday with the debut of her new fragrance, My Life, exclusively on HSN.

And by the way, why weren’t we among the bloggers invited to the launch — which we found about in the release? Was it too packed with the hundreds of home shopping bloggers that inhabit the cyber world? Thanks for stiffing us, Bill Brand. What happened? You didn’t like our Miss-Tina-is-gone blog, and wanted some payback? Or was it the ShopNBC-Had-The-Same-Ring-As-HSN blog that did it?

Anyway, we finally got the long-expected HSN press release early Tuesday night, which said, “Mary J. Blige’s My Life fragrance on July 31 drove the sale of more than 60,000 units with about 6 hours of air time, shattering fragrance records at HSN for units sold and placing the launch amongst the most successful in the prestige fragrance market.”

Here’s the canned quote from Blige, who was humble, gorgeous, delightful and charming on the air.

“I am thrilled with the success of My Life, the experience on HSN with Carol’s Daughter and the overwhelming donations to FFAWN,” Nine-time Grammy Award winner Blige (or HSN’s PR department) said. “I can’t wait to share another touch of my heart. Thank you to all my fans – new and old – for being there for me.”

The launch of My Life helped support the Foundation of the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN), a non-profit created by Blige and Chairman & and lead investor of Carol’s Daughter, Steve Stoute, to assist women in need. For every unit of My Life fragrance sold, HSN Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of the home shopping network, will donate $1 to FFAWN.

“The groundbreaking success of My Life on HSN changes the existing business model for a prestige fragrance launch and reinforces our role as a retail innovator,” HSN CEO Mindy Grossman said in her canned statement. “We were thrilled that Mary’s inspiring story, her character, and, ultimately, her fragrance drew such an enthusiastic response.”

My Life, which was the first fragrance created by Ms. Blige and the first celebrity fragrance developed by beauty-lifestyle brand Carol’s Daughter, attracted nearly 20 percent new customers to HSN. In addition, as part of HSN’s continuity program, almost 10,000 customers signed up to receive shipments of the new fragrance on a regular basis.

“This launch proves that consumers are looking for new ways to engage with a brand,” said Stoute, who was the macher who put together Blige and HSN. “Long gone are the days of traditional marketing that rely only on sampling and advertising. Consumers want to connect, believe and immerse themselves in the experience. They want to see themselves fit into the story. “Mary delivered herself in the purest form outside of her lyrics. We look forward to telling the next chapter of the story on HSN in the near future.”

Carol’s Daughter, a partner of HSN over the last two years, has had success in telling its universally appealing story, about the creation of the beauty products in a home kitchen. Given this success, Stoute and Blige committed to bring their story to HSN.

“HSN gave me a unique platform to tell my story,” Blige said. “It took time — I had to find a place that allowed me to be me. I never do something that I don’t believe in. My Life presented by Carol’s Daughter on HSN was the only way to show my fans another labor of love.”

My Life was introduced to consumers via the most comprehensive, 360-degree marketing campaign in HSN’s history, including television, online, mobile, print advertising, public relations, events and direct mail. Social media efforts drove millions of impressions, key celebrity endorsements, and involved a blogger press trip to HSN headquarters to document the launch.

That’s the part where we were stiffed.

Video segments of Blige’s life story were featured on HSN and online at http://www.HSN.com, as well as Facebook and Twitter. In addition, HSN distributed 100,000 direct mail brochures and 300,000 targeted inserts to its customers; featured ads in Allure, Glamour and Essence; created a cross-channel spot; and distributed 50,000 snap bracelets embedded with the My Life fragrance at the Essence Music Festival.

“The fragrance industry is excited to explore the opportunities of new channels of distribution with supportive, creative and innovative partners like HSN,” Rochelle Bloom, president of The Fragrance Foundation, said in a canned statement. “The success of Mary J. Blige’s fragrance and her personal message proves their power to reach out and entice a vast, broad consumer who loves and wants fragrance. Bravo HSN and Mary J.!”

Is HSN Bouncing Beyonce’s Mom, Miss Tina, From The Home Shopping Network?

Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mom

It looks like HSN is discontinuing yet another clothing line, and this time the exit door is being given to Tina Knowles, mother of pop superstar Beyonce Knowles.

Mama Knowles, who used to design costumes for Destiny’s Child before Beyonce split off from that group, has been doing a clothing and accessory line for HSN called Miss Tina By Tina Knowles.

The collection included not only clothing but also jewelry, shoes and handbags.

But currently all of Miss Tina’a merchandise on HSN.com, the little of it there is left, is on clearance. The line included some clunkers, like a skirt attached to leggings. But it also had more classic pieces, especially the purses.

We asked HSN for a comment Thursday, and the network said it was getting something together for us. We still don’t have anything from them.

HSN, under new CEO Mindy Grossman, has replaced many of the channel’s veteran vendors, such as Suzanne Somers, with hipper, more upscale and notable designers, such as Badgley Mischka.

Miss Tina would be the second African-American designer to lose her line on HSN. This year Terry Lewis, a former HSN host who did a collection called Classic Luxury for her former employer, also lost her spot on the network’s roster.

Of course, HSN has ended its relationship with many Caucasian vendors, as well, but the exit of Miss Tina might not sit well with some viewers, especially black customers of the No. 2 home shopping network. We heard from fans of Lewis who were not happy about her departure.

That would self-defeating for HSN, which of all the three major electronic retailers seems to have made a real effort to use African-American vendors and court African-American customers. HSN’s black vendors include Iman, Serena Williams, Carol’s Daughter, Sean ‘Puff Daddy” Combs, Antthony Design Originals and Natalie Cole.

And Saturday singer Mary J. Blige will do the exclusive premiere of her perfume, My Life, on HSN.

HSN Is Almost All Serena Williams, All Friday With Tennis Champ Showing Off Her Signature Statement Collection

Tennis champ Serena Williams will be on HSN Friday nearly 24/7, kicking off at midnight with the network’s Today’s Special.

Williams will be on throughout the entire day with her Signature Statement collection, which includes apparel, jewelry, handbags and accessories.

We saw her debut earlier this year, and it mainly featured blingy pave jewelry, pieces that Williams was wearing on her TV appearances. Now it looks like she has a wide range of clothes for this HSN visit,

We especially like her ruched dress at $55.

And of course, we love that bling. Bring it on Serena, with a very pretty crystal flower necklace catching our eye at $80.

HSN has a wide range of African American vendors on the air, not only Williams but also Natalie Cole, Sean Combs, Iman (David Bowie’s wife), Tina Knowles — who is Beyonce’s mom — and Carol’s Daughter.

Beyonce’s Mom ‘Miss Tina’ Tina Knowles Brings Snazzy Boots To HSN

Singer Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles is in the house at HSN Thursday, offering the Today’s Special Value.

The item is a convertible suede and snakeskin boot, at $89. You unzip the shank of the boot and it transforms from a tall boot to a shootie, or short boot.

Knowles also does clothes, handbags and jewelry for HSN with her Miss Tina by Tina Knowles. line.

InStyle Magazine Says Upscale Jewelry Designer Stephen Dweck Has Second Lower-Priced Line In Works, In Addition To QVC’s Dweck Diamonds

It looks like “rock star” jewelry designer Stephen Dweck isn’t just doing a lower-priced line for QVC. He has a second affordable jewelry line in the works for retail. 

Dweck, whose upscale pieces are sold in Neiman Marcus, next month will debut a jewelry line called Garden of Stephen in Bloomingdale’s, according to the November issue of InStyle magazine. This week Dweck debuted another lower-priced line, Dweck Diamonds, on QVC.

In a story headlined “Rock Star,” InStyle notes that celebrities such as Beyonce and Blake Lively of “Gossip Girl” all wear Dweck’s upscale jewelry, which is chunky and loaded with huge semiprecious gems. Actresses Salma Hayek and Catherine Zeta-Jones rocked (get it) Dweck’s jewelry when they were cover girls for InStyle.

Dweck’s Garden of Stephen jewelry is totally different from the work he has done for QVC, and both lower-priced lines are nothing like his higher-end pieces. The jewelry that will be sold in Bloomie’s includes gold-plated chains with semi-precious charms and scarab rings. They are in the $235 to $345 price range.

QVC’s Dweck Diamonds pieces were inspired by nature. They have an organic feel, with designs that incorporate flowers and twig-like branches. Some of the jewelry had tiny buds, sprinkled with diamonds. The most expensive QVC piece was a $604 necklace, which sold out.

‘Real Housewives Of New York’ Ramona Singer Set To Tout Her HSN Jewelry Line

Ramona Singer, of “The Real Housewives of New York City” fame, or infamy, will be touting her HSN jewelry line today. We are told that she is slated to appear Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST on “LX New York,” a lifestyle show on New York City’s NBC station, WNBC.

Singer’s HSN jewelry line is gorgeous, but pricey. We caught one of her recent appearance on the No. 2 home shopping channel, and she came across very well. There was none of the nastiness that sometimes surfaces from the wide-eyed blonde on Bravo’s reality show.

Meanwhile on HSN, singer Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles is on the air sellng her “Miss Tina” line of clothing and accessories. We can see where Beyonce gets her style and class from.