Celebrity Fashion Lines Flummoxed

Most dedicated shoppers and fashion mavens have a particular designer or brand that makes their sense of style sing; whether it's a major luxury label or a lesser known private outfit, there's a name for just about everyone out there. In the last few decades, a growing trend among celebrities, especially entertainment's larger-than-life starlets, has been the creation of name-branded clothing lines touted, worn, and, at least during some point of the process, ushered towards design and development by the divas themselves. From swimsuit lines to full couture offerings, fashion and costume jewellery to accessories-only, celebrity fashion labels have opened up a new creative world to many actresses and musicians who hope to try their hand at the world of fashion design.
But sometimes, that hand doesn't turn out to stitch so well. As with any company, there are numerous reasons why a celebrity fashion label might go out of business, from mismanagement to personal crises to simple lack of popularity. It'd seem that a major cause of turmoil for stars with a penchant for design is –bet you didn't see this coming-- the current economic downturn. Yes, the havoc on the stock market, decline in value of many personal holdings, and dismal outlook on employment in the United States and in a growing majority of countries around the world may be causing problems for scores of people, but celebrities aren't untouched by the proceedings. The idea is simple, really: if people can't afford to make their mortgage payments, they probably won't be all that interested in the latest offerings in leggings from a favorite TV personality or movie star.
Finding out this fact the hard way, several celebrity designers have either put their production on hold or closed their doors altogether recently, resulting in some speculation about the viability of such lines within the fiercely competitive and exclusive realm of fashion design. Leading the list, Sarah Jessica Parker, of Sex and the City fame, found her label Bitten taking the plunge as the sole retailer of the brand declared bankruptcy. A distinct feature of the label was its relatively accessible price, leading some industry news hounds to wonder if Bitten will reappear in the near future.
In more direct demonstrations of the decline of celebrity-branded fashion, the lines of Mandy Moore, Jennifer Lopez, and Lauren Conrad have all recently either called it quits or announced a lull in production, which is likely to add to the woes of retailers across the country. While modern budgets can allow for the occasional costume jewellery splurge or other innocent indulgence, dropping a lot of cash on clothes that bear the name of Hollywood's most watched women is becoming less of a priority for a majority of shoppers. Though entertainment will likely retain its demand as the economy adjusts, the popularity of starlets on the screen and over the stereo isn't guaranteed to translate itself to fabric. In these trying financial times, wherein even well-established and adored fashion houses such as Christian Lacroix are up against the difficulties of a dwindling market, the fashionably famous may find themselves increasingly ousted from the designing world.