Olivier Zahm by Terry Richardson | Source: purple DIARY

The Future Of Fashion: Olivier Zahm (Style.com)
“The French editor and founder of the twice-yearly independent publication Purple Fashion has many other passions… but in an increasingly conformist world, Zahm offers an original, entertaining, and astute voice.”

Abercrombie Will Keep Discounting (WSJ)
“Abercrombie & Fitch said… it will continue its uncharacteristically high levels of discounting through the spring in order to boost store sales… it is willing to sacrifice margins if necessary to improve sales.”

Burberry accuses TJX of selling counterfeit goods (Reuters)
“Burberry Group… has sued TJX, accusing the operator of the off-price TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores of selling counterfeit goods.”

Céline starts from clean slate (Wealth Bulletin)
“After struggling for years to forge an identity, the label is finding influential retailers including Barneys New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman are clamoring to carry its collection, even as they cut back their portfolios to focus on best sellers.”

Paris: A Rounder Season (NY Times)
“Louis Vuitton seemed to provide the perfect bookend to the Milan-Paris ready-to-wear season… Between Miuccia Prada in Milan and Marc Jacobs at Vuitton we saw the return of the lush, full-hipped woman, her breasts served up like ripe fruit.”

NEW YORK, United States — For decades, a quick route to fashion world prominence involved a designer turning a youth culture trend into a runway-ready collection. Calvin Klein made heroin chic, Jean Paul Gaultier sampled from club culture, Marc Jacobs glammed-up grunge and Hedi Slimane turned Berlin punks into fashion plates.

The concept was simple, even if the design work wasn’t: find a scruffy outsider style that remained untapped, then spruce it up for the luxury market. But today, as high fashion becomes increasingly accessible, this approach may no longer work. Today’s internet-empowered youth have the tools, access and information to create and promote their own fashion culture.

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Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Style.com

A light in the darkness (Style.com)
“In Alexander McQueen’s final collection, medieval influences transformed into calm, poetic beauty.”

Phillips-Van Heusen May Gain From Buying Hilfiger (Bloomberg)
“Phillips-Van Heusen would gain extra profit within a year of a reported potential acquisition of Tommy Hilfiger Corp.”

Neiman Marcus posts profit as sales start improving (Reuters)
“Neiman Marcus reported a quarterly profit on Tuesday as shoppers returned to its upscale department stores over the holidays and the retailer avoided profit-devouring discounts by keeping inventories low.”

2010 landmark year as online ad spending overtakes print (Biz Report)
“New figures released by research firm Outsell show that, for the first time ever, businesses plan to spend more this year on digital and online advertising and marketing than on print.”

Can Sackcloth Have Fur Trim? (NY Times)
“Perhaps sensing that fashion editors, at this point, did not need to see another plain camel coat, Karl Lagerfeld showed a Chanel collection on Tuesday that combined seven or eight ideas in a single outfit.”

Hublot Platinum Watch Detail | Source: Hublot

LVMH Must Watch It (WSJ)
“LVMH should do more to fill out its lack of presence in the ‘hard’ luxury segments of jewelry and high-end watches. High operating leverage at jewelers and watch makers, especially smaller outfits, has left them economically vulnerable and a potential hunting ground to scale up LVMH’s business.”

Giambattista Valli to Sew His Own Clothes (WSJ)
“Mr. Valli said that, starting today, he ‘ceases any contractual deal with Mariella Burani Fashion Group,’… [the group] is in bankruptcy proceedings which were announced last week during Milan fashion week. Mr. Valli had just signed on with the firm last year.”

Reaching Affluents on Social Nets (e-Marketer)
“Most wealthy Internet users in the US are optimistic about the economy going forward… that should make them attractive to retailers, which are increasingly turning to social networks to attract customers.”

McCartney minimalism reflects new austerity (Independent)
“Stella McCartney opened the proceedings at the Paris collections yesterday with a show that went to prove that the return of minimalism to the international catwalks is the story of the autumn/winter 2010 season.”

Red Carpet Fading Away (IHT)
“Sometimes a fashion moment is defined as much by what is not on the runway as by the catwalk favorites. And with only one more day of autumn/winter 2010 in Paris before the season’s close, dressy evening clothes are fading from the limelight.”

Kristen McMenamy at Viktor&Rolf Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Style.com

Gender assumptions reconsidered (FT)
“Monday is International Women’s Day – fancy that. For once, in spite of its seasonal discontinuity, fashion and the outside world are on the same page. They are both thinking about women. Theoretically, at least.”

US online and luxury spending jumps in February (Independent)
“Luxury consumption and e-commerce both jumped in February, according to data released March 3 by MasterCard. After a largely positive January, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse reported that the rise in US online spending continued in February, up 16.7 percent year-on-year.”

Why community building is better than simple social marketing (Biz Report)
“For a truly integrated social campaign marketers need to take their social profile to the next level. That includes building a community the consumer will return to time and again, and that means more than deal tweeting.”

Discreet luxury and courage on show in Paris (Independent)
“If no-frills clothes that are discreetly – but to those in the know extremely – luxurious are a large part of the story this season, then Phoebe Philo’s hugely influential debut collection for Celine, shown in Paris six months ago, has by now proved ahead of its time.”

Texture rules on the red carpet (Los Angeles Times)
“That annual Oscar conundrum — how to make a fashion statement on the red carpet while honoring tradition at the same time — was solved this year with one easy concept: texture.”

WHY Wally Hermès Yacht | Source: Twistedsifter.com

What’s Next: Luxury Products (WSJ)
“Pierre-Alexis Dumas embraces innovation. But as the sixth-generation member of his family to lead, in his case, the creative end of the French luxury house Hermès, he must uphold tradition, as well.”

John Lewis Adds to Evidence Of February Sales Bounce (NY Times)
“Bellwether retailer John Lewis posted another double-digit percentage rise in weekly sales as wet weather drove customers to its stores, adding to evidence consumer spending bounced back in February.”

Balmain produces this year’s template for the high street (Independent)
“High-street bosses will be on the look out for inspiration for their autumn/winter 2010 designs, and the Balmain show will have been the focus for much of their attention. The French label… has been heavily copied by mass-market brands over the last year.”

Creating the World of Tomorrow? (IHT)
“A definitive exhibition of the work of Yves Saint Laurent, whose masculine/feminine vision dominated the wardrobe of the 20th-century woman, and a book celebrating 60 years of Pierre Cardin, fashion’s eternal futurist, gives pause for thought.”

Gianni Versace, a life lived as a 90s fashion icon (Reuters)
“‘House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival,’ by Deborah Ball tells the story of how Gianni, with his flamboyant sister Donatella as muse, not only became the cutting edge of 90s fashion but symbolized the era.”

Digital Organization | Source: LuxuryLab

NEW YORK, United States — For many luxury and fashion executives, the case for exploiting and developing a strategic digital presence is clear. However, operationalising this intent is another matter altogether. In my experience, assessing how digital competencies should be embedded within an existing organization is the issue most frequently on the mind of luxury brand executives today. ” Yes, I know it’s important.” they say, “but who should do it, where should they sit and to whom should they report?”

This month, we are continuing our ongoing media partnership with LuxuryLab as part of a series of events designed to help luxury executives navigate the ongoing digital revolution. The NYU Stern-based luxury thinktank’s next one-day clinic will help participants think about the metrics, structure, and culture of a Digital Organization.

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Browns' 40th Anniversary | Source: Browns

Browns celebrates 40 years in fashion (Telegraph)
“The John Galliano shirt wasn’t my first temptation at Browns, but has somehow come to represent what the shop stands for. Some four decades on, it has kept the flag flying for delightful conspicuous expenditure.”

Neiman boosted by sales revival (FT)
“Neiman Marcus, yesterday said its February store sales had improved, underlining the continuing revival of US luxury spending. The retailer said comparable sales rose 5.1 per cent in February from the same period the previous year.”

Women dominate mobile social networking scene (Biz Report)
“Over half (55%) of mobile social networkers were found to be women – not teens, who are more likely to use their devices to text. In fact, teenagers and college students combined account for less mobile social network traffic than their parents.”

Retailers are taking Liberty to heart (Independent)
“Target’s collaboration with the iconic London department store has resulted in the characteristic flower and paisley prints appearing on dresses, jumpsuits, swimsuits, bags, and even some home accessories, hitting US stores March 14.”

Fashion falls for Alice (The Toronto Star)
“Fashionable institutions are also falling down the rabbit hole in their rush to embrace the wonderment that is Alice. Paris’s Printemps and London’s Selfridges have dedicated entire display windows to fantastical scenes.”

Adidas Y3 Spring/Summer 2010 | Source: Adidas

Adidas Net Profit Drops 65 percent (WSJ)
“Adidas reported a sharper-than-expected 65% fall in quarterly net profit Wednesday, but said it expects a rise in 2010 sales and earnings.”

H&M plans two-for-one stock split (Reuters)
“The world’s third largest fashion chain by sales said on Wednesday its board would propose the split at its annual shareholders’ meeting on April 29 and it would take effect between May 20 and June 18.”

Tesco launches recycled clothing collection (Guardian)
“The news that Tesco have collaborated with an ethical fashion label to create a line of recycled clothing for the Florence & Fred label may raise a few eyebrows.”

Christian Lacroix eyeing comeback (Independent)
“Lacroix’s ready-to-wear and haute couture might be things of the past… but the label will be branching out into stationery, sunglasses, and home decoration.”

Fashion is still a feminist issue (Times)
“Did Miuccia Prada really say after last week’s show in Milan that she was a former feminist? I lent in closer.  Yes, that’s what she’d said all right. ‘Feminism?’ she sighed, ‘it doesn’t really exist anymore does it?”

Lily Donaldson's Flying Hair by Matthew Donaldson | Source: Nowness

Marketing to the Millennials (IHT)
“Finding a way to reach a generation that is eager to be entertained and informed, yet resistant to the familiar, in-your-face 20th-century approach, is the focus of every smart luxury and fashion brand.”

Reimann Family Seeks More Luxury Acquisitions (Bloomberg)
“Labelux Group, the luxury company founded by Germany’s billionaire Reimann family, may make another acquisition this year to add to a portfolio of brands that includes shoemaker Bally International.”

Small Fashion House Sets Pattern in Milan (WSJ)
“There are advantages to designers mixing their media. Putting fur arms on a leather motorcycle jacket, as Frida Giannini did at Gucci this week, reduces the cost of the garment compared with a full-fur jacket, as well as its ultimate price to consumers.”

Luxury goods help lift European bourses (FT)
“Richemont extended Monday’s gains after media forecasts that the Swiss luxury goods company could see its shares jump 50 per cent or more in the next year as a result of a rebound in the sector.”

Hilfiger For Sale? (Vogue.com)
“Tommy Hilfiger may be up for sale today, as the private equity firm which owns it, Apax Partners, has reportedly begun gauging interest in the company.”