One of the pleasures of working in the fashion business is encountering the kind of creative genius and unexpected hospitality that defies fashion stereotypes. Yesterday, Martin Churba, one of Argentina’s most talented and well-known designers, graciously welcomed us like old friends into his 5-floor space in leafy Recoleta, where the creations of his design collective, Tramando, come to life.

Over the 2 hours that we spent with Martin and his business partner, Trixie d’Epanoux, we meandered delightfully from topic to topic to learn about the brand. From Tramando’s spectacular window displays to its social impact and the brand’s plans for global expansion, it was a lesson in the compelling power of a true creative force.

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Buenos Aires is a city better known as the home of the Tango, but one day it may become known as the land of the killer retail concept.

Across this metropolis of 11 million people, from the uber-cool urban jungle in Palermo Viejo to the elegant boulevards of Recolota, a retail explosion has taken place, proving that Argentina has truly bounced back from the economic crisis that virtually paralysed the country at the beginning of the millennium.

Our favourite barrio (and everyone else’s) is Palermo Soho, named for one of its urban brethren in New York. The intersection of El Salvador and Armenia is analagous to Spring and Mercer, the heart from which all the action emanates. But that’s where the similarities end.

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Majed Al-Sabah, The Sheikh of Chic (New York Times, The Moment)
Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah is the guest blogger on ‘The Moment’ this week. Majed’s first posting gives his perspective on bringing Western luxury brands to the Middle East and the second reflects on the Middle East "youthquake." It makes for interesting reading, particularly as the Middle East is one of the most promising markets for luxury brands. Majed reveals how this wasn’t always the case.

Why the Perfume Business is Beginning to Stink (The Wall Street Journal)
Perfumes used to be a guaranteed money-spinner for fashion brands and a way for the masses to buy into the carefully woven dreams of fashion designers. This article suggests that the economics of perfumes may have finally tipped, as the market is flooded with new scents from fashion houses and celebrities.

Made in Italy…by undocumented workers (Agence France Press) 
The backlash from Rai3’s documentary on the Made in Italy label continues. AFP reports that as much as one third of the fashion product in Italy is made by illegal labour, though the problem is not necessarily restricted to the fashion industry. According to AFP, the percentage is probably just as high for other sectors.

The Business of Fashion has landed in South America and our first stop is São Paulo, a city whose population is second only to Tokyo. But while Tokyo is one of the world’s undisputed capitals of luxury and fashion, Sao Paulo is a city still on the rise, with a budding indigenous retail scene to complement the recent arrival of international luxury brands.

As friends told us over dinner last night, nobody is thinking about recessions or credit crunches here. The Brazilian economy is on fire and the top end of the market in particular is being fuelled by cash generated from a record number of IPO’s on São Paulo’s stock market. There are months-long waiting lists for Porsche Cayennes and executive helicopters, which jet the well-to-do from home to work to play, thereby avoiding the traffic gridlock in the heaving city below. Today, the size of São Paulo’s private helicopter fleet is thought to be one of the largest in the world.

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In Canada and the UK, and many other Commonwealth countries, Boxing Day sales are just as much part of the festive season as mistletoe and candy canes. On December 26, shoppers line up outside stores, waiting in anticipation for the doors to open and for the 50%, 60% and 70% sales to begin. The term originates in Victorian England,  when the rich would box up gifts on the day after Christmas and bring them to the poor. In recent times, it has just come to mean Sale, Sale, Sale!

This year, Boxing Day came early — at least in New York City. Earlier this week, we saw sales everywhere we looked: Gucci, Bergdorf Goodman, Marc Jacobs, Barney’s, etc. Even Chanel had a large sale section of Ready-to-Wear and shoes on sale and online retailers have been going on sale earlier than ever before.

So, this must mean that retailers are desperate because US retail market is in the doldrums, right? Well, maybe.

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Two Italian fashion moguls known for their fiery personalities have been making news this week.

Patrizio Bertelli, CEO of Prada announced his company’s intention to go public in 2008. The industry has heard a similar announcement from Prada at least three times in the last decade, only to see the IPOs get called off due to unfavourable market conditions.

Mr. Bertelli has become known for his astute product eye and his challenging personal style.  He is thought to have control over the leather goods businesses while Mrs. Prada focuses on the creative ready-to-wear businesses. Each has their own domain, as it were, and Bertelli’s success with leather goods speaks for itself. However, some have questioned how he will cope with answering to the public markets, when he has been answerable to noone up until now — not even his wife Miuccia, in some cases.

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Rubles are a Girl’s Best Friend (New York Times)
We came across this multilingual sign on the new Dolce & Gabbana store on London’s Bond Street the other day. It’s a sign of the times that many of the customers are from the Middle East and Russia. This article  describes the celebrity angle of Russia’s fashion scene.

The Real Story Behind Boombox (A Shaded View on Fashion)
Mandi Lennard, London’s uber PR for the hip and happening in the fashion business sent out an email last week confirming a report on the Business of Fashion that Boombox is to shut down by the end of the year. Diane Pernet interviews Richard Mortimer in this piece to get the back story.

Heart to Heart (Style.com)
Check out our first piece for Style.com which covers a cool mash-up of Comme des Garçons and Chrome Hearts.

Just the other day we were commenting on the importance of a good fit between a brand, its management and the underlying creative talent.

Today’s WWD says that Tanner Krolle, the prestigious English leather goods brand is back on the block, after a falling-out between Albion Investors and its second creative and management team for Tanner Krolle. It’s further proof that investing in fashion and luxury is not for the faint-of-heart or the short-of-luxury-experience (Albion’s other investments include companies involved with shelter design and manufacturing, home healthcare services, solid waste services, and crude oil transportation services).

In the past year, the design aesthetic and creative vision of Tanner Krolle had been beautifully refined by Manuela Morin as a discreet luxury brand (perhaps  it is not surprising that she has experience at Bottega Veneta.)

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Yesterday’s post on Esteban Cortazar’s appointment at Ungaro garnered quite the response from all sides of the issue. Not only was our inbox quickly filled with emails, several comments also came through, including one that could be from someone connected to Ungaro, accusing Cathy Horyn of censorship. Fashion Inc also posted a response on her blog in defense of Mr. Moufarrige, given his reasonably short tenure at Ungaro and the fact that he actually didn’t hire 3 previous designers at Ungaro (though this article seems to suggest that he was already very much in the picture when Dundas was hired at the end of 2005).

We normally don’t respond to emails, comments and other blogs directly in a new post, preferring instead to engage with readers one-on-one or via the comments function, but given the volume of responses today, we’re happy to engage in the dialogue to address three key questions that have come in throughout the day:

• Why did so many designers turn down such a plum post?
• Does Cathy Horyn have the right to comment on designer appointments?
• Shouldn’t we give Esteban Cortazar a chance?

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Ever since the announcement that 23 year-old Esteban Cortazar had been selected as the new designer for Ungaro, fashion people have been scratching their heads.

Over at Cathy Horyn’s blog, many of the regulars have been noting Cortazar’s lack of experience (in design, but also in life and in business), lack of sophistication and lack of a unique vision. While everyone seems to be rooting for the young and talented designer, the path ahead for Ungaro is full of question marks. Cathy Horyn herself says:

Esteban Cortazar is a nice kid; he’s outgoing and he’s got some talent. But a number of the fashion-house appointments don’t seem all that well considered, and at some point the mistakes become irritating. I certainly wish Cortazar well. Working in Paris can be a great experience for a designer, but as Fashion Turtle notes… does he have the craft?

So why would Ungaro’s management choose such a young, inexperienced designer for such an august label? Not by choice, it turns out.

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