Even for the most culturally-savvy business types, the world of fashion can be daunting. Everyday, fashion people will mention places, names, books, buildings, restaurants and other references that they assume you must know: Truman Capote. Madeleine Vionnet. Diana Vreeland. Zaha Hadid. The Faena Hotel. Leigh Bowery. Patrick Demarchelier. The Misshapes. Jane Birkin. Matthew Barney. Marcel Breuer. Mies van der Rohe. Steven Meisel.

These cultural references form the basis of evaluating and understanding what is going on in fashion today.  So, while  you may not need to have curatorial knowledge of Dior’s New Look or be able to map out the influence of Oscar Neimeyer’s architecture on fashion, it is still important to have some basic understanding of how all of this fits together.

Of course, it’s a body of knowledge that will take years to build up, but to get you started, we have discovered what may be the fashion business professional’s version of a high-school cheat sheet for cultural credibility. 

Nancy MacDonell, the talented editor we work with over at Style.com, has crammed years of her cultural knowledge (and that of other editors and designers we respect like Jason Campbell and Gentry Lane) into a compact book titled In the Know: The Classic Guide to Being Cultured and Cool

… Continue Reading

Not long after Valentino Fashion Group was acquired by Permira in 2007, Escada AG is the latest major European fashion company to find itself in the crosshairs of a private equity firm. The German newspaper Handelsblatt is reporting that Apax Partners is considering taking a stake in the the German fashion company — and possibly looking to execute an outright takeover.

Escada’s stock lost more than one third of its value in 2007, and another third of value was obliterated in the first few months of 2008, making it a very ripe target for acquisition. But any Escada-turnaround effort backed by private equity will not be easy, even if the price is cheap. Last week, Escada reported that its sales continued to slide in the first quarter of fiscal 2008: revenues across its Escada and Primera divisions dropped by more than 10% when compared to the same quarter in 2007, and EBITDA, a measure of profitability and cash flow, fell by almost 70%.

… Continue Reading

Amongst the most anticipated collections this season in Paris were the debuts by new designers at the helm of established brands — Stuart Vevers for Loewe, Estaban Cortazar for Ungaro, and Alessandra Facchinetti  for Valentino. Each brand has faced its own unique challenges in finding the right creative spark to sustain brand awareness and business performance.

While many fashion companies are practically clambouring to establish a presence and gain legitimacy in the lucrative leather goods category, Loewe has a long, rich history in beautifully-crafted leather goods, including a strong link to the  Spanish Royal family. But despite its enviable heritage and high quality, Loewe has had a hard time breaking into the younger fashion mainstream. Enter Stuart Vevers, who has a luxury heritage all his own, with stints at Louis Vuitton and most recently at Mulberry, where he helped put the British brand on the global fashion map.

… Continue Reading