Fashion icon Lanvin in stake sale talks (Reuters)
By the end of October, Lanvin could have a Qatar-based investor.

Paris designers defy economic woes (Associated Press)
Paris designers responded to the global plunge of stocks with hyper-imaginative collections.

Stocks in Record Fall Monday As Bailout Collapses (WWD)
Yesterday, "things went from bad to worse for retailing and the financial world."

H&M Disappoints in Third Quarter (WWD)
H&M posted a lackluster 3Q performance.

Lanvin, photo courtesy of Lanvin.

Web site offers ‘all access’ to McQueen show (IHT)
Net-a-Porter will host an Alexander McQueen show, and after it’s over, viewers will be able to buy looks right away.

‘Fashion for real people’ (FT)
Martin Margiela’s influence on fashion is ubiquitous.

Outside the beauty box (FT)
Beauty companies are exploring non-traditional ways to come up with new products.

Tighter Credit Clamps Down on Fashion (WWD)
The credit crisis "is giving consumers and fashion companies a fright."

Alexander McQueen on Net-a-Porter, photo courtesy of the IHT.

Antwerp’s Fashion Rebels Get Serious About Business  (WSJ)
As fashion’s "anti-conformists," Belgian designers such as Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten are now commercial forces to be reckoned with.

Retailers Leave Baby Boomers Dry (Forbes)
Baby boomers are being neglected by retailers.

Gloomy Outlook for Beauty Industry (WWD)
Like the fashion industry, the fourth quarter outlook for the beauty business is bleak.

Retail Stocks Rise Thursday After Wall Street Bailout (WWD)
Yesterday, retail stocks went up due to the Congressional proposal of a $700 billion mortgage bailout, but today the fate of the support package up in the air as support for the bailout threatens to implode.

Dries Van Noten a/w ‘08-’09, photo courtesy of driesvannoten.be.

TOKYO, Japan – After two years of intense rumours and breathless anticipation, Swedish fast fashion giant H&M finally opened its first Tokyo store on September 13 in the ritzy neighborhood of Ginza, right down the street from competitors Zara and Uniqlo. When the staff cut the ribbon at 11 a.m., somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese customers (mostly young women) waited in line for their chance to visit the 1,000 square-metre, four-story retail space. Now, twelve days later, the lines continue to stay long, with around 8,000 people visiting the store daily.

An incredible success? Although these long lines may help pay back the reported ¥2 billion launch expenditures, a little perspective is required to know what it all means.

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Milan Woos the New Frugal Luxury Shopper (WSJ)
As a response to global financial panic, conservatism ruled at the Milan shows and  "there is a collective sense that luxury consumers will seek ‘investment’ wardrobes next spring."

Neiman Marcus Sees Bleak Holiday (WSJ)
Neiman Marcus’ quarterly loss has doubled compared to last year signalling a "bleak" holiday sales season to come.

Building fashion empires of their own (IHT)
In the emerging markets, fashion empires akin to LVMH are being built.

Gap Buys Athleta Chain (WWD)
As an initiative to break delve into athleticwear, Gap buys Athleta.

 Missoni Spring/Summer’09, photo courtesy of Coutorture.com

MUMBAI, India and SHANGHAI, China – If it’s the Monday of Milan Fashion Week, it also means that the Financial Times has published its regular supplement on The Business of Fashion. We’re a couple of days late, so in case you missed it, here is a link to a PDF of the entire supplement available on the FT’s Partnership Publishing site.

Amongst the best reads are a fascinating article by Josh Sims featuring a brand that I have come to know well in recent times, Clemens en August. Founder Alexander Brenninkmeijer ably describes the counter-intuitive, but successful business model that underpins this innovative company. Another article, on A Bathing Ape, asserts that the Japanese streetwear company has a 98% sell-through on its goods and suggests they might be looking for an investor.

I also made my own contribution to the supplement in an article exploring the short- and longer-term potential of the Indian luxury market. I was fortunate to speak to Yves Carcelle of Louis Vuitton, Patrick Thomas of Hermes, Amin Jaffer of Christies, Mohan Murjani of the Murjani Group, Priya Tanna of Vogue India and the French jewelry designer Marie Helene de Taillac, to get their expert points of view from inside and outside the sub-continent.

So what’s the quick verdict? Is India going to be the next China? The answer appears to be ‘not just yet’.

Jil Sander Pulls at Fashion’s Heart Strings (WSJ)
Jil Sander’s Spring/Summer ‘09 show reveals new collaborations.

PPR Falls as Pinault Forecasts `Short-Term’ Slowdown in Demand  (Bloomberg)
In an optimistic tone, PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault predicts that the slowing demand of luxury products will be "short term."

Bargain Hunting: Luxury Retailers Find an Outlet (Business Week)
With sales lagging at luxury department stores such as Saks, their outlet stores are expanding.

Michael Kors Opens in Milan (WWD)
The American designer Michael Kors has opened a new store in Milan.

Jil Sander S/S ‘09, photo courtesy of Style.com.

Sales growth set to slow at US stores (FT)
American retailers will experience their "slowest holiday sales growth this year since 2002."

Nike Sets Stock Buyback (DNR)
Nike continues its stock buyback program with a four year initiative worth $5 billion.

Wall Street pain expected to spread uptown to luxury retailers (National Post)
"Troubles on Wall Street may spread uptown to Fifth and Madison Avenues as the important holiday season nears," reports the National Post.

Bloomingdale’s to Open Dubai Store (DNR)
Bloomingdale’s is expanding to the Middle East.

Target store, the quintessential American retailer, photo courtesy of DCist.com.

Is fast fashion going out of fashion? (IHT)
Some pundits argue that Inditex’s recent profit decline, may be a sign that fast fashion is on its way out.

The looks that shook the world: A celebration of the 20 most influential designers on the planet (The Independent)
Who are the 20 most influential fashion designers in the world?

Online fashion studies arrive in Italy (IHT)
MIP, the business school at Milan’s Politecnico University, will offer a master’s program to create "specialists  in online fashion sales."

Stores Plan for Weak Holiday Sales (WSJ)
The outlook on holiday retail sales isn’t positive.

Design Houses Wary As Milan Shows Begin (WWD)
As the global economy becomes more unstable, the fashion world is apprehensive for a "downpour."

Zara Store, photo courtesy of BusinessWeek.

ZURICH, Switzerland – The Swiss Textiles Award is not the richest fashion design prize available — the 300,000 euro prize from Mango takes that category. But, over the past 5 years it has emerged as perhaps the most influential award of its kind, and the only one to operate with a global remit.

In 2003, a little-known Belgian designer named Raf Simons won the prize and went on to wow fashion critics, who were now playing close attention to his work. Cathy Horyn had this to say of his Simons’ men’s 2005 Spring/Summer collection, shown in Paris in July 2004:

What Mr. Simons did in an instant was to render the day, and most of the previous one of the spring men’s collections, obsolete. In 18 years of reporting on fashion, the last 5 at this post, I have stood up from only a handful of shows with a conviction that everything had been transformed.

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