Lookatme.ru screenshot | Source: Look at Me

MOSCOW, Russia — “My girlfriend was bored. I tried to figure out how to entertain her, found an issue of Arena magazine and thought: why don’t we go out, take pictures of stylish people in the street and publish them on the Internet?” said Vasily Esmanov, recalling the moment in 2005 that would lead him, one year later, to found Lookatme.ru, a Russian website that’s probably the most powerful fashion site you’ve never heard of.

Officially founded in 2006, at a time when fashion blogs hadn’t yet caught on in Russia, Lookatme.ru took a typical street-style approach. But while searching Moscow streets for people with great style, Esmanov ended up discovering kindred spirits. “At that moment in time, if you saw a stylish young person in Moscow, he or she was guaranteed to be interesting and have something in common with you,” he said. “There was no Topshop in Moscow yet, so having good style worked as a certain code.”

Esmanov met and photographed much of Moscow’s creative crowd — young designers who now sell their collections in Europe and photographers who now have exhibitions in prominent Moscow galleries — asking them not only what they were wearing, but also what they were reading and listening to. … Continue Reading

Franceline Prat | Source: The Little Squares

NEW YORK, United States — Anyone who still loves magazines will be enchanted by this quick film portrait of legendary French Vogue editor Franceline Prat; proof positive that great editors are born and not made. Her collaborations with Guy Bourdin, Norman Parkinson, Bill King, Albert Watson and especially Helmut Newton will forever hold their place at the pinnacle of the history of fashion photography.

When she is asked, “who showed you how to do that?” she answers quite honestly, “nobody!” It was her personal style that she brought to every story, including her now famous house on the French Riviera, which served as a backdrop to many classic images, which appeared in French Vogue during the 1970′s. Having survived many an editor-in-chief, she was not only muse to the most difficult and important photographers, but also acted as mentor, teacher and great friend to everyone around her, from Azzedine Alaia to Marie Amélie Sauvé. Here, she talks about the first time she ever worked with Helmut Newton covering the Cannes Film Festival where she found a young unknown actress named Isabelle Hupert.

Listening to these marvelous stories in the digital age, they seem almost fictional. It’s as if, somewhere during the last turn of the century, fashion, while trying to defend and define itself, has become somewhat of a cartoon image of itself. It is hard to imagine that during that time at French Vogue, there weren’t even individual credits given to the many people who contributed to what would become some of the most influential imagery ever created. All great magazines, fashion or otherwise, are the result of great collaborations rather than any individual expression. There have always been star photographers, brilliant art directors, incredible writers, super models, fashion editors and of course, the editors-in-chief, who serve to inspire and guide these teams to express the point of view of the magazine.

So why do we still love magazines? And why hasn’t the rise of digital technology stamped them out already?

… Continue Reading

Screenshot of Gucci on Weibo | Source: Gucci

SHANGHAI, China — In the parallel internet universe behind China’s “Great Firewall,” where search engine Baidu is Google, etailer Dangdang is Amazon, and video sharing site Youku is YouTube, the microblogging service Weibo (pronounced Way-Bwah, literally microblog) — launched in August 2009 by online media giant Sina Corp — has emerged as the country’s answer to Twitter.

According to brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, China is set to become the world’s largest luxury market with demand from “Greater Chinese” to account for 44 percent of global sales by 2020. Analysts are also seeing a surge in China’s internet usage: according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center, by the end of 2010, there were over 457 million Chinese internet users.

Set against staggering statistics like these, Twitter-like Weibo — a platform with over 100 million users (growing at 10 million users a month) and the centrepiece of Sina Corp’s transition from a Web 1.0 news and entertainment portal to a social networking service — has recently captured the attention of the world’s leading fashion brands.

… Continue Reading

Lucas Nascimento’s A/w 2011 at Fashion Rio | Source: FataleFashion

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — “I didn’t even know international trade fairs existed when I set up my business in 2003,” admitted Alessandra Migani, founder of Brazilian designer label Alessa. “I got a phone call from ABIT (the Brazilian clothing and textile association) telling me they wanted to show my collection at trade show Simm in Madrid,” she told BoF from her stand at womenswear show Who’s Next in Paris earlier this month, where she was showing her Autumn/Winter collection. Fast forward to 2011 and Ms Migani now sells her brand to some 30 countries and boasts an impressive list of stockists. She also shows at Rio de Janeiro’s fashion week, Fashion Rio.

With Brazil’s huge domestic market, most of the country’s fashion designers — save for a few international success stories like  Osklen and Carlos Miele — had been quite content to live in their South American bubble. Then while the US, followed by Europe, hit financial meltdown in 2008, Brazil was still sitting pretty on economic growth. Suddenly, all eyes (and not just those in fashion) were on a country that, until then, had been largely synonymous with football, bikinis and samba. Suddenly, more emerging Brazilian fashion designers, operating both inside and outside the country, had a tremendous opportunity to be noticed on the global stage.

… Continue Reading

Burberry Mens A/W Show 2011 in Milan | Source: Oki-ni CultureShoq

Today, BoF exclusively brings you Savigny Partners’ blow-by-blow analysis of the rapidly shifting luxury fashion business model which is undergoing transformation due to underlying shifts in consumer values, technology and globalisation

LONDON, United Kingdom — Luxury fashion is a very exciting business which can generate substantial returns if you get the formula right. Not only is there the ability to charge up to ten times the cost of manufacturing a garment and the potential to build a global business; apparel can be the beginning of a page-turning blockbuster, accessories and leather goods are the next chapter, fragrances and eyewear licenses the well-oiled plot. The story can have a happy ending with the promise of many sequels to come.

Success stories in this field are mouth-watering: Burberry’s share price climbed from 175p in November 2008 to 1,116p at the beginning of this year as the brand went from strength to strength and reportedly attracted the attention of a number of acquirers. Lanvin has embarked on a stellar growth trajectory with plenty of potential yet to come. However, not all blockbusters have a happy ending. The latest crisis has claimed a number of victims: Christian Lacroix, Gianfranco Ferré, Yohji Yamamoto, Luella Bartley to name a few.

In this article we will examine how the traditional designer business model has come under threat and what key factors we believe are necessary to ensure the success of a luxury fashion label today. Finally we will take a look at what lies ahead for the luxury fashion sector.

… Continue Reading