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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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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Vancouver Olympics Red Mittens | Source: Hudson's Bay Company

VANCOUVER, Canada — Every two years that global extravaganza called the Olympic Games alternates between summer and winter sports. Next in line is Vancouver which will host the XXI Olympic Winter Games between 12-28 February 2010, costing the city in excess of $1.5 billion.

Over the weekend, Tyler Brûlé reckoned in the Financial Times that Canada is wasting an opportunity to re-brand itself to the world, using the Olympics as a communications platform like Sydney and Barcelona successfully did. Would-be Canadian Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, on the other hand, seemed to have read Mr. Brûlé’s mind, writing in a New York Times Magazine article the day before that Canada is not looking to put its own brand at the centre of these Olympics as that would be un-Canadian.

But like it or not, this is the first truly social media Olympics. A digital footprint of these games will be left for eternity on countless Facebook pages and Twitter streams. It is the first time that athletes, hailing from more than 80 countries, will be tweeting their experiences from the sidelines while spectators share their experiences in real-time, uploading photos and videos, documenting every Olympic second for their friends and family back at home.

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Abercrombie & Fitch, Ginza | Source: Fashionsnap.com

TOKYO, Japan — After several years of “will they or won’t they” speculation, American casual fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch finally opened its first retail store in Japan this past December. The 11-story shop in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighbourhood is just steps away from Uniqlo’s flagship store and Swedish fast fashion brand H&M.

As with every big retail opening in Tokyo, the first day of sales saw long lines of customers and swift business. The rumoured haul: ¥50 million (or about $550,000). Even without the benefit of an opening party or major press event, Abercrombie was able to rely on a small group of Japanese fans who had previously bought the brand’s products as souvenirs on trips to Hawaii or the continental United States.

But the big question is, will Abercrombie be able to win over new fans in Japan and replicate the unbelievably successful Japanese market entries of other mass fashion brands?

So far, the signs do not look good.

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Lady Gaga by Zaldy in the Monster Ball Tour | Source: Fan site

To further explore the powerful synergy between the fashion and music industries, BoF brings you an exclusive two-part interview with fashion designer Zaldy, known for his close connection to the music industry’s biggest stars.

NEW YORK, United States — Zaldy Goco is one of those rare creative talents who moves seamlessly between music and fashion. For almost two decades, the New York-based fashion designer has been working at close range with music stars to create looks that fit with their music and amplify their personal style, taste and aesthetic to millions of fans. From Rufus Wainwright to RuPaul, Mary J. Blige to Jennifer Lopez, and Mick Jagger to the Scissor Sisters, Zaldy’s fashion-meets-music resume is impressive and diverse indeed.

And, while his first big break may have come from working with Gwen Stefani on her L.A.M.B. label, it wasn’t until 2009 that Zaldy’s career reached its apogee. Last year, in quick succession, both the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and the reigning queen of the online music industry, Lady Gaga, called on Zaldy to create the costumes for their concert tours. This is particularly noteworthy as both Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga have used costumes to project their unique, star qualities and create iconic images.

In the first part of an in-depth, two part interview, BoF spoke exclusively with Zaldy about how he got started working in the music/fashion space, collaborating with Gwen Stefani, and becoming part of the now legendary Haus of Gaga for her Monster Ball Tour.

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Honorine Jewels by Fanny Boucher | Source: Honorine Jewels

JAIPUR, India — As we head into the festive season, we thought we’d bring a bit of sparkle into your holiday, courtesy of Fanny Boucher of India-based Honorine Jewels.

After spending a few years in the jewelry industry in Jaipur, the Pink city and capital of princely Rajasthan, India’s most colourful state, Boucher began making jewelry for her friends. These happy customers encouraged Boucher to create her own jewelry collection and seek out buyers. A few months later, Net-a-Porter picked up the Honorine Jewels collection exclusively, effectively placing Boucher on the fashion map.

When designers find their products on Net-a-Porter, magical things can happen. Buyers from around the world use the Net-a-Porter brands list as intelligence on what brands they should be watching. Indeed, since her discussions with Net-a-Porter, Boucher has been speaking to other retailers who are interested in her wares, while also setting up her company and getting her first order produced.

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Stephen Meisel in 032c Winter 2008/09 | Source: 032c

As 032c prepares to mark its tenth anniversary and moves into a new office designed by Arno Brandlhuber/ b&k+, BoF sat down with the magazine’s founder, editor and creative director Joerg Koch to discuss the inner workings and future plans of his title. While there’s no formula for the unique circumstances and hard work that led to 032c’s enviable market position, Koch’s insights provide lessons that both brands and magazines can learn from.

BERLIN, Germany — Ask fashion’s thinking class what they consider to be the best magazine on newsstands today and they’re likely to point you to an enigmatic red book with a cover that features a headless female body in black leather gear and story teasers like “Business of Design” and “Fall of Communism.” It sounds unlikely, but the 18th issue of Berlin-based 032c is wildly popular in fashion capitals like New York, London, Paris and Moscow, making it the magazine of the moment.

But its remarkable success is based on more than hype. The latest issue is a winner — and not just editorially. It’s also the thickest in the history of the magazine, thanks in part to 35 pages of advertising (compared to 20 a year ago). What’s more, any of the ads would be the pride of most other independent magazines in the industry: Missoni, Jil Sander and Raf Simons take up single and double spreads alongside Comme des Garcons, Dior Homme and Tom Ford.

This is an impressive feat, especially when you consider that big publishing houses with dedicated sales teams are struggling to find advertisers, putting out depressingly thin issues and accepting ads from mid- and down-market brands they would have turned down just two years ago. Clearly, 032c is doing something right.

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Teabag Window Display, Anthropologie London | Source: The Business of Fashion

LONDON, United Kingdom — The majority of luxury brands have spent the past fifteen years investing in retail networks in both established and emerging luxury markets. Flagship stores, one more extravagant than the last, were built in Tokyo, New York, Paris, and Beijing. The design directive for these spaces was singular and focused, showcasing exclusive products in an environment which communicated a carefully crafted image to the consumer.

Earlier this year, Net-a-Porter announced a trebling in profits. The success of the online retailer contrasted sharply with poor performances in brick and mortar retail elsewhere. This was just one signal that helped to (finally) drive home the importance of the Internet as a distribution channel for luxury fashion. Business models are quickly being updated to reflect this change, but while fashion plays catch up with consumers’ online buying habits, transformations in consumer expectations of the traditional retail channel have also been swift and pronounced.

Having already invested in hundreds of thousands of square footage of retail space in recent years, it is more important than ever for luxury brands to protect their return on investment. Retail spaces must provide shoppers a compelling reason to leave the house, enter a store, and spend money. So, what is it exactly that will lure customers back to bricks and mortar?

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