Made in Italy | Time for accountability II

International | Milan

MILAN, Italy - A few months back, I published an article about the Made in Italy label, following damaging findings aired in a provocative Italian documentary on the state of luxury manufacturing in Italy. In the meantime, there has been growing interest in the concept of ethical luxury, but some of the biggest manufacturers continue to flout the rules and standards. Just yesterday, a new reader of the BoF named Lauren, provided detailed commentary on our previous article Made in Italy | Time for accountablity regarding the egregious behaviour of major Luxury brands which she has observed first hand. Her observations merit further discussion and debate, and so I have included them here. As for this debate [on Made in…

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Rivy Ng and Jsen Wintle | Emerging menswear talents to watch

London | Milan

In our ongoing collaboration with JC Report, we recently contributed two articles about some promising emerging brands, and we wanted to make sure BoF readers could learn about these talented young designers too. The first designer came to our attention when we spotted a friend sporting the coolest cardigan. When we asked who designed it we  expected to hear the names Ann Demeulemeester or Rick Owens -- but  instead came a name we had never hear before: Rivy Ng.    Our article for JC Report discusses Rivy's international background and step-by-step approach to building his fashion label. This is definitely a label to watch for its discreet understated style and emphasis on quality. (Speaking of which, the New York Time…

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Milan Fashion Week | Commerce and creativity

International | Milan

While London is often the spark of new ideas and New York is confidently commercial, the Milan shows usually sit somewhere in between. They may not be the pushing the limits of fashion in terms of new ideas, but they specialise in striking the right balance between commerce and creativity. Many buyers and editors complained of an uncharacteristically inconsistent offering from Milan's usually focused designers last week. But we think there was a lot to be impressed by in Milan, especially from the some of the heavyweight brands who show there. Take Burberry, for example. Christopher Bailey is on a clear winning streak, softening his approach this season with the perfect autumnal mood for the urban birds who walked down…

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Everybody’s talking about | Men’s underwear

Global Briefing | Global Currents | Milan

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="David Beckham billboard in Milan, courtesy of Emporio Armani"][/caption] MILAN, Italy - Every once in a while, we notice the media -- all kinds of media from blogs to arty fashion mags to the mainstream press -- talking about the same topic in a contemporaneous burst of discussion. In the past few days, the talk has been about men's underwear. Or rather, the advertising campaigns behind this burgeoning business segment. Not since the 1980's and Bruce Weber's campaigns for Calvin Klein have we seen so much media interest in men's underpants.  Tim Blanks explores the subject at length in VMAN's Fall/Winter 2007 issue in The History of the Male Supermodel. And, according to an article in today's…

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Made in Italy: Time for accountability

International | Milan

The Made in Italy label is a source of pride for every Italian. You see, Italians have fashion in their blood and style in their DNA. It's not surprising that more than 4 million of them tuned in to watch the RAI3 documentary Schiavi del Lusso, or Slaves of Luxury, on Sunday evening which revealed a slimy world of underpaid immigrant labour, huge price mark-ups, and what was portrayed to be undue influence from American heavyweights like Anna Wintour. This is not the first time that the industry has come under attack in recent months. The Dana Thomas book De-Luxe and the WWF Deeper Luxury  report have called into question the ethical and environmental practices of major luxury companies. While the…

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