Kate Moss arrives at Christian Dior show, Paris | Photo: Imran Amed

LONDON, United Kingdom — One never knows exactly what to expect from fashion month. Which designers will soar higher, which will stumble, and which will seemingly rise from the ashes? Four weeks of shows, parties and extravaganzas finally came to an end last Wednesday, and the answers to many of these questions have now been revealed.

But of course fashion week isn’t just about shows and parties, it is also the time of year when fashion editors, buyers, models, designers, stylists, bloggers, and photographers all travel together in a caravan-like four week trade conference. Not surprisingly then, fashion week is also the time of year when the most deals are done, relationships are born, and ideas are developed. At a time when the fashion industry is being radically reshaped by the forces of digital revolution, rapid globalisation and a post-recessionary economy, this biannual meeting of the fashion flock has become an even more important barometer of things to come.

Perhaps this is why our seasonal review has become a mainstay of BoF fashion week coverage. We take a step back and look at everything with a degree of distance, trying to understand what it all means. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been chatting with the good and great to get the inside scoop on the market drivers and trends that will shape the business of fashion in the months to come, and am happy to share them with you in this roundup of Spring/Summer 2011, the season that was.

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Bonnie Takhar, courtesy of Halston

NEW YORK, United States — The trend for showing collections online, in lieu of runway shows, has been gathering steam in recent seasons. But, perhaps no initiative has been as ambitious as that of Halston, which debuted its own video presentation for Fall 2009 this past week.

Whereas brands like Marc Bouwer and Viktor & Rolf have previously shown online videos of looks going down the runway, Halston instead developed a bespoke, elaborate video presentation featuring Dree Hemingway, complete with signature music and a real fashion-meets-film concept.

Since the launch, Halston has successfully seeded the videos on fashion sites and blogs the world over, and the video has also been aired by major websites like Style.com. Of course, not everyone has responded positively — but that doesn’t happen on the runway either. And, it’s undeniable that the video has created an overwhelming interest in Halston, exemplified by a Google Trends search which shows highest levels of search volume ever on ‘Halston’ in January and February.

I sat down with Halston CEO Bonnie Takhar in the brand’s sleek SoHo showroom to see the new collection, discuss the goals and results of the video campaign thus far, as well as Halston’s plans for the future.

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