Bottega Veneta Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: Style Frizz

How The Uncertain Economy Is Changing The Definition Of Luxury (Forbes)
“With the emergence of new wealthy consumers from the BRIC countries and the economic downturn for most nations outside of the BRIC superfecta in the past few years, luxury has taken on a multitude of new meanings. No longer does it exclusively equate to expensive products that are mostly of French or Swiss origins.”

Fashion’s Next Frontier for Social Media (WWD)
“The fashion industry is quickly learning that men and women engage and shop differently in the digital sphere. Brands and retailers such as Coach, Mr Porter, Gilt Man, Ben Minkoff, John Varvatos and Ermenegildo Zegna have spent a lot of time studying the differences between the ways men and women approach fashion, tapping into their male audiences with a host of initiatives they feel will resonate best with their target consumer.”

Touchy-feely (FT)
“An amorphous white dress, like an alien wedding frock, crafted from 14,000 rubber gloves; a black leather ballgown bristling with 43kg of dressmaking pins; mind-boggling numbers of latex balloons hand-knotted into a floor-skimming fringed opera-coat – are they art, or are they fashion? The answer could be both.”

Paul Smith to be honoured at British Fashion Awards (Telegraph)
“Paul Smith was 15 when he left school, got on his bike, and pedalled off to his first job at a clothes warehouse in Nottingham. Now, some 50 years later, Sir Paul has been awarded British fashion’s highest honour… The Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design prize – given posthumously last year to Alexander McQueen – will be presented to Sir Paul at the British Fashion Awards.”

Q&A Carine Roitfeld (Guardian)
“At the beginning, when you’ve stayed for 10 years in one place, you do miss the people. It was like the baby blues. So immediately I did something new and I didn’t stop working. I didn’t go on holiday, I didn’t have time to regret it, and now I’m very much more positive and have a new project.”

Vogue: The Covers | Source: mostmagnific.com

LONDON, United Kingdom — There are two ways in which a fashion magazine can be successful: either by featuring clothes with which the reader can identify or by stimulating the reader’s imagination. It is the old tussle between commerciality and creativity. Except, of course, it isn’t a tussle that existed before fashion magazines became mass market and needed to chase and keep readers who, for most of the twentieth century, never even opened a ‘glossy’ magazine, which until the fifties was still a very exclusive and small circulation type of publication.

The effects of commercialisation can be seen very clearly in Vogue: The Covers (Abrams), which is a visual threnody for subtleties lost. The change happened comparatively quickly in the sixties when the clothes and the elegance they epitomised gently morphed into the woman — and normally the famous and easily recognised woman — as the face became the selling point: a clear indication of the power of the cosmetics industry over magazine publishers. The battle between clothes and make-up was largely over by the end of the decade as flawless faces and worryingly perfect teeth, seen through slightly parted lips in order to emphasise the lipstick shade, routed the clothes which had dominated the previous three decades.

Memorable images of high fashion were no longer required. The fact that none of the subsequent faces remains in the memory for even the month of the magazine’s life is symptomatic of the change. Readers were not expected to recall the face. It was the shout-lines that gave the message, then as now. This book is a classic primer of the effects of chasing a mass market. I don’t think I am alone in finding the seventies and eighties the rock bottom and subsequent decades, dominated by Hollywood stars, only marginally better. This book is a cautionary cavalcade of the rise, fall and slight recovery of Vogue covers and, as such, is an elegant record of our changing tastes and needs.

But, of course, creativity still exists in magazines and it is at its best with maverick editors who keep their artistic integrity by making their publication a personal diary of their obsessions, dreams and intellectual beliefs. Carine Roitfeld’s Irreverent (Rizzoli) is the perfect example of the genre, almost perversely personal and even private, giving the reader the sensation of looking in her knicker drawer. In her years as editor of French Vogue, Roitfeld’s very Gallic aesthetic — with a little Russian from her ancestors — created an instantly recognisable style that has been dubbed ‘porno-chic’ and has influenced not only every young stylist under the sun but also how even designers actually think. Roitfeld’s youthful iconoclasm is about cultural freedom to delight through shocking. I am sure that if Cocteau, Berard and even Beaton were alive today it would be Roitfeld’s Vogue that they would devour each month and fight to work for. This amazing woman is the only modern editor who would excite the doyenne who single-handedly pushed back the barriers to enable the sort of shocking, thrilling and entertaining pages that make this book so exhilarating.

I’m talking, of course, about Diana Vreeland, whom I knew and used to visit in the late seventies, in her tiny scarlet apartment on Park Avenue. The most original thinker and memorable verbaliser I have ever met, Vreeland was illuminated — as is Roitfeld — by the sheer power of her imagination and enthusiasm. She is a legend. Everyone who knew her has Vreeland stories because everything she said was arresting, even at its most extreme, shot through with the ability to get to the essence of everything, but above all, dress. So, it is good to have a reissue of Eleanor Dwight’s convincing biography, Diana Vreeland (Harper Design) joining a new anecdotal volume Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel (Abrams) which is high on pictures but low on analysis. For the growing army of Vreeland fans who are under 30 and realise she was even younger and bolder than they are, both books are essential, not only because they are ‘gala’, to use one of her highest terms of praise, but for the pure panache of her personality that comes shimmering off every page. She is in a class of her own.

But one who comes close is Glenda Bailey, who has lead Harper’s Bazaar for ten years with much of the bold aplomb that Vreeland brought to editing. She has given us amazing stories — witty, bold and often slyly debunking of the more extreme reaches of fashion’s unrealities. But, make no mistake, Bailey is besotted by the magic and mystery of the fashion world and the enthusiasm I knew and loved years ago when she first hit London are as fresh and undimmed today, as Harper’s Bazaar Greatest Hits (Abrams) admirably demonstrates. Here are The Simpsons doing the Paris shows; Marc Jacobs playing many parts — mainly naked; Jean Paul Gaultier as a nun and many other visual extravagances dreamt up by Bailey and her inspired artistic director, Stephen Gan, whose boldness matches her own. Their covers are exceptional for their elegant understatement but they certainly give full, rip-roaring scope to their imaginations on the editorial pages.

From Fifth to Seventh Avenue every American in the clothes business has reason to bless Eleanor Lambert, the woman who made American fashion a major player in the world, helped to launch such giants as Lauren, Klein and Halston and even managed to make the French designers sit up and take notice with her famous joint fashion show featuring American designers on the same runway as the French in Versailles in 1973. Eleanor, whom I knew when she was very old (she lived to be a hundred), was full of energy and determination, possibly inherited from her family who were circus folk, plus the imagination to know what was needed next long before anybody else did. In Eleanor Lambert: Still Here (Pointed Leaf Press), she emerges as the Calamity Jane of New York fashion, lassoing and branding all the talents that her shrewd eye was attracted to and promoting them with her incredible vigour. But she did more. Without her there would be no CFDA. It was she who came up with ‘The Best Dressed List’ to stimulate interest in clothes and keep sales figures climbing. And, above all, she was the earth mother of fashion PR. A copy of this revealing book should be in every fashion office, from the editor’s to the CEO’s, and on the shelves of every fashion college library.

Fashion has become the lingua franca of the world. It now affects virtually every aspect of creative life, certainly in the West, and is increasingly the thing that binds disparate disciplines together to give them a ‘cool’ credibility. Nowhere is this more apparent than in architecture, a discipline that influences fashion and is, in turn, influenced by it. So it is good to see this ever-closer link captured in a book that looks at how one of the major fashion brands, Louis Vuitton, uses many of the world’s most prominent architects and designers to create its flagship stores across the globe. Louis Vuitton Architecture and Interiors (Rizzoli) provides a stunning record of high imagination, apparently cavalier disregard for cost and, as the end product, some of the most exciting retail spaces in existence today. As most fashionistas know, the presiding genius is the architect Peter Marino, a man who, along with the Louis Vuitton project designers, has been responsible for incredible shops from Tokyo to Macao, Paris to New York. The photographs in this book are stunning but, unlike most fashion-related books, this is a text to read. Illuminating and inspiring.

Equally illuminating is Gucci: The Making Of (Rizzoli). Not another Gucci book, you may say. But this one is different. Without sacrificing in any way the glamour of this most frequently re-invented label, it gives us the low-down on the business and even the internecine struggles of the original Gucci family: betrayals and violent quarrels, including fraternal murder. It is all here, elegantly packaged in the way we expect of one of Italy’s great labels but by no means relying solely on the quality of the pictures. This is another book where the writing is as important as the images. The contents are split into 48 sections — this is a lofty tome by any standards —

that cover every aspect of the company’s history, developments and products, from CEOs, customers and social networks to perfumes, lifestyle and, of course, the loafers and bags. It is sufficiently comprehensive that a new Gucci book will not be needed for many years to come. Publishers, please take note!

And so, finally, to an amuse bouche for Christmas morning. The Elves and the Shoe-Maker (It Books – HarperCollins) is the story — or ‘fashion fairy tale memoir’ — of Manolo Blahnik, told by Camilla Morton and illustrated by the subject himself. Light as air, winningly expressed, this book is fun, not only for Manolo’s many drawings but also for the way it captures the sophisticated whimsy of this most elegant of all the world’s shoemakers. It is so good-humoured that it is the one to bury your head in whilst waiting for Christmas dinner. It will make aunt Edna’s moans about feeling hungry and uncle Joe’s spectacular downing of glass after glass of your best claret hardly seem irritating at all. Happy Christmas!

Colin McDowell is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion

"Irreverent" by Carine Roitfeld | Source: NY Times

A Super-Stylish Vampire (IHT)
“If the definition of a vampire is a pallid, blood-sucking monster with frightening fangs, Carine Roitfeld, former editor of French Vogue and a pivotal figure in the fashion world, does not seem to fit the bill… ‘Why a book — especially for someone like me who hates looking back?’ Ms. Roitfeld asked herself… ‘It marks 30 years. The end of a chapter is a good moment — and they have been ‘belles années,’ beautiful years, when I have succeeded in work and with my family.’”

Ted Baker’s figures look smart as high street rivals falter (Independent)
“The fashion retailer’s US retail sales grew by 74 per cent to $16.7m (£10.8m) in the 28 weeks to 13 August, boosted by new concessions and strong demand for its clothes. But UK and European sales rose by a more modest 7.8 per cent over the period, to £69.2m, while gross margins were dented by a higher level of promotional activity.”

Fashion’s brave new world (Telegraph)
“Beginning with the invention of nylon pantyhose by Allan Gant Sr in 1 959, fashion and technology have gradually been brought together as new materials and techniques opened up countless possibilities for designers… One step further along the technological scale comes catalytic clothing, which… Claims could help combat the harmful emissions released by vehicle exhausts in cities.”

US Vogue is magazine of the year (Telegraph)
“There’s no denying Anna Wintour still reigns supreme as queen of the glossies. US Vogue , which she has edited – with an iron fist some might say – since 1988, was just named Magazine of the Year at the prestigious Ad Age Awards… There is hope for print, it seems, as advertising revenues have plummeted along with every other measure of economic growth across the globe; if anyone can squeeze revenues from cautious (or broke) advertisers it is ‘Brand Anna’.”

Diane Pernet On A Shaded View Of Fashion Film Festival (Huffington Post)
“Drenched in black with her ever-present lace mantilla and catseye sunglasses, Diane Pernet is one of the most recognisable figures on the fashion landscape. But it’s not just her iconic and unvarying look that has gained her recognition; she is one of fashion’s true digital pioneers.”

Zombie Boy | Source: NY Times

Designers Start to See in Triplicate (NY Times)
“With something like 250 runway shows and parties crammed into the New York Fashion Week that begins Sept. 8, a lot of designers are saying that there must be a better way to show clothes, or at least some way to grab people’s attention for more than a second or two. The latest thing, if a handful of them are correct, would be fashion shows in 3-D.”

Guess joins the queue as labels spread their wares through China (Independent)
“Guess has become the latest international brand to announce massive plans for expansion into mainland China… Guess is targeting its “lifestyle collection” of denim garments, handbags, watches and footwear at China’s ever-growing luxury goods market, one which industry insiders expect to be worth more than 84 billion yuan (13 billion dollars) this year – making it the second largest in the world after the United States.”

Burberry in step with digital age (FT)
“The luxury fashion brand Burberry has spurned glossy magazine adverts in favour of a Facebook campaign to promote the global launch of its latest fragrance, Burberry Body… On average, digital makes up 15 to 20 per cent of media spending globally. Burberry’s strategy shows how quickly the fashion industry is moving away from magazines as it seeks to interact with consumers worldwide.”

H&M and Zara Duke It Out for U.S. Online Sales (Forbes)
“Move over brick and mortar expansion tactics, retailers are finally realizing that bottom line growth isn’t always going to come by swelling square footage. Zara and H&M are taking their fast fashion competition online, while Urban Outfitters is jumping into F-commerce (making their Facebook fan page shoppable).”

First look at Carine Roitfeld: Irreverent (Telegraph)
“Ever since Carine Roitfeld stepped down from the role of editor at Vogue Paris, there have been whisperings about what is next in store for her. But now images of one of her first projects have been released and somewhat surprisingly they involve looking to the past, rather than the future.”

Marc Jacobs | Source: Fashionfreax.net

Marc Jacobs To Dior? (Huffington Post)
“The question of who will take the top job at Dior has remained since Galliano’s ousting. But WWD writes that meetings between Dior representatives from LVMH, the luxury conglomerate that owns the Christian Dior label as well as Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and a host of other top brands, and Jacobs’ legal representatives are set to take place this week in Paris.”

Carine Roitfeld by Karl Lagerfeld (Interview)
“Although Carine Roitfeld is no longer the editor of French Vogue, she remains steadily at the perch of the fashion world, standing atop those super-high bondage-referencing heels that she partly made a staple of Parisian style. But la femme parisienne, which Roitfeld very much is, makes her own ground wherever she walks.”

Cut from a different cloth (FT)
“What happens when bespoke is not enough? As the ability to personalise everything from your trainers to your trench has become democratised thanks to the internet, those in search of the truly special – the ne plus ultraof made-to-order – have become frustrated. Even more so as their old go-to solution, the tailor, has been constrained by the increasing homogeneity of cloth.”

J. Crew’s Canadian shoppers balk at higher prices (The Globe and Mail)
“J. Crew has raised its merchandise prices by about 15 per cent in its Canadian store and on its new Canadian e-commerce site compared with those at its U.S. outlets. For online customers, taxes and duties raised the final price for orders in some cases by as much as 50 per cent compared with the U.S. site they previously ordered from.”

Summer Scouting (On the Runway)
“F.N.O. was a good idea when it began, back in the depths of the recession when stores were virtually empty. But now it’s become a party, an institutionalized kickoff to Fashion Week, and though it apparently raises money for some causes, I have to believe that the costs of security, crowd control and entertainment, not to mention the traffic headaches, outweigh the actual benefits.”

Park & Bond | Source: Park & Bond

Gilt Groupe Targets Guys for New Luxury Retail Site Park & Bond (Forbes)
“Internet retailer Gilt Groupe is straying from its tried-and-true flash sales model to launch Park & Bond, a full-priced menswear site without the limited-time component that’s been responsible for Gilt’s rapid growth since it was founded in 2007… But in order to really flex the buying muscle of its 400,000 male customers Gilt is going to offer them a specially selected full-price assortment on a dedicated site.”

When luxury and commodities collide (FT)
“Pity the poor jewellers of this world. As the price of gold soars and investors hoard bullion, the price of one of the luxury industry’s prime raw materials goes through the roof; suddenly, what was the base metal of high-end adornment has become as precious as the sparklers it normally holds.”

“China Currently Has No Strategic Vision For Cultivating Our Own Brands” (Jing Daily)
“Recent cases like the Da Vinci furniture scandal expose a sad truth: China still lacks a domestic luxury industry to speak of. Still, Hong — who recently signed Xiang Yaodong as BNC’s first in-house designer — and a growing number of Western-trained Chinese designers are looking to cultivate a home-grown luxury fashion industry that can rival international brands.”

Hugo Boss to raise 2015 margin target (Reuters)
“Hugo Boss is set to raise its 2015 profit margin target this fall, helped by the vigour of the global luxury market and improved productivity, sources close to the German fashion brand said. The maker of sharply cut men’s suits has already met its 2015 underlying profit margin target while bigger luxury rivals such as PPR , LVMH and Burberry published record results last month.”

Watch a teaser of Carine Roitfeld’s Elizabeth Taylor-themed magazine (Independent)
“France’s first lady of fashion styled a Chanel campaign and the Barneys fall catalogue recently, but her work for V Magazine marks her editorial debut since leaving French Vogue at the beginning of the year.”

Carine Roitfeld | Source: Purple Diary

Carine Roitfeld’s stylish tribute to Elizabeth Taylor (Telegraph)
“Fans of Carine Roitfeld who have been suffering from withdrawal symptoms since the ultra-chic former Vogue Paris editor vacated her post… Won’t have to wait much longer to get their latest fix… Roitfeld has reunited with her old partner… Mario Testino to style the entire September issue of V Magazine.”

Keeping Cool, Fashionably (IHT)
“Trends come and go, but the dress persists, secure in its status as a metaphor… To get to the heart of dresses’ appeal, talk to the women who wear them: those scores of fans, young or not so young, who have made them the backbone of their summer wardrobes.”

Online retail sales top industry forecast (Reuters)
“Spending by British shoppers over the internet grew a better-than-expected 19 percent during the first six months of 2011, boosted by helpful weather patterns and the Royal Wedding.”

More Reports Seem to Confirm Kanye West’s Spring 2012 Fashion Line (Thread NY)
“… An increasing number of reports would seem to indicate that rapper Kanye West — who has been known to frolic in the fashion world’s playpen — is planning to launch a fashion collection… Harper’s Bazaar editor Christine Centenera has apparently been consulting with West on the collection.”

McQueen Met Milestone (Vogue UK)
“More than 500,000 people have now seen Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the British brand has revealed.”

Carine Roitfeld by Terry Richardson | Source: Terry Richardson

Lunch with the FT: Carine Roitfeld (FT)
“Roitfeld, 55, has built a career on being cool. She made her mark as a stylist in the 1990s, when she and the photographer Mario Testino created risqué campaigns for Gucci… [As the editor of French Vogue] she became one of the most powerful women in the fashion industry, famous for edgy, sometimes controversial and frequently erotic photo shoots.”

Jimmy Choo sold to Labelux for £500m (Guardian)
“Its killer heels are de rigueur for Hollywood actresses on the red carpet – and this weekend luxury shoe brand Jimmy Choo was sold for an A-list price tag of £500m…. Labelux’s other investments include Swiss luxury brand Bally and the Derek Lam fashion label. Its chief executive Reinhard Mieck said it saw “substantial potential” for the brand, particularly in Asia.”

Inditex breaks new ground for seasons in the south (FT)
“Inditex… has become the first global retailer to sell fashion lines designed especially for the seasons of the southern hemisphere… for clothes retailers based in the northern hemisphere, the seasons of the south have traditionally presented a barrier to full globalisation because of the complexity of producing specially-tailored winter lines at the same time as summer wear.”

China’s luxury consumers get their information online (Relax News)
“70 percent of the country’s consumers of luxury brands search the internet each month before making their purchases. What’s more, 30 percent claimed they searched online for information on luxury items each week. But, surprisingly, just five percent of those polled said they were actually interested in making a purchase over the internet.”

Jeans for deep pockets (FT)
“Major fashion labels such as Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Balmain and Roberto Cavalli have created luxury jeans, some costing well over £1,000… ‘The market for designer denim continues to grow and has no limits. For so many of the fashion collections, their most sought-after pieces are in the fabric.’”

Mugler's pre-show and backstage live stream | Source: WWD

Mugler’s Digital World (WWD)
“‘My job was to resurrect the brand, and to pump it up and bring it to the new decade… I had this amazing history and archive but there was nothing for me to work with to make it contemporary. For me, it was taking those amazing historical ideas and transforming them digitally. I design digitally, I communicate digitally, and I live digitally, and I wanted to incorporate that into the brand.’”

Julie Gilhart on Sustainability, Philanthropy, and Life after Barneys (Thread NY)
“Julie Gilhart has been flying fairly under the radar since her dismissal as Barneys’ fashion director in November (aside from touting favorite socially-conscious causes via Twitter), but Friday she appeared at Afingo’s Fashion Forum at FIT to discuss sustainability and philanthropy, and revealed a bit about her personal priorities and plans in the process.”

Spain’s Puig is front-runner for Jean Paul Gaultier (Reuters)
“Spanish perfume maker Puig is the front-runner to buy control of fashion brand Jean Paul Gaultier after China’s Li & Fung walked away but Interparfums is still in the race, fashion and banking sources said… Jean Paul Gaultier, which is still lossmaking, made revenues of 26 million euros in 2010.”

Carine Roitfeld, Chanel Stylist (WWD)
“Carine Roitfeld, a guest editor and stylist at Barneys New York this fall, has also been tapped by none other than Karl Lagerfeld. The designer just wrapped up shooting Chanel’s fall-winter campaign in Paris with… the former Vogue Paris editor in chief, as stylist.”

Ten minutes with Carven designer Guillaume Henry (Telegraph)
“If you have not heard of Guillaume Henry or Carven – it won’t be that way for long. The ex- Givenchy and Paule Ka designer moved to the storied French house two years ago to breathe new life into the brand, and has since been causing quite a stir.”

Thierry Mugler Autumn/Winter 2011 show | Source: Youtube

At Mugler, Genius and Its Limits (NY Times)
“Mr. Formichetti’s show was not a work of genius, but it was a show about genius in the present moment — its limits, its futility. If Paris couture is about history, craft and masters, the new Mugler is about nonspecialists, quick communication and downgrading the role of technique and craft, at least in the heavy, earnest sense.”

Carine’s Next Step (Vogue UK)
“Carine Roitfeld has finally confirmed her next move post-French Vogue – the former editor is teaming up with Barneys to become the store’s guest editor and stylist for autumn/winter 2011-12. Roitfeld will style and edit the American store’s advertising campaign (photographed by Mario Sorrenti), catalogue, newsletters, as well as the Madison Avenue windows.”

Dolce and Gabbana May Face a Criminal Trial (NY Times)
“Accused of defrauding the Italian revenue agency and failing to pay taxes on more than $1 billion in income, they are expected to be told… whether prosecutors have gathered enough evidence to warrant a criminal trial. So far, the case has generated remarkably little fanfare in Italy, a country where tax evasion is regarded by many people, including some in the fashion world, as a national sport.”

A Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor: Fashion Icon (The Cut)
“When it came to style, Elizabeth Taylor was fearless. The diamonds, the hair, the cleavage: She rocked it out everywhere she went. In her younger days, she favored plunging necklines with straps poised to slip off her shoulders, her hair like a dark cloud around her thickly made-up eyes.”

F(AA)shion Dialogues (Dazed Digital)
“In this search for fresh approaches some fashion designers developed collaborations with architects… Trying to explore the new possibilities offered by fashion and architecture, the Architectural Association School launched the ‘F(AA)shion’ workshop, an intensive design-based programme of lectures.”