“You have to bring it back to the house where you are working. We never look at fashion references. It’s always very much creating a world through a story. It’s always very much: ‘What would McQueen do?”

Sarah Burton, Creative Director of Alexander McQueen, explains the craftsmanship, mathematics and underwater inspiration for the McQueen woman in Spring/Summer 2012 to New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn for NOWNESS.

Cathy Horyn | Source: Fashionologie

Fashion’s Most Feared Critic (Daily Beast)
“Cathy Horyn wields a pointed pen to (sometimes) skewer her subjects…Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Helmut Lang, Nicole Miller, and Oscar de la Renta have all banned Horyn and the Times from covering their collections at various points…None of this has seemed to faze the journalist, who, this fashion season, displayed her trademark ability to excite and infuriate.”

Coach targets UK in European push (FT)
“Coach, the US handbag and accessories retailer, is planning to open up to 15 British outlets over the next three years, as part of a push into the European luxury goods market.”

Is fast fashion killing fashion? (Just Style)
“Against such stellar growth it might seem strange to question whether a concept that’s so obviously popular and makes fashion accessible to a large number of people could also be killing the industry.”

Redesigned Versace eyes return to Japan (FT)
“A year into his turnround and Mr Ferraris… says he is ‘more optimistic’ than he expected, so much so that he is considering pushing the company to open stores in Japan once again.”

A feast from the East (Telegraph)
“A unique exhibition at the Barbican, ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’, shows how oriental designers walk a creative tightrope between tradition and innovation.”

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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Christophe Lemaire, new Director of Womens, Hermès | Source: Adah

Three Separate Challenges (NY Times)
“With a number of companies now being run by equity-market managers, you can bet your bottom dollar that they would love to get their hands on an experienced design maestro — if more were available.”

A New Pragmatism Behind the Catwalk (IHT)
“A post-recession strategy likely to define luxury brand management for the early 21st century has emerged from a week packed with designer changes at European fashion houses… the era of the star designer… is over.”

Louis Vuitton: Where the boom never ends (Independent)
“‘We have a wider range of product – ready-to-wear, watches, jewellery – than we did 30 or 40 years ago…but the spirit is the same. In each product we have an extraordinary mix of tradition and innovation.’”

Cambodian Factories Seek Eco-Friendly Power Alternatives (IHT)
“The majority of the country’s garment factories — making clothes for brand names in the U.S. and European markets — use firewood to heat old-fashioned boilers that produce hot water for dying fabrics and steam for ironing.”

Are Luxury Brands Just Shuffling Deck Chairs on the Titanic? (Nathan Branch)
“The brand leaders appear to know that something needs to be changed, but as they’re charging forward with their lists of decisions… there’s little to no public attention being paid to the water pouring into the forward compartments below.”

Alexa Chung for New Look Spring 2009 | Source: New Look

New Look joins list of companies scrapping IPOs (Independent)
“The fashion chain New Look yesterday became the third major company in as many days to scrap a planned stock market flotation, blaming the lack of appetite of potential investors.”

Superdry owner SuperGroup plans stock-market flotation (Guardian)
“SuperGroup, the fashion company behind the fast-growing Superdry label, is expected to unveil plans to press ahead with a stock-market flotation today, bucking last week’s trend, in which three big companies abandoned their plans to seek a listing.”

H&M Same-Store Sales Beat Forecasts (WSJ)
“Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB Monday reported a better-than-expected gain in same-store sales in January, marking the second consecutive monthly increase in sales.”

Fashion industry, struggling with size, realizes age is part of the problem (AP)
“The models auditioning for New York Fashion Week were undeniably thin. But it was only after the fashion industry started worrying about too-skinny models that casting agent James Scully began asking their age.”

The Future of Fashion: Cathy Horyn (Style.com)
“During our conversation… she talked about the critic’s evolving role, her sense that leggings are the enemy of innovation, and her belief that, in design, technique matters now more than ever.”