Canton Road, Hong Kong | Source: Asian Central

Hong Kong is firmly at the heart of China’s new cultural revolution (Guardian)
“The richer China has become, the more they visit Hong Kong to shop. ‘Luxury brands are forecasting year-on-year growth of 35%,’ says Helen Willerton, former managing director of Chloé Asia Pacific. ‘Mainlanders fly in for a few days, save money on accommodation by staying in three-star hotels, and spend on high-end retail – watches, jewellery and fashion.’”

Gap weaves fabric of L.A. into 1969 jeans campaign (LA Times)
“To bring its 1969 Premium Jeans line closer to the heart of the designer denim industry, the apparel giant last year opened a creative design office in a gritty section of downtown L.A. near the fashion district. Now Gap is putting its L.A. vibe at the core of a global marketing campaign.”

European vs American luxury: is there a difference? (FT)
“Proenza often seems more design-led than many of its NY fashion week peers… which are more rooted in the American sports wear tradition of combining super-luxurious materials with super-uncomplicated shapes. This is one of the reasons VFG bought them it the first place; its work does not, in fact, scream ‘American!’ It sort of whispers ‘cool chic.’”

Chloé’s Former Chairman Is Taking Over at St. John (The Cut)
“Ralph Toledano, who was the CEO and chairman of Chloé for eleven years before stepping down last August, is said to be the new chairman of St. John, reports WWD.”

Milk Meets Nicola Formichetti (Milk Blog)
“The digital approach is very important, it’s the future. But we should not forget about our reality, the physical world. We always need to embrace new things, but never be dependent on them.”

Clare Waight Keller | Source: Chloé

Hannah MacGibbon out, Clare Waight Keller in at Chloé (Telegraph)
“Chloé have announced via their Twitter feed and a statement on their website, that Hannah MacGibbon is set to leave the label she has headed up since 2008, to be replaced by ex-Pringle of Scotland designer Clare Waight Keller.”

In fashion, the brand plays on (LA Times)
“A trend toward the further depersonalizing of brands [is] in the future. ‘The last thing you want to do is have your brand tied to a personality, especially in an industry where bad behavior is the norm.’ Brand identities will be crafted around heritage and associations rather than a designer personality.”

The End Of The Supermodel (Forbes)
“Looking at the most recent models list, it’s clear to me that successful models are now even more removed from Hollywood. Most of them are not household names… The supermodel era, as it was defined two decades ago, is dead. In its place, however, there’s a more interesting model—one that has more in common with Wall Street than Hollywood.”

How a Young Fashion Designer Stands Out in a Crowded Market (Entrepreneur)
“When Rebecca Minkoff co-founded a New York-based luxury handbags company in 2005, her goal was to develop a high-quality product that was both practical and sexy. What she didn’t expect — especially in the competitive fashion industry — was that sales would rise so quickly.”

For These Designers, Mom Knew Best (NY Times)
“In ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ Oscar Wilde wrote: ‘All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.’ Fashion designers get around this problem by incorporating their mother’s way of dressing into their work. On the occasion of Mother’s Day, several shared their primal style memories.”

Louis Vuitton boutique Warsaw, opened 2010 | Source: Luxguru

Poland: luxury’s next promised land (FT)
“Euromonitor has a report out, and this one’s a doozy: it says Poland is the world’s fourth fastest growing luxury market… ‘Between 2005 and 2010, the [Polish] luxury goods market grew by 50 per cent in real terms, [while] China achieved real growth of 59 per cent over the same period.’”

Hannah MacGibbon staying at Chloé (Telegraph)
“The gossip mill would have it that Chloé bosses were poised to squeeze MacGibbon, who took the helm at the French label in 2008, out of her illustrious role… But it looks like it may all have been hot air, with Chloé’s chief executive officer Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye confirming on Friday that it’s business as usual for the design team.”

Luxury brand names take Google fight to High Court (Independent)
“Some of the world’s most prestigious brand names are to fight a legal battle in the High Court over Google search terms…’The defendant’s selection of adwords that are identical to the claimant’s famous and distinctive marks takes unfair advantage of their reputation,’ the claim states, adding that the intention is to ‘benefit from their power of attraction, their reputation and their prestige.’”

LVMH Sales Exceed Analysts’ Estimates (Bloomberg)
“[LVMH] said first-quarter sales rose 17 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as wealthy customers bought more Givenchy handbags and Hublot watches… Revenue at the fashion and leather-goods unit, LVMH’s largest, rose 17 percent, the company said, led by growth at the Louis Vuitton brand.”

Madame Grès as Sculptor (IHT)
“Madame Grès, the legendary creator of the sensual austerity of a draped dress, died in obscurity more than 17 years ago. But her (invented) name — the pseudonym with which her artist husband signed his paintings — has sprung back to life in Paris this spring. … Prepare to see shape and drape as an evolution of 21st-century minimalism.”

Stella McCartney Spring 2011 Look Book | Source: Stella McCartney

Women Designers and the Quiet Revolution (Guardian Weekend)
“From Phoebe Philo at Céline to Stella McCartney to Hannah MacGibbon at Chloé, women designers are at the forefront of fashion right now… When women design clothes for women, they do it differently. For women, clothes are not just seen, they are felt from the inside.”

Luxury stores caught out by surge in demand (FT)
“[Louis Vuitton] is not the only luxury goods company to have been caught unawares by the strength of demand after last year’s slump. Chanel has pushed up the price of its classic quilted leather bags by 20%… while Salvatore Ferragamo says sales have risen by 20% since June.”

Optimistic Feelings as Rich Buyers Return (Reuters)
“Optimism is in the air at fashion houses Christian Dior and Lanvin… Consumption is back in Europe… and the market has picked up again in Russia. There was a time when our affluent clients did not want to spend, but now it is over.”

Luxury brands must allocate more budget to online advertising (Luxury Daily)
“Luxury brands must invest much more heavily in online advertising or find themselves out of touch with the young consumers who might be their biggest clients in the coming decades.”

Call It a Victory for Maturity (NY Times)
“It’s worth keeping in mind that Azzedine Alaïa and Karl Lagerfeld are doing some of their best work past age 70… Indeed, maturity in fashion, as Hussein Chalayan suggested, ‘is knowing exactly what you need and doing it really well.’”

American Apparel Summer 2010 | Source: American Apparel

American Apparel: The public won’t wear it (Guardian)
“[American Apparel] was now a vertically integrated company that seemed dedicated to getting women horizontal.  It turns out that, even in the fashion business, there’s such a thing as too much sex.”

Burberry: Runway to Checkout (NY Times)
“Burberry plans to offer customers a substantial portion of its Prorsum spring 2011 runway collection — to be shown Sept. 21 in London — for immediate online sale, with delivery in six to eight weeks.”

Thoroughly Modern Milliners (Vogue UK)
“With visionaries like Lady Gaga around, there’s a feeling that we should all be making more effort with our headgear – especially as the class of 2010 are redefining the art of millinery.”

French luxury vet steps in at Chloé (NY Post)
“On tap to replace Toledano is Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, a veteran of French luxury conglomerate LVMH and Walt Disney Co., who most recently engineered the turnaround of British department store Liberty.”

Louis Vuitton’s Global Flavor (WWD)
“Louis Vuitton’s holiday windows worldwide will have an Indian flavor this year. Starting Nov. 5, displays will pay tribute to Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, an ancient and joyous occasion to light oil lamps, wear new clothes and distribute sweets.”

Proenza Schouler Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Proenza Schouler

What Do Girls Want? (NY Times)
“You can understand why brands like Chanel want to limit their Web exposure, but what happens to interest if the immediate outlet is blocked? This is not a generation that will wait to get a number for admission.”

Style.com’s Faces Off With Vogue (WWD)
“Right after Labor Day, Style.com, once the online home of W and Vogue but now a brand in its own right, will face some stiff competition from one of its former comrades, as Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour unveils a major relaunch of vogue.com.”

Chloé Moves (Vogue.com)
“Ralph Toledano no longer holds the position of CEO and chairman at luxury fashion house Chloé… There are suggestions that Toledano was pushed out by his new boss, Marty Wikstrom who heads up Richmonts fashion and accessories businesses.”

Prada Japan hits back at ex-employee over harassment lawsuit (AFP)
“The Japanese unit of Italian fashion house Prada has launched a countersuit claiming defamation against a former employee who is suing the company for alleged sexual harassment and unfair dismissal.”

Something New in Tiffany Blue (WSJ)
“Tiffany & Co. now has bags to match its little blue boxes. The jeweler is launching an expansive collection of handbags, ranging from clutches to totes to satchels, in a dozen of its U.S. stores on Sept. 1.”

In fashion’s latest revolving designer door saga (we’ve already seen this play out at Vionnet, Ungaro, Nina Ricci, etc.), Chloé has removed Paulo Melim Andersson as Creative Director. Andersson stepped into the role after Phoebe Philo left the Parisian fashion house two years ago. He has been replaced by Hannah MacGibbon who previously worked under Philo.

Melim Andersson’s ouster should come as no surprise to fashion industry insiders, many of whom have been whispering about significant drops in retail sales and wholesale orders ever since Andersson unveiled his first Chloé collection, which was  a dramatic departure from the floaty feminine styles that propelled the brand back onto the fashion radar.

Are we going back to the girly Chloé girl then? Maybe, but then again, the girly thing is quickly becoming passé as designers move towards a more long, silhouette, often influenced by masculine tailoring.  Now where will the brand go?

New York Times – No Store is a Hero to its Valet
Either the New York Times really has it in for Tom Ford (perhaps he spurned and interview request or declined an editors request for a discount?) or there is a real issue with Tom Ford’s new eponymous business. First, Cathy Horyn criticized Ford’s new business for being too niche and too grand (after Ford had provided her with a private tour – you can’t buy this woman’s vote) and today, in its Critical Shopper feature, Horacio Silva pans the store for confusing "exclusionary for exclusive."

Modabot.de – Brave New Internet World – How the Internet is changing the Fashion Universe
Fashion 2.0 is a hot topic. The Business of Fashion recently advocated that big fashion brands should consider the Internet an avenue that they should be cruising down, albeit with necessary caution. Over at Modabot.de, the Berlin-based fashion blog for avantgarde fashionistas, they delve into the topic with vigour, providing a 360 degree view of the fashion blogosphere and some of the new social shopping sites that are bound to change the way consumers shop forever, if not now, then certainly in the years to come.

Style.com – Gathering Moss
Sarah Mower at Style.com provides a witty and always insightful peek into the Kate Moss for Top Shop event this week. This is no small business. Philip Green has managed to make this line a pilot project for expanding Top Shop to other markets, particularly the US. Not only will the line bow at Top Shops around the world, it will also be sold at Colette in Paris, Barney’s in America and 10 Corso Como in Milan. Mr. Green was even on hand to provide some sales assistance himself. Clearly, this is a business he is counting on.

The Daily Telegraph – Farewell to Floaty and Flirty
Is this a harbinger of Chloe’s fast fall, after its fast rise on the fashion scene? At the Daily Telegraph, they have joined the chorus of people questioning the design direction taken by new Chloe’s new Creative Director, Paulo Melim Andersson. One can definitely appreciate a bit of Marni heritage in the collection he showed for A/W 2007, but the question is whether Chloe loyalists are brand faithful or design faithful. As the Telegraph points out, if it is the latter, then there are plenty of other places for girly girls to look for the look that Chloe has become known for over the past 10 years. Clearly, for a large fashion house like Chloe, a change in creative direction like this should be considered carefully as part of a broader strategic exercise. This is no less important to a fashion business than an airline choosing to fly to a new market (did you know Virgin flies to Nairobi?), a cola company changing their age old formulation (New Coke, anyone?), or Colonel Sanders tweaking the KFC recipe (do you like your chicken more crispy?).