Gucci store Bicester Village | Source: Thread

Luxury shoppers travel to UK for bargains (FT)
“The changing appetites of Asian shoppers have driven share prices of luxury groups up and down during the course of 2011… Angela Ahrendts, Burberry’s chief executive, has coined the term ‘Travelling Luxury Consumer’ or TLC to describe its key customer group, arguing this is a more powerful force than the Chinese market alone.”

A leg up for Condé Nast (China Daily)
“Cao Weiming, managing director of Condé Nast China, the publisher of the Chinese edition of Vogue and other lifestyle magazines, says behind the glossy cover of Vogue are years of hard work and perseverance. He says one major hindrance for foreign media companies is a lack of understanding of the local culture, regulations and how things operate in China.”

Stars, stripes and selling clothes (FT)
“It’s not only blogs about celebrities that are having an impact. Bloggers writing about everything from watches to their own lives are becoming more influential. As Martin Raymond, co-founder of the Future Laboratory, a London-based trends consultancy, puts it: ‘The influenced are influencing.’ And when it comes to moving product, fashion bloggers are increasingly pulling our strings.”

InStyle Takes Editorial to Retail (WWD)
“The line between fashion magazine editorial and advertising? Getting blurrier by the day… Next up: taking a fashion magazine, combining it with a digital experience… InStyle will take over a 19-by-42-foot storefront… Collages, in a similar vein to Polyvore’s model, can be created and instantly sent as a digital postcard to smartphones. Essentially, these cards provide a detailed shopping list, with special offers and a photo stamp.”

‘Black is perfect, you can fill it with any emotion’ (Independent)
“Ann Demeulemeester’s influence is evident in every pair of wide-leg, drop-from-the-hip trousers on the high street, every starched and mannish white shirt, every boxy blazer and androgynous model. With a return to Nineties grunge tailoring on the cards, her signature ascetism is more relevant than ever.”

Chanel boutique Hong Kong | Source: Peace Love Chanel

Highest Quality, Lowest Prices in Hong Kong (Bloomberg)
“Hong Kong retail sales, boosted by mainland Chinese tourists, surged 26 percent to HK$264 billion ($34 billion) in the eight months through August… Zhang Zuoru said it was worth waiting in line in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district of the former British colony. She bought a bag in the Chanel store on Canton Road for 33,000 yuan ($5,190), at least 20 percent less than she would pay in mainland China, she said.”

TV and Film, From Condé Nast (NY Times)
“Condé Nast, intensely focused of late on reducing its reliance on advertising (or at least finding ways to give current advertisers more value), plans to announce the creation of a full-fledged entertainment division… Developing television and online programming based on Condé Nast personalities, articles and general brands is the first priority, although movies are also a focus.”

Amazon Lets You Manage Your Print Magazine Subscriptions (Mashable)
“Further insinuating itself as a middle man between publishers and consumers, Amazon has introduced a service that lets consumers manage their print subscriptions. The program, the Amazon Print Subscription Manager, lets subscribers update their address, track expiration dates, cancel, renew or report a problem for all their print magazine subscriptions.”

All that glitters (FT)
“They’ve been sweating the small stuff in Paris. When the world at large lurches from one extreme to another, you focus on what you can control. On the catwalks, designers displayed an obsession with classic couture detailing, be it fluted sleeves, peplums, the curving back of a sac shape or the generous tent of the trapeze. Off the catwalks, however, this took another form: surface technique. Which is not the same thing as superficial.”

Bollywood Takes Some Style Cues (NY Times)
“Bagwati’s cinematic appearance is part of a Bollywood revolution. Traditionally a medium where vibrant color and sparkle always trumped taste, costume and art direction in the country’s movies are starting to reflect the growth of fashion consciousness across urban India. ‘We’ve gone from no information, no aesthetic, no awareness of fashion to a place where we thrive on fashion,’ said Karan Johar, one of the most successful producer-directors in Hindi cinema.”

Exiting Louis Vuitton CEO, Yves Carcelle | Source: Fashion Windows

Louis Vuitton picks Constans as new chief (FT)
“Yves Carcelle, chief executive of Louis Vuitton, will stand aside at the end of the next year to be replaced by Jordi Constans, a senior executive of Danone, the French yoghurt group. The move, announced by Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH on Wednesday, reflects a trend among luxury goods groups to hire senior executives from the consumer goods industry as their rapid expansion into emerging markets mirrors that of Danone.”

Fashion Week’s Split Personality (NY Times)
“In a matter of a few seasons, the Friday and Saturday shows have eclipsed the others in excitement and energy, so much so that, by Sunday, it seemed to many that spring 2012 Fashion Week had peaked and that the remaining days, far from being a slalom, were a slog… Beyond energy, though, what do all of these young people bring to the communal fashion table, and what, specifically, do they give to designers?”

Hermès shares suspended ahead of court ruling (Reuters)
“LVMH, the maker of Louis Vuitton handbags and Celine dresses, officially claims it does not wish to take control of Hermès but the group has been steadily increasing its stake in Hermès from 17 percent in October last year to nearly 22 percent.”

Japan’s Uniqlo revving up store openings worldwide (Washington Post)
“The head of Fast Retailing Co. said… His company will sharply accelerate overseas expansion of its Uniqlo stores in a bid to become the world’s top apparel manufacturer and retailer. Unveiling a new global business strategy, chief executive and founder Tadashi Yanai said Japanese companies are doomed if they don’t go global… Fast Retailing aims to open 200 to 300 stores worldwide each year with a heavy focus on rapidly growing Asia.”

Vogue publisher Condé Nast to open fashion and design college (BBC News)
“The publisher of Vogue magazine, Condé Nast, is to open a college of fashion and design in London. The college will open next September and the principal will be magazine editor Susie Forbes… The company says it will offer a year-long Vogue fashion foundation course, as well as short courses. It also plans interior design and decoration course.”

Vanity Fair’s June 2011 iPad Issue | Source: Vanity Fair

NEW YORK, United States — The iPad is one of the fastest growing consumer electronics devices in history. According to figures released by Apple, the number of units shipped in the first three quarters since launch left the company’s highly successful sibling products, the iPod and iPhone, in the dust when compared to the three quarters following their respective launches. And although recently reported component shortages and production problems may limit sales figures over the coming quarters, analysts have estimated that Apple could move 45 million iPads in 2011, on top of the 15 million they sold last year. To put that figure in perspective, this would make the iPad the second best selling album of all time following Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which sold 110 million copies, despite the fact that even an entry level iPad costs almost 50 times more than the average record.

The aesthetically appealing iPad has also found particular resonance with both fashion consumers and industry insiders. “Pictures and videos look amazing on the tablet,” said founder and editorial director of Dazed Group, Jefferson Hack. “Photographers, stylists, art directors and designers are all showing their ideas, inspirations and finished work on [Apple] tablets.”

But in stark contrast to the overwhelming success of Apple’s tablet, iPad magazines have yet to take off. Indeed, for many of the world’s largest publishers, who have poured millions into developing digital editions for a device that has often been declared “the saviour of magazines,” iPad apps still account for a tiny percentage of total circulation. … Continue Reading

Hermès belt detail | Source: Hollyscoop

LVMH `Playing a Waiting Game’ for Hermès Takeover (Bloomberg)
“[LVMH said] it doesn’t intend to launch a tender offer, take control or seek board representation at the maker of Birkin bags after announcing it owns 14.2 percent of Paris-based Hermès, with the option to increase the stake to 17.1 percent.”

Conde Nast Digital Loses Style.com (WSJ)
“Conde Nast executives say the move is a natural pairing of two properties whose audiences increasingly overlap. The Internet has empowered shoppers to influence tastes and set trends, blurring the line between consumers and professionals.”

How the Fashion Industry Is Using Digital Tools to Increase ROI (Mashable)
“[The industry is] increasing efficiency and providing much needed data analysis and tracking components. Instead of relying on people to analyze, project and improve, fashion brands now have the digital technologies to meet these needs in a much faster way.”

Gucci, Burberry dominate luxury fashion sector for Web traffic (Luxury Daily)
“Gucci and Burberry have generated more Web site traffic than any other luxury fashion brand surveyed in PM Digital’s latest online trend report.”

Michelle Obama: The three billion dollar woman (Independent)
“Professor of Finance David Yermack cites 189 public appearances between November 2008 and December 2009 in which Mrs Obama wore pieces by 29 listed companies… He estimates that a single appearance by the First Lady can generate up to $14 million alone.”