Giambattista Valli Fall 2011 Couture | Source: Style.com

Giambattista Valli is Officially a Couturier Now (The Cut)
“Giambattista Valli showed his first couture collection in Paris earlier this year, as a guest of France’s Chambre Syndicale… The process for designers to be granted full, official appellation and membership usually takes five years, but Valli’s status has been upgraded after hyst the one collection.”

The problem with pre-fall (FT)
“Pre-fall. What is that? Isn’t that … summer? But these clothes are not summer clothes. Or not really, though they do have summer elements… Indeed, Kors hates the name so much he has his sales staff refer to the collection, in stores, as simply a ‘new drop’. They don’t call it pre-fall.”

The Issue of Counterfeiting in the Digital Age (Fashion’s Collective)
“ Counterfeiting is one of the fastest growing crimes, and shows no signs of slowing down. The World Customs Organization estimates annual global trade in illegitimate goods is about $600 billion, and this figure is expected to rise to $1.7 trillion by 2015. It is estimated that between 5% and 7% of worldwide trade is from the counterfeit market.”

Fashion Review Of The Year: 2011 (Independent)
“From blushing brides to dramatic falls from grace, Susannah Frankel charts the highs and lows of the international style set in 2011.”

Joseph Altuzarra’s Fierce Fashion (Forbes)
“When Joseph Altuzarra launched his clothing line, Altuzarra, in 2008, New York fashion was dominated by pretty, polite dresses and casual sportswear — and he was tired of it. ‘I wanted to create clothes for women in their 40s and 50s and 60s who have careers and are sexy and don’t want to look like grandmothers,’ says the soft-spoken Paris-born designer.”

Counterfeits get sophisticated: how to spot fakes | Source: WSJ

The Finer Art of Faking It (WSJ)
“The prices of the imitators are rising, confusing customers who are looking for the real deal at a discounted price. Still, the higher-priced fakes are just a fraction of what a real item would cost…  To fight back, more brands are turning to authentication devices into their merchandise.”

The Has-Beens of the Fashion Industry? (Huffington Post)
“There’s a sentiment on the fringes of the fashion industry that is picking up steam and now fully seeping into the industry’s most coveted position: the inside… Big city fashion weeks and major trade shows are not what they once were.”

Digital startup: Editd (Guardian)
“As well as crawling retail sites across the web to gather details on stock, prices and sizes, Editd monitors mentions on Twitter, Facebook and blogs, aggregates data from key catwalk and trade shows and adds a sprinkle of secret sauce that captures public ‘mind share’. The result is a bespoke dashboard digitising the age-old mood board.”

LVMH wins EU clearance for Bulgari takeover (Reuters)
“French luxury group LVMH  secured EU approval on Thursday for its 3.7-billion-euro ($5.24 billion) purchase of Italian peer Bulgari to boost its presence in emerging markets… The acquisition will help LVMH…  improve margins and better compete with bigger watch and jewellery companies.”

Fashion Return (Vogue UK)
“Former Gucci and Valentino creative director Alessandra Facchinetti is returning to the fashion world, with a new label in association with Pinko. The brand, called Uniqueness, aims to build a collection in a new way – interacting with customers and eschewing the traditional fashion seasons.”

The Fred Hayman Place sign, Los Angeles | Source: Fred Hayman Archives

Fred Hayman: The man behind Rodeo Drive (LA Times)
“He’s been called the godfather of Rodeo Drive. And it’s not all hyperbole. Before Beverly Hills was the land of designer logos… Hayman was an architect of luxury in Los Angeles, bringing high fashion, a social shopping atmosphere and white glove service to what was still a sleepy main street when he went into retail in 1967.”

Prada IPO five times subscribed (Reuters)
“Italian fashion house Prada, which is seeking to raise up to $2.6 billion through a Hong Kong IPO, has generated five times demand for its offer… The Milan fashion house, known for its leather handbags, brightly-coloured shoes and long boots, launched the retail portion of the IPO on Sunday.”

Tory Burch Awarded $164 Million in Anti-Counterfeiting Suit (Thread NY)
“The company has been ceded control of the fake-product domain names, and given power to disable future websites set up by the offenders… The victory marks a significant step towards combatting the problem of trademark infringement in the fashion industry.”

Philip Treacy on Ascot (WSJ)
“Treacy has been the last word in hat making since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1990, thanks to initial ‘sponsors’ like the late, great Isabella Blow, Madonna and, more latterly, Lady Gaga. But since the Royal Wedding he says he has been unable to keep up with demand both here and in the U.S.”

Feting an Ending, and a New Start (IHT)
“Why has ‘Saint Martins’ become a by-word for excellence? It is one of many colleges showing in London last week. All have in common the concept of nurturing creativity and individuality to push fashion forward and to allow the students to make work that is a mirror image of an ever-changing world.”

Brooks Brothers Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: Brooks Brothers

A Hard-Working Suit (WSJ)
“There are more suits priced between $500 and $700 that include features once found typically on more expensive suits: fine Italian fabrics, modern cuts and narrow lapels. The goal is to attract younger men who increasingly want the current fitted, formal styles as opposed to the boxy suits and more casual officewear of their dads.”

Online clothing sales double (Telegraph)
“Over a third of consumers have brought some of their clothes over the internet in the last year, proving that internet fashion shopping – once dismissed as something that would never take off – has come of age. Last year £4.3 billion worth of clothes were bought over the internet, a growth of 152 per cent in the last five years.”

Eye On Shanghai, The Fakes (Jing Daily)
“China is the world production center for counterfeit goods (it is estimated that 85 percent of the world’s imitations are made here). Foreign businesses are lobbying with the government to halt this black beast of a market, to deter significant dents in figures related to employment and gross national product. These are just some of the complex concerns at hand, alongside child labor and copyright infringement.”

Fit for a (future) king (FT)
“Oh, the missed opportunity! Does the royal family not care enough for the British tailoring industry to want to take this singular moment to promote it? After all, retail analysts Verdict are predicting the royal wedding could boost the UK economy by around £620m – and shouldn’t men’s wear get a piece of that?”

Prada Fondazione: Rotor’s ex limbo (Dazed Digital)
“Amidst the clothes, models, celebrities, and theatrical staging, the literal nuts and bolts holding up a fashion show, the sets are often one of the least notable elements of the spectacle. Art collective Rotor specialise in bringing forth the remnants of a world that, after a moment of meaningful splendour, is discarded.”

Hussein Chalayan S/S 2011 featured in Glamcult | Source: Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan: The surreal thing (Independent)
“When a designer such as Hussein Chalayan bases his collection on Japan it’s safe to presume that his interpretation will be far from literal: no opulent silk obi sashes tying flat-cut voluminous garments here.”

Marks and Spencer to return to France (Telegraph)
“The British high street stalwart has today announced that it will be returning to the French capital in style, opening a giant, three-storey floor on the fashionable Champs Elysées in the centre of the French capital towards the end of the year.”

Hermès in talks to sell 45 percent Gaultier stake (Reuters)
“Hermès is looking to sever longstanding ties with star designer Jean-Paul Gaultier as the French luxury group has begun talks to sell its 45 percent stake in the Gaultier fashion brand. Hermès… said on Friday it had been approached by potential buyers and was studying all options.”

Dolce & Gabbana acquitted of tax evasion (Telegraph)
“The news follows a preliminary court hearing held in Milan last week concerning accusations that design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana had avoided paying taxes totalling $569 million each.”

Designers Face Uphill Battle When It Comes to Knock-offs (Thread NY)
“Knock offs are nothing new, but the Proenza Schouler bag situation hit a nerve — after all, the design duo has a history of partnering with Target. If they aren’t off limits, who is?”

Louis Vuitton Autumn/Winter 2011 Details | Source: Style.com

Louis Vuitton in Full Fetish (IHT)
“‘Fetish’ was the subject for the designer Marc Jacobs, an inspiration that he said backstage came from thinking about the ‘irrational desire’ for Vuitton accessories. They included strokeable fur purses and a new ‘lock-it’ bag, to provide privacy for a woman and her fetish object… there has not been such a racy and saucy LV runway since Mr. Jacobs sent out nurses’ uniforms [back in 2007].”

The Americanization of the Rue St.-Honoré (NY Times)
“Muffy and Binky are advancing on Paris. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hilfiger, are in the Woodie bringing up the rear. To the list of unmistakably American brands that in recent years have established beachheads on the Rue St.-Honoré, the main drag of Parisian chic, Michael Kors has now added his name.”

How Luxury Brands Can Benefit From Musical Partnerships (Adrants)
“These arrangements… can offer significant mutual benefit. For marketers, it provides an opportunity to create an overall brand lifestyle experience for their target audience that captures their attention, cuts through the clutter and garners an emotional connection that permeates the consumer psyche beyond the ‘buy now’ response.”

Sellers of fake luxury goods face millions in damages (Vancouver Sun)
“It’s being described as the largest case of knock-off luxury goods being sold in Canadian history, and the individuals involved are potentially facing more than $2 million in fines and damages…. The damages are being sought by lawyers representing Louis Vuitton Canada Inc. and Burberry Canada Inc.”

‘Fashion has to change’: Julia Restoin-Roitfeld interview (Telegraph)
“At 30, Roitfeld is almost ancient in modelling years and blessed with the sort of womanly curves that too rarely make it on to the catwalk. Her demeanour is soft, almost demure, but when she talks about fashion and diversity she steps up a gear into stridency. ‘Fashion hasn’t changed enough yet. There’s too much a stereotype of beauty.’”

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Tucked away in a corner of the leather goods section of Istanbul’s sprawling Grand Bazaar is the non-descript Kiyici Canta, which blends in amongst hundreds of other similar-looking stores in one of the Turkish capital’s most visited landmarks. But one peek inside the store, and the contents are pretty remarkable indeed.

Impeccably-copied Balenciaga clutches mingle with replicas of Bottega Veneta’s cabat bags, which even the most discerning expert of Intrecciato weaving would find hard to tell apart from the original. There are also copies of bags by Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and countless other luxury brands. The copies are so good that they even warrant a recommendation in the Luxe Guide shopping recommendations for Istanbul.

Instead of displaying his wares openly, the store’s owner hides the most obvious copies in a secret lair upstairs which is teeming with bags of every brand, shape and colour imaginable.

Experts have had a hard time pinning down a firm number to quantify the annual value of counterfeit luxury goods products, but global estimates range from $200 to $600 billion. Either way, counterfeiting remains one of the most serious issues facing the luxury industry today, and many brands are fighting tooth and nail with governments in countries like Turkey to stem the flow of the black market goods.

On that note, I asked the friendly and gregarious owner of Kiyici Canta if he has faced any legal issues associated with his burgeoning business. He said that he has had “problems” with Hermes, Dior and Louis Vuiton, but these problems go away because he pays a monthly bribe of 5000 euros to Turkish government officials in exchange for protection from any legal prosecution.

It’s a shame that the Turkish authorities allow the counterfeiting to continue, because the country could gain a lot from channeling its energy into making Turkey a centre for authentic luxury goods manufacturing. With its close proximity to the major luxury brands in Western Europe and its clear strength in leather goods production, Turkey has a lot to gain from employing its skills in long-term, legal high-value manufacturing instead of turning a blind eye to the illegal reproductions.