LONDON, United Kingdom — As we enter the dog days of August, The Business of Fashion is going to take a holiday. But before we take our little sabbatical, we have a request for you, our loyal readers.

We were delighted to learn last week that BoF has been shortlisted for the first Dazed Digital RAW Blog Awards, in the fashion category. The awards have now been opened to a public vote — and the competition is fierce. We are honoured to share the nomination with several other excellent fashion blogs, including Jak & Jil, DisneyRollerGirl, and our friends over at the Fashion156 daily blog.

Everyday, thousands and thousands of you around the world log in to www.businessoffashion.com or enjoy our BoF Daily Newsletter on your Blackberries, iPhones and laptops as a free tool for research, intelligence and inspiration in your day to day work in the fashion business. Today, we are counting on you to click here and scroll down to find our BoF logo and vote for The Business of Fashion!

VOTE FOR BoF IN THE DAZED DIGITAL RAW BLOG AWARDS

Share the link with your friends on Facebook, Tweet it to the world and help us win. From all of us at BoF, thank you!

In the third and final installment of our in-depth feature on the future of fashion magazines, we address the biggest online trend of all — the fashion film.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Pioneered by SHOWstudio and powered by the spread of broadband internet and the popularity of video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo, fashion film has emerged as the most influential new format for fashion editorial online. Shorts like “Black and White,” captured on set by Nick Knight and former assistant Ruth Hogben during Mr Knight’s shoots for British Vogue, use music and movement to communicate the power and poetry of fashion in a way that static editorial simply can’t.

Fashion film has taken off at Dazed Digital also. “We have been experimenting with some of these directors to shoot fashion videos direct to the web and the results are cost effective and really impressive,” said Jefferson Hack. For a recent editorial previewing the Autumn/Winter 2009 menswear collections, Dazed Digital published an online fashion film, shot by Matt Irwin and styled by Robbie Spencer, to accompany the still images.

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Images from SHOWstudio's "Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down"

Last time we surveyed the rapidly changing landscape of digital fashion media. Today, in the second part of our series on the future of fashion magazines, we explore the experimental approach that online pioneers like Jefferson Hack and Nick Knight are using to create unique content and experiences that truly bring fashion magazines into the digital age.

LONDON, United Kingdom — The internet’s ability to transmit information immediately, impossible in print and too expensive on television, has changed the way in which we create and consume content perhaps more than anything else. “Print magazines will never be the first to break any news,” said fashion blogger Diane Pernet, whose influential website, A Shaded View on Fashion, has been reporting live from fashion weeks, showrooms and studios around the world, capturing and transmitting the moment almost instantaneously with inexpensive camera phones and laptops.

In response, forward thinking magazines have done two things. Web pioneers like Dazed Digital, a fashion and culture platform launched in November 2006 by the publishers of Dazed & Confused magazine, have begun “live blogging” themselves, posting realtime reports from fashion shows in Paris, London, New York and Milan. But they’ve also learned to focus less on what’s new, a commodity that’s instantly available everywhere, and more on a unique point of view and reader experience that aren’t easily replicated. “It’s got to be more about experiencing the fashion; a stylistic point of view. It’s less and less about information,” said Jefferson Hack, founder and co-publisher at Dazed Group. … Continue Reading

Screen shot of DazedDigital.com

Fashion media has long been a BoF obsession. This week, we bring you an in-depth, three part series revealing the strategies, plans and expertise of some of the most innovative and respected players in the online fashion scene. Today, we start with an overview of the rapidly-evolving fashion media landscape.

NEW YORK, United States—A few weeks ago, independent fashion magazine i-D, founded in 1980 by art director Terry Jones, announced it was cutting back its print run to 6 issues per year, while major commercial titles like American Vogue have been forced to slash payroll and scale back on expenses.

Across the spectrum, times are tough for fashion magazines. With ad sales dramatically down, their main source of revenue is evaporating. And while online readership is growing, the “culture of free” that dominates the web means magazines earn nothing from internet subscriptions, while the sale of online ad space simply doesn’t generate enough income to cover cost. It’s a crisis I first examined a few months ago, amidst dark headlines about powerhouse publishers like Condé Nast. … Continue Reading