“I feel like they’re adding a real dose of freshness and reality to the fashion world online.”

Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast, amongst several other bloggers, speaking to Net-a-Porter TV as part of Net-a-Porter’s special bloggers issue, which includes their first ever Blog Power List, ranking Tommy Ton at Number 1, Susie Bubble at Number 5, and The Business of Fashion at Number 7.

Susanna Lau | Source: Citizen Couture

Today, BoF launches The Business of Blogging, a new series on the rarely discussed business side of fashion blogging. First up is Susanna Lau of Style Bubble, one of the fashion blogosphere’s most original and influential voices.

LONDON, United Kingdom — In recent years, bloggers have had a tremendous impact on the fashion community. Using the internet to build their own platforms and attract an audience, they have helped turn a once closed industry into a more dynamic and democratic global conversation, earning thousands of fans and followers in the process. But are they making money? Have they been able to successfully monetise their celebrity and their craft? Is blogging a viable business?

“In my second year at Dazed, I was turning down all these different projects that could have been money spinners and I just couldn’t commit myself to them, because I was working 12 hours a day,” says Susanna Lau, the candid and adorably quirky voice behind the highly popular personal fashion blog Style Bubble, who left her position as Commissioning Editor of DazedDigital.com in March of 2010 to concentrate on her blog and pursue the unexploited economic opportunities it was generating. “Saying ‘I don’t need the publication to anchor onto, I have a publication essentially,’ was a big thing for me,” admits Ms. Lau, whose blog currently attracts some 25,000 visitors each day.

But how exactly has Ms. Lau been able to monetise her platform? “I have advert space at the side of my blog, but it’s not a big money spinner,” she says. “How I’ve done it is working on projects that relate to the blog but aren’t necessarily always visible on the blog.”

… Continue Reading

The Bay’s Bonnie Brooks’ lifelong ‘quest to be the best’ (Globe and Mail)
“Ms. Brooks is used to thinking big.  [At Lane Crawford], she used some of the same tactics that she’s applying at the Bay to turn it around: introducing an array of with-it brands, ditching old ones and putting a spotlight on high-margin shoes and handbags.“

How luxury brands can tap the blogosphere’s growing influence (Luxury Daily)
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Hermès needs to style media defense to unsaddle LVMH (Reuters)
“Winning the media war against luxury giant LVMH which began in earnest this week is likely Hermès’ only realistic chance of shaking off its unwelcome new shareholder.”

Adidas Aims to Increase Sales 50% to 17 Billion Euros by 2015 (Bloomberg)
“Adidas… aims to increase sales as much as 50 percent by 2015, CEO Herbert Hainer said. Revenue will rise to 17 billion euros ($23.7 billion) by the target date, increasing annually by an average of 15 percent.”

Kenzo celebrates 40 years (Telegraph)
“When Takada, the irrepressible, Japanese designer set up shop in Paris’s rue Vivienne, in 1970, he was part of a seemingly never-ending festival of fashion creativity that embodied youth, modernity, fun and freedom.”

Dior's Shanghai Dreamers | Source: antbazaar

Chinese people as identical Maoist robots? (Guardian)
“If fantasy is part of the appeal of fashion, then wouldn’t it be worthwhile for Dior, Chanel, and other couture houses to figure out how Chinese people fantasise and see themselves?”

Marketing’s New Rage: Brands Sponsoring Influential Bloggers (WWD)
“Forget about just display ads. Increasingly, the future of advertising online seems to be through sponsorships, contests, giveaways, product placement, widgets and games — often with bloggers.”

How CEOs Will Use Social Media in the Future (Mashable)
“Today’s CEO is not social… Very few of the CEOs at top companies in the U.S. and the rest of the world have any material presence on the popular social media sites… all signs are pointing to a future filed with CEOs who can speak the language of the people — social media.”

Ebay redoubles marketing efforts for fashion offering (Marketing)
“Since eBay launched its Fashion Outlet site in April, it has had 30 fashion retail brands, including Superdry, Karen Millen, Ted Baker and Office, join to sell their products through it.”

How the late Corinne Day changed my life (Telegraph)
“Her style of photography, and that British Vogue shoot in particular, kicked off the whole grunge movement in the ‘90s in a blaze of controversy. No discernible make-up, natural light, girls with flaws.. Her work was so unmistakably British and effortlessly cool.”