Thomas Tait | Source: Mother Blog

A London Design Maverick as a Pragmatist (On the Runway)
“Thomas Tait was in New York last week for London Showrooms, a presentation of young British fashion talent. Actually, Mr. Tait is Canadian, educated at a technical school in Montreal. In 2010, he completed the master’s program in women’s wear at Central Saint Martins in London, whereupon he joined that distinguished race known as the Young Fashion Designer.”

Urban Outfitters Losing Investors With Failing Fashions (Bloomberg)
“‘Bizarre’ and ‘lackluster’ fashions at its namesake stores may be why Urban, which also operates Anthropologie and Free People, is losing investors’ confidence, said Pamela Quintiliano, a New York-based analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. The shares have slid 27 percent this year, the biggest drop among U.S. specialty apparel retailers except for Aeropostale Inc.”

Gap bets on discounts to draw holiday shoppers (Reuters)
“Gap Inc said it plans to “compete aggressively” on discounts to attract shoppers in the crucial holiday season as the no. 1 U.S. clothes retailer continues to look for ways wrestle back market share from its peers. The retailer, which competes with more affordable and fashionable foreign players like Zara owner Inditex, Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing and Hennes & Mauritz , is trying to keep pace with fashion trends by revamping its stores and merchandise, but without much success so far.”

Nordstrom eyes Vancouver for expansion (Vancouver Sun)
“Nordstrom’s interest in its northern neighbour mirrors that of several major U.S. retailers lately… The big retail chains are looking for good opportunities and right now there aren’t a lot of good opportunities in the United States, so Canada is a natural place to look, and B.C. in particular because the economic performance here has been pretty good.”

There’s No Business Like Shoe Business (WSJ)
“Ms. Skovgaard’s designs are more rebellious than reserved, more dangerous than dainty, and since launching her eponymous collection in 2007, she has gained recognition across the fashion industry… In 2010, Ms. Skovgaard won accessory designer of the year at the Elle Style Awards, and most recently, she took the title of accessory designer of the year at the 2011 Dansk Fashion Awards, one of Denmark’s most prestigious industry prizes.”

Gap store in China | Source: Juncture Mag

Gap plans store closures in US, while opening new locations in China (Washington Post)
“The struggling retailer, which runs the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, detailed plans on Thursday to close 189 locations, or 21 percent of its namesake Gap stores in the U.S., by the end of 2013. At the same time, the largest U.S. clothing chain said it plans to triple the number of Gap stores in China from about 15 by the end of the year to roughly 45 by the end of next year.”

eBay’s New Retail Platform Is Mostly Free, So What’s the Catch? (All Things Digital)
“The platform, called X.commerce, was unveiled yesterday at the company’s developer conference in San Francisco and is designed to help any size retailer, ranging from family-owned stores to Toys “R” Us, keep up to date as shopping goes online and mobile.”

Female Founders Of Snapette Not Your Typical Geek Entrepreneurs (Forbes)
“The founders of Snapette are not your prototypical start-up entrepreneurs. At least in the minds of some Silicon Valley venture capitalists… While there are many shopping and style websites, Snapette is different because it focuses on actual products in the real world connected to location.”

Prada and Schiaparelli at the Met (On the Runway)
“Elsa Schiaparelli may share a birthday with Karl Lagerfeld (Sept. 10), but Miuccia Prada is unquestionably her sister in soul. Putting these two nimble minds together makes sense, and not simply because both are educated Italian women who enjoy a good fashion joke. The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that the spring 2012 exhibit at the Costume Institute will be ‘Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion.’ It will open May 10 and run through Aug. 19, with the gala on May 7.”

The woman who built a wardrobe with doors all over the world (Guardian)
“While the British high street struggles in the face of the economic downturn, My-wardrobe saw 68% sales growth in the first half of this year. Sales doubled in the 12 months to May after Curran introduced more upmarket brands such as Missoni and Phillip Lim. More than 900,000 shoppers visit the site each month to view collections from 180 designers, spending an average of £260.”

Gap cautious on full-year sales outlook (Reuters)
“Gap Inc Chief Executive Glenn Murphy said on Thursday that consumer sentiment may deteriorate in the second half of 2011 and was cautious about future sales growth at the apparel retailer… Gap has lost about a quarter of its market value this year as investors questioned the company’s ability to grow sales after several quarters of losing market share.”

Zara accused in Brazil sweatshop inquiry (Guardian)
“Retail fashion chain Zara is under investigation by Brazil’s ministry of labour after a contractor in São Paulo was found to be using employees in sweatshop conditions to make garments for the Spanish company… Zara is a family business founded in 1975 in La Coruña, north-west Spain by Amancio Ortega… According to Forbes magazine, half of production remains in Spain, with 26% per cent in Europe and the remainder spread around the world.”

Caution on Main Street: retailers fret ahead of key sales season (Reuters)
“Caution is the watchword for apparel executives heading into the all-important holiday season and their lack of confidence is scaring investors. Wary of talk of a double-dip recession, consumers are waiting on bargains, leaving retailers in the dark over how sales trends will turn out in the key year-end shopping season.”

Louis Vuitton’s “Big Store Strategy” Spreads (Jing Daily)
“Luxury giant Louis Vuitton has spent the last several years in China ramping up its inland expansion and rethinking its strategy in top-tier cities… A new LV store might not seem like big news, considering the brand is expanding perhaps more quickly than any other luxury brand in China, but in second- and third-tier markets, the arrival of Louis Vuitton means they’ve reached a certain level.”

Fashion; red in tooth and claw? (FT)
“The story so far: in 2008 Louboutin trademarked a lacquered red sole on footwear ( Pantone No. 18-1663 TP, or “Chinese Red,” FYI). In April this year Louboutin filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in New York saying that YSL had breached its copyright by using the red sole… Potentially worse for Christian Louboutin, who has another hearing in the case scheduled this Friday, the judge also implied that his 2008 trademark could be cancelled.”

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.”

Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony | Source: Opening Ceremony

The ‘It’ Girl, Now a Woman (NY Times)
“No profile of Ms. Sevigny over the years has failed to note either her distinctive laugh or the impression that she is little bit coy… It also helps explain why her fashion designs, now sold in 100 stores around the world, have been so successful. They hold the promise of Ms. Sevigny: looking cool without looking like you are trying.”

Hussein Chalayan: The man of the moment (Independent)
“This looks set to be quite a month for the fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, who has long remained under the radar… Tomorrow at Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris, the largest retrospective of his work to date opens to the public.”

Gap Inc. on the Right Track (Retail Traffic)
“After a few tough years, Gap Inc. may have found the right turnaround strategy… To that end, last year the Gap launched its Web site in 90 new countries and opened its first locations in China and Italy—some of which have already become among the highest-performing locations in the firm’s portfolio.”

Kate Moss’ Controversial Gown (The Daily Beast)
“Some might think that in wearing the dress, Moss was making a symbolic statement about Galliano’s skill as a designer, his importance in the fashion industry, or even the justice—or injustice—of his being fired.”

Where Did the Fun Go? (On the Runway)
“I think in general what’s missing from the Paris and Milan spring shows is a sense of fun… The lack of pleasure is only one casualty of a system that has become absurdly pressure-filled. But its absence is evident in the collections — and what do consumers really want from fashion but something fun to wear?”

Patrick Robinson | Source: Grazia

Gap sacks Patrick Robinson as chief designer (Guardian)
“A source close to Robinson said that his departure was not a shock, but will be a blow as he is a popular figure within the company. “Patrick has been in an almost impossible position, in a company trying to please so many people.”

Promoting from within- A new trend for luxury fashion houses? (Jessica Michault)
“After years of designer merry go round behavior- where luxury fashion houses seemed to give artistic directions three seasons (and sometimes less) to re-launch a brand, create a buzz and bring in the bucks – it looks like the ride is over.”

Fashion industry urged to smarten up (The Australian)
“Fashion industry experts warn that designers need to lift their game if they want to remain in business for next year’s Australian Fashion Week.”

Zegna Net Profit Triples On Chinese Sales Surge (NASDAQ)
“Italian menswear maker Ermenegildo Zegna Group, said Thursday its full-year 2010 net profit more than tripled compared with a year earlier, returning to pre-crisis levels, as sales in China -its largest market -surged… net profit for 2010 reached EUR60 million against EUR17.3 million in 2009.”

The Great Sneaker Revival (WSJ)
“But the point of the revival, which has been bubbling under for the last two years, is not really the “wearing” of trainers, which most of us do all the time; it’s the wearing of trainers with intent, which is an entirely different matter.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Highlights from Burberry’s party/fashion show in Beijing | Source: YouTube

China First: Coaxing or Kowtowing? (Luxury Society)
“Last Wednesday, Burberry joined the ranks of such other megabrands in this quest to show China not only that they mean business but that they are putting the country first… Offering a technologically enhanced ‘debut’ geared toward China’s youth is also a strategic one, considering that 73% of luxury buyers in China are under the age of 45.”

Aquilano and Rimondi out at Gianfranco Ferré (Fashion Etc)
“When questioned about the designers’ fates at the label’s Fall 2011 show in February, Paris Group’s Abdulkader Sankari and his son Ahmed are said to have cut Aquilano and Rimondi loose in the face of weak sales figures. ‘Sales didn’t go well at all and the designers have already left.’”

Gap plans overseas push, expansion of Old Navy (Bloomberg)
“Gap is consolidating international operations to accelerate growth overseas and plans to open its first Old Navy stores abroad, in Japan by 2012… The goal is for international and online sales to make up 30 percent of its total by 2013, up from 22 percent in 2010 and 14 percent in 2006.”

Bulgari Sales Sparkle, Up 27.5% Led by China (Forbes)
“The general recovery of the economic context, together with an extremely competitive offer in all product categories, very impactful communication initiatives and a constant improvement of the shopping experience had a very positive influence on the turnover, with a significant contribution from both the directly owned stores and the wholesale channel.”

Spring Theater of the Absurd (On the Runway)
“In the last year, the energy has come from outside of the fashion world… while the few truly brilliant ideas are coming from hard-thinking insiders… As someone on the blog suggested this week, in reference to the thread about fashion TV, it is more and more about popular taste.”

E. Tautz Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: E. Tautz

Menswear’s Formal Acceptance (WSJ)
“Jeremy Langmead, editor in chief of the recently unveiled men’s retailing website Mr Porter, thinks the tailoring turnaround heralds a return to the desire for rules. ‘If you have parents who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, they already rejected all the rules where dressing was concerned. This is a new generation who is interested in learning how to tie a Windsor knot. You can’t rebel by wearing the clothes your dad wore.’”

Gap Seeks to Freshen Itself as a ‘People’s Brand’ (WSJ)
“Remember when Gap advertising was entertaining and effective… Yes, and remember the Clinton presidency? It may be an exaggeration that the Gap division of Gap Inc. has had no outstanding marketing since the 1990s. But Gap has been struggling for years to figure out how to attract younger consumers as well as win back those who have stopped shopping there.”

Burberry To Join China’s Digital Revolution (Jing Daily)
“Burberry has intensified its digital push into China to match its brick-and-mortar offensive, launching official accounts on four Chinese social media platforms (Kaixin001, Douban, Youku, Sina Weibo)… their April 13 fashion bash in Beijing set to include virtual image technology that combines live models, animated footage and holograms, music performances, and live-streaming via Burberry.com.”

Ecommerce up 16 percent year-over-year (Luxury Daily)
“‘As fuel prices rise beyond the $3.50 per gallon mark, miles driven begin to drop off substantially, giving shoppers more incentive to stay home… More generally, consumers are becoming more comfortable with the online shopping experience… We see this not just with luxury, but also with clothing and footwear, where generous return policies have made it easy to exchange items.’”

Fashion 101: Rent The Runway Targets Students (WSJ)
“Now that Facebook and cellphone photos record every outing, no woman wants to wear the same outfit… This is fertile ground for Rent The Runway, a year-and-a-half-old company that rents designer dresses and jewelry to women—and increasingly, to girls. College campuses—and even a few elite prep schools—make up roughly 25% of the company’s business and are a big source of its growth.”

Gap Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: Twitexpress

Turning point for Gap as 200 stores close worldwide (Independent)
“Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy has announced that Gap is to close 200 of its 900 worldwide stores by 2013, and focus on modernising its signature look. He also admitted that Gap had not tried hard enough to attract ethnic minority customers in the US.”

Luxury goods firms fear effect of Japanese disaster (Guardian)
“Shares in some of the world’s biggest luxury goods companies including Louis Vuitton owner LVMH, Hermès and Burberry have tumbled on concerns that high-spending Japanese consumers will stop shopping as a result of the disaster.”

The Kate effect: Her impact on fashion is huge (Daily Mail)
“Fights over her earrings. The £650 trench coat that sold out within in a day. The red twinset that caused a stampede in a shop. With waiting lists for her outfits, how Waity Katie took on a whole new meaning…”

Tod’s hikes dividend after strong US, Asian sales (Reuters)
“Italian luxury leather goods maker Tod’s hiked its dividend by one third and forecast an excellent 2011 after strong demand in the United States and Asia. Analysts expect a wave of consolidation in the luxury industry… Tod’s, Tiffany and Burberry are singled out as possible takeover targets.”

Jean Touitou, A.P.C. Designer (WSJ)
“Jean Touitou is what some might call a ‘tough crowd.’ The Tunisian-born, Paris-based founder of the French clothing line A.P.C. is famously vocal about his dislike of most stores… For all Mr. Touitou’s grumbling, his 24-year-old label is deeply beloved by bespectacled creative types for its simple, chic, well-tailored staples.”

Anna Dello Russo | Source: Anna Dello Russo

The New Icons of Fashion (NY Times)
“Ms. Dello Russo and her raffish style-world cohort, who populate the mastheads of the fashion magazines, represent a new breed of Web-based reality star… they are casting a spell, their comings and goings relentlessly tracked by a new generation of aspiring style savants.”

What Does ‘Masstige’ Mean For China? (Jing Daily)
“If masstige collections are offered supplemental to the luxury collections, there is little risk of impacting the luxury spending; instead, masstige opens up a new market segment of middle-class consumers.”

Gap opens first China store, banks on rising incomes (Reuters)
“U.S. clothing retailer Gap Inc opened its first store in mainland China on Thursday, the first of its four planned stores in the country, as it banks on rising Chinese incomes to prop up soft demand back home.”

Polo profit beats, revenue outlook raised (Reuters)
“Polo Ralph Lauren Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday and again raised its full-year sales outlook due to strong demand globally, sending its shares to an all-time high.”

A McQueen Retrospective at the Met (NY Times)
“‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,’ an exhibition of the fashion of the late British designer, will open at the Costume Institute on May 4 [and] will include designs from Mr. McQueen’s postgraduate show at Central Saint Martins in 1992 until his final collection in 2010.”