Christian Dior Couture Spring 2012 | Source: Style.com

Dior Designer: On the Doorstep? (IHT)
“The black and white, filmic Christian Dior haute couture show on Monday marked nearly a year since John Galliano left the brand in disgrace. But Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, confirmed that there would be no announcement about a new designer this week and that the ‘suspense’ would continue.”

How the other half dress: Paris says merci as haute couture sales rise (Guardian)
“The demand for haute couture is a reflection of economic reality. Not of the recession, but of the polarisation of wealth. Fifteen years ago, there seemed little economic logic in creating beautiful dresses which cost 20 times more than those available in the top Bond Street boutiques. But the emergence of a super-rich strata of society, tiny in number but fabulously wealthy, has created a niche market for whom couture makes perfect sense.”

Now, Online-Only Fashion Shows for Busy Editors (On the Runway)
“KCD, the public relations company that produces fashion shows for top labels like Marc Jacobs and Givenchy, announced on Monday that it is offering a new service wherein it will produce some shows in an entirely digital format so that overtaxed editors can watch them online.”

Little Red (Litigious) Shoes (NY Times)
“This week a federal appellate court will hear arguments in a case involving this very question. The issue arises in connection with shoes, specifically, the vivid red soles beneath Christian Louboutin shoes.”

Fashion’s beautiful relationship with art (The National)
“There’s a real buzz about the vivid, almost saccharine sweet pastel shades that will define spring/summer 2012 fashion. That, and of course the other huge trend of the moment: thrilling prints and 3D textiles. Sometimes it’s hard to tell one from the other because the surface is textured, which heightens the overall trompe l’oeil effect of the print.”

Dior Couture by Patrick Demarchelier | Source: Fashion Diary

How long can Dior thrive without a couturier? (France 24)
“Ten months after John Galliano was sacked over a racist outburst, Dior has yet to name a new chief designer — but sales are booming. Which begs the question: how long can the French fashion house thrive without a couturier at the helm?”

Rio 2012: what can the fashion industry do to become more sustainable? (Guardian)
“This new ‘fast fashion’ model has considerably changed the role of fashion retailers in their supply-chains, specifically how and where they buy… Cheap fashion uses cheap fibres, such as polyester and cotton. While polyester is an oil-based commodity, cotton on the other hand is not exactly the ‘good’ crop it is usually perceived as.”

Asian shoppers and tourists boost Burberry (Reuters)
“British luxury brand Burberry posted a 22 percent rise in third-quarter revenue as wealthy shoppers and tourists, particularly in Asia, showed their resilience to shaky economies in Europe and the United States.”

In the ‘Twilight’ Zone (IHT)
“Alexander McQueen is introducing a made-to-order line with Huntsman of London’s Savile Row. And that news, along with the upscale clothes displayed in the brand’s Milan showroom, confirm that the tilt in men’s wear is toward the formal and the evening.”

Milan’s Rising Star: A Conversation With Umit Benan (On the Runway)
“His clothing collections, under the label Umit Benan, have made Umit Benan Sahin a rising star in Milan, where he moved after working briefly in New York. In 2009, he won a prize for new talent sponsored by a trade show in Florence that raised his profile, and last June, he was hired by Trussardi to design its men’s and women’s collections.”

Givenchy Couture A/W 2011 | Source: stylefrizz

All about the Atelier (FT)
“It’s possible we’re thinking about this all wrong – this being the now-shrunk-to-three-days-with-only-six-full-fledged-couture-brands couture shows. It’s possible we’re asking the wrong questions. It’s possible that, instead of perennially rending our garments and plunging into the long tunnel of debate over whether couture is relevant in a not-entirely-post-recession 21st century, we should reconsider our assumptions.”

The battle at the heart of French fashion house Hermès (Independent)
“It’s not without reason that Arnault, the man at the head of it all, is dubbed ‘the wolf in the cashmere coat’ and his far-from-demure entrepreneurial style is well-known, not to mention entirely at odds with the more discreet and traditional values this proudly independent name represents.”

Boosting America, in Her Own Fashion (NY Times)
“Michelle Obama’s impact on fashion extends far beyond the ‘made in America’ label stitched into her dress. The optimism, glamour and accessibility that she communicates through her style of dressing transcends cultural borders and economic boundaries.

Jimmy Choo sees profits treble despite sales fall (This is Money)
“Jimmy Choo’s profits have more than trebled despite a slump in sales abroad… estimated to be worth £500m, [the company shows] turnover six per cent lower at £82m in 2009 but pretax profit up from £4.8m to £15.3m – thanks to big cuts in sales and administration costs.”

Rankin’s beautiful model army (Telegraph)
“Daphne Self is an 80-year-old model, Vivienne Westwood a fashion designer, Elizabeth I the most renowned queen of England. A more unlikely group of superheroines you would be hard pressed to come up with… This at least is the hope behind Snapped! , a new exhibition of fashion portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery in London.”

Coveted vs. Coveted | Source: Signature9

Eminent Domain Name: What To Do When Your Brand Is Coveted (Signature9)
“Late last week, Erin Kleinberg, Stephanie Mark and Jake Rosenberg launched a new fashion blog. The design was solid, the content striking and the concept – a peek inside the closets of fashion editors and insiders – met with enthusiasm. The name, however, was met with raised eyebrows.”

Onstage or Backstage, a Kiss for Paris (NY Times)
“The couture shows have been pretty wonderful this season. Nobody is crabbing about them being out of touch, maybe because a lot of editors just finished preseason collections and are bored to death.”

Prada Appoints Banks for Planned Hong Kong Share Offering (Bloomberg)
“Prada SpA, the Italian fashion house known for its triangular logo, has decided to start the process for selling shares in an initial public offering in Hong Kong.”

Emmanuelle Alt: Vogue Paris ‘will be the same but different’ (Telegraph)
“‘French Vogue today is a successful magazine and it has a strong identity, so it will probably stay along the same lines’ she explained. ‘But, I mean, some things will change of course, because we have a different eye – It will be the same, but different!’”

Behind-the-Scenesters: Tony King (Style File)
“King was a founder of flagship digital services agency Createthe Group, and as such had a hand in bringing dozens of blue-chip luxury brands online. Here, King talks to Style.com about fashion’s digital deficiency, the future of print media, and using a Sharpie for inspiration.”

Christian Dior Couture 2011 | Source: Style.com

And Now Couture (On the Runway)
“Not even 24 hours after the Paris men’s shows had ended they were a dim memory. The women had moved in for the spring haute couture shows, like a temperance league.”

Asian shoppers thirst for luxury (BBC)
“So many times in the past few decades, the insatiable appetite of the Americans [helped the world out of recession]… But if China’s emerging class of consumers put their mind to it… their buying power will shape the needs and demands of the rest of the world.”

Coach U.S. sales soar, but cost pressures rise (Reuters)
“Coach reported a larger-than-expected quarterly profit as U.S. luxury spending rebounded over the holiday season, but the company faces pressure from rising leather costs.”

Islamabad’s first fashion week (Guardian)
“The organisers of the capital’s four-day fashion show hope it will prove that there’s more to Pakistan than politics. ‘Islamabad fashion week will change the way people think of Pakistan… There is a bright side to Pakistan, which is modern, secular and upwardly progressive.’”

Tod’s to restore Rome’s Colosseum (Telegraph)
“Tod’s, the Italian luxury shoe group… has announced a new project to fund the cost of the restoration of Rome’s historic Colosseum, at a cost of €25 million. The project, which will be carried out in eight stages, has been finalised by the Italian ministry of Culture.”