Missoni Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland

Runway-ready rooms (Globe & Mail)
“Fashion houses have found a new creative outlet: Hotels. In Europe and the Mideast, designers from Armani to Missoni are delivering chic interiors, stylish experiences and nice bedspreads.”

Plus-size fashion market squeezed in recession (AP)
“The American waistline may be expanding, but plus-size shoppers are tightening their belts. People just aren’t buying plus-size clothing at the rate they used to. Apparel in general — being a discretionary purchase — is suffering because of the economy, but plus-size has been particularly hard hit.”

Fashion chain Esprit’s H2 profit down; eyes expansion (Reuters)
“Esprit, the world’s No.6 fashion retailer by market value, on Wednesday posted a 40 percent fall in second-half profit, as global economic woes took a bite out of its core European market. But the company said it would focus on expansion to tap potential growth as the economy recovers.”

Fashionably first (Times of India)
“While the Delhi and Mumbai fashion weeks have captured the collective imagination of the country with a dynamic mix of talented designers, top models and great creations, the honeymoon was short-lived as infighting split the fashion industry in half.”

Behind the scenes at Wills India Fashion Week, courtesy of PR Pundit

This week on The Business of Fashion we welcome several guest contributors to give us the scoop on recent fashion weeks, the IHT conference and local market trends in India. We’re calling it our own India Fashion Week, but as you’ll see, that might be the last thing India needs.

NEW DELHI, India — Bollywood, Cricket and Fashion. Everyday these three topics bring to life the popular culture pages of India’s leading national newspapers, The Times of India and Hindustan Times. And of this colourful ménage à trois, fashion is the relative newcomer, but is growing fast.

In the last year alone, the local scene has exploded to include three major prêt-a-porter fashion weeks, a bridal couture week, a regional fashion week in Kolkata, a proposed men’s fashion week and enough corporate sponsors to power each one. Multi-brand fashion boutiques and über-luxe malls featuring international brands have also recently opened. Local fashion media has reached critical mass, with Harper’s Bazaar, which launched an Indian edition last month, Vogue India, and countless other magazines all aimed at India’s it-bag aspiring middle classes.

But, let’s start at the very beginning, to see how it all began.

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