Vanity Fair’s June 2011 iPad Issue | Source: Vanity Fair

NEW YORK, United States — The iPad is one of the fastest growing consumer electronics devices in history. According to figures released by Apple, the number of units shipped in the first three quarters since launch left the company’s highly successful sibling products, the iPod and iPhone, in the dust when compared to the three quarters following their respective launches. And although recently reported component shortages and production problems may limit sales figures over the coming quarters, analysts have estimated that Apple could move 45 million iPads in 2011, on top of the 15 million they sold last year. To put that figure in perspective, this would make the iPad the second best selling album of all time following Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which sold 110 million copies, despite the fact that even an entry level iPad costs almost 50 times more than the average record.

The aesthetically appealing iPad has also found particular resonance with both fashion consumers and industry insiders. “Pictures and videos look amazing on the tablet,” said founder and editorial director of Dazed Group, Jefferson Hack. “Photographers, stylists, art directors and designers are all showing their ideas, inspirations and finished work on [Apple] tablets.”

But in stark contrast to the overwhelming success of Apple’s tablet, iPad magazines have yet to take off. Indeed, for many of the world’s largest publishers, who have poured millions into developing digital editions for a device that has often been declared “the saviour of magazines,” iPad apps still account for a tiny percentage of total circulation. … Continue Reading

The BoF community looks on at Fashion Pioneers with Natalie Massenet | Photo: Lawrence Randall

LONDON, United Kingdom — It’s been quite the year for the BoF team. In January, we will celebrate our 4th birthday, having seen BoF grow from a passion project created from the sofa in my living room to a growing global community of like-minded fashion professionals that is BoF today.

We are grateful for all of the support our community has shown us over the past 12 months, from the success of our sold-out Fashion Pioneers series to the rapidly growing numbers of you who come to us every day for opinionated fashion business analysis and a highly-curated point of view on the day’s news. We now have over 150,000 followers on Twitter, 2,000 fans on Facebook and growing follower base on our new Tumblr page. We are honoured and grateful that so many of you take the time to engage and interact with us on a daily basis, in so many ways.

The international media has also been paying attention to the power and reach of our community, from the International Herald Tribune to Vogue Italia to The Evening Standard. Canada’s Macleans Magazine called BoF “The Economist of Fashion,” the Daily Telegraph included BoF in their round-up of “Britain’s Best Fashion Bloggers” and just this month British GQ gave us a little surprise for 2011 (check out number 92). What an honour and a great way to start the new year!

None of this would be possible without you, the global community of executives, designers, editors, students, academics, investors and supporters who have made BoF their daily must-read on the fashion business. We’re going to take a break over the holidays, but in the meantime here’s a look back to the articles and stories which fired up your interest and passions this past year. Thank you again for your continued support.

Happy holidays, happy new year, and see you in 2011!

… Continue Reading

Ungaro Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: Style.com

Giles Deacon’s Ungaro debut (Independent)
“Deacon, who became creative director of this grand French fashion house in spring this year, said he wanted to take it back to its distinctly French roots – and he has done just that.”

Is this the future of media? (Independent)
“Many companies have, in recent years, moved into the customer publishing sector, distributing their own glossy magazines to their client database. But the web version has so much more potential, being open to all and offering opportunities for instant purchase.”

Why a mobile strategy for retailers matters more than ever (Luxury Daily)
“By 2013 mobile devices will overtake PCs as the preferred way of accessing the Internet… sooner or later retailers will have to make well-informed technology decisions about how to tackle mobile commerce.”

On Message and on the Screen (IHT)
“This kind of cerebral and visual imagination makes a Hussein Chalayan fashion movie an ideal way of transmitting the designer’s thoughts and feelings in a poetic, but practical, way.”

Jefferson Hack interviews Gareth Pugh (Fashionista)
“In a series presented by Dazed and Confused called ‘Meet the Designer’ the magazine’s co-founder Jefferson Hack talks with [Pugh] about the tentative future of catwalk shows, his sold-out shop in Hong Kong and why Saint Martins does not a star make.”

LONDON, United Kingdom — Last Thursday evening, BoF editor-in-chief Imran Amed sat down with Jefferson Hack, founder and editorial director of Dazed Group — independent publishers of Dazed & Confused, Dazed Digital, AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man — to discuss the future of fashion media amidst an industry landscape that’s being radically reshaped by the forces of digital revolution, rapid globalisation and a post-recessionary economy. Called Fashion Pioneers, the event was the first in a new series of intimate, live-streaming conversations between Mr. Amed and the fashion industry’s most interesting operators. (RSS Readers: The interview video can be viewed here)

Opening the evening, Mr. Hack spoke passionately about teaming up with Rankin Waddell in 1992 to launch Dazed & Confused, then a black and white, self-distributed fanzine, positioned as a “cultural alternative” to both mainstream publications and cult style magazines of the moment, i-D and The Face. “We were complete outsiders,” he said. Dazed & Confused began as a way of “legitimising what was fringe or niche culture” but ultimately gave rise to “the trans-disciplinary integration of fashion, music, art and film, a template that’s become de rigueur in alternative culture magazines around the world,” said Mr. Hack.

… Continue Reading

LONDON, United Kingdom —Today, the BoF team is busy preparing for our first FASHION PIONEERS interview with Jefferson Hack, Editorial Director of Dazed Group, to be held this Thursday at London’s Sanderson Hotel. Tickets for the event are completely sold out and a mix of BoF readers and friends from London’s fashion community will be joining us.

But, we want as many people as possible to participate in the interview. So, we are delighted to announce that in addition to a livestream on BoF, our friends from across the fashion and luxury blogosphere have graciously agreed to help us bring FASHION PIONEERS to the world. The event will be live streamed on the following sites:

United States: Refinery29 | Tavi Gevinson | Fashionista.com | JC Report

United Kingdom: Style Bubble | Fashion156

France: A Shaded View on Fashion | Luxury Society

Philippines: Bryanboy

Germany: Les Mads

We invite you all to tune in. And while you are watching, please send questions for Jefferson Hack to our Twitter account @_BoF_ using the hashtag #pioneers.

The livestream begins at 2pm New York | 7pm London | 8pm Paris and Berlin | 2am Manila (that’s for you, Bryanboy!)

Fashion Pioneers is presented in collaboration with Morgans Hotel Group and will be filmed by Pundersons Gardens