LONDON, United Kingdom — There are only 10 days until The Business of Fashion’s first FASHION PIONEERS interview with Jefferson Hack, Editorial Director of Dazed Group, at London’s Sanderson Hotel, and tickets for the live interview event have been snapped up at a rapid clip.

Already, fifty percent of the seats are gone. So, for those of you in London, given that everyone’s travel plans have been put on hold by that pesky, unpronounceable volcano in Iceland, why not join us for an evening that you can reach by tube, bus or taxi? No airplane required.

On 29 April, an intimate crowd of BoF readers, creative and business leaders, and digital innovators from London’s fashion community will gather to listen to Jefferson Hack speak about his fashion media career spanning almost two decades, the future of fashion magazines, and the East London hotbed from which he builds his creative teams for Dazed & Confused, Dazed Digital, AnOther Magazine and AnOther Man.

Since FASHION PIONEERS was unveiled, we have received requests from frustrated (and enthusiastic) BoF readers outside London asking whether they would be able to participate in the interview somehow. We are working on livestreaming the event and will be taking questions for Jefferson via Twitter, so as many of you can participate as possible. Send a tweet to @_BoF_ with your questions and stay tuned to BoF for more news.

Limited remaining tickets available for FASHION PIONEERS available here at £40, plus VAT.

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

LONDON, United Kingdom — The Business of Fashion is pleased to announce the launch of FASHION PIONEERS, a series of live interview events with the industry’s most interesting operators, set amidst a fashion landscape that’s being radically reshaped by the forces of digital revolution and rapid globalisation in a post-recessionary economy.

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

In the third and final installment of our in-depth feature on the future of fashion magazines, we address the biggest online trend of all — the fashion film.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Pioneered by SHOWstudio and powered by the spread of broadband internet and the popularity of video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo, fashion film has emerged as the most influential new format for fashion editorial online. Shorts like “Black and White,” captured on set by Nick Knight and former assistant Ruth Hogben during Mr Knight’s shoots for British Vogue, use music and movement to communicate the power and poetry of fashion in a way that static editorial simply can’t.

Fashion film has taken off at Dazed Digital also. “We have been experimenting with some of these directors to shoot fashion videos direct to the web and the results are cost effective and really impressive,” said Jefferson Hack. For a recent editorial previewing the Autumn/Winter 2009 menswear collections, Dazed Digital published an online fashion film, shot by Matt Irwin and styled by Robbie Spencer, to accompany the still images.

… Continue Reading

Images from SHOWstudio's "Dress Me Up, Dress Me Down"

Last time we surveyed the rapidly changing landscape of digital fashion media. Today, in the second part of our series on the future of fashion magazines, we explore the experimental approach that online pioneers like Jefferson Hack and Nick Knight are using to create unique content and experiences that truly bring fashion magazines into the digital age.

LONDON, United Kingdom — The internet’s ability to transmit information immediately, impossible in print and too expensive on television, has changed the way in which we create and consume content perhaps more than anything else. “Print magazines will never be the first to break any news,” said fashion blogger Diane Pernet, whose influential website, A Shaded View on Fashion, has been reporting live from fashion weeks, showrooms and studios around the world, capturing and transmitting the moment almost instantaneously with inexpensive camera phones and laptops.

In response, forward thinking magazines have done two things. Web pioneers like Dazed Digital, a fashion and culture platform launched in November 2006 by the publishers of Dazed & Confused magazine, have begun “live blogging” themselves, posting realtime reports from fashion shows in Paris, London, New York and Milan. But they’ve also learned to focus less on what’s new, a commodity that’s instantly available everywhere, and more on a unique point of view and reader experience that aren’t easily replicated. “It’s got to be more about experiencing the fashion; a stylistic point of view. It’s less and less about information,” said Jefferson Hack, founder and co-publisher at Dazed Group. … Continue Reading

Screen shot of DazedDigital.com

Fashion media has long been a BoF obsession. This week, we bring you an in-depth, three part series revealing the strategies, plans and expertise of some of the most innovative and respected players in the online fashion scene. Today, we start with an overview of the rapidly-evolving fashion media landscape.

NEW YORK, United States—A few weeks ago, independent fashion magazine i-D, founded in 1980 by art director Terry Jones, announced it was cutting back its print run to 6 issues per year, while major commercial titles like American Vogue have been forced to slash payroll and scale back on expenses.

Across the spectrum, times are tough for fashion magazines. With ad sales dramatically down, their main source of revenue is evaporating. And while online readership is growing, the “culture of free” that dominates the web means magazines earn nothing from internet subscriptions, while the sale of online ad space simply doesn’t generate enough income to cover cost. It’s a crisis I first examined a few months ago, amidst dark headlines about powerhouse publishers like Condé Nast. … Continue Reading