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.”

John Galliano and Kate Moss | US Vogue, September 2011

John Galliano: Rise and fall of a tormented celebrity (BBC News)
“In the dossier that was presented to the court in Mr Galliano’s defence, a story emerged of a celebrity tormented by fear, hate, self-indulgence and loneliness. There were plenty of people within the fashion industry who saw this tragedy unfolding. But it seemed no-one had the power to stop it.”

Vivienne Westwood faces franchise lawsuit (FT)
“Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood’s clothing brand is facing a court fight with one of its oldest business partners. High quality global journalism requires investment. Hervia Limited, which operates seven Vivienne Westwood shops in regional cities, has issued High Court proceedings for breach of contract after the designer sought to end a long-standing franchise agreement in June.”

Fashion Week: @whatdidIjustsee (On The Runway)
“When I saw the subtle effects of the leather in a jersey dress, I wondered how many people on Saturday night — when Mr. Altuzarra shows his collection — will notice the details or be able to identify the fabric as the models zoom past and iPhones click away… Despite the amount of information flowing, we may actually know less about the real work — the making of clothes.”

Trunk Club Raises $11 Million (TechCrunch)
“Personal styling and retail platform Trunk Club has raised $11 million in Series funding led by U.S. Venture Partners with Greycroft Partners, Apex Venture Partners, and Anthos Capital also participating in the round… The startup pivoted from being a way that men could hire their own personal shopper via Skype video sessions to building a group of professional stylists on staff who coordinate with clients via phone and email, and actually purchase goods for clients from retailers.”

Designers, celebrities woo shoppers around world (Reuters)
“Department stores, designers and celebrities wooed economically battered shoppers around the world on Thursday during the third annual “Fashion’s Night Out” event to encourage spending and raise money for charity. ‘Fashion’s Night Out,’ the brainchild of Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour, was designed to jump-start an industry battered by the global recession.”

Chanel Couture A/W 2011 | Source: Ecouterre

LONDON, United Kingdom — Death and disgrace do not often darken the world of fashion. In the case of the first, a designer normally dies long after retirement and his demise is of only local interest. In the case of the second, it rarely happens and can usually be covered up by one means or another. But in the last eighteen months there have been two tragedies that can neither be covered up, nor ignored. They are, of course, the death by suicide of Alexander McQueen and the disgrace of John Galliano at Christian Dior.

Their effect, traumatic enough when the events occurred, have ramifications not merely for London and Paris, but for the whole structure of the international fashion world. And the questions they raise must be answered.

As even the most doltish are aware, fashion is a tough business where impossible timeframes and endless demands affect everyone. As companies grow bigger, they become greedier. Even the best beloved designer retains that status only as long as the sales figures stand up. The bottom line (that infamous bottom line!) is not ‘how good was it?’ but always ‘how good are the figures?’ And the first matters less and less.

Businessmen in the rag trade have rarely been known for their sensitivity to artistic attitudes. Even more rarely are they actually engaged with the beauty and originality of the product their firms sell. Normally this would hardly matter at all. You don’t have to love (or even understand) the goods you are pushing — ask any furniture salesman. Your job is to sell them and then balance the books at the end of the season. We all know that selling is a business. But it does matter very much if you are the man who is pressurising the other guy, for whom the product matters passionately. Mainly, of course, because the money man always makes the final decision and aesthetics or creative integrity are rarely considered. The men in charge of these things are rarely attuned to the world of high glamour sophistication. So, why does it matter?

Well it matters at this moment because it is apposite to the case of John Galliano, who was brought into Dior as a golden boy and created a standard of luxury and extravagance in both garments and presentation never seen before. He set the media of the world alight and was adored by all at Dior for the tact with which he re-invented the aesthetic of the man who’s work he revered.

‘Great!’ said the financial gurus. ’Let’s have more of this.’
‘Sure!’ says John, as any designer would.
After all, he had pulled the trump card and arrived in fairyland. Smiles all round.

But the years roll on. The designer’s workload increases substantially during this time — as do the profits. Everyone envies John and his ability to do virtually anything he wants to as long as the bottom line doesn’t waver. But other things are wavering. Things the money men do not understand. The creativity is beginning to sag. Some seasons are not as good as others — creatively or in sales. Senior press become increasingly lukewarm. John feels pressurised and leans more and more heavily on prescription drugs and booze to help him through the days. His loyal and loving staff see it and feel powerless. But instead of help from management, John gets criticism. Life becomes very much harder. Rumours that there are storms a-brewing in fairyland increase. The loyal team continue to see loyalty as keeping their heads down and their mouths shut when the bosses are around. It can’t go on.

Finally, Armageddon.

Very few of us will ever know why Alexander McQueen decided to end his life. And that is how it should be. It is only for those closest to him to be privy to such truths. But we do know the pressures he was under because they are the pressures most young designers are under even if, on paper, they own their names and sometimes their actual companies. Of course, they are given financial rewards and help and, if they are lucky, are able to keep the company small and more or less under their charge. But, almost always, it is the smaller companies that feel any economic pinch first and I could roll off a lot of names of young designers who, at this difficult moment, are protesting how viable their companies are whilst actually clinging on by their fingertips.

So, what price freedom? Rather high. What price long term success? Rather low. Especially so if you are a young designer wishing to show in London Fashion Week where the fee for a place on the tent schedule with back-up security, lighting etc is a cool £12,000. But, in a ‘damned if you do; damned if you don’t’ scenario it is hard for a young designer to know which will be the most damaging for his young company — to spend a lot of money in order to show in the official venue and hope to get all the right people there or to show elsewhere and probably not get them. In the fight to keep solvent, neither seems terribly promising. Rock and hard place isn’t it?

Of course, London is a special case in that the BFC has dedicated itself to having more shows than anywhere else in order, somewhat naively perhaps, to demonstrate, to what I fear is a rather indifferent world, how buoyant their fashion scene is. And they could be right, if you believe that the old costermonger’s policy of piling them high and selling them cheap is a valid way to run a fashion week, make money and support young talent. And, of course, unless they are very naive, they know that the wastage will be high and appear to accept the fact. Sad for the young designers who drop off along the way, however.

This brings us to the related question of how Fashion Weeks themselves are going to remain in business. They are, as many would agree, a clumsy, inconvenient and costly way to show clothes each season. In the case of couture week (which, like London, takes rather less time than that) there are only one or two shows a day that it is necessary for the international elite to attend. But with typical French pragmatism, the Chambre Syndicale has quietly allowed the parameters of the week to stretch in order to include fine jewellery and probably, in the future, perfume launches as well. This not only works as far as everybody’s time is concerned, it reinforces the city’s traditional role as the world centre of luxury, exclusivity and glamour.

A shrewd move. But what about the other cities? And what about the burgeoning number of fashion weeks around the world? Can they, in any meaningful sense, now or in the future, have any value or viability in terms of international fashion, faced, as they currently are, by the highly organised competition of the huge conglomerates of the west? And will their designers be doomed to be small and always cash-strapped before quietly fading back into the woodwork or be taken up by one of those big conglomerates and possibly suffer the different fates personified by John Galliano and Alexander McQueen? Neither is a happy prospect, but I don’t see any solution until international fashion embarks on a co-ordinated root-and-branch investigation of its world and starts planning for a future that will be much more rosy for young designers than it is now, at this difficult time.

During the Couture week in Paris, there was a feeling of ostriches with their heads in the sand as luxury and excess swamped any new fashion ideas that might be there. For Chanel, Lagerfeld even replicated Place Vendôme in the Grand Palais, complete with column, but with Coco at the top instead of Napoleon. Megalomaniac? Moi?

There is a fear that, after the hype has been stripped away, international fashion will be left, not as a high-mettled glossy race horse bred for perfection over the generations, but merely the whitened bones of its skeleton.

Colin McDowell is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion

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?”

Jewellery of ancient Greece: Gold myrtle wreath | Source: Hellenic Voice

What will be a luxury in the future? (BBC)
“The traditions of old luxury – the luxury of things – are awfully dull for new consumers. They want to be touched emotionally by their experiences, and there are new priorities, such as ethical concerns and sustainability.”

Sportswear Rules (IHT)
“Tailoring can be fresh in shape, color and texture. But in spite of the games designers play to juice up a suit — wider or smaller shoulders and lapels, or softer pants — the beating heart of men’s fashion is sportswear.”

Way Off the Runway (WSJ)
“The cachet once associated with owning a name-brand designer has been significantly diluted… This, combined with a post-recession wariness of conspicuous logo-flaunting and an eco-fueled desire for small-batch, low-impact authenticity, may be shifting the nature of luxury.”

Surprises in store at Boutique Luisa Via Roma (Independent)
“Boutique Luisa Via Roma has long been Florence’s fashion hub. Now it has opened its doors to the next generation of stylists…The bloggers are a new, independent voice; tomorrow they will hopefully become influential.”

Meet the click chicks! (NY Post)
“Bianca Caampued, 26, and Mallory Blair, 22, have become the reigning prom queens of New York’s tech scene since launching their party-planning and marketing company — Small Girls PR— nine months ago. The duo.. throw the buzziest parties for the city’s tech scene.”

John Galliano | Source: Prittii

‘Too Much Pressure,’ Galliano Tells Court (WWD)
“John Galliano on Wednesday blamed work-related stress and multiple addictions for a series of public outbursts during which he is charged with uttering racist and anti-Semitic insults at a Paris cafe, but told a French court that he remembered nothing about the incidents.”

Out of Africa (IHT)
“Kim Jones has started his new role as men’s style director at Louis Vuitton with a mission: to embrace, via the luxury label’s travel history, the craft and culture of Africa… the Kim Jones spirit, and creative personality, are now part of the Vuitton team.”

Rock and Rags Are Co-Stars (NY Times)
“Fairs like Glastonbury and Coachella were a magnet for music lovers, their raffish turnouts — floral dresses, parkas and Wellies — a postscript to the main event. But the Hamptons festival (musictoknow.com) may well be the first planned from its inception as a platform for fashion marketing.”

Brazilian fashion: taking on Dior (FT)
“Although the event is now the world’s fifth-largest behind Paris, Milan, London and New York, Brazil is still a good deal away from cracking into international fashion. Indeed a lot of the effort goes into trying to hold on to luxury-hungry local shoppers and stop them buying foreign brands.”

London gets luxury MBA (FT)
“From champagne to handbags and designer frocks to yachts, the growing consumer demand for luxury goods has resulted in a growing number of management programmes to train managers… ‘This is a programme that is focused to reflect the very latest brand management thinking and developments within the global luxury sector.’”

Lady Gaga in vintage Versace in The Edge Of Glory

Versace on the march (Guardian)
“Versace is having a moment. The label has not been hotter since the salad days of supermodels in sweet-shop brights on the catwalk and Liz Hurley in safety pins on the red carpet.”

Armani’s Geometry and other Mens’ reviews (IHT)
“‘Menswear is difficult — keeping things the same, but different,’ Giorgio Armani said backstage, claiming fashion today is too much about ‘the bankers.’”

The Serious Business of Pretty Pink Things (WSJ)
“Pink. Plastic. These adjectives aren’t usually applied to fashionable jewelry. But Tarina Tarantino has changed that. With stores in Milan, Los Angeles and New York, she is the haute designer of playful jewelry for grown women.”

John Galliano took antidepressants ‘like candy’ (Telegraph)
“John Galliano, the disgraced British fashion designer, will insist he lost all reason after taking antidepressants “like candy” as he stands trial today for hurling anti-Semitic abuse at customers in a Paris café.”

Umit Benan Sahin in Milan (NY Times)
Suzy Menkes sits down with Umit Benan Sahin (video).

John Galliano | Source: The Creator Blog

PARIS, France – The process of writing this season’s wrap-up left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth. Looking back, several of the most salient themes from this round of fashion weeks involve unsavoury behaviour, gossip and highly unprofessional comments from some of the industry’s most important figures.

Whether it was John Galliano’s inexcusable anti-Semitic rant captured on video for the whole world to watch, the scrum of increasingly aggressive street style photographers hunting editors down like game before the shows, or the distasteful comments made by Patrick Thomas, chief executive of Hermès, regarding the stake built up in its business by LVMH, it seemed everywhere you looked this fashion week members of the industry were behaving badly.

With all the whispering, gossiping and backbiting going on, it’s surprising that anyone even noticed the clothes. So, let’s start with the clothes then!

1. OUTERWEAR EVERYWHERE AND A FEW FASHION PRINTS

Click here to view the embedded video.

Outerwear was everywhere this season, reflecting a growing understanding amongst designers that coats, jackets, parkas and ponchos get lots of wear and are the first statement of individual style, and therefore deliver a big bang for the consumer buck. Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, and Burberry’s Christopher Bailey were amongst the designers at the vanguard of this outerwear moment.

Thakoon showed one of the best collections of the season in a gilded hall at New York’s Plaza Hotel, with stunning contrasts of mismatched prints inspired by Masai tribes. It felt like we were in Paris, which I guess was the point as the collection also looked to French aristocracy for visual cues. The offsite location stood out from the increasingly chaotic spaces at Lincoln Center and Milk Studios. Ambience and atmosphere count for a lot when you’re trying to create a mood and put on a real show. Bravo Mr. Panichgul.

Rodarte and Proenza Schouler also delivered stellar collections, demonstrating the continued evolution of their own special design signatures. Proenza Schouler’s Navajo knits and prints were a knock-out, while Rodarte showed their second consecutive highly creative collection which one could actually envision hanging on a retail rail – and selling.

Although there were some great fashion moments in London, overall, the week was not as strong as usual. One notable exception was Mary Katrantzou, whose signature digital prints delivered massive runway impact in a tightly focused collection that for the first time expanded to new categories like knitwear, a smart way to expand her offering beyond dresses.

Jonathan Saunders’ collection of colour-blocking (and the surprise introduction of menswear!) proved he is definitely now back on firm footing in London after a hiccup during the seasons he spent in New York. And, Giles Deacon put out a focused fetishist collection that showed his more serious, sombre side. Indeed, for many an editor, his was the best show of London Fashion Week, and that hasn’t been something we’ve heard for awhile.

Ann Demeulemeester’s show in Paris was a beautiful vision of primal female warriors. Lanvin was gorgeous, as usual. Céline showed off the on-going evolution of Phoebe Philo’s “new minimalism,” with a more graphic and colourful show. And Rick Owens brought a kind of couture quality to his singular dark aesthetic of carefully constructed clothes.

2. THINK BEFORE WE TWEET

Derek Blasberg Tweet | Source: Twitter

It seemed like just another fashion month, and then, with the high-profile meltdown of John Galliano, everything changed in a matter of hours. Soon, the fashion gossip mill was in a frenzy, turbocharged by Twitter which made the whole situation more ugly as the days went by and speculation about Galliano’s successor intensified after he was first suspended, and ultimately dismissed by LVMH.

A tweet by Derek Blasberg from backstage at the Katy Perry concert in Paris, citing an anonymous source which ‘confirmed’ the widespread rumour that Riccardo Tisci would be named Galliano’s successor set off further speculation on websites and blogs, who sometimes took Mr. Blasberg’s comments as though they had come straight from an official Dior press release. I found at least one website that took the Tisci rumour and reported it as fact, without any mention of the source at all.

But Mr. Galliano wasn’t alone. Rumours about the futures of Stefano Pilati, Hannah McGibbon, and Christophe Decarnin dogged designers and lit up the internet throughout Paris Fashion Week, creating a virtual feeding frenzy of immense proportions. We were an industry feeding on ourselves.

So dear fellow members of the fashion Twitterati, let’s think before we tweet. Careers and businesses can be impacted by what may seem like an innocent bit of speculation on Twitter, but can quickly turn into boldfaced headlines on major fashion websites, a hugely destabilising force at the most critical moments during the fashion calendar. We are all still learning how to use this powerful tool responsibly.

3. STREETSTYLE PAPARAZZI

Click here to view the embedded video.

Over the past few seasons, the number of photographers outside the shows has ballooned as interest in street style photography (and street style stardom) has soared. It’s been an amazing phenomenon to observe as many previously behind-the-scenes women such as Yasmin Sewell, Caroline Issa and Taylor Tomasi now provide inspiration to hundreds of thousands of fashion lovers around the world, appearing in outfits that are often more interesting than what is on the runway.

But the rapid rise of street photography also has a darker side. The ‘bloggers walk’ in the Jardin des Tuileries, site of many major Paris shows, is now completely out of control. Indeed, it’s become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the aggressive paparazzi who stalk Hollywood celebrities outside bars and clubs and a few of the bad apples amongst the hordes of photographers that accost editors as they come in and out of shows.

Several street style bloggers told me confidentially that the competition is extremely fierce for getting the best photographs, which can then be sold on to global editions of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar each for as little as $200, but up to $1000 or more.

Word to the wise: if you build a relationship with the women you’d like to photograph, and treat them with a bit of respect, you’ll be much more likely to get a great shot where they look their best and aren’t running to avoid you. Chasing them around, getting in their way, and coaxing them to come out of their cars is a sure fire way of alienating the objects of your fancy.

The best streetstyle photographers are streetsmart and dashing figures who build passionate online followings for these fashion personalities through the power of their photos. They compose beautiful shots that are flattering to their subjects and still interesting enough to spark a conversation, reflected in the hundreds and hundreds of people who chime in to say what they think. And most of all, they are gentlemen (or gentlewomen.)

4. CONSUMER PARTICIPATION

New York Fashion Week | Source: Fabsugar

While there has been a general trend towards smaller shows and presentations, PR professionals tell me they have been dealing with unprecedented demand for seats, making allocations more and more difficult. At Céline, many senior editors from the UK were forced to stand and more than one front-row blogger complained to me about not having access to Givenchy or YSL.

But alongside the growing number of requests from traditional media, major retail outlets, boutiques, online retailers, bloggers, and social media managers, more and more consumers are no longer content to simply watch the livestream at home. They too want to attend the shows in person and be part of the action, a trend which was most apparent in New York.

For several seasons, American Express has been inviting its cardmembers to attend shows in its Skybox at the tents, but these attendees have been somewhat removed from view: observing as opposed to participating in the show environment.

In contrast, at the Jason Wu show, I was seated next to a section allocated to Nordstrom, which had chosen to give away most of its seats to top clients who had flown in specially for the event from across the country. Indeed, department store buyers told me the pressure to find seats for top consumers is “enormous.” If a woman spends more than $1m in a store, she has come to expect VIP treatment.

The enthusiastic ladies at the Jason Wu show asked me questions about what I did and were eager to learn about the fashion personalities in the front row. It was a refreshing conversation with people who were truly curious about fashion as a culture. That the clothes on the runway weren’t available to buy for several months was apparently not a concern.

5. IMMEDIACY VS. EXCLUSIVITY

Moda Operandi screenshot | Source: Moda Operandi

Other businesses were attempting to satisfy growing consumer interest in fashion week through pre-orders. Burberry and Proenza Schouler have been offering direct buying from the runway for a few seasons now. But this time around, there was a lot of buzz about Moda Operandi, the new fashion e-commerce business founded by Lauren Santo Domingo and my friend and former McKinsey colleague Aslaug Magnusdottir.

Their offering of high-profile flash sales of the latest runway collections from some of the industry’s most celebrated designers certainly had people talking. Having coined the term “pretail,” the Moda Operandi founders have also cleverly suggested that the insights gleaned from their sales will help brands to merchandise their stores and work with other wholesalers, knowing what styles are most popular based on real consumer data. And, because they take a 50 percent deposit on all purchases in advance, the business operates with a positive cash flow model similar to the one that made Michael Dell’s company famously successful. In the approximately 6 months between payment and delivery, Moda Operandi can use the deposits paid by consumers to finance the working capital costs of running its business, and also giving a much-needed deposit to designers, who can also benefit from upfront cashflow to finance production.

But relying on this kind of financial model also creates other restrictions. When a consumer pays for things on Moda Operandi, they can never get their cash back. According to the terms and conditions, returns are only possible for apparel and footwear products, and even then, only for store credit. Everything else is not returnable. Some women I spoke to weren’t deterred by this, and had already excitedly logged on to the website to shop, but others were bothered by having to take all the financial risk to buy clothes on Moda Operandi. Why not wait, they asked, for the clothes to arrive in store if they would have to wait 6 months for delivery anyway?

Meanwhile Tom Ford, in his usual contrarian approach, has defied the trend towards fashion immediacy and severely limited access to his collections, going so far as to having journalists sworn to secrecy and sign non-disclosure agreements about his presentation in London. Is Mr. Ford taking fashion a bit too seriously? Or, has he found a brilliant way to drum up even more interest in his clothes as they hit stores in a few months time by orchestrating a fashion media crescendo at the same time. Only time will tell.

One other website of note this season is my-wardrobe.com which has just had its first major facelift under former Grazia editor Fiona Mcintosh who joined as creative director in February. Naturally, there are flourishes of Grazia in the yellow highlighted design and snappy copy, a smart way to deliver on the company’s new everyday luxury strategy, fueled by a recent £6m investment injection from Balderton Capital.

Grazia of course is one of the most powerful sales tools for women’s fashion of the moment. Designers frequently tell me that if their designs are featured in Grazia, they sell out everywhere. As a weekly magazine featuring things that are in store now, I’ve always wondered why Bauer Media has not created an online version of its magazine to at least earn affiliate revenue for all the products it manages to sell, if not set up a full-fledged e-commerce site. It seems like a very big missed opportunity that my-wardrobe.com is now going after.

6. JUST NATALIE

Natalie Massenet and Jeremy Langmead | Source: Net a Porter

In an industry that has been named and shamed this season, there is at least one individual that is setting a good example.

Since our Fashion Pioneers interview last summer, Natalie Massenet has continued her ascent to the top of fashion’s tech elite, not by acting like a grand poobah but by focusing on building her business. Whereas so many in our industry can get complacent or become tyrants (or both!) once they are firmly ensconced in the front row, Natalie is the kind of leader who cancels a trip to New York Fashion Week to hunker down with the Mr Porter team in the days leading up to its widely anticipated launch.

The results show in her team. When they are in public, they show a stylish united front and in private they don’t backbite about each other. At work, they are professional and responsive, and show up when they say they will. If they are going to be late, they send an apology. They say thank you, and they care about the details too.

Net-a-Porter’s success is often attributed to its high quality content. But as the company builds new businesses, it is the seamless back-end operations which pick, pack and ship hundreds of thousands of fashion products and deliver them to 170 countries around the world that make a big difference. This has enabled the company to quickly launch two new businesses – The Outnet and Mr Porter –  in less than 24 months.

The lynchpin for all of this is the positive role model and force for innovation that Natalie represents in our industry. It’s no wonder that to many in the industry, she is now just ‘Natalie’ and that she has become a positive face for the fashion business to the rest of the business community and the wider world at a time when the industry has been tainted. Hers is an example we can all follow.

Imran Amed is founder and editor of The Business of Fashion

Gucci Spring/Summer 2011 Campaign | Source: Fashion Fame

The reasons behind the major shake up at Gucci Group (CPP Luxury)
“International media as well as major luxury players have been taken by surprise this week by several major changes within PPR/Gucci Group and it seems this is just the beginning…. Francois Henri Pinault has radically changed management… responding fast to market conditions.”

Dropping Galliano lets Dior open new chapter (Reuters)
“Behind the scenes, Dior is telling industry watchers it is glad Galliano is gone, as it wanted to move away from his theatrical style and embrace a more subtle and refined elegance to better reflects post-economic crisis society. ‘This could be a driver for positive change, which is what Dior itself was looking for.’”

Balenciaga for Today (IHT)
“Mr. Ghesquière, who had gone punk and downtown last season, faced a difficult task. No longer the catwalk ingénue spicing up a house with a glorious past, he had to prove that he could move ahead within the spirit of the august founder. The designer’s process was via fabric, technique and cut.”

Hermès Annual Profit Jumps, Margins Exceed Forecast (Bloomberg)
“[Hermès] reported a surge in full-year earnings as improved confidence among wealthy customers boosted revenue. Operating profit jumped 44 percent to 668.2 million euros ($933 million)… Sales rose 25 percent to 2.4 billion euros and margins exceeded a forecast that Hermes raised last month.”

Thank goodness for Lady Gaga! (Telegraph)
Thank goodness for Lady Gaga! The bonkers blonde from New York has single-handedly rescued a week that on paper should be one of the high points of the entertainment calendar, but instead was fast becoming a car crash of disappointment… The party felt like a complete damp squib until the platinum blonde vision of Stefani Germanotta [arrived] making her catwalk debut at the Thierry Mugler show.”

Dries Van Noten Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: Style.com

A Fresh Breeze of Change (IHT)
“This gentle zephyr is bringing a new fashion attitude. Out goes outré, excess and over-elaborate shows. In comes the quiet, no-fuss presentation of pleasing clothes. Freshness is the best word to describe what seems of the moment. Add to that ‘decency,’ meaning that any hint of ‘vulgarity chic’ has gone — and you get the new mood.”

Fashion Retailer Asos Sets Up Shop on Facebook (Business Week)
“The U.K. clothing site is the first European fashion retailer to open an e-tailing outpost inside the social network… the hip, London-based online clothing site became the first European fashion retailer to open an e-tailing outpost inside Facebook. Competitors such as Gap and Inditex’s Zara use the networking site largely to communicate with fans.”

Whiteley moves to Givenchy (Evening Standard)
“When Sue Whiteley was 13, she bunked off school and went to buy a pair of designer trousers, having saved up her pocket money for six months. Today, some 30 years later, she bestrides the world of luxury fashion, as the newly announced head of Givenchy… [Within] LVMH, Givenchy is second only to Dior.”

Kim Jones takes the helm at Louis Vuitton menswear (Telegraph)
“Jones, 31, previously designed for Uniqlo, Mulberry, Alexander McQueen, Hugo Boss, Umbro and Topman, before moving to Alfred Dunhill in 2008. A fashion all-rounder, Jones has also contributed both as stylist and art director for magazines… and was awarded Menswear Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council in 2006 and 2009.”

John Galliano Exits the Way That He Entered (NY Times)
“In circumstances like these, a sensible millionaire designer would have jumped into his chauffeured car and gone to his boss and pleaded insanity, whereupon he would have been given an all-expense-paid trip to rehab. But that’s just it: Mr. Galliano is not a sensible man, any more than fashion chiefs are missionaries.”