François Lesage | Source: Simple Virtues

‘Big O’ Birthdays for Generations of Designers (IHT)
“The loss last week of François Lesage, the beating heart of Parisian embroidery, at age 82, marks fashion history. A mighty tree in the landscape of haute couture has fallen… Fashion has a way of holding up a mirror to the wider world. But in the fading days of 2011, the bellwether is not about changes in style. It’s about designers themselves and a seismic generational shift.”

Hermès sees 10 percent growth in 2012 (Reuters)
“French luxury goods group Hermès expects sales growth of 10 percent next year, with trends in the current quarter broadly in line with the rest of the year… Last month, Hermès raised its full-year sales forecast to between 15 and 16 percent, reflecting strong demand in Asia, Europe and America, up from a previous forecast of 12 to 14 percent.”

‘Cyber Week’ Sets New Record With $6 Billion Take (Mashable)
“Online sales for the so-called “Cyber Week” that ended on on Dec. 2 were just shy of $6 billion, setting a record, according to comScore. With an estimated $1.25 billion take, Cyber Monday 2011, Nov. 28, was only the second billion-dollar day for online U.S. sales in history, following the equivalent day in 2010.”

China’s answer to Prada? (Telegraph)
“Just as Western luxury brands colonise and coin it in China, it is inevitable that Chinese companies will want to do the same right back. While some might currently be lacking in savoir faire , what those with big ambitions won’t lack is money; Beijing and Shanghai are packed with newly minted billionaires looking for glamorous investment opportunities.”

What Women Want: Jonathan Saunders (Independent)
“Saunders is nothing if not serious about his work – so much is evident in his sliced and precise patterns, a signature lightness that never becomes frothy, and his attention to detail. But he also speaks about the clothes he makes with a businesslike sense of creating merchandise – a hangover from his original line of work in product design.”

Federico Marchetti | Source: Fastcodesign

Net prophet (AFR)
“In 2000, Federico Marchetti, who was born in a small town below Venice on Italy’s Adriatic coast… Launched an innovative e-commerce business that has made him an industry titan. The planning that led up to the launch and what has happened since surely distinguish Marchetti as the ultimate ‘zagger’.”

The Beating Heart of Fashion (WSJ)
“Even if you don’t follow fashion, a stylist has indirectly influenced what you have on right now, informing your sartorial ideas on everything from power dressing to pastel romance. Grand, whose clients range from high fashion to mass market, is at the top of the pyramid.”

Why Jonathan Saunders is the designer of the moment (Guardian)
“Saunders has been on the London fashion week scene for eight years but it’s only been in the last year that his label has really cranked up a gear. So what changed? ‘Creatively I feel more confident,’ he admits. ‘I come from a textiles background with quite a niche brand image, but through experience I’ve learned to expand. The collection now has more separates and is less dress focussed, so it feels like there’s more of what women actually want to wear.’”

Traditional, ancient accents at China Fashion Week (Reuters)
“Haute couture mixing traditional Chinese touches and styles from more than 1,000 years ago with Western designs opened China Fashion Week, as the world’s fastest-growing market for luxury products catches the eyes of more designers. Models showed off a wide range of long gowns in bright colours, some featuring traditional Chinese embroidery and replicas of attire from the Tang Dynasty, AD 618 to AD 907, from NE TIGER.”

Talley Prepares Museum Exhibition (On the Runway)
“‘Walls are being painted, all of the dresses are basically in place,’ said André Leon Talley, on the phone from the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he was putting the finishing touches on the first exhibition in the André Leon Talley Gallery in the school’s new museum of art.”

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

Tommy Hilfiger | Source: Badische Zeitung

Tommy Hilfiger Dreams of Limitless Horizons (IHT)
“‘We are really living the American dream,’ Mr. Hilfiger said, ‘to be a successful brand in the States and in Europe and to steep ourselves in our heritage. But we do it with a sense of humor. We don’t take ourselves too seriously in fashion.’”

‘Cyber Monday’ Sales Show Strength (WSJ)
“Online retailers experienced a sales surge Monday, capping off a holiday shopping week in which more Americans than ever decided to skip the mall and buy on the Web. Early estimates indicated overall sales gains of about 20% from a year earlier for ‘Cyber Monday.’”

Saunders For Escada (Vogue UK)
“Jonathan Saunders has been enlisted by Escada to create a collection for its Escada Sport label. The Scottish designer will present the 20-piece offering as part of the label’s 2010 resort collection in London and Paris next June.”

Primark store sets new sales record (Independent)
“The discount fashion chain Primark achieved record takings of more than £820,000 at its flagship store in the West End of London on Saturday. The best one-day performance of any Primark shop in its 41-year history.”

Anna Sui’s new book (Telegraph)
“Sui’s anniversary book, featuring Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista, is a walk down memory lane for the boho-chic designer.”

Shanghai Tang iPhone App | Source: Shanghai Tang

Connecting Digitally With Chinese Consumers (Jing Daily)
“In recent years, as Chinese luxury consumers have gotten younger and more sophisticated, and the marketplace has become more crowded, digital outreach in China has become critical for major global luxury brands.”

Italian menswear gets young, bold and beautiful (Reuters)
“Designers shrugged off the global economic slump at Milan’s menswear fashion week, opting for bold, impeccable suits to woo demanding buyers keen on wearing something more than once.”

Shape Shifters That Mutate With You (NY Times)
“‘Modern’ is a term so routinely invoked in fashion-speak that it lost its meaning long ago. But without quite intending it, JNBY, a new loftlike boutique in SoHo, has revitalized that concept, lending ‘modern’ a near-prophetic ring.”

Ferlisi For McQ (Vogue.com)
“Pina Ferlisi has been named creative director of Alexander McQueen’s diffusion line McQ. Ferlisi will reportedly work under the newly appointed Sarah Burton.”

Scottish Fashion Awards (Telegraph)
“Jonathan Saunders was named the Scottish Designer of the Year… while Holly Fulton, the young Royal College of Art graduate, whose jewellery-and-architecture inspired designs have won praise from Alber Elbaz of Lanvin, was named the Young Designer of the Year.”

Looking back, it’s easy to understand Porter’s lack of optimism. That February, London hosted 40 shows in a 5-day schedule. This was a decline from 50 shows in September of 2003. Style.com only reviewed 13 of the on-schedule shows in London, or about 33 percent. As a proxy for quality, this ratio did not bode well for London’s position amongst the major fashion capitals. Major editors were in short supply and international buyers were few and far between at the lacklustre event.

What a difference five years makes. It felt like three times as much activity was packed in to the same five day period during this London Fashion Week. With more than 75 on-schedule shows and presentations at Somerset House and other locations, more than 50 off-schedule designers showing at Fashion Scout and On|Off, plus a full day of menswear and even more events each evening, this was a jam-packed London Fashion Week to remember.

But more than sheer quantum of activity, the quality of collections also saw a marked improvement from that gloomy February five years ago. This season’s London collections were remarkably polished, confident and forward looking. London is increasingly the city to which all other fashion capitals look for fashion direction.

Indeed, Style.com reviewed 24 shows in London this time around, or about 42 percent of on-schedule shows. Though, now that the quality of many of the London collections is so good, it’s time to raise the standards and increase the transparency of criteria required for showing on the official London schedule. With so many great collections to see, we now have little room for slack.

One of the week’s highlights was London Fashion Week alumnus Jonathan Saunders’ magnificent display of modern fashion for the times in a beautifully produced show with a mood that added to the overall experience of taking in the collection. It was the kind of show the Internet could never duplicate, as evidenced by the images on Style.com which somehow don’t capture graphic, layered pastels as I experienced them. These are clothes to appreciate in person.

Christopher Kane was another high point and his equally high wattage front row did not leave disappointed as he continued to weave his magic, this time with gingham and immaculately tailored suiting, created with the assistance of Norton & Sons of Savile Row. Erdem Moralioglu’s talent with embellishment and print soared higher, with a refined production quality that brought a bit of Parisian polish to London.

And from what I hear, Meadham Kirchoff, Antonio Berardi, Peter Pilotto and Nathan Jenden also created their own fashion moments, contributing to a fashion week that had an amazing balance of innovative creativity and commercial fashion sensibility; a balance of emerging designers, old stalwarts and one undisputed mega luxury brand.

Which brings us to the week’s undisputed climax on Tuesday night, when Burberry invited 1500 guests to a spectacular evening of events unlike any other to ever hit London Fashion Week. Christopher Bailey’s masterful collection was beautifully presented by the world’s top models in an elegant tent with plush white carpet. This was the show that brought in all the major powerplayers of global fashion to London. The international A-list was represented by Indian actress Freida Pinto, Chinese actress Maggie Cheung and American actress Liv Tyler. ‘Big’ editors and important buyers were also out in full force. In short, Burberry brought the kind of fashion frisson to London that is usually reserved for Marc Jacobs in New York, Louis Vuitton in Paris, and Prada in Milan.

Afterwards, at the jam-packed Burberry afterparty, Carine Roitfeld hung out with Christopher Bailey in a blogger bar cum VIP room while the Kooks played a live set to more than one thousand revelers gathered in the cafeteria at the new global headquarters of Britain’s largest luxury brand. But the question on everyone’s lips as the week came to a close was whether the London show was a one-off move for Burberry just this season, or the beginning of a new strategy to show in London on a longer-term basis.

On the one hand, by showing in London, Burberry would continue to get the biggest buzz of the week and more closely associate itself with its British heritage. Somehow, it made sense for Burberry to show in London this week. It just felt right. In Milan, Burberry is forced to jostle with Italian mega brands on their home turf for attention and mindspace. But in London, Burberry would be the prodigal son; the undisputed, most highly-anticipated show of the week. If the wall-to-wall international media frenzy that Burberry created this week is any indication, it could work again.

On the other hand, in order to make a more permanent shift to London, Burberry must also be able to justify the higher costs of showing here. It must also be certain that fashion flock will make the effort to attend each season, adding to an already manic schedule of shows in three other fashion capitals.

Indeed, the editors and buyers I spoke to said that while this was certainly the most exciting London Fashion Week in memory (and would possibly have been the best fashion week ever if Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney had also returned), they really weren’t sure if this could work on a long-term basis. Despite the weak pound, it is still expensive to travel to and stay in London. And, it would also mean some editors would be away from their families, offices and teams for three or more weeks in a row.

So while the official jury’s still out on how things will unfold, most observers expect that Burberry will be back in Milan in February. I still hope they might consider coming back to London next season to give it another go.

Nonetheless, if the response from London’s financial markets is any indication, Burberry’s fortunes are looking up either way. Following Tuesday’s sparkling show and CEO Angela Ahrendts’ comments that the UK business is “on fire,” the company’s stock price has risen more than five percent, closing at 500.50 pence in Thursday’s trading on the London Stock Exchange, where Burberry was also recently admitted to the elite circle of FTSE 100 companies.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

H&M spring 09 ad campaign, courtesy of H&M

H&M Profit Increases on New Stores, Stronger Euro (Bloomberg)
“Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, reported a 6 percent profit increase for the second quarter after store openings and the stronger euro offset slower consumer spending.”

In the Comfort Zone in Milan (New York Times)
“EVEN if anyone could pronounce it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is not a name you’re likely to hear a lot around the fashion circuit. Yet the eminent psychologist has come to mind during a week of men’s wear shows here that seemed designed to prove the theories of the guy who devised the concept of ‘flow.’”

Jonathan Saunders returns to London Fashion Week (Telegraph)
“Saunders becomes latest designer to confirm a return home for the 25th anniversary celebrations of LFW.”

Dress top to toe in clothes that benefit charitable causes (Canadian Press)
“In this challenging economy, indulging your fashion desires can feel a bit, well, indulgent. So why not be truly fashion conscious and buy brands that support charitable causes?”