Lanvin Petite | Source: Courtesy of Lanvin

Little Luxuries: Designer Apparel for Children is the Next Big Thing (Forbes)
“Move over fast fashion collaborations, another way haute designers will reach more consumers this year is by crafting luxury clothing for the scooter set… Back to school will bring even more designer collections to the playground.”

Can Prada get away with a luxury valuation? (CTV News)
“The price range looks rich. The question is whether the voracious Chinese appetite for luxury brands will let Prada get away with a luxury valuation… [The IPO]values Prada at as much as 28 times the company’s estimated 2011 profit. Six other luxury-goods companies, among the LVMH and Burberry, trade at an average of 21 times forecast earnings.”

Luxury shopping websites offer China a cheaper alternative (Relaxnews)
“These canny operators have found a way to keep their nation’s brand-hungry consumers satisfied – and it involves buying older ‘out-of-date’ items from the luxury brands in Europe and the United States, and then selling them in China at prices way reduced from their original ones.”

Gilt Groupe to Launch Full-Price Men’s Retail Website (Just Luxe)
“Park & Bond will be the Gilt Groupe’s full-price men’s retail website that will launch in late summer this year. The upscale fashion portal for men will feature 80 luxury brands and cover multiple categories. The premise of the nomenclature is classic, timeless, hip and contemporary.”

The 11 Best Fashion Brands to Follow on Tumblr (Fashionista)
“It makes sense that fashion brands have glommed onto Tumblr. The microblogging platform’s highly visual nature is a perfect fit for fashion brands to showcase their identities in creative and subtle ways. Of course, some brands are much better at it than others. Here are the brands we think are using Tumblr best right now.”

Anya Hindmarch Cooper Tote | Source: Purseblog

Dreaming of Clasps and Tassels (WSJ)
“Handbag designer Anya Hindmarch designs in her sleep—literally. Some of her best-selling ideas come in the early hours of light sleep at her London townhouse, when a dream culminates in an image of a bag, shoe or detail like a clasp or tassel.”

The Future Will Be Personalized (Tech Crunch)
“Today, we live in a world where we’re constantly overwhelmed by information. There are over 90M tweets per day, 34 hours of YouTube video uploaded every minute, and every Facebook user has an average of 130 friends.”

Luxury Brands Tailoring Approach to the Web (IHT)
“‘The tools are there now to create the same luxurious atmosphere that you have in a shop… You can come up with beautiful sites that are not just beautiful but also functional.’”

Black Friday Creeps Into Thanksgiving (WSJ)
“Thanksgiving Day was long considered a commercial-free zone… But an increasing number of stores are getting a jump on the Friday shopping hordes by opening on Thanksgiving.”

What Kate wears and why it matters (FT)
“What Kate Middleton wears on her wedding day does matter. And not just because it will give a lucrative boost to some designer, but because the royal family – especially the one who is going to become a king… is one of the few pure symbols we have left.”

Savile Row Street Sign | Source: JD Traveler

Reinventing Savile Row (WWD)
“Faced with constant pressure from the bottom end of the market, such as low-cost operations that claim to offer ‘bespoke’ goods… and the top end, in the form of slick designer labels… Savile Row’s tailors had a choice —evolve or go extinct.”

Luxury goods boom set to falter (FT)
“The US and Asia have been behind an unexpectedly strong recovery in luxury spending this year but sales are expected to slow in 2011… partly due to the dollar continuing to weaken against the euro and because of the strength of sales in 2010.”

Marc Jacobs’s Chinoiserie: Obsession or Opportunism? (Jing Daily)
“Beyond the playfulness and glam, reviewers clearly picked up on the Asian influence, seeing it as an acknowledgement of the growing industry influence of China and other Asian countries, or perhaps a play for their consumers.”

Luxe Lowdown: Sites Begin to Invite Buyer Reviews (WSJ)
“More than a decade after book and electronics retailers embraced online customer reviews, the most elite stores in the U.S. are opening their websites—and the brands they sell—to the slings and arrows of public opinion.”

From Boys to Men (NY Times)
“It’s also, like comfort food, about the economy…Look back to movies during the Depression, and all you saw was real guys like James Cagney. In tough times, people want a strong man.”

Phoebe Philo | Photo: David Sims for Vogue Paris

Lunch with the FT: Phoebe Philo (FT)
“Everyone was looking at me, and competition is fiercer because of what happened with the economy, but I also felt: it’s really not relevant to me what Céline has been or where it has been. It will be whatever I make it for the time I’m there.”

Luxury fashion enjoys a rebound, takes no risks (Reuters)
“While buyers are slowly returning to the shops in Western Europe and the United States, designers seem to have received the same instructions to create outfits, bags and shoes that are both sellable and clearly recognizable among fashionistas.”

Luxury brands must push ecommerce harder this holiday season (Luxury Daily)
“Luxury brands must use the reach and convenience afforded by online shopping to offset consumer restraint in the face of a still-tepid economy this holiday season.”

American Apparel appeases lender with key management hiring (Retail Week)
“Beleaguered US fashion chain American Apparel has hired Blockbuster executive Tom Casey as acting president, in line with a pledge to lender Lion Capital to secure key management talent.”

London sheep kick off the Campaign for Wool (Telegraph)
“Events are being staged in honour of The Campaign for Wool, a five-year project… to educate consumers about the benefits of wool, and promote wool-predominant products to help support and grow the wool industry.”

Hermès scarf for sale on Ebay

EU To Adjust Rules Governing Online Sales (CNN Money)
“The European Commission Tuesday said it plans to adjust the rules governing the rights of retailers to sell their goods on the Internet in an attempt to boost online sales in Europe.”

Coach Drops On Worries About Slowing Comp-Store Sales (WSJ)
“Shares of Coach Inc. fell as much as 7.1% Tuesday after the upscale leather-goods retailer’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit declined 32%, in part on prior-year gains, while sales fell short of analysts’ expectations and margins declined. Though the company’s per-share earnings met consensus estimates, much of the focus turned to the possible slowing of comparable-store sales at outlet stores and the company’s heightened investment in its Fall 2009 “Poppy” collection.”

Cost cuts help Jones Apparel profit beat estimates (Reuters)
“Jones Apparel Group Inc (JNY.N) reported a higher-than-expected second-quarter profit on Wednesday, bolstered by cost cuts and the strong performance of its wholesale jeans business.”

Unmasked: the blogging model who rocked the world of fashion (Guardian)
“An interview with Jenna Sauers, the fashion model who worked anonymously for the feminist website Jezebel.”

Reliability is good for business for fashion retailer sector – CPM (Fibre2Fashion)
“In the light of the current market situation in Eastern Europe, a platform such as Collection Première Moscow (CPM) is more important than ever. The demand for information, especially from the Russian garment retail trade, and the search for practicable ways out of the crisis, are at the forefront of every retailer’s consciousness in these weeks.”