Oren Michels | Photo: Scott Beale

NEW YORK, United States — Today, rapid innovation in consumer technologies and accelerating adoption rates are driving explosive growth of new devices and platforms — from iPads and gaming consoles to web-connected cars and internet-enabled TVs — putting pressure on brands to design and support a diverse and fast proliferating array of digital touchpoints. Keeping pace with consumers means thinking beyond the web browser. The days of simply building and supporting a brand website are over. But creating new experiences and applications for every new channel dramatically increases the cost and complexity of engaging consumers, a significant challenge for even the most savvy and well-financed brands.

While there is no escaping this new reality, forward-thinking brands are learning to efficiently leverage external partners and developers to create new experiences and applications for them — driving innovation and increasing revenue while reducing cost and complexity — by creating and publishing open APIs.

An API, or application programming interface, enables interaction between pieces of software, much the same way that a user interface facilitates interaction between people and computers. Specifically, an API makes it easy for one piece of software to open part of its functionality or content for other programs to leverage. Technology leaders like Google, Facebook and Amazon have long published open APIs, making specific content and functionality available to external partners and developers who can then use these building blocks to create new experiences and applications. For example, Amazon’s Product Advertising API provides programmatic access to the retailer’s vast product range so that external developers can easily advertise Amazon products on third-party websites.

Now, embracing APIs and the ecosystem growth strategies they enable is rapidly becoming vital for all brands and retailers, not just technology companies. Indeed, Gartner predicts that by 2014 over 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies will have APIs.

BoF spoke with Oren Michels, co-founder and CEO of leading API management, infrastructure and strategy firm Mashery, to find out more about the fast approaching future of brand APIs.

BoF: Technology companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have APIs, enabling an ecosystem of developers to build new applications on top of their platforms. Why should brands have APIs? What are the benefits?

Oren Michels: We have entered the post-website era, where customers and fans are more likely to engage with a brand outside of the brand’s own website, as accessed through a desktop or laptop browser. Brands that provide a compelling experience on partner and retailer websites, mobile and social apps, or in other channels will have a huge advantage over their competitors. But leveraging new online channels is not in the core competency of most brands. So being successful as quickly as possible requires working with partners or other external resources who can take everything the brand has to offer and repurpose it for the new channel. By far, the fastest, easiest and most economical way to do this is to make these building blocks available as easy-to-integrate APIs.

APIs can be used to make numerous apps that can be targeted toward particular customers, use cases, operating systems or platforms. A great app is not an entire website shrunken to fit on a different device; instead, a great app grants a wish. It does one or two things really well for a particular slice of users who have a particular need based on time, place or situation. Therefore, successful brands and retailers will recognise that a one-app-fits-all approach will fail, just as they have learned over the years that they must buy and merchandise differently for different physical stores based on factors like location, climate, demographics, season.

BoF: Who is doing this well?

OR: So far, it’s the retailers that are further ahead. Nordstrom recently released a terrific iPhone and iPad app that runs on their API. Outside fashion, Best Buy has been a leader in this area for years and has been able to use their API to tap new distribution channels, such as selling directly to Citibank customers who are redeeming rewards points.

BoF: Where are the biggest missed opportunities for fashion brands?

Most fashion brands distribute through a range of retailers, both online and off. While their merchandisers are often able to create compelling brand experiences in the physical stores — especially at flagship stores in large cities — more often than not, the online experience puts a great brand’s products in the same look and feel as all the other brands sold by that retailer. There is a huge opportunity for brands that want to partner with their online distribution partners in the same way as they do with their brick-and-mortar partners. Think of it, in physical terms, as the difference between having some Gucci bags mixed in with the rest of the handbag displays versus having the Gucci “shop-in-shop” that can be merchandised like a stand-alone Gucci store.

BoF: For many fashion brands, selective distribution and image control are critical concerns. How can brands embrace the openness of an API without losing control?

OR: A well-managed API opens different services to different partners, under different terms or rules. So if you are partnering with a multi-brand retailer, for example, with whom you have a strong and trusting relationship, you can and will open a broader set of services for them.

BoF: How should brands go about developing their API strategies?

OR: They should start by creating an inventory of all the great ideas that they know they should be executing on, but can’t because of resource constraints or lack of internal expertise. Once they have catalogued their ideas, they’ll need to take a look at all the things that a well-managed API needs: developer communication — documentation, code samples, app gallery, forum — self-signup and provisioning, security, scalability, rules enforcement, analytics and so on. They should also study companies who are doing this well — in other words, companies with widely-used API programs.

BoF: Will having a brand API soon become as indispensable as having a website?

OR: It already is. Because fewer and fewer people, as a percentage of overall visitors, are coming through a desktop browser pointed at your website. As that trend continues, interacting with your customers when and how they want is important — and an API is the way to get that done quickly and effectively. Smart companies are investing less in iterating on their legacy websites and more on APIs that can power the apps that reach customers.

Vikram Alexei Kansara is Managing Editor of The Business of Fashion

Thomas Tait | Source: Mother Blog

A London Design Maverick as a Pragmatist (On the Runway)
“Thomas Tait was in New York last week for London Showrooms, a presentation of young British fashion talent. Actually, Mr. Tait is Canadian, educated at a technical school in Montreal. In 2010, he completed the master’s program in women’s wear at Central Saint Martins in London, whereupon he joined that distinguished race known as the Young Fashion Designer.”

Urban Outfitters Losing Investors With Failing Fashions (Bloomberg)
“‘Bizarre’ and ‘lackluster’ fashions at its namesake stores may be why Urban, which also operates Anthropologie and Free People, is losing investors’ confidence, said Pamela Quintiliano, a New York-based analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. The shares have slid 27 percent this year, the biggest drop among U.S. specialty apparel retailers except for Aeropostale Inc.”

Gap bets on discounts to draw holiday shoppers (Reuters)
“Gap Inc said it plans to “compete aggressively” on discounts to attract shoppers in the crucial holiday season as the no. 1 U.S. clothes retailer continues to look for ways wrestle back market share from its peers. The retailer, which competes with more affordable and fashionable foreign players like Zara owner Inditex, Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing and Hennes & Mauritz , is trying to keep pace with fashion trends by revamping its stores and merchandise, but without much success so far.”

Nordstrom eyes Vancouver for expansion (Vancouver Sun)
“Nordstrom’s interest in its northern neighbour mirrors that of several major U.S. retailers lately… The big retail chains are looking for good opportunities and right now there aren’t a lot of good opportunities in the United States, so Canada is a natural place to look, and B.C. in particular because the economic performance here has been pretty good.”

There’s No Business Like Shoe Business (WSJ)
“Ms. Skovgaard’s designs are more rebellious than reserved, more dangerous than dainty, and since launching her eponymous collection in 2007, she has gained recognition across the fashion industry… In 2010, Ms. Skovgaard won accessory designer of the year at the Elle Style Awards, and most recently, she took the title of accessory designer of the year at the 2011 Dansk Fashion Awards, one of Denmark’s most prestigious industry prizes.”

Albert Kriemler of Akris | Source: Estilo Moda

The Discreet Charm of Akris (WSJ)
“Perhaps it is Kriemler’s understated, reluctant approach to anything overt or loud—fashionable or otherwise—that attracts women as powerful and talented as Condoleezza Rice, Angelina Jolie, Susan Sarandon and Nicole Kidman to his clothes… Kriemler works extensively with artisans from Akris’s hometown of St. Gallen. The town is renown in the business for its skilled craftsmanship in linen, cotton and embroidered fabrics, and has long been a focus for fashion houses including Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Giorgio Armani. Akris has proper form and heritage, too.”

World’s Biggest Fashion Brands Invest in The Fancy (BetaBeat)
“The Fancy, one of the consumer facing projects under the thingd umbrella, has secured a $10 million round of financing at a valuation north of $100 million. Interestingly, the big bucks don’t come from a typical venture investor, but from a new lead investor PPR, the $16 billion French multi-national run by Francois Henri-Pinault, which owns the globe’s biggest fashion brands… The Fancy is about visual discovery and has become a natural home for fashion brands, which see a high level of engagement from tastemakers around their goods.”

Richemont cautious after H1 beats expectations (Reuters)
“Richemont, the maker of Cartier jewelry and Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, struck a cautious note for the luxury goods industry outlook as growth rates are starting to ease from the strong performance seen in its first half. Between April and September, sales at the world’s second biggest luxury goods group jumped 36 percent at constant exchange rates and October sales were up 26 percent, in a sign consumers could be turning more hesitant about treating themselves to pricey timepieces.”

Nordstrom full year profit outlook below St view (Reuters)
“Upscale department store operator Nordstrom Inc did not raise the upper end of its full year profit forecast even as it reported a jump in sales and profit in the third quarter, and its shares fell more than 3 percent… The department store chain said it now expects fiscal 2011 sales at stores open at least one year to rise about 6 percent, up from an earlier range of 4 to 6 percent.”

Versace: What’s the bright idea? (Independent)
“‘Iconic pieces for young people – the essence of Versace’ is how Donatella Versace describes her collection for H&M… H&M’s link-ups with some of fashion’s biggest names began in a blaze of publicity in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld – and that sold out in a matter of hours. Its creator – who starred in the accompanying advertising campaign – has since said the experience was responsible for making him a household name.”

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2005 | Source: Hapsical

Tents, but No Circus (NY Times)
“But what the increasingly industrialized Fashion Week now signally lacks is a certain giddy excitement, the fanfare and promise of genius that were common in the days when you could still get close enough to it all to see the greasepaint and smell the sweat… Ms. Roitfeld claimed flatly that fashion is not much fun anymore. ‘It’s less light-hearted, less spontaneous,’ Ms. Roitfeld said. ‘Fashion has become an industry, one that increasingly stifles creation.’”

Saks, Nordstrom Say Luxury Sales Firm (Bloomberg)
“So far so good in the luxury sector, say top executives of Saks Inc. and Nordstrom Inc., as stock markets lurch up and down amid global economic uncertainty.Saks Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sadove and Nordstrom Chief Financial Officer Michael Koppel say sales at their luxury chains are holding up and that they are sticking to their forecasts.”

Cult following helps Superdry sales soar (Guardian)
“Shares in SuperGroup rose 7% after the company said total group sales were £54m in the three months to the end of July. Wholesale sales almost doubled on the strength of international demand for the retailer’s clothing. SuperGroup listed last year and has divided City opinion, with some investors viewing it is a temporary fashion fad rather than a long-term bet.”

The Rising Popularity of Hong Kong’s Young Haberdashers (Red Luxury)
“Creativity from an unlikely source — young, ambitious entrepreneurs– is cultivating China’s homegrown luxury industry. Particularly in Hong Kong, where relaxed taxes and government initiatives appeal to new businesses, industrious young men have created a niche market for haberdashery that is earning serious attention.”

Paris to sell its young (FT)
“The Council of Fashion Designers of America is taking a page out of the British Fashion Council’s playbook and is bringing 10 of the past CFDA/US Vogue Fashion Fund finalists to Paris Fashion Week. The finalists will be able to use showrooms to help them “expand their international business and increase their presence outside of the United States,” according to Steven Kolb, CFDA chief executive.”

Louis Vuitton store in Chengdu | Source: Forbes

Chasing Luxury Dreams – A Tale from Chengdu (Forbes)
“It’s one thing that the Chinese government spearheads infrastructure projects such as massive railway development; it’s another thing that it promotes luxury consumption. Yes, that is exactly what the government of Chengdu, a second-tier city in south-west China, has proudly done… According to Chengdu Retail Industry Association, Chengdu is home to 80 percent of international luxury brands and ranked third behind Beijing and Shanghai in luxury sales.”

Tory Burch markets minority stake; could be planning IPO (FT)
“Tory Burch, the New York-based apparel company, is selling a minority stake… Chris Burch, company co-founder and ex-husband of its namesake designer, has been shopping part or all of his stake in the New York-based women’s fashion company… The move by Chris Burch, as well as the company’s reported search for a new COO and CFO, will pave the way for the company to IPO in 12-18 months, the two industry bankers said.”

Why the Wealthy Will Stop Spending (WSJ)
“Luxury (at least in the U.S.) is no longer a stable industry. It is increasingly becoming the most manic segment of our consumer economy, as it follows the hyper swings of the stock market rather broader economic growth. The new normal for luxury means there is no more normal. As financial markets, wealth and luxury spending become more intimately linked, luxury will be prone to more sudden spikes and crashes.”

Nordstrom in New York to Use an Alias (NY Times)
“Called Treasure & Bond, the new store will open Friday in SoHo and will be less than a tenth the size of a typical Nordstrom department store. In fact, it is a big experiment that will not even contribute to Nordstrom’s bottom line, as the profits have been committed to charity… Retail analysts said it was sensible for the Seattle-based chain, which for years has been trying to figure out the New York market before formally opening a full-fledged department store.”

Andrej Pejic, the top model who won’t get out of bed for less than $50 a day (Telegraph)
“Willowy, blonde-haired Pejic, 19, was catapulted into modelling high-end women’s fashion by none other than Carine Roitfeld, the revolutionary former editor of Vogue Paris. ‘Put him in Fendi!’ is what Pejic recalls Roitfeld saying unexpectedly on the shoot she was styling for the magazine.”

Michael Kors Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: Michael Kors

Michael Kors sells minority stake in deal that values brand at $2.5B (New York Post)
“The New York fashion label — whose black-clad founder and namesake also moonlights as a tough judge on the “Project Runway” TV reality series — has sold a minority stake to a group of investors in a deal that values the brand at a whopping $2.5 billion.”

Surface to Air Comes to New York (IHT)
“In a sense, the business model of Surface to Air was ahead of its time. In the years since, a number of multitasking companies have developed similar approaches and are perhaps better known than the Paris label. Opening Ceremony, for example, operates a showroom in addition to its stores, and its owners were recently named the new creative directors of Kenzo.”

Nordstrom raises profit, sales outlook (Reuters)
“Upscale retailer Nordstrom Inc raised its full-year profit and same-store sales outlook, and reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit that was helped by more full-price selling… The department store chain said it now expects fiscal 2011 sales at stores open at least one year to rise 4 percent to 6 percent, up from an earlier range of 2 percent to 4 percent.”

Designer Nicholas Kirkwood talks extreme shoes (LA Times)
“After graduation in 2005, he found work with milliner Philip Treacy. It was there that he noticed a void in the market for truly artistic shoes. ‘There were really exciting things going on in ready-to-wear with Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, and with hats too,’ he said of the London fashion scene at the time. ‘But the shoes were from a different decade.’”

Fabergé: would you shell out for eggs like these? (Telegraph)
“The South African mining entrepreneur Brian Gilbertson purchased it in 2007, with the ambition to build his company into a global jewellery empire. Fabergé was relaunched with great pomp in 2009. Now it is ready to present its first hatching of eggs since the Tsars.”

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

Alexander Wang and gang | Source: 21-7magazine

Women of Wang (New York Magazine)
“He’s built an approximately $25 million business on cool but benign day-into-night clothes for lithe, pragmatic downtown girls who all appear to work in galleries or PR… anything vaguely “creative.” Wang synthesized the street-style-blog-derived notion of looking like a “model off duty,” a louche fantasy of effortlessly sexy living if ever there was one.”

Reed Krakoff Names Valérie Hermann President and CEO (Fashion etc)
“[Valérie Hermann] has been named president and chief executive officer at Reed Krakoff… ‘The possibility of building a new international luxury brand with such tremendous potential comes very rarely,’ she said, ‘and I’m excited about this logical new step in my career.’”

Nordstrom to acquire HauteLook (FT)
“Nordstrom, the upmarket US fashion department store chain, is acquiring HauteLook, one of a new generation of online ‘flash sale’ marketplace sites, in a deal reflecting the merger of digital and ‘bricks and mortar’ stores. The retailer is buying HauteLook… for $180m in stock, with the possibility of the cost rising to $270m.”

CNN Is Back to Covering Fashion (NY Times)
“‘There is room for fashion in our coverage,’ Ms. Cho said… ‘Our viewers crave hard news. They want the headlines about Egypt. But we shouldn’t discount the fact there are other topics we can cover, and I don’t think it makes me any less of a journalist to cover fashion… Designers are thrilled to have CNN looking at them again.’”

Tech Pushes Tradition Into the 21st Century (NY TImes)
“Today the most audacious prints and jacquards are created by computers. Alexander McQueen used the technology for his dramatic ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ show in October 2009, and in his final collection of medieval-inspired jacquards… And during New York Fashion Week, many designers, including Narciso Rodriguez and Joseph Altuzarra, used computerized prints.”

Nordstrom.com's new look | Source: Nordstrom

Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World (NY Times)
“The company wove in individual stores’ inventory to the Web site, so that essentially all of the stores were also acting as warehouses for online. Results were immediate… It also means that inventory is moving faster, and often at higher prices.”

The Demand for Emerging Fashion: Part I (Huffington Post)
“[The first trend] noticed was brand exhaustion with regard to the majors in the fashion industry… the rise of discount shopping for the masses through sites like Gilt Group has been disastrous to consumer’s mentality on luxury goods… But how do emerging designers benefit from this?”

American Apparel receives possible delisting note (Bloomberg)
“Struggling retailer American Apparel Inc. said Monday it has received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange Amex LLC saying it could be delisted if it does not file its second-quarter results in a timely matter.”

For social success, think content (Biz Report)
“The survey of 457 corporate management and marketing/sales management professionals revealed the vast majority (85%) thought original content to be the key to the success of any social media campaign.”

Condé Nast in push to court India’s affluent (FT)
“The plan for the group’s flagship travel publication comes as Condé Nast is also poised to open a Vogue Café restaurant in Mumbai next year and is considering the launch of up to six other magazine titles over the next three years.”

J.Crew Takes a Leading Role in Men’s Fashion (Bloomberg)
“The men’s fashion landscape has long been dominated on one side by luxury brands… [or alternatives] that no longer seem au courant.  J.Crew has emerged in this void as the merchant of a new style that bridges work and leisure, youth and age, vintage and contemporary, gay and straight.”

Will Chinese Shoppers Embrace Luxury Goods–Sans Logo? (Forbes)
“Although luxury shoppers in established, recession-stung markets may gradually be lured back into stores by understated items…will this trend appeal to potential buyers in emerging — and lucrative — markets like China, where garish still equals good?”

Hermès launches street style website (MyFashionLife)
“Dedicated solely to its signature square scarves, the new website, called J’aime Mon Carre (I Love My Scarf), takes a street style turn as it shows hip young things working the scarves in ways Hermès would never have dreamed of.”

Nordstrom profit matches view, outlook unchanged (Reuters)
“Nordstrom Inc reported a higher quarterly net profit that met Wall Street expectations, but the company did not raise its previously announced 2010 profit outlook and its shares fell 2.5 percent.”

Diane Pernet on Tavi, Fashion Film, and the Future of Catwalks (Fashionista)
“Diane Pernet’s enlightened view on fashion, combined with her support of budding talents, has made her one of today’s great ladies of La Mode… Fashionista had coffee and grapes with the lady… we talked Tavi, tomorrow’s talents, and her trendy tribes and tribulations.”