When London’s only mega-luxury brand (Burberry) throws a launch party, invites the city’s model-du-jour (Agyness Deyn), and recruits East-End club kids from the city’s hippest club night (Boombox) to add to its street cred and sell its new fragance (Burberry Beat), it is definitely a formula for fashion marketing success.  Analysts and journalists have been commenting on the brand’s new found hipness and pictures have appeared in all the right places, despite the extra-Zone 1 location and late start.

For Boombox, however, it’s likely to be a sign that the party’s over. That’s not to say that Boombox hasn’t had a great run. From the start, it was an ultra-cool hangout for the East End fashion and music scenesters (and a great excuse to dress up in wacky clothes). Then, almost as quickly as it emerged on the scene, websites appeared with party photos, pop-up Boombox parties were held in Paris and Milan, a book by the club’s promoter Richad Mortimer was published, and most recently the "rent-a-Boombox-crowd" party was held for Burberry.

A few weeks ago, we heard from people close to the heart of the Boombox scene that its days were numbered, and that it might shut down by the end of the year. The Burberry party, all of its fabulous marketing mpact aside, is the writing on the wall.

Boombox, RIP. 

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Here are some familiar faces from the Burberry party courtesy of DirtyDirtyDancing.

L’Officiel India held a glitzy party in London last night to celebrate the distribution of its magazine in the UK, the first official deal of its kind for the magazine outside of India. Hosted by Bollywood director and talk-show host Karan Johar, and attended by the now infamous Shilpa Shetty (who literally sashayed into the club with an entourage who were running to keep up with her), the party was a sleek affair, mixing London fashion personalities, Bollywood star wattage, and high-net worth Indians with money to spend.

Up until now, Indians in the UK have had to use the old "suitcase" import technique to stay up to date on new hotspots in Mumbai, fashion week in Delhi, and Bollywood gossip. But now, they will be able to find L’Officiel India at their local newsagent right next to other international fashion magazines. The magazine in the UK will contain exactly the same content as the magazine distributed in India. Depending on the success of the UK initiative, next stops for L’Officiel India could be distribution deals in Dubai and Hong Kong.

As Natasha Choksi, Managing Editor of L’Officiel India, explained to me, the decision to distribute the magazine here was not simply a PR tactic. Instead, L’Officiel believes there is a clear market opportunity to meet the needs of the South Asian diaspora in the UK, which is estimated to number more than 2.3m people. These people, many of whom flit back and forth between UK and the sub-continent, have a keen desire to stay more connected to fashion and culture in their homeland. The attention paid to the International Indian Film Academy Awards ("the Bollywood Oscars") held in the UK earlier this week is testament to that. A reported 500m people watched the awards show in 110 countries around the world.

With the impending (and much-awaited) launch of Vogue India in September, the competition amongst Indian fashion magazines is about to heat up. Fashion editorial, photography and styling are all bound to improve with the arrival of the legendary Conde Nast magazine. It will force each player to step up their game in delivering sophisticated fashion content in search of circulation and advertisers. As the reigning leader in the market, L’Officiel has the most to lose. It’s no wonder then that it is consolidating its position as the incumbent to beat and stretching its tentacles out into other markets. Clearly, they are not going to go down without a fight.

© 2007 Copyright Imran Amed – The Business of Fashion.

I first met the Rodnik guys during New York Fashion Week in September 2006. I had been introduced to them via email by a business mentor of theirs, Maria Stammers, from the Portobello Business Centre in London. I had been exchanging text messages to arrange a meeting with Rodnik during Fashion Week in New York, but when I spotted two guys after the Peter Som show in cool webbed black wool cardigans with matching peach-coloured ties and that je-ne-sais-quoi English dandyism, I knew it was them. I tapped Rich on his shoulder and asked if they were Rodnik. At the time, they looked amused that someone would actually recognise them (or, at least, had heard of them). When I explained that I was the one whom Maria had referred, any awkwardness disappeared and we nipped off for an afternoon coffee in Bryant Park where I learned all about their budding business and their vision for where they wanted to take it.

Since then, we have kept in touch regularly and I have watched as they have  faced various business challenges (Production!), declared major fashion victories (Barneys! French Vogue! Lily Cole!), and shared their charm with the fashion world (Anna Wintour! Karl Lagerfeld! Julie Gilhart!), who have simply fallen head over heels for these two quintessential non-designer designers. With their brilliant marketing skills (Parasols! Spoof fashion show! FT Column!) they have built the beginnings of a brand.

Their latest adventure has been to put together an entourage/band/posse that includes the illustrious Peaches Geldof, maven of the London social scene (although Rich says posses are for cowboys not rockstar fashion designers). Tonight the Rodnik band gave its debut "concert" at Selfridges and the guys put on an inspired performance in line with evening’s surreal theme using a miniature piano, a child-sized set of drums, an old school record player pumping out The Doors and for lead singer, a mannequin with a top hat dressed in Rodnik .  The entourage provided requisite levels of vocal support and cool factor throughout while the photogs were all leaning into capture the moment.

Does this sound like a luxury fashion label? Well no, not really. But it is brilliant marketing and will continue to weave interesting stories around which the Rodnik lifestyle brand will be built.

Burlesque beauties hawking (surreal) scent-free perfume

Pre-show atmosphere


Surrealists

The debut


Stylish onlookers

Copyright Imran Amed 2007. All rights reserved.

Collaborations like this are good for emerging designers like Giles because they provide much needed cash to fund the business through working capital crunches, lend credibilty to designer’s stature, and raise the profile of the designer on the back of PR events like this. Who doesn’t like to have a party thrown in their honour? In return, the brands get cool products and street cred.

Who ever thought Mulberry could look like this?

The place was heaving.

The colour-blocking was raging.

Gentry de Paris is hosting a very special event at next weekend’s Salon de

la Lingerie.

In conjunction with the cult Parisian cabaret MurderSuicidePresents, Monsieur Poudre, our mysterious Master of Ceremonies, will be your guide into the curious and surreal dream of sleeping Joséphine de Beauharnais. Featuring Lady Bird in a silver cage and Miss Morte under a flurry of ostrich feather fans, Joséphine’s strange dream comes alive once an hour through a pink champagne haze provided by to our gracious sponsor Champagne Duval-Leroy

Elegant lines and opulent fabrics inspired by the Premier Empire feature heavily in the Winter 2007 collection. Our bra-panty-garter sets in luscious French silk satin jacquards come in pale, antique colors. Opulent silk satin solids make up our pyjamas and nightgown range.  Super soft viscose jersey wireless bras and boyshorts suit every budget.  And of course our Loro Piana featherweight cashmere comes in boxers, tanks panties and pyjamas.

To be honest, I am not sure I understand exactly how the business of that whole exhibition worked, as it was an absolutely enormous space with less than 10 pieces being shown, in addition to a West-Coast pop art Surfing Video meets sleek industrial design Installation. There must have been at least 500 people there, but really not that much to see in terms of art. I think most people were enjoying the people-watching as much as I was.

Invitations are a bi-annual way of reinforcing designer’s brand identity. It is amazing what some designers are able to do with a small piece of paper to make their creative vision for the season sing out from the page. In this digital era, invitations have taken a new dimension as people play around with digital elements to make the invitations come alive.

Rajesh Pratap Singh, New Delhi and Paris
I met Pratap and his sister-in-law Sapna at Delhi Fashion Week in April last year. His is one of the most talked-about collections on the Indian Fashion Scene. Beautiful minimalist lines and a muted colour palette make Pratap a stand-out in the colourful frenzy that is Indian fashion. What’s more, on the business side, Sapna is the driving force behind managing this rapidly growing business. With an MBA from INSEAD and a good understanding of how to get things done in India, the business is much stronger as a result.

This is a label to watch. Check out www.pratap.ws.

VPL, New York
Victoria Bartlett designs for VPL New York and the business is managed by my friend Kikka Hanazawa that I met at business school. Kikka has years of experience in the fashion industry including a stint at Theory where she headed up strategy.

Check out www.vplnyc.com

Wendy and Jim, Vienna and Paris

The wonderful Anina introduced me to Wendy and Jim in the Autumn. I have not seen their collections in person yet, but hope to check it out this season. Not sure if I will be in Paris that night or not, but the invitation looks cool.

More images are on the fun website at www.wujsympathisant.com