L-R Mugler, Issey Miyake, 3.1 Phillip Lim Fall 2012 | Source: Style.com

Asian Designers Make an Impact in Paris (IHT)
“Asian designers, whether home based or in the fashion diaspora, are making an impact in the opening days of the Paris men’s 2012 season. Phillip Lim, the Cambodian-American designer based in New York, was smart to come to Paris to show a 3.1 Phillip Lim collection that was simple but laced with the conceptual.”

European Luxury-Goods Stocks May Benefit From Weaker Currencies (Bloomberg)
“Investors forecasting the euro and Swiss franc will weaken against the dollar may find comfort in shares of European luxury-goods companies. Financiere Richemont and LVMH are among stocks that would benefit disproportionately if the currencies fall further from year-ago levels.”

Crisis on the catwalk over Britain’s fashion brain drain (Independent)
“The British Fashion Council (BFC) yesterday announced the formation of a Fashion 2012 Menswear committee, designed to raise the profile of UK designers and increase sales.”

More Heads Roll at Ungaro (The Cut)
“After losing Giles Deacon in December and new CEO Jeffry Aronsson just last month, Emanuel Ungaro appears to be on one shaky last leg. WWD reports that the ailing French fashion house told retailers that they’re unable to deliver their spring-summer collection because of ‘internal reorganization.’”

Louis Vuitton’s Kim Jones: exclusive Q&A (Guardian)
“British menswear designer of the year Kim Jones presented his second collection for Louis Vuitton. He talks exclusively to the Guardian about his inspirations and moodboard.”

Phillip Lim | Photo: But Sou Lai

NEW YORK, United States — “I always believed in making clothes with affordable prices,” said Phillip Lim, one of the many young designers to have emerged in New York over the past few years. But unlike his peers, when Lim launched his label back in the autumn of 2005, he made a conscious decision not to compete in the high-end designer category. Instead, Lim’s vision was to offer his customers beautifully made, well-designed clothing at a contemporary price point.

Lim’s fashion journey began with Development, a Los Angeles-based line he started with partners in 2000. But four years later, after relationships turned thorny, Lim walked away from the label. Soon after, a friend he had met in Paris convinced Lim to come to New York, just to ‘hang out’ for the week. That friend was Wen Zhou, who would soon become chief executive of Lim’s new brand and his new business partner in an entrepreneurial venture that is on track to turn over more than $60 million this year — not bad for seven years of hard work.

When the two connected in New York, Zhou had already been courting Lim for some time and had even offered to buy out his partners at Development, a deal that fell through. But Zhou was relentless, she never gave up. Lim arrived in New York on a Thursday. “By Saturday night, she said to me, ‘I have a plan; let’s start a company,’” said Lim. “I couldn’t say no, because she wouldn’t let me,” he continued, smiling. “She was a bulldog.”

Lim and Zhou are a formidable duo; a potent mix of creative talent and business acumen. “I am in charge of anything creative and she operates,” said Lim about their partnership. “I have to give her something to operate with and she gives me resources to create with.” While this kind of partnership isn’t unique in fashion — Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, and Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy, are amongst the most well-known examples — Lim maintains that theirs is different. “It’s just two kids who had a lot of love for clothes.”

But Lim and Zhou launched their business with a simple yet powerful idea: to offer irresistibly cool clothing that was also accessible and practical. “This was intentional from the beginning,” said Lim. “It wasn’t because we lived our lives in an ivory tower that we wanted to create clothes for people down there — we are those people!” he explained. “It was more like: I want an amazing trench, but at the same time, I’m on a budget. I’m a young professional and I have bills.”

Although many young designers may contemplate creating more affordable clothing, most lack the necessary connections with manufacturers — such as those in China, where Lim manufacturers his goods — that are able to produce a high quality product at low cost. “How do you keep the type of margins that make everyone happy and deliver goods that look impeccable with a certain type of quality?” Lim asked, rhetorically. “We were lucky because Wen had those relationships with the factories.”

But alongside partner, price point and production, there is a critical fourth “P” that has made the 3.1 Phillip Lim business successful: positioning. Indeed, by creating directional pieces alongside more practical clothes and showing his collections amongst luxury-level brands at New York Fashion Week, the designer has been able to cultivate a brand image that makes his fans feel like they are getting high-end fashion, only at a more affordable price. “You need the foundation, which are the basics, to work with the eccentricities,” said Lim. “So in every collection, there’s always the classic pieces [and] a sense of madness.”

The approach has proven highly successful. “It’s incredible, right away we were an international company and the first season we were in 20 countries,” said Lim. 3.1 Phillip Lim has also expanded from its beginnings in womenswear into menswear, childrenswear, swimwear, accessories and lingerie.

Although Lim has a robust wholesale business and has shop-in-shops in Hong Kong and Japan, he is a strong believer in opening his own retail stores. 3.1 Phillip Lim now operates directly-owned stores in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore. The brand has yet to launch e-commerce, but Lim anticipates that over time, more and more of the company’s revenues will come from direct to consumer channels, citing better control over brand experience and more favourable margins.

“As a young company, when you are working with wholesalers, a lot of times you can be victimised,” he said. “[Direct to consumer retail] is a way we ensure that the family we have built can move on tomorrow,” he continued, using an endearing term for his employees.

Asked if he has any advice for would-be fashion entrepreneurs, Lim offers a few words of caution. “I jumped into it and thank god it worked for me,” he said. “But if you have something to say, make sure you say it at the right time. Anna Wintour said to me: ‘Phillip, it’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone’s forgotten.’”

In today’s shaky economy, where fashion consumers are seeking value like never before, it couldn’t be a better moment for a brand that’s carefully and sagely positioned at the top end of the contemporary market. Indeed, timing is everything.

Robert Cordero is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion.

“I grew up in a duality where day was Western culture and night was completely Eastern culture. I grew up fighting my Eastern heritage, my Chinese side. As I get older I have this innate yearning to realise my roots and get deeper in touch with them.”

Phillip Lim, speaking to CNN Talk Asia on the occasion of his first fashion show in Asia, held late last year in Beijing.

As the big three U.S. automakers await to hear their fate on a requested bailout from the U.S. government and Citigroup teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, it now seems that the fall of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and other corporate casualities was just the beginning of what is likely to be a global economic meltdown of epic proportions.

With this as the backdrop, a reader recently wrote in to ask about the prospects for aspiring job seekers in the fashion industry more generally. Others have been wondering how some of the emerging businesses that have come to the fore in recent years are faring.

The short answer to both questions is that things are extremely tough out there, but there is always opportunity for innovators.

Even in the best of times, starting a fashion business is a risky proposition, with failure rates well above 90%. Add in the challenging mix of a tough credit environment, plummeting consumer confidence, rising unemployment and a general cloud of uncertainty, and the prospects for running a fashion business begin to look decidedly gloomy.

It is not only small retail and fashion businesses that are suffering. Even some of the big boys have seen tough times in recent months. One need only note that Neiman Marcus’ revenues fell 27.6% in October 2008 versus the same month last year.

But this too has had a follow-on impact on small design businesses, who lack their own retail distribution and therefore rely on department stores and specialty boutiques to get their products to market. Most emerging fashion businesses are only just beginning to feel the impact of the downturn now as department stores have been cutting back orders for Spring/Summer 2009, and cutting out some brands altogether.

As for fashion industry jobs, many companies have instituted strict hiring freezes across the board. At Condenast, news of an across-the-board 5% cut of all magazine staff has been leaking onto the Internet. This is in addition to a 5% budget cut and the compression of several titles including Men’s Vogue. Many European luxury brands have also got hiring freezes in place.

However, all is not lost. Even in times of economic crisis (or perhaps, especially in times of economic crisis) true innovators who deliver exceptional value will be rewarded. A buying director of an internationally-recognised fashion retailer told me that the companies that are suffering the most are the ones that don’t have a unique point of view. She pointed to many of the L.A.-based contemporary brands whose products are interchangeable, except for their brand labels.

On the other hand, she said that design-led businesses offering competitive price points, like Camilla Skovgaard and 3.1 Phillip Lim, continue to perform. It’s not a coincidence that both of these brands produce their product in China to achieve the quality/price relationship that consumers are increasingly expecting.

On the high-street, there are successful innovators too. American Apparel (leaving CEO Dov Charney’s dodgy tactics and questionable personal behavour aside) continues to experience soaring retail sales because of its unique positioning and easy-to-manage product assortment that has struck a chord with aspiring hipsters around the globe.

In the fashion job market, digital media experts who understand the fashion world are being hired by major brands and retailers that are finally looking to the Internet seriously as a distribution channel.  The Internet, by several accounts, is continuing to provide growing revenue streams in the luxury and fashion space. And, as advertising budgets are cut back, its wide-reach at relatively lower costs than say, a page in American Vogue, means more investments may be made in company websites and cost-effective online marketing initiatives.

Perhaps the one positive thing about recessionary periods is that they do foster innovation and creativity, as opposed to allowing people to rest on their laurels or ride others’ coat tails. This video runway show from Jean Charles de Castelbajac, in cooperation with Lego, for example, has become an Internet hit. Incidentally, his business was just saved from bankruptcy by Atlas Design Group last week.

Yesterday at Phillip Lim I heard a videographer complaining "There’s no one here, and whenever someone does show up, they bring them out at the last minute so I can’t shoot them."

Many fashion brands may have been built on the dreams created by out-of-this world haute couture collections, but today, for many brands, this desire is built on the image of celebrity, which can arguably reach more people than the Haute Couture shows ever will. Celebrity is the new Haute Couture. Or, better said, celebrity now plays the dream-weaving and marketing role that Haute Couture has played in the past.

However, in a week when the front rows were supposed to be dripping with celebrities, the paparazzi at New York’s fashion shows were left wanting. Yes, pop star Rihanna made several appearances, as did Angie Harmon, but it seemed the biggest A-list stars had given New York Fashion Week a wide berth.

Until yesterday.

Red carpet darlings Keren Craig and Georgina Chapman of Marchesa scooped the surprise celebrity appearance of the week when a very pregnant J. Lo arrived at the brand’s tableau presentation for Autumn/Winter 2008.

In recent years, Marchesa has become a household name that has graced the same pages as Dior and Valentino, leveraging a media industry that has been built around celebrity fashion. The upstart brand was first propelled to fashion nirvana when Rinee Zellwegger appeared in a Marchesa dress for the premiere of Bridget Jones in London, and since then has regularly dressed major stars for awards shows, film premieres and star-studded events around the world.

We had already left by the time Jennifer Lopez arrived at Marchesa, but Style.com reports that a huge media horde had gathered to mark the occasion as she made her way into the Chelsea Art Museum.  The designers’ hearts must have leapt with joy. They had now managed to make up for some of the missed opportunity to beam images of their red carpet dresses around the world when the Golden Globes were canceled in January. The ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike has brought awards season, the stars’ and Marchesa’s normal stomping grounds, to a virtual halt.

Later on Thursday evening, Gucci threw a party to celebrate the opening of its New York store, with Madonna as their guest of honour and a huge supporting contingent of the Hollywood and fashion A-list. The stars finally came out of hiding.

But for those not interested celebrity sartoria, you’ll be glad to know that Marchesa was well worth the trip to the Western fringes of Manhattan for the collection alone. It was impeccably executed and the standout look was the delicate armour of a black dress that was perplexing and alluring at the same time, as in, how did they manage to construct that?

The model wearing the dress, one Georgina Stojilkovic, must have read my mind because she asked if I wanted to touch the dress. I managed to resist the urge to do just that as my mind wandered to other questions, like who would be the lucky celebrity to wear this look? And, who would be able to pull it off?

© 2008 Copyright Imran Amed – The Business of Fashion

In the heart of New York’s garment district in the same building on 39th Street, two of the city’s most exciting young talents have been busy putting together the collections that they unveiled on Sunday. And, what a great showing for both Peter Som and Phillip Lim, who both delivered what their many fans were expecting…and more.

Peter, of course, has just sold a significant stake of his business to retail private equity house NRDC and has been confirmed as creative director of his alma mater house Bill Blass.

This was his finest collection yet and one of the strongest of the entire New York collections, having perfected that fine balance for his clients who move fluidly from uptown socialite events in the day to downtown parties at night. Tinsley Mortimer, the socialite of young socialites, was sitting right in front of me and was explaining to the media hordes why she integrates Peter Som into her wardrobe. He’s got his finger on the pulse of what these young women want and it was clear from all the excited whispering in the front row that this collection is going to sell like hotcakes.
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For his part, Phillip turned out a bold collection in a stunning setting at the New York Public Library, complete with a circular catwalk. The collection had a decidedly more edgy feel, appealing to the ‘classics with a twist’ style that his (male and female) followers love. Irina Lazareanu opened the show with a classic khaki trenchcoat paired with a new shape for shorts. Classic men’s coats came down (or rather, around) the runway in primary colours of red and yellow in shorter cuts. Also on show were Phillip’s collaboration with  Birkenstock, where he has taken a staple of granola style and made it urban and sophisticated.

Peter Som – Spring/Summer 2008

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