Hedi Slimane | Source: Hypebeast

A Fashion Designer’s Second Act (NY Times)
“When Hedi Slimane stepped down as artistic director at Dior Homme in 2007, Fashion Wire Daily summed up his tenure this way: ‘Slimane leaves Dior with the well-earned reputation as the single most influential men’s designer this century, the most copied of his peers and the only one to achieve the status of a rock star.’… But Mr. Slimane seems to have left fashion behind with nary a second thought, reinventing himself as a photographer in the past few years, one who has produced an array of strikingly intimate portraits, nearly all of them black and white.”

Ralph Lauren margins fall, shares hit (Reuters)
“Ralph Lauren Corp posted a sharp drop in quarterly margins on Wednesday, hurt by rising costs, and its shares fell in premarket dealings. Shares fell 5.7 percent as gross margin fell dropped to 56.6 percent from 58 percent a year earlier. The clothing maker, which makes brands including Polo, Club Monaco and Chaps, said net income rose to $233.5 million, or $2.46 a share, in the second quarter ended October 1 from $205.2 million, or $2.09 a share, a year earlier.”

Online fashion retailer Yoox sees Q4 growth (Reuters)
“Italian online fashion retailer Yoox is looking to further revenue growth for the end of the year after strong sales in the first nine months confirmed the vigor of the luxury industry despite wider economic woes in Europe. Yoox, which powers sites for top brands such as Valentino and Roberto Cavalli alongside its own multibrand online stores, said core earnings rose 20.2 percent to 11.8 million euros ($16 million) in the nine months ended in September.”

Retail Site Raids a Big Closet (NY Times)
“Since its debut in February, Moda Operandi, the online retailer that sells designer clothes right off the runway, has become a surprise competitor on the lucrative trunk-show circuit. Now the site is becoming a competitor to traditional department stores and magazines for personnel, as well. Roopal Patel, a longtime executive in the fashion offices of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, will join Moda Operandi this month as its fashion director. And Taylor Tomasi Hill, formerly the style and accessories director of Marie Claire, will become its artistic director.”

Yohji’s World (Vogue)
“Yohji Yamamoto has explained his love of the colour black – a signature that punctuates most of his collections… ‘Colour disturbs people. I am confident in black, not in light. This dark side of life is attractive to me forever and from the beginnings. I am a lazy designer when it comes to colour. The body is the important thing to me – it is the beginning of my work.’”

Savigny Luxury Index September 2011 | Source: Savigny Partners

LONDON, United Kingdom — The seemingly unflappable luxury market continues to waver, with growing worries that China’s booming economy — the driver for much of the rapid growth of luxury brands in the past few years — is beginning to slow down. As a result, every major luxury brand has been hit, and hit hard.

Big news

• Luxury stocks suffered a steep sell-off in the last ten days of September as hedge funds moved out of the sector en masse due to growing concerns over the Chinese economy. The SLI took a real beating losing 13.6 percent over the month of September compared to only 3.8 percent for the benchmark MSCI.

• Prized assets are nevertheless still changing hands, as demonstrated by the recent sale of heritage leather goods brand Delvaux and a healthy interest in Italian tailoring brand Brioni, fronted by PPR.

• Hermès’ plan to create a controlling family holding company was cleared by French market authorities, boosting its defences against LVMH and consequently resulting in its inflated share price easing off.

Going up

• With the whole sector being down, the 1.6 percent drop in the Ralph Lauren share price, perhaps justified by a lower Chinese exposure than its peers, feels like a positive.

Going down

• Much-hyped Prada fell off a cliff, its share price falling by more than 27 percent during September, as much of its IPO valuation rested on the Italian group’s relative under-penetration of the Chinese market compared to other leading luxury brands.

What to watch

• Chinese entrepreneurs starting to feel some pain after years of blue-sky growth will have an impact on prospects for the luxury sector.  It may be that super-highly priced items (luxury cars, complicated watches) get hit disproportionately more than luxury goods such as handbags or designer clothes, which have lower pricepoints.  This would have valuation consequences for the big players in the sector.

Sector Valuation

Pierre Mallevays is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion and founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners, a corporate advisory firm focusing on the retail and luxury goods industry

Savigny Luxury Index August 2011 | Source: Savigny Partners

LONDON, United Kingdom — Hurricane Irene wasn’t the only storm wreaking havoc during the month of August. The financial markets were also stormy. Ongoing economic uncertainty on both sides of the Atlantic had investors in a panic, and luxury stocks were were hit hard, though they bounced back towards the end of the month.

Big news

• August, which is a typically quiet month, has seen some high trading volumes driving substantial market movements.  Global markets fell sharply in the first week of August due to the US losing its AAA credit rating for the first time in history and growing eurozone debt concerns.  The SLI was hit more harshly than the overall markets and lost 10.2 percent in that first week compared to 7.7 percent for the MSCI.

• At the end of the second week, financial markets once again endured severe price falls as investors moved to perceived safe havens of gold, the Japanese Yen and government bonds.  The catalyst for the sell-off was poor economic news from Germany, the eurozone’s power house, compounded by weak US manufacturing and employment data, which raised fears of a global slowdown.  Again, the SLI suffered stronger volatility than the MSCI and lost 8 percent between the 12^th and 22^nd, compared to 5.2 percent for the MSCI.

• Equity markets have rebounded in the last week on better-than-expected US consumer spending data, a critical driver of US economic growth.  The SLI accelerated faster than the MSCI, more than making up for lost ground during the downfall and finishing down by 7.6 percent over the month (compared to a decrease of 9.3 percent for the MSCI).

Going up

• Continuing what seems to be a never-ending rise, Hermès’ share price gained almost 9 percent in the last month, jumping to second place in our market capitalisation ranking.  The share has reached a new high of €266 on August 31^st, fuelled by the company’s outstanding H1 results (an increase of almost 50 percent in net profits) and the company’s share buybacks

• Ralph Lauren gained 5.9 percent on the back of better-than-expected Q1 results underpinned by strong wholesale and retail sales growth as well as favourable currency effects.

Going down

• Tod’s share price lost 7.8 percent over the month.  Despite reporting excellent H1 results, the group is still very exposed to Europe and in particular to Italy which represents over half of sales.

• Ports’ share price has slid down a further 17.1 percent this month due to lacklustre H1 results.  The increase in distribution costs and the substantial increase in its effective income tax rate have deteriorated the company’s profitability.

What to watch

• Despite greater volatility, the luxury sector seems to consistently outperform the general market index by capturing a greater share of the upside.  Is this a sustainable long-term trend?

Sector Valuation

Pierre Mallevays is a contributing editor at The Business of Fashion and founder and managing partner of Savigny Partners, a corporate advisory firm focusing on the retail and luxury goods industry

Ralph Lauren in the early days | Source: V7 Web

Oprah salutes Ralph Lauren and the American dream (LA Times)
“So few people, in these starkly striated economic times, during which the barriers between classes have become more insurmountable than ever, get to traverse the chasms of culture and economy that have been leapt by Winfrey and Lauren.”

Hermès Ownership Battle Continues (Epoch Times)
“The controversial takeover of Hermès by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has taken another turn, with minority investors challenging a French court’s decision to protect the company from being bought out.”

Flash Sale Site Competition Could Ultimately Benefit Designers (Thread NY)
“All of this competition could ultimately be a boon for up-and-coming designers with a less of a brand name… There are over 80 private sale sites in the U.S. today, which leaves a lot of e-commerce space to fill. More space means more opportunities for fashion’s rising stars.”

Relaunch of a Classic (WSJ)
“In a world where watches continue to grow in size and become more cunning in the way they display time, and the boundaries between jewelry and timepieces are increasingly blurred, one sector is beating on against the current: relaunched classics.”

Judith Leiber talks handbags and history (LA Times)
“Who would ever think that women would want to carry rhinestone-encrusted handbags shaped like anteaters or bunches of asparagus? Judith Leiber, that’s who… [her] sculptural minaudieres have been carried by first ladies to presidential inaugurations, and by celebrities on red carpets around the world.”

Vionnet, Then and Now | Source: PSFK

Is  Fashion In Danger Of Going The Same Way As The Ad Industry? (PSFK)
“Sharing the inner workings of the business and marketing of fashion is pop culture these days, behind the scenes interviews, makings of, documentaries, buy from the runway etc. Cleverly marketing the marketing of fashion in consumer culture, or, an industry talking to itself?”

Burberry bid talk continues despite price label (FT)
“Could the company, best known for its red, black, tan and white check, be as desirable to a corporate acquirer as its aviator jacket was to the fashion pack? Shares in Burberry have risen almost 13 per cent since the start of the month on speculation that it could be the subject of a bid.”

Dealtalk: Doubts devil Prada IPO plan (Reuters)
“Catwalk favorite Prada’s hopes of being the first European fashion house to strut its stuff on the Hong Kong stock market could be delayed by pressure to split the listing with hometown Milan.”

10 Biggest Fashion-Business Faux Pas in 2010 (BNET)
“In 2010, fashion businesses made missteps in everything from design to manufacture and sale — and if you were here, you were there. From management decisions in questionable taste to mystifying merchandising, we singled out the truly awful in hopes there won’t be a repeat performance in the new year.”

Vogue Italia Opens Its’ Doors (Fashionista)
“Opening our magazine to people is just to give them the chance to meet persons working in fashion, how we work, where we are and our offices…Why should seeing each other take away the mystery?”

BoF experienced the spectacle on both sides of the Atlantic, as digital projection mapping technology made both flagship buildings seem to suddenly disappear, then reappear, block-by-block, before they each opened up like a dollhouse to unleash a 3D parade of four-story tall models, a gigantic virtual polo match, and larger-than-life products. As a collection of perfume bottles appeared, the air was filled with Ralph Lauren’s Big Pony fragrance, giving the event what the brand called a “4D twist.”

A cross-disciplinary team of about 150 people worked for months on the 8-minute experience. First, intricate architectural renderings of the New Bond Street and Madison Avenue stores were created, using 3D scanners and human modelers. Then intricate physical replicas of the stores were built on a Hollywood-style soundstage where real life models were shot walking in front of the façade. The film was then pulled into a 3D software environment where a team of animators (some of whom worked on the Harry Potter films) designed and inserted the giant-scale visual effects. Finally, video “beamers” were painstakingly positioned, so that the projections of the finished 3D film, created at a larger resolution than IMAX, lined up perfectly with the real building.

To be sure, the final effect was exciting. But needless to say, staging this kind of extravaganza required a significant investment — estimated to be more than six figures — on the part of the brand. What was the thinking behind the initiative? What were the underlying objectives? And how does this kind of digital technology fit into the world of the Ralph Lauren brand?

Last week, in a preview of Ralph Lauren’s biggest digital initiative ever, BoF sat down with David Lauren, senior vice president of advertising, marketing and corporate communications, to get the exclusive back story for BoF readers.

BoF: Your father often says: “I’m not designing clothes, I’m creating a world.” How does digital technology fit into this world?

David Lauren: What we do as a brand is we tell stories. We create an environment: dogs, houses, cars — an entire experience. When you walk into a store, you’re walking into old world mahogany. The kayak is on the ceiling and all that. But we can tell that story better online. We can give people the ability to step into that experience. What I call “merchantainment” is the seamless blending of merchandising and entertainment. It’s what we do in our stores. It’s what we do in our ads. When we run those ads, we get thousands of calls saying: what kind of dog is that? What kind of car is that? What kind of house is that? Can I book a trip to that golf course? When you go on our site, you can do all that. That’s why technology is now seamlessly integrated into what we do. It’s allowing us to fulfill our original intent: to tell stories and let you step into that world.

Ralph Lauren 4D at New Bond Street | Photo: BoF

BoF: How was the idea for the 4-D light show born?

DL: We discovered a new technology up in Amsterdam called digital mapping and we decided to take this to America and blow it out of the water, on a scale not seen before. The Guggenheim just did light projections on their building, but they’re not 3-D. This is like Avatar but without the glasses.

People can say: well, what does that have to do with Ralph Lauren? But just like fashion is cutting edge, it’s about knowing the next trends and getting ahead of those trends. We weren’t satisfied with a single spread in a magazine. That doesn’t mean anything to us. We want to be on the cutting-edge. The same way we saw QR code technology and brought it to America, we saw this new technology and thought: what could we do to take it to the next level?

We’d built this beautiful new store on Madison Avenue, it’s a pretty significant store, a Beaux-Arts mansion. And we wanted to bring it to life in very cool way. We’re calling it the collision of fashion, technology, art, commerce and architecture. That contrast of old world sensibility with modern technology is what we’re after.

BoF: This is such a huge event that there will be reverberations, both online and off. But how do you leverage that in a commercial way that makes this larger-than-life event work for the business?

DL: We did our 40th anniversary for 300 people. Five years later you pick up Women’s Wear Daily, you pick up GQ, you pick up Vogue and the party of the decade is Ralph Lauren’s 40th anniversary. It’s still in there. This is a historical moment in technology. This is going to change the way Madison Avenue thinks about selling product. We’re no longer confined to a mobile phone, an iPad or a computer. This changes the way movies work, this changes the way advertising works, this changes the way retail works. It changes the way we think about architecture. This is a game changer.

I think it’s something that people will be talking about for a while to come. It’s unique enough that people will hear about it. And by the way, for us, just the doing is an important exercise. It’s important that we are exercising our creative juices and doing things that move the company forward. We think that this is innately high profile and will generate its own viral buzz and discussion.

BoF: Is this a perfect example of merchantainment?

DL: Yes. You don’t expect a fashion company to do this. You expect a media or technology company to do this. And that’s how we see ourselves. This company can be anything. It’s part media company — it’s got online magazines and videos, it’s got fashion shows, it’s got everything. We sponsor the Olympics, Wimbledon, the US Open. Just when you think that’s for Nike, we show that it can be elevated.

We can take Boris Becker and have him conduct a tennis clinic online, showing you, on your mobile phone sitting in Korea, how to hit a backhand. Why is Ralph Lauren doing that? Sports Illustrated should be doing that, ESPN should be doing that, ABC should be doing that. Why Ralph Lauren? Because we’re not just selling you clothes, we’re selling you a world, a world that’s real, that you can step into. Whether we’re doing that in our stores with “Old England” come to life, or whether you’re seeing it digitally, it’s Disney.

BoF: If you are a pioneer, you are bound to run into problems. What was the biggest challenge?

DL: Two weeks ago, I saw some of the first renderings and I thought: “Oh my god, we’re in trouble.” The renderings weren’t good enough. Several members of our team flew to Europe. We hired more technicians, we brought in more artists. Creating ten seconds of this takes an entire day. We’re making movies here.

OUR THOUGHTS:

Expectations? Ralph Lauren has a history of pioneering digitally innovative consumer experiences. The brand’s early moves into mobile commerce, as well as its shopable window displays — letting consumers personalize and purchase shirts from the millennial-focused Rugby line, even when the store is closed — were particularly visionary. So when BoF first heard that Ralph Lauren was working on “a never seen before digital project” that was to be “like the movie Inception,” we were excited.

Familiar with the projection mapping experiments conducted by other brands, we suspected that the initiative would be similar to the installation staged by electronics giant Samsung earlier this year in Amsterdam. But it wasn’t until David Lauren talked us through the initiative, frame by frame and with great enthusiasm, that we realised the true scale of the undertaking. Expectations were high.

First impressions? This was fashion as entertainment spectacle. But perhaps more significantly, this was the digital world bursting free from 2-D screens to radically transform and intermingle with the physical world. The sense of new possibilities was palpable and instantly brought to mind the words of visionary author William Gibson: “One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real. In the future, that will become literally impossible. The distinction between cyberspace and that which isn’t cyberspace is going to be unimaginable.”

Most potential? Ralph Lauren is perhaps the world’s most cinematic luxury brand. Indeed, Ralph Lauren himself is famous for comparing his collections and stores to movies and novels. While this event may only hint at what’s to come, we think the potential to use immersive 3-D technologies to bring brand stories to life is truly revolutionary. We also think this event could inspire Ralph Lauren (and other luxury brands) to fundamentally re-imagine their flagship stores — in which they have invested untold millions — as hubs for interactive experiences that create both digital and physical connections with consumers. Over time, this type of event could become the ultimate retail experience.

What’s missing? Ralph Lauren is perhaps most famous for creating and communicating an entire world through the power of storytelling, an approach that has brought the brand tremendous success. All the more surprising, then, that what this sequence of giant-sized models, polo horses and products lacked most was a compelling narrative. While the overall undertaking was impressive, and Ralph Lauren deserves credit for pioneering the use of projection mapping in the fashion industry, new technology alone does not make a powerful consumer experience. Subtract the technology from the equation and you have spinning products and giant perfume bottles, but no lasting emotion or feeling.

While the London event was meant to mark the launch of Ralph Lauren’s “digital flagship” in the UK, the brand could also have made more effort to build pre-event buzz amongst end consumers and failed to directly link the 4-D experience to the new e-commerce site. Neither the physical experience, nor the quiet announcement on the brand’s Facebook page, drove enough real consumers to these amazing events, which were mostly attended by industry insiders.

In sum, we think the brand missed an opportunity to capture value by embedding natural opportunities for commerce and consumer engagement within the digital extravaganza. One wonders what might have been possible had a larger consumer audience, armed with iPhones, been assembled and enabled to actually influence and interact with the digital spectacle — and perhaps even buy products.

Detail, double breasted Luciano Barbera suit | Source: The Sartorialist

Is Italy Too Italian? (NY Times)
“The bolts of wool and cashmere produced at [Carlo Barbera] mill, can indeed be described as high performance, among the finest in the world… The financial performance of the mill that creates this fabric, on the other hand, is far from stellar.”

Spanish Brand Focuses on Functionality as It Re-Enters the U.S. (WSJ)
“From 2005 to 2007, Stuart Vevers was known for creating showy studded and tasseled “it” handbags… [Now] Mr.Vevers is trying to dust off Loewe, a Spanish leather-goods brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. To do that, he’s been leaning toward simplicity over bling, functionality over flash.”

Looking forward at Ralph Lauren future (Just Style)
“A better-than-expected set of first quarter results will have pleased the powers that be at Polo Ralph Lauren, but it’s what happens next which holds the most interest for the US company.”

Liz Claiborne revamp drives upbeat outlook (Reuters)
“Revamping efforts at Liz Claiborne Inc. seem to be working as the U.S. clothing maker posted a much smaller-than-expected loss and said it would turn profitable on an adjusted basis in the fourth quarter.”

A dream that led from dolls to the First Lady (Independent)
“The rise to prominence of a young fashion design graduate from West Africa via East London shows that, with talent, a stroke of luck and a contact as highly placed as Nelson Mandela or Michelle Obama, anything is possible.”

Ralph Lauren | Source: American Book Center

Ralph Lauren: New in an Old World (IHT)
“Standing shoulder to shoulder at the Élysée Palace, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the American legend Ralph Lauren held a mutual admiration society.”

New York’s Fifth Ave. Sets Record with Uniqlo Lease (Bloomberg)
“New York’s Fifth Avenue is claiming a city retail record: Japanese clothier Uniqlo agreed to pay $300 million over 15 years to bring its affordable fashions to the world’s most expensive shopping area.”

Outnet sale shows hunger of internet shoppers (Lakestar)
“Online fashion retailer Outnet showed that sometimes an online marketing campaign can be a little too successful when it launched a £1 sale last week.”

Ex-employee to sue Prada Japan over alleged harassment (Plush Asia)
“A former employee of Prada Japan who claims she was harassed by the local unit of the Italian fashion house for being ugly.”

Design Vertigo (T Magazine)
“Design Miami and Fendi’s 2010 collaboration, ‘Design Vertigo,’ at Spazio Fendi… aim to highlight the ways in which designers are venturing outside the bounds of traditional practice and joining forces with unlikely partners.”

Mobile Screenshot, RUGBY by Ralph Lauren | Source: RUGBY

With smartphone adoption rates higher than ever, there has recently been a flurry of activity from fashion brands focused on developing and deploying mobile applications. Today, luxury brands like Hermès, Chanel and Gucci have mobile apps for Apple’s popular iPhone. But far less attention has been paid to developing Mobile Web sites. In this guest post, our friends at PercentMobile explain why investing in the Mobile Web can often make more sense than building mobile apps.

NEW YORK, United States — Mobile data traffic is expected to grow 40-fold in the next five years. As the mobile internet rises in significance, the fact that over a hundred thousand mobile applications have been developed for Apple’s iPhone has been hailed as evidence of a rapidly growing mobile ecosystem.

Indeed, there are some amazing applications available. But much less attention has been paid to the Mobile Web. Here, we aim to shed light on the critical differences between mobile apps and Mobile Web and help brands choose wisely as they develop their mobile strategies.

Hyperlinks create a usable and connected experience.

Credited with inventing the World Wide Web, British engineer and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee created hyperlinks to serve as the thread that connects the Web. Google turned these hyperlinks into currency. Indeed, when search engines crawl the Web, they follow and analyse hyperlinks to establish relationships between content.

But a critical, and often overlooked, limitation of mobile applications is that they do not easily accept incoming links. There is no central registry for URLs that point to a certain piece of content in an iPhone app. Without easily deployed hyperlinking, these apps are second class Web citizens and, as such, lead an isolated existence.

Imagine this scenario: You Google “Chanel fashion show” and find a video of the S/S 2010 Ready-to-Wear runway show. But when you click on the link, it opens Chanel.com on your phone’s web browser, and not the Chanel iPhone app, even if you have it installed.

In this case, to deliver a usable experience to consumers, Chanel must develop a Mobile Web site that’s optimized to detect and display on mobile browsers — even for those users that have its iPhone app installed. The result is double development costs and different user interfaces for the same content.

Platform neutrality is a step towards rational product development.

HTML, the programming language that is the framework for most Web sites, was conceived as a platform-neutral way to deliver content. Web site resources such as images, javascript and dynamic code live on Web servers. To deploy these resources, all you have to do is update or copy them. This applies to Mobile Web sites as well.

However, mobile applications are platform-specific. They only work on specific devices. Today, the dominant platforms are iPhone OS, Android OS, Web OS, Symbian and RIM OS. But many new operating systems are on the way, along with newer and newer versions of the same platforms. The result? Greater and greater fragmentation.

If you want to be present on all platforms (or even the top ones) you will need to have a team of developers who have mastered an array of platforms, and all their different versions. And when an OS is updated by a device manufacturer, you will need to ensure that your apps are forward compatible. If you compare all this to the relative simplicity of updating a website, it starts to look like a complex, time-intensive and expensive process.

Application stores are the new walled gardens.

Furthermore, most applications are published through walled application stores that reserve the right to refuse your app for a number of reasons. Imagine having to go through an approval process to have your websites indexed by a search engine. But unfortunately, there’s no way around this kind of cumbersome application review, as unvetted apps can seriously damage a user’s phone. Mobile viruses are not for the faint of heart.

Reality check.

When your mobile strategy requires fast, videogame-like graphics, sophisticated audio processing, or access to a user’s camera or address book, you will most likely need an application. In most cases, however, developing an app makes less sense. Indeed, the advancement of Mobile Web browsers now allows for local data storage, access to geo-location and multi-touch user interfaces.

Our advice?

There is a simple approach that all leading Mobile Web sites follow, from Volkswagen (m.vw.com) to The New York Times (mobile.nytimes.com): create a basic mobile site that will render well on almost any phone, then optimise a couple of versions to leverage the special features offered by devices like the iPhone. In the designer fashion category, brands like Ralph Lauren have made progress is this direction, launching Mobile Web sites at m.ralphlauren.com and m.rugby.com.

Make no mistake, Apple’s iPhone — and now the iPad — are gorgeous devices that offer a context that’s beautifully suited to displaying fashion content. When resources are plentiful and creating buzz-worthy digital tactics are what’s important, there’s nothing wrong with developing platform-specific applications. But as brands face longer-term, strategic decisions on how to prioritise and optimise their investments in mobile, focusing on the Mobile Web makes more sense.

Remember, Mobile Web sites fully integrate into the rest of the digital ecosystem with easy in- and outbound linking. In contrast, mobile applications are a step backwards into the dark ages of platform dependency and make it more difficult for your content to flow freely across the internet. Choose wisely.

PercentMobile is a New York-based mobile analytics firm that helps global brands understand their mobile internet audience.

YSL and a Naked Screen (IHT)
“With social networking the subject of the moment, Yves Saint Laurent made a bold decision to link its men’s wear to a new generation…But viewers won’t be getting even a glimpse of the perfectly cut coats, the jackets with a tendency to be rounded up at the base of the spine or even the drop-crotch pants that are a favorite of the designer, Stefano Pilati.”

Ready to Spend, but Not to Boast (NY Times)
“The Wall Street crowd is shaking off what one luxury retailer called its ‘frugal fatigue.’ Unlike earlier spending sprees, however, the consumption will be a lot less conspicuous.”

Fashion label Escada back on the catwalk (DW-World)
“After struggling with declining sales for years, Escada… is back. The Munich-based company recently presented its first collection under its new owner, Megha Mittal.”

Ralph Lauren is 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year (Mobile Marketer)
“Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. took first place as 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year… Ralph Lauren serves as a role model for outstanding use of mobile advertising and marketing.”

Heritage: Shake It, Break It or Fake It? (IHT)
“The Paris men’s season, which closed Sunday, was all about handling the heritage. Should you shake it, break it or fake the style of the past?”