Chloe Raises the Roof at the Tuileries Tent in Paris | Photo: BoF

LONDON, United Kingdom — It was a fashion season of extreme weather. After the New York Fashion Week schedule was upended, first by an earthquake and then by the State of Emergency declaration that came courtesy of Hurricane Irene, an unprecedented heat wave in Paris threw buyers, editors and bloggers into a wardrobe tailspin.

The American editors were worst off, having packed for the European shows two weeks before Paris with no prior notice of the heat wave that was to come. After a few days of shows in impossibly hot venues, some of them resorted to ripping the sleeves off their outfits or just wearing their ‘airplane clothes.’

Brands tried to ease the pain. Fans were distributed at shows alongside champagne and much to everyone’s relief, Chloe arranged for the roof of the Tuileries tent to be removed for their show, letting in the sun and much welcome breeze. Meanwhile Net-a-Porter, always on top of a new market opportunity, delivered heat wave friendly clothes to editors caught without weather-appropriate attire.

But of course the real action was on the runway and in conversations between BoF and the good and the great of the global fashion tribe at a season filled with its fair share of events and parties.

Without further ado, it’s time to look back at Spring/Summer 2012, the season that was.

1. FASHION’S ENDLESS PLAYGROUND

Louis Vuitton Carrousel | Photo: BoF

At the opening of Marc Jacobs’ stunning show for Louis Vuitton on the last day of Paris Fashion Week, a large circular curtain was lifted to unveil models in dresses as light as feathers, perched coquettishly on white horses that sat atop a highly stylised carrousel. Those assembled gasped with audible pleasure and then erupted into spontaneous applause. But more than a visual delight alone, Mr. Jacobs’ magical set was a clear metaphor for an industry in constant motion, with its endless cycle of fashion shows, not to mention the musical chairs of creative directors moving from house to house.

This was the defining moment of the Spring/Summer 2012 collections, a season during which rumours continued to engulf Mr. Jacobs and other designers at the helm of major fashion houses, including Stefano Pilati, who seems safe — for now.

For others, the news was not so good. Immediately following the Vionnet show, it was announced that Rodolfo Paglialunga had been replaced. And just before Paris Fashion Week, Ungaro announced that the house and Giles Deacon had mutually agreed to part ways. Deacon was Ungaro’s fifth creative director in as many years and The Wall Street Journal reported at the end of September that Ungaro chief executive Jeffry Aronsson believes that “in-house talent can mine Ungaro’s heritage—bright colours, silk prints and sexy draped dresses—better than a high-profile designer from outside.”

But while some brands were severing ties with their creative directors, others were debuting new ones. Olivier Rousteing took the bow at the end of the Balmain show. There were also debuts from former Pringle designer Claire Waight Keller at Chloe and Manish Arora at Paco Rabanne — and, of course, the torrent of industry speculation about Galliano’s soon-to-be-announced replacement at Christian Dior.

2. BUZZ, EDGE AND SPORT COUTURE IN NEW YORK

Altuzarra prints and backpack detail | Photo: BoF

But fashion month begins in New York, which boasts more than 250 shows in a span of eight days, making it by far the busiest and buzziest fashion week of all. As one editor put it to me, “In New York we are great at picking up the leaves and throwing them up in the air and saying, ’It’s Fashion Week!’”

The unofficial kick-off for the Spring/Summer collections happens a couple of days into NY fashion week, with Fashion’s Night Out. Spearheaded by American Vogue, with individual events in almost every retail establishment across the city, it is a format that has been exported around the world. But though it has become a global phenomenon, the return on investment for brands and retailers remains in question. Most designers and retailers said it simply wasn’t worth the expenditure of time and resources, especially at one of the busiest moments in the fashion calendar. Barneys effectively sat this round out, eschewing the kind of elaborate in-store entertainment favoured by other retailers and issuing a statement that they were refocusing all efforts “on the shopping experience” and would donate ten percent of their Fashion’s Night Out sales to a fund for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

And with that, the New York shows were on and we entered a weekend of vibrant prints, inspired by places all around the world. It was a colourful vibe that New York designers seemed to have caught from London. But they gave it their own unique, New York spin with mesh fabrics and athletic details, making “sport couture” the buzzword on the lips of editors and buyers everywhere, from Joseph Altuzarra and Rag & Bone, to Alexander Wang, who has made athletic-inspired fashion part of his brand’s identity.

The week’s highlights came from power design duos Proenza Schouler and Rodarte, whose shows are now, deservedly, two of the most anticipated shows of New York Fashion Week. And both Jason Wu and Prabal Gurung took edgy steps forward from the red carpet and ladylike fare of their previous collections. These are some of the names amongst a healthy crop of promising young designers working in New York at the moment, pushing the boundaries of American fashion.

3. LONDON’S SHINING MOMENT

Giles Deacon swan hat, by Stephen Jones | Photo: BoF

It’s a shame that conflict over the global fashion calendar is putting London Fashion Week under threat just as the event really seems to be hitting its stride. This season, fashion stars in London shone brighter than ever, benefitting from the pulsating creativity of designers and digital print artists, who are largely based in the East London neighbourhoods of Hackney, Shoreditch and Dalston.

Of course, previous generations of young London designers were also praised for their creativity, but they were never able to translate this into commercial success. Garments were of poor quality and deliveries were often late. But that seems to be changing now. Indeed, Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter told the Financial Times that “if people have been paying attention, they will see there is a new crop of extraordinary talent, which is young and dynamic and have learnt commercialism is not a dirty word.”

Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo told Suzy Menkes that although she was primarily in town to see Burberry and Tom Ford, it was the young talents who really excited her. “My camera is going and my notepad’s flying,” she said. “Between the prints and the quality, I am blown away.”

Not really ‘emerging’ designers anymore, Christopher Kane, Peter Pilotto, Jonathan Saunders, Giles Deacon and Erdem Moralioglu all put on very strong shows. Mary Katrantzou and Michael van der Ham both pushed their signature techniques forward. And the two new names in London that everyone was watching were JW Anderson (who put on both mens and womens shows within a span of five days) and Thomas Tait, a name familiar to long time readers of BoF. Cathy Horyn of The New York Times said Tait’s clothes were “imaginative and inspiring” — high praise from one of fashion’s most respected critics.

But will London’s recent successes be hijacked by the current scheduling complications? And if a sensible resolution isn’t found, will editors really choose to see independent designers in London over major advertisers in Milan? Watch this space.

4. THE RISE OF FASHION DIPLOMACY

Tods Light Installation at Italian Ambassador's residence in Paris | Photo: BoF

With all the bickering and back-and-forth between the fashion capitals, it somehow seems appropriate that national ambassadors, much better versed in the ins and outs of international diplomacy, are using their muscle to support young designers, senior editors, and famous national brands.

In Paris, the Italian ambassador invited the fashion glitterati to a special event for Tod’s, at which Chairman Diego Della Valle was present, to celebrate the launch of the brand’s Signature collection. Sir Peter Westmacott, the British ambassador to France, along with the prime minister’s wife Samantha Cameron, continued to show their support for London-based designers — Nicholas Kirkwood, Erdem Moralioglu, Roland Mouret, Antonio Berardi, Jonathan Saunders and Katie Hillier, to name a few — with a lavish event at the ambassador’s residence. And, Glenda Bailey was hosted by the American ambassador to France for a celebration of her book commemorating her ten year tenure at Harpers Bazaar USA.

5. MOUZAT AND MENKES GO VIRAL

Mark Holgate and Anna Wintour of American Vogue at Burberry Spring/Summer 2012 show | Photo: BoF

Fashion editors from two important newspapers flexed their editorial muscle this season, creating ripples throughout the fashion industry.

The season’s first viral moment came courtesy of Virginie Mouzat, fashion editor of Le Figaro, one of France’s most respected daily newspapers. Though her name is not widely known outside elite fashion circles, Mouzat’s scathing critique of Tom Ford’s private London presentation had everyone talking, even if only a select few were there to witness what Mouzat described as “a nightmare.”

When an English translation of Mouzat’s article was emailed from the American Vogue office in Paris to its senior editors in London and New York, it wasn’t long before the email was circulating throughout the global Conde Nast empire and, indeed, throughout the industry. Incredible chains of emails — from one front row name to the next, from one senior magazine editor to another, from one global brand executive to his colleagues — was a lesson in how closely tied this industry really is. Ms. Mouzat had clearly struck a chord amongst the fashion establishment, for whom email, not Twitter, is still the most powerful viral tool.

Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the IHT, set off her own viral frenzy, this time on Twitter, with the assistance of her colleague Jessica Michault. In her review of Raf Simons’ collection for Jil Sander in Milan, Ms. Menkes suggested that Mr. Simons was in talks to take over from Stefano Pilati at Yves Saint Laurent. When Michault tweeted the breaking news, which coincided with the Aquilano Rimondi show in Milan, attendees were reportedly glued to their iPhones and Blackberries, while debate quickly broke out across the social web about whether Suzy Menkes was actually saying Simons was going to YSL.

The next day, Yves Saint Laurent quelled the rumours in an official statement, which while firm, still seems to leave open the possibility that Mr. Simons, or someone else, could indeed design for YSLin the not-too-distant future. Will Suzy Menkes still be proven right? Time will tell.

6. PRE-TAIL GAINS MOMENTUM, BUT FACES OPERATIONAL ROADBLOCKS

Edgy Glamour at Jason Wu Spring/Summer 2012 | Photo: BoF

When Aslaug Magnusdottir and Lauren Santo Domingo launched their “pre-tail” start-up Moda Operandi (MO) last season, they must have known that the model would generate copycats, just as Gilt Groupe (itself inspired by Vente Privee) and Groupon were copied by hundreds of other similar businesses.

But as it turns out, Moda Operandi’s fast followers have not been other startups. Rather, it’s major media and retail brands who got into the pre-ordering game this season. Online industry bible Style.com debuted an “Instant Get” program for one-off products from six New York-based designers and venerable New York luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman partnered with Jason Wu to offer pre-orders on selected items from his Spring/Summer 2012 collection. Sister company Neiman Marcus posted an exclusive pre-ordering opportunity for Donna Karan’s Spring 2012 collection, along with an interview between fashion director Ken Downing and Ms. Karan herself.

But fresh with a $10 million capital injection from New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm, the MO team had big plans of their own, announcing a partnership with Vogue.com just in time for fashion week, which directly linked the latest runway images to MO’s pre-order platform.

“We’ve experienced a steady rate of growth since our launch in February,” said Ms. Magnusdottir at the end of New York Fashion Week, “but the collaboration with Vogue has accelerated the rate of growth of both member acquisition and sales.” Indeed, Magnusdottir said that membership is expected to grow from 15,000 just after launch, a customer base built primarily on the personal networks of the founders, to an expected 100,000 members by the end of the year, driven by affiliations with Vogue.com and GOOP, the online media brand of Gwyneth Paltrow.

But despite the clear momentum, the model still faces a major roadblock that is out of the control of pre-tail players like MO: inefficiency in the fashion supply chain. As it stands, consumers still have to wait four to five months to receive most pre-ordered products. If pre-ordering is really going to provide instant gratification to consumers who are interested in buying from the runway, brands and retailers will ultimately need to deliver products more quickly than this. Burberry delivers its pre-ordered products within eight weeks, and Style.com’s ‘Instant Get’ products were due to be available within a few days of the 31 October launch.

Indeed, the broad success of the pre-ordering model rests on the ability of designers to compress delivery lead times. In response to this suggestion, Ms. Magnusdottir said she expected that supply chains would eventually be compressed over time, enabling MO to better match demand with product delivery.

Based on this season’s pre-commerce momentum, it can’t be long before other major fashion e-commerce players such as Net-a-Porter and Shopbop get in on the pre-ordering game. If the industry manages to sort out its supply chain issues, better aligning the operations and media cycles by delivering goods closer to the peak of consumer interest, could pre-commerce eventually just become plain old e-commerce?

Imran Amed is founder and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion

L-R Ohne Titel, Rodarte, Vera Wang | Source: Style.com

The Volume Stays Up (NY Times)
“There seems to be no escape from the orgy of prints and color consuming the runways. It continued on Tuesday at Rodarte and Vera Wang, with runny floral patterns. It struck on Monday with ice-cream pastels at Preen, tribal prints at Donna Karan and blazing red at Ohne Titel… But if you look at many of the prints that have appeared this week, and the way they were handled, you don’t find that human dimension of wit and vulnerability. They don’t make you smile.”

Style as Seen Through Rose-Colored iPhone App (WSJ)
“Fashion enthusiasts—an image-obsessed group—are enamored with how Instagram turns a low-quality image into a moody composition. At the tents in New York this week, editors, bloggers and publicity people are donning Instagram’s digital rose-colored glasses and uploading images by the thousands, to the chagrin of some professional photographers.”

PPR confirms eyeing Brioni (Reuters)
“French retail and luxury group PPR confirmed it was in talks to acquire family-owned Italian tailor Brioni and added there was a risk the recent drying up of the debt market could affect the disposal of its mail order business Redcats… The deal this summer carried a price tag of about 350 million euros ($480 million)… If it went ahead, the acquisition would allow PPR to make progress on its pledge to strengthen its position in the luxury market and get out of retail.”

Rising cost of clothes could signal end to ‘cheap chic’ (Guardian)
“The days of “cheap chic” and throwaway fashion could be numbered, because the cost of clothes is rising at its fastest rate for nearly 15 years. The “fast fashion” trend, where T-shirts sell for £2 and jeans are priced at less than a fiver in supermarkets, is being battered by big increases in the cost of cotton, labour and transport.”

A Duo Clashes for Fashion (WSJ)
“Messrs. Hernandez and McCollough, both 33 years old, are considered leaders of a new school of designers in their 20s and 30s representing the next generation of big American fashion designers. This new breed is known for its willingness to experiment with fabrics and its ability to reinterpret classic designs for a contemporary audience.”

Zegna virtual store iPad app | Source: NY Times

Next Step for Labels: Cyber-Boutiques (IHT)
“The ultimate challenge for all luxury brands is to go digital — without losing their key attributes of individuality and identity. Yet click onto almost every big name fashion Web site and while the product offering might be tempting, the experience is often bland and only two-dimensional. The success of Net-a-porter.com and of its witty masculine version, Mrporter.com, is the magazine-style content that makes the sites entertaining as well as efficient.”

Super-luxury brands sail high as slowdown fails to impact Indian consumers (The Economic Times)
“Indian consumers are continuing to show strong appetite for luxury products even as consumption in the rest of the economy slows down due to inflation and sliding growth prospects… Sales of fashion accessory labels Jimmy Choo and Canali are growing 30% year on year.”

Sister act: Rodarte is New York’s hottest label (Independent)
“Buyers either see their work as exquisite sartorial investments, or shock-frocks destined to clutter sales racks. Reviews oscillate from hyperbole to hostility, some press applauding Rodarte as a blast of fresh creative fire, others condemning them as a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes… Both sisters fall into the pale and interesting camp – they look so alike they’re often mistaken for twins. In person, they’re less intense than their clothes initially suggest.”

And the BFA nominees are... (Elle UK)
“The BFAs honour the UK’s most influential designers, business leaders, models and celebrities… Two of the most important awards are the Emerging Talent Award for Ready to Wear and the Best Designer Brand honours… Up for consideration are J.W. Anderson, Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto. In the more established category, the candidates are Burberry, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford and Victoria Beckham.”

Tavi Gevinson Explains Her New Website, Rookie (The Cut)
“15-year-old wunderkind blogger Tavi Gevinson launched her much-anticipated new website, Rookie (rookiemag.com). Originally conceived as a joint venture with Jane Pratt and Say Media, the site is now under Gevinson’s sole ownership (New York Media is helping with ad sales).

Classic Timberland Boot | Source: Timberland

Timberland to be taken over by VF Corporation in $2bn deal (Independent)
“VF Corporation… said outdoor clothing was among the fastest-growing apparel categories… ‘The Timberland brand is synonymous with high quality outdoor footwear and apparel… the company had been number one on its acquisition hit list for years.”

Clothes: Too much, too cheap (Independent)
“Blame the so-called democratisation of fashion if you will… consumers can ‘get the Marc Jacobs look’ only hours after the designer’s biannual New York show has taken place, and this despite the fact that the prototype… won’t go on sale until almost half a year later.”

Lululemon: Momentum Continues (Financial Post)
“Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s strong showing in the first quarter came despite unfavourable weather in Canada and the United States, lean inventories and a transition in its e-commerce business.”

Fash File: Umit Benan, Pitti Uomo, Rodarte (IHT)
“When Umit Benan won the Who Is On Next’ Pitti Imagine award in Florence two years ago… [the] designer was struggling to make an impact… But now this creative force is being nurtured at Trussardi, where Umit will be named this week both men’s and women’s designer.”

Alexandre Plokhov’s Poetic Elegance (Dazed Digital)
“Back in the early part of the new millennium when Hedi Slimane was making his indelible mark on menswear with his work at Dior Homme, a New York based Russian émigré called Alexandre Plokhov was creating a quiet revolution of his own with his cult label, Cloak… After a spell designing for Versace Homme, Plokhov is back with his own eponymous label.”

Laura and Kate Mulleavy | Source: Displaced Bones

Rodarte Steps Up to a Widening World (IHT)
“Over the past year the fashion brand, created in 2005 by the sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, made headlines not only for its distinctive ready-to-wear collections but also for its first foray into costume design… [Now] they have announced that they have been invited by Pitti W, the womenswear portion of Pitti Immagine, to be its special guests at its June capsule collection in Florence.”

Designers Focus On Trunk Shows; See Boost to Bottom Line (Thread NY)
“While it may seem old fashioned in the midst of the e-commerce boom (trunk shows, after all, were first popularized by Bill Blass following World War II), many designers are finding that nothing beats face-to-face time with their customers. And to rack up sales, many of them are spending months on the road with their most recent collection… $4,000 dresses don’t just sell themselves.”

Less Appetite for Luxury (NY Times)
“‘I realize how much I have wasted… This whole incident has changed people’s outlook’… Now, analysts say, the triple disaster has jolted the Japanese into a new reality, sapping the materialist, feel-good spirit and replacing it with a focus on helping others and a mood of back to basics.”

Prada soars ahead of Hong Kong listing (FT)
“Prada, the Italian fashion group, reported a surge in operating profit in 2010 ahead of an expected stock market listing in Hong Kong as early as May… Prada’s figures come amid a sharp rise in luxury goods sales among the largest European groups as consumers from China, but also the US, Europe and the Middle East snap up expensive handbags and shoes.”

Getting Ready for Jean Paul Gaultier (WWD)
“A talking facsimile of Jean Paul Gaultier will greet visitors to the exhibit of his designs making their debut June 17 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal… ‘This is not just a fashion show. You’re going to see at work a brain that uses the medium of fashion to influence pop culture and to reflect pop culture, and the technology that is going to be part of this is fascinating.’”

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

Barneys Spring/Summer 2010 | Source: Barney's

‘Get-It-Cheap Party’ for Luxury Goods Ends at Saks, Barneys (Bloomberg)
“Luxury chains including Barney’s and Saks Inc. are selling costlier goods after scaling back discounts and promotions they offered to attract shoppers in the recession.”

Outlook brightens for Italian luxury sector: study (AFP)
“Prospects for Italy’s luxury goods sector are looking up thanks to strong sales forecasts in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, the Altagamma Foundation said.”

Luxury Industry Set for Mergers, Acquisitions (Bloomberg)
“The luxury-goods industry may be set for a new wave of mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings as it recovers from its worst year on record, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.”

Twitter Aims to Tweet Brands with Respect (Brandchannel)
“By chalking up its 100 millionth user, Twitter can no longer be denied as a media platform that’s here to stay. …Twitter this week unveiled a number of initiatives to leverage the brand to generate revenue.”

What’s Next: Fashion (WSJ)
“Five years ago, fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, founded Rodarte, a label they called after their mother’s maiden name. Since then, the brand has earned a following in design circles.”

NEW YORK, United States — For decades, a quick route to fashion world prominence involved a designer turning a youth culture trend into a runway-ready collection. Calvin Klein made heroin chic, Jean Paul Gaultier sampled from club culture, Marc Jacobs glammed-up grunge and Hedi Slimane turned Berlin punks into fashion plates.

The concept was simple, even if the design work wasn’t: find a scruffy outsider style that remained untapped, then spruce it up for the luxury market. But today, as high fashion becomes increasingly accessible, this approach may no longer work. Today’s internet-empowered youth have the tools, access and information to create and promote their own fashion culture.

While some in the fashion media have been fixating on the growing importance of editorial coverage by young bloggers, relatively little has been said about a broader democratisation that’s happening in the fashion industry overall. For one thing, runway knock-offs — formerly a marginal industry — have become a borderline acceptable business practice, with stores such as Zara and Forever 21 building successful franchises by copycatting high fashion designs. In a sense, fast fashion collaborations such as Jimmy Choo for H&M or Rodarte for Target seem to legitimise this practice.

At the same time that affordable imitations of high fashion have emerged as a widespread, easy option for budget-conscious fashionistas, the once closed system that has long dominated high fashion has become increasingly transparent and accessible. The latest runway images are available online for anyone to see, while the behind-the-scenes machinations of the fashion industry have become fodder for popular movies and TV shows, from The September Issue and The Devil Wears Prada to The Rachel Zoe Project. Within this context, the power dynamic between high fashion and youth culture has changed dramatically.

A generation of young bloggers like Tavi and Charles Guislain form the vanguard of the emerging fashion youth demographic. Following in their digital footprints, websites such as Lookbook.nu allow young consumers to compare and share looks assembled from fauxthentic fashions sourced at Urban Outfitters, Topshop, Uniqlo, H&M and vintage stores. Further facilitating this fashion fluency, the ubiquity of street photography sites now allows for a remarkably rapid global exchange of trends: something pops up in a street shot by The Sartorialist one week and is seen in Moscow on Slickwalk a few days later.

Charles Guislain in Vogue Italia | Source: Vogue Italia

The 16-year-old Guislain reminisces that, “The first thing which attracted me to fashion was Hedi Slimane’s work for Dior Homme,” but rather than waiting for a casting director’s call, Guislain teamed up with influential fashion blogger and champion of new talent Diane Pernet to post videos on her website, A Shaded View on Fashion.

He may say, “I don’t see myself as a style influencer — I’ve always dressed firstly for me,” but his modesty is undercut by the fact that Ms. Pernet’s videos of Charles are amongst the most-viewed content on her site and have already made him a budding style icon. Indeed, Mr. Guislain is featured in the latest issue of Italian Vogue alongside Stella Tennant, photographed by Tim Walker.

The looks showcased by Guislain and his contemporaries are certainly youthful, but they aren’t the byproduct of an isolated outsider culture blithely waiting for upmarket exploitation. In fact, with the easy accessibility and free flow of information that informs youth fashion today, that idea seems almost silly now.

In a relatively short time, young bloggers such as Tavi have gone from being outsiders submitting missives from the sidelines to challenging the dominance of major editorial outlets as arbiters of taste, with their front row presence denoting an important show and their opinions openly solicited. For an industry that has long thrived on hierarchy and insularity, this is a startling reversal of power, underscoring a shift that’s helping to drive a fundamental restructuring of an industry built on creating luxury through exclusivity.

Of course, none of this was possible before the internet. But today, young creative people, no matter where they are, have access to inspiration and powerful outlets to share their ideas. From articulate blogging stars to the young aspirants on Lookbook.nu, the new fashion youth are quickly sampling from the looks they see on the runways and creating mix-and match ensembles that are incredibly fashion fluent and often impressively innovative. Moreover, they are remarkably self-aware and savvy — seemingly immediately comfortable with and able to remix, communicate and capitalise on the high fashion aesthetics that have influenced them.

A month shy of her 14th birthday, Tavi has made videos for Rodarte, while Alie Suvelor was able to found the popular French magazine Dirrtyglam at the age of 18, attracting around a million hits each month. Indeed, the former outsiders are now the trendsetters and the idea of trying to repackage youth style without the participation of these young creatives seems woefully outdated.

Not all young fashion bloggers — even the ones getting the most attention today — will have staying power in the years to come. But the internet’s democratising effect certainly offers tremendous opportunity for exceptional young talent to break through and shape the new, digitally accessible fashion industry that’s emerging, while conversely making it less likely that anybody in the future will have as much consolidated influence as figures like Suzy Menkes or Anna Wintour do today.

Ken Miller is an editor, writer, and curator for print and digital media.

Rodarte’s Target (Vogue)
“Rodarte will join the ranks of Erin Fetherston, Jovovich-Hawk, Rogan and Jonathan Saunders (among others), as the latest designers to collaborate with American retailer Target as part of its Go International series.”

Clessidra Pulls Out Of Deal With Cavalli (WSJ)
“Italian private equity fund Clessidra SGR SpA has pulled out of a deal with fashion house Roberto Cavalli after disagreement over the value of the company, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday. The talks collapsed just two months after Cavalli and Clessidra signed a letter of intent for the fund to buy 30% of the fashion house.”

Mark Ronson designs trainers for Gucci’s Pop-Up Store (Elle UK)
“Gucci launches ‘Gucci Icon-Temporary’, a pop-up trainer store that will travel the world. The shop will stock 18 trainer designs in all, 16 for men and two for women. And for that extra limited edition-ness Gucci has collaborated with DJ and trainer addict Mark Ronson to design one exclusive, unisex trainer for each city.”

Adidas profits plunge 93% (Drapers)
“Adidas suffered a 93 percent plunge in profits in its second quarter as the downturn continues to take its toll on consumer spending.”

Naomi Sims, the First Black Supermodel (Time)
“A tall, striking, confident, chiseled, brown-skinned beauty, she has forever changed how America defines beautiful.”

Old Navy ad campaign, courtesy of Old Navy

Gap Revamping Old Navy, Seeking To Reclaim Mkt Share (WSJ)
“Gap, which is the largest U.S. clothing chain, will remodel 50 Old Navy stores this year after a successful pilot in California, according to Chief Executive Glenn Murphy, speaking at a Piper Jaffray conference in New York Wednesday.”

Rodarte: California dreamers put B-movies before business (Times)
“Interest in the Mulleavy sisters and their fantastical designs has grown like a giant redwood.”

Boomtime for fashion fakers (Independent)
“The counterfeit trade is flourishing online – and it’s harder than ever to tell forgeries from designer originals. But now the big labels are fighting back.”

Sir Philip Green’s interview on BBC 2 (Drapers)
“Sir Philip Green, who owns Arcadia and BHS, said that while trade had been more settled recently, businesses were still not being funded properly, which would not help the country lift itself out of the recession.” Watch the interview here.

Graduate Fashion Week winners announced (Drapers)
“Myrto Samou of UCA Rochester picked up the River Island Gold Award and the Womenswear Award at Graduate Fashion Week last night.”