Christophe Decarnin | Source: Homme a la Mode

Balmain Exit (Vogue UK)
“Christophe Decarnin is leaving Balmain after spending five years as creative director. A successor has not yet been appointed…. Decarnin joined the French fashion house in 2005 as a designer before being made the creative director in November 2007. He is largely credited for introducing the rock and military-inspired look… that the label is currently known for.”

Reviving the Russian luxury market (Reuters)
“Russia’s luxury market may be worth only half of what it was pre-financial crisis, but its thirst for excess is making somewhat of a comeback, though uncertainty over its ability to grow lingers. ‘Slowly, slowly, people are starting to live again,’ said Alla Verber, Russian clothing mogul and head of fashion at plush designer store TSUM, Moscow’s answer to Saks Fifth Avenue.”

Boom time for boutiques in Australia (The Australian)
“Burberry’s flagship store in Sydney’s CBD has marked a trend…for bigger, more lavish and, of course, more expensive boutiques in the booming top end of the retail market. … ‘Our new Sydney store is the most ambitious and expensive boutique we have ever opened,’ TAG Heuer chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin said. ‘After just two months of operation, it was already our No 1 store in the world.’”

Twitter to offer brands Facebook-style pages (Marketing Magazine)
“Branded pages, through which advertisers could deliver tailored messages, are under consideration, along with other plans to increase the long-term revenue potential of the social network… The pages would work in a similar way to Facebook Pages, providing brands with their own space to deliver content and encourage Twitter users to follow them.”

Dazed Live: Ruth Hogben (Dazed Digital)
“The pioneering London filmmaker Ruth Hogben is Director of Fashion Film at SHOWstudio and will be speaking at Dazed Live about her collaborations with Gareth Pugh and the resulting, inimitable visual style of her unique films. She has created iconic fashion films with Matthew Stone and Dazed’s own Katie Shillingford, not to mention her work with Nick Knight and Alexander McQueen.”

LONDON, United Kingdom — According to network technology and services company Cisco, the number of people who watch web videos will surpass 1 billion by the end of 2010. By 2014, web video alone will account for 57 percent of all consumer internet traffic. Already, more than 2 billion videos are played each day on YouTube alone. With staggering statistics like these, it’s no surprise that fashion brands, both large and small, are investing in online video content, while agencies that represent commercial artists are urging their fashion photographers to reposition themselves as image-makers who can direct short films.

But what makes a good fashion film? And are these the same primary concerns that go into a good fashion photograph? While these questions have been circulating since SHOWstudio’s early experiments in moving image, this season, as the medium of fashion film matures, we saw the debate condense around two distinct points of view.

Some industry figures say that creating a successful fashion film is very different to creating a fashion photograph and underscore the primary importance of elements like narrative and acting. “What makes a good fashion film is exactly what makes any good film: direction, lighting, acting, script, sound,” said Diane Pernet, influential fashion blogger and founder of A Shaded View on Fashion Film. “These are elements that go beyond a static photo shoot,” she continued.

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LONDON, United Kingdom — As the fashion industry continues its march into the digital age, London — always known for its raw creativity and emerging talent — can now add digital innovation to that list.

This is no overnight story. To the contrary, it’s taken ten years for fashion players here to plant seeds which are only beginning to bear fruit now, as fashion’s digital tsunami really begins to take hold.

The British capital, after all, is home to revolutionary fashion website SHOWStudio, e-commerce pioneer Net-a-Porter, and online hub of youth culture Dazed Digital — all of which were founded many years ago. These seminal businesses have created a foundational and fertile seedbed for other digital businesses and attracted and developed digital talent that has gone on to shape and inspire other online companies here including mywardrobe.com, Fashionair and farfetch.com. And, while American Vogue is in the midst of setting up its website now, British Vogue has had its own website for fifteen years.

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Tramps, Past, Present & Couture - Dior Couture A/W 2001 | Source: SHOWstudio

LONDON, United Kingdom — For many fashion companies, 2009 was the year the internet arrived. In the face of an unprecedented economic crisis and overwhelming evidence that affluent consumers are highly active online, senior executives across the industry are finally starting to embrace digital media with a new strategic seriousness.

There was no better sign of this than the impressive gala held during London Fashion Week to celebrate fashion website SHOWstudio and its groundbreaking exhibition at Somerset House, “Fashion Revolution.”

When it was launched by photographer Nick Knight in November of 2000, SHOWstudio was ahead of its time. Indeed, “Fashion Revolution” celebrates nine years of restless experimentation and digital innovation. But for the majority of brands, retailers and publishers, who are still struggling to understand the radical impact the internet is having on fashion communication, the retrospective also offers urgent lessons for the present. We think it’s a must-see for executives, creatives and editors alike.

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Screenshot from David David fashion film | Source: David David

NEW YORK, United States — Fashion film was everywhere this season. Emerging and established designers alike dreamt up new ways to use the medium, proving it to be an increasingly powerful and flexible format for capturing, heightening and transmitting the energy of the collections.

In New York, designers Gareth Pugh and Tim Hamilton presented films that acted as prequels and sequels to their respective Paris runway shows, extending their presence across multiple fashion capitals. While in London, DAVID DAVID presented a series of clean and cost-effective films in lieu of an expensive runway show, Richard Nicoll showed a haunting short to introduce his catwalk outing, and luxury knitwear manufacturers Pringle of Scotland returned to London Fashion Week with a beautiful film featuring Tilda Swinton.

Fashion film was a powerful force in Paris, as well. Alexander McQueen integrated film into his visionary, technology-infused show, creating a heightened, multimedia experience for the editors and buyers in attendance, while beaming the spectacle to the world via twin robotic cameras and a link up with Nick Knight’s website SHOWstudio.

Fashion film also made an appearance alongside the collections. In a timely homage to an early pioneer, Parisian department store Le Bon Marché held a beautifully installed exhibition titled “Guy Bourdin: ses films.” Meanwhile, across the Seine at the Palais de Tokyo, fashion blogger Diane Pernet staged her second annual fashion film festival, screening recent films by Steven Klein, Nick Knight and others.

What follows is a BoF Best of the Season selection of what we think were the most innovative and captivating fashion films (and fashion film happenings) we saw this season. (RSS and Email subscribers, click here to view the films).

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