Art of the Trench | Source: Burberry

Burberry Looks Online for Ways to Gain Customers (IHT)
“Angela Ahrendts still remembers when she bought her first Burberry trench coat… Ms. Ahrendts — who now runs the company — is hoping to move the quintessentially British brand into the age of the Internet to attract a new generation of shoppers.”

Luxury Pundits: Stay Elitist Yet Youthful (Media Post)
“Luxury brands… must be elitist, empathetic, immediate, social and youthful in order to succeed… the single worst thing that happened to luxury was its democratization.”

La Perla to rationalise brand strategy (Drapers)
“Italian lingerie firm La Perla is to rationalise its brand portfolio and lower prices in a move it claims will boost its market share.”

Bond Street rings up record for shop rents (Times Online)
“Shop rents on London’s Bond Street, home to the world’s glitziest brands, are poised to defy the credit crunch and smash through £900 per square foot — a record in Britain.”

Online museum for fashion house Ferragamo (Reuters)
“Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo has taken a museum detailing its history and culture online, allowing young designers to add their creative touch to its shoe models.”

El Palacio de Hierro luxury department store, Mexico City | Source: iluminet.com

Ferragamo Chief Norsa Says Mexico Is Strongest Luxury Market (Bloomberg)
“Salvatore Ferragamo SpA Chief Executive Officer Michele Norsa said the Italian fashion brand’s strongest sales growth among major economies this year has been in Mexico, where the wealthy spent more at home as the peso fell.”

Asos benefits from overseas sales (FT)
“In a statement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting, Asos said trading was in line with expectations for the six months to September 30. The fashion site said it had 1.2m active customers in the period, up from 890,000 a year ago, with 5.6m visitors a month.”

U.K. Retail Sales Index Rises to Highest Since April, CBI Says (Bloomberg)
“Retailers saying sales increased from a year earlier outnumbered those reporting declines by 3 percentage points, compared with a reading of minus 16 points in August, the biggest U.K. business lobby said in a statement in London today.”

M&S Sales Improving, Cautious On Outlook (WSJ)
“U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer Group PLC Wednesday reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter sales, driven by the introduction of more affordable food and revamped clothing and homeware ranges, but cautioned that trading conditions will remain difficult well into next year due to the economic downturn.”

Random Thoughts Before the Train to Paris (New York Times)
Cathy Horyn collects her thoughts before her arrival in Paris.

Massimiliano Giornetti for Ferragamo S/S 2009

Ferragamo menswear designer takes on womenswear (Reuters)
“Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo has said its menswear designer Massimiliano Giornetti will also take on women’s ready-to-wear.”

Hugo Boss keeps 2009 outlook after weak Q2 (Reuters)
“Hugo Boss said on Thursday second-quarter loss before interest and tax (EBIT) widened to 15.6 million euros ($21.99 million) from 2.2 million in the same period last year. Sales fell 5.4 percent to 303.9 million euros.”

House-Brand Menswear That Aims to Be a Cut Above (WSJ)
“Passersby along New York’s Fifth Avenue will soon see a change at Saks Fifth Avenue: Rather than a designer collection, a corner window will announce the department store’s own new line of menswear.”

How Do You Like Me Now? (New York Times)
“Until Mr. Gaskins chose to reveal himself, now that he is closing his business, as the author of The Emperor’s Old Clothes, only a handful of friends knew he had such a biting side. But as Fluff Chance, his pseudonymous creation, Mr. Gaskins is fearless in his critiques of colleagues and their creations..”

The uproarious story of Biba, the store that defined the Sixties (Daily Mail)
“Way before Kate Moss donned vintage styles, Barbara Hulanicki, the brains and talent behind Biba, was putting together the most evocative and iconic fashions from all eras. And instead of flogging them at film star prices, the boutique was dead cheap.”

The Meatpacking district in the 1970's, courtesy of the Bowery Boys

Fashion in Dark Times (The Atlantic)
“During the fashion boom that began in the 1980s, the relationship between fashion and its customers was the same as the one between art and its rich, often unlovely patrons: all that money sloshing around led to excessive consumption, but it also created a fertile soil in which works of beauty and integrity could develop.”

This year’s model: How Lakshmi Menon put India in Vogue (Independent)
“Lakshmi Menon has entered the fashion stratosphere with her first solo editorial shoot in American ‘Vogue’. But her success raises one, deeply unsettling question: why is she the only South Asian model regularly strutting down the international catwalks?”

Online fashion sales fall on month (Drapers)
“Online sales of fashion rose 17 percent on last year in April but fell 2 percent against March according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.”

Della Valle Boosts Stake in Saks to 5.9 percent (WWD)
“Carlos Slim Helu has company. Tod’s SpA chairman and chief executive officer Diego Della Valle has doubled his investment in Saks Inc. in the past month and now owns 5.9 percent.” (Subscription required)

Ferragamo Net Slides 17 Percent (WWD)
“Italy’s Salvatore Ferragamo SpA reported a 17 percent drop in earnings in 2008 due to marginal revenue growth and a raft of new store openings.” (Subscription required)

“Australia”, Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and … Ferragamo  (WSJ)
As part of Salvatore Ferragamo’s “long standing brand strategy,” it has made accessories for the movie Australia starring Nicole Kidman.

Giles Hearts Boys, Too (Fashionista)
Giles Deacon has launched a menswear range in collaboration with New Look.

Retail Rx for a Hip Mom-and-Pop (NY Times)
By George, a small retailer in Austin, Texas is emblematic of the challenges for mom-and-pop retailers in the current economic environment.

Ugg sales soar at John Lewis (Drapers)
At John Lewis, Uggs, the ubiquitous Australian boots, “saw a 300% increase in sales.”

Scene from Australia, photo courtesy of TV.com.