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.

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Raf Simons | Source: Hypebeast

PARIS, France — We usually leave ‘breaking news’ stories to the wire services and Twitter, and don’t like to propagate unsubstantiated rumours, but sometimes the news is so big, and the source of the rumour is so credible, that it warrants immediate comment and analysis from BoF.

In her rapturous review of Raf Simons’ Spring/Summer 2012 collection for Jil Sander, the highly-respected fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, Suzy Menkes, dropped the bombshell news that unnamed sources in Paris say that Raf Simons will replace Stefano Pilati as Creative Director of storied couture house, Yves Saint Laurent. When Menkes’ IHT colleague Jessica Michault announced the news on Twitter, the fashion Twittersphere was sent into overdrive.

Menkes seems supportive of the supposed move, saying that “if Raf Simons ultimately takes over the helm at Yves Saint Laurent — as those familiar with the situation in Paris suggest — the designer will have found a sweet spot for his meticulous modernism.”

But there was no mention of the timing of the supposed transition, and while Ms. Menkes’ sources are amongst the best in the industry and her reporting is of the highest integrity, the news is yet to be officially confirmed by any of the parties concerned, so this news must still be treated as conjecture.

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Stefano Pilati | Source: Fashion Squad

Balanced on Fashion’s Wobbly Pedestal (NY Times)
“In total, Mr. Pilati has been a designer for nearly 30 years, during which time he has had highs and lows, wrestled with drug abuse, and constantly questioned his place in fashion and whether the pressures are worth it.’I have worked and worked and worked hard again… I have been a monk here.’”

It’s Hard to Be Sexy (NY Times)
“Of course, all this is a big fat cliché; women, including Ms. McCartney, are much more complex than that. But it was interesting for Ms. McCartney, who isn’t known for straying far from her brand comfort zone, to take these sexual identities to such extremes. As a trying three-week run of shows winds down, you realize how difficult it is for designers to make new statements with sexy clothes.”

Cut from a different cloth (FT)
“There are, at most, just 300 Intha people who know how to harvest the wild lotus flower stems… About 200 others know how to extract the filaments and process these to skeins, which must be done within 24 hours of picking to prevent deterioration. When Loro Piana first came to Burma… he guaranteed to purchase all the fabric.”

Prada Shuns Milan for Hong Kong Signals Economic Shift (Bloomberg)
“Losing Prada highlights the struggles facing Borsa Italiana to gain new listings, said investor… The Italian exchange lost half its value in the past three years amid a dearth of IPOs and the drop in stock prices since 2007… ‘The Borsa’s troubles mirror sluggish economic growth and an exchange that isn’t as visible as others on a global scale… Companies that have a global market are looking elsewhere for success.’”

Nuturing by a Style ‘Angel’ (IHT)
“One woman in particular was overwhelmed with emotion at the Ackermann show: Anne Chapelle, the Belgian investor who believed in the designer and supported him, just as she has Ann Demeulemeester and has brought the Josephus Thimister brand back to life. Ms. Chapelle’s approach to designers is different from the big-bucks, big-brand style…. ‘My designers have to have their feet on the ground.’”

Carré Hermès | Source: Hermès

Jean-Louis Dumas, Chief of Hermès, Dies at 72 (NY Times)
“Jean-Louis Dumas, who revived the flagging fortunes of Hermès in the late 1970s and in his nearly 30 years as the company’s chief executive transformed it into one of the world’s most successful luxury brands, died Saturday at his home in Paris.”

Louis Vuitton Tops Hermes, Gucci as Most Valuable Luxury Brand (Bloomberg)
“Louis Vuitton, the French fashion brand known for its monogrammed luggage, topped Millward Brown Optimor’s 2010 BrandZ ranking of the most valuable luxury labels for the fifth straight year.”

Costumes On Display at the Met (WSJ)
“There are really no other evenings in New York like the Costume Institute Gala, which falls on the first Monday in May and is hosted, as it has been for years, by Vogue. This is partly because there’s a great element of surprise.”

YSL’s Stefano Pilati (South China Morning Post)
“‘More or less I have done everything I have had in mind so far – in terms of collections, playing with the heritage but not too much and preserving the runway as something directional yet true to what I feel. Sales, for me, show I have done a good job.’”

The Collector: Jason Wu (WSJ)
“In 2008, he was a finalist for the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund award, a prestigious prize for emerging designers. But when the inauguration gown went viral in the multimedia world, he became a household name overnight.”