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

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.

That said, Mr. Pilati’s future at YSL is said to have been rocky for several seasons now. He has been regularly dogged by rumours that other designers were set to replace him. Only last season, a casual tweet from Kenzo’s Twitter account spawned rumours that Hedi Slimane would replace Pilati, rumours that were only snuffed out when YSL’s official Twitter account wrote: “From YSL HQ in Paris… Pilati busy working on the next collection. All the rumors unfounded – he is here to stay.”

There is more reason to believe the rumours are true this time around. Up until now, there has been no such Twitter rebuttal from YSL. And, Ms. Menkes’ news was published in the International Herald Tribune and on The New York Times website, organisations which operate under strict journalistic codes. While still not a 100 percent guarantee, this holds much more weight in our books than a rogue tweet from a competing brand.

As for Mr. Simons, Ms. Menkes says he couldn’t be reached for comment. But, speaking to Tim Blanks for his review on Style.com, Mr. Simons did say that his Spring/Summer 2012 collection “is the last in his couture trilogy” for Jil Sander, leaving Mr. Blanks to postulate about Mr. Simons’ next chapter  for the brand.

Will there really be another Raf Simons collection for Jil Sander? Or, could YSL Couture be next? Watch this space.

Imran Amed is founder and editor of The Business of Fashion

UPDATE: 26 September 2006 – Yves Saint Laurent issued a statement today denying the rumours about Mr. Pilati’s departure (and Mr. Simons’ arrival) at the house: “”Yves Saint Laurent disclaims and regards as unfounded the current rumours concerning the creative direction of the house. Stefano Pilati continues to dedicate his talent and energies to Yves Saint Laurent and the coming fashion show.”

LONDON, United Kingdom — As the the fashion industry grapples with the radical change that’s reshaping our business, there have been precious few opportunities to step back and discuss what it all means for the fashion system at large.

The third edition of Miu Miu’s “Musing” salons, themed The Pace of Fashion and hosted by Shala Monroque, enabled industry leaders from across the fashion spectrum to sit back and try to make sense of an industry undergoing rapid disruption and transformation. “We wanted to gather people of like minds to have a conversation,” said Monroque. “We’ve done it twice already in New York and the one topic that kept coming up was the pace of fashion.”

Following “Musing” events in New York, moderated by Andre Leon Talley, it was The Business of Fashion’s very own Imran Amed — seated between Monroque and the International Herald Tribune’s Suzy Menkes — who opened and led the conversation this time. “We all know working in this business everyday, that things have been going faster and faster and faster,” he said, citing voracious demand for new products (from both retailers and consumers) and the intense pressure for fashion businesses to deliver revenue and profit growth as two underlying causes of this overall acceleration.

But it was the impact of a third key driver, the rise of digital media, which dominated much of the evening’s dialogue, sparking a collegial debate between some of fashion’s most influential figures including Grazia’s Paula Reed, Yoox CEO Federico Marchetti, The Times’ Lisa Armstrong, blogging star Susanna Lau, and Harvey Nichols buying director Averyl Oates.

One key thread of the debate centred around the fact that the pace of fashion communication is out of sync with the pace of fashion production. Today, desire for fashion products is created instantly during (and immediately after) runway shows, as fashion consumers take in the collections at the same time as buyers and editors, but long before these products are available to purchase.

Referencing Tom Ford, who held a very private and intimate fashion show last September in New York, withholding the images from his show until his collection was actually available in stores in January, Monroque said that Ford “thought overexposure would kill the desire for the garment.”

“I think it depends on the customer,” countered Lisa Armstrong of The Telegraph. “There are still a huge number of people who are still very influenced by celebrities” who create product demand via paparazzi shots that are circulated online. Indeed, Averyl Oates of Harvey Nichols followed up by describing how consumer desire can actually increase over time, bolstered by online conversation. “The build-up of that desirability is actually very important, as well. We have customers who come into the store and put their names down who actually want to wait those three or four months,” she said.

Given the number of editors in the room, it’s not surprising that there was also much discussion about the future of fashion communication itself, especially in regards to print magazines. Held back by long lead times and old media mindsets, the consensus was that monthly magazines will face the greatest threat from digital publishers who are treading on the monthly magazines’ traditional turf of fashion news and trends.

Paula Reed, Style Director of Grazia, a weekly mass-market magazine with incredible selling power spoke of the benefit of working on a weekly basis. “To actually get stuff out there quickly … feels to me like the most incredible freedom and that’s what readers are responding to,” she said. In contrast, slower paced, artistic bi-annuals often become collectible fashion items in and of themselves, due their timeless nature and physical beauty. Penny Martin, editor of The Gentlewoman, who returned to print after eight years in the digital world said: “I am interested in the word quality. There’s a great deal of opportunity with a bi-annual to think a lot about the content.”

“I think the answer really is that there are different speeds that relate to different things,” said Ms. Menkes. “That’s what I’m taking away from this evening,” commenting that the conversation was much more positive than she had expected. “The beautiful images that have taken a great deal of work and have long been thought out, in bi-annual magazines, are part of the mix … but you also want the very speedy things. Now, we’re talking about having different layers and levels, and different speeds. I personally think that’s rather good.”

Leave it to Ms. Menkes to tie a multi-faceted and complex conversation into a succinct, neat little bow to conclude an extremely enjoyable evening. BoF was delighted to be a part of it all.

Robert Cordero is a Contributing Editor at The Business of Fashion.

The BoF community looks on at Fashion Pioneers with Natalie Massenet | Photo: Lawrence Randall

LONDON, United Kingdom — It’s been quite the year for the BoF team. In January, we will celebrate our 4th birthday, having seen BoF grow from a passion project created from the sofa in my living room to a growing global community of like-minded fashion professionals that is BoF today.

We are grateful for all of the support our community has shown us over the past 12 months, from the success of our sold-out Fashion Pioneers series to the rapidly growing numbers of you who come to us every day for opinionated fashion business analysis and a highly-curated point of view on the day’s news. We now have over 150,000 followers on Twitter, 2,000 fans on Facebook and growing follower base on our new Tumblr page. We are honoured and grateful that so many of you take the time to engage and interact with us on a daily basis, in so many ways.

The international media has also been paying attention to the power and reach of our community, from the International Herald Tribune to Vogue Italia to The Evening Standard. Canada’s Macleans Magazine called BoF “The Economist of Fashion,” the Daily Telegraph included BoF in their round-up of “Britain’s Best Fashion Bloggers” and just this month British GQ gave us a little surprise for 2011 (check out number 92). What an honour and a great way to start the new year!

None of this would be possible without you, the global community of executives, designers, editors, students, academics, investors and supporters who have made BoF their daily must-read on the fashion business. We’re going to take a break over the holidays, but in the meantime here’s a look back to the articles and stories which fired up your interest and passions this past year. Thank you again for your continued support.

Happy holidays, happy new year, and see you in 2011!

1. In Tokyo, Abercrombie Misses Its Mark

Abercrombie & Fitch, Ginza | Source: Fashionsnap.com

When BoF’s W. David Marx filed his report on the new Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tokyo’s Ginza district earlier this year, calling the American fashion brand out for its culturally insensitive approach to international expansion, the fashion blogosphere lit up with conversation about the new store. Commenters on BoF joined in large numbers, describing their own experiences — positive and negative — at the brand’s Tokyo emporium and providing insider scoops on the brand’s bungled retail strategy in Japan.

2. BoF Exclusive | The New Creative Establishment 2010

The New Creative Establishment | Source: INDUSTRIE Magazine

Possibly the most controversial article of 2010 was our exclusive preview of The New Creative Establishment created by our friends at INDUSTRIE magazine. The preview rocketed to the top of our Most Read Articles list right away and has firmly held its position for more than a month. Lists like these always spark some kind of controversy, but the uproar about this one was heard in fashion quarters around the world, and indeed on all of the major fashion websites from Grazia Daily to Style.com. Who deserved to be on the list? Who didn’t? Who was missed? Are these kinds of lists constructive contributions to the fashion dialogue or just a way for a new magazine to get attention and flatter would-be collaborators? You decide.

3. Fashion 2.0 | What The Independent Article Didn’t Tell Us

Tavi Gevinson's Bow at Dior Couture | Source: Twitpic by SteffiSchuetze

Back in February when The Independent newspaper contacted several respected bloggers for comment on an article about the growing influence and questionable ethics of some fashion bloggers, BoF was more than happy to provide some thoughts. However, when the article was published quoting only editors from major magazines, we published our own article, to give the other side of the story.

4. Fashion 2.0 | Top 10 Fashion Films of the Season

Our twice-a-year rundowns of the top fashion films of the season continue to be very popular. Fred Butler’s Sunshowers film topped our ranking of fashion films in the Spring while Gareth Pugh’s tour de force film shown in Paris’ Bercy stadium grabbed the top spot in the Autumn ranking. If you have some time over the holiday break, sit back and enjoy these curated selections of fashion’s finest films.

5. BoF Exclusive | Zaldy Goco talks about designing for Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga

Michael Jackson by Zaldy | Source: Zaldy Goco

Michael Jackson’s untimely death right before he was about to kick off a 50 concert series in London shocked the world.  Not only did BoF get the global exclusive scoop from designer Zaldy Goco on the costumes he had designed for the King of Pop, but we also got his take on working with Lady Gaga, whose impact on fashion in 2010 was absolutely huge.

6. Fashion 2.0 | Suzy Menkes on the Growing Influence of Fashion Blogs

In early in 2010 Suzy Menkes issued a warning to bloggers about the risk of becoming mouthpieces for fashion brands, many of whom seem to be looking to manipulate bloggers into publishing what some consider to be nothing more than brand propaganda. Ever the pragmatist, Ms Menkes also realises that the growing impact and relevance of blogs and other social media is here to stay. She told Mary Scherpe of Stil in Berlin, “the world changed when fashion instead of being a monologue, became a conversation. And that’s never going to stop.”

7. Fashion 2.0 | The Fashionable Rise of Tumblr

Tumblr Screenshots | Source: Google Images

Tumblr is the latest social media platform to take the fashion industry by storm. Vikram Alexei Kansara’s round-up on the rise of fashion tumbling elicited a huge response amongst the Tumblr community and resulted in BoF being invited to become an editor on the official Tumblr fashion channel. BoF has also launched it’s own Tumblr to participate in this passionate community.

8. Fashion Pioneers | Jefferson Hack, Natalie Massenet and Nick Knight

Our series of in-depth, one-on-one interviews with fashion’s most inspiring pioneers have been extremely popular on BoF and have spread around the internet like wildfire. If you missed our interviews during the year, take the chance to listen to these pioneering fashion forces speak about the future of fashion:

Jefferson Hack on Fashion Media in The Era of Digital Beauty

Natalie Massenet Says to Create the Future, Follow the Consumer

Nick Knight Says Heart and Mind are the Key to Fashion Imagemaking

9. How Influential are the New Fashion Youth?

Much has been said about the increasing influence of young fashion bloggers, empowered with digital media and their own creativity. Indeed, today’s internet-empowered youth have the tools, access and information to create and promote their own fashion culture. Our exploration of the ‘new fashion youth’ demonstrated how this kind of online showcase may create opportunities for long-term careers in the fashion industry.

10. It’s Time Fashion Schools Got Down to Business

Thomas Tait’s Sketchbook | Source: Thomas Tait

Rounding out the top ten articles of the year on BoF was an opinion piece highlighting the lack of business training and preparation given to young fashion designers at fashion schools the world over. The article does not advocate upseting “the unique and delicate creative climates that have been carefully constructed at the world’s leading fashion colleges,” but “building some basic business training into the core fashion curriculum would be a very good thing indeed.”

Imran Amed is founder and editor of The Business of Fashion

“I think they are very beautiful objects. There is no touch of what is considered bad taste or bad design [with technology], because bad design is bad taste today. They are flawless in a way. Facebook is a flawless object…it’s for me like a Brancusi”

Karl Lagerfeld speaking exclusively to BoF Founder and Editor-in-Chief Imran Amed on technology for The Luxury Channel, following the IHT Heritage Luxury Conference hosted by Suzy Menkes and held in London last week.

Anna Dello Russo | Source: Anna Dello Russo

The New Icons of Fashion (NY Times)
“Ms. Dello Russo and her raffish style-world cohort, who populate the mastheads of the fashion magazines, represent a new breed of Web-based reality star… they are casting a spell, their comings and goings relentlessly tracked by a new generation of aspiring style savants.”

What Does ‘Masstige’ Mean For China? (Jing Daily)
“If masstige collections are offered supplemental to the luxury collections, there is little risk of impacting the luxury spending; instead, masstige opens up a new market segment of middle-class consumers.”

Gap opens first China store, banks on rising incomes (Reuters)
“U.S. clothing retailer Gap Inc opened its first store in mainland China on Thursday, the first of its four planned stores in the country, as it banks on rising Chinese incomes to prop up soft demand back home.”

Polo profit beats, revenue outlook raised (Reuters)
“Polo Ralph Lauren Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday and again raised its full-year sales outlook due to strong demand globally, sending its shares to an all-time high.”

A McQueen Retrospective at the Met (NY Times)
“‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,’ an exhibition of the fashion of the late British designer, will open at the Costume Institute on May 4 [and] will include designs from Mr. McQueen’s postgraduate show at Central Saint Martins in 1992 until his final collection in 2010.”

““If heritage is all about the physical artifacts and intangible attributes that connect the brand to its past, how does one break that down into codes that can be adapted for the Internet Age? …The essence of heritage luxury takes a quiver of emotion from the past in a thoroughly modern world.”

The inimitable Suzy Menkes, writing exclusively for NOWNESS about “heritage” in the digital era for luxury brands, accompanied by an animated short from Christian Borstlab as part of the celebrations for the 10th annual IHT Luxury Conference being held in London this week.

Maggie Cheung for Lane Crawford | Source: Pomegranita

China Looms Large in Luxury Industry’s Vision (NY Times)
“If heritage is the tool fashion houses have turned to in the wake of the global financial crisis, then the actual market the luxury industry sees guaranteeing its future is China… while China booms, the industry is turning back to basics with more mature markets.”

Victoria Beckham looking to build her label slowly (Reuters)
“Victoria Beckham is mulling entry into new fashion areas but wants build her business slowly to ‘still be around in 20 years’ time… Beckham, whose label is only two years old, has been shortlisted for the British designer brand of the year award.”

Direct messaging, social media key to reaching wealthy consumers (Luxury Daily)
“Direct messaging such as personal phone calls and social media tactics are particularly effective for targeting consumers with annual incomes higher than $500,000 and should play a role in holiday strategies, according to research.”

Perpetuating the Legacy of Savile Row (NY Times)
“To reread reports of the advent of Richard James on Savile Row in the early 1990s, you would think he was selling jeans and jocks… What he was proposing from his tiny Savile Row shop was a ready-to-wear collection supplemented by special bespoke orders.”

Alber Elbaz with Suzy Menkes (Vogue UK)
“Alber Elbaz didn’t do the H&M line to make Lanvin more cool, or more modern, or more relevant – he did it to prevent us from falling foul of a life like Marie Antoinette’s. Join him, with Suzy Menkes, on stage with VogueTV.”

Kate Moss arrives at Christian Dior show, Paris | Photo: Imran Amed

LONDON, United Kingdom — One never knows exactly what to expect from fashion month. Which designers will soar higher, which will stumble, and which will seemingly rise from the ashes? Four weeks of shows, parties and extravaganzas finally came to an end last Wednesday, and the answers to many of these questions have now been revealed.

But of course fashion week isn’t just about shows and parties, it is also the time of year when fashion editors, buyers, models, designers, stylists, bloggers, and photographers all travel together in a caravan-like four week trade conference. Not surprisingly then, fashion week is also the time of year when the most deals are done, relationships are born, and ideas are developed. At a time when the fashion industry is being radically reshaped by the forces of digital revolution, rapid globalisation and a post-recessionary economy, this biannual meeting of the fashion flock has become an even more important barometer of things to come.

Perhaps this is why our seasonal review has become a mainstay of BoF fashion week coverage. We take a step back and look at everything with a degree of distance, trying to understand what it all means. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been chatting with the good and great to get the inside scoop on the market drivers and trends that will shape the business of fashion in the months to come, and am happy to share them with you in this roundup of Spring/Summer 2011, the season that was.

1. THE RETURN OF OPTIMISM? FOR NOW.

The Jobless Recovery | Source: New York Times; Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chart by Amanda Cox.

It’s hard to believe it’s already been two years since fashion month was upstaged by teetering Wall Street banks and the eventual demise of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008. The Spring/Summer 2011 season was by far the most optimistic since the heady days of 2007. As one seasoned industry observer said to me, “the money has returned” to luxury and fashion. Indeed, senior business leaders and fashion CEOs boasted of high double digit percentage gains in revenue, albeit over the dismal numbers of 2009.

But is all this optimism well-founded, and will it last? Even with significant growth in 2010, the luxury market is still not back where it was before the financial crisis. The economies in the traditional luxury markets of Europe, Japan and the US remain weak and fragile. It’s only consumption in emerging markets like China, Brazil and India (or by citizens of these countries purchasing abroad) that is driving luxury market growth today. Indeed, we are at an inflection point in global economic history as power shifts away from the incumbents.

But over the longer term, the imbalanced nature of current global economic growth doesn’t bode well. As fiscal austerity measures begin to take hold in Western economies — further strangling the already feeble economic growth of the so-called “jobless recovery” — the luxury market risks becoming more and more dependent on new markets. And, as The Economist reported this week, without “micro” structural reform in both developed and developing markets, current growth rates are unlikely to last.

Bottom line? There is no crystal ball, but there is still a good chance that 2011 will see the return of economic contraction in traditional luxury markets, growth will slow in emerging markets, and the decade to come will be long and hard. I hate to burst the bubble of optimism that was palpable this fashion week, but we are far from being out of the woods.

2. SEVENTIES GLAMOUR, GRAPHICS AND NEON COLOURS STORM THE RUNWAY

Rodarte and Christopher Kane, Spring/Summer 2011 | Source: Style.com

While the camel colours of Phoebe Philo’s new minimalism may have dominated the wardrobes in the front row, many designers were taking an altogether different point of view on the runway – including, to some extent, Ms. Philo herself, who for the first time injected colourful prints into her runway collection for Céline.

In New York, the standout show was Rodarte, where the Mulleavy sisters finally found that elusive commercial counterbalance to their undeniable creativity. Ohne Titel — another female design duo — delivered one of their strongest collections to date, while Preen’s collection of tailored daywear was super chic.

Marc Jacobs’ seventies revival was a fun, commercial romp and set the wheels in motion for a seventies revival all around. “This is our moment,” Bonnie Takhar, chief executive of Halston said to me when I visited her showroom in New York. “For some brands seventies glamour is a trend. But for Halston, it is central to our brand DNA.”

During another strong London Fashion Week, Mary Katrantzou’s surrealist interior prints elevated her signature aesthetic to a whole new level, while Peter Pilotto delivered a knockout collection of eminently wearable clothes which were still distinctive for their fabrics and construction. Richard Nicoll’s powerful evening show at the old Eurostar terminal is still firmly registered in my head, as are Christopher Kane’s amazing Yakuza prints and neon lace-cum-leather looks.

I missed Milan, but Prada and Jil Sander — again in tune with colour blocking and graphics — seemed to be the standouts. For me at least, and despite reports in WWD to the contrary, Paris felt flat. Except for the stunning Lanvin show and a new haute vision from Rick Owens, the most exciting new development in the city of lights was the fact that taxis now come with red lights that finally signal that they’re available for hire.

Then again, I did miss the last day when Miu Miu looked particularly good, and Stefano Pilati pulled out a strong collection for YSL, which may have saved him his job at the venerable French house. Sarah Burton’s debut for Alexander McQueen also looked impressive and in-tune with the McQueen DNA.

3. THE RISKS OF FASHION IMMEDIACY

I have often referred to Burberry as the world’s first truly digital luxury brand, what with the phenomenal success of Art of the Trench, the innovative Burberry Acoustic initiative, trans-seasonal collections like “April Showers” and “Winter Storms” promoted via YouTube, and of course the pioneering live streamed shows which in recent seasons have featured shopable items, available for immediate order, with delivery in 6-8 weeks. Burberry has consistently been the fashion industry’s undisputed digital powerhouse.

But there are inherent risks in being the constant innovator and first mover. During Burberry’s latest fashion show, beamed live from London Fashion Week , several models tumbled to the ground from the towering heels they were asked to walk in. All of this was broadcast live to Burberry fans around the world. Of course, models fall at fashion shows fairly regularly, but in the past this would have been neatly edited out of the video that was later shown to consumers. This time, however, the unscripted moment was broadcast live around the world and will live in eternity online. A video of the finale fall posted by London’s Telegraph newspaper has been viewed more than 600,000 times.

That said, the risk of consumers seeing models falling is relatively minor compared to the benefit of capturing the immediate excitement of a live event. But to make matters worse, the Burberry collection reviews from some of the most influential fashion critics were not positive, and not just because of the shoes. Said Sarah Mower, “The problem with direct selling of this kind is that it can cut out a designer’s ability to explore variety in a show, to experiment with a creative way forward rather than satisfy the need to make something that has to be ready to arrive at someone’s door in six weeks.” Cathy Horyn, in her characteristically honest direct style went even further, saying “When I think of all the great collections that Mr. Bailey has done for Burberry, they’ve all been characterized by a sense of emotion that he was willing to put out there. It wasn’t all crass e-commerce.”

It seems the greater problem is that Burberry is conflating a consumer event with a trade event. Critics and editors are looking for an overall message, creativity and perhaps inspiration for fashion editorials, while consumers are ultimately looking for things to buy. Trying to achieve both of these with one collection in one live event is challenging.

Unfortunately, Burberry declined to comment on their plans for fashion immediacy, and some of the other potential benefits accrued from such an approach.

Tom Ford took an entirely different tack altogether. Ford told WWD, “I don’t get the need for fashion immediacy. I think it’s bad.” Ford debuted his first eponymous women’s collection to an intimate (and super exclusive) crowd of 100 or so editors and buyers, all of whom were asked not to take photographs. Most editors complied and thus, in a typically genius stroke of Tom Ford PR, he managed to get everyone who wasn’t present to pay attention to what he is doing for womenswear without showing them anything. Then again, thinking that he can totally prevent communication in the digital era is a stretch, even for Mr. Ford. No doubt, he will be fighting a losing battle against a digital tidal wave that is much more powerful than any brand or designer, even one who is as masterful a marketeer as Mr Ford.

Perhaps Gareth Pugh is onto something. He had a different take on the digital fashion show of the future. Rather than put on a traditional show, he chose to use a fashion film, which, as he explained to me over tea with his benefactor Michele Lamy, enabled him to more carefully control the image of his collection as it was beamed out live to the world. He was also able to provide Style.com and WWD runway images which were also carefully chosen and shot by his team in advance. This was the second time that Gareth employed this strategy, but for some reason the industry took much more notice this time around. Maybe it’s a sign that we are finally ready for a new fashion show format altogether.

More and more, the challenge for fashion brands and designers will be to embrace our new digital reality, while also carefully managing its inherent risks.

4. MAINSTREAM FASHION EDITORS TAKE TO NEW MEDIA

Clockwise from left, Cathy Horyn, Vanessa Friedman, Suzy Menkes, Hilary Alexander and screenshot from FT Material World

Following the lead of Cathy Horyn who launched her must-read On the Runway blog back in January 2007 (the same month, incidentally, that BoF was founded), many other important editors have taken up tweeting and blogging with a new-found vigour.

The latest to enter the fray is the Financial Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman , who launched Material World, a blog that “deals with the fashion/luxury industry from both a corporate and consumer point of view.” Vanessa told me via email that the idea to start a fashion blog actually came from Robert Shrimsley, editor of ft.com. “I was thrilled,” she said, “because there is a lot of fashion news that the FT was structurally unable to cover in its paper incarnation, but that absolutely merits a comment or observation.” We’ll be reading Vanessa’s blog carefully, as it will no doubt address fashion business topics near and dear to us.

Amongst the twittering classes, no other editor has earned more followers than Hilary Alexander, fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph whose approach is simple: call it like she sees it. This results in a Twitter account with a real voice, something to which all professional tweeters should aspire. “If something happens you can tell people ‘this has just happened,’” she told me as we waited for the Peter Pilotto show to start. “It’s a good way of connecting with readers and getting them to explore the Telegraph website.”

The one digital holdout thus far is Suzy Menkes, although she does have a Facebook fan page. Now that the standalone International Herald Tribune site is no longer, her reviews have been buried on the New York Times website. Perhaps they should give Suzy a blog to give her the visibility she deserves. God knows she already moves at Internet speed. Her show reviews are almost always the first to appear. It’s really too bad they have made them so hard to find.

5. STYLE.COM VERSUS VOGUE.COM

Style.com and Vogue.com Screenshots | Source: Style.com and Vogue.com

Over the past decade, Style.com has established itself as the go-to destination for the fashion-obsessed. It is the website of record, especially because its show summaries are the first place many people look for images and snappy, intelligent reviews of the most important collections. Having built an archive over the past ten years, Style.com is now like an encyclopedia of fashion and an indispensable industry resource.

This season the website also stepped things up further, live-streaming select shows, pushing out more content, more quickly on its StyleFile blog, and getting its show photos and reviews up as they are ready, instead of waiting to put all the shows up at the same time the next day.

But Style.com also lost one of its very best critics when Sarah Mower — who has long been American Vogue’s eyes and ears in Europe — moved to Vogue.com, which was quietly launched in early September. Using a “less-is-more” approach, Vogue.com doesn’t review nearly as many shows as Style.com, but it regularly features contributions from senior Vogue editors like Hamish Bowles, Mark Holgate and Meredith Melling-Burke, meaning that the magazine speaks with the same voice, online and off, and has one editor-in-chief. This is a unified approach that more fashion magazines around the world should pay attention to. Personally, I have enjoyed the down-to-earth writing and large format candid party pictures, which aren’t as posed and perfect as the ones you find elsewhere, and therefore feel more authentic and fun.

It’s too bad, then, that the new Vogue.com site is clunky and hard to navigate. What’s more, for those of us in countries which have local Vogue websites, we must type AmericanVogue.com in order to reach the site, which is fine, I guess. But even once we’ve done that, if we click on the Vogue.com logo in the top left hand corner to go to the home page, we actually end up at Vogue.co.uk or Vogue.fr or Vogue.in, depending on which country we’re in. This needs to be fixed, pronto.

So what does the future hold for the two Condé Nast fashion websites? It’s not entirely clear as yet. But Condé Nast would be wise to fund and support the growth of both of these sites, as they find their voice and niche in online fashion media. There is plenty of room for both of them, and they both have a role to play. Style.com may become more industry-facing, expanding its role as the an essential indutry tool while Vogue.com could carve out a consumer-facing point of view.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

Christophe Lemaire, new Director of Womens, Hermès | Source: Adah

Three Separate Challenges (NY Times)
“With a number of companies now being run by equity-market managers, you can bet your bottom dollar that they would love to get their hands on an experienced design maestro — if more were available.”

A New Pragmatism Behind the Catwalk (IHT)
“A post-recession strategy likely to define luxury brand management for the early 21st century has emerged from a week packed with designer changes at European fashion houses… the era of the star designer… is over.”

Louis Vuitton: Where the boom never ends (Independent)
“‘We have a wider range of product – ready-to-wear, watches, jewellery – than we did 30 or 40 years ago…but the spirit is the same. In each product we have an extraordinary mix of tradition and innovation.’”

Cambodian Factories Seek Eco-Friendly Power Alternatives (IHT)
“The majority of the country’s garment factories — making clothes for brand names in the U.S. and European markets — use firewood to heat old-fashioned boilers that produce hot water for dying fabrics and steam for ironing.”

Are Luxury Brands Just Shuffling Deck Chairs on the Titanic? (Nathan Branch)
“The brand leaders appear to know that something needs to be changed, but as they’re charging forward with their lists of decisions… there’s little to no public attention being paid to the water pouring into the forward compartments below.”