Givenchy's Autumn/Winter 2010 Campaign | Source: Givenchy

Tisci’s Trans Europe Express (WWD)
“Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci has taken the whole idea of ‘coed fashion shoot’ to another level: The designer is using a transexual among the cast for the house’s fall-winter ad campaign.”

Jones Apparel to buy Stuart Weitzman (Reuters)
“Jones Apparel Group Inc. said it will buy designer shoe company Stuart Weitzman Holdings for an initial cash payment of $180 million, in a bid to expand its reach into luxury goods.”

Fast Retailing Shares May Fall After Uniqlo Sales Drop (Bloomberg)
“Fast Retailing Co., Japan’s largest clothing chain operator, may fall in Tokyo trading after the company blamed cold weather for a domestic sales drop at its Uniqlo chain.”

Tory Burch interview: America’s new fashion sweetheart (Telegraph)
“You might not recognise the chic, Hitchcock-esque blonde sitting poker-straight in Claridge’s tea room in London, but to millions of Americans she is a veritable style icon.”

Katie The Genius (Dazed Digital)
“The much lauded London-based menswear designer Katie Eary is now participating in the first ever public fashion funding scheme from Catwalk Genius.”

Tory Burch Sells Minority Stake to Tresalia (WWD)
“Tory Burch has found a new partner. After a yearlong search for additional financing, the designer has sold a minority stake in her more than $200 million firm.” To view the video of Tory Burch’s Spring 2009 presentation click here.

Shiny Media: my thoughts on its demise (Telegraph)
Katie Lee, co-founder of Shiny Media, discusses the rise and fall of the UK’s first blog network.

Born by Ted Baker eyes younger market (Drapers)
“Ted Baker is aiming to take a slice of the younger market with a new directional, lower-priced casualwear sub-brand called Born by Ted Baker.”

Hermès to open 1st Brazil store this year (Reuters)
“Paris-based Hermès will open its store in the upscale Cidade Jardim shopping mall in Sao Paulo by mid-September, Valor said, citing Guillaume de Seynes, deputy managing director at Hermès and a member of the company’s founding family.”

Fashion sales suffer as swine flu rocks consumer confidence (Retail Week)
“Retail like-for-like sales were down 4.1 per cent in the week ending July 19 as swine flu shook consumer confidence.”

Recession, Spend They Must: Luxury Shoppers Anonymous (New York Times)

NEW YORK, United States and LONDON, United Kingdom – Some say that during a downturn, there is a flight to the high-end: buy fewer of the more expensive pieces that will stand the test of time and do away with impulse fashion purchases. There is also a rush to discounters: buy the same quantity of goods, but at lower prices which enables consumers to keep the newness factor, albeit at inferior levels of quality. Therefore, it is said, the middle market suffers.

Whatever is the conventional wisdom, if recent moves by some of the industry’s most successful fashion executives are any indication, there is a significant opportunity to be captured in the middle market, which has lagged in recent years. They are putting their money where their mouths are.

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A few weeks ago, Neri Karra, a professor at the London College of Fashion wrote to me to say she had included The Business of Fashion as part of the curriculum and recommended reading for both her Masters and Undergraduate students of fashion business strategy. Not only this, she kindly invited me to give a short talk to her some of her Master’s students, and yesterday, my 30 minute chat turned into a 1.5 hour debate with some very passionate students from around the world, all of whom are interested in the fashion business.  I’d like to thank Neri and her students very much for welcoming me into their classroom and inspiring many so many new ideas for posts here on The Business of Fashion.

One of the topics that came up was about how to choose a target market and ensure that the product for that market meets the customers’ needs — functional needs, emotional needs and budgetary needs. This question came to mind instantly when I came across this article, from The Wall Street Journal’s Teri Agins, on the "Yummy Mummy" market, aka "Soccer Moms".   (Incidentally, the WSJ has been particularly good about engaging with bloggers to propagate its content and have even introduced video with embed codes that bring their written content to life. Well done!)

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