Louis Vuitton Singapore | Source: Luxuo

Singapore to the fore (FT)
“‘Until two to three years ago, not much had happened in Singapore’s [fashion and retail] scene,’ says Jean-Baptiste Debains, Asia-Pacific president of Louis Vuitton… But now Singapore, once regarded as Asian fashion’s frumpy step-sister, a place where steamy weather and limited retail options bred a populace most comfortable in beachwear, has seen an unprecedented flurry of developments in the fashion industry.”

Twitter turns up heat on ambitions (FT)
“After overhauling the design and features of its homepage and mobile apps, Twitter is now gently turning up the heat on its ambitions as an advertising business. ‘Twitter is more of a journalistic than a marketing phenomenon,’ says Mark Read, chief executive of WPP Digital, the advertising group. ‘If you talk to newspaper editors and people in the media, they are obsessed.’ By contrast, Twitter is ‘still trying to figure out’ its advertising products, Mr Read says.”

Fashion disaster of its own making (The Standard)
“Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana is notorious. It’s making news headlines here and overseas for the wrong reasons this time – after its flagship shop in Tsim Sha Tsui found itself embroiled in a controversy over photo-taking. The ban reportedly applied to Hongkongers only, while mainland customers were welcome to click away.”

Women cut their way into the manly world of London tailoring (The National)
“If London’s historic bespoke tailoring has traditionally been an almost excessively male environment – all calculated deference, pinstripes and chesterfield sofas, with the puff of cigar smoke lingering in the air and a special, often intimate relationship between a gent and his cutter, much as between a man and his barber – then the pioneering Hall, if only for her sex, might seem out of place.”

A Children’s Story (On the Runway)
“Last year Ms. Parker-Barker and her husband decided to create a children’s line, with Cameron building the site. ‘I just had a hard time finding non-graphic T-shirts for our son and things that didn’t have trucks on them,’ she said. She also felt that boys’ clothes looked too boxy. ‘It’s that age-old feeling of ‘there’s nothing out there, let’s make something,’ she said.”

Hermès Store | Source: GQ

Hermès and the secret of luxe appeal (GQ)
“Hermès is a phenomenon: probably the most successful, perhaps the most creative, certainly the most respected and one of the most profitable luxury-goods companies of all time. After a brief blip from 2009-10, the tur­bulent economic times seem to have, if any­thing, accelerated its success.

Putting a Price on Michael Kors (NY Times)
“The fashion designer Michael Kors is seeking a luxury price tag on his stock. His company’s initial public offering, expected this week, would value it at up to $3.6 billion. The metrics are in line with Prada, which listed earlier this year. But Michael Kors Holdings may struggle to sustain the growth needed to stay in style with investors.”

“Tweeting Without Fear (WSJ)
“By now, even the stodgiest companies have found their way onto Twitter. They have discovered it isn’t just another marketing channel with a funny name, it’s more like a conversation they need to join or risk losing influence over how consumers view them or their brands… But there’s a flip side… Ill-considered tweets or hacked Twitter accounts have caused plenty of embarrassment.”

What the Internship Bust Means (Elle UK)
“Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs has warned London Fashion Week designers that failure to pay interns the national minimum wage could lead to prosecution… Interns are the engines that drive the fashion industry. The framework is so prevalent that most designers, public relations executives, editors and stylists in staff jobs today completed internships at the beginnings of their careers.”

Q&A With Rupert Sanderson (WWD)
“Rupert Sanderson never planned to be a footwear designer. It was only after an ill-fated career in advertising that he decided to pursue the career. But 10 years after launching his eponymous line, he is now firmly planted in the shoe industry. Not only has he established a high-end label, but Sanderson has built a vertical business as well.”

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.”

Bernardo Huberman explains HP Labs research | Source: Youtube

Got Twitter? You’ve Been Scored (NY Times)
“Imagine a world in which we are assigned a number that indicates how influential we are… If your influence score is low, you don’t get the promotion, the suite or the complimentary cookies. This is not science fiction. It’s happening to millions of social network users.”

Skirting the Issue of Gender (IHT)
“Men in skirts or men in suits?… Out pop the same challenges every menswear season. But the gender play in the spring/summer 2012 Paris shows seems more intriguing. Designers are looking at a global market that includes cultures… where male/female garments are fluid.”

Emerging markets: luxury goes local (FT)
“Western consumers might be familiar with the first names in these pairs, but many will probably have never heard of the others. Yet wealthy consumers in emerging markets are increasingly facing a choice of whether to buy western brands as a status symbol or to opt for homegrown luxury.”

At Vuitton, Growth in Small Batches (WSJ)
“Nestled in the hills of central France, Louis Vuitton’s new factory—inaugurated Friday—expands the luxury label’s production capacity by 70 people… Vuitton’s growth over the years means it is constantly bumping up against its full production capacity.”

25 Influential Chinese In Global Fashion (Forbes)
“This year’s list of 25 influential Chinese in global fashion focuses on executives and entrepreneurs that are leading the charge. We include for the first time leaders at multinational fashion companies that are playing a crucial role in those foreign firms’ success in China.”

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.”

Screenshot of Gucci on Weibo | Source: Gucci

SHANGHAI, China — In the parallel internet universe behind China’s “Great Firewall,” where search engine Baidu is Google, etailer Dangdang is Amazon, and video sharing site Youku is YouTube, the microblogging service Weibo (pronounced Way-Bwah, literally microblog) — launched in August 2009 by online media giant Sina Corp — has emerged as the country’s answer to Twitter.

According to brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, China is set to become the world’s largest luxury market with demand from “Greater Chinese” to account for 44 percent of global sales by 2020. Analysts are also seeing a surge in China’s internet usage: according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center, by the end of 2010, there were over 457 million Chinese internet users.

Set against staggering statistics like these, Twitter-like Weibo — a platform with over 100 million users (growing at 10 million users a month) and the centrepiece of Sina Corp’s transition from a Web 1.0 news and entertainment portal to a social networking service — has recently captured the attention of the world’s leading fashion brands.

Back in October 2010, Louis Vuitton became the first global fashion brand to launch a Weibo presence. But in the first quarter of 2011, we’ve seen a rapidfire build up of fashion brands on Weibo, with Chanel, Gucci and Burberry all launching accounts within the first few weeks of the year.

Much like Twitter, Weibo lets users post messages of up to 140 characters, which in Mandarin Chinese is substantial, allowing for more detailed expression than is possible in English on Twitter. Weibo also offers threaded discussions, voting and polling features, and events, as well as Tumblr-like features which make it easy to post photos, videos and audio. Indeed, Weibo’s product roadmap points towards a robust Facebook-like social networking site, with expanded profiles and location-based services, according to a highly informative presentation put together by Bill Bishop, a US-born, Beijing-based China expert, blogger, investor and advisor to several startups.

While Weibo may not be the largest microblogging service in China — Tencent claims more microblog users than Sina Weibo — according to Mr. Bishop, the platform’s users are higher quality that Tencent’s “great unwashed” and include movie stars, singers and other members of the media and business elite. Like Twitter and Tumblr in the West, fashion has also emerged as an important topic on the Chinese platform, ranking 9th overall in terms of most popular profile tags.

But Weibo is largely personality-driven and the top ten Weibo accounts are all maintained by celebrities and other prominent individuals (Chinese actress Yao Chen currently holds the most popular account in China, with over six million followers). As a result, the personal accounts of fashion industry figures often attract more followers than the accounts of large fashion media brands. For example, Vogue China’s editor-in-chief, Angelica Cheung with almost 200,000 followers, has a higher following than both of the magazine’s two official accounts — one for print, the other for online. Chinese fashion models Liu Wen and Sun Fei Fei have followings that well exceed half a million, while fashion glossies like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle  have attracted less than a quarter of a million followers.

But for fashion media brands, Weibo is more than a place to build a following. It’s also an incredibly powerful real-time research and testing tool. “You can immediately see how the market and your following will respond to something if you want to do research,” says senior fashion editor of Elle China, Leaf Greener. Indeed, Weibo is a great way to test which celebrity or model will work best for a front cover, editorial spread or ad campaign.

The value of a Weibo account depends on a brand’s objectives, emphasized Jeffrey Sprafkin, managing partner at China-based media industry consulting firm Media Pacific. “If it’s awareness, there’s probably value there … If it’s for acquisition or activation, it’s got to be a part of a broader strategy,” he continued. “Maybe it’s tied to an event.”

Chanel has done just that, launching a Weibo account specifically for Culture Chanel, the brand’s current exhibition at Shanghai’s Museum of Contemporary Art. But while the content is nicely focused, with imagery and text relating to the exhibit, the account had only attracted 18,540 followers at the time of writing.

Gucci, another global luxury fashion brand to embrace Weibo, joined the platform on January 26th and has since developed a following of 16,195 fans. But Gucci believes that there is tremendous potential in Weibo. Robert Triefus,  worldwide director of marketing and communications at Gucci, noted that “55 percent of Chinese consumers like to read the history of their preferred luxury brand online, especially European brands,” adding that “50 percent of Chinese consumers like to share images and information on luxury brands.”

At the moment, it may be too soon to predict how Weibo will evolve — and what other alternatives may surface. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Sina in Beijing over the winter holidays, sparking much local speculation on the platform’s future direction, while Sina’s CEO, Charles Chao, intends to improve the service’s “stickiness” and has hinted at a bilingual, Chinese-English offering. But according to a recent blog post by Gady Epstein, Beijing bureau chief at Forbes, “China is in a very advertising-heavy brand-building phase with a potentially outsized e-commerce market, and the momentum for both brand-building and e-commerce ad dollars is in the direction of social networks.”

With this in mind, Weibo may well be the perfect place for global fashion brands to test and learn what resonates with their Chinese internet fan base and prepare for the future.

Elizabeth Peng is an Associate Contributor at The Business of Fashion.

The Fashion Twitterati | Source: DKNY and Oscar de la Renta

NEW YORK, United States — To tweet, or not to tweet. That has been the question on many fashion business minds over the past year. Not every brand needs a Twitter account, but if a brand does decide to stake out a presence on Twitter, they should do so with a clear plan in mind and a voice that is consistent with the brand, while also opening up a new point of view. Most of all, Twitter should be a tool for engagement with a brand’s fans and followers.

That is all easier said than done. Some brands on Twitter don’t follow anybody else and only broadcast information out, which is the schoolyard equivalent of talking all the time, while shutting your eyes and ears and not listening to anybody else. You don’t make many friends that way. Then there are the brands that set up a Twitter account, and then fail to keep it active, which is kind of like inviting a brand’s fans to a big event, and then not showing up to greet them. It 0nly serves to disappoint fans and followers. Still other brands require tweets to be ‘approved’ by legal and PR departments, which takes away from the spontaneous, real time nature of Twitter.

Thankfully, there are a few fashion businesses that are doing it right. They have found ways of communicating about their brand that have caught the attention of tens of thousands of followers, and more importantly, have made those followers feel like part of the brand’s online community.

BoF sought out three of the most prolific and successful fashion twitterers, and for the very first time, spoke to the people behind fashion’s greatest tweets to learn from their success.

DONNA KARAN and DKNY

@DKNY — A true innovator, the reigning queen of the fashion Twitterati, DKNY PR girl has built a huge following amongst fashion fans for her honest opinions and behind-the-scenes peeks into the PR department of one of New York’s most celebrated fashion brands.

Name: Undisclosed
Age: A gentleman should never ask a lady her age
Number of months with DKNY: Too many to count
Number of months tweeting: 21
Followers: 240,000+

How did you get selected to be the voice of DKNY on Twitter?

When we decided to start on Twitter we wanted it to be very transparent. This was not someone speaking as the “voice” of the brand. This was not someone speaking as Donna Karan. @dkny is very uniquely my view as a PR person at Donna Karan International. As part of our decision to pursue this, I showed my colleagues several examples of what I would tweet – ranging from highlighting some of our best new products to giving some insight into our lives here “behind the scenes” — and they liked it. They were a great initial focus group, but I feel so gratified that we have received so much support from our followers. It is great to be able to engage with people who love our brands.

What was your strategy for building up a loyal following?

I am a social person by nature. What I have tried to do is combine all that is Donna Karan and DKNY with some fun, quick commentary my followers can relate to. I don’t think setting out to secure a following works – it’s an organic evolution.

How would you describe your voice?

Unedited, honest, lightly (sometimes heavily) sarcastic, friendly and engaging.

What is the best success story you can share of a business benefit that has come as a result of your Twitter presence?

I am very fortunate to have amazing, interactive and loyal followers. So many of them do my job for me. I lovingly call them #DKNYPRGirl’sTeam (we’re making T-shirts). They will search out product links from donnakaran.com or dkny.com or press on the brands and tweet about them even before I do.

Who are your 5 favourite fellow Twitterers to follow?

There are too many to count. I actually follow more than 400 fellow Twitterers. If you visit my profile, you will see a lot of the people I follow love the same things I do… there are a lot of fashionistas out there.

What makes a ‘good’ Twitter account — what are your parameters for success?

I don’t think Twitter success is weighed only in number of followers. I think it can also be judged by how often you are recommended to be followed.

Why did DKNY decide that Twitter was a communication tool that made sense for the brand/business?

As a brand, you need to reach people where they are and interact with them in the ways they interact with each other. The fact that over 240,000 people follow me shows that our customers are indeed on Twitter themselves.

Was it difficult to get buy-in from senior management to go down this route?

No. From day one, our management was excited about it, as they recognized that Twitter was another way that we could engage with our customers. They also showed a lot of foresight, because they knew it would only work if I could be real, unedited and write what I know… and a lot of what I know is the world of Donna Karan.

Our management has been very forward thinking about the power of digital and social media overall. Besides being active on Twitter, we were one of the first brands to have iPhone apps (we have two actually, one devoted entirely to the DKNY Cozy and one for Donna Karan New York. We stream our fashion shows on Facebook, we’ve created a number of videos featuring stars such as Christina Ricci on our website. Just a month ago we launched donnakaran.com as ecommerce and relaunched dkny.com, to offer full brand experiences. On this joint site, content meets social media and commerce in unique ways. There is enormous excitement about it across our Company. That is why it is great to work here – the creativity, the innovation and the recognition that the success of our brands lies in the people that love them.

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BERGDORF GOODMAN

@Bergdorfs — A Twitter voice for one of the world’s most venerated department stores from one of its youngest staffers, Bergdorf Goodman’s Twitter feed has made the sometimes stuffy Fifth Avenue staple more open and welcoming, especially to a younger, more digitally connected consumer.

Name: Cannon, Social Media Manager
Age: 20s
Number of months with Bergdorf Goodman: 60 – or 5 years
Number of months tweeting: 11
Followers: 33,000+

How did you get selected to be the voice of Bergdorf Goodman on Twitter?

My job is to share the Bergdorf Buzz. It all started when I worked in our Special Events department and helped maintain our Facebook page. We understood the importance of social platforms and what was being said there; so, when the company decided to dedicate someone full time to those efforts, I became our Social Media Manager. I started tweeting in January – it really is the best part.

What was your strategy for building up a loyal following?

I’m their friend…I’m always there to listen and help – and to give an insider’s perspective (whether it’s interviewing Victoria Beckham, going behind the scenes with our Visual team, attending Fashion Week…or getting happily distracted by something new and fabulous in our Shoe Salon).

How would you describe your voice?

Enthusiastic. Sincere. Honest. Fun.

What is the best success story you can share of a business benefit that has come as a result of your Twitter presence?

Twitter has made us aware of an entirely different audience. They’re enthusiastic but honest… and they love to communicate with us. Impeccable customer service has always been our priority – and having the opportunity to listen to and assist clients from Twitter has proven incredibly useful in making that happen.

Twitter also has enabled me to bring the Bergdorf Goodman experience to life… in a very new way. There’s only one Bergdorf Goodman in the world, so I am their direct line of communication. Our Fifth Avenue New York address means that we always have so much going on, whether it’s designers visiting, new collections arriving or exciting new exclusive merchandise; and Twitter is an excellent way to instantly share all of this news from an insider’s perspective. Think of it this way: Even if you’ve never visited Bergdorf Goodman in person but follow Bergdorfs on Twitter, you’ll know that we had a Holiday Windows Challenge with Polyvore, carry four different styles of Texting Gloves and were very excited to introduce Roger Vivier’s Miss Viv handbag collection with Inès de la Fressange.

Who are your 5 favourite fellow Twitterers to follow?

It changes weekly – but those who currently make me click might include @stefanogabbana (& his uninhibited use of exclamation points), @Peter_Som, @evachen212, @ManRepeller and @askmrmickey.

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OSCAR DE LA RENTA

@Oscar PR Girl – The magic of Oscar de la Renta comes alive via the tweets from its Director of Communications, who not only provides insights into the workings of this brand, but even dresses up in Oscar’s clothes to preview them for her thousands of followers.

Name: Erika Bearman, Director of Communications
Age: 29
Number of months with Oscar de la Renta: 27
Number of months tweeting: 18
Followers: 27,000+

How did you become the voice of ODLR on Twitter?

The specific idea for OscarPRGirl came from Alex Bolen, our CEO. The premise was simple: I would write about my experience of working in PR for Oscar de la Renta, the aspects of our brand that I thought others might find interesting, and my fashion-centric life in New York City.

What was your strategy for building up a loyal following?

I got started on Twitter by thinking: how can I bring our followers inside of the work that we do, and make them a part it? How can I tell the story of Oscar de la Renta? Then I just started talking. I was, and am still, hoping to tell a group of people a little more about a designer and a brand that they might know, or perhaps already admire. I think it’s interesting to share the details that make me feel connected to my work, like hearing Oscar whistling from his studio, or the tracklist from a recent show. In the process, I have tried to be a compelling storyteller- someone you want to listen to.

How would you describe your voice?

A little bit bold, kind of glamorous, and ultimately lighthearted. Oscar always asks that all elements of our brand, from the clothes to our advertising, convey a sense of joy- I hope that our Twitter has a dose of that same spirit.

What is the best success story you can share of a business benefit that has come as a result of your Twitter presence?

Recently one of my followers was trying on our wedding gowns at Bergdorf Goodman, tweeting me pictures from the dressing room and asking my opinion. We both loved the same one: a guipure lace and ostrich feather embroidered gown. She purchased it. I thought it was interesting because it was an impact at the store level vs. e-commerce. Essentially, I was in the dressing room with her.

Who are your 5 favorite fellow Twitterers to follow?

@mashable and @techcrunch because a girl has to stay on top of these things, @johnjannuzzi because he is smart and angsty, @bergdorfs because I think she is great at it, and @therealdaphne because we both live in a world without flats.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

Céline Autumn/Winter 2010 | Source: Céline

The new fashion forward (Telegraph)
“Such is the insanely accelerated speed of the fashion world that the clothes appearing in shops now already seem not to be the latest thing, their significance lost, having long ago been… sucked dry through overexposure.”

Personal tailoring for everyone (Telegraph)
“With 84 stores in Britain (it also has branches in the USA, China and the Gulf), the scheme has the potential to transform the entire concept of tailoring on the high street – if [Reiss] gets it right. The early signs are good.”

A British Fashion Invasion (Portfolio)
“International sales are 30 percent of our business, and the U.S. is the fastest-growing market—without any advertising… it’s time to give the American consumers what they want, a U.S. presence.”

Twitter redesign will increase luxury brand engagement (Luxury Daily)
“In an industry whose online presence is highly defined by rich media and images, Twitter’s redesign will help luxury marketers increase their brand engagement.”

New names prove their worth on menswear day (Telegraph)
“Finding links between young designers and the new names of Savile Row, men’s day is creating a movement all of its own. The key catwalk names are James Long and Christopher Shannon, both designers in their twenties.”

Jimmy Choo takes steps to possible IPO (FT)
“The private equity owner of Jimmy Choo plans to appoint investment banks to advise on strategic options for the maker of stilettos for the stars, including a possible initial public offering valuing the company at about £500m.”

Affluent, Generous Young Women Lead Recovery (Marketing Daily)
“When it comes to power-shopping our way toward economic recovery, a new report from American Express says well-heeled young women are leading the charge.”

Should luxury brands use twitter? (Luxury Society)
“Luxury is an intricate web of emotions… can it be captured in 140 characters (and that too with a shortened link of some sort if the company is trying to drive some traffic to a specific webpage or website)?”

Taking a page from Wal-Mart, Holt Renfrew hires greeters (Vancouver Sun)
“The luxury retailer’s new president, Mark Derbyshire, is chagrined at the mention of the company’s reputation for having sales clerks with a chilly attitude that may intimidate potential customers.”

Fashion Week Preview: The Faces (NY Times)
“Now that we’re practically on a first-name basis with Doutzen, Lakshmi and Anja, it’s time we meet Bambi, Fei Fei and Kat. They are some of the new and almost-like-new faces we’ll be seeing next week at the New York fashion shows.”

J.Crew Summer 2010 | Source: J Crew

Fashion Nation: What Retailers Know About Us (WSJ)
“By tracking customers’ spending habits, retailers get a bird’s-eye view of tastes as they ebb and flow. Online retailers, in particular, see every click we make. They know which brands we’ve peeked at, how long we pondered, and what we actually purchased.”

5 Things We Know About Hèrmes’ New China Brand, Shang Xia (Jing Daily)
“Everything from the design to the materials, manufacture, marketing and management will be local… It is a Chinese brand, developed in China with the Chinese team, based on Chinese craftsmanship and broadly made in China.”

Top 5 Mobile Commerce Trends for 2010 (Mashable)
“Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is simply the ability to conduct business transactions through a mobile device. With smartphone sales rising 49% in the first quarter of 2010, never before has it been so easy to shop, anywhere, anytime from the palm of your hand.”

Twitter Fails to Click with Brand Marketers (Brand Channel)
“Twitter, which feels like it’s been around for eons but is only four years old, boasts more than 100 million registered users and 65 million tweets daily… despite its growth and all the buzz, it’s not yet clicking with brand marketers.”

Japanese Designers Head to India (WWD)
“Earlier this month, the designers behind three Tokyo-based labels- Matohu, Somarta and Motonari Ono- traveled to the country on a research trip. The five designers will be returning to India for the inaugural edition of India International Jewellery Week.”