Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2011 | Source: Victoria's Secret

NEW YORK, United States — In recent years, the main fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris have attracted unprecedented interest from end consumers, with brands live streaming their shows and bloggers reporting from the runway in realtime on their sites and social channels like Twitter and Instagram. But in most cases, the actual clothes showcased during fashion week aren’t available to consumers until many months after the shows have finished.

In short, fashion’s communication cycle has become wildly out of sync with its retail cycle. Would the film industry ever hold a movie premiere 6 months ahead of its release to the public? Would Apple make its buzzy product announcements a half-year before said products were available for sale?

By shortening lead times, planning production in advance, and using other lean manufacturing techniques, fashion brands may be able to get product to consumers more quickly. But these kinds of structural changes could take years to implement, especially as many fashion brands do not control the means of production.

One solution has been to let consumers order — but not receive — products immediately after the shows. Mega-brands like Burberry have offered pre-ordering for several seasons now, while a number of mid-sized and emerging brands have collaborated with ‘pre-tail’ trunk-show start-up Moda Operandi to do the same. But market reports suggest that the sales volume of pre-orders has been limited. There are only so many consumers who are willing to plonk down money in advance to guarantee they will get a specific garment in their size months later. Most consumers still seem to prefer to purchase in-season, close to the time of need.

So if enabling consumers to pre-order clothes is not the ideal solution, why not engage consumers just before the collections arrive in store? Based on the evidence of blowout events from Victoria’s Secret and H&M for Versace in New York earlier this month, consumer appetite for this kind of engagement, and the impact it has on sales, seem very promising indeed.

VICTORIA’S SECRET’S GLOBAL FASHION EXTRAVAGANZA

The annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show is quite possibly the largest fashion event of its kind. From its humble beginnings in August 1995, with a budget of only $120,000, the Victoria’s Secret show has grown into a blockbuster multi-media event, with six different themes, featuring 38 models in 69 different looks, and costing more than $13m this year.

“Our show is seen, in one way or another, in over 200 countries in print, Facebook, YouTube, and television specials,” explained Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer of creative services of Limited Brands (the parent company of Victoria’s Secret) as we sat backstage before the first of two tapings of this year’s show. “It is must-watch television for young women in the United States. They learn to walk in high heels in this show.”

While Mr. Razek explained how Victoria’s Secret has honed the show format over the past 16 years, Kanye West and the assembled Victoria’s Secret models were doing a backstage photo call in a crush of assembled media from China to Brazil. It could only be described as an all out media frenzy.

“Candidly, I think [the first show] was an aesthetic failure,” he said. “We didn’t much know what we were doing, except the next day papers all over the world were calling it the lingerie event of the century. We knew that we had an idea.”

Over the years, the production values of the show and the quality of the collection have improved dramatically. Just last year, the brand began working with respected stylist and fashion editor, Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, who is better known for her work with high-end fashion designers like Roland Mouret and Antonio Berardi. This year, Ms. Neophitou-Apostolou spent more than 40 days working on Victoria’s Secret runway collection, providing her input throughout the creative process.

Another parameter that has changed over the years is timing. The first show back in 1995 was held in August. For several years after that, the shows were held in the days preceding Valentine’s Day. But since 2001, the show has taken place in November, just in time for the holiday season. “Christmas is the single biggest commercial opportunity of the year and it’s also a great time to do a fashion show special,” said Mr. Razek. This year’s show was taped on November 9th and will air on November 29th on CBS, one of the three major American broadcast television networks.

Interestingly, the Victoria’s Secret show is not broadcast live, which Mr. Razek says comes down to maintaining production values and managing risk. “You’re on network television in the United States. It is our responsibility to show our girls in their best light,” he said. “The reward isn’t worth the risk. We want a beautifully produced show; something that is compelling and interesting.” In 2004, the Victoria’s Secret show was cancelled in the wake of the backlash following Janet Jackson’s so-called ‘wardrobe malfunction’ during the Superbowl half-time show.

But even without a live broadcast, Mr. Razek said: “You see sales results almost immediately. On the night of the show you see substantial increases in our web business from all of the news coverage. The day after the fashion show runs [on television], you see substantial increases in our web business.”

While he declined to provide any detailed numbers to back this up, Victoria’s Secret Direct, which includes both the online and catalogue businesses, chalked up $1.5 billion in sales in 2010, roughly one-third of Victoria’s Secret’s overall sales. To provide a sense of scale, this makes Victoria’s Secret Direct about twice the size of Neiman Marcus Direct ($715 million in revenues in 2010) and more than eight times the size of Yoox or Net-a-Porter (about $200 million in annual sales each).

But importantly, the Victoria’s Secret show is about more than just driving online sales. It is the cornerstone of an integrated communications strategy that drives brand awareness as well as bolstering revenue across direct retail, catalogue and online channels.

Indeed, an integrated communications and sales strategy has long been part of the Victoria’s Secret DNA. According to a case study published in 2002 by Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College, when Leslie Wexner bought Victoria’s Secret in 1982, he sought to make it “stand [out] as an integrated world-class brand. Across all channels — catalogue, stores, Internet — the same products are launched at the same time, in exactly the same way, with the same quality, and same positioning.”

When asked to compare Victoria’s Secret’s marketing and communications initiatives to those deployed by luxury fashion brands, Mr. Razek offered: “The obvious difference is that we’re showing fashion in real-time, during the season, things that are accessible in the stores now. They are showing Fall in Spring, Spring in Fall. How does the end customer connect with that, particularly with all of the live-streaming?”

“They’re living in the past,” he concluded. “There aren’t three fashion magazines anymore…the world is so broad, there are so many opportunities to communicate. You have to take advantage of them all. My personal opinion is that a substantial portion of the designer community is involved in an exercise of mass collective denial.”

H&M FOR VERSACE INCITES PANDEMONIUM

The day before the Victoria’s Secret show, H&M put on its own fashion spectacle in New York to celebrate its latest high-fashion collaboration, this time with Versace. With 500 fashion editors, bloggers and media from all over the world in town to cover the show, and a celebrity red carpet entrance to rival that of a major Hollywood event, this was another striking example of timing integrated brand communications to coincide with the arrival of product in stores.

The event began with a fashion show in an elaborate replica of the Versace show space in Milan at Pier 57, overlooking the Hudson River. When the show concluded, a beaming Donatella Versace unveiled a vast room behind the show space, filled with disco balls and an intimate stage set, where rising hiphop star Nicki Minaj soon took to the stage, decked out in Versace for H&M. Ms. Minaj’s performance was followed by an unforgettable thirty minute set from pop legend Prince.

All the while, anecdotes, photos and videos were being beamed out to the world via the Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts of the attendees. When the concert eventually concluded at 15 minutes past midnight, the walls opened up once more to reveal a fully-stocked Versace for H&M pop-up store, which created pandemonium unlike anything I have ever seen, and this, even amongst the fashion elite who have access to almost any kind of fashion they want.

As we waited in the crush to enter the store, someone asked American Vogue’s Hamish Bowles why he was subjecting himself to this kind of mob. “It’s all a part of the experience,” he said, gesturing towards the shoppers stripping the mannequins bare, just behind a thick layer of burly security guards who were doing their best to hold back the throng. “Please stand back,” they repeated. “There is plenty of stuff for everyone.”

As it turned out, the security guards were wrong; most of the garments were gone within minutes as the first wave of shoppers snapped up everything in sight, filling four or five or six bags each with clothes. It was not a luxury shopping experience, that’s for sure, and the huge demand was in no small part due to prices which started at $17.95 for a pair of men’s printed underwear. But the collaboration couldn’t have come at a better time for Versace. It put a short, sharp spotlight on the once-struggling brand which is also having a bit of a fashion renaissance. East London creatives have been scouring vintage stores over the past couple of years to find vibrant Versace prints from the brand’s heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Versace was still at the head of the fashion vanguard.

“It is about bringing Versace to a whole new generation, and showing them the true essence of the house,” Donatella Versace told BoF. ”Versace is already interacting with them in other ways. We are very active on Twitter and other social media. I think the Versace name is very powerful and the collaboration with H&M has allowed us to connect with even more people.” The day after the New York event, the show video was already available online, and a quirky fashion film was also rolled out across the fashion blogosphere.

Commenting on the immediate communications formula employed by H&M to promote the collaboration, Ms. Versace said: “It made me think about how there are too many rules in fashion and how too often we get caught in these rules. I have never felt the need to follow the rules, but the system is so rigid these days with deadlines, so many collections to produce every year. This collaboration with H&M taught me that it was absolutely possible and necessary to break the rules.” she said. “I really enjoyed working with a company that felt very strongly that we had to push things further.”

Last week, the collection finally arrived in cities around the world just as the Versace for H&M show buzz was cresting online, selling out almost immediately and crashing the H&M website under the weight of consumer demand.

LESSONS FOR FASHION BRANDS

So, apart from synchronising the timing of brand communications and product delivery, what can a luxury fashion brand learn from these mass consumer fashion events?

Ms. Neophitou-Apostolou said that fashion brands need to learn to dream again. “It’s about selling the dream, that’s the main thing. Don’t be too literal. Create the fantasy. Don’t be afraid of it,” she suggested a few days later, at a lunch in honour of Antonio Berardi. “I think people become so concerned about: ‘Is it wearable; Is it wearable?’ McQueen in the day was always about fantasy. John Galliano was always about fantasy. Even Azzedine [Alaïa] takes you on a journey; in his little shows he creates his own universe. I think that’s the trick. Don’t be afraid to dream!”

That said, “every [look in the Victoria’s Secret show] has a piece of product so you can physically buy the pieces,” Ms. Neophitou-Apostolou continued, but these were mixed in with dream-like pieces including the now famous angel wings. “It’s the best piece of marketing I’ve ever been involved with,” she added.

Indeed, the consumer events in New York couldn’t have been more different from fashion shows designed for an industry audience. They must be conceived and designed to have maximum impact on screen, drive online conversation, and ultimately drive sales online and in-store.

Even for a behemoth like H&M, this kind of initiative requires a huge investment of time and resources. “It’s a huge undertaking to organise a fashion show for editors from all 41 markets,” said Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Director of H&M.

What’s more, having an integrated supply chain from design to production to retail, makes it much easier to align the communications and sales cycles. According to the Tuck Business School case, Victoria’s Secret is “equipped with vertically integrated factories that manufacture and deliver goods directly to the company without the involvement of third party intermediaries.”

“We own all our own stores,” added Mr Razek. “There aren’t any buyers from department stores sitting in the front row writing orders. Our ultimate customer is not a merchant with a pencil, which is different from most designers.”

Imran Amed is founder and editor of The Business of Fashion

Albert Kriemler of Akris | Source: Estilo Moda

The Discreet Charm of Akris (WSJ)
“Perhaps it is Kriemler’s understated, reluctant approach to anything overt or loud—fashionable or otherwise—that attracts women as powerful and talented as Condoleezza Rice, Angelina Jolie, Susan Sarandon and Nicole Kidman to his clothes… Kriemler works extensively with artisans from Akris’s hometown of St. Gallen. The town is renown in the business for its skilled craftsmanship in linen, cotton and embroidered fabrics, and has long been a focus for fashion houses including Chanel, Marc Jacobs and Giorgio Armani. Akris has proper form and heritage, too.”

World’s Biggest Fashion Brands Invest in The Fancy (BetaBeat)
“The Fancy, one of the consumer facing projects under the thingd umbrella, has secured a $10 million round of financing at a valuation north of $100 million. Interestingly, the big bucks don’t come from a typical venture investor, but from a new lead investor PPR, the $16 billion French multi-national run by Francois Henri-Pinault, which owns the globe’s biggest fashion brands… The Fancy is about visual discovery and has become a natural home for fashion brands, which see a high level of engagement from tastemakers around their goods.”

Richemont cautious after H1 beats expectations (Reuters)
“Richemont, the maker of Cartier jewelry and Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, struck a cautious note for the luxury goods industry outlook as growth rates are starting to ease from the strong performance seen in its first half. Between April and September, sales at the world’s second biggest luxury goods group jumped 36 percent at constant exchange rates and October sales were up 26 percent, in a sign consumers could be turning more hesitant about treating themselves to pricey timepieces.”

Nordstrom full year profit outlook below St view (Reuters)
“Upscale department store operator Nordstrom Inc did not raise the upper end of its full year profit forecast even as it reported a jump in sales and profit in the third quarter, and its shares fell more than 3 percent… The department store chain said it now expects fiscal 2011 sales at stores open at least one year to rise about 6 percent, up from an earlier range of 4 to 6 percent.”

Versace: What’s the bright idea? (Independent)
“‘Iconic pieces for young people – the essence of Versace’ is how Donatella Versace describes her collection for H&M… H&M’s link-ups with some of fashion’s biggest names began in a blaze of publicity in 2004 with Karl Lagerfeld – and that sold out in a matter of hours. Its creator – who starred in the accompanying advertising campaign – has since said the experience was responsible for making him a household name.”

Brioni Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: Luxos

PPR set to buy men’s wear brand Brioni (FT)
“PPR, the French luxury goods group, has confirmed it will acquire Brioni, the Italian high end men’s wear group that has dressed Vladimir Putin and the fictional character James Bond in several movie outings. In a statement on Tuesday, PPR said it would be buying 100 per cent of the family owned group for an undisclosed sum… PPR is reorienting and expanding its business in two segments: luxury, which includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta; and lifestyle, which consists mainly of a majority stake in Puma, the German sportswear company.”

H&M Sets Versace Goddesses of High Fashion to Low Prices: Retail (Bloomberg)
“Hennes & Mauritz AB, the world’s second-largest clothing retailer, next week starts selling apparel and accessories designed by Gianni Versace SpA, including floor-length ‘goddess’ gowns, dresses dotted with Grecian buttons and fluorescent micro-minis. The Versace for H&M line, the latest partnership between the Swedish retailer and a luxury designer that boasts high fashion at low prices, will give the Italian label ‘global visibility’ as it targets sales of about $700 million by 2014, Versace Chief Executive Officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris said.”

Hugo Boss ups 2015 targets on Chinese growth (Reuters)
“German fashion house Hugo Boss sharply raised its earnings outlook for 2015 on Tuesday as it increases its network of stores and eyes strong growth from China. The group… Said it now expects sales of 3 billion euros ($4.1 billion) in 2015, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and special items (EBITDA) of 750 million. That compares with a previous target for sales of 2.5 billion and core earnings of 500 million euros. Hugo Boss said it expected sales in Asia to almost triple by 2015 compared with 2010, mainly thanks to China.”

Upcoming Zappos iPad App Mimics a Fashion Magazine (All Things Digital)
“The new black this fall: Retailers producing content alongside their products, like an online version of a glossy fashion magazine. Zappos expects to launch its first attempt at recreating the catalog experience on the iPad in early December, just in time for the holidays… Instead of being generally available in iTunes, the Zappos app will be found on Apple’s Newsstand, which organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions for those who use iOS 5. It will be free; a new edition will appear monthly.”

Alber Elbaz wants dramatic fashion (Belfast Telegraph)
“Alber Elbaz has announced plans to ‘bring back real drama’ to the fashion industry. The Lanvin designer staged a presentation of his Spring/Summer 12 collection at Carondelet House in Los Angeles recently. He’s already put on a similar event in Paris and explained he’s keen to get people interested in style again. ‘Geoffrey Beene told me that fashion is not show business, it’s just business,’ he said. ‘These days there are too many reality shows, and I watch many of them, but I am trying to bring back real drama to fashion.’”

L-R Altuzarra, Prabul Gurung, Alexander Wang | Source: Style.com

You Can See Spring Coming (NY Times)
“Mr. Wang is a boy disguised as a designer — or maybe it’s the other way around — but whatever the case, he doesn’t want to grow up, and the clothes naturally follow that youthful spirit… Prabal Gurung’s show on Saturday had a pronounced erotic undercurrent that in its blunt use of violet, and the transparent hems of silk print dresses, owed something to the style last season of Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy.”

Fashion week: The ordinary people who stole the show (BBC News)
“Many people might not have heard of Tavi Gevinson, Scott Schuman, Susie Bubble and Bryanboy but they are household names to dedicated followers of fashion. All four are big players in the blogging revolution that has turned the fashion world on its head… But bloggers have been chipping away at the mainstream media as more and more people want to hear about fashion from people who apply it to everyday life.”

Where Fashion Gazes at Itself (NY Times)
“Tumblr, founded four years ago, has reached out to the fashion community in a way no other social networking site has. For the second time, it has brought users to New York Fashion Week as reporters, paying for their trips and giving them access to the shows. Their coverage is being posted on a dedicated channel, tumblr.com/NYFW, made up of posts from 20 bloggers picked by Tumblr’s staff, along with contributions from magazines that have their own Tumblrs.”

Versace sees revenue up in 2012 on H&M and Versus (Forbes)
“Italian top fashion house Versace is expecting higher revenues in 2012 after launching a collection for Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz this year and revamping its Versus second line…The company draws most of revenues from its top Versace line, but it launched a “Young Versace” line for kids and bought back its Versus licence this year to boost sales and profitability after starting a deep restructuring in 2009.”

Luxury: the next generation (FT)
“One of the more astonishing success stories of the past century has been the evolution of luxury retailing, from small-scale family firms to an international, multi-billion dollar industry… Yet, as the modern industry struggles to reconcile its artisanal heritage with today’s public offerings and quarterly reports, it is the personal, family connection that bridges the gap.”

Versace Jeans Couture | Source: Denim Therapy

Why Versace is putting workers’ health before style (Independent)
“Italy’s style capital has become the unlikely focus of a battle to save some of the world’s poorest textile…Versace… Announced that it was throwing its weight behind a campaign to end sandblasting – a manual process used to produce trendy worn-look denim – but which campaigners claim destroys workers’ lungs.”

‘Luxury funds’ are in vogue (JoongAng Daily)
“…’Luxury’ mutual funds, a category that invests in makers of high-end brands, are posting sky-high returns, far outperforming all other mutual funds…Performances were on the back of explosive growth in high-end brands’ stock values, as the luxury market exploits unquenchable thirst for its goods in developing markets.”

In Hangzhou Luxury Market, “The More Expensive, The More Popular” (Jing Daily)
“… Sales of luxury goods reached nearly 900 million yuan (US$140 million) in the first half of the year. This marks a 25 percent increase in growth… Hangzhou is notable for the speed at which its residents have become more brand-savvy, a trend that has attracted most of the world’s largest luxury brands to launch boutiques there since 2005.”

A Return to Tying the Knot (WSJ)
“After years spent languishing in the evening-wear department, bow ties are finding favor with a new audience—a younger generation… Tailors say the recent boom has had a trickle-down effect, fueling sales of traditional menswear styles.”

Royal Wedding: face to face with The Frock (Telegraph)
“… Before its launch tomorrow, the event has caused a sensation. Latest figures for advanced sales to this Royal Collection exhibition are 107 per cent up on last year with 125,751 tickets sold… Capacity will be 643,000, but slots are selling out with lightning speed, drawn by the allure of The Frock.”

Lady Gaga in vintage Versace in The Edge Of Glory

Versace on the march (Guardian)
“Versace is having a moment. The label has not been hotter since the salad days of supermodels in sweet-shop brights on the catwalk and Liz Hurley in safety pins on the red carpet.”

Armani’s Geometry and other Mens’ reviews (IHT)
“‘Menswear is difficult — keeping things the same, but different,’ Giorgio Armani said backstage, claiming fashion today is too much about ‘the bankers.’”

The Serious Business of Pretty Pink Things (WSJ)
“Pink. Plastic. These adjectives aren’t usually applied to fashionable jewelry. But Tarina Tarantino has changed that. With stores in Milan, Los Angeles and New York, she is the haute designer of playful jewelry for grown women.”

John Galliano took antidepressants ‘like candy’ (Telegraph)
“John Galliano, the disgraced British fashion designer, will insist he lost all reason after taking antidepressants “like candy” as he stands trial today for hurling anti-Semitic abuse at customers in a Paris café.”

Umit Benan Sahin in Milan (NY Times)
Suzy Menkes sits down with Umit Benan Sahin (video).

Gilt Men's Shirt Shop | Source: Gilt

Bargains on Flash Sale Sites Serve a Long-Range View (NY Times)
“Flash sale Web sites, a thriving e-commerce trend to promote limited-time sales, started as a way for brands to unload excess inventory… But now they have become something else: a way to advertise and find new customers, many of whom visit the sites of the brands and buy full-price merchandise soon after the sales.”

Olympics Ahoy! (IHT)
“Love of sport was once seen as the male equivalent of a woman’s passion for fashion. But now sport itself — riding, tennis or fencing — is the heart of fashion. The Olympics next year seem to have energized Milan men’s wear for spring/summer 2012.”

Supergroup faces battle to prove it is no flash in the pan (Independent)
“Above all, the group has been dogged by suggestions its Superdry brand could succumb to a similar slump in profits and its share price to French Connection… Indeed, it is now commonplace to see men aged from 20 to 45-years old to be wearing a black Superdry jacket… prompting concerns about over-saturation.”

Versace For H&M (Vogue UK)
“Versace will design for H&M this year, becoming the latest high fashion label to work with the Swedish high street brand. ‘I am thrilled to be collaborating with H&M and to have the opportunity of reaching its wide audience,’ Donatella Versace said.”

The House That Loafers Built (Forbes)
“The chairman and CEO of Tod’s has made the Gommino, as the loafer is called, as iconic as Hermes’ Birkin bag or Chanel’s tweed jacket… Mr. Della Valle runs Tod’s, Hogan (famous for its sneakers), Roger Vivier and Fay (a ready to wear label). He also owns a significant interest… in the American retail chain Saks Fifth Avenue.”

Christopher Kane | Source: Styles and Sounds

Britain’s got it all sewn up (Telegraph)
“Ten or 15 years ago… ‘Made in Britain’ was a synonym for doomed amateurism in the fashion field. Now, through meticulous hard work… things have turned around… So let me be the first to wave the flag on behalf of the innovators who’ve created an unsung virtuous economic circle which is underpinning and developing a skilled network of factories in and around London, while also propping up the UK’s GDP.”

Marc Jacobs: Now we are ten (Independent)
“Ten years is a long time in fashion’s goldfish bowl of communal memory. The past decade takes in the birth of e-commerce, two major wars, a technology boom, the rise and rise of the stock market, followed by its subsequent crash. It’s difficult terrain to negotiate, especially when the aim is to remain not just upright but positively ebullient.”

LVMH Fund to Target Indian Lifestyle Arena (WSJ)
“LVMH Group, will launch its private equity fund in India, in an attempt to tap the burgeoning disposable income and rising aspirations of the country’s urban population, especially women… ‘We are looking at investing in companies in the lifestyle arena in Asia, primarily from the aspirational segment, meaning people who are moving from mass-produced goods to the next layer up.’”

Versace sees 2011 turnaround on Japan push (Reuters)
“Italian fashion brand Versace is going ahead with plans to re-enter Japan this year despite the quake-hit country’s woes… After the family-run company unveiled 2010 results above its own expectations, Ferraris said Versace was on track to meet its target of becoming profitable by the end of this year at the operating level.”

DVF eyes the Mainland (The D’Vine)
“Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg has been given many titles in her life – mother, working girl (via Dolly Parton’s song of the same name), princess and president (of the Council of Fashion Designers of America). While she may never be America’s first lady in the political sense, she comes close in the sartorial stakes.”

Damiani Sophia Lauren Pink and White Gold Diamond Ring | Source: Damiani

Wealthy treated themselves during the holidays (WSJ)
“The rich treated themselves like royalty this holiday season. That spun the holidays into gold for Tiffany & Co. and other high-end retailers… shoppers traded up to more expensive gold and diamond jewelry from silver charms. Designer clothing and purses were back.”

The King of Hearst (WWD)
“By the time Hearst finishes acquiring Hachette from Lagardère, the company will have spent more than $1 billion in a little under a year while the rest of the magazine industry is still recovering from the Great Recession.”

Versace returns to Japan (Vogue UK)
“To ensure the re-entry goes as planned, the company has enlisted Hiroshi Saito – who previously worked with Ferraris at Jil Sander – as chief executive officer of Versace Japan. Saito has more than 30 years experience in the Japanese luxury market.”

Is There A World POST Print Magazines? (Style.com)
“The brainchild of creative director Remi Paringaux, the former art director of Dazed & Confused and Vogue Hommes Japan, POST was explicitly conceived for the new multidimensional page… Here, [POST editorial director Xerxes Cook] talks to Style.com about media’s next wave.”

Face-Lift for Met’s Costume Institute (NY Times)
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art is planning a major renovation of its renowned Costume Institute. The project will enable the museum to show off part of its world-class permanent collection 10 months out of the year in a more contemporary setting.”

Cathy Horyn | Source: Fashionologie

Fashion’s Most Feared Critic (Daily Beast)
“Cathy Horyn wields a pointed pen to (sometimes) skewer her subjects…Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Helmut Lang, Nicole Miller, and Oscar de la Renta have all banned Horyn and the Times from covering their collections at various points…None of this has seemed to faze the journalist, who, this fashion season, displayed her trademark ability to excite and infuriate.”

Coach targets UK in European push (FT)
“Coach, the US handbag and accessories retailer, is planning to open up to 15 British outlets over the next three years, as part of a push into the European luxury goods market.”

Is fast fashion killing fashion? (Just Style)
“Against such stellar growth it might seem strange to question whether a concept that’s so obviously popular and makes fashion accessible to a large number of people could also be killing the industry.”

Redesigned Versace eyes return to Japan (FT)
“A year into his turnround and Mr Ferraris… says he is ‘more optimistic’ than he expected, so much so that he is considering pushing the company to open stores in Japan once again.”

A feast from the East (Telegraph)
“A unique exhibition at the Barbican, ‘Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion’, shows how oriental designers walk a creative tightrope between tradition and innovation.”