Phoebe Philo by Solve Sundsbo | Source: NY Times

Phoebe Philo’s Third Act (T Magazine)
“A designer’s debut at a new label is always exciting, especially if it is backed by a luxury colossus, as Céline is by LVMH. But this particular designer is the fashion superstar who made Chloé one of the hottest labels of the early 2000s.”

Bottega Veneta Grows Up (WSJ)
“As Bottega pursues its strategy to grow from a niche player into a global brand, it has been conducting a major overhaul to its business, starting from the production line. As part of that, it now decides well before its catwalks what—and how much—to manufacture and send to stores.”

Liberty considers freehold sale of iconic flagship store (Retail Week)
“Liberty has confirmed that investors are circling the luxury department store’s iconic Tudor-style building to lease it back to the company.”

Vogue App Turns Ads Into Shopping Links (WSJ)
“Vogue readers with iPhones are getting another toy to play with this month. The magazine is launching an application that looks like a fun shopping and styling tool but is actually a savvy way to connect the magazine and its advertisers directly with readers’ wallets.”

Milan Goes in All Directions (NY Times)
“The problem is Ms. Prada doesn’t know what to do with these older forms other than offer them… By contrast, the clothes for Fendi looked modern and relaxed.”

Jaime Perlman | Source: Jermaine Francis.

LONDON, United Kingdom — “Everyone knows that editorial content is going to change,” says Jaime Perlman, Art Director of British Vogue. As web magazines, fashion films and a new generation of bloggers continue to capture the collective imagination of industry insiders and end consumers alike, there’s no doubt that fashion media is embracing digital technology like never before and becoming more immediate, transparent and multi-sensory in the process.

But where many in the magazine industry see a seismic threat, Ms. Perlman saw a creative opportunity. Last September, she launched an experimental fashion site called Test that embraces the collaborative energy, speed and democratic spirit of the internet and — true to its name — provides a platform for a new generation of fashion creatives to test the digital waters.

Jaime got her start in fashion as an assistant to Fabien Baron at American Harpers Bazaar, before moving on to become Associate Art Director at American Vogue. After a chance encounter with Robin Derrick, she was offered the job of Art Director at British Vogue and jumped ship for London, where she’s lived for the last five years.

BoF recently caught up with Jaime to talk about Test, the convergence of film and stills, moving to London, and the new inclusive fashion universe.

BoF: Since your roles at Harpers Bazaaar and American Vogue, you’ve become Art Director of British Vogue, worked with photographers like Tim Walker and Nick Knight, and launched a fashion website called Test. Is there something special about London that gives you the creative freedom and energy to do it all?

I definitely feel like London is buzzing with a creative energy I’ve felt nowhere else. I’ve also found the aesthetic here to be quite different to America, a bit more experimental and avant garde. It’s been a great place to try things out visually. I’ve felt much less self-conscious here about making a visual statement and feel privileged to have worked with talents like Nick Knight, Tim Walker and Corinne Day, all of whom have essentially popularised their own unique aesthetics that new generations of photographers follow.

BoF: How does the idea of a “test shoot” inform the underlying concept and the way you run Test?

I began Test as a place to experiment. Throughout my career, I’d met photographers and stylists that inspired me, but whom I had no opportunity to work with “professionally,” so I created this platform. The name Test is indeed derived from the term “test shoot,” for which photographers, stylists, models, and hair and makeup teams come together to demonstrate the best of their abilities. It’s a place to flush out new ideas and try out new collaborations.

But most importantly, Test has been a place for photographers to play around with moving image. Almost every photographer I know feels pressure to master film and video right now, and they’re keen to make a reel. It’s an exciting time, as it feels like a transitional period in media — stills photographers with no training in film are clumsily picking up their ‘high-def’ cameras for the first time and tinkering around with Final Cut Pro. It’s a race to keep up with new technology and evolving expectations. Advertising agencies don’t want to hire photographers anymore, they want to hire photographers who can also direct. It’s a skill that’s necessary for survival.

BoF: Because they incorporate sound and movement, do you think films are more emotionally charged than stills? Will fashion film become the dominant editorial format?

I wouldn’t argue that films are more emotionally charged than stills. In fact, I think there’s something incredibly powerful about capturing a single moment in still photography. You lose that in film. But I don’t think it’s a question of one or the other. With the growth of online magazines and new innovations like the Apple tablet, I think it’s about how film and photography will be used together. Increasingly, the creation and consumption of stills shoots and fashion films will be one in the same. Remember, with the Red camera, directors can shoot a moving image piece and select stills which can be pulled out as fashion photographs.

BoF: In most fashion magazines, only the photographer and stylist are credited. But with Test, you’ve taken a more democratic approach, crediting the entire creative team. What’s the philosophy behind this?

A rigidly hierarchical environment is somewhat outdated in fashion. Previously you assisted someone for years and years with no creative input and were totally hidden behind the scenes. When I first began going to shoots, it struck me just how many people were involved in producing the images you see, working their butts off, but never being credited.

Now, with the internet and blogs, people at all levels have a voice. I felt it was quite natural for Test to embrace this new, digitally-driven ethos and credit everyone involved with the shoots. Test is about the process as much as the product and I wanted to inform the audience about everyone’s role in the shoots we do. Ultimately, these are the people who may one day be credited at the tops of magazine mastheads. I’ve seen so many kids move up in the business from the very bottom, and I think everyone that’s dedicated enough to their craft has the possibility to achieve great things.

BoF: You said that Test was about the process as much as the finished product. How do you think a more transparent creative process will impact fashion?

Everything is getting more accessible these days, whether it’s fashion or celebrity. Now everything is within our reach, which is why consumers are becoming fascinated with the process. It’s something that was previously hidden away.

Within the industry, the majority of my friends and colleagues have blogs. People are always fascinated by what inspires other people and often borrow inspiration for themselves. On both levels, I think what we’re seeing is a move towards a more inclusive and open fashion universe.

BoF: Is Test ever a “testing area” for ideas or concepts that make their way into your work for British Vogue?

Test and British Vogue are two separate entities. But as an art director, I find they complement each other. A few of the artists who have worked with Test — such as Norbert Schoerner, Jacob Sutton, Catherine Servel, and Jermaine Francis — have already contributed to Vogue. But Test also allows me to work with artists who are less established and may not have had the opportunity to work for Vogue at this stage in their careers. In that sense, it’s opened my eyes to people who are potential contenders and allows me to mark people in the industry as “ones to watch” who might grace the pages of Vogue in the future.

Visit Test at testmag.co.uk or follow Test on Twitter @testmagtweet

Hugo by Hugo Boss Autumn/Winter 09 | Source: Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss European sales fall 13 percent (Drapers)
“Total European sales at Hugo Boss fell 13% to €852m (£766m) over the first nine months of 2009 as the brand and retailer was hit by a turbulent northern European and Spanish trading climate.”

M&S and Next fight back while Primark shines (Reuters)
“Updates from three of Britain’s biggest clothing retailers should shed a little more light next week on whether consumers are starting to spend more freely ahead of the key Christmas trading period.”

Lulu Guiness signs investor to fund Asian expansion (Drapers)
“Lulu Guiness has sold a 15% stake in the luxury handbags and accessories label to Hong Kong-based First Eastern Investment Group to further expansion in Asia.”

Prada shortens temporary layoffs as orders rise (Reuters)
“Italian fashion house Prada is shortening temporary suspensions for some workers by three weeks after orders for its spring/summer 2010 clothes exceeded expectations by 10 percent.”

The Fashion Fund (Vogue)
“Vogue and the British Fashion Council have launched a new £200,000 fund today to support Britain’s young design talent both financially and with expert business advice.”

LONDON, United Kingdom — Bootlegged copies of The September Issue have been circulating amongst fashion insiders in London. The new 90 minute documentary featuring Anna Wintour of American Vogue is not due to hit U.S. and U.K. theatres until later this Summer, but it is already providing much fodder for industry conversations over mid-Summer cocktails and pre-collection appointments.

The film revolves around the development, execution and advertising sales for the September 2007 issue of US Vogue, an 840 page tome featuring Sienna Miller in a feathered Marchesa dress on its cover and reaching almost 13 million people. Anna Wintour carves a clear path throughout the film, with a singular vision for her magazine. Industry luminaries young and old tremble in her presence, as she serves up her trademark quick, clear, sharp feedback to designers, businessmen and editors alike.

Stefano Pilati, the Creative Director of Yves Saint Laurent questions his collection based on Wintour’s feedback and stylist Edward Enninful exclaims “I wanna kill myself,” after a meeting with his notoriously demanding boss. American ingenue designer Thakoon Panichgul admits that his hands couldn’t stop shaking during his first meeting with Anna and even heavyweight fashion photographer Mario Testino feels the wrath of nuclear Wintour when he fails to deliver an image she was expecting of Sienna Miller outside the ancient Roman Colosseum.

But Wintour also comes across as slightly misunderstood by an industry that paints her as evil and scheming. Rather, she simply does what she thinks is best and is singularly focused on her professional output and achieving her vision. Whether you agree with the vision is a different story, but as an operator, she runs a tight ship and achieves the results she wants.

At one point in the film, Burt Tansky, the Chairman of Neiman Marcus, even asks for Wintour’s help in dealing with the poor deliveries of designer fashion brands. “We are waiting longer and longer for deliveries,” he says. Wintour responds that the problem is that many designers just need to do more editing. There is too much product. “Less is more,” she declares, well before the economic meltdown which hit the industry one year later.

The foil to Wintour’s more commercial approach to editing Vogue is the magazine’s Creative Director, Grace Coddington, who slowly reveals her endearing passion for fashion through honest interviews peppered throughout the movie. The 20 year Vogue veteran started in front of the camera before a car accident ended her modeling career leading her to British Vogue where she was junior editor. Coddington comes at fashion from different angle than Wintour, completing the creative partnership that lies at the heart of the most powerful fashion magazine in the world. The tension between them is also part of the magazine’s success.

“I never dreamt to be a model or never, never dreamt to be a fashion editor, but I just love the pages and the pictures,” she says, looking out on the grand boulevards of Paris during the Couture. Remembering Norman Parkinson, the legendary fashion photographer, she adds “he taught me to always keep your open and never go to sleep the car. Keep watching because whatever you see out the window…it can inspire you.”

RSS and Email subscribers click here to watch the trailer.

Imran Amed is Editor of The Business of Fashion.

Alexandra Shulman, courtesy of David Wise

LONDON, United Kingdom — When BoF’s Vikram Alexei Kansara explored the interactive future of fashion magazines about a month ago, a lively debate ensued in the comments section of the post and in emails with our readers. It is one of the most read articles on BoF thus far in 2009.

Clearly this is a topic on everyone’s minds, not only in the fashion media, but also print media more generally. Major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post are deep in cost-cutting mode, the consequence of a perfect storm of technological change and plummeting advertising revenues which has sent the global publishing industry into a tailspin. Several magazines have been shut down, including Conde Nast’s Domino and Hachette Filipachi’s Home. Last week, music monthly Blender was the latest magazine to take its entire publication online, shuttering the physical publication altogether after the April issue.

So, when given the opportunity to pose a question to one of the most important fashion editors in the world, I couldn’t resist asking for her take on the future of fashion magazines in this climate of rapid change.

Last week, London’s Fashion Business Club hosted an event highlighting the extensive and impressive career of Alexandra Shulman, Editor of British Vogue, who was interviewed by Dolly Jones, Editor of Vogue.com UK. It was the latest in a series of talks featuring leading figures from the British fashion industry organised by Alison Whelan and Courtney Blackman.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Shulman was honest, forthright and even personal in her observations:

On Luxury: “Luxury is lovely…who wouldn’t want it if they could afford it?”

On LOVE magazine: “Katie did a fantastic job with the first issue and I can’t wait to see what she does with the second one,” commenting that “everybody” was in the first issue, so who will Katie Grand use in the second issue?

On Fashion shows: “We will see a big change over the next few years…” as their role in the fashion system evolves, but they will not disappear altogether. That said, there is the “danger of catwalk appeal” that designers must be aware of in showing clothes on the runway that will never be sold in the showroom, something that makes it difficult for her to feature in Vogue editorials.

On London Fashion Week: “It was really brilliant…one of the best ever,” reflecting on the collections shown in February for Autumn/Winter 2009.

Finally, on the future of magazines, she agreed that it was the “question on everyone’s mind,” not only in fashion media, but in publishing more generally, because “advertising is going down for everybody” and by the way, Vogue has suffered less than most.

While she stated a personal preference for physical magazines—namely, The New Yorker, World of Interiors, and Vanity Fair—she acknowledged that things were changing at light speed and that there was room for both online and offline publications to exist side-by-side. She added that she and Dolly Jones would be speaking to define the boundaries between them.

Longtime readers of BoF will remember Dolly from a BoF interview last June, explaining the thinking behind the relaunch of the new Vogue.com. Dolly has been there since 1995 when the UK-based Vogue.com became one of the first major fashion internet sites in the world. Since then, it has maintained its UK market dominance with constant online innovation, providing a template for successful follow-on sites in other Vogue territories, including France, India and China.

Which got me to thinking. As editors of an offline and online entity with the same brand, I hope they will be reducing barriers and integrating the offline and online entities of Vogue’s magazines even further. While the content should be distinct, making the best of what each medium has to offer, there’s still something to be said for linking the two more closely to elevate the overall Vogue experience. Maybe, they should even think of themselves as editing the same publication, just using different tools. Telling the same stories, just using a different voice.

Stakes have increased in recent months, and the survival of even major fashion magazines is no longer certain. And, for all the talk about online content, internet versions of physical magazines have failed to make up for lost advertising revenue offline. Physical magazines still have an important role to play, while online entities can help to engage the reader, building a deeper relationship with the magazine brand.

As Stevie Spring, Chief Executive of Spring Publishing said, commenting on a recent article in The Guardian, “those publishers producing magazines that are embedded in people’s lives, that play an important part in people’s hobbies and interests, will weather the storms much better than those producing content that can be had quicker, cheaper, in digestible bite-size chunks online.”

Fashion magazines can play this part in people’s lives. And Vogue, with one of the strongest fashion magazine franchises in the world, should take this opportunity to consolidate its market position by taking the lead.

Imran Amed is Editor of The Business of Fashion.

In another segment, Marc Jacobs explains the thinking behind the low key approach to showing his signature collection this year, when he went without the elaborate sets and 2000 person mega event of New York Fashion Week. He says that it just didn’t feel right this time and so they put the money (and focus) into the clothes.

As for Roitfeld, CNN’s documentary reveals her to be an authentic character, true to herself, and, a somewhat softer one at that. This, especially when contrasted with the strong fashion looks she wears from designers like of Ricardo Tisci and most recently, Joseph Altuzarra.

The CNN Revealed episode is the first of two new TV features on top fashion editors. A 60 Minutes profile of Anna Wintour by Morley Safer, now 77 years old and still getting scoops that other media outlets would kill to have, is said to air in May.

Apparently, Safer’s been taking this scoop very seriously. Fashion blogs have been aflutter ever since Cathy Horyn revealed that Safer (or someone working on the documentary with him) shushed Catherine Deneuve and Salma Hayek while they waited for him to complete an interview with Wintour.

But, you’ll have to wait until later this year for that. For now, you can watch Carine.

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Part Two

Part Three

Fashion spread, courtesy of Vogue (US)

NEW YORK, United States — Susan Sontag once said “fashion is fashion photography.” She might have added: “and fashion photography is the magazine.”

Indeed, it’s hard to overestimate the importance of magazines to the fashion system. More than the runway, the boutique, the boulevard, or the internet, glossy physical magazines are still the primary place where fashion lives and the most powerful pathway for its transmission.

But in the first few weeks of 2009, the outlook for powerhouse fashion publishers like Condé Nast (which has almost monopolized high-end magazines) looks decidedly grim. In response to the recession, advertisers are slashing their marketing spend.

As a result, ad pages (the barometer of a magazine’s health) are plunging fast, even at leading titles like Vogue. In recent weeks, The New York Times has published a string of articles with headlines like “Prominent Magazines Lose Weight, Shedding Nearly Half Their Ads” and “When Even Condé Nast Is in Retreat,” while The Wall Street Journal reported: “Magazine Ads Evaporated in 2008, Faster as Months Went On.”

While many advertisers are cutting budgets, others have followed readers online. On the web, consumers can access timely and engaging content free of charge and advertisers can communicate at a fraction of the cost, track the impact of their message (by counting how many consumers click) and link their ads through to e-commerce sites. But the idea of magazines migrating online is problematic, not least because the current business model that underpins online publishing is not self-sustaining.

Delivering content is much cheaper online (there are no printing or distribution costs). But the content itself — which is why readers are there in the first place — remains very expensive to produce. And while online readership is rising, the web’s culture of free access to content means magazines earn nothing from online subscriptions and must cover costs through advertising alone. Unfortunately, the sale of online ad space simply doesn’t generate enough income. As David Carr from The New York Times put it, “the web has yet to match the ability of a glossy display ad to build brand image.”

Currently, many online publishers offer content that is heavily subsidized by revenue earned from ad sales at affiliated print publications. In return, the websites generate subscriptions. Even Style.com, one of the biggest websites in the industry, which produces and publishes its own unique content, is billed as “the online home of Vogue” and solicits readers to subscribe to the print magazine.

And while a growing number of fashion blogs and other online startups produce their own content inexpensively, there are many more who depend on trickle down from the traditional media. So while it’s tempting to think otherwise, the internet currently offers little solution to the implosion of ad sales at print magazines, partly because the relationship between print and online is symbiotic. When print suffers, online suffers too.

But the business case isn’t the only argument against migration online. Fashion is a tactile experience. Magazines matter because paper stock matters. Photography matters. And image quality matters. Glossy magazines deliver an experience that a webpage doesn’t. But magazines could learn a few lessons from the online space that might offer advertisers added value — and lure them back — while enriching the experience for consumers at the same time.

Back in the fall of 2007, when the September issue of American Vogue clocked a record 727 ad pages, Condé Nast launched broadband internet channel shopvogue.tv. Produced through the business and marketing side of the magazine, the site was an attempt to create added value for advertisers by connecting static print ads to online commerce. Each advertiser that bought a full-page ad in the September issue qualified for inclusion on the site, where consumers could browse and shop the contents of the ads as they appeared in the magazine. Advertisers that bought multipage spreads were permitted to post additional content, like behind-the-scenes video from their campaign’s photo shoots, that appeared in a series called “Behind the Lens” and ran alongside other fashion-related video entertainment like “60 Seconds to Chic” and “Trend Watch.”

While this was a commendable attempt at innovation, for two key reasons the site failed to impress. First, the video content had no input from Vogue’s editorial side — and as a result did not sufficiently reflect the vitality of the Vogue brand. And second, the technology wasn’t adequately evolved. If a print advertisement caught their eye, readers still had to put down their magazines and visit a website, only to find that when they selected “shop” they would often click through to a website that did not offer e-commerce, but more of the same campaign imagery pasted on a webpage.

But things have changed. Both consumers and fashion brands have embraced e-commerce. And the current economic environment couldn’t be better (or more desperate) for an innovative new approach that blends the glossy, brand-building value of print advertising with the shopable and measurable value of online advertising.

In a previous article, I discussed the power of “Quick Response” or QR codes. They are next generation barcodes that can be easily printed on a physical magazine page, but function like online links. To “click” on them, you point and shoot them with your camera phone and they retrieve relevant information on your phone’s web browser. For example, in Japan, McDonald’s customers can point and shoot the barcodes on their hamburger wrapping and get nutritional information on their screens. The technology has yet to go mainstream in the US and Europe (because the software doesn’t come pre-installed on phones) but that’s all about to change, as big advertising and technology companies like Hewlett-Packard and Publicis Groupe are pushing to popularize the technology.

Meanwhile, fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and Gucci have already begun using these codes to link print advertising in magazines to mobile commerce sites. This makes glossy magazine ads something consumers can browse and shop. It also allows marketers to measure how consumers respond to their ads and monitor the results of their investment. That translates into serious added value for advertisers.

But there’s no reason QR codes should be deployed on ad pages alone. The same simple technology can also make editorial content more compelling — and help attract new readers and the advertisers that pay for their eyeballs.

Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio recently released a beautiful slow-motion fashion film called Chrysalis, created by Jez Tozer during an editorial shoot for Dazed & Confused Japan. If the magazine had printed QR codes next to the editorial, readers could have seen the film alongside the images with a point and shoot of their camera phones.

In fact, Purple Fashion magazine, perhaps the most high-gloss publication in the industry whose physical beauty approaches objet d’art, has done something similar for their new issue. For their “Best of the Season” story, photographed by Terry Richardson and styled by Christopher Niquet, Purple neatly tucked a QR code into the margins of a spread featuring Serbian model Natasa. When they point and shoot the code with their phones, readers uncover a dramatic behind the scenes video featuring Terry Richardson and Natasa at work.

Magazines that combine the glossy, tactile appeal of print with the power to deliver online video, sound, and other multimedia content is a compelling concept. But the single most powerful thing about digital technology is not multimedia. Unlike static magazines or broadcast television, the web is inherently a two-way medium that offers tremendous possibilities for dialogue.

Founded in 1969, Andy Warhol’s legendary Interview magazine — dedicated to the cult of celebrity — created a sense of spontaneity and dialogue by publishing free flowing interviews that were often unedited. Now, four decades after the first issue of Interview, advances in technology allow editors to push Warhol’s vision further and open the dialogue to readers. Using the same simple QR code technology, editors could let readers leave comments and start conversations in the metaphorical “margins” of a physical magazine that become visible only when other readers click with their phones.

But this is just the beginning. It’s time to imagine a future when magazines let readers not only read, view and comment on content, but actually participate with their icons to influence and co-create content. The forthcoming March issue of Interview features a story on Mary-Kate Olsen. What if, on the day the new issue launched, readers could use their phones to point and shoot a QR code on the cover and open a chat window that let them submit questions for Ms. Olsen to answer live?

Now that’s something that might raise the pulse of readers and the advertisers who chase them.

Vikram Alexei Kansara is a digital strategist and writer based in New York.

Vogue Magazine, photo courtesy of the New York Times

What’s wrong with Vogue? (New York Times)
“Vogue has become stale and predictable, and it has happened in spite of some of the best editors, writers and photographers in the business.”

Lunchtime Snap: The Highs and Lows of 2008 Runway Fashions (WSJ)
The Wall Street Journal breaks down the most ubiquitous trends of 2008.

French fashion retailer Morgan files for bankruptcy (Times UK)
Morgan, the French retailer that counts Carla Bruni as one of its models, has filed for bankruptcy.

European Firms Seek Minority Partners (WWD)
“Minority stakes are becoming newly de rigueur with private equity and family-controlled funds, which are still sitting on cash piles and hunting for deals.”

LONDON, United Kingdom – Back in 1995, Netscape Navigator was the dominant web-browser with a market share of more than 90%.  People were talking about the launch of Altavista, an Internet search engine that acheived 300,000 hits on its very first day. On the fashion end of things, the New York Times’ Amy Spindler was tearing apart Donna Karan and raving about Mark Eisen in her review of the New York A/W 1995 collections.

Today, Netscape’s share of web-browser use is less than 1% and Altavista is a relic. Donna Karan still puts out collections in New York, but she scarcely merits a full length review in Cathy Horyn’s reviews. Nobody even remembers Mark Eisen. In the worlds of Fashion and the Internet, things can change very quickly indeed. Combine the two together, and things travel at lightspeed.

That’s why the longevity and continued market dominance of  the UK’s VOGUE.COM, which also launched in 1995, is remarkable. I spoke to Editor Dolly Jones about the new technology and content underlying the relaunched site. Not one to rest on her laurels, we also discussed the business imperatives for keeping VOGUE.COM at the top of its game.

BoF: What brought about the decision to overhaul VOGUE.COM at this time?

DJ: We had enjoyed our position as market leader for some years -since 1995 when the site launched, and it’s been upgraded several times since then, but as our competitors began to sit up and take notice, we wanted to take the offering up a level and create the best possible offering for advertisers while also catering to the never ending user demand for fashion. We have over 12 years experience online, now, and we wanted to put all that we’ve learnt in that time to the best possible use. We liked what we had, and it worked – so we combined the best of what was there with one or two other ideas we’d had! The fashion industry is transforming and developing all the time – we have to reflect that with the site – and plus our advertisers wanted it.

Image courtesy of Fashion156.com

LONDON, United Kingdom - While taking a whirl around the Internet these days you’re bound to bump into an online fashion magazine – or ten. Everyone from Richard Mortimer of Boombox fame to Net-a-Porter’s Natalie Massenet is getting in on the action – and looking for ways to monetise it.

For a long time, content developers had a hard time creating a distinction between simple websites and bonafide online magazines. But, in the past year, a plethora of online magazines have emerged with three common threads:

Multimedia:   The new magazines are a veritable multi-media festival. For some content consumers, particularly younger tech-savvy types, a multi-media experience is the only way to capture (and keep) their attention: lots of videos, blogs, and communities.

Integration: The trick here has been to create a truly integrated experience across different channels — for example,  how do you make an offline page really come alive on the Internet? Creating complementary content that can be consumed separately, and together, satisfies even the most demanding multi-tasker.

Convergence:   Style.com meets Neiman Marcus.com. Content companies are integrating commerce models into their sites while commerce companies are creating their own content, and thereby, becoming content destinations in and of themselves. 

To mark the surge of online magazines, we’ve compiled a list of ten of the most interesting concepts to watch:

1. NY Times T Magazine: With thought-provoking editorial, sharp images and full page advertisements, this is the place to find the experience that most closely captures that of reading a great offline magazine. But, it doesn’t end there. T also kicks things into a whole new gear with seamlessly-integrated video and a daily blog, “The Moment”, resulting in a true multi-media experience. We think this one is a winner, and by the sounds of it, the advertisers are loving it too.

2. Net-a-Porter Notes: Did you know that Net-a-Porter puts out a new edition of its online magazine every single week? Last week, Natalie Massenet told me that “Net-a-Porter Notes” is a key part of making Net-a-Porter an online fashion destination with both content and commerce. Just click on the  magazine images or trends, and you are magically transported to the Net-a-Porter commerce site. How efficient!

3. Vogue.co.uk: London’s fashion community descended on a pre-launch breakfast for the new Vogue.co.uk last week. Editor Dolly Jones tells us that the new site will launch in a few weeks and will be “completely different” from the current site. Vogue.com devotees will have already noticed that the site has been using more and more video content in recent months – a sign of things to come? Will there be a commerce play too? Stay tuned.

4. Ponystep.com: A couple of weeks ago I met East London impresario Richard Mortimer and asked him about Ponystep.com which just launched today. I can see why Richard described it as a project of passion, “working with people I like.” This may be why there is no apparent business model. However, this think-about-money-later formula has worked for Richard in the past – Boombox spawned a book, was invited to replicate itself in Milan and Paris, and drew attention (read: money) from big brands like Burberry. 

5. New York Look: The second issue of New York Look magazine has hit the stands, with the online version to hit the site in the next couple of weeks. We reviewed the launch issue in the Autumn, and enjoyed its insider perspective and interesting editorial. Case and point: the new issue features Janet Ozzard’s interview with Cathy Horyn on the end of the runway show in an “online-only” fashion world.

6. BBC Thread: Seizing the zeitgeist for ethical fashion, the BBC launched an online fashion magazine earlier this month, targeted at young, socially conscious consumers interested in self-described “eco-fabulous” style. The magazine’s content runs the gamut from environmentally friendly to ethically-conscious and for once, has a definition of what this actually means.

7. HintMag: Hintmag has developed a cult following for its in-depth ‘Hinterviews’ with hard-to-pin-down fashion royalty. This month, Stephen Jones, London’s legendary milliner, reveals what its like to work on designing runway-worthy headgear for fashion designers ranging from Rei Kawakubo to Marc Jacobs to John Galliano.

8. Fashion156.com: Every 156 hours, Fashion156 releases a new issue of its online magazine, in keeping with fast fashion, in the most literal sense of the word. With Susie Bubble as a key contributor and a desire to make Fashion156 a platform for new talent, this site has a fresh take on all things fashion — including a clever model that includes links to commerce partners, which likely create revenue from affiliate sales and commissions.

9.Very Elle: Earlier this month, Elle France launched this new integrated online/offline magazine property which takes the offline magazine and replicates it verbatim online — complete with full-page advertisements. Its en français, but you can still get a feel for how some offline magazines may try to get into this space to directly leverage their content online, while maintaining the feel of a real magazine.

10. Iconique: First launched in 2000 (and therefore, a pioneer in this space), Iconique magazine is the  brainchild of of Joost van Gorsel. Designed using flash, which is not necessarily great for quick download times, the site still manages to evoke real moods and tantalise with its virtual catwalks, stylish podcasts and a sexy welcome message.

Which online fashion magazines do you rate highly? Let the BoF community know who else is doing something special.