Hedi Slimane | Source: Hypebeast

A Fashion Designer’s Second Act (NY Times)
“When Hedi Slimane stepped down as artistic director at Dior Homme in 2007, Fashion Wire Daily summed up his tenure this way: ‘Slimane leaves Dior with the well-earned reputation as the single most influential men’s designer this century, the most copied of his peers and the only one to achieve the status of a rock star.’… But Mr. Slimane seems to have left fashion behind with nary a second thought, reinventing himself as a photographer in the past few years, one who has produced an array of strikingly intimate portraits, nearly all of them black and white.”

Ralph Lauren margins fall, shares hit (Reuters)
“Ralph Lauren Corp posted a sharp drop in quarterly margins on Wednesday, hurt by rising costs, and its shares fell in premarket dealings. Shares fell 5.7 percent as gross margin fell dropped to 56.6 percent from 58 percent a year earlier. The clothing maker, which makes brands including Polo, Club Monaco and Chaps, said net income rose to $233.5 million, or $2.46 a share, in the second quarter ended October 1 from $205.2 million, or $2.09 a share, a year earlier.”

Online fashion retailer Yoox sees Q4 growth (Reuters)
“Italian online fashion retailer Yoox is looking to further revenue growth for the end of the year after strong sales in the first nine months confirmed the vigor of the luxury industry despite wider economic woes in Europe. Yoox, which powers sites for top brands such as Valentino and Roberto Cavalli alongside its own multibrand online stores, said core earnings rose 20.2 percent to 11.8 million euros ($16 million) in the nine months ended in September.”

Retail Site Raids a Big Closet (NY Times)
“Since its debut in February, Moda Operandi, the online retailer that sells designer clothes right off the runway, has become a surprise competitor on the lucrative trunk-show circuit. Now the site is becoming a competitor to traditional department stores and magazines for personnel, as well. Roopal Patel, a longtime executive in the fashion offices of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, will join Moda Operandi this month as its fashion director. And Taylor Tomasi Hill, formerly the style and accessories director of Marie Claire, will become its artistic director.”

Yohji’s World (Vogue)
“Yohji Yamamoto has explained his love of the colour black – a signature that punctuates most of his collections… ‘Colour disturbs people. I am confident in black, not in light. This dark side of life is attractive to me forever and from the beginnings. I am a lazy designer when it comes to colour. The body is the important thing to me – it is the beginning of my work.’”

Looks from the IOU project | Source: IOU

Ethical fashion weaves in social media (CNN)
“With each piece of clothing there is a link called “This item’s journey” that leads to pictures and profiles of the weaver who created the fabric and of the artisan who cut the material and created the design. Using the IOU Project’s iPhone app, you can take a photo of the QR code to pull that story up again.”

Luxury stores urge UK to issue more Chinese visas (CNN)
“Britain could give a boost to the luxury goods industry by relaxing visa restrictions for Chinese travellers, the bosses of high-end department stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols told Reuters…. Four years ago, China represented about a third of our American business, now it is four times our American business. ”

Luxury executive switcheroos (FT)
“Mr Bouissou’s move to PPR comes as its chief François-Henri Pinault has switched to a hands-on role with the luxury section of the business… Boucheron, the only jewellery brand in the portfolio, has always seemed a bit of an anomaly in the Gucci Group stable, but joined by a few other, smaller gem names – well, suddenly it starts to look a lot more logical.”

Why Saks Continues to be a Leader in Luxury Retail’s Recovery (Forbes)
“Look who’s leading a luxe charge in retail: Saks Inc. posted a soaring 51 percent gain in profits for its fiscal first quarter on… Despite the influence of consumer confidence, Saks’ sales gains of 8.8 percent to $726 million on a 10.2 percent rise in comps (comparable sales in stores open at least one year) were the result of savvy management decisions.”

Yohji Yamamoto as Himself (WWD)
“As a buildup to his 10-year anniversary with Adidas, Yohji Yamamoto has stripped down the way he works in a new documentary. Compelling as it is to see how closely the designer examines the drape of his designs and how he crouches on the floor to review rows of models’ head shots, the film’s most poignant moments happen when Yamamoto simply stands in front of the camera, speaking about his life and ideology.”

Grace Coddington | Source: DKNY Times

Grace Coddington: Creative Indeed (Intelligent Life)
“Grace Coddington, the creative director of American Vogue, who turns 70 in April, has been a quietly revolutionary presence in the fashion world—first as a model, then as an editor—for half a century. But only since the release of the film “The September Issue” in 2009 has she been recognised in public—greeted by strangers who witnessed some of her creative battles and now see her as a reassuringly human face of fashion.”

Consumers: We want Gucci or Target. Forget the Gap (CNN Money)
“‘They are more high and low in the way that they are spending… High-end brands are holding ground among consumers, while spending at value oriented stores has also been pretty stable. It’s a tough place for mid-tier right now,’… referring to retailers like the Gap, Chico’s and Ann Taylor.”

How the Luxury Industry is Using the iPad (Luxury Society)
“Brands began developing applications to showcase collections and product ranges, and to communicate brand values and heritage. Gucci and Stella McCartney took the next step and released applications full of bespoke content: interviews with designers, creative directors, city guides, music recommendations… designed to fully engage the new digitally-driven consumer.”

Exit Paris, Winking (NY Times)
“My guess is it was a clever provocation. Mr. Jacobs would hardly be the first designer to have watched ‘The Night Porter’ or to allude to the obsessive and ultimately objectifying nature of high fashion. But he made no attempt to back away from this imagery in the wake of the Galliano scandal.”

Yohji Yamamoto’s London Moment (WWD)
“Thirty years after Yohji Yamamoto first presented his collection in Paris, the designer is having a moment in London… Yamamoto’s first solo exhibition in the U.K. will open at the Victoria and Albert Museum, along with two smaller shows dedicated to his work at the Wapping Project and the Wapping Project Bankside galleries in South London.”

Andrej Pejic | Source: Deviantart.com

Fashion blurs gender boundaries (Telegraph)
“Transsexuals, transvestites and models with no clear gender affiliation are all the rage in current advertising campaigns and editorials.”

Hermès Shares Jump in Paris After LVMH Increases Holding (Bloomberg)
“Hermès International rose as much as 5 percent in Paris trading after larger luxury-goods rival LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA said it increased its stake in the Birkin bag-maker to more than 20 percent.”

China’s Li & Fung buys Italian fashion house Cerruti (Reuters)
“Li & Fung group’s Trinity has bought Cerruti for 53 million euros ($70 million) from the U.S. fund which salvaged the Italian fashion house best-known for its woollen men’s suits and 1881 perfume.”

V&A to present Japanese Yohji Yamamoto work (Fibre 2 Fashion)
“Next spring the V&A will open the first UK solo exhibition celebrating the life and work of Yohji Yamamoto, one of the world’s most influential and enigmatic fashion designers.”

Name You Need To Know: Fashion Designer Bibhu Mohapatra (Forbes)
“New York City has experienced a bit of a fashion renaissance lately…another newcomer is poised to join their ranks, in a very different design niche. His name: Bibhu Mohapatra. His specialty: ball gowns.”

Yohji Yamamoto | Source: Coolspotters

The Yohji Yamamoto story (Telegraph)
“Yohji Yamamoto, the charismatic and mysterious Japanese designer, is allowing the first-ever published biography about his life to be published. The book, entitled (enigmatically, of course) ‘My Dear Bomb’, will be released worldwide in October.”

Ferragamo Sees ‘Very Good’ 2010 (Bloomberg)
“Salvatore Ferragamo, the Italian shoemaker, expects ‘a very good’ 2010 as the weaker euro boosts sales and margins, and consumers return to pay full price for luxury footwear and accessories, Chief Executive Officer Michele Norsa said.”

Best foot forward as Office seeks buyer (FT)
“Office, the fashion-forward high street shoe retailer owned by Sir Tom Hunter, has put itself up for sale with a price tag of £170m. The chain was bought… in 2003 for about £16m. It has since expanded from 21 stores, mainly in London, to a national presence of 125 outlets.”

Ready-to-wear trends to impact on July’s haute couture (Relaxnews)
“Even if most designers would say there are no trends in haute couture, some of the previews of the collections obtained by Relaxnews hint at the opposite.”

Kirkwood For Pilotto (Vogue.com)
“Peter Pilotto and British shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood have announced a new footwear collaboration. The capsule collection will make its debut at Pilotto’s show at London Fashion Week in September.”

But even before the regular jam-packed four week fashion marathon was Fashion’s Night Out — possibly the biggest global fashion extravaganza ever­. This was followed by a month full of magazine and book launches, the U.S. Coco Avant Chanel film premiere, and the debut of perhaps the most anticipated high street fashion line ever, J+ by Jil Sander for Uniqlo.  The fashion pack is understandably exhausted.

Lucky for you, we at the BoF have been scouring the shows, talking to CEOs, observing the front rows and getting the skinny on all the important news and market trends over the past month. So, in what has now become a seasonal tradition, here is our take on Spring/Summer 2010, the season that was.

1. THE BURGEONING BLOGGERATI

Tavi on the cover of Pop Magazine | Source: Pop Magazine

It’s already been discussed at length here on BoF and elsewhere, but worth mentioning again. Independent media mavens – aka bloggers – were treated to top-flight access at shows in all of the fashion capitals. Tavi, the thirteen year-old Chicagoan and front page star of POP magazine, was in the front row at show after show in New York, joined by a gaggle of other girls with successful fashion blogs. In Milan, bloggers like Bryanboy were given front row seats at D&G, where live blogging stations were installed at their seats.

But it’s the fashion photobloggers that emerged as the real bloggerati royalty. Tommy Ton (recently featured on BoF) was named the new streetstyle photographer for Style.com. Sonny van de Velde feted his exhibit of backstage fashion photos at the Tribeca Grand. And the original superblogger, Scott Schuman, had parties in multiple cities to celebrate the launch of his new book, aptly entitled The Sartorialist. At Liberty in London, a queue of hundreds dressed in their spiffiest duds, snaked around the basement floor of the venerable department store for a few moments with fashion’s ultimate superblogger.

But for how long? Bryanboy was circumspect about all the newfound attention fixated on fashion bloggers. “I wonder if it’s just the latest trend,” he said to me outside Milk Studios in New York. “Will they get tired of us in a few seasons and move onto the next big thing?” It remains to be seen, but for now, the bloggers have arrived in full effect.

2. CONTEMPORARY CRAZE

Rad by Rad Hourani | Photo: Tommy Ton

As one designer put it to me, “Everyone is asking for better quality, better design, and lower prices.” A seemingly impossible feat. But a quick visit to meet with Stella Ishii at The News showroom in SoHo confirmed that many young designers are turning to the still hot Contemporary sector to try and meet these expectations.

Doo-Ri Chung’s Under-Ligne, Richard Chai’s LOVE, T by Alexander Wang, Rad by Rad Hourani, and others are now offering their design DNA at accessible price points.

But will these small businesses be able to meet the operational demands of the Contemporary segment? With multiple deliveries per season and buyers’ expectations to reorder best sellers, this market segment requires operational finesse and active relationship management, something young designer businesses are not known for.

For a best-in-class case study, would-be Contemporary players should talk to Wen Zhou and Phillip Lim, whose business is turning over more than $50m annually and was profitable from year one.

3. THE MARRIAGE OF SPORT AND FASHION

Yohji Yamamoto and Zinedine Zidane | Source: Coutorture

A funny thing happens during the Spring collections in New York in September. The U.S. Open is held around the same time as fashion week, so a weary fashionista can catch the men’s final in between shows for a bit of a break from the fashion hullabaloo. This year, after a brilliant Patrik Ervell show, followed rapidly thereafter by a beautiful Sophie Theallet show, I caught the U.S. Open men’s final and watched a young Argentinian beat the long-time incumbent, Roger Federer.

Sometimes you’ll even see Mr. Federer at a show in New York, sitting next to Anna Wintour, his number one fan. Not this year, however. Instead, Federer showed up in Milan to attend the Armani show with Ms. Wintour two weeks later.

Sports stars also appeared on the New York fashion runway itself. As if to further cement the relationship between Zinedine Zidane and Adidas, the French soccer star made a front-row appearance at the Y-3 show in some stylish red shoes and afterwards, proceeded to take penalty shots with Yohji Yamamoto, with a paparazzo playing goalie.

It left a smile on everybody’s face.

4.WHITE KNIGHTS

Dita von Teese in Christian Lacroix for Russian Harpers Bazaar | Source: Just Jared

Towards the end of Paris Fashion Week, I spotted Christian Lacroix with a noticeable spring in his step, as he bounded towards his waiting car. A few days later, a rumoured investment from an Emirati sheikh was confirmed by Lacroix, guaranteeing, at least for now, the future of the company he has built since 1987.

Yohji Yamamoto also found a white knight to call his own. Simultaneously while announcing that his company had filed for bankruptcy protection, officials at Yohji Yamamoto in Japan confirmed that Integral Capital stepped in to help the widely-respected designer make it through slumping sales in its home market. But investment does not come for free. Yamamoto is now a minority shareholder in his business.

And finally, the Italian press was rife with rumours that another white knight, this time in the form of Indian steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, would come in to save another troubled fashion business, Gianfranco Ferre. This has yet to be confirmed. But as they say, two times is a coincidence, three times is a trend. Stay tuned.

5. FASHION FILM’S FIRST STAR

Fashion films made multiple appearances during the Spring/Summer 2010 collections. Gareth Pugh’s four-sided film cube installation in New York gave away little of the grey-hued modern luxe collection he showed in Paris, but it was a clear demonstration of the vibrancy of technological creativity erupting in London’s East End, changing the face of fashion communication forever.

The undoubted fashion event of the season saw Alexander McQueen blow everyone away with a spectacle that combined fashion, film and music, disseminated widely and rapidly across the Internet, crashing the SHOWStudio site which streamed McQueen’s show live from Paris. Louis Vuitton and Burberry also streamed their shows, but on the more mass market Facebook site.

The Paris collections closed with the A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival, presented by Diane Pernet, with a jury chaired by Rick Owens. Amongst the honorees was Ruth Hogben, Gareth Pugh’s longtime film collaborator. I caught up with Ruth outside the SHOWStudio Fashion Revolution launch in London, where she told me a bit about her burgeoning client list including Topshop and others.

It looks like Ms. Hogben has become the go-to girl for fashion films. And, if this season was any indication, her talent will be in high demand for some time yet. She is certainly fashion film’s first bonafide star.

6. BEING TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL ISN’T COOL

Mary Ping Installation Spring/Summer 2010 | Source: Mary Ping

This New York Fashion Week felt different. Julie Gilhart summed up the mood: “Being too cool for school isn’t cool,” she told me over tea.

Although the schedule was absolutely packed, the overall mood was definitely more low key. Indeed, at Mary Ping’s intimate event entitled “Slow and Steady Wins the Race,” the emphasis was on bringing together a creative community to celebrate “slow fashion” in a thoughtful, considered way. In comparison, the super high-octane shows and presentations, chock-full with celebrities and paparazzi, felt a bit out of tune with the times.

In the evenings, a torrent of small dinners were organised. These turned out to be the best way to really get to know new people. For example, at Nadja Swarovski’s dinner in honour of Atelier Swarovski’s jewelry line designed by Zaha Hadid, I met former Louis Vuitton shoe designer Michael Lewis, whose fledgling eponymous business is making waves. Great dinner companions magically make fashion week stress disappear at the end of a long day.

7. NEW VENUES DEBUT

London Fashion Week at Somerset House | Source: BFC

It was “all change” at London Fashion Week, which debuted its brilliant new location at Somerset House, creating a real buzz and community around fashion week events that was never possible at the Natural History Museum or Battersea, LFW’s previous homes.

Between shows and presentations that made full use of the historic building, including a subterranean Fashion East show, bloggers and curious onlookers mixed with models and media hordes looking to capture the odd celebrity. Only one complaint: why erect a big, black tent in the middle of the courtyard when everything else is such a beautiful off-white?

In New York, there was also a new venue on the scene. I spent more time at Milk Studios than at any of the other longstanding show locations. The energy created by bringing the city’s hottest young designers – Proenza Schouler and Joseph Altuzarra among them – into one space, day after day, made this the hottest venue in town.

At a dinner celebrating Gareth Pugh’s film installation in the Studios’ loading docks, Estee Lauder’s John Dempsey, who sponsored the space through the company’s MAC make-up brand, said he was very pleased with the results. Looks like there will be more from MAC at Milk Studios in seasons to come.

8. COSTUME JEWELRY JUNKET

Donna Karan and Lanvin Costume Jewellery | Source: Donna Karan and Style.com

Of course, there is much fashion attention placed on designer shoes these days, but many smart fashion businesses are also focusing on costume jewellery, designed to add pizazz to fashion basics.

The true master of this growing segment is Alber Elbaz, whose stunning Lanvin show left editors with a high that lasted well beyond fashion week. Most of all, everyone seems to want Elbaz’s colourful, intricate jewelry. Colorful and covetable jewellery concoctions also appeared at Dries van Noten.

Another favourite was an ultracool Donna Karan necklace in plated gold, incorporating larger-than-life sabre tooth shaped pendants balanced against layer upon layer of fine gold chains.

The costume jewellery trend may just be taking off, but if the “must have-it” urges of editors are anything to go by, it is here to stay.

9. SIZE WARS

Somewhat predictably, the size wars erupted again this season, but this time for different reasons.

When Mark Fast decided to send plus-sized models down his runway, a scandal erupted when Fast’s erstwhile stylist, Erika Kurihara, was asked to leave. Since then, the whole thing has turned into a ‘He said, she said’ debacle, with Fast claiming that Kurihara would not work with the size 14 models and Kurihara saying that she simply did not think they were professional enough. Either way, the scandal raised Fast’s profile immeasurably, with major news outlets including CNN and the BBC covering the story.

For Ralph Lauren, the news was not so good. When an almost alien-like Photoshopped image of a model sporting the American designer’s Blue Label collection was posted on the internet, a firestorm of criticism forced the company to acknowledge that it had erred in its judgment, even after attempting to quash the publishing of the photos which were spreading around the internet like wildfire.

Since then, a second Ralph Lauren image of a seemingly emaciated model has emerged. The designer’s reputation as the icon of American fashion has been tarnished. To wit, a Google search of ‘Ralph Lauren” and ‘Photoshop’ returns 344,000 results. What’s worse, a search of just “Ralph Lauren” now serves up at least three articles referencing the “Photoshop disaster” on the first page of results.

Brands beware: the Internet never forgets.

10. TWITTER FATIGUE

Alexander McQueen tweet after SHOWStudio crashed | Source: Twitter

Last season, editors tweeted en masse from their front row seats, adding a new energy to the fashion week media buzz. But this time around, all the tweeting seemed a bit stale and repetitive. Over and over again, we read the same reports of celebrities in the front row (usually something to do with Rihanna or Lady Gaga) and hot parties and events. Next season, editors should look to find their own Twitter voice that attracts interest, as opposed to joining the repetitive chatter and noise.

Some sites, including Fashion Tweek and Style.com’s The Fashion Feed attempted to address this by creating a curated list of the best fashion twitterers. Unfortunately, it seems there are are so many tweets on a given day (and some prolific twitters whose sheer volume of tweets just drowns out everyone else) that even this kind of editing is not enough. Rather, we a partial to the approach of Refinery29′s Twitter Troll, which edits the most interesting tweets of the day the old fashion way: manual intervention.

But, by far the best addition to the fashion week Twitter frenzy was from the man himself, Alexander McQueen. His regular (but not overwhelming) 140 character reports from pre-show prep to the post-show aftermath gave fans a view into the mad creativity and sheer effort that goes into creating a McQueen show. We hope to hear directly from more designers in seasons to come. It’s a great way to bypass the media and PR babble and communicate directly with a brand’s biggest fans.

Imran Amed is Founder and Editor of The Business of Fashion

Yohji Yamamoto

Designer Yamamoto files for bankruptcy protection (AP)
“Japanese fashion design house Yohji Yamamoto said Friday it has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing slumping sales amid a global downturn.”

Bulgari CEO Says Sales Are Improving, Led by Asia, Handbags (Bloomberg)
“Bulgari SpA, the world’s third- largest jeweler, said sales improved in the second part of the year, led by gains in Asia, its biggest market, and higher demand for handbags.”

US retailers in first monthly sales gain since 2008 financial collapse (FT)
“Leading US retailers yesterday reported their first monthly sales gain since the financial collapse of September 2008, although most still saw lower sales than a year ago as shoppers remained focused on bargain hunting.”

Fast Retailing sees record profit on Uniqlo boom (Forbes)
“Japan’s Fast Retailing forecast a 10.5 percent rise in operating profit this financial year as its Uniqlo casual clothing chain draws cost-conscious consumers away from rivals and it aggressively opens new stores in China.”

Gulf investor bids for fashion house Lacroix (Reuters)
“Gulf investor Hassan bin Ali al-Nuaimi, a nephew of the ruler of Ajman, part of the United Arab Emirates, submitted an offer for Christian Lacroix on Thursday, the administrator for the French fashion house said.”

Yohji Yamamoto, Pied Piper of New York Fashion Week

NEW YORK, United States — New York Fashion Week is always a blur of meetings, shows and parties, and this week is no exception. But there is also something different in the air for Autumn/Winter 2009 — a palpable sense that some serious change is coming, and in some quarters, the slightest hint of optimism that we may be reaching a market bottom.

On Monday evening, Marc Jacobs scaled back his show significantly: there was no major set, almost no celebrities, and 1000 fewer guests than normal, which is a dramatic reversal from his show at the height of the economic boom in September 2007. The focus, instead, was on the clothes which were an explosion of colour compressed into 8 minutes of fantastic, over-the-top 80′s punk and high, shellacked hairdos.

The new redux approach felt exactly right for showing such a vibrant collection in the context of a deep recession. If the runway was also maxed to the hilt, it may have seemed in appropriate. Instead, Marc got away with showing a cacophony of colour on the catwalk by paring everything else back to the bare minimum.

Also, by my watch, Marc’s show started 1 minute early, with one in five highly-coveted seats totally empty when the lights went down, leaving editors scrambling for their seats. The same thing happened at a noticeably more muted, but always elegant, Oscar de la Renta show yesterday, which also started earlier than usual, leading to yet another mad dash for prime fashion show real estate that was sitting empty. It’s an ironic metaphor for the state of the actual real estate market in New York.

Another difference has been that everyone seems more thoughtful and reflective than in seasons past. It’s almost like the economic earthquake of last September and the lingering aftershocks since then, have got fashionistas into thinking mode — something which is long overdue. One designer called it a “cleansing of the palate” which I thought was quite apt.

Kim Vernon, President and CEO of Vernon Company, a consultancy firm focused on lifestyle brands, says that apart from the faltering economy, this cleansing can also be attributed to the new US administration.  “There is a renewed hope, albeit temporarily shadowed by economic uncertainty, of the American public. This has been initiated by a change in our leadership and a speed to action of recovery. The new administration has voiced its goal to look within and fix what is broken and support our own national public.”

Of course, the impact of the Obamas at the White House does not end there. There is also an important fashion angle at play, rooted in a resurging American pride. “Nationalism will grow in spirit and Americans will be educated not only to “go green” but to buy American,” says Vernon. “First lady Michelle Obama made that immediate impression by choosing to wear several American based designer outfits very publicly.”

The role of Michelle Obama as a potential saviour for the American fashion industry in crisis seems to come up in every conversation here. The impact of the Obamas on fashion was explored at length in not one, but two recent articles in The New York Times. Citing an “Obama Effect,” Guy Trebay comments on the preponderance of African American men on New York’s runways while Cathy Horyn and Eric Wilson dissect the relationship between Michelle Obama, and her not-so-secret stylist, Ikram Goldman.

That said, there is no doubt, that the highlight of my New York fashion week thus far was the Y-3 show held on Sunday. The collection was a winner, but it was the notoriously media-shy Yohji Yamamoto who brought a smile to everyone’s face when he took a bow at the end of the show with a gaggle of hip kids decked out in his own creations, shepherding them like a sort-of Pied Piper of fashion.

In these uncertain times, perhap some leadership and youthful energy are just what the doctor ordered.