Design Museum Holon | Photo: Meir Bar Asher

TEL AVIV, Israel — For people who live smack dab in the middle of the world’s most politically charged region, Israelis are a very warm and welcoming bunch, keen to show a side of the country that doesn’t make it into most international news reports. As is true for most places in the world, in order to understand Israel and its people, one really needs to visit the country and experience it first hand.

So, I was extremely fortunate to have been invited to speak at Holon Fashion Week (HoF11) last month, held at the stunning Design Museum Holon designed by Ron Arad, who is credited with putting this suburban city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, on the global design radar. Though the event was dubbed a ‘fashion week’, there were no fashion shows to speak of. In reality, what transpired was more of a constructive dialogue between the global fashion industry and Israel’s fashion community.

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Hermès silk printing table by Brigitte Lacomb | Source: WSJ

The Battle for Hermès (WSJ)
“‘My job,’ says the lean, formal 44-year-old and sixth-generation descendant of the company’s founder, ‘is to keep the strong creativity of Hermès alive. To nourish the rigor and the vision . . . to make these values vibrate. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is the force of Hermès.’ Those values—the dedication to rigor, vision and creativity—are what set Hermès apart from its competitors, what company executives mean when they talk about the ‘culture of Hermès.’

Fashion’s Better Halves (WSJ)
“Two days and a handshake later, a fashion empire was born. Today, the duo presides over two of the industry’s biggest luxury labels: Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, where the designer has been artistic director since 1997. Under Jacobs’ often iconoclastic stewardship, Vuitton now does $5 billion in annual sales. At last count, Marc Jacobs has 239 retail stores in 60 countries.”

Hundreds sick in mass fainting at Cambodian factory (Reuters)
“Nearly 300 Cambodian workers fell sick this week at a garment factory producing goods for Swedish fashion brand Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), police said on Thursday. A total 284 workers collapsed on Tuesday and Thursday at M&V International Manufacturing Ltd, a supplier for H&M, in Kompong Chhnang.”

Look Back in Envy: The ’70s Take the Runway (NY Times)
“But the 1970s resonate most insistently on fashion runways, through a proliferation of languid fall looks inspired by the greatest hits of Halston and Saint Laurent, as well as those of style-world luminaries like Sonia Rykiel, Rosita and Ottavio Missoni, Claude Montana and Karl Lagerfeld, whose fluid dresses for the house of Chloé are still being emulated.”

Zac’s back (Vogue UK)
“Zac Posen is taking his show back to New York. He will show his spring/summer 2012 offering on September 11 at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall… The NY-born designer moved to Paris a year agoto show his eponymous collection there, but still presented his Z Spoke by Zac Posen diffusion line in his hometown.”

BoF Breakfast Club at Norwood Club | Photo: Drew Innis

NEW YORK, United States — When I first met Rachel Shechtman at a Harvard Business School luxury goods conference back in 2007, we quickly learned that we had much in common. Since then, we have made a point of meeting for breakfast to catch-up and discuss the state of the industry whenever work brings me to New York City.

It got us to thinking. With the non-stop madness of the fashion business, many of us don’t make the time or have the energy to sit back, think about and discuss the changes which are happening all around us. More than ever, we need to have honest discussions about the brave new world of fashion.  There is much we can learn from each other. Why not open our breakfast catch-up sessions to like-minded peers and colleagues from the industry? And thus, the BoF Breakfast Club was born.

Last Thursday in New York, designers and CEOs of established and emerging fashion businesses — Shirley Cook of Proenza Schouler, Maria Borromeo and Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon, Charles Nolan, Bonnie Takhar of Halston, Waris Ahulwalia, Brian Murphy of Loeffler Randall, Courtney and Phillip Crangi, Elana Posner of Peter Som, Michael Angel, Susan Posen of Zac Posen and others — gathered for an intimate, off-the-record conversation on the future of fashion at the Norwood Club.

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Zac Posen for Target Spring/Summer 2010 | Source: Refinery 29

Mom, I’ll Make a Profit Soon (WSJ)
“Mrs. Posen has been pressing for more attention to the commercial side—as opposed to the artistic side—of fashion. The company has added new lines, shed expenses and employees, and even moved some production from Italy to China to save money.”

Jaeger targets younger shoppers (FT)
“Boutique by Jaeger aims to compete with high street stores such as Whistles, Reiss and All Saints, but also with diffusion ranges from upmarket designers such as Marc by Marc Jacobs and See by Chloé.”

Anya Hindmarch designs a collection of coats for Barbour (Telegraph)
“Hindmarch, who launched her own label at the age of 19, in 1993, has created four exclusive designs for Barbour’s autumn/winter 2010 collection.”

Seventies Chic, Eighties Excess—Here’s Where It All Started (Style.com)
“Saillard’s latest show presents ‘an ideal history of contemporary fashion’ of the seventies and eighties, seen through films of the era’s shows and television reports.”

Primark owner’s shares fall after City criticism of fast-fashion chain (Telegraph)
“Primark has long been held up as the retail success story of the millennium, but yesterday the fast-fashion chain suffered a rare piece of City criticism when analysts at Deutsche Bank suggested it was overvalued.”

Zac Posen Backstage | Source: NY Times

The Trials of a Former Boy Wonder (NY Times)
“There was a time when brashness was a refreshing change in New York fashion, which had been dominated by a handful of aging mega-brands until Mr. Posen planted his flag in the biggest, most expensive tent in Bryant Park. But his extravagant success came so quickly…  that his setbacks echo all the more loudly.”

Polo Ralph Lauren profit rises as it warns of Asia hit (Market Watch)
“Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. reported a better-than-expected 5.5% increase in its fiscal third quarter profit… still investors looked beyond that to focus on what the company’s investment in Asia would mean for its fourth-quarter profit.”

Prosecutors Ask Insolvency For Burani Holder (WSJ)
“Troubled Italian apparel maker Mariella Burani Fashion Group SpA faced a new challenge Monday as prosecutors in Milan asked for insolvency proceedings to begin for one of its key shareholders.”

W Hotels to Name a Fashion Director (WSJ)
“Putting a new spin on the term “designer hotel,” boutique chain W Hotels is hiring a fashion director to amp up its style credentials and its profile within the fashion industry.”

TV’s baddest boss is back (CNN)
“Despite its moniker, reality television has rarely been intended to give you the real story. It deals in characters (sometimes caricatures) and is usually edited to prove a point. In the case of Kelly Cutrone, however, what you see is what you get.”