Luxury Brands Stake Out New Department Store Turf (WSJ)
"As the luxury market rebounds, powerful global brands including Gucci, Prada and Dior are starting to press for more control over the way their products are presented and sold in U.S. department stores. The goal is to chip away at the old sales model used for decades by American department stores and instead operate a store-within-a-store."

All Saints fashion chain saved from collapse (Guardian)
"The owner of clothing retailers La Senza and American Apparel has bought fellow fashion chain All Saints in a deal set to secure hundreds of jobs. Investment firm Lion Capital has teamed up with American investor Goode Partners to buy the holdings of two Icelandic banks for an undisclosed sum."

Hearst, Apple Strike a Deal (WWD)
"Hearst has struck a deal with Apple that will make it the first big magazine publisher to sell subscriptions for its digital editions on the iPad... It's a big breakthrough. For the last year, magazine publishers have been pushing hard to get a subscription deal done with Apple, but to no avail."

Into the Spotlight, Gently (NY Times)
"Ms. Burton is now a star, thanks to the regal drift of snow she created for the commoner Kate Middleton. The dress transformed both women... Ms. Burton into the quiet, modernizing voice of a brand that gradually, and by necessity, will rely less on its founder's singular vision."

The F-Factor (Trendwatching)
"So much has been said about social media and the rise of social commerce as the new marketing frontier...  we'll focus on how the influence of friends, fans, and followers on consumers' purchasing decisions continues to become more sophisticated and thus more powerful. Let's call it the F-Factor."