The Business of Fashion

CEO Talk | Camilla Skovgaard, Shoe designer and entrepreneur

Camilla Skovgaard is one of those rare aberrations of the current economic malaise.

While almost all other designers I have spoken to are nervously reporting order cancellations and declining or flat sales, Skovgaard's shoes have chalked up triple-digit increases for Spring/Summer 2009.

Of course, part of this growth can be explained by the rapid growth of the luxury shoe category -- it's a case of  'the rising tide raises all boats. ' And, according to a recent report by Bain & Company, shoes will continue to be the fastest growing luxury segment of all; more than handbags, apparel, watches, jewelry and fragrances.

However, Camilla's enviable success can mostly be attributed to perseverance, an incredible work-ethic, great design and pragmatism about merchandising and pricing her collection for the downturn. In our second CEO Talk, we caught up with Camilla to learn the secrets of her success.

The Swiss Textiles Award | Fashion's crystal ball

The Swiss Textiles Award is not the richest fashion design prize available -- the 300,000 euro prize from Mango takes that category. But, over the past 5 years it has emerged as perhaps the most influential award of its kind, and the only one to operate with a global remit.

In 2003, a little-known Belgian designer named Raf Simons won the prize and went on to wow fashion critics, who were now playing close attention to his work. Cathy Horyn had this to say of his Simons' men's 2005 Spring/Summer collection, shown in Paris in July 2004:

What Mr. Simons did in an instant was to render the day, and most of the previous one of the spring men's collections, obsolete. In 18 years of reporting on fashion, the last 5 at this post, I have stood up from only a handful of shows with a conviction that everything had been transformed.

New York Fashion Week | Playing it safe

New York already has the reputation of being the most commercial of the fashion capitals, but this New York Fashion Week has taken that stereotype to new levels. With economic uncertainty swirling through the city (Lehman Brothers is the latest Wall Street Bank whose future is in question) and footfall at department stores dropping precipitously, the mantra of the week seems to have been 'Play it Safe!"

Over and over again this week, young designers have told me that the big buyers are sticking to proven silhouettes in basic colours, veering away from the fashion items. While the basics and staples of designer collections will always be important part of the product assortment, it seems to me that precisely because times are so tough, buyers should be making an effort to give consumers a reason to buy. And, that is not accomplished with a series of little black dresses.

Japanese menswear | Packing a stylish punch

“I wanted to start a movement of new generation, young fashion designers in Japan,” Arashi Yanagawa tells me over coffee in Tokyo’s hip Nakameguro neighbourhood. He is speaking of the genesis of John Lawrence Sullivan, the menswear brand he started almost five years ago.

But Arashi hasn't always been a fashion designer. At first, he followed in his father's footsteps and spent 13 years in professional boxing. Then, with no fashion training whatsoever, he used his fight money and worked with local pattern cutters to perfect his first collection of two blazers, using vintage garments as a starting point. As a nod to his former life, he named his brand after the 1880's American bare-knuckle boxer and today, JLS is Japan’s hottest menswear label, known for its slick tailoring and modern accessories.

Despite his non-fashion background, or perhaps because of it, Arashi is at the vanguard of a group of promising, young menswear brands that are taking Tokyo by storm. They offer high quality clothing at prices lower than Lanvin and Thom Browne, but still packing a design punch.

Qiu Hao and Helen Lee | Diversity in design, comrades in commerce

While most Chinese are still focused on buying into the prestige and status of international luxury brands, there are emerging local alternatives for those who want something more individual. Bubbling design and fashion scenes in and around Shanghai’s Taikang Lu and JinXian Lu offer a little bit of niche, homespun design to offset the ubiquity, even in China, of Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton.

In the new Shanghai, emerging fashion designers seek inspiration from home or abroad, create garments that range from the culturally literal to the conceptually commercial, and target mass and class and everything in between. All the same, they share the same business challenges as their counterparts in other established and emerging design centres, from London and New York to Mumbai and Buenos Aires.

The Business of Fashion | Talks to Vogue Korea

It's turning out to be fashion magazine week on the Business of Fashion.

A couple of months ago, Dominic Sohn, a newly appointed Fashion Editor at Vogue Korea, contacted me to get some thoughts on the revolving doors for designers at major fashion houses. This was before Lars Nilsson was turfed from Gianfranco Ferre (just days before his first runway show) only to be replaced by Tomasso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of 6267 and before Paulo Melim Andersson was sent packing after three seasons at Chloe, making way for Hannah MacGibbon. Dominic's questions were timely indeed.

Excerpts from the interview have just been published in an article in the May 2008 edition of Vogue Korea, along with the reflections of Sally Singer of American Vogue. It was such an interesting exchange that it's posted here for BoF readers.

Angel Chang | High-tech meets high-fashion

I'm sure you've all had one of those moments when a friend or colleague picked up your phone by accident, because it looked the exactly the same as theirs. I know it's happened to me on more than one occasion. Today, Paul Taylor of the FT cleverly compared the uniform style and design of most mobile phones to the Ford Model T, when Henry Ford declared that “the customer can have any colour he wants, so long as it’s black”.

Just the other day, we dove into the marriage of fashion and technology for the first time, looking at the emergence of the fashion phone. But, the ideas, questions and suggestions have kept coming since then, begging the question: is now the right time not only for bringing a little fashion to technology, but also for bringing a little technology to fashion?

New York-based Angel Chang thinks so. She is one designer who is integrating new technologies into her designs.

Festival d'Hyères | A different kind of fashion competition

Held each year at the Villa Noailles in the South of France, The Festival International de Mode et de Photographie à Hyères offers up an unparalleled cornucopia of fashion and photographic talent. It has been an invaluable incubator and launchpad for some of fashion's top up-and-coming names, including Viktor & Rolf, Gaspard Yurkievich, Christian Wijnants, and Charles Anastase.

The list of previous jury members reads like a who's who of the fashion world. In the past, Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Karl Lagerfeld, and Jean Paul Gaultier have have all had the honour of selecting the winners. This year's jury, which includes Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy,Maria Luisa of the Maria Luisa boutiques in Paris, and  Carla Sozzani of Corso Como in Milan, will select from 10 upcoming designers to crown the winner.

Rivy Ng and Jsen Wintle | Emerging menswear talents to watch

In our ongoing collaboration with JC Report, we recently contributed two articles about some promising emerging brands, and we wanted to make sure BoF readers could learn about these talented young designers too.

The first designer came to our attention when we spotted a friend sporting the coolest cardigan. When we asked who designed it we  expected to hear the names Ann Demeulemeester or Rick Owens -- but  instead came a name we had never hear before: Rivy Ng.   

Our article for JC Report discusses Rivy's international background and step-by-step approach to building his fashion label. This is definitely a label to watch for its discreet understated style and emphasis on quality. (Speaking of which, the New York Time has an interesting take on Bottega Veneta and discreet luxury, one of our favourite topics here on the Business of Fashion).

Rad Hourani: Self-styled

When Rad Hourani's clothes hit the runway last season, the names that people were whispering included those of fashion royalty like Helmut Lang and Ann Demeulemeester -- or at least that's what Style.com said when they named him one of their Top 10 New Faces for the S/S 2008 collections.

This is no mean feat for this young stylist from Montreal. He has no formal fashion training at all. "I am lucky enough to be extremely curious about anything," he says.  Everything I know about fashion design, videomaking or photography, I learned it on my own." He has put all of these skills to use in a series of 15 videos directed and edited from 2006-2007 as he prepared for his first collection. Amongst the featured models is Canadian Heather Marks.

What's most remarkable is Rad's focused vision - in his collection, his videos and even his personal style. Though it's still early days, this clarity has already paid off. Not only has Canada's prestigious Holt Renfrew bought his first collection, but a recent Karl Lagerfeld costume caught the attention of the gloved-man himself, who wanted to know everything about his doppelganger.

As Rad prepares to take his next collection to New York for A/W 2008, we caught up with him for a quick Q&A to get the first detailed look at this young talent...before the crowds appear.