The Business of Fashion

British Fashion Awards | Open for business?

Yesterday evening's British Fashion Awards ceremony was a wonderful occasion to celebrate the best in British Fashion Talent. There was a very impressive list of awards categories and an even more impressive list of winners, but I couldn't fight this nagging feeling that something was missing.

Then, I realised that there was not even one award to acknowledge the various talented business people who also make their own kind of fashion magic, and are an essential part of the British fashion eco-system.

The Brit Pack | Published in Vogue India

Over dinner at Milan Fashion Week last February, I got to talking to Bandana Tewari, Fashion Features Director of Vogue India, about the renewed energy in London fashion. Naturally, her first question was what Indian designers were doing to contribute to the London scene, particularly as India continues to emerge for a centre for world-class design.

The result of our conversation is this Vogue India article on Indian designers based in London. While writing the piece, I got to know three Indian designers with three amazing stories, each of which started in India and subsequently took them all over the world, until they finally ended up in London.

Between them, Ashish Gupta, Saloni Lodha and Aseef Vaza have lived and worked in Toronto, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Florence, Paris and New York -- bringing quintessentially cosmopolitan energy to London's design and fashion community.

Benjamin Bixby | 'It's all about merchandising'

Young designers, you are not alone. Even pop superstars find the fashion business tough.

Last night, at the UK launch of Benjamin Bixby, the charming and down-to-earth Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 of OutKast) told me that starting his new menswear label was the craziest and hardest thing he has ever done. That says a lot for someone who has been heralded not only as one of the coolest musicians around, but is also a style icon, known for a dandy-ish look that turns heads.

Andre says that he has learned that merchandising is, by far, the most important aspect to get right in a new fashion business. "It's like medicine," he quipped. "You need to wrap it up in peanut butter to make it appealing."

Luxury Outlook | Faith Popcorn on the Recession Culture

Are London fashionistas living in a bubble?

There was no sign of global economic turmoil last night as party-goers let loose after a busy day of shows during an even busier night of events. Following strong showings by Giles and Christopher Kane, there was the opening of the fabulous new Dunhill flagship (see here for our review of the sister store in Tokyo), an exhibition of stunning fashion photography by Mary McCartney, and the biggest party of London Fashion Week hosted by Giles Deacon and Swarovski (with a huge Giles cartoon ghost made completely of flowers, pictured above).

The mood is certainly more sombre across the pond in New York. And, if there was any remaining doubt as to whether the U.S.A. is entering (or is already in) a recession, that doubt has been erased just as quickly as the market capitalisation of some of the world's most famous investment banks.

So, while many expert observers don't know what is going to happen next, The Business of Fashion caught up with noted futurist Faith Popcorn of the Faith Popcorn Brain Reserve to get the lowdown on 'recession culture', coping with the downturn, and the winners and losers.

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).

Luxury Outlook 2008 | Slowdown hits London retail

The one word that would describe the state of the global economy today is uncertainty. With the financial markets in free fall one day and then bouncing back the next day, it's not surprising that people are confused. The same can be said for the fashion industry where record profit announcements one day are followed by reports of same-store sales declines the next day.

Back in January, we argued that the luxury industry was not immune to a slowdown, as some observers might have hoped. This weekend, we decided to go straight to the front lines of the business to assess the mood on the street and in the boardrooms of fashion and retail companies in the UK. While this is an admittedly unscientific approach, it is still useful to hear things from the proverbial horse's mouth.

As it turns out, the horse did not provide much encouragement or optimism for the year ahead.  Our anecdotal research suggests that retailers from the high-end to the high-street are bracing themselves for a serious slowdown as evidence of the 2008 recession in the UK has started to show up in lower footfall and declining sales figures.

Aseef Vaza | Combatting copying

An article in Friday's Women's Wear Daily highlighted the ongoing battle that young designers are having in preventing their designs from being copied by much larger mass-market rivals. Hence, the CFDA in the United States is spearheading The Design Piracy Prohibition Act, to protect the designs of American fashion designers for a period of three years and impose a fine of at least $250,000 for a successful conviction of fashion copyright infringement.

While the law is still far from being enacted, the high-profile discussion has shed new light on the scale of the problem. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that $12 billion was lost due to counterfeiting and piracy in the fashion and apparel industry in 2006.

With formal legal recourse hanging in the balance, sometimes designers have to take matters into their own hands. Aseef Vaza, whose shapely clutches have become a must-have for London's fashion insiders, is one example.

London Fashion Week | Kane and able

Everyone is packing up and leaving for Milan, but our thoughts are still on a strong London Fashion Week, albeit one without the major American buyers who have stayed away due to the rise of the pound -- or more accurately, the fall of the dollar. We liked the bold graphism of Duro Olowu, the long (but apparently unwalkable) silhouette of Marios Schwab, the fuzzy prints at Erdem, and the spaceage knits of Louise Goldin.

But our  highlight again was Christopher Kane, a man continues to live up to the very high expectations placed on him by an industry desperate to find London's next great designer -- someone in the league of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Vivienne Westwood.

London Fashion Week | Giles' disco chamber

The first clue on Wednesday night that the Giles Deacon show was about to undergo a big change was the glam photo of quintuple Grammy-winning Amy Winehouse on the All Access Pass. Continuing on this tack, his tiny, usually sparse, white showspace had been converted into a dark disco chamber, with disco balls hanging every which way, leaving showgoers (who included Lily Allen and Bee Shaffer) bathed in white polkadots.

His collection was mixture of mini puffa jackets, blinged-out high heels, suede-fringed dresses and others with typically Giles intricate construction. With all this effort, Giles seemed determined to get the biggest bang for his buck. For the first time, he put on two shows to meet growing demand to take part in what has become one of the most highly anticipated events on the London Fashion Week calendar.

So, why the change?

London Fashion Week | The Osman touch

Osman Yousefzada is one London designer who has shown a knack for building his business without an active investor on board. Not only is he consulting for a high profile British luxury chain, he is collaborating with Mango to release a capsule collection of little black dresses which will hit Mango stores worldwide in March, after an exclusive selling period at Selfridges in London. These projects help Osman by injecting cash to finance production and operating costs for the business.

Mango also hosted Osman's show today in its Oxford Street flagship, causing quite a stir as regular shoppers mixed in with London's fashion flock. The choice of location works for both parties because Osman gets free space and solid evidence of his partnership with Mango, while Osman brings new people into the store and ups its Mango's fashion cred. Perhaps it does not have the quirky ambiance of a schoolhouse in Shoreditch or a tunnel in the South Bank, but it does the trick anyway, and the long catwalk allowed many of the buyers and press to see the clothes up close.