The International Herald Tribune’s hosting a conference in Berlin right now.
Techno Luxury’s the theme and Christopher Bailey, Jefferson Hack, Claudia Schiffer, Tomas Maier,Natalie Massenet, Frida Giannini and Prada’s Tomaso Galli will take turns speaking and answering questions about new technology’s effect on the fashion industry - blogging, twittering etc.
Top quotes (via Twitter of course) so far:
Federico Marchetti: The Marni online store is already the biggest store they have in the world. —Business of Fashion
Natalie Massenet says fashion bloggers contribute to 5% of Net-a-Porter’s sales. —Bryanboy
Massenet of Netaporter says that 25% of sale are returned. But as the store is in “every city in the world” that is not so bad. —The Moment
C[hristopher] B[ailey]: From Facebook, we understood how many of our young fans were entering the Burberry brand through fragrance. —Business of Fashion
You can tweet questions for Claudia Schiffer @IHTluxury right now - she’s up in two hours.
“But the conspicuousness of the pattern also means that the company has little control over how it is seen, or on whom.”—Lauren Collins in her New Yorker profile on Christopher Bailey, in reference to Sarah Palin and her Burberry scarves.
In Vogue: We’re a sucker for epic young Hollywood portfolios in any magazine, but Teen Vogue’s is always styled best and has the most fashion - this time around that includes Alia Shawkat, maybe better known as Maeby Fünke, who happens to be co-hosting Rachel Antonoff’s SS10 presentation. {TeenVogue}
London Bound: Christopher Bailey talks to Hilary Alexander about what it means to show Burberry in London and how he may seem laid back, but is actually “very German” in his methods. {Telegraph}
Play Catch Up: Richard Nicoll tells Grazia about the calm before the Fashion Week storm. He doesn’t believe in guilty pleasures, just pleasure. As if we needed more reasons to adore him. {Grazia}
News of the World, one of those super reputable British papers, is reporting that Emma Watson’s designing her own line of clothes.
For teenagers of course, with all profits going toward UNICEF and with advice from Karl Lagerfeld.
So basically that’s not true.
But since signing on as the face of Burberry we’ve heard more than one whisper she’ll design a range for the British label. Probably accessories and probably not targeted at teenagers since well, Burberry couldn’t be less teenager-y.
Emma’s clearly had the fashion bug since she started wearing Chanel couture to her premieres at eleven and while we bitch and moan about celebrity lines like it’s our job (is it?), we might not mind seeing what the Harry Potter star comes up with - especially with Christopher Bailey at the creative helm.
Phoebe’s Back!: At last we get to see Phoebe Philo’s first collection for Celine. Girl has not lost her touch. {Style}
Graduation Day: The kids at the Royal College of Art show off their wares with dreams of becoming the next Christopher Bailey. {FabSugarUK}
Non-Actress Fragrance News: Some designers still like models in their perfume ads. Anything that puts Claudia Schiffer in front of the lens more often is a very good thing indeed. {Modelinia}
High Standards?: We already loved the new Standard NY, but this makes it even more interesting. In totally unrelated Standard news, congrats to Joey Jalleo, the new director of special projects at the hotel! {DailyIntel}
Emma Watson has emerged as quite the young fashion star—from wearing Rodarte and hanging with Daphne Guinness to shooting with Mario Testino for the new Burberry ads that will break in August magazines, where she looks like the picture of youthful sophistication.
And with each move, we love her more and more.
Now, if only we could groom our young American stars to grow up in the spotlight with as much style and grace as the girl best known as Hermione. We suppose Dakota Fanning is holding her own, but other examples elude us.
Christopher Bailey said of Emma, “Her charm, intellect and brilliant sense of fun made the whole shoot feel like a picnic on the Thames.” We can hardly imagine any designer saying the same of one of our teen queens.
It might not boast Paris’ decadent runways or New York’s celebrity quotient, but it is the most fun, the most fashion loving week of the three. Britons who love fashion, love fashion and their outfits alone are worth the trip. The outrageous runway collections are just the icing on the cake. And because it is so small, the major designers so few, the whole thing runs like summer camp - no hierarchy, no condescension - it’s all about the clothes.
But this morning, Matthew Williamson announced that he, too, was headed home for the Spring Summer 2010 collections, just a week after Burberry announced the same. This means that London Fashion Week is bound to revert to a proper Fashion Week with the attendance of major editors who usually skip it and the front row celebrities that accompany Bailey and Williamson everywhere.
Of course, London must be thrilled for two of their greatest exports to return home and we can’t wait for the grand celebrations of the British Fashion Council’s 25th Anniversary.
But really, if next week’s press release says Stella or McQueen, we’ll be shocked.
It was raining yesterday, just in case you haven’t heard, which was super appropriate for Burberry day, just in case you haven’t read.
The party in honor of the lighting of the new Burberry sign was held atop the Palace hotel, otherwise known as home to Chuck Bass. Even we had to walk the white carpet, strolling along behind Julia Roitfeld wearing that white Alexander Wang dress (someone should tell Vogue UK it’s not Burberry). Tallulah Harlech rocked red lipstick while waiting for the elevator with Glenn O’Brien and Bendel’s former fashion staff.
We’d been handed a Burberry card at the entrance and showed it at the foot of the stairs, in the elevator, outside the elevator, to walk up the stairs, and finally to enter the penthouse where Alexa Chung dj’d in the same grey shift Hilary Rhoda wore - but with a vintage belt and chunky boots, of course. The band on stage, One Night Only, looked like they stepped out of a Burberry ad (complete with red guitar) especially with Lily Donaldson and Hugh Dancy standing stageside.
That’s about when we got trampled by Orlando Bloom and a ridiculously handsome hockey player who was not Sean Avery, which was also when they ran out of champagne and we ran home to finish Say Anything.
Come September, Burberry will be showing its S/S ‘10 Prorsum collection back in Blighty, instead of their usual showing in Milan.
We couldn’t be more excited since we don’t usually make the trip to Italy and missing this show is one of the reasons that is a major bummer.
The brand is coming home to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of London Fashion Week. Designer Christopher Bailey told WWD, “We are incredibly proud of our Britishness and this is really a wonderful opportunity to celebrate that in our home city.”
Stay tuned for more Bailey news as he’s coming to NYC this week for the lighting of the Burberry sign atop their new US headquarters and we’ll be having a lovely little chat with him.
Heart Chloe: Reports filtering in that 30% will be knocked off almost all of uptown Bloomingdale’s Chloe handbags May 6th & 7th. {Racked}
Get Me to the Church On Time: Marc & Lorenzo set a summer date up north. Also, they’re taking Madonna, Victoria Beckham, Anne Hathaway, Winona Ryder, Rachel Feinstein, John Currin and Rihanna to the ball. {FWD}
Still Going: Natalie Portman’s new site, MakingOf, has yet another info with The September Issue’s director, R.J. Cutler. He describes Anna as “closed.” {MakingOf}
Despite the overwhelming presence of shoppers in London, no, retail is not thriving.
Unless of course you’re offering product at 70% off or you’re Burberry and the Chinese, Russian, Indian and Turkish markets just can’t get enough of you. Either way, London shoppers simply cannot be relied upon.
But thanks to Burberry’s brilliant marketing, rebranding (its success story will be a case course at Harvard’s Business School next year) and Christopher Bailey, the old British standard’s opening brand new headquarters just yards from Westminster Abbey.
A company spokesperson gave us a private tour of the 160,000 square feet design wonder. The dark, symmetrical space, designed by Bailey, holds over 800 employees and is polished off with black chrome, grey marble and glass block floor bridges among superb lighting.
It is, of course, achingly hip and even the cafeteria felt more like the latest cafe for cool kids than a canteen. Though of course, when Bailey himself popped past to grab a cup of coffee, we lost all our own cool.
Henry Holland’s show started about an hour late. But when the lights finally went down, the 90210 theme song blared from the speakers, so we couldn’t be mad.
The models, starting with Agyness of course and including Chanel, Julia Dunstall and some handsome British boys, pranced out of an archway built of gorgeous fresh hydrangeas. Henry’s family sat in the front row, which was maybe the cutest thing we’ve ever seen at a runway show, while Christopher Bailey perched on the back window, (actually, he might be the cutest thing we’ve ever seen at a show).
Henry’s House of Holland collection was playful, spandexy, colorful and even plain silly at times. But out of nowhere came a couple of well-constructed, totally wearable party dresses, including the baby blue petaled one worn by Ali Michael and the purple pouf Agyness wore to close the show. We wish we could have the yellow skirt Vlada wore for Vivienne Westwood tonight, or even the polka dot poufs from the end, but we’ll have to wait for spring.
It’s official. The Brits are completely obsessed with Agyness Deyn.
The model of the moment turned singer turned actor will be appearing in a Doctor Who Christmas Special on the BBC. We’re not exactly sure what this special entails, but according to The Mirror, Doctor Who remains “the Beeb’s [that’s BBC] jewel in the crown,” so apparently it’s kind of a big deal, winning ratings since it was revived in 2005.
We’re happy for Aggy, but seriously, how far is too far? In an industry constantly looking for the next big thing, abandoning what’s passe, oversaturation can be career ending.
The move is particularly risky considering Christopher Bailey reportedly dropped the model from the upcoming Burberry campaign due to “overexposure.” But we feel like she has to have heard the message loud and clear too many times to not know what a Christmas TV special could do to her. Could she be planning a total career crossover?
Now everyone’s in a tizzy over that Metro UK article where an “insider” spills that Testino has dropped Agyness not because girls are dropped from campaigns all the time, but specifically because he thinks she’s “over-exposed”.
And the girl said to be her replacement? Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a 21-year old that the British press has been swearing is the next Kate Moss since 2004, and Christopher Bailey’s date to the Met ball earlier this month.
Can a girl best known for modeling underwear replace the quirky Agyness?
Agyness Deyn will not be in the Burberry campaign next season.
Trust this.
We do trust it, but that leaves a bigger question:
Last week, Agyness said she wouldn’t be attending the ball because of a European fashion shoot - which we find suspect since everyone in the industry will in fact be at the Met tonight. Maybe she’s not going because Christopher Bailey’s taking Lily Donaldson? Or because Gareth Pugh’s Batman Goes on LSD outfits are being worn by someone else? Couldn’t she have sat at the Armani table with Katie Grand, since she is one of his faces?
Every time we read an interview or see a video with Christopher Bailey, we love him even more.
Here, he talks about Burberry of course, but also about his new perfume, The Beat, working with Agyness on the campaign and the privilege of working with David Sims.
And we know you might be sick of her, but we love the way Agyness sounds next to Bailey’s tea and crumpets accent.
If your dad’s name is Gordon but everyone calls him Sting, and your older sister’s name is Fuschia, it might seem like no big thing to switch from Eliot Pauline Styler Sumner to Coco.
Though the video features the adorable designer discussing only the Burberry Men’s A/W ‘08 show, we think his observations apply to the fashion world at large.
When Suzy asks him what it means to be English, he says “I sometimes describe it as this disheveled elegance. I love the fact that there is something quite traditional, quite stoic…along with this real art side to it, along with this real almost rebellious side.”
We think that’s one of the best descriptions of British fashion we’ve heard. The constant struggle between incorporating the past and moving in an entirely new direction is one of the main reasons the Brits are so often at the forefront of developing new trends. Witness Stella’s Saville Row tailoring applied to womenswear; Vivienne Westwood’s courtly silhouettes worn to bashes at BoomBox; McQueen’s armor-inspired breastplates made of leather for women.
And as far as the vibe on Bailey’s latest runway - men in crisp coats and feathered sweaters - we hope it doesn’t take a whole year to translate to the boys stateside.
We realized that as hard as we wished, we’d never wear that blue ruffled dress and dance side by side with our version of British royalty while Christopher Bailey looked on approvingly.
The Scotland Sun caught on to Burberry’s prices and decided to bring its readers the look for less. Their fashion writer, Toni Jones, put together a list of high-street items, Burberry on a Budget, that when thrown together might resemble Burberry’s Spring ‘08 looks.
But why is this so great? The part that made us want to laugh and cry at the same time is the photo accompanying the story. It’s Burberry’s newest ad with what we’re afraid might be men playing both Lily and Agyness
It’s like one of those “spot the difference” pictures gone horribly awry.
That rumor we spread about Mark Fast doing a line for Topshop? It's true. And it's in last week's Sunday Telegraph magazine which means it was true before we even said anything and we've had it in our lap since... Read More
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The International Herald Tribune’s hosting a conference in Berlin right now. 
