Business of Fashion

Filling the gap: Golden Lane bags



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I’m always interested in single-product brands and how they progress. It seems to me the sensible way to start out. Ralph Lauren famously started with ties, Alexander Wang with his capsule line of cashmeres and Palmer Harding are doing well with their inventive shirt-based pieces. (more…)



I’m on the BFC’s new blogger panel



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The British Fashion Council has been doing innovative things for Fashion Week for the past few years, including installing those Vodafone phone chargers on the front row, live streaming most of the shows and initiating numerous consumer-focussed Fashion Week projects (have you seen the Oxford Street flags?).

I’m happy to be part of the latest one, a relaunch of the BFC blog portal and a brand new bloggers panel. (more…)



On BRIT Rhythm and Burberry’s beauty strategy



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If you’re interested in the business of fashion (and indeed The Business Of Fashion), then Imran Amed’s interview with Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts is one of the best things you can read this month.

Burberry recently bought back its beauty license from Interparfums, which means it will now produce and market all its make-up and perfume in-house. Its new BRIT Rhythm mens fragrance just launched and Ahrendts talks about the strategic moves behind the product and promotion. Such as dressing Sienna Miller and Cara Delevingne in rock chick-y Burberry studs for the Met ball to seed the aesthetic in our minds ahead of time. (more…)



Charlotte Tilbury make-up: despatches from the shop floor



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“Walk away now! Or you’ll have no money left!” These words were uttered only half jokingly by a customer stocking up with goodies at the brand new Charlotte Tilbury counter at Selfridges. Only hours old, the counter (there are two actually) was heaving with the curious and the product-hungry on a Monday afternoon.

This isn’t the first high profile make-up artist line launch but it is a biggie for the UK market. And this is how things are done these days. It’s not enough to be a ‘celebrity make-up artist’ now (what make-up artist doesn’t do celebs?), you need to be a high profile personality in your own right. So Youtube tutorials, magazine-quality blog, highly engaged social media following are all a given. And this is something Tilbury does really really well. (more…)