Monthly Archives: March 2009

March 30, 2009

Can TopShop conquer the Big Apple?

This Thursday (2nd April) sees the UK’s best loved fast fashion brand open its doors in New York. The much anticipated launch of Top Shop and Top Man at 478 Broadway is the culmination of Sir Philip Green’s dream to bring the jewel of his retail crown to fashion hungry New Yorkers. For years, New [...]
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March 28, 2009

Bling is dead . . . . .

Fashionista does not want to end the week on a down beat note but is saddened to learn that bling is no longer acceptable – or so says Karl Lagerfeld who has told us to embrace an era of “new modesty”. The credit crunch spares no -one – and that includes the luxury brands. Hugo [...]
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March 27, 2009

Style Insider: inside the brand

Fashionista is impressed by the initiatives that brands are taking to reach wider audiences and, ultimately, attract customers at a time when consumers are watching their spending and brand loyalty is being threatened as a result. Fashionista has read reports that buoyant high street brands – whose primary targets are teens and young twenty some-things [...]
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March 26, 2009

Agent Optimism

Fashionista is excited at the news that Agent Provocateur has released plans for growth. Lingerie appears to be outperforming clothing in the current climate and in response, Agent Provocateur intends to more than double the number of its stores and concessions up to 2012. The retailer has at present 43 outlets in total, including 13 [...]
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March 23, 2009

This is not just Code…this is M&S Code

On 18 March 2009, the FRC published a call for evidence, as part of its review of the effectiveness of the Combined Code (“Code”). The FRC is seeking views on both the content of the Code and the way it has been applied by companies and enforced by investors using the “comply or explain” mechanism. [...]
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March 20, 2009

BRC budget submission 2009

Fashionista has just finished reading the British Retail Consortium’s budget submission for 2009. As we all know, it has been a challenging time for retailers and the prospects for recovery in 2009 do not look good with many believing that it will be the toughest year in decades. The BRC have therefore produced a document [...]
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March 18, 2009

From "outlet" to "outnet"

Fashionista – in “Recessionista” mode – is excited by the news that NET-A-PORTER will launch “theOutnet.com” website next month: an online outlet of over 200 luxury brands sold at discounted prices. Fashionista is all too aware of the plight of many high street shops struggling to meet rent payments. Tenants are seeking to negotiate with [...]
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March 16, 2009

Who says labels don’t have pulling power?

Naturally Fashionista would only be seen wearing the best labels, and her good taste in clothes has never been impugned. She was however shocked to the core when she discovered that some of her men friends had been binge-spending on the latest brand fads which came from … no, it can’t be true … Wal-Mart! [...]
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March 12, 2009

Online, cross-border: new report published

The European Commission has just published a new report on cross border trade in the EU which contains some interesting stats and information for fashion e-tailers thinking about wider European opportunities. Running at 75 pages, it isn’t likely to be your bedtime reading of choice, but luckily you have Fashionista to tease out some of [...]
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March 10, 2009

A fashion house that now houses people..

The renowned Italian fashion brand Missoni – famed for its rainbow catwalk prints which translate equally well to soft furnishings – is branching out into the hospitality industry. Part of a global licensing agreement in conjunction with The Rezidor Hotel Group, the first of 30 Hotel Missoni hotels is due to open in Edinburgh in [...]
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