November 2011

Here Comes Santa Claus: The 2011 Edition (Pt 1)

November 29, 2011

There’s been a lot of chatter this year about the position in which global luxury brands find themselves — eager to rapidly expand and gain more customers, yet somehow retain their reputation for quality and painstaking craftsmanship in the process. For example: Exclusivity for Top Customers — “It’s a luxury brand’s growing dilemma: how to [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: A Return to Something Special?

November 26, 2011

While the news media is covering the slugfests and pepper-spray frenzies of Black Friday shopping at the big box retail chains, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how some brands are attempting to repair the damage inflicted on the chain of supply and demand through too much bling, too many [...]

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Midweek Quick Hits: Pierre Cardin’s Castle, Black Friday, Barneys and Blogging

November 23, 2011

1.) If you’re as wealthy and accomplished as Pierre Cardin, what do you do for amusement in your spare time? Why, purchase a small French village and turn it into a showcase for modern art, of course! Pierre Cardin feud tears village apart: “It was in 2001 that the veteran couturier acquired (the Marquis) De [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: Versace for H&M (plus transparency, provenance and the future of luxury brands)

November 19, 2011

Another Fast-Fashion + Designer Collaboration Hits eBay in Minutes Flat: “Hordes of shoppers besieged H&M stores across the globe as Versace’s collection for the high street shop went on sale today . . . In Dubai and Beijing where 9am had come and gone, shoppers reported H&M stores selling out of the entire collection in [...]

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“Damage Control” by Denise Hamilton: A Mystery Wrapped Inside a Perfume Bottle

November 17, 2011

When I first started taking photographs of perfume packaging and writing a weekly analysis of the business end of the fragrance and fashion industries, I certainly didn’t suspect that I’d begin receiving mystery novels in the mail for review. Yet here I am, the novel “Damage Control” sitting beside my laptop, with a whole host [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: November 11th, 2011 (Designer Lipstick, Lagerfeld = Snooki, and the Dior search goes on)

November 12, 2011

1.) Pricy Designer Lipsticks are the New Lower-Cost Luxury Indulgence: “A decade ago, Leonard Lauder (of Estée Lauder) said that in a recession women flocked to buy cosmetics. He told The Wall Street Journal that ‘when lipstick sales go up, people don’t want to buy dresses.’ But these days, they might well find dresses more [...]

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Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (ep. 5)

November 9, 2011

October 23rd, 2011 / Berkeley, CA Dear Dawn, I love anything with oakmoss, and I love where it sounds like you’re going with your perfume. The tuberose, leather, florals, plum and oakmoss sounds like a very rich composition, and just right for this time of the year. I’m happy with my perfume now. It’s actually [...]

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Luxury & Fashion Biz News: November 4th, 2011 (Kardashians, Klout and Dancing for Dollars)

November 5, 2011

Sometimes life hands us teachable moments, meaning “the time at which learning a particular topic or idea becomes possible or easiest” — and if there’s one great big teachable moment for retail and branding that happened this past week, it was the Kardashian wedding fiasco. Kardashian seeks spotlight to deal quietly with divorce: “What do [...]

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Midweek Quick Hits: Cookbooks, Mystery Novels, Perfume and Peanut Butter

November 3, 2011

Does New York City have all the best sugary-treat shops? Because, seriously, every time I hear about some great new dessert cookbook or a website opens up that ships pies across the country, it’s based out of NYC. Both the aforementioned — cookbook and pies shipped across the country — have to do with Momofuku [...]

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