Economy Of Fashion: How Different Trends Reflect The Financial State It's common knowledge fashion is cyclical in nature. The concept of “newness” in fashion doesn't refer to the premiere of a trend, but rather its revival. Why fashion cycles in this manner, however, is less obvious. There are lots of factors at play: cultural trends, politics, celebrity influence. One one of the most surprising factors to influence the cycle of fashion, though, is the state of the global economy. If you think about it, it makes sense. During tougher times, if you need new clothes, the focus is less on passing fads and more on classic, quality pieces worth the expenditure because they’ll last (which also aids in cutting down cost per wear). As FIT professor John Mincarelli tells ABC News, “In rough economic times, people shop for replacement clothes,” adding “basics” prevail during an economic downturn. Economist George Taylor was the first to notice the correlation between fashion and the economy; he developed the “Hemline Theory” to describe his findings. Pinterest How?
Apple Watch Gets First Major Updates, Including Partnership With Hermès Apple hosted Wednesday's product release event one year to the day after it first announced Apple Watch, and the watch got its first round of updates on its first anniversary. There are a few new accessories, two new metal colors, and a partnership with luxury brand Hermès. Apple began its watch announcements with the splashiest. There are also now rose gold and gold-colored anodized aluminum Apple Watch Sport models, which let customers get a look similar to the $10,000-plus Apple Watch Edition starting at a friendlier $349 price point. Apple also announced that watchOS 2, the first major update to the Apple Watch's operating system, will be available Sept. 16. Developers will also be able to integrate their apps into watch faces as complications, or the little widgets that accompany the time. Since the Apple Watch first burst onto the scene in April, smartwatch competition has heated up.
Fashion meets the future as garments go hi-tech Social media users curate the runway at Fyodor Golan's London Fashion Week show An interactive garment created by Nokia Lumias became the world's first interactive smart skirt Celebrities including Alexa Chung and Pixie Geldof whip out their smartphones on the front row at London Fashion Week Apple launched its smart watch in September, allowing users to call and message friends with a click on the device Ralph Lauren's biometric shirt tracks your body's data before sending it to your smartphone Google Glass is often credited as the trailblazer of wearable tech, and the product has since been adopted by designer Diane von Furstenberg Jawbone Up tracks weight and fitness through its wristband and smartphone app, helping to integrate health management into your daily routine Fitbit has proved to be one of the most popular wearable creations, helping to fuse the gap between fashion and technology. Futuristic fashion "We have become better online than in stores.
How much do top fashion brands really depend on China? When, in July 2011, LinkedIn hired Dan Roth, everyone in the media industry thought the “professional” social network was up to something big. Roth came with an impressive résumé: Forbes, Condé Nast Portfolio (a great but ill-fated glossy), Wired, then Fortune, where he served as managing editor before being poached by LinkedIn. Four years later, Roth snatched Caroline Fairchild, a young, talented writer and editor from Fortune. Again, many thought this was the moment. The trade press, always prompt to draw doomsday scenarios, came up with sensational headlines such as “How Dan Roth became the most powerful editor in business publishing” (Digiday), or “Media frenemy LinkedIn raids Fortune, Wall Street Journal for editors” (AdAge). Worrisome indeed. Everyone (yours truly included) was wrong about LinkedIn editorial potential; it didn’t became a significant business media player—and most likely never will. Why? Dan Roth takes the defense of his platform’s transparency to an extreme.
Shop Jeen: teen site conquers social media but faces customer backlash | US news In a world where Tumblr stars, Snapchat phenoms, and aspiring Instagram models rack up the kind of online following that rivals traditional celebrities, Erin Yogasundram holds center court. Like other young people, Yogasundram has an Instagram feed peppered with selfies, memes, and close-up snaps of nail art. But unlike many 23-year-olds, her photos elicit responses like “My queen! Yogasundram, a New York native, is the founder and CEO of the online boutique Shop Jeen. The site’s homepage feels like a dizzying combination of Tumblr gifs, 1990s nostalgia, and the incessant strobe lights in a dark karaoke room. Shop Jeen clearly isn’t for everyone (including all members of the population older than 20). Yogasundram created Shop Jeen in 2012 while she was a student at George Washington University. As a teenager, Yogasundram earned supplemental income by selling everything from celebrity autographs to Celine bags on eBay.
"Technology is going to turn the entire fashion industry inside out" Fashion and technology: the digital revolution presents the "biggest challenge for fashion brands" according to digital fashion pioneer Francis Bitonti who asks: "How will an industry where value is communicated by exclusivity and craft cope with this new space?" (+ interview) The fashion industry has been slow to adapt to new technologies, says Bitonti, who warned: "Fashion brands are going to have to adapt to this, which is going to mean a shift in core values for many brands." The New York-based designer initially trained as an architect but has recently focussed on applying advanced manufacturing techniques to fashion, jewellery and accessories, including a 3D-printed dress for Dita von Teese and a pair of 3D-printed shoes. "We want to redevelop everything from design methodology to material and form, to distribution and production," he said. Bitonti berated the mainstream fashion industry for not being quicker to embrace technology. We don't live in a time for concepts and drawings.
MADE IN BRITAIN - Topshop Blog Featured Tis the season to be British – tralalalala… lalalala… With the Jubilee and the Olympics encouraging our patriotic tendencies, we thought it was high time classic, quintessential style hit the fashion headlines and thus, our new collection Made in Britain was born. Marrying tradition with innovation (because isn’t that so the British way?), every piece has been lovingly crafted in the heart of London’s East End to create a capsule collection that even the Queen herself would be proud of. Queue our fashion fantasies of countryside frolicking in a sailor dress and wellies, pounding the city streets in the ultimate biker jacket and not to mention enjoying a spot of afternoon-tea (with her majesty and corgis of course), while sporting the cutest swan-print jumpsuit.
How Machine Vision Is About to Change the Fashion World In the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, the notorious fashion editor Miranda Priestly sizes up people at a glance by analyzing their clothes, who designed them, and what year they date from. Priestly’s character is famously inspired by Anna Wintour, the long standing editor-in-chief of Vogue, herself a style icon. But if a human can recognize and date fashion styles with little more than a glance, why not a machine? Chen and co begin by training their machine vision algorithm to identify an individual’s body pose in an image and then to divide the body into nine regions—the upper and lower arms and legs, and the torso. Comparing fashion styles then boils down to the relatively simple mathematical process of comparing these 72-dimension vectors. Next, they assemble two databases of photographs. Fashion week is a significant event in New York. To find out, Chen co use their machine vision algorithm to identify these trends and see how they influence street chic.
Apple's iOS 10 Arrives on September 13 Apple keeps rolling out news after its unveiling of the new iPhone 7, first with the arrival of MacOS Sierra on September 20 and now the news of iOS 10 being released on September 13. iOS 10 will be the biggest update to Apple’s mobile operating system to date and it will include a significant update to Apple’s favorite assistant Siri. Siri will now be able to improve image searchers, handle transcribing voicemails, and even write text messages. The lock screen will also include a number of changes as users will be able to interact with notifications and widgets using 3D Touch. The upgrade will be free for the following devices, iPhone 5 and higher, iPod touch 6th generation, iPad mini 2 and higher, and iPad 4th generation, as well as the subsequent iPad Air and iPad Pro models. For more information on iOS 10 head here.
Can big brands catch up on sustainable fashion? | Guardian Sustainable Business Imagine a pair of trousers you could throw on the compost. After years of use, they could decompose among the eggshells and tea bags to leave behind nothing but some fertile soil to help grow new raw materials. It takes the circular economy to a whole new level. This is the idea behind F-ABRIC, a range of materials developed by Swiss company Freitag. While natural fibres like cotton will compost over time, synthetic fibres like polyester won’t, and natural fibres are often blended with synthetic. The fact that it is biodegradable does not make the fabric any less hard-wearing, says one of the founders, Daniel Freitag. Freitag is not the only company looking to microorganisms for inspiration. Essi Johanna Glomb, head of design at Blond & Bieber, says: “The colours for dyes are extremely toxic and really harm the people working with them and also nature. Perhaps most intriguingly, the colours change dramatically over time, from pink to bright orange, for example, or green to blue.
High street retailers fight back against online rivals In 2000, a young marketing executive changed the face of British fashion retailing, founding Asos to sell cheap imitations of celebrities’ outfits. Last week Nick Robertson, the great-grandson of retailer Austin Reed, resigned as chief executive of the business, just as another shake-up of the industry is under way. The UK’s online retail market is large and growing. But the growth of pure-play digital retailers is under threat as their marketplace becomes increasingly crowded. “The high street has fought back,” says retail analyst John Stevenson, of City stockbroker Peel Hunt. Large retail chains — such as John Lewis and Dixons Carphone — claim that using “bricks and clicks” together creates a better experience for customers. John Lewis makes 33 per cent of sales online, according to figures provided by the department store group. Digital retailers’ stock market valuations remain at a premium to high street groups’, but they are falling. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015.
London fashion week: why technology is in fashion | Media Network At London fashion week the multibillion dollar worlds of tech and fashion are colliding like never before. For many, the launch of Apple’s new watch, announced this week with impeccable timing to coincide with the global fashion weeks, will mark an important turning point for fashion tech, a new sector with huge potential for growth. While Apple’s entry into the market is almost guaranteed to boost the industry’s profile, in reality the fashion industry has been driving fashion tech for years. Fashion tech is much more than just tech inside a timepiece, and nowhere is this more apparent than in London. In 2010, London Fashion Week was the first in the world to grant access to the masses by live streaming the runways. Now, everyone has their smartphone camera primed, ready to make their contribution to the zeitgeist. The next generation of high tech fashionistas are already emerging. Two rising stars from this growing trend are Kate Unsworth and Roberta Lucca.
Investigating The Sustainability Claims Behind H&M ColumnIs fast fashion giant H&M really making moves to become more sustainable, or is it all just greenwashing? Editor’s Note: This is Jessica Marati’s first column for Behind The Label, which will explore whether brands claiming sustainable initiatives are going green – or just plain greenwashing. It’s so easy to love and hate H&M. On the one hand, the Swedish fashion chain has played a significant role in democratizing fashion and bringing trends once reserved for the upper classes to the masses. In recent years, H&M has made efforts to be more transparent with its social responsibility efforts, releasing a hefty Conscious Actions Sustainability Report in 2010 that outlined its sustainability goals and action roadmap. In 2011, however, H&M stepped up its efforts with the release of a much-anticipated Conscious Collection, a white-hued line of separates made from organic cotton, Tencel®, and recycled polyester. Images: H&M.