BoF Daily Digest | Redefining luxury, Fashion’s next frontier, Touchy-feely, Paul Smith’s highest honour, Carine Roitfeld Q&A

Bottega Veneta Autumn/Winter 2011 | Source: Style Frizz

How The Uncertain Economy Is Changing The Definition Of Luxury (Forbes) “With the emergence of new wealthy consumers from the BRIC countries and the economic downturn for most nations outside of the BRIC superfecta in the past few years, luxury has taken on a multitude of new meanings. No longer does it exclusively equate to expensive products that are mostly of French or Swiss origins.” Fashion’s Next Frontier for Social Media (WWD) “The fashion industry is quickly learning that men and women engage and shop differently in the digital sphere. Brands and retailers such as Coach, Mr Porter, Gilt Man, Ben Minkoff, John Varvatos and Ermenegildo Zegna have spent a lot of time studying the differences between the ways men and women approach fashion, tapping into their male audiences with a host of initiatives they feel will resonate best with their target consumer.” Touchy-feely (FT) “An amorphous white dress, like an alien wedding frock, crafted from 14,000 rubber gloves; a black leather ballgown bristling with 43kg of dressmaking pins; mind-boggling numbers of latex balloons hand-knotted into a floor-skimming fringed opera-coat – are they art, or are they fashion? The answer could be both.” Paul Smith to be honoured at British Fashion Awards (Telegraph) “Paul Smith was 15 when he left school, got on his bike, and pedalled off to his first job at a clothes warehouse in Nottingham. Now, some 50 years later, Sir Paul has been awarded British fashion’s highest honour… The Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design prize – given posthumously last year to Alexander McQueen – will be presented to Sir Paul at the British Fashion Awards.” Q&A Carine Roitfeld (Guardian) “At the beginning, when you’ve stayed for 10 years in one place, you do miss the people. It was like the baby blues. So immediately I did something new and I didn’t stop working. I didn’t go on holiday, I didn’t have time to regret it, and now I’m very much more positive and have a new project.”