I wouldn’t say I’m trying to channel Mr. Balenciaga in any way. But I’m trying to understand how he saw women. He really respected and loved them—I see that in the clothes, the way he approached the body... He liked to work with reality, and flatter it. I’m trying to work with that. | | | | Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, London Collections Men SS17, June 10, 2016.
(Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I wouldn’t say I’m trying to channel Mr. Balenciaga in any way. But I’m trying to understand how he saw women. He really respected and loved them—I see that in the clothes, the way he approached the body... He liked to work with reality, and flatter it. I’m trying to work with that.”
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| | rantnrave:// It's the year of operations, where the symbols and trappings of logistics and mass-market commerce are fully on view as status symbols. REFORMATION has begun giving factory tours. PATAGONIA's consistent marketing of its operations has seen it grow into a cult label—the company recently launched its recycling program online. Some have argued that apparel is merely catching up to wider trends in consumer attitudes like the slow food movement. With the visibility of e-commerce, massive fulfillment centers, and drone delivery technologies, trade networks themselves are part of today's status symbols. Luxury labels are as much about the flaunting of networks and operations as they are the goods themselves. But it's not all about ethics—sometimes its just about the scale and reach of mass manufacturing. Enter the BALENCIAGA IKEA bag, which JAKE WOOLF accurately places within a wider creative practice in fashion—referencing everyday, inexpensive goods in the form of luxury objects. In the era of global brands and multinationals, the desire to blend in can be worn many ways. Now we're all just waiting for the day when a luxury house rips off ZARA or H&M. Does the legal risk on that one outweigh potential sales (ha)?... Debates continue over retail. JOHN BIGGS argues in TECHCRUNCH that the retail apocalypse is overblown. Take that as you will, but I was more interested in Biggs' mention of a "Massdrop/Acronym/Facebook/RageOn world." We can debate the equivocation of those companies or how they form a "world" together, but he's on the right track. It's the first time I've seen anyone mention Massdrop in the same breath as apparel. Massdrop's model of taking minimum orders from customers directly to manufacturers is compelling, especially when transparency has been a factor... Here's a list of the largest e-commerce acquisitions to date... PRINCE's archive is massive, and yes, includes glorious ensembles that show his style evolution over the years. Archivists at PAISLEY PARK have cataloged about 2,000 pairs of shoes, none of which are flats. Take that, athleisure. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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 | The Business of Fashion |
| As the largest ever retrospective of Irving Penn’s photography opens at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, his collaborators - including Phyllis Posnick, Issey Miyake, Polly Mellen, Marisa Berenson and Julien d’Ys - remember his greatness. | | |
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 | i-D Magazine |
| Designer, illustrator, and makeup artist Matty Bovan is one of the most exciting talents in London fashion, and an example of survivalist leadership emerging on the brink of the crashing old system. | | |
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 | TechCrunch |
| I've been thinking a lot about retail these days and I've been connecting the dots between the seeming death of retailers like Ralph Lauren and the book.. | | |
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 | Teen Vogue |
| Parsons, Savannah College of Art and Design, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising all incorporate sustainability into their curriculums. | | |
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 | Irish Independent |
| Forced to be guarded in everything she uttered, Princess Diana developed an uncanny ability to communicate through her clothes, writes our fashion editor, who was given a private tour of a new exhibition of the late princess's clothing at Kensington Palace. | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| When a group of disgruntled shoe manufacturers assembled in China earlier this year, they put up signs with messages in English, hoping they would be seen by Americans 7,000 miles away: “Payless Sucks.” | | |
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 | South China Morning Post |
| Big drop in Chinese buyers at Seoul Fashion Week suggests China-South Korea tensions over anti-missile system that has hit Korean retailers, K-pop and tourism could dent K-fashion’s popularity | | |
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 | Quartz |
| Large-sizes in clothes are chronically ill-fitting, but there's a simple solution. | | |
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 | Racked |
| French luxury doesn't spoil everyone. | | |
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 | Fashionista |
| This advertising trend is changing the game. | | |
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 | WWD |
| The born-online contemporary brand moved into expanded factory space this year and will now open it up to the public for the first time ever. | | |
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 | High Snobiety |
| Founded in 2008 by Fumito Ganryu, a protegé of Rei Kawakubo and Junya Watanabe, his eponymous line stood out by fitting in. | | |
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| The Business of Fashion |
| The pioneering New York retailer is in the midst of a major restructuring. | | |
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 | VentureBeat |
| Shopify is launching its Custom Storefront development kit, and it's a new way for game developers to make money from their games. | | |
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 | CNBC |
| A merger or acquisition could eventually be on the table for Macy's, Terry Lundgren said. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| A visit to the rock star’s compound-turned-museum, where a team is organizing all of his belongings as it prepares for the one-year anniversary of his death. | | |
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 | GQ |
| Everyone needs to calm down. | | |
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 | The Fashion Law |
| Consumer consumption patterns have changed significantly over the past several decades. Implicit in this is the increasing acceptance of and growing reliance on cheap, disposable fashion, which has given rise to the making of internationally-reaching multi-billion-dollar fast fashion brands, | | |
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 | 1 Granary |
| Sarah Andelman knows what’s going down. Although Instagram is a diluted and expertly controlled view of how a person experiences the world, scrolling through the account of Colette’s founder makes it evident that the shop is much more than just a place to buy products – it’s got a holistic and inherently personal approach. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| Walmart is aggressively investing in e-commerce acquisitions and re-organizing to become more digitally savvy. Some see the strategy as long overdue and brilliant. Others, not so much. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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