The New Zealand-born British journalist died on Feb. 5, her 77th birthday, said the Graduate Fashion Foundation, which Alexander became honorary president of in 2019. Alexander — known especially for her energy and enthusiasm — was the fashion director of The Daily Telegraph for 26 years. She was appointed OBE for her contributions to fashion in 2013 and was named the British Fashion Awards’ journalist of the year twice, in 1997 and 2003.

British Vogue, where Alexander was memorialised by her Daily Telegraph deputy Julia Robson, first reported the news.

”Hilary was one of the original, old school fashion journalists …” Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s editor-in-chief and Vogue’s European editorial director, told Vogue. “Everybody wanted to read what she had to say about fashion, but also she was hilarious, you could always feel her energy. She was so alive.”

Alexander was a frequent fashion commentator for the BBC, published a book based on her favourite print, “Leopard: Fashion’s Most Powerful Print,” in 2018 and was serving as editor-at-large for Hello Fashion Monthly at the time of her death. She played a crucial role in growing the Graduate Fashion Foundation’s annual young designers showcase, Graduate Fashion Week. As part of her role as the foundation’s honorary president, she did university visits to scout young talent and advised young designers around the world. She also served as a trustee for the charity.

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In Paris, the Outlandish and the Quotidian

Couture week delivered a dizzying mix of the surreal and clothes actually meant to be worn by clients, writes Angelo Flaccavento.

The Italian luxury group’s revenue was up 13.9 percent from 2021, and 10 percent from 2019 pre-pandemic levels, reaching just over €1 billion ($1.09 billion).

Though sales in Greater China were down 8 percent, sales in the Americas rose 31.2 percent. The Tod’s brand saw strong growth across product categories and geographies with revenue up 19.1 percent to $509 million Euros, while the Roger Vivier brand saw a slowdown in March stemming from its China exposure. Revenue rose 7.1 percent to €264 million. The Hogan and Fay brands recorded growth in revenue of just above 10 percent.

”We are reaping the first results of the medium-term strategy that we have launched in recent years … We are continuing the development of our distribution network, with the opening of selected boutiques also in new markets and we are particularly focused on improving the organic growth,” said Diego Della Valle, chairman and chief executive of the group.

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Tod’s Nine-Month Sales Rise More Than Expected

Sales at Italian fashion group Tod’s rose by a bigger-than-expected 16.4 percent in the first nine months of the year, pushed by tourist flows and local demand in Europe and Italy.

Actress and screenwriter Micaela Coel, actress Penélope Cruz, tennis legend Roger Federer and pop star Dua Lipa will serve as co-chairs alongside Anna Wintour for the annual bash in support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year’s exhibition, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” pays tribute to the late designer, and the dress code for the Gala, unveiled Wednesday, is “In honour of Karl.”

Over the course of his six decade career, Lagerfeld designed for Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Balmain, Patou and his namesake Karl Lagerfeld brand. The exhibition — on display from May 5 to July 16 — will showcase looks from Lagerfeld’s repertoire, accompanied by sketches and other objects. Chanel, Fendi, the Karl Lagerfeld brand and Condé Nast are sponsors of the exhibition and event.

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Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty Is the Met Costume Institute’s 2023 Exhibition

The exhibition is set to bring together a collection of the late designer’s creations from Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Balmain, Patou and his namesake Karl Lagerfeld brand.

The Vivienne Foundation, a non-profit company first established by the late fashion designer in 2019, is launching this week following Westwood’s death in late December. The purpose of the foundation is to continue the legacy of Westwood’s activism and impact under four pillars: halt climate change, stop war, defend human rights and protest capitalism. It will work with NGOs and other partners to raise awareness and tackle projects surrounding those objectives.

Outside of her illustrious fashion career, Westwood was a dedicated activist, including serving as a trustee for human rights organisations Liberty and Reprieve, campaigning on behalf of Amnesty International and acting as an ambassador for Greenpeace.

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Vivienne Westwood’s Climate SOS

In the first session of BoF’s VOICES 2021 gathering, speakers including Vivienne Westwood and Janaya Future Khan addressed the climate crisis, stakeholder capitalism, what activism really means and more.

The craft-centric American brand designed by Emily Adams Bode Aujla will present its first women’s collection at its Paris menswear show on Jan. 21, reported Vogue. The collection, called “The Crane Estate” takes inspiration from 1970s Massachusetts, where the designer’s mother grew up, Bode said on Instagram. The line will include dresses, skirts, silk tops and lingerie.

Since launching in 2016, Bode’s  quilted and needlework looks have helped it rack up a loyal customer base as well as industry acclaim. Bode Aujla was named CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year in  2019 and won back-to-back Menswear Designer of the Year awards in 2021 and 2022.

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Can Bode Build a Family Business That Lasts?

Designer Emily Adams Bode and her brother-in-law, CEO Dev Aujla, share their plans for slow-and-steady growth as they open a Los Angeles store.

When Futurewise — a new beauty brand from the founders of Starface and Plus — launches Wednesday, its TikTok-addicted customers will already be familiar with “slugging,” the skin care technique that inspired the brand’s initial slate of products.

The concept, where people cover their skin in a thick layer of petroleum-based product to lock in moisture and protect the skin barrier, went viral on the platform during the pandemic, and today, the hashtag has over half a billion views. Futurewise’s mist, cream and slug balm were created with the practice in mind.

TikTok has sparked countless beauty trends, including over-the-top “Euphoria”-inspired makeup, faux freckles, face gems and more. It has sent drug store staple brands like CeraVe to the apex of the beauty conversation, and prompted a resurgence of products like Clinique’s black honey lipstick. TikTok even convinced people to use lube as a primer.

But reacting to the app’s constantly-shifting trend churn is a tough task for beauty brands. Creating new products that perfectly fit into a trend is often unrealistic. Even with the most agile supply chain, products take time to develop, and TikTok trends are often limited by geography and age group with life cycles as short as a few weeks. It’s hard to predict what might go viral, and determine what will stay cool.

“There’s nothing more cringey than a brand being late to a trend,” said Tyler Wentworth, director of strategy at marketing firm Movers+Shakers.

Still, ad hoc conversation on TikTok is a huge driver of beauty buzz, especially among younger consumers. Brands can build off of trends by understanding the wider tendencies they reveal, and tap into specific trends by using them to tell stories about existing products. They should also use TikTok to stay in touch with what consumers want and are talking about, and incorporate overarching themes into their assortments in a way that feels true to the brand’s ethos.

What Came First: The Treatment or the Trend?

TikTok beauty trends tend to follow a similar pattern. They tend to pop up around advice that is easy to execute (like putting a few white dots around your eyes to draw attention) or that carry a “sick curiosity” or entertainment factor because they seem unlikely to work, said Rose Gallagher, a creator and makeup artist. Influencer Meredith Duxbury’s unconventional, super thick foundation application and even slugging are examples.

But in catering to trends, consumers don’t want to feel like they’re being blatantly sold to, and they aren’t interested in buying from brands that they feel are selling out.

“When you see brands or products that come out right away that have to do with a trend, you have to question, ‘was this a base formula that was already made that’s now being repurposed?’ Or ‘are there shortcuts being taken?’” said Whitney Bowe, dermatologist, TikTok creator and founder of her namesake skincare line.

Instead, Bowe says identifying real “moments,” rather than a fleeting trend, is important when looking to TikTok for inspiration.

“A lot of these trends will last for like two weeks, and then you have trends that turn into movements,” said Bowe. “Slugging had incredible lasting power on TikTok. It was a real educational moment for people when they started realising how important skin barrier is.”

At Futurewise, Slugging’s viral boom wasn’t the inspiration for the brand, said the brand’s co-founder Julie Schott, but rather, it was a good indication that it had hit on something. Instead, it was the practice’s history — slugging has deep roots in K-beauty and the Black beauty and Native American communities — that intrigued Futurewise’s founders.

“It did blow up on TikTok. I think that is a testament to just like this being an actual mainstay in how it can benefit people,” said Schott.

Because of the extended timelines involved in developing and manufacturing beauty products, timing a new brand to a TikTok trend is near impossible. However, founders can start planting the seeds of success on the app ahead of time.

Bowe, for example, started developing her skin cycling-centric brand in mid-2020. The term, which she is credited with coining online, refers to a routine with days designated to using exfoliation, retinoid, and recovery products rather than using them all at once. She first introduced the concept on TikTok in early 2021, and in June 2022, after she built credibility and an audience on the app, she launched the brand. Shortly after, around August, she said her routine went “mega-viral.” Today, the majority of her customers come from TikTok, where she has 1.1 million followers.

Even if a brand is able to time a product drop to a trend, to have real staying power, the product has to be strong. TikTok can help with this, too: Bowe said her audience on the app serves as a focus group for product development.

“On social media as I get more of the subjective feedback from people about the actual aesthetic experience,” she said. “I learn so much from my followers in terms of what they enjoy using and areas they feel there’s an unmet need.”

Swimming With the Current

Even if brands can’t time new products to a TikTok trend, they can likely capitalise on them with products already in their assortment.

Milani Cosmetics, a mass beauty brand sold at retailers like Ulta Beauty and CVS, for example, has developed a reputation for its “dupes” — duplicates of more expensive products — on the app. That’s from both the work of Milani itself and organic conversation on TikTok. When the brand sent influencer Mikayla its liquid contour product, she called it a Charlotte Tilbury dupe. When Dior’s lip oil went viral, so too did Milani’s. Milani encourages the buzz with a “TikTok favourites” section on its website.

“People were like ‘Oh my God Milani’s at it again, they’ve duped the Dior lip oil,” said chief marketing officer Jeremy Lowenstein. “But we were well into development a long time ago on those products.”

Lowenstein doesn’t mind the sales afterglow — especially as Milani looks to capture new price sensitive consumers. The biggest focus for the brand is plugging its existing products into the conversation, whether that be by shifting copy, or pushing products that relate to trends. When it’s coming out with a new product, it looks at what hashtags are bubbling up and thinks about how to market it under that umbrella.

“We look at how we’re talking about products, what’s starting to trend, and then we map that against our own innovation calendar,” said Lowenstein.

Earlier this year Milani created a hashtag “Get Ready With Milani,” based on popular “get ready with me” videos. At the same time, “clean girl” aesthetic and “clean girl summer” were trending. It sent out a box curated around the “no-makeup makeup look” to creators and asked them to talk about it. It paid off: the #GRWMilani currently has 16 million views, and #milanicosmetics has over 230 million views, near double last year.

“We take trends and say, ‘here’s another way to think of the products,’” said Lowenstein.

Becoming popular on the app often comes down to getting product into the right hands — like Milani and Mikayla. But taking a less transactional approach usually resonates more with consumers.

“It’s the education that ends up leading a lot of the big trends,” said Gallagher. “The more [brands] look at educational content rather than sales-focused content, that’s where the magic is going to happen.”

Independent beauty brands in recent times have figured out what has eluded resource-rich conglomerates for years: how to not only sell to consumers, but also serve them with unique products and experiences while building communities online and off.

Founder owned-and-operated brands have long been a presence in the industry. But the 2010s ushered in a golden age for independent labels. Spurred by the direct-to-consumer boom and the emergence of e-commerce platforms like Shopify, it was easy for these start-ups to open their online storefronts, while eliminating the need to pitch to wholesale partners.

The rise of social media also helped. For one thing, social media advertising was relatively cheap, allowing unknown brands to quickly acquire customers. For another, social media became a place for brands to connect with consumers directly, creating online “communities” of loyal customers who follow and engage with the brand, sharing its virtues with their own followers. On Instagram, in particular, founders could become immediately recognisable as their brand’s public face, and discuss the efficacy of their products and the worthiness of their missions.

Industry incumbents were quick to recognise the threat. Brands owned by Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Puig and Coty had name recognition, but struggled to resonate with consumers, particularly the younger ones. Attempts to launch their own indie-inspired brands mostly flopped. So they embraced a time-honoured approach: if you can’t beat them, buy them. Most, if not all, of these big brands have acquired at least one independent beauty brand in recent years.

“If you were to come out with an independent brand 20 years ago, the concern would have been that you’d be squashed by L’Oréal or Estée,” said Sonya Brown, partner at Norwest Venture Partners. “Today, the tables have turned. These independent beauty companies are the ones that are at the forefront of innovation and growth. And the big conglomerates continue to be acquisitive, which is one of the reasons [venture capital and private equity] investors continue to support the space, because there’s a known exit path.”

Today, the infrastructure exists for indie brands to hit it big quickly: more and more brands will launch bolstered by venture capital funding, and retailers like Sephora and Ulta Beauty are willing to give buzzy young brands shelf space, even after only a year or less in business. But there are many more brands vying for funding and spots on retailers’ shelves, including labels founded by influencers and celebrities along with dermatologists and makeup artists. Competition is more intense than ever.

This case study unpacks what it takes for an independent beauty brand to stand out and grow by examining lessons from three indie start-ups: skin care label Glow Recipe, hair care brand K18 and fragrance purveyor D.S. & Durga.

Glow Recipe — founded by former L’Oréal employees Christine Chang and Sarah Lee in 2014 — jumped on the booming Korean Beauty trend with its fruit-inspired products in 2017. The founders spoke with BoF about how their team considers the way a product appears online from the get-go, at its formulation stage, as well as how they are able to quickly respond to trends and tailor communications to particular channels. In August 2022, Bloomberg News reported that the brand tapped investment bank Goldman Sachs to advise on its sale, at a valuation of between $400 million and $500 million.

Fragrance brand D.S. & Durga debuted in 2008, at a time when David Moltz readily admits today that he and co-founder (and wife) Kavi Moltz had little business experience. The founders leaned heavily on traditional principles of brand building to create a “personality” for every fragrance in their portfolio, pairing each with a playlist in order to highlight its connection to and inspiration from music. It’s a multi-sensory approach that has helped D.S. & Durga reach its goal of sustained growth — its sales have increased by 90 percent year on year since 2020.

As a new entrant in a hot category, having arrived on the scene in 2020, hair care label K18 provides evidence that despite greater competition, it’s possible for independent brands to scale quickly. Launched at the height of the pandemic, the brand leaned into TikTok virality to help its signature product, the Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask, fly off shelves. Sales in 2022 — its second full year in business — are expected to exceed $125 million.

For many independent beauty brands, the promise of a lucrative exit is a major motivator through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. But as the three brands in this case study demonstrate, there’s no avoiding the pre-exit heavy lifting.

Click below to read the case study now.

The British-Jamaican designer, known for her blend of streetwear and suiting, will present her namesake label’s Autumn/Winter 2023 collection at a special event during the next edition of the Florentine trade fair, which will run Jan. 10 to 13, 2023.

Last year, the cult brand was acquired by London-based showroom-turned-brand accelerator Tomorrow. The designer has since been tipped as a contender to replace the late Virgil Abloh as men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton.

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Tomorrow Acquires Majority Stake in Martine Rose Label

In a first for the London-based showroom-turned-brand accelerator, the equity investment also includes a share swap, giving Martine Rose an undisclosed stake in the Tomorrow business.

The marketing, strategy and public relations firm opened its first international office in London on Wednesday. The Lede Company now operates offices in London, New York and Los Angeles, and is looking to expand further into Europe. Its fashion and beauty clients include Isabel Marant, Kenzo, Thom Browne, Altuzarra and Violet Grey.

”Broadening our global footprint has always been part of our company vision,” said Christine Su, who serves as Lede’s co-chief executive alongside Amanda Silverman, Meredith O’Sullivan and Sarah Rothman.

The company will also add Darren Howells, formerly Browns’ head of communications, to its London team.

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How to Keep Up With TikTok’s Lightning-Fast Trend Cycle

Fashion aesthetics such as “coastal grandma” and “coconut girl” can rise and fall in a matter of weeks on the social media platform. Brands looking to be a part of the next big trend must move quickly, but carefully.

The beauty retailer announced a new subscription-based membership on Tuesday that allows shoppers to get same-day eligible items (based on delivery address and nearby locations) from Sephora delivered in as little as two hours. The subscription, which includes unlimited same day delivery through the site or app costs $49 per year. The retailer said it decided to launch the program after a June survey showed fast delivery was the top service shoppers wanted.

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Should Fashion Consider Same-Day Delivery?

Ulta Beauty and Abercrombie & Fitch are the latest retailers to offer shoppers ultra-fast delivery through partnerships with courier companies. While the service isn’t yet industry table stakes, experts say it’s an effective tool for driving loyalty.

This fall, when Everlane introduces an update of its tote bag in a new bio-fabricated textile, it will count as a win for another company, Modern Meadow.

The start-up is part of BioFabbrica, the joint venture responsible for creating the plant protein-derived leather alternative Everlane is using for its $225 tote. According to Modern Meadow, the material, known as Bio-Tex, has a greenhouse-gas-emission footprint that’s 90 percent lower than traditional, chrome-tanned cow leather. Handbag brand Senreve has also made bags from Bio-Tex.

The bags mean Modern Meadow is finally getting products made with its technology on the market, after years of apparent struggles that illustrate just how difficult it can be to scale and commercialise new materials.

Founded a decade ago by father-and-son pair Gabor and Andras Forgacs, Modern Meadow was grabbing attention by 2017 with Zoa, a leather alternative made from the same building blocks as real leather, just without the cow. The material was made by engineering yeast so it would eat sugar and churn out collagen in a process similar to brewing beer. Andras, who was then Modern Meadow’s chief executive, spoke at BoF’s Voices conference that year, and a T-shirt featuring Zoa materialised in a fashion exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Despite Modern Meadow’s predictions that commercial products made with Zoa could start appearing the next year, they didn’t. As of 2020, they still seemed to be just around the corner. In 2021, the company announced new funding and Anna Bakst replaced Andras Forgacs as CEO. (This month, Bakst left the role and Catherine Roggero-Lovisi, the company’s ex-L’Oréal, ex-Christian Louboutin president and COO took the job.)

Now with Bio-Tex Modern Meadow seems to be achieving what it couldn’t with Zoa. At a dinner to celebrate its 10th anniversary in New York this week, the company set out ambitious plans for the future: more products from more brands are expected to hit the market in the next year and a suite of new materials are in the works.

Unlike most materials marketed as “vegan” leather, which are made with plastic derived from fossil fuels, Bio-Tex is mostly made from plant protein. The material’s foundation is a bio-based polyurethane plastic coated in Modern Meadow’s “Bio-Alloy,” an innovation also made from plant proteins and bio-based polymers that helps mix unlike proteins to create particular characteristics; in the case of the Everlane bag — durability, smoothness, colour, breathability, warmth and weight.

Bio-tex is one of a group of bio-fabricated materials that have gained interest among fashion brands looking to appeal to the growing base of consumers seeking vegan and more environmentally friendly products, but have been slow to scale.

Among the more promising options are leather alternatives made from mycelium, the root structure of fungi. Brands including Lululemon and Stella McCartney have brought products containing mushroom materials to market for the first time this year.

To smooth its path to growth, Modern Meadow has restructured. Unlike Zoa, which had a different material make-up and source, Bio-Tex is adapted to the textile equipment and technology readily available today.

About a year ago, the company announced it would join forces with Italian textile mill Limonta to form Bio-Tex’s producer, BioFabbrica. The tie-up with a manufacturer has helped streamline production and commerciality, speeding up the process to get materials from lab to market.

“We will bring the science, they will bring the industrialisation process… you cannot do it all by yourself,” said Roggero-Lovisi.

Even so, bringing products to market is a long process. Development often entails back-and-forth between Modern Meadow and an interested brand to get the look and feel, as well as messaging, for a product right. And then there’s the question of price. New materials typically come at a premium to conventional alternatives, but brands can’t put out exorbitantly expensive items and expect consumers to buy them on the basis of sustainability.

“I understand that if you come up with a product that nobody cares about, you’re not going to be a solution,” said Roggero-Lovisi.

Modern Meadow is aiming to have six different material innovations on the market in the next five years, but there is still work to do to round the corner on an industrial scale offering.

Simon Miller, the Los Angeles-based brand known for its colourful bags, knits and chunky shoes informed by a Y2K aesthetic, is launching a size-inclusive footwear collection with actress, model and director Tommy Dorfman.

The drop will include some of Simon Miller’s signature styles like the High Raid Boot, Bubble Clogs and High Mojo Boot in limited edition colours and extended sizing up to women’s EUR 45 (equivalent to a US 15), ranging from $445 to $680. Starting on Sept. 7, the line will be available on Simon Miller’s site, Ssense and in Dover Street Market.

“This collaboration came from years and years and years of frustration from not having shoes I wanted to wear in my size, even prior to transitioning,” said Dorfman.

The former “13 Reasons Why” star has had a banner year in fashion — bagging a Mother’s Day campaign with Coach, attending her first Met Gala, fronting New York downtown stablemate Collina Strada’s Fall 2022 collection and posing for Amazon Luxury Stores. A desire to do something innovative, new and useful inflected her collaboration with Simon Miller, and her approach to the industry at large — where she has big ambitions.

“I don’t have an interest in working on something that isn’t adding a clear sense of value to the world, especially if it’s in commerce because it’s so over-saturated,” said Dorfman. She’s working on a trans-inclusive lingerie line to launch next summer.

Founded in 2008 as a men’s denim brand by Daniel Corrigan and Jake Sargent, Simon Miller has since morphed into a lifestyle brand — focused on womenswear and accessories under the leadership of creative director and chief executive Chelsea Hansford. Its chunky bubble clogs and knee high boots have become fashion favourites, worn by the likes of Bella Hadid. Dorfman appreciated the high-end-but-approachable brand’s price point — a pair of bubble clogs costs $455 to $575— and the fact that the shoes can be worn day-to-day; she wore a pair of custom boots from the brand for eight hours of Met Gala after parties.

Dorfman said the collaboration came about organically. First, she started wearing the brand’s clothes, then began exchanging messages with Hansford, which led to Simon Miller making custom shoes for Dorfman before the two decided on a partnership.

As a trans woman, she felt it was important to work with a brand led by a woman, for women to help bridge the gap between trans women, cis women, men and non-binary people who will buy the product. She hopes it will serve as proof of concept for other brands and mark the beginning of her fashion product-making, both with Simon Miller, and labels willing to champion inclusivity and re-evaluate their product mix for a greater number of people.

“I think prioritising trans bodies like mine is important to the whole world … I want cute things that work for me and that don’t feel like they’re wearing me, and that I don’t have to contort my body for them, but feel like they are made and tailored to what makes my body unique,” said Dorfman. “Because my body isn’t unique, frankly.”