Henri Bendel, for example, has a couple new locations in Beverly Hills — and although NY designers are by no means relocating to sunny SoCal (Sophomore designer Chrissy Miller, for one, doesn’t “get all the embellished denim and crazy graphics” of LA), expect several more east coast shops to open cross-country.

Perhaps it’s the sunny climate or the hippie history, but California tends to be much more casual and thus more receptive to creative experimentation than New York: a gold-mine for high-end retail brands in a still-recovering financial market.  Whatever the case, we look forward to seeing what comes out of these new east-meets-west endeavors — and have one more reason to use up our frequent-flyer miles.

Read the full story  {LA Times}

The future of fashion is now.

Amid the frilly haystack rumpus at Chanel, the sexed-up Grace Jones warrior at Pugh and Balmain, and the return of laid-back sportswear basics at Stella emerged one more new runway trend: the fashion industry’s full-blown plunge into the world of technology.

Now that we’re [finally] entering the recovery phase after this financially catastrophic past year, perhaps it’s the frenzy to make up for lost time that has turned the concept of social networking into such a lucrative opportunity for designers.  The international reach of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, when paired with the instantaneous nature of blogging, creates a monster of a marketing opportunity for companies when they so desperately need results, and quickly.

As concluded in last month’s “Future of Women’s Fashion” panel in NYC, the fashion industry’s only way forward is to make fashion accessible to more than just a privileged select few.  We hope this booming foray into the internet will provide the push toward democratized, humanistic fashion that we so crave.

Read the full story {NY Times}

Despite an initial tepid response from some merchants, the event proved to be much more lucrative than originally hoped for, with both shopper turnout and immediate sales figures soaring higher than expected.

Plans are to make the event next year even bigger and better than the first, with an emphasis on adding substance to the initiative to give Fashion’s Night Out some staying power after the novelty factor has worn off.

Read the full story {WWD}