ps. love the aesthetics of this blog. nearing perfection. taking the limit. TY! :)

Of course, my opinion is highly biased by my time in tech. There is every chance that I am wrong.

Lisa H. – Welcome back!

Couture Allure – Point well taken. This ‘artisanal’ movement can also be seen in Etsy, and YouTube. If the producers of clothing have a guaranteed market via direct preorder, perhaps they can use a little more of their margin on quality, and less on marketing. All to the good.

Miss Cavendish – Good catch! I didn’t even notice. You are so right.

Josephine – Who knows what the future will bring indeed. I love the idea of Grandes Dames in the front row. So dignified.

miss sophie – Coffee, or tea, any time:). Exactly. The network is being remapped, and what happens in these times is that after fragmentation you will have a period of anarchy, then consolidation will occur. Whoever consolidates most powerfully wins. Which makes you wonder, does Tumblr buy Polyvore?

I am lucky enough to work with such high quality daily in the vintage garments I am surrounded with. While perusing the photos of the clothing from New York Fashion Week, I was often appalled by the poor quality of the fabrics and construction used. As an example, go look at the skirts shown by Donna Karan. They are all bunching up on the models as they walk down the runway. This would have never happened 50 or even 20 years ago.

http://splenderosa.blogspot.com/2011/02/fashion-changewave-new-normal.html

Lots of diverse opinions here & some kinda heated. I think different points of view need to be reckoned with & discussed. I actually think the design houses will evolve to “control” the dissemination of photos & information, leaving the “blogger” like me & you cold. And, the very reason for this is that, as you state, this is a
BUSINESS, this is an INDUSTRY. I realize fully your vast expertise in tech, but disagree that the entire world should be allowed to photograph, post & comment on something as it happens, when we are dealing with “intellectual property.” Fashion will deal with this as the music industry did previously. And, for one, I totally agree that they should. I am a very creative person, and work in a design field and I know how much harder it is to create than to copy. Very thought provoking post, ladybug. xx’s

it’s an exciting time to be online, to be a writer, and to love fashion. not that the road ahead isn’t fraught with uncertainties and miss-steps. but instead of the vertical structure of the industry that you laid out so neatly in your post, all the social networking and the advent of new media via blogs and youtube is really remappinig the entire network horizontally, diagonally, and everything other way. i’m excited for 2011 and what’s to come. :D

by the way, did you see any of the Michael Kors looks yesterday on livestream at style.com? i’m not a diehard Kors fan, but some of those pieces are just so gorgeous. a sure sign that my style is becoming more selective with age! :)