5 Online Platforms Where You Can Learn About Fashion For Free
Hello and welcome to the 20th issue of moderated, a newsletter created to dive into insights and phenomenons in the Fashion Industry. It also has a curation and summary of the most talked last week’s events of the industry, offering further readings for more details.
If you are new here, welcome! I hope I can somehow help you to keep up with the fast-paced Fashion Industry. If you haven’t subscribed yet to receive a weekly issue by e-mail, you can do it just by clicking below.
In this week’s moderated, I am recommending you 5 *free* online platforms to learn more about fashion.
But before we jump into the main article, check the last week’s recap of the Fashion Industry.
Last Week’s Recap
Weeks Away From Paris Fashion Weeks, Covid-19 Cases Increase in France
Back in June, France had already entered the ‘new normal’ with the end of lockdown measures. The outbreak could almost be forgotten while walking around the maskless streets of Paris. Now, weeks away from the Paris Fashion Week, which is planned to be a blend of physical and digital events, France is facing a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the number of cases climbing to a rate that hadn’t been seen since April, the plans of physical fashion shows made by brands such as Hermés, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel became uncertain.
On the 29 of August, France had 7,379 new Covid-19 cases, which is not too far from the highest rate France had so far, back in April. Amid the second wave, the government of France implemented new measures, making it compulsory to wear masks in the streets of Paris and other cities and demanding distancing measures to any gathering with more than 10 people. In this scenario, brands started to showcase the instability of their events. Chanel and Louis Vuitton, for example, confirmed they will be holding live shows for fashion week, but also stated it is too soon to say if guests would be able to attend the event in person or if the show would be live-streaming only.
Brands are expecting that, by following the distancing and safety guidelines, they will be able to go forward with the events, despite the increase in Covid-19 cases. However, it is impossible to predict how the situation will be on 28 September, when the Paris Fashion Weeks starts. On top of that, travel restrictions limit the ability to predict who would even be able to attend the shows, especially with France entering the red zone. The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode will be releasing the Paris Fashion Week’s official calendar this week. However, not even the organisation can predict how the next weeks will look like and if Paris Fashion Week will be able to go back to physical events.
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Tik Tok Struggles With Restrictions Around the World While Changing the Format of Viral Campaigns
In 2020, the short videos platform Tik Tok became the main creator of viral content with its entertaining challenges, with many of them tapping into fashion. The last one was a challenge in which content creators did their best DIY impressions of a Gucci outfit. The harmless challenge made for fun by teenagers at home raised a few questions about viral campaigns, brand identity, and whether these challenges were promoted by Gucci itself or not – and if that would actually matter. JW Anderson also found itself in the middle of a Tik Tok challenge when users started to put their crochet skills to test by trying to recreate the brand’s cardigan used by the singer Harry Styles. The challenge made it clear how complicated the craft to create such a piece is. Jonathan Anderson himself made the cardigan’s pattern available to download online after the repercussion of the challenge. This type of usage of Tik Tok is becoming more and more an opportunity for brands to connect and engage with their customers.
Last week, however, Tik Tok’s Chief Executive Kevin Mayer announced he is leaving his position after just a few months in it. The difficult past weeks in which the app was banned in India, entered a dispute with the Trump administration regarding its sale to a US company, and looked at potential restrictions in the UK made Mayer’s position in the company fragile. His successor is yet to be named and the company remains in a delicate scenario, despite its large success.
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With It’s Sale to LVMH Postponed, Tiffany & Co. Reports Better Than Expected Quarterly Results
After delaying its US$16.2 billion sale to the fashion conglomerate LVMH, Tiffany & Co. announced a better than expected second-quarter profit. Despite the drop of US$100 million in net earnings and a decline of 29% in sales, the company saw an increase of 32 cents per share, higher than the 19 cents average predicted by analysts. The reasons for this surprising result were explained by Chief Executive Alessandro Bogliolo:
"Increased sales in Mainland China and global e-commerce, accelerated during the second quarter and propelled our return to quarterly profitability."
In fact, its sales in China increased by 90% in April and May, an impressive shift. The results are good news for the probable future owner of the jewellery brand, LVMH. The acquisition of Tiffany & Co. by LVMH, which is waiting for the approval of the European Union, will be the largest acquisition of the French fashion conglomerate so far.
Read Tiffany & Co. second-quarter report here.
5 Online Platforms Where You Can Learn About Fashion For Free
This week I had a hard time finding an interesting topic to write about here. I went through all my favourite websites about fashion to look for some inspiration and I couldn’t find it. But after looking at all my preferred websites about fashion I realized I had something to share at moderated: where to read and learn more about fashion. Thus, this week I will share with you my favourite websites about the fashion industry in a non-relevant order because they are all interesting in their own way. And also, I kept paid content out if this list, therefore all recommendations are free!
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I found this website when I was writing the second issue of moderated newsletter and since then I am completely in love with it. The Fashion History Timeline is a paradise for people passionate and curious about the history of fashion. The open-access website offers a detailed fashion history knowledge dating back to prehistory and until the current times. The open-source, which started as a pilot project by FIT art history faculty and students became a perfect place to learn about fashion from any time in history, as well as the history behind specific garments and designers. The Fashion History Timeline is a great database of fashion history, giving the hows and whys people dressed in a certain way in each time period.
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I can’t talk about websites about fashion without recommending the Business of Fashion (Bof). This website offers interesting articles about the business side of the fashion industry. In its own words, the platform offers “independent, agenda-setting journalism with practical business advice” to readers in more than 125 countries. BoF is one of the leading and most influential sources of intelligence for the fashion industry due to its analytical and original reports. The website has a paid area with further articles that, if you are a student, you can access for free. Otherwise, the 30 days trial of their professional content is only £1.
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3. Jing Daily
If you like to keep up with the Asian luxury fashion market, especially China, I recommend taking a look at Jing Daily. It is the leading digital publication on luxury consumer trends in China. Launched in 2009, Jing Daily became the perfect place to find information to understand the rapidly evolving Chinese luxury industry, which became so relevant for fashion companies and professionals.
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I would risk saying you are already familiar with Vogue magazine, but maybe you don’t know Vogue Business yet. Launched quite recently, in 2019, Vogue Business is an online platform that offers a “global perspective on the fashion industry, exploring how cultural trends and global patterns will impact fashion businesses.” It offers articles, webinars, podcasts, and insights that can enrich the knowledge of aspects surrounding the fashion industry.
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5. WGSN
I am a little sceptical about trend forecasters, and the reasons for that are in a previous article I wrote that you can read here, but it is important to keep up with them to keep up with the fashion industry. Therefore WGSN, the largest trend forecaster in the fashion industry is on my list. Even though a large share of the platform is paid – and it is quite expensive – they have a blog called WGSN Insider where you can access interesting reports about consumer behaviour, fashion trends, retail data, and much more for free.
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Do you have any other website or platform where you learn and read about fashion to recommend that I didn’t include in this list? Would love to know more!
Thanks for reading this week’s moderated and next Tuesday I will be back with more.
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Bye-bye and see you next week!
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