In this BoF article, Laura Sherman explains how costs of raw materials, increasing labour costs, perception and desirability are all driving the rising prices of luxury fashion products.
 
Last month H&M announced that it might raise retail prices in the long term, in order to pay better wages to some of the world’s poorest textile workers.
 
China is the number one luxury spender worldwide, and over two-thirds of the purchases in 2013 were made overseas. No wonder that European and American retailers are looking for more ways to attract Chinese shoppers.

Fab Links from Our Members

Vildy finds the work of portraitist Peter Hurley fascinating. He’s the inventor of the “squinch“, a technique he claims will “make you ooze confidence and self-assuredness”.

La Belle Demimondaine is doing Into Mind’s January Wardrobe Challenge a little bit a time, and it’s giving her a fresher outlook on how to move forward.

Tarzy finds The Gap Mannequin Project very amusing. For his tumblr, Steve Venegas visits Gap stores and takes pictures of himself dressed in the same outfits as the mannequins.

Joy likes to check out the end of year roundups and predictions for the year ahead. She particularly enjoyed the Wall Steet Journal one that covers men’s and women’s style.

Elizabeth P thought this Guardian article on New Year resolutions was fun.

Over at The Vivienne Files, Janice writes about the “cluster method“, an approach similar to creating wardrobe capsules. Deborah thought it might be helpful for the many YLF readers who are currently doing wardrobe edits.

Annagybe liked Susie Bubble’s interview with Orsola de Castro, founder of upcycling label From Somewhere, on the current state and future of ethical fashion.

Greg came across this interesting article detailing the results of a recent survey about how people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public.

Ironkurtin recommends watching this great interview with Kim France, founding editor-in-chief of Lucky Magazine.

Laurinda would like to share this thought-provoking article that investigates if angora production can ever be ethical. (Warning: the video is disturbing!)

On his website How To Pack Like A Rockstar, Shaun Huberts explains in detail why and how he uses the “vertical fold and file method”. It was a light bulb moment for HigssMistress, who hadn’t thought of using this folding technique to pack her suitcase.

Helenedith recently discovered Clothing & Age, the website of Professor Julia Twigg, where she publishes articles about research projects on this subject.

Angie points us to an older post of Sally’s in which she shares her musings on being a tattooed person. The comments are interesting too.  

Nicole D had fun reading the 10 Commandments of Style on Refinery29.