December 9, 2010
What’s wrong with Style Bubble?

Call her (Susanna Lau of Style Bubble) an evangelist: She beats her drum for obscure designers, out-of-the-way shops and seldom-frequented showrooms, her message imbibed by some 30,000 visitors each day. They log on to find out what Ms. Lau thinks of ASOS Black’s “jingly-jangly dresses” or to scan her “to buy” lists for, say, a “bargainous printastic” sweater from David David, a pattern-mad London brand.

What began about five years ago as a hobby has turned into a fulfilling, though not lucrative, career. Style Bubble generates advertising, but scarcely enough, Ms. Lau said, to support her taste for Church’s English brogues. “The need to update something and feed it on a daily basis with no financial motivation sort of points to an obsessive tendency,” she said. “I think a lot of bloggers are obsessive in their ways.”

Ms. Lau taps at her keyboard three to fours hours a day, then weaves among shops, design studios and art exhibitions, or reports first-hand on events like the Lanvin-H & M fashion show in New York.

As much as I admire her work and am glad that she is following her passion, I always feel sorry for those who don’t get their business model right.  Looking at her blog, all I can say that she does not have a business and if she is not making enough money, she should get a few lessons in Business 101.  With 30K daily visitors, she could be living on Avenue Montaigne.

(Source: The New York Times)

December 7, 2010
How can Jessica Simpson sell almost a billion bucks of stuff?

“While many celebrity clothing lines come and go like dead leaves on the sidewalk, at least one is making so much bank it’s practically depressing: Jessica Simpson. Retail sales of her fashion items, which now encompass shoes, accessories, outerwear, bathing suits, fragrance, and watches, totaled $750 million this year.”

I think Jack Gross from the Jones Group, which licenses her Jeanswear, has the answer, “Fifteen-, 16-year-olds and 40-year-olds like her. Sometimes she has missteps, and they identify with her.”

Exactly, she has become fat, got divorced, everything she designs is ugly, literally engaged herself to her boyfriend, and may force him to marry her, and that is what makes her real.  And it is so clear that in today’s world, what people want are to imitate people who are like them.  It is not cool to admire astronauts or scientists or creative types but it is perfectly fine to admire people who are like you.

(Source: New York Magazine)