In a sponsorship deal that was to the manor born, Ralph Lauren announced its first ever TV sponsorship — with PBS for Masterpiece, the U.S. public member-supported TV brand's flagship drama series that has "won six Emmy awards for outstanding costumes" as the Hollywood Reporter notes.

In tandem to updating its Facebook cover photo with a tweedy image evoking the roaring twenties, above, the brand's FB page announced: "Ralph Lauren is proud to announce its national corporate sponsorship of MASTERPIECE | PBS (Masterpiece Theatre), the celebrated PBS drama series known for hit programs such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock."Continue reading...

Call it Projector Runway. Diane von Furstenberg made a splash with her collection that debuted Sunday during the New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013 shows — and not just for her chic prints and flowing palazzo pants.

The New York-based designer also put Google Glass augmented reality glasses on the catwalk, with her models wearing the high-tech specs and capturing the action on the runway (more on that below).

Also wearing the web-enabled specs at the show: Google co-founder Sergey Brin and von Furstenberg (who addressed Googlers on her vision back in 2006) herself.Continue reading...

Why is Microsoft at New York Fashion Week? It's on a digital date with Bloomingdale's, which has been getting increasingly interactive with its window displays to not only promote brands such as BMW, but even allowing passersby to stop and "try on" sunglasses or customize Havaianas flip-flops.

The intersection of fashion, retail and digital technology was highlighted in a co-branded Fashion's Night Out event Thursday night, where Microsoft and Bloomies invited #FNO-savvy fashionistas on Twitter to tag #MSBloomingdales to see their tags show up on the "Printing Dress" — a wearable computing concept (at left) that replaces pleats with tweets.

It's described as:

"a Microsoft Research project that explores the intersection of fashion and technology. This early prototype is an artistic installation that integrates computer components into a dress made almost entirely of paper. With an integrated projector, the dress showcases tweets in real time transforming the skirt into a real-time twitter display. The dress was presented and honored as “Best in Show” and “Best Concept” at the Design Exhibition at ISWC (International Symposium of Wearable Computers) in San Francisco 2011."

More details in the video below:Continue reading...

Vogue is promoting the fact that Fashion's Night Out is not just a New York event with a promo highlighting what's happening in London on FNO's Sept. 6th return. Milan will also be celebrating its fourth FNO — details below.Continue reading...

In a summer of shimmering heat, two high-end jewelry brands are offering royalty and art as artistic salve.

As you can see above, Tiffany & Co. is finally opening its Soho store in New York, and fêting the event with four artists’ renderings of true love — a recurring theme for the brand — “to trick out the hoarding around the façade” for two week stints each, each installation displayed on oversized wooden canvases in front of the Tiffany & Co. storefront as behind the scenes everything's getting ready for the opening.

Artist Danielle Dimstom kicked off the collaboration on July 16 with a stylized combination of text and drawings, followed by street artist Ellis Gallagher’s unique take on the colors of love on July 27. The current installation features a mural from Igor + Andre, which will be followed by the final artist in the series, Natasha Law. The installations can be viewed at 97 Greene Street.Continue reading...

Android beats Apple for global market share while Samsung becomes top-selling mobile brand in Europe, and Apple and Samsung court battle continues.

Citi tests foreclosure rentals, steps up digital marketing.

Eli Lilly seen as last hope for Alzheimer's drug as Pfizer and J&J bow out.

Betsey Johnson rebounds from bankruptcy with lower-priced collection set for New York Fashion Week.

BlackBerry-maker RIM stock jumps on Samsung rumors.

Carmen Steffens expands fashion brand from Brazil to US.

Chiquita restructuring plan calls for new CEO.

Dairy Queen promotes Orange Julius brand.

Esprit hires Zara exec as new CEO.Continue reading...

We have an update on a story we published earlier this week about the confusion arising between South Africa's 466/64 Fashion line, which is launching in the U.S. and plans to stage a show at New York Fashion Week next month, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

According to Erin Patton, CEO of Company B — the exclusive license holder for 466/64 Fashion in North America — the company never claimed the direct involvement of Mandela or his foundation in 466/64. As Patton was quoted by WWD on Aug. 2nd, Mandela "is not directly involved. That was never intimated. All the press materials say it was inspired by him." (Italics ours.) As Patton also told the Daily Beast, "We have a guarded approach so that we are not overly commercializing his image."

To counter the claims to the contrary by the North American representatives for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Dallas, Texas-based Patton asked us to share a statement by Sello Hatang, a spokesperson for the Mandela Foundation in South Africa, to clarify the backstory to the clothing line.Continue reading...

Paris to Shanghai, by train. The concept alone dredges up an atmosphere of yesteryear, when Orient Express-style train travel was the luxury way to travel. And what two cities summon that fabulous yesteryear better than Paris and Shanghai, a city once hailed as "Paris of the East?"

That nostalgic sentiment is what Louis Vuitton is tapping into for its new campaign, "Louis Vuitton Express" — which kicked off this week with a teaser video, "Paris to Shanghai by Train by The Selby," — as the digital extension of an event marketing campaign that's rolling online, on YouTube and on Facebook from the brand's French HQ to its new China HQ.

But who or what, you might ask, is "The Selby?" And will "The Selby" be enough to get Vuitton back in the good graces of Chinese luxury buyers who have recently come to treat the the brand kind of like locomotive travel — a relic of the past?Continue reading...