Cheryl Shops

Fashion people are notoriously slow to adapt to technology; they thought Natalie Massenet was nuts when she began Net-A-Porter, but the company has been purchased by luxury conglomerate Richemont for £350 million and she's laughing all the way to the bank. So I found Cathy Horyn's article about millennials and online shopping interesting yet odd. The article basically questions why Net-A-Porter, Shopbop, and La Garconne are so successful; her conclusion is that Gen Y wants its fashion NOW and looks to these websites for editorial inspiration, and if brands like Chanel want to court this younger customer, they're going to have to get with the program. Obviously, as a blogger (and as an e-commerce copywriter, which is my day job), I agree that the Internet is a major force; what is puzzling to me is why visionaries like Diane von Furstenburg (who Tweets, by the way!) are puzzled as to the success of these companies. There are many different ways to shop, and when it comes to convenience, really, nothing beats the Internet. Gen Y just happens to be the generation that's fully grown up with it. Is that so hard to figure out?

On a lighter note, Lila at Madison Avenue Spy interviewed The Cut's Amy Odell as part of her "retail therapy" series, and while I've always been a big fan of Amy's writing, I love her even more after reading this. She refuses to pay retail for anything--truly, a girl after my own heart.

Also, Garance Doré has officially moved to New York (I'm guessing she moved in with her boyfriend, otherwise known as The Sartorialist), and we now have a series of fish-out-of-water posts to look forward to. Her first was this amusing meditation on the unique vocabulary of NYC nail salons.