Where Prada Will Go From Here, Will You Pay for Influencer Content?

Read today’s dose of chic intel right here…

What Will Prada’s Future Look Like With Raf Simons? (Business of Fashion)
Over the weekend, Miuccia Prada rocked the industry by announcing she and Raf Simons will be co-creative directors of Prada. Now that the fashion industry has had a moment to calm down from the excitement, many are left to ponder if this will actually work. For many, it could be as creatively intriguing as Dries Van Noten’s Spring 2020 collection designed with Christian Lacroix. And as Tim Blanks points out, Miuccia and Simons have long admired each other. Their joint experience could push them both to new heights. “Because these two are such seasoned veterans, survivors, cultural figureheads, that now, as they’re joining together to reinvent Prada, I feel they’re going to show us all how it’s done,” he writes.

Simons will officially join Prada in April. The first joint collection, Spring 2021, will be presented at Milan Fashion Week in September.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Prada (@prada) on Feb 23, 2020 at 3:45am PST

Influencers Are Starting to Charge Followers for Content (Vogue Business)
Many publications are putting up digital paywalls, charging readers for content. It seems influencers might soon do the same. In addition to their usual posting, popular Instagramers like Gabi Abrão and Caroline Calloway have begun offering exclusive content to followers for a monthly fee. This could be as little as $2 a month to be added to their “Close Friends” list on Instagram Stories, to $222 a month to receive private email correspondence. An influencer’s ability to charge for content is not limited to Instagram. Abrão charges for daily vlogs on a password-protected Vimeo account. Meanwhile, WeChat has been testing paywalls.

(Shutterstock)

Bottega Veneta Leans Into Fringe
Comfort, coziness, and color — for Bottega Veneta’s Fall 2020 collection Daniel Lee presented his idea of “new elegance for every eventuality.” What does that mean? Apparently, a lot of knitwear and a focus on tailoring. Lee’s silhouettes are clean, but he’s added in some interest with lots of fringe. It’s confident minimalism makes it both fashion-forward, and easily wearable.

B. Smith Has Passed Away (The Cut)
Model and lifestyle entrepreneur Barbara Elaine Smith died on Saturday at the age of 70. She had been battling early-onset Alzheimer’s since she was diagnosed in 2013. Smith began her career as a model in the 1960s, notably being the first black woman to cover Mademoiselle in 1976. Ten years later, she opened her first restaurant, B. Smith’s, in New York’s theater district. The spot was incredibly popular, and expanded to include locations in Sag Harbor and Washington, D.C. By the ’90s, Smith had become a lifestyle guru, releasing books and hosting her own TV show.

B. Smith (Owen Hoffman/ PMC)

Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all the latest fashion news and juicy industry gossip.