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London Fashion Week

WITH its whirl of frocks, models and million-dollar deals London Fashion Week has always been rather a closeted affair, accessible to few. Amateur fashionistas have had to wait for glossy magazines and blogs to tell them what to wear next. But at the second of London's biannual fairs, which ran from September 13th to 17th, that was starting to change. Around half the shows were live-streamed to the internet and TV channels with bulletins broadcast to commuters waiting at underground Tube stops. A free pop-up cinema screened fashion-themed films.

This push to bring Fashion Week to a wider audience is likely to pay off. Though unaffordable to most shoppers, high fashion is the beating heart of high-street retail. More wearable versions of the transparent outfits that entertained audiences in London this month will soon appear in shops up and down the country. In the week following last September's shows, online fashion sales were up 45%, according to Ve Interactive, an e-commerce firm. Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC), which organises Fashion Week, expects that the digital buzz surrounding the event will push buyers' orders well beyond ￡100m ($160m).

The changes seen at the shows are part of a wider effort to bring a businesslike approach to British fashion. London has long been feted as a breeding ground for brilliant designers. Many of them, including John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, trained at Central St Martins, a college known for turning out skilful originals. But a tendency to focus on art over business has meant that too many designers have failed to make the most of their critical acclaim. London Fashion

Week has long been seen as the tiddler of the “big four” global shows, overshadowed by the spectacles in Milan, New York and Paris.

The BFC wants to change that. Since 2009, when it appointed Ms Rush (its first full-time chief executive) the council has pushed to make young designers more market savvy and encourage greater investment in fashion. In January it appointed a new chairman, Natalie Massenet, the American creator of Net-a-Porter, an online fashion shop that last year saw sales of 368m, as its chairman. Ms Massenet has said she wants to stop \being seen as a dirty word in fashion.

That may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. Britain's fashion business adds about ￡21 billion to GDP. Oxford Economics, a consultancy, reckons that a good chunk of this is retail. But from designing clothes to selling them, fashion employs more people than any other creative industry in Britain. The designer end of clothes making has done especially well, growing 20% a year over the past decade. An increasing number of British designers have set their sights on overseas markets, especially in Asia. Paul Smith, for example, plans to open 20 new stores in China in the next five years. Attracting foreign talent, meanwhile, may soon be made easier with the introduction of a “London visa” for talented designers.

The renaissance of British fashion has been given a boost by some new ambassadors. The “Middleton effect”—a bump in sales attributed to the Duchess of Cambridge's fashion choices—has had a beneficial effect on British brands in America. A new crop of British models, among them Cara Delevingne, bestrides the international catwalk. Now Boris Johnson, the floppy-haired mayor of London, has joined the campaign. At a fashion shoot to promote British menswear this summer he could not remember who designed the suit he was wearing but his words were on message. “London is to the suit”, he said, “as Parma is to the Parmesan cheese”. 翻译： 伦敦时装周

按照以往的惯例，伦敦时装周是裙裾飞扬的大牌成衣、魅惑性感的T台模特和投资上百万美元共同打造出的一场仅为极少数土豪奉上的时尚盛宴，而至于那些不入流的时尚人士则只能从铜版纸装订的时尚杂志和时尚达人的博客中得知下一季的流行趋势。但是从9月13日至17日的这场时装周作为伦敦今年举行的两场中的第二场，则开始有了些许的变化。约有半数的秀场通过网络和电台进行直播，那些想和土豪做朋友的小伙伴们甚至可以在地铁站候车点的公告牌前、影院观影前荧幕弹出的时尚主题短片中观看走秀。

该做法的确为时装周吸引了大批消费受众群体，尽管对多数消费者来说要买的起这些时装至少要卖个肾，但这些高端时尚却是那些他们可以消费得起的高街品牌（如ZARA、BERSHKA或MANGO）的设计源动力。至于在本月秀场上的一系列令台下观众喜大普奔的透视时装将陆续出现在英国小伙伴们生活当中。据电子商务公司龙头企业——Ve Interactive的数据显示，九月时装周后一周的时间内，在线时装交易额同比上涨了45%。负责时装周运行的英国时装理事会（British Fashion Council）首席执行官卡洛琳·拉什（Caroline Rush）推测数字化的环境将推动超过一亿英镑（折合一亿六千万美元）的订单交易生成。

时装秀观看模式的改变是英国时尚产业商业化的一场巨大变革。伦敦向来被誉为是盛产高富帅设计师之地，知名设计师包括John Galliano和Alexander McQueen等，他们均毕业于培养高技术水平设计师的英国圣马丁艺术学院（Central St Martins），但这种艺术形式商业化使得多数设计师都无法正确处理好外界的褒奖，无法从中真正获益。事实上，伦敦时装周一直以来都处于全球四大时装周之末流，与米兰、纽约、巴黎三大巨头的时装盛宴相比，实在太过逊色。

英国时装理事会（BFC）为了改变这一处境，自2009年起任命拉什女士为首位全职首席执行官后，便极力让设计师新秀们敏锐捕捉市场需求并且鼓励他们多多投资时尚事业。而理事会今年一月上任的新任主席—娜塔莉·马斯奈（Natalie Massenet）是全球化奢侈品网上专卖店Net-a-Porter的创办者，该网站去年创下了368,000,000英镑的交易额。马斯奈女士表示受任为该理事会的主席是想改变“商业运作”在时尚圈的恶名。

事实也没有像马斯奈女士所说的那样严重，实际上，英国时尚产业为其国民生产总值增收210亿英镑。作为提供经济顾问机构的牛津经济研究院（Oxford Economics）日前表示该项收入很大程度来源于蓬勃发展的服装零售业。从服装的设计到销售，整个过程相比于其他创造型产业为英国民众提供了更多就业岗位，最为出众的是服装设计师行业，其以每十年20%的增幅不断上涨，越来越多的设计师小伙伴们将目光对准了海外市场，尤其是盛产“大妈”的亚洲。据知名时尚品牌Paul Smith计划，中国在未来五年将陆续迎接其20家专门店的开幕。与此同时，英国或为引进海外人才而对杰出设计师放宽申请“伦敦签证”的政策。（伦敦签证——有才的你，值得拥有~）

英国时尚再卷狂潮，新来的几位大使功不可没。—剑桥公爵夫人（Duchess of Cambridge）的时尚穿衣品味带动了美国发展的英国本土品牌，这就是所谓的“米德尔顿效应”（亦可称“公爵夫人效应”）；英国模特后起之秀中的佼佼者，卡拉·迪瓦伊（Cara Delevingne）也在世界T台上掀起浪潮；而现如今伦敦市长鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）顶着他那头标志性的蓬乱金发也加入到该行列中。在今年夏季召开的一场提升英国男士服装知名度的时装发布会上，这位不知道自己定制西装的设计者姓甚名谁的市长大人却讲出了“伦敦之于西装，恰如帕尔马至于帕马森干酪”。

Urban planning

Cities used to think modern art could save them. Now it's railway stations

IN JANUARY commuters voted Birmingham New Street one of Britain's worst railway stations. Each day nearly 150,000 people move through a structure built for half as many. But by next year it will be transformed, with 400 tonnes of undulating steel cladding and a vaguely eyeball appearance. The station will have “the wow factor”, boasts Sir Albert Bore, the leader of Birmingham city council. It will also show how much attitudes to railway stations have changed.

Railway stations are the chief exception to the rule that Britain invests too little in infrastructure. Of the 17 big termini managed by Network Rail, the owner of Britain's tracks, 11 are being redeveloped or have recently been completed. Five other stations, including Reading and Northampton, are being spruced up by local councils and Network Rail.

Some simply need to be expanded: the number of train journeys has risen by 35% since 2005. But the design of New Street suggests aspirations well beyond more easeful travel. The building would not look out of place in Dubai and is striking, if slightly incongruous, in the grey West Midlands. City planners wanted something monumental, like Grand Central station in New York, says Sir Bernard Zissman, chairman of the independent design panel.

“Twenty or thirty years ago business people were more likely to arrive in a city by car,” explains Jon Neale of Jones Lang LaSalle, a property specialist. Town planners duly carved out motorways and roundabouts to entice them. In 1962 a local politician claimed that a new design for Birmingham, involving an inner ring road, would make it “one of the finest city centres in Europe”.

Cities now measure their appeal by their stations. Businesses cluster around them: at King's Cross, a once-grimy part of north London, a postcode has been created for all the new buildings around the station, which was redeveloped in 2013. John Lewis, an upmarket department store, will open in the mall above New Street (which is indeed called “Grand Central”) along with 60 other shops. The council hopes it will pull in visitors to the city.

Such ambition recalls the stations of the 19th century. Those structures “spoke to the corporate sensibility of a city,” says Tristram Hunt, an MP and historian, by combining commerce with the sheen of civic pride. The first New Street station, built in 1851, had the largest single-span roof in the country at the time. It was torn down by enthusiastic 1960s town planners. Now some of its original lustre may return.

翻译：

今年1月，英国上班族的投票结果显示伯明翰新街火车站是全英最差的火车站。每天都有15万人都要去挤这个容量只有人流量一半的车站上下班。但明年，情况将有所改善—车站将使用400顿的包钢材料，带给人们一种模糊的视觉体验。伯明翰市长Albert Bore夸耀说，这个车站将会使走过路过的人情不自禁的叫出声来，使乘客对火车站的态度实现360度大转弯。

英国向来对基础设施的投资就少，但火车站则是一个例外。英国铁道所有者铁路网管理的17个火车站中，有11个使乘客对火车站的态度实现360度大转弯，还有5个（包括雷丁火车站和北安普顿火车站）由当地政府和铁路局负责翻新修理。

有一些则只需要扩建：自2005年起，搭乘火车旅行的人次上升了35%。但是新街火车站的设计表明，改良的初衷不仅仅是为了实现提供“更舒适的旅行”这一基本目的。这种独特亮眼的建筑出现在迪拜很合适，但是在灰蒙蒙的西米德兰兹郡，就有那么点不合时宜了。城市规划者、独立设计小组主席Bernard Zissman解释说想建一些地标性的建筑物，就像纽约的

中央车站一样。

仲量联行的房地产专家Jon Neale说，二三十年以前，商人们大多数情况下都会坐车，因为城市规划者不失时宜地开发了很多高速公路和环状交叉路口诱惑他们。1962年，一位当地政客称会在伯明翰开始新的城市规划，包括建设一条内环路，使其成为“欧洲最好的市中心之一”。

当今很多城市都用他们的火车站衡量城市魅力。车站附近也建起了商业圈：英国王十字车站曾是北伦敦一个污秽不堪的地方，2013年重建后，所有车站周围的新建筑都被赋予了一个新的邮编。高档百货公司John Lewis将会在新街车站上面开一家商城（命名为“中央车站”）以及60家商店。市政当局希望这会吸引更多游客。

这样宏大的构想让人想起了19世纪的车站。历史学家兼国会议员Tristram Hunt说，那些建筑结合了商业贸易和公民自豪感，向企业家们诉说着城市的点滴与沉淀。1851年修建的第一个新街火车站有那个时代最大的单拱桥屋顶。20世纪60年代，狂热的城市规划者将它拆掉。而现在，那些原先的光辉可能重返。

The art market

The rapid growth of art fairs is changing the way galleries operate

SHORTLY after The Economist went to press, about 25,000 people were expected to turn up at the London Art Fair. Your correspondent visited just before, as 128 white booths were being filled with modern paintings and sculptures. Dealers clutched mobile phones to their ears or gathered in small groups. They seemed nervous—as well they might be. “I can earn a year's living in one fair,” said one harried dealer while stringing up a set of lights.

Before 1999 London had just one regular contemporary art fair, remembers Will Ramsay, boss of the expanding Affordable Art Fair. This year around 20 will be held in Britain, mostly in the capital. Roughly 90 will take place worldwide. The success of larger events such as Frieze, which started in London, has stimulated the growth of smaller fairs specialising in craft work, ceramics and other things. Art14, which started last year, specialises in less well-known international galleries, showing art from Sub-Saharan Africa, South Korea and Hong Kong.

One explanation for the boom is the overall growth of the modern-art market. Four-fifths of all art sold at auction worldwide last year was from the 20th or 21st century, according to Artprice, a database. In November an auction in New York of modern and contemporary art made $691m (￡422m), easily breaking the previous record. As older art becomes harder to buy—much of it is locked up in museums—demand for recent works is rising.