Nicole Phelps

>> After much speculation, Style.com has confirmed it will launch its first print magazine on Oct. 31, just a few weeks after the Spring 2012 shows finish. The first issue is "going to be very much focused on Spring/Summer 2012 collections," according to Style.com editor-in-chief Dirk Standen. "We are going to spotlight the most interesting people, places and clothes of the season, but beyond that we are hoping to convey to the reader what the experience of going through that intense four week cycle is like ... Starting today I will be using our Twitter feed to let our readers know what we’re up to as we shoot the photo shoots, meet the designers and models, and rush to put together the first issue."

The magazine's editorial staff — in addition to Standen — centers around Style.com executive editor Nicole Phelps and contributing editor Tim Blanks, while the creative team includes Fairchild Fashion Media editorial director Peter Kaplan and Style.com magazine creative director Lina Kutsovskaya, formerly of Nylon and Teen Vogue.

As for the reason why Style.com is moving into print? Standen explains: "If you look at the big picture I don’t think [media] brands can afford to be tied to one medium anymore. Obviously you see that with magazines paying a lot of attention to their websites now. But even on the web, it’s not enough to just have a website. You have to be on various digital devices. You need to be on the various social media sites. You want your content to be available in as many places as possible. Now that we are within the Fairchild umbrella, which has a lot of experience and a great deal of expertise in publishing, it became a natural extension for Style.com to do a magazine."

The website is also testing e-commerce, concurrent with the magazine launch, Standen says: "We are working with six New York City designers to be announced during fashion week. They are going to make a very limited number of pieces available directly from their Spring [2012] collection, so that people will be able to buy them right away. We are going to coordinate it with the launch of the magazine so, technically end of October. They will be able to buy it and will receive a nice package in the mail within days."

The Style.com magazine is currently available for pre-order and will be available on newsstands in select cities across North America and in Europe.

>> Is fashion's minimalist revival going to be over come Spring? In the wake of Paris Fashion Week, a number of insiders seem to think so.

Marc Jacobs is on board with the idea — the campy Spring 2011 Louis Vuitton collection spurred Vogue.com's Sarah Mower to write: "The excitement of stylized, decadent fun, running rampant as a backlash against minimalism [is] an idea that fashion editors will take up." Style.com's Nicole Phelps, too, made note of Jacobs's about-face from last season: "Not unlike his seventies-inflected signature show back in New York more than three weeks ago, this was a flat-out refusal of the minimalism that was all over last season's runways, his own included."

The New York Times's Eric Wilson chimes in: "It was striking to see jarring pink-and-orange combos at a number of shows: Martin Grant, Yves Saint Laurent, Cacharel, Giles Deacon, Christopher Kane and Marc Jacobs. (Not buying it was Karl Lagerfeld, who, at the Chanel show, told Cathy Horyn of The Times: 'I really don’t think women want to go around looking like a Saint Laurent shopping bag.') Regardless, it made last fall’s foray into minimalism feel like just a blip on the fashion radar." Paper's Mickey Boardman adds: “After the Céline-ification of fashion, everything became about good taste and beige. I think we all hungered for hot pink.”

Retailers seem to be feeling similarly. Ed Burstell, managing director at Liberty of London, told WWD: “I think there’s going to be some boredom for minimalism [by Spring]. I’m not sure everyone’s willing to walk away from things that are a little more fun and sexy to [looks more suited to] a Connecticut soccer mom heading for lunch.” Lane Crawford's Sarah Rutson agrees: “The customer has had enough of neutrals from fall. We need to set the sales floor alive with color and print."

>> Instead of shuttering Style.com, as many speculated would happen after Vogue.com's big relaunch — which comes right after Labor Day — Drew Schutte, SVP and chief revenue officer for Conde Nast Digital, is ready for the two to take over the web together: “In my mind, why not have two of the leading brands in the online space? There’s lots of competition coming up, so instead of letting someone else become the number-two competitor, I’d like to make one ourselves and have the number one and two in the space.”

Style.com was once the online home of both W and Vogue, but all three are now entirely separate — no pooling of resources. Style.com will send its own reviewers (Tim Blanks, Nicole Phelps, Meenal Mistry) to the upcoming fashion shows, as will Vogue.com (Jessica Kerwin, former Style contributor Sarah Mower, as well as Vogue senior staffers Mark Holgate, Hamish Bowles, and others).

There's good reason to keep Style around »

>> It was a surprise when Rochas reopened ready-to-wear for Fall 2009, just two years after unceremoniously closing down its fashion brand, leaving only a line of fragrances.  But it turns out those fragrances, moneymakers though they are, are part of the reason the clothes are back — without the fashion, a brand runs the risk of losing relevance.  "Fragrances have only a certain shelf life," says Robert Burke, an investment consultant and former Bergdorf Goodman executive, told The Wall Street Journal. "Fragrances are generally successful when they're connected to a living person."

So far, Marco Zanini's revival of the label has been well-received — Style.com's Nicole Phelps called his first collection for Fall 2009 "a promising start," and WWD ruled, "So far, so good."  But now is not the best time to restart a luxury brand — Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal noted that while she was in the Paris showroom for an hour during Fashion Week, she spotted only one buyer looking the collection over.  Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus, says he picked up the collection, meanwhile, and named it as one of his favorites from Paris Fashion Week, because it "had great late-day and dinner dressing."

So will it succeed? »