Editor's Letter: March Vogue

Welcome to first issue of British Vogue that you can buy for the mobile. Now any print subscriber will be able get their magazine on their iPad and their mobile too. I have to admit I was dubious about how Vogue would translate to the small screen of smartphones, but it's great and a huge plus to be able to read some of the features so easily while on the move. You'll find it in the App Store. Try it and let us know what you think.

Despite various threats - or promises, depending on your viewpoint - of a new property tax, there appears to be no slowing down in the desirability of London as a fashion destination. Christopher Kane just managed to grab one of the last slots on Mount Street ("Scissors Paper Stone"), and nearby South Audley Street is adding to the fashion ranks with spring openings by Erdem and Balmain.

The presence of so many new stores is proof that, alongside the huge opportunities offered by online shopping, the fashion industry still rates bricks and mortar. Every new designer I meet dreams of one day having their own shop as a showcase for their particular vision, and at the same time established international brands are ambitious to colonise every inch of the globe with their retail rollouts.


It's the flip side of the same coin that saw Vogue's Emily Sheffield fly to Tokyo for a couple of nights to see Dior's autumn pre-collection ("On the Road"). Phenomenal roadshows like this are digital catnip. The physical audiences can be small (and often flown in by the houses from around the world) but the images and videos generated from the whole trip become standout marketing tools, enabling these companies to make a massive footprint outside the traditional overpopulated show season and often in less familiar fashion-calendar territories. It seems strange but true that in an age where technology allows us to experience so much at the click of a mouse, fashion is opening more shops and putting on more catwalk shows than ever before.

Finally, many congratulations to Dame Mary Quant on her New Year's Honour - the damehood thoroughly deserved by a woman who has played such a pivotal role in this country's fashion history.