What is the future of craftsmanship in the fashion industry? Is it a trend, or a wake-up call? Something's in the air. RICHEMONT chairman JOHANN RUPERT co-founded a foundation dedicated to preserving and promoting master craftsmanship in EUROPE. Read the article for Rupert "on full rant." Truth to all of it... NEW YORK FASHION WEEK has a(nother) new home, at SKYLIGHT CLARKSON SQUARE in west SOHO. Not exactly the deus ex machina people may have been hoping for, but let's roll with it… Shoutout to ARABELLE SICARDI for her piece on REI KAWAKUBO and whether a single exhibition can faithfully treat the subject. I love Sicardi's idealism. See this interview with RICHARD MARTIN on the 1987 exhibition THREE WOMEN: MADELEINE VIONNET, CLAIRE MCCARDELL, AND REI KAWAKUBO. At the time of that show, Kawakubo was 44, and Martin said, "we really gave the room to Rei and she designed the environment for the clothing." If you can track down photos of that exhibition, it was stunning, and a positive answer as to whether fashion exhibitions can dutifully treat their subjects... After all the buzz about AMAZON GO and its aptly named "Just Walk Out" system for checkout, the company has debuted a line of men’s shirts on AMAZON FASHION, named BUTTONED DOWN. They’re for PRIME members, and the prices are low. Perhaps suspiciously low. I like the the idea of high-quality basics from Amazon, but do the math. Where and how are they made? Website description just lists “Imported.” Cue emoji. Would love to know more. I am rooting for you, Amazon Fashion. Being sensitive to a price ecosystem and where you fit in to the market is crucial when marketing "quality." Quality relative to price relative to target customer. If anyone has tried out these shirts let me know. They need a pop-up. Free returns don't win me over when it comes to quality because of the time factor. Commissioned reviews (dubbed “Vine Customer Review of Free Product”) are up on the website already, complete with some user-uploaded photos. Response-time. Gotta love the internet. Ah, someone already asked about where they're made: INDONESIA.