To Cruise, or Not to Cruise

LONDON, United Kingdom — I remember a time when the month of May brought a pleasant lull in the otherwise frenetic fashion calendar. May was when things seemed to calm down, a time to catch one's breath before the circus began again with the men's shows and haute couture in June and July.

No more. This week alone, with the Met Ball in New York and two blockbuster cruise events in Seoul (Chanel) and Palm Springs (Louis Vuitton), fashion people were zipping across continents trying to keep up with all the activity.

We spoke to Michael Burke of Louis Vuitton, Sydney Toledano of Dior and Bruno Pavlovsky of Chanel, who each explained how important the globe-trotting cruise shows have become for their brands, in terms of both sales and communications.

Just staying on top of all the media coverage was a challenge in itself, though there's no doubt that in the media stakes, the clear winner was the Met Ball, which completely swamped our feeds, pages and content streams.

But I wonder: with the ongoing race for attention heating up in May, how long will it be feasible to push industry attendees to these lengths? Let's see.

Enjoy our top stories for the week gone by:

BoF Exclusive | Inside Giorgio Armani's Fashion Legacy
Does Giorgio Armani have a plan to secure his legacy? Last week, as he celebrated his 40th year in business with a party to open Armani/Silos, a new museum showcasing his vast archive, Mr Armani spoke exclusively to BoF 's Imran Amed in his only video interview to mark the occasion.

A Fashion Week Just For Me
Fashion's biggest players are staging increasingly elaborate shows in off-piste locations — beyond the noise of traditional fashion weeks — to generate dedicated global media coverage and activate regional markets.

Decoding Chanel's South Korean Spectacle
With a major fashion show in Seoul, Chanel targets the South Korean market with a focus on ready-to-wear.

South Korea, Climbing the Ranks of Asia's 'A League'
What South Korea's fashion market lacks in scale, it makes up for in influence, thanks to the continuing cool factor of both Korean brands and 'Brand Korea.'

Andrew Bolton, the Met's Fashion Mastermind
Ahead of Monday's Met Ball, the celebrated curator and self-confessed fashion nerd takes BoF behind the scenes of the museum's latest blockbuster.

The Children of Comme
No company in fashion has given birth to a collection of creative offspring quite like Rei Kawakubo's Comme des Garçons.

The Second Coming of LN-CC
One year after being bought out of bankruptcy by Italian e-commerce provider The Level Group, progressive fashion retailer LN-CC has hit the reboot button.

LVMH, Boosting Women
At LVMH, women were seriously underrepresented in senior positions. In 2009, the group launched 'EllesVMH' to boost women leaders. Is it working?

[ In ‘Oh So Serious’ Fashion Industry, Brands Make Wit WorkOpens in new window ]

In a fashion industry that can be 'oh so serious,' a crop of brands, from Jimmy Choo to Anya Hindmarch, have taken another approach, integrating play, humour and wit into their products.

Gap's PACE Pays Dividends
Gap's PACE programme has improved retention and productivity amongst female garment workers, paying dividends for workers and employers alike.