What You May Have Missed This Week

LONDON, United Kingdom — This week, Tom Ford, Thakoon and Tommy Hilfiger debuted their approaches to fashion immediacy at NYFW. "It wasn't easy, it was able to happen with a very, very complex distribution network," said Hilfiger, of syncing up retail and runway.

Meanwhile, the transformation of New York's luxury retail landscape continues. Saks Fifth Avenue has opened a new 86,000-square-foot store in Lower Manhattan, in a bid to win back high-spending shoppers after years of inching downmarket, and Cartier has unveiled its renovated Fifth Avenue mansion — part of a plan to reenergise the brand as it battles weaker US consumer confidence and depressed consumption in Asia.

Is it enough? Luxury stores are up against declining foot-traffic and e-commerce competitors like Amazon, which plans to disrupt the fashion industry like never before. Read our deep dive into Amazon's fashion ambitions.

How is the team behind Sies Marjan building an American luxury label from the bottom up? … And does "the Vetements effect" exist? We asked the 17 brands — from Comme des Garçons to Brioni — who collaborated with Vetements for Spring/Summer 2017.

1. Decoding Amazon's Fashion Ambitions

Inside Amazon's fashion studio in Shoreditch, London, which opened in 2015 | Source: Getty

Getting consumers to buy luxury products on Amazon.com is just one small piece of a much wider strategy to disrupt the fashion industry like never before.

2. Inside the Reinvention of Saks Fifth Avenue

A white polished-plaster tower anchors the rotunda space of Saks Fifth Avenue's new store in Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan, designed by architect Richard Found | Source: Saks

Can the 92-year-old department store win back high-spending shoppers after years of inching downmarket?

3. Sies Marjan, The Luxury Label That Appeared From Thin Air

(L-R) Joey Laurenti and Sander Lak in the Sies Marjan atelier | Photo: Richie Talboy for BoF

Designer Sander Lak, chief executive Joey Laurenti, and financial backer Nancy Marks talk exclusively to BoF about building a new American luxury label from the bottom up.

4. The Vetements Effect

Vetements Spring/Summer 2017 collaborations: Levi's, Lucchese (left), Juicy Couture (centre), Alpha Industries, Manolo Blank (right) | Source: Indigital

How did the 17 brands that worked with Vetements for its Spring/Summer 2017 runway show benefit from the collaboration?

5. Dusting Off Cartier on Fifth Avenue and Beyond

The Oak Room inside Cartier's renovated mansion on 651 Fifth Avenue | Photo: Laziz Hamani/Cartier

Cartier chief executive Cyrille Vigneron discusses his vision for the world-famous jeweller, starting with the re-opening of its historic New York mansion.

6. How American Eagle Dodged the Teen Retailer Trap