His company, Alexander McQueen, said in the statement today: “On behalf of Lee McQueen’s family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home. At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family.

Lee’s family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOGmtnChKec

Check out a new song from Mary J. Blige - “I am” from her 9th studio album “Stronger”!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMiCJefpn9Q

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cETtDC59-I

Toni Braxton returns with her first single “Yesterday,” a big ballad from one of the biggest voices of the past couple decades. Look for the “Dancing with the Stars” alum’s new album in February 2010 on Atlantic Records.

Last week was the Christmas of the art world. ‘No one does it like the Frieze’, Frieze turned London into the hub of international glam industry, the battleground for the movers and shakers and the fairground for the art-for-pleasure goers. Sprueth Magers Berlin London produced one of the best stands in the fair, featuring John Baldessari’s Beethoven’s Trumpet (image on the left), in the meantime staging a solo (image on the right) at their Mayfair gallery site. Baldessari is one of the greatest living artists who’s had a long, prolific, progressive and highly respectable career. This is a comment we are confident that most artists/art workers collectors would agree with. It is shocking how little known John Baldessari is outside of the art world. With Tate Modern hosting a major retrospective of Baldessari (unfortunately alongside Pop Life), several parallel shows at Paris, London, Berlin and being the cover of Frieze magazine.. you will be hearing the name John Baldessari A LOT in the following months. We can’t think of anyone else more deserving.

Text by Theresa Liang and William West, Chief Editors of INTRODUCING ART.

One of the reasons is that they hope customers will want to be like the model presented and thus will choose to buy companies products. Neuromarketing suggests a deeper cause and explains it as a mirror gene. We naturally mirror someone or something when we see it. The brain thinks: “I like the look of that cover girl. I want to be like her. What cosmetics she uses. What clothes she wears.” You then go and buy that stuff in order to be like the image.

But the tricky part is when you get to the shop to get that stuff you want. Australian researchers analyzed the behavior of female shoppers aged between 18 and 26. They were looking how attractive or unattractive staff affects sales. And the results are very interesting; they found that attractive staff could potentially discourage female customers, as they might perceive them as “direct social threat”.

“Women are biologically competitive and the perception that another female is a direct social threat affects their behavior”, explains Bianca Price from the University of South Australia. The reason advertisement is working is because women may not consider celebrities a direct social threat, but a girl in their local shopper could very well be.

So what could a retailer do to leverage this potential problem? The key, Price said, is to hire “women of all shapes and sizes – someone for each of your potential customers to relate to”.

We think this should be a concern to all retailers when looking at the overall retail brand strategy. There is a good example when strict ‘looks policy’ created controversy and aided Abercrombie & Fitch to achieve cult following among clients. But it worked with combination of many other sales techniques aided to bombard customer senses and increase brand appeal and recognition.

We want to help retailers to identify and fix their mistakes in order to increase customer satisfaction and profits.

Friendly Customer Orientation

The staff needs to be friendly and helpful whilst being professional and well presented. I think most of these things are absent from the H&C stores. People working there seem to be either indifferent or not very helpful.

As face of the company the staff needs to be trained in order to provide exceptional customer experience. It pays off to smile and be friendly, as this is what people remember and when making their next decision they will not avoid the store, but gladly will go in to spend some money.

Embracing the Technology

As a customer I would like to know if it’s worth walking to another 5 stores to get what I want. So one would expect to have an integrated stock check. Unfortunately that’s not available in the H&C stores. This can only transfer into the loss of business, as there won’t be a lot of people who would spend their time hunting for that specific product around the city.

Another valid point is – how easy is it to find information about your brand online. We were looking for a decent picture to support this article, but unfortunately couldn’t find one. Even the logo wasn’t available in high resolution anywhere.

It’s not a secret that Internet plays major life in decision making – reviews are posted online, people share and comment thus creating particular online reputation. Is H&C following these? I bet it will take them a while to discover this post, unless they get pointed to it (Update: A representative from H&C has contacted us and we will share our experience with them shortly. We will report on that in a separate article.).

Catching up with Fashion

Classical cuts are fine and sell very well, but more and more modern men are looking for that special slim fit. One of the greatest products that Hawes & Curtis had is the super slim fit shirts. They are now gone and apparently the staff thinks that they are discontinued. “Apparently” – is not the answer I am looking for as a customer. I want to have the exact answer as to whether they are coming back or not. I understand that Hawes & Curtis might believe that this mystery would trigger people to return to the store to check on the availability of their favourite cut. But I would rather prefer to be informed on the spot and not waste my time again.

I hope every retailer can learn from this and work hard to create a better user experience and provide quality of service leading to increased customer retention, satisfaction and subsequently profit.

Updated 25/08/09: Text has been updated to fix minor mistakes and reflect the fact that the company got in touch with us.

We’ve searched the Internet to bring you the movies you simply can’t miss!

Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde’s only novel comes to live, when a corrupt young man (Ben Barnes) sells his soul keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osK2p9pD_0

Dorian Gray is released in cinemas on 6 September 2009 (UK).

Sherlock Holmes

Conan Doyle’s consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his stalwart partner Watson (Jude Law) engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI

Sherlock Holmes is released in cinemas on 26 December 2009 (UK).

The Wolf Man

Upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf. What happens next?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N2lZwOQdMI

The Wolf Man is released in cinemas on 12 February 2010 (UK).

Have we missed anything? Let us know!

With this post we will begin a series of articles on how we could work together to improve your experience with SHINE. We will start with the front page and will explore one element of design, the block visual presentation of articles.

Going block

One of the easiest solutions would be to utilize the existing layout to add more visual material. For that we will use the block structure to create a dominating image of the featured article, followed by eventually layering blocks of images linking to other articles.

The image and title will be combined to create an effect that should help you to make a decision on whether to read the article or continue browsing.

What do you think?

We would love to have your feedback so we can work with the user experience designers to deliver a better and more creative experience for you.

Please use the comment form or send us a quick e-mail at hi[/at/]shinemag[/dot/]com with your ideas or examples of visual presentations that you think are great.

You can help to influence the look and feel of our magazine!

Major US luxury brand department store Saks Fifth Avenue is meeting the challenge and is rolling out new men’s wear private collection in their stores.

The idea has been incepted two years ago and the recession did not stop it from coming reality this week when around 130 executives from its stores around all over US were present at Saks flagship store in New York for a catwalk presentation. Arguably the most important launch for the store; it targets both old and new customers.

The first ones will be impress with the collections commitment to quality, attributes and wearability. Special hang tags are being created to underline the quality and benefits. Titled “Know What You’re Wearing,” those will offer customers information on fabric, its quality and production origins.

The store is also hoping to attract new customer, ones that used to think about it as too expensive and trendy. We are however not sure how that is going to work, as the prices are about 20 percent higher than the opening-price point merchandise. It’s hard to see at this point how this brand will win new customers. For example, one would find polos from $65, and pay $75 for ties; suits will be from $1,100 to $1,300 and up to $1,500 for outerwear.

Further to demonstrate the importance of this launch Saks will move other luxury brands in order to put a bigger emphasis on its new collection. One thing for sure – expect even bigger competition for customer attention with new bold moves and ideas.

As for now, some brands are already working on new strategies to put their name outside the box of brand shops and department stores. We will be curious to see what other retailers, including Selfridges in London and Mitsukoshi in Tokyo will do to rival Saks initiative.