Imran Amed

Last Friday, I had the honour of speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris. I was asked to share some advice for new graduates entering the fashion industry at a moment of profound change. This speech is about purpose. About how purpose isn’t found in certainty, comfort or a perfectly mapped-out plan. I hope it serves as a reminder that it is in our struggles that we find our purpose. To the 448 IFM graduates — and to your families, friends and teachers — congratulations on reaching this important milestone. Thank you to @ifmparis for the invitation — it was an honour to be with you.

For the global luxury industry, the last two years have been defined by a prolonged period of meagre growth, macro-uncertainty, and a slow recovery in the critical Chinese market. But as we move further into 2026, the strategic imperative has shifted. It is no longer enough to simply wait for the cycle to turn; leadership now requires navigating a rapidly-changing environment where geopolitical volatility and technological disruption have become the baseline. In this episode of The BoF Podcast, Jonathan Wingfield (@misterwingfield ), editor-in-chief of System Magazine joins Imran Amed (@imranamed ) and Luca Solca, managing director and global head of luxury goods at Bernstein, for their regular seasonal conversation on the state of the industry. They analyse this new industry paradigm through two distinct lenses: the clinical, data-driven reality of the equity markets, and the visceral, creative pulse of culture. They examining the collapse of the old narrative within luxury, why brand heat has become a lazy currency, and why the real threat of AI isn’t the technology itself, but the professionals who master it first. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast 📷 System Collections Issue No. 3. Photograph by Johnny Dufort. Styling by Suzanne Koller.

In fashion, the word “legend” is often used as a convenient shorthand for longevity. But Joan Burstein — affectionately known in the fashion world as Mrs. B — was a legend in the truest sense of the word. When she opened Browns on South Molton Street in 1970, she didn’t just open a boutique; she established a portal for the radical avant-garde fashion designers that would fundamentally shift our industry’s tectonic plates. Mrs. B also possessed a legendary eye for talent. She was the one who plucked John Galliano’s graduate collection out of obscurity, provided the first British home for Rei Kawakubo’s Comme Des Garçons and Giorgio Armani, while also giving American designers like Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan an entry portal to the European market. Following the recent passing of Joan Burstein at the age of 100, we find ourselves at a moment of profound reflection for the industry and Mrs. B’s immense legacy. Joining Imran Amed on The BoF Podcast this week to reflect on this special history is Mandi Lennard (@mandilennard ), who worked closely with Mrs. B as a buyer during the 1980s and 90s, London fashion’s most fertile era. As the founder of her own creative consultancy — Mandi’s Basement — Mandi has spent decades at the heart of London’s fashion scene, applying the sharp, instinctive eye she honed under Mrs. B’s mentorship. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast 📷 Michael Hemy

For four decades, Dries Van Noten defined a singular path in global fashion with a universe rooted in intellectual rigour, exquisite craftsmanship and independence. When he stepped back from his eponymous brand last year, it wasn’t a retreat into a quiet retirement. Instead, Van Noten has embarked on a profound transition — moving from the relentless, dictated rhythm of fashion to a new life as a custodian of culture in Venice. Van Noten has established a new foundation (@fondazionedriesvannoten ) at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a space dedicated to the beauty of craftsmanship and the belief that in a world marked by global uncertainty, the act of making something beautiful is the ultimate form of protest. In this special episode of The BoF Podcast, our editor-at-large Tim Blanks (@timblanks ) speaks to Dries Van Noten about this remarkable transition to becoming a custodian of beauty. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast 📷 Fe Pinheiro

We can confirm: @BoF breaks the story in The Devil Wears Prada 2. That’s all.

For the global luxury industry, Salone del Mobile in Milan has become a moment where brands look beyond the runway to expand into the broader "lifestyle" economy. At the centre of this intersection is @DimoreStudio , co-founded by Britt Moran (@brittmoranmilano ) and @EmilianoSalci — a studio that has defined the aesthetic language for luxury hospitality, retail and private residential projects worldwide. As luxury conglomerates increasingly pursue the "home" and hospitality categories to drive long-term growth, Britt Moran offers an insider's perspective on why credibility in this space can't be bought — it has to be built. This week on The BoF Podcast, Moran joins BoF founder @ImranAmed during Milan Design Week to discuss what fashion brands get wrong about design, why physical spaces still win over screens, and how a partnership that began after a romantic relationship ended became one of the most influential studios in the world. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast 📷 Stefano Galuzzi

Hi this is @ImranAmed , welcome to my weekly letter. Each year during Milan Design Week, I make a point of visiting @laboratorioparavicini , a small ceramics atelier. I’ve admired their work for years, but this time I got to meet the people behind it — and it changed how I understood the place entirely. Costanza Paravicini founded the workshop in the 1990s. More than three decades later, she still runs the company with her daughters Benedetta and Margherita. There is an elegance about these women that is ineffably Italian: You can tell immediately that they are doing this work because they love it. Sales flow through their own e-commerce site as well as curated platforms. But they can’t really keep up with demand. So, at times, the family turns to technology to help achieve more scale: A handpainted plate costs around €300, while a digitally printed version runs closer to €115. It is into this more traditional world of craft that technology arrived with considerable ambition at this year’s Design Week. @Samsung ’s first-ever chief design officer Mauro Porcini staged his inaugural Salone installation at Superstudio Più: “Design Is an Act of Love,” an exhibition spanning 12 immersive zones. We’ve heard that vision before. Remember Clippy, the animated paperclip that popped up unbidden in Microsoft Office? Or Apple’s Siri, which has never quite made the interaction feel natural? But this time there was much more attention paid to the design of the devices themselves, with the goal of giving technology more of a human quality. The exhibition opened with a choreographed dance of Samsung devices that reappeared throughout the rest of the show. Over at @Nike ’s Air_Lab installation, chief design officer Martin Lotti talked me through the brand’s 50-year history of “designing with air.” The brand showcased an inflatable puffer jacket with air bags that can be filled using a small pump, as well as a running shirt engineered with openings that capture air to cool the body — demonstrated by a runner on a treadmill, with heat tracking on a screen showing the technology at work. Read my full letter on where craft, tech and design meet at Design Week #linkinbio

‘If I’m a consumer and I’m buying a $120 polo shirt, for me that may actually be a luxury based on my income level.’ This week on The BoF Podcast, Ralph Lauren president and CEO Patrice Louvet joins @ImranAmed in conversation at the Semafor World Economy summit. Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast

The global fashion industry is a $2.5 trillion economic engine, and yet in the corridors of Washington and high finance, it's often treated as a sideshow. This week BoF founder Imran Amed was in DC at Semafor World Economy, listening to conversations about AI and genomics and energy — and arguing that fashion is actually one of the best barometers we have for where the global consumer is heading. This week on The BoF Podcast, @ImranAmed sits down with @Zegna 's Ermenegildo Zegna, @RalphLauren 's Patrice Louvet and @ArtBasel 's Noah Horowitz at @Semafor World Economy to examine what’s working in luxury. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #TheBoFPodcast 📷 Getty Images, Semafor

“I’ve been told by my fashion professors that the fashion industry is now boring, do you agree?” Gavi Ramirez (@gavrielaramirez ) asks @ImranAmed in the second instalment of the BoF Podcast’s Ask Me Anything. 🎙️Listen now #linkinbio #BoFPodcast

In the second instalment of the BoF Podcast’s Ask Me Anything series, @ImranAmed takes on listener questions about creative energy returning to the industry, what luxury really feels like, why independent brands don’t need the old gatekeepers, and how to keep going when the world feels uncertain. 🎙️ Listen now #linkinbio #BoFPodcast

On his first visit to Shanghai since before the pandemic, BoF founder Imran Amed finds a market that has fundamentally changed. Chinese luxury customers have moved on from status spending to stealth wealth, from Western megabrands to homegrown Chinese labels, and from fashion-focused shopping to immersive lifestyle spaces that blend retail, dining and art. Western luxury brands are focused on catching up — through exhibitions, cultural programming and experiential flagships like Louis Vuitton’s extraordinary boat-shaped destination in Shanghai’s Jing’an district. Will these moves be enough, or has the moment already passed? Read @ImranAmed ’s full report from Shanghai at the #linkinbio 📷 Courtesy