Fashion Roundup: Kristen Stewart On The Daily Show & Why Alexander Wang Was Hired By Balenciaga

Gwen Stefani (Vogue)

Gwen Stefani stars on the cover of Vogue’s January Issue! Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Stefani poses on top of a piano in a head-to-toe look by Hedi Slimane’s debut collection for Saint Laurent. (People)

So why was Alexander Wang the choice for Balenciaga after the departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere? Chief Executive Officer of PPR, Francois-Henri Pinault, explains that Balenciaga will still remain a couture luxury brand and continue to build on what Ghesquiere has achieved with the brand, possibly moving also into more contemporary styles. (Business Week)

While everyone is still talking about Kate Middleton’s McQueen gown at the BBC’s Sports Personality Awards, Buckingham Palace is preparing to put on a fashion show. Set to stage in July, the Royal Palace will host the “Fine Style” exhibit and live runway show featuring designs inspired by royal couture made by local fashion students. (Huffington Post)

Donna Karan takes her brand another step forward in the social world by designing her own dressing app. Just in time for the 70th annual Golden Globes, the new app aims to follow the brand’s journey through celebrities and is available now on Facebook. (WWD)

Forbes presents the top 30 Under-30 list in Art & Style, showcasing the new up-and-coming talents in the fashion world. On the list you can find names like: Gigi Burris, who designs hats for top celebrities such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga; and Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenco, who showcased his first RTW collection in Paris when he was 19; as well as many more rising talents. (Forbes)

Closing our list of fashion highlights for the week, is Kristen Stewart, who people seem to never get enough of. The Hollywood starlet was recently interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. In the interview, Stewart speaks about her experiences in her new film “On the Road,” take a look:

via Lifehacker

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Groupon CEO Andrew Mason Keeps His Job!

CONFIRMED: LivingSocial Is Laying Off 400 Workers Today

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason Was Just Put In A Bizarre Situation—And There's Really Only One Way It Can End

LivingSocial just announced the firing of 400 employees, which is about 8.9% of its total workforce.

What's more unnerving is that over the past six months, Groupon reduced its workforce by 648 positions.

More than 1,000 reductions across both businesses is a huge deal. Those reductions aren't all layoffs; some are through attrition.

To cap it all, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason's job was in question all week, and he only received his board of directors' seal of approval late Thursday.

If this was happening at Facebook or Twitter — or any other major tech brand — people would be freaking out.

So why isn't anyone freaking out yet?

Arguably, this is a recession in the daily deal business.

It's the industry's first, given that it didn't exist until about four years ago.

LivingSocial told Business Insider via email about the job cuts. "After two years of hyper-growth from 450 to more than 4500 employees, these moves will align our cost structure against our 2013 plans and will help us set the company on a path for long-term growth and profitability. Specifically, they will allow us to invest more in critical priorities like marketing, mobile, and the hiring of additional technology staff."

LivingSocial told CNNMoney that it is moving much of its customer service from its headquarters in D.C. to Tuscon, "so some job openings will be available in that area." Sales and editorial, however, have simply been "streamlined."

The job losses reflect the shaky economic underpinnings of the daily deal business, which Groupon and LivingSocial have yet to wrestle into control.

LivingSocial posted a net loss of $566 million in Q3 2012. $496 million of LivingSocial's loss stems from a huge writedown of some of its acquisitions from 2011, the Washington Business Journal reports. LivingSocial's revenue also fell to $124 million in the three-month period, down from $138 million in the second quarter.

As of market close today, Groupon's stock price is currently sitting at $4.54, according to Yahoo Finance. The 52-week range is shocking: it reached a high of $25.84. That followed six months' of shrinking total billings at the company. (Its American business is robust; the international arm less so.)

A Groupon spokesperson tells us that its layoffs were largely due to new technology the company invested in that made those jobs irrelevant. In fact, we're told, Groupon has 200 job vacancies open across North America right now.

And, of course, the job cuts don't mean that Groupon and LivingSocial are going to vanish tomorrow. They're huge businesses after all. But they are cause for concern as they illuminate potential weaknesses in the daily deal business model.

The main problem is operational scale.

Both companies are dependent on large salesforces. It is very difficult for them to leverage operation scale: To sell more, they need to employ more people. Groupon historically has prided itself on the long-term relationships its salesforce builds with its merchants. They have struggled to leverage self-serve, turnkey sales the way Facebook has.

In fact, Groupon and LivingSocial aren't even tech companies. Rather, they're email companies. Although email is here to stay for a long time, the tidal shift among consumers is away from email to instant messaging, social media messaging, and mobile phone messaging. They need to pivot into alternate methods.

Groupon is trying just that, with Groupon Goods, which so far has been a success. And both companies need to do what Groupon says it is trying to do, which is replace human-to-human selling with tech that can increase each individual worker's selling power.

Lastly, the downturn ask whether the daily deal business has hit one of its natural ceilings: new merchants. Both companies need a fresh supply of new merchants to offer more deals, or to re-up on repeated deals. It's an open question that both Groupon and LivingSocial now have to prove: Is there enough new merchants or incremental repeat business from merchants for the sector to continue to grow?

A thousand-plus layoffs suggest that, for now, the question lacks a satisfying answer.