• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, June 14, 2017

It turns out that Condé Nast’s attempt to create an e-commerce site for dedicated followers of fashion was really a farfetched idea. As of yesterday, visitors to Style.com, which the publisher relaunched as a retail site out of London last September, are being redirected to Farfetch.com, for which Condé Nast will tailor words and images that instill that feeling of “gotta have it.” 

Or, as a news release puts it without reserve: “The global partnership will create a seamless luxury shopping journey from world authority fashion inspiration to purchase gratification, commercializing Condé Nast’s online and social media content by linking it to the world’s leading brands and boutiques, in real time.”

“After being acquired by Condé Nast in 2015, Style.com — once the fashion world's go-to for a massive catalog of runway images and reviews from designers across the globe — was made over into an ecommerce platform,” reports Sam Reed for the Hollywood Reporter. 

Led by fashion director Yasmin Sewell, “Style.com was Condé Nast’s attempt at breaking beyond the editorial pages for which it was known in order to diversify its revenues, as traditional advertising has been hit by the rise of technology companies such as Google and Facebook, and take a slice of a growing market for selling goods directly to consumers,” write Eric Platt and Carola Long for Financial Times.

“While Style.com was faced with the myriad of challenges that every upcoming etailer faces, it was also crippled by a lack of in-house know-how and falling short of a differentiating factor,” Euromonitor International apparel and footwear analyst Bernadette Kissane tells Platt and Long. “Notably, the company missed out on some core components — a U.S. consumer base and stocking leading brands.”

“Style.com notably delayed its U.S. launch by several months last year and the site's eventual debut was met with some criticism in the media, as the apparent absence of major luxury brands like Burberry and Chloé as sellers seemed to make it unlikely that the platform could compete in the crowded online luxury retail market,” Tom Huddleston, Jr. elaborates for Fortune.

“Condé Nast had planned to invest $100 million in the new Style.com over the first four years of the venture,” writes Vikram Alexei Kansara for Business of Fashion, “and today’s news reflects a major reversal for the media giant, which has been trying to create new revenue streams in response to declining print advertising sales.”

Farfetch, which was founded by José Neves in 2008, has purchased the domain name and intellectual property of Style.com, and Condé Nast International chairman and CEO Jonathan Newhouse is joining its board.

“Neves, who has consistently been building on the foundations of Farfetch, with the acquisition of brick-and-mortar store Browns, the creation of third-party sites, and robust partnerships with brands to speed service and delivery, said what interested him most about this deal was the content,” writesWWD’s Samantha Conti in the Los Angeles Times.

“We have long felt that inspirational content is a natural part of any luxury shopping experience. In the same way as we empower the fashion industry and connect consumers with the world’s best brands and boutiques, we want to connect them with outstanding content,” Neves says. 

“News of the deal comes at a time of heightened competition and volatility in the online luxury space, as new and established players jostle aggressively for market share. While there are several key competitors active in the sector, including MatchesFashion.com and 24 Sèvres, the boutique shopping website and mobile app introduced this month by the French luxury giant LVMH, the partnership between Condé Nast and Farfetch will reverberate through the fashion industry,” write Elizabeth Paton and Vanessa Friedman for the New York Times.

“It also effectively sets up a head-to-head rivalry with the pioneer of high-end fashion e-tail, Yoox Net-a-Porter, currently a dominant player in the sector,” they continue. “In February, Farfetch announced that Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter, would be joining its board 18 months after she acrimoniously walked away from the company she created, after it was acquired by its former rival Yoox.”

As for yesterday’s development, Jezebel’s Hazel Cills sums it all up for fashionistas everywhere: “Finally, a quick and easy way to order that $5,000 Gucci dress you saw in Vogue!”