Hit & Run: The Asos effect

The Olds may be moaning about recession and economic apocalypse, but teenage girls (and the rest of us for that matter) still just want to have fun. And that fun factor might just solve the world's woes.

Amid the global financial meltdown and the rapid downturn in the nation's collective disposable income, the online boutique www.asos.com has announced that its sales have rocketed – more than doubling, in fact, since last year. Asos (which stands for As Seen On Screen) launched in June 2000 with the USP of churning out copies of celeb looks from films, red carpets and LA pavements – at bargain prices. You could pick up Lindsey Lohan's MTV awards dress for under £20. Over the years, the website has evolved. So has it hit upon the formula for success in hard times?

Their credit-crunch-cracking profit is one in the eye for most high-street retailers. And the big idea just might be that Asos targets younger, more "resilient" shoppers, according to chief executive and founding father Nick Robertson: teenagers and those in their early twenties who aren't getting maudlin about mortgages or scared over subprimes; 25-year-olds who still have lots of reckless squandering to do and parties to go to, and want to wear what Kylie had on in last week's Heat. Appropriate then that their hold music should be "Too Much Too Young" by The Specials.

The e-store rebranded itself in 2002 and has since branched out from celeb copies. Where you could once buy the exact tiger pants seen on Robbie Williams' crotch in his "Rock DJ" video, the celebrity angle is now more of an emulatory "get the look". One section of the site suggests a clutch bag that Natalie Portman herself might like, or sunglasses that wouldn't look out of place on Kate or Sienna. And where else could you find a Disney Couture magic palace pendant, as worn by Nicole Ritchie? Or £25 patent T-bar heels are inspired by both Pixie Geldof and Paris Hilton?

Asos also now offers designer diffusion ranges from some of the best names in the business – try McQ by Alexander McQueen, and Just Cavalli (each of which are cheaper than the mainline clothes but still carry an all-important name) – alongside a range of mid- to high-end beauty products, jewellery and menswear. And they are plugging independent mid-range designers, who often find it difficult to bag themselves mainstream stockists on the high street, as well as lines by their own in-house team. They have created a crunch-busting niche in which people can team designer dresses with bargain bags and vice versa, with more than 12,000 products available from the site at any time.

The site's visitors can also pick up an accompanying magazine or read a daily blog from various industry experts or watch videos of their ranges to see how clothes fit and move in real life. Even the vocabulary of Asos has been a hit – pieces are more likely to sell on eBay, for example, if they are billed as "in the style of" some bar-hopping young Londoner, a phrase popularised by the site.

There's something reassuring about buying online, about not physically handing over real cash. And in cyberspace – well, at Asos, at least – no one can hear the bankers scream.

Harriet Walker

Paul Mason, a man who really means business

My 84-year-old mother has strong likes and dislikes about people on the telly. Warmly welcomed are Andrew Marr, Emily Maitlis and Jeremy Paxman. David Dimbleby can make her quite giddy and girlish. And then there are the personae non gratae, headed by Graham Norton, Jonathan Ross and her latest bête noire, BBC business editor Robert Peston. "Every time he opens his mouth he gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies," she says. "Why can't he speak normally?"

She's not the first to comment on Peston's diction. Markets aren't waiting on Congress with bated breath – they are "waiting on Congress with bated BREATH". His dramatic style was blamed by some for helping create the run on Northern Rock, something Peston himself denied in Monday's Independent.

According to Alastair Campbell, Peston is a graduate of "the school of smart-arse journalism", which, given the source, may actually be a point in Peston's favour. And all credit to the man for making a household name for himself out of the crisis of capitalism. But is Peston the only show in town?

Discerning viewers point to Newsnight's economics editor, Paul Mason, as a rival oracle of the credit crunch. He's just as enlightening about the economy without suggesting that he himself is part of the story. And while some claim to have detected a whiff of satisfaction at capitalism's agony, at least Mason's self-effacing style is unlikely to cause a run on the bank. I think I'll recommend him to my mother.

Gerard Gilbert

Griff Rhys Scissorhands

Watching Griff Rhys Jones's exploration of anger on BBC2 this week, it was hard to concentrate on the tales of road rage and immense irritation. The reason? GRJ's fingernails, a set of talons so long and lustrous that Flo-Jo would be put to shame. Desperate to find out whether fashion, guitar-playing or a lack of nail clippers in the Rhys Jones household were to blame, I called his agent, but his people couldn't shed any light on the manicure mystery. Whatever the explanation, Griff, it's definitely time for a trim – if only since they're distracting viewers from the matter at hand.

Rebecca Armstrong

On the razzle-dazzle

From miniature dogs and bunnies to jewel-encrusted red-carpet frocks, Swarovski is everywhere. The Austrian lead-crystal glass brand has been sponsoring fashion shows and donating its twinkly wares to designers. And every London newsstand copy of November's Harper's Bazaar will be encrusted with 200 crystals. So how can the firm afford this landslide of freebies off the back of snowflake-shaped Christmas tree ornaments? Well, much of the Swarovski Group's wealth lies elsewhere: the crystals are used in tools, road markings and optical instruments. Something to think about, next time you ponder that crystal Bambi figurine (£135) for your six-year-old.

Esther Walker