High-end e-tailers slug it out, and it's rich pickings

New York

AT first glance, Lauren Santo Domingo may not strike you as an empire builder. A former Vogue editor and glossy blond socialite, she is married to the heir of a Colombian beer fortune and has a slew of "It girl" friends. She could appear easy to dismiss.

But this week, Moda Operandi, the online high-fashion website she and Aslaug Magnusdottir founded in 2011 as the first "pre-tailer" (a place where customers can pre-order looks immediately after runway shows), announced that it had raised US$165 million in its latest round of funding.