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ST LAURENT REACHED TARGET
Behind the Gucci-centric headlines that greet every quarter of impressive growth at Kering, there is another brand that is fueling the French luxury group Saint Laurent because of a reboot of its women’s wear offer under chief executive officer Francesca Bellettini and creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
Since she took over in 2013, the Italian executive has overseen a tripling of the house’s sales, though she’s not one to sit on her laurels. Rather, she continually drives her teams toward the next challenge, as she propels the label founded by Yves Saint Laurent toward its long-term revenue target of 3 billion euros.
Having posted sales of 1.5 billion euros in 2017, the house — the second largest brand in the Kering stable after Gucci has kept up a steady clip, though its pace is normalizing after several years of exceptional growth. Continue reading
LVMH ACQUIRE JEAN PATOU
LVMH has acquired a new perfume brand “Jean Patou”. The giant French conglomerate secretly took management control of Patou last year from Designer Parfums, a UK group based in Watford north of London, which is owned by Mehta business family.
After a couple of months the board of Jean Patou appointed Sidney Toledano to be its new chairman, replacing Nikita Mehta, the 28-year-old daughter of Dilesh Mehta, the CEO and founder of Designer Parfums.
At the time, LVMH board member, Toledano was CEO of Christian Dior. In January, he became the President of LVMH Fashion Group, which controls a series of significant fashion houses including Céline, Fendi, Givenchy, Pucci, Kenzo and Loewe. Continue reading
HUNGRY INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
Interdisciplinary artist Hungry gives their audience a glimpse of an alternate reality, in which a human body was forced to adapt to new surroundings. With a variance of media in their work, including; make up, photography, modelling, tailoring and stage performance, Hungry established a new and specific aesthetic, which can also be seen in the body of Björk‘s recently released album Utopia. Mostly on international stages, Hungry uses Berlin as a base to create and perfect this unique craft, something which has been self-titled as ‘distorted drag.’ Continue reading
TRUMP IS OVER
Brand Trump took another hit Tuesday with the shuttering of the Ivanka Trump business, underscoring that fashion and politics don’t mix and that brands linked strongly to personalities are fraught with risk. Eleven years after fine jewelry carrying the Ivanka Trump label hit the market, the New York-based brand said it was closing amid rapidly dwindling retail and consumer support.
Even though Trump officially stepped away from her company in January 2017, many continued to associate her with the brand she founded. Political rancor toward her family, a dwindling base of retail accounts, a widely vocal consumer boycott and a highly competitive apparel market all contributed to the brand’s demise. Continue reading
LVMH DARES UGLY FOR 41 % PROFIT
The parent of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Guerlain and Bulgari said revenues totaled 10.89 billion euros in the three months to June 30, above the market consensus of 10.86 billion euros.
Net profit in the first half jumped 41 percent to 3 billion euros, while recurring operating profit rose 28 percent to 4.65 billion euros. Group sales in the first six months of the year were up 10 percent in reported terms and 12 percent on an organic basis, with all geographic areas posting double-digit growth.
“The excellent results of the first half of the year attest to the strong desirability of our brands and the effectiveness of our strategy. The performance of the first half is even more remarkable given the unfavorable currency environment,” Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, said in a statement. Continue reading
PUMP UP DIOR IN LONDON
Dior is celebrating creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s fall women’s ready-to-wear collection with a pop-up store at Harrods, set to run from Aug. 4 to 31, that will include a window display dedicated to its Dior Oblique logo canvas.
For the first time, Dior will offer customers the opportunity to personalize its embroidered Dior Book Tote with the word, first name or initials of their choice.
The motif has been rendered in green a nod to the London department store’s signature color for an exclusive and limited-edition range of Saddle, Miss Dior and CD Hobo bags. It will also appear on accessories that will make their debut at the store, including Diorquake pouches, clogs and several styles of Mitzah silk scarves. Continue reading