Category Archives: BREAKING MODE
NO MATTER WHO WINS FOR EU
No matter who wins Tuesday’s presidential election, the future will most likely remain challenging for British and European firms looking to do business with the U.S., according to Allyson Stewart-Allen, who argues that domestic issues will dominate the agenda in a Joe Biden, or a second Donald Trump, term.
Since Trump took office, the U.S. has been seen as a much more nationalistic and isolationist place: The messages around ‘America first’ and ‘Make America great again’ are about prioritizing the U.S. before any other place or country.
You see it a less attractive place possibly to want to hire people, set up offices, and create jobs if you are a non-U.S. company. All of that isolationism is bad for the American economy and bad for the world. Continue reading
JOHNNY ZHOU
Vice President of the Grace Chen fashion house, having worked in Sydney for the Schenker company, a division of the German rail operator, Deutsche Bahn
Johnny Zhou was previously in logistics for Bax Global. This young Chinese executive graduated from the Australian Graduate School of Management and soon this art lover turned to fashion as a natural choice. Behind a successful brand, there are always men in the shadows.
Athletic, he could be an actor in a Wong Kar-wai movie, and with his costume from one of the best French designers, he would not denote if he came to Paris for Fashion Week. A fan of sleepless nights of work, this globetrotter embodies the fury of extreme oriental living. With the look of an aristocrat, he is in couture as he could be a hero of Marguerite Duras. Continue reading
MIU MIU ICONS CAMPAIGN 2021
Miu Miu Launches Icons Campaign Revealing Pre-spring 2021 Collection. The Italian fashion house on Oct. 29 will launch the holiday 2020 ad campaign called Miu Miu Icons, fronted by seven diverse artists, embodying women’s polyhedric personalities and talents.
The campaign will also reveal the brand’s pre-spring 2021 collection, aligning it with its delivery in Miu Miu boutiques, specialty stores and on Miumiu.com in early November.
CHINA VIEW
Betty Bachz, cofounder of British eyewear brand Møy Atelier, said she has been seeing a lot of oversized sci-fi-inspired eyewear designs in China, priced at the accessible $200 mark. The brave new world may already be upon us, the future is now.
The futuristic-looking design comes with a one-piece lens design and a fluid oversized titanium frame that stretches across the forehead with triangle patterns Hadid commonly used in her works in China. If you are wearing this piece in a strong wind, you would see you are not only in style, but it functions like a windshield. This piece and three additional commercial styles will be available beginning in February in selected stores. Continue reading
TIFFANY THE BIG UGLY DEAL
The European Commission gave the now-disputed deal the thumbs-up on Monday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Tiffany.
“All regulatory approvals required for the completion of the merger have now been obtained,” Tiffany said.
But the most important approval of all the go-ahead from LVMH chief Bernard Arnault has been withdrawn and the two sides are embroiled in a nasty court fight that’s set to go to trial in Delaware on Jan. 5.
LVMH started to back away from the deal over the summer and in September publicly said it was walking away, citing a letter from the French government.
Immediately, the case went to the courts with Tiffany accusing, among other things, that LVMH was dragging its feet over approvals. Continue reading
AMAZING GRACE
To me she seemed apparelled in celestial light. She represents glory and freshness of a dream where the sunshine is a glorious birth, when the birds sing a joyful song, who gives beauty and cheerful.
Every fashion designer are on holidays except Grace who presented her collection at the Shanghai Fashion Week. What a pretty first name for a Fashion designer ! In the soothing thoughts that spring out of human suffering,
Since the beginning of the Shanghai Fashion Week, we had been collecting hundreds of chimeras and dresses. But, for the first time, we saw beauty in all its luminescence. Regarded as one of China’s most influential fashion innovators, Grace Chen has been hailed as “the Power Dresser of China” by South China Morning Post and “China’s Most Sought-After Couturier” by The Hollywood Reporter.
CAVALLI FAUSTO COPY
Roberto Cavalli Has Found Its New Creative Director, Fausto Puglisi . Roberto Cavalli has zeroed in on its new creative director, according to sources here, who believe Sicilian designer Fausto Puglisi has been selected for the job.
This isn’t the first time Puglisi’s name is associated with the brand, as he was rumored to join the company back in 2017, but Paul Surridge ended up nabbing the role, succeeding Peter Dundas.
Surridge exited last year, and the collections have been designed by an in-house team since then. Things have changed this time around as Cavalli has a new owner, Hussain Sajwani, who is looking to relaunch the brand with the help of Puglisi, sources say. Continue reading
MUGLER 2021 HAUTE COUTURE
In addition to Hadid, who was 3-D-scanned in New York, the diverse cast features historic Mugler muse Debra Shaw, plus-size model Ariish Wol, and a cameo from British rapper Shygirl, who has lent a song from her upcoming album for the soundtrack. Continue reading
THE EXCEPTIONAL SALE OF PRADA AT SOTHEBY’S
The luxury brand Prada had chosen to auction 40 looks from its autumn-winter 2020 collection as well as the decor of the fashion show in which it was presented last February. Entitled “Tools of Memory”, the operation enabled a donation to be made to UNESCO and the Global Coalition for Education, an educational response to covid-19 .
A Prada sale at 439,362 euros this Wednesday, around 4 p.m., the press release sent by the Prada press department had a taste of success. All the pieces were sold for a total amount of 439,362 euros. The sale brought together 72 items, participants from 27 different countries and a large majority of new bidders: 68 percent of them were first-time participants at Sotheby’s and 30 percent were 40 years old or younger. Continue reading
ALTUZARRA PARIS 2021
FIRST AWARD AT 42 YEARS OLD
The designer From the flat country, I mean from Belgium for uneducated people, Tom Van Der Borght won the Première Vision Grand Prize at the 35th edition of the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography, which wrapped on Sunday, winning over a jury headed by designer Jonathan Anderson, founder of JW Anderson and creative director of Loewe.
In a break with its recent tradition of rewarding graduates fresh out of school, finealy. The Hyères jury selected a designer who is already established almost a retired fashion designer, It’s always better than Didier Grumler’s choices for his nights in Toulon. Van Der Borght started his fashion education at the age of 30 and established his label in 2013 after graduating from the Stedelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Sint-Niklaas, a fashion school located between Antwerp and his home base of Ghent. Continue reading
ARNAUD SUPPORT LAGARDÈRE
Bernard Arnault has again upped his stake in Lagardère SCA, as a French commercial court is expected to wade into a battle between French industry titans for control of the embattled publishing and retail company.
Acting in concert, Groupe Arnault and Financière Agache, the holding company controlled by Groupe Arnault, together with a group of companies controlled by Arnaud Lagardère, chief executive officer of Lagardère, now jointly hold 15.01 percent of the capital of Lagardère SCA and 16.93 percent of voting rights.
The move, revealed by stock market regulator AMF in a filing on Tuesday, comes as a Paris court is set to rule on Wednesday on a request from Vivendi, a media group controlled by French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, and activist investor Amber Capital for an exceptional shareholder meeting, part of their bid to gain board representation. Continue reading
PERFUMES AND THE WINNER IS
A variety of independent brands joined the likes of L’Oréal, the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. and Coty Inc., taking home several awards. Diptyque, for example, won both of the home fragrance categories, and Gucci took home three awards for three different scents. Kim Kardashian West even joined the webinar to accept her award for fragrance of the year: Popular.
Among the presenters were designer Jason Wu, Rob Smith, Cher, Lionel Richie and Wes Gordon of Carolina Herrera, each of whom introduced several categories.
Fragrance of the Year, Women’s Luxury: YSL Libre Eau de Parfum, L’Oréal, IFF, Anne Flipo, Carlos Benaïm. Continue reading
PUMA’S HELPS KERING
Kering is selling 8.8 million shares, representing 5.9 percent of Puma’s capital. Kering said on Monday it was selling about 8.8 million shares that it owns in Puma, representing 5.9 percent of the German sporting good-maker’s share capital, through a placement to qualified investors.
Since 2018, the group gradually reduced its stake in Puma after spinning off 70 percent of the company to its shareholders as part of a plan to refocus on its luxury division. That move left the Pinault family’s private investment arm Artémis with a 29 percent stake, and Kering with around 16 percent.
“The proceeds of this transaction will be used for the general corporate purposes of Kering and will further strengthen its financial structure,” the French luxury group said in a statement.
Kering’s share price has recovered to its levels at the start of 2020, after plummeting by as much as 39 percent in March as the coronavirus pandemic shut stores and brought factories to a halt. Continue reading
ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER PARIS
HERMÈS GOLDEN CAGE
Yesterday, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski presented a sensory collection, which spoke of a rediscovered sensuality, of fragility as strength. Purism in the lines, which this season marries the body like a second skin, with indented bodysuits that reveal the hips and the curves of the back. Continue reading
RICK OWENS SPRING 2021
That Owens showed in front of the Lido Casino with no audience and not in Paris was a function of the coronavirus pandemic. Venice is two hours away from Owens’ Italian factory, where he’s been holed up. And incidentally, the word quarantine originates from the Venetian language and the region’s response to the bubonic plague in medieval times.
For all of these reasons, his spring collection felt like the defiant fashion act we’ve all been waiting for, what Owens dubbed “an exaggerated middle finger to doom” expressed with major shoulders, thigh-high boots, “lurid” colors, crisp tunics, flowing robes and sculptural capes.
The display was exhilarating, and the free-flowing clothes newsy for Owens, especially the simple yet architectural tunics and the chiffon shrouds in bubblegum pink with trailing ribbons. As he did for his terrific men’s collection for spring, Owens revisited some old, but still good ideas: fishnet tank dresses and hoodies that wink back to the masks used for his fall 2012 show. Continue reading
BALMAIN FLUOROSCOPIE 2021
VUITTON SHOW ON ROOF TOP SAMARITAINE
It only took 15 years for Nicolas Ghesquière’s next runway venue to finally be ready: Louis Vuitton will cap off Paris Fashion Week on Oct. 6 with a fashion show at La Samaritaine.
Ghesquière will parade his spring 2021 women’s collection on the top floor of the not-yet-completed complex under a glass dome known as La Rotonde; while those tuning in to the livestream will have a completely different experience thanks to green-screen technology and other digital razzmatazz.
Nicolas’ goal is to create a connection with the guests, according to Vuitton. It is a fashion show that has been designed for digital, but based on a live experience. Continue reading
CHANEL A PARIS
A new exhibition in Paris aims to redress the balance, providing the most extensive overview so far of the creations of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who revolutionized fashion with her sleek, fluid designs that helped to liberate women from their corsets.
Tweed suits, the little black dress, two-tone shoes and quilted handbags: Chanel’s signature codes are as synonymous with French luxury today as they were a century ago, at the risk of obscuring the woman who launched the brand.
“Gabrielle Chanel. A Fashion Manifesto,” which opens on Oct. 1, coincides with the reopening of the Palais Galliera fashion museum and the inauguration of its new basement space for permanent exhibitions, sponsored by Chanel. Surprisingly, it’s the first major Chanel exhibition to be staged in the French capital. Continue reading
MAX MARA MILAN 2021
DOLCE GABBANA MILANO 2021
PARIS FASHION WEEK 2021
Paris Fashion week is firming up with plans for 19 physical fashion shows including Franck Sorbier, Dior, Hermès, Chanel and Louis Vuitton and a number of presentations, even as fears mount in Europe over spiraling cases of the coronavirus and fresh cross-border measures cast uncertainty on travel plans. Continue reading