Amazon will be in France the new digital retailers. That is why Galeries Lafayette announced on Thursday its control over the French clothing and home furnishing catalogue, La Redoute.

It is the start of a move of Department stores to face Amazon. Department stores like Galeries Lafayette are the right balance between physical stores and digital offerings.

La Redoute, which historically belonged to Kering, is a household name in France, selling a broad selection of clothing and furniture. Kering exited the business in 2014 as part of a broader strategy to focus on brands with global appeal, selling the company to La Redoute managers. Continue reading →

Unlike its main competitors, LVMH and Kering, which last year both posted record growth, in 2016 Chanel suffered a fall in sales and profits. After years of steady growth, Chanel indeed continues to slow down. As in 2015, last year the French fashion label, led since 1983 by Creative Director Karl Lagerfeld, saw its net income plummet by 34.8%, down to $874 million (€736 million), while its revenue lost 9%, reaching $5.67 billion (€4.77 billion).

According to the group, the downturn is chiefly explained by the sale of its Chanel Limited UK subsidiary, which accounts for approximately 11% of sales, to another Chanel-owned corporation. “On a like-for-like basis and at constant exchange rates, the results were on par with 2015,” wrote the group in its yearly report, noting also how, among other reasons, in the first part of the year Chanel was affected by the terrorist attacks in Europe, which “had a negative impact on tourist flows and consequently sales.” Continue reading →

Last week, Louis Vuitton joined the online market likes of Burberry, Gucci and Michael Kors still dominated by local China giants such as Tmall and JD.com.

“This was expected and somewhat overdue — clearly a good sign that the European megabrands are finally entering the Chinese luxury digital market,” said Luca Solca, head of luxury goods at Exane BNP Paribas.

Rogerio Fujimori, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, agreed it was a logical move, since Chinese consumers are increasingly making luxury purchases at home, taking advantage of narrowing price differentials and Chinese government initiatives to streamline customs procedures for e-commerce.

“There is a structural trend toward repatriation in general, and within China, like in any other market, there is a shift to omnichannel, a shift to mobile,” he said. “You have the Millennial segment that is more digital-influenced, that will grow older and they’ll carry on those habits, so I think they’re adapting.” Continue reading →

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Louis Vuitton is extending its vocational training model to Italy through a partnership between the Institut des Métiers d’Excellence (IME) and the Italian fashion and design school Polimoda, aimed at training leather-goods artisans.

Founded in 2014, the IME program is involved in schooling more than 200 young people in areas including jewelry, dressmaking, winemaking, leather goods, culinary arts, watches, luxury retail and design together with partner institutions in France and Switzerland.

They include BJO Formation in Paris for jewelry, the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne for fashion and the Ferrandi Paris school for gastronomy. Polimoda becomes the first Italian school to join the initiative, beginning with the 2017-2018 school year. Continue reading →

The recent management shake-ups at Richemont Group just took an unexpected turn. The luxury conglomerate, which owns brands the likes of Cartier, IWC and Vacheron Constantin, announced earlier today that its head of watchmaking, marketing and digital, Georges Kern, has resigned, effective immediately.

Kern, who has been with the Swiss luxury group for 17 years, only assumed this latest role less than four months ago.

He has also stepped down from the Senior Executive Committee and the Group Management Committee, and will no longer be standing for election to the Board of Directors of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA at the forthcoming annual general meeting of shareholders. Continue reading →

Olivier Lapidus from latin ‘lapideus’, meaning ‘made of stone, 59 years old, is a french designer quite known in France but almost unknown in the world has been appointed on Monday as the new artistic director of Lanvin.

He is expected to present his first Lanvin collection in September for the spring 2018 women’s ready-to-wear season,.

The company, founded by Jeanne Lanvin in 1889, has been majority owned since 2001 by Taiwan-based media magnate Shaw-Lan Wang. It has seen sales erode for several years which has been leading to financial difficulties.

Besides the minority shareholder Ralph Bartel and investment banker Pierre Mallevays of Savigny Partners, both board members, have submitted letters of resignation to disassociate themselves from Wang’s decisions and governance as Wang did not go through a proper process using professional advice from a talent search firm. Continue reading →

Shaw-Lan Wang, the owner of the brand Lanvin which is in great financial difficulties has just decided to fire the actual artistic director Bouchra Jarrar after having fired the renowned designer Alber Elbaz

Bouchra Jarrar was very weakened by the lack of success of his collections. His departure had been acquired for a while already, “said the Reuter’s source.

The stylist was only appointed 15 months ago at the head of the artistic direction of the women’s fashion label. There will be no collection for the upcoming spring-summer season (scheduled for late September), said the source.

Taken in the turmoil since the departure of its former artistic director Alber Elbaz, Lanvin saw its sales fall by 23% in 2016, to 162 million euros, and recorded a net loss of 18.3 million, after a profit of 6.3 million in 2015. The trend was further aggravated in early 2017, with sales falling 32% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2016,

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Stunning, the power of Wertheimer group who moved the Eiffel Tower under the dome of the Grand Palais. Lord Hamburger had even ordered clouds at the ceiling for this occasion, but he does not yet speak to God like the lord of the Arnaults. However, he has asked a German engineer, Herbert Von Wolke, to do this miracle.

Madame Gabrielle loved towers especially the Fernsehturm. Printed on our invitation, a painting by Delaunay that we had recognized and therefore we suspected that after the rocket we will have the most famous tower of the world.

In fact, the French house killed two birds with one stone: celebrating the emblematic founder of the house, and launching its new perfume named “Mademoiselle”. Then, we attended to the presentation of dresses in the shape of the perfume bottle. The Baroness of Cystitia Rheynale, told me that she had recognized in the first models the style of her friend, the great Chantal de Monteunez that she had not seen for a long time. Continue reading →

Dior took place at Les Invalides, transformed for the occasion into a Garden of Eden located in the middle of Paris, place Vauban where the cohorts of limousines formed a fortress.

The Prince of Luxury surely spoke with God to ensure a sunny weather! The sky became blue with a few clouds from time to time to leave a slightly cool breeze caressing the bodies of women dressed for the occasion as if the air conditioning had been regulated by the nature. Dear Sir, you know that we enjoyed this tour de force, and we are aware that you like to speak to the Gods of Olympus to satisfy your audience.

Upon arriving, I came across the American actor Robert Pattinson, the couturier Alber Elbaz as well as a floor of people of TV reality series, Vicomtesses and Baronesses, who represented the society for the second collection Haute Couture of Maria Grazia Chiuri. Continue reading →

Beauty, feminity, Ralph & Russo’s woman becomes the woman we love to look at, the woman we would like to love. I have always like designers who make the woman looks more feminine and who presents her as an object of desire that we want to possess. Thank to you both for this magic moment. Continue reading →

The French Fashion Federation have simplified its name and changed the logo and the internet website. From now, the federation will be known as La Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. In the past the full name of the French Fashion Federation was : La Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode, especially long and not easy to translate in english. So the decision was made to simplify the name but still not really to translate…. This is the french organisation.

The story of the founding of the Federation’s respective trade associations dates back to 1868, when Paris-based British designer Charles Frederick Worth created the Chambre Syndicale de la Confection et de la Couture pour Dames et Fillettes. In 1911, the trade association became strictly couture-focused, shortening its name to the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. After World War II, it was changed once again to La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Continue reading →

Last Friday, in California, federal judge condemned 30 sellers of counterfeit Chanel-logoed products that had been operating through Amazon.com. the famous luxury house

The court condemned $100,000 each seller-defendant for every knock-off item they sold leaving Chanel to collect somewhere around $3 million as a result of the decision.

Amazon must now disable the defending stores and take down images of any infringing product. Amazon Payments is this week supposed to transfer funds held in the accounts of the sellers to Chanel. Although details of the account holdings are not available, the totals are unlikely to equal the amount of damages.