Category Archives: BREAKING MODE

PACO THE FOURTH OF JULY

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With its fashion and fragrance businesses synced up, Paco Rabanne is ready for its close-up and global expansion. The Mariano Puig PlanasPuig-owned fashion and fragrance house is launching makeup, kicking off a D2C intensification with a flagship store in New York City and gradually bringing its new visual identity to several product lines and retail spaces.

This is crystallized in the brand’s new logo, with typeface inspired by the brand’s 1968 hit perfume Calandre. Dossena’s contribution has bolstered Rabanne’s fashion credibility, reworked and clarified the brand’s key aesthetic codes, and recently made significant inroads with celebrities by adding eveningwear.

Beyoncé, for instance, wore a gleaming, waist-cinching Rabanne gown created from round, mirror-effect plates when she appeared at the Stade de France last month. Continue reading →

JACQUEMUS LES FOURBERIES D’ESCARPIN

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These are the aristocratic women of our time, the Marie-Trottinettes of Versailles, who come to contemplate the couturier of couturiers, the man who can neither sew nor draw, and who is imbued with the noble desire to instruct us.

On Monday, guests at the Jacquemus fashion show at the Château de Versailles shielded themselves from the sun with ivory-colored parasols. The 75 boats lined up along the red runway that skirted one bank were accompanied by baroque music.

The goal of this ambitious fashion show was to position the Jacquemus brand in a more important league, as well as to aim for sales of 500 million euros by 2025. But that’s not going to happen with the dresses presented.

As a nod to Marie-Antoinette and Versailles’ court fashion, the collection is remembered for its frothy skirts and ugliest pantyhose. We’ve certainly not read the same history books.

After a scorching weekend in Paris, we were glad that temperatures had dropped sufficiently for a presentation as hot as the street in Amsterdam’s red light district like the carpet in Versailles.

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VAN NOTEN BY COLOR

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Van Noten’s absence of prints robbed the show of its usual visual strength, but it did highlight two things: his distinctive tailoring and his mastery of color. Van Noten favored fluid, lightweight and sometimes gossamer fabrics, putting his strong-shouldered jackets in shirt-quality fabrics that could be tucked into high-waisted pants. Continue reading →

NIGO TAKADA

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Finally, Nigo chose a symbolic bridge for his track: the Passerelle Debilly, first known as the “Passerelle de l’Exposition Militaire”, then as the “Passerelle Magdebourg” and the “Passerelle Billy”, named after Jean-Louis Debilly, a general in the First Empire, and soon to be known as the Passerelle Pharrell. One of the bridges over the Seine linking the Palais de Tokyo to the Eiffel Tower. What if Kenzo wasn’t Pharrell Williams? He’s a fixture on every LVMH catwalk. Perhaps a Japanese fashion brand Kenzo Takada “A bridge between Afro and French cultures?

THE FUTUR OF LANVIN FUTURE

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Lanvin’s next collection will feature rapper Future. After shocking the fashion world last April by announcing the departure of Bruno Sialelli, Lanvin is about to enter a new era: the French fashion house is launching a new entity called “Lanvin Lab” in addition to its collections for men and women, which will continue to be presented at Paris Fashion Week.

International talents are invited to collaborate on projects. We now know who the first guest will be: the American rapper Future, who has already appeared in Hugo Boss advertising campaigns and on the front row of runway shows.

The fashion house explains its decision by its desire to celebrate “an innovative, individualistic vision that bridges music and fashion”. The collection is also a fitting tribute to its designer, Jeanne Lanvin, whose daughter, Marguerite, was an accomplished musician.

Following in the footsteps of Pharrell Williams, another multi-disciplinary artist originally from the music scene, who this week presented his first collection for Louis Vuitton, Future and Lanvin are expected to present their first collaborative drop in the coming months, comprised of clothing and accessories for women and men.

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CITIZEN KANE FALL

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Christopher Kane Shutters Namesake Company. One of London’s most renowned and talented designers is closing his label, and hoisting a For Sale sign. The company said the board of Christopher Kane Ltd. has recently resolved to file a notice of intention to appoint FTS Recovery as administrators to wind down operations. Continue reading →

JAQUEMUS LIKE PUTIN IN VERSAILLES

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Jacquemus, the French brand known for its cinematic runway shows in spectacular locations such as a lavender field and a salt mine, will visit the Château de Versailles for its next fashion show on June 26, as part of a brand elevation strategy that includes plans for an international retail rollout.

Designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, known for his Mediterranean aesthetic and deft use of social media, follows in the footsteps of major brands such as NafNAF and Zara. What could be better than a king’s castle for the king of tartuffery?

To be able to do a fashion show at Versailles has always been a childhood dream,” declared the couturier, who can neither draw nor sew a dress.

But Jacquemus CEO Bastien “Dag-Usant” has his work cut out for him! The initiative is part of a long-term strategy to elevate the brand somewhere.

Chiquito handbags, the brand’s best-sellers, start at 490 euros, the company’s cash cow. At 5.2 cm long and 8.7 cm high (with handle), it can only hold the letter “J” in the Jacquemus logo. It’s worn hanging from a ridiculous finger.

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FASHION THE PRICE WE PAY

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According to three people with direct knowledge of the matter, EU antitrust regulators are investigating how Kering’s (PRTP.PA) Gucci and other fashion firms set prices of handbags and leather goods for distributors.

Reuters reported previously that the European Union raided Gucci’s Milan site, which makes such products, at dawn in response to a Reuters report. Kering confirmed at the time that Gucci had cooperated with EU regulators.

An EU competition watchdog is investigating whether the companies are imposing consumer prices on multi-brand retailers selling their products and threatening not to sell to them if they don’t.

EU antitrust laws prohibit such practices, and breaches can result in fines of up to 10% of a company’s global revenue.

Guess, a U.S. clothing company, was fined 40 million euros ($43 million) for preventing retailers from setting the retail price of its products independently.

RADIANCE IS A SERIOUS MATTER

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When Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, unveiled the new Bulgari Hotel on Thursday, he expressed his enthusiasm for the world’s 9th luxury hotel BULGARI, which has special significance because of its location in Rome, where Bulgari is based, marking as well as its historical significance.

With six floors and over 151,000 square feet of space, plus an additional terrace offering breathtaking views of Rome from the Vatican to the Villa Medici, there was no shortage of superlatives. The Pope himself is said to have blessed the luxury lord’s new flagship from his bed.

Zendaya and Priyanka Chopra attended the opening party, as did Serge Brunschwig, CEO of Fendi, and Toni Belloni, Managing Director of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. All the inteligentia of the LVMH group for an inauguration worthy of French luxury.

HEARST QUITS CHLOÉ’S HEART

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Gabriela Hearst is to leave the house of Chloé after three eventful, and above all acerbic years with the influential newspaper magazine Canal Luxe.

Hearst planned a collaboration between Chloé and actress Angelina Jolie, who recently announced her intention to launch a new fashion house. Naturally, Angelina Jolie, who knows nothing about couture, is taking on a designer who knows nothing about it either. Great evil spirits always meet, too.

The Uruguayan-born designer of the low-impact Nama sneaker, it is normal as she sew like a foot. She thought she’d invented upcycling: what a lack of modesty! The Lord of the Luxury group finally realized that it deserves better than a pseudo designer. Perhaps the next one will come from the chat GPT. It is far better than a “Cat on a hot tin roof”.

A VISIONARY IN EYEWEAR

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Safilo’s industrial plant in Longarone, Italy may have found its white knights. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Marcolin are in advanced discussions with Safilo to take over the plant and its employees whose future, as reported, is uncertain.

The eyewear manufacturer, licensee for brands including Boss, Dsquared2, Missoni and Tommy Hilfiger, among others, said that it had “given the management a mandate to explore alternative solutions for the Longarone plant.”

A total of 468 employees are based at the storied Longarone site, in Italy’s Veneto region, one of the country’s key eyewear manufacturing hubs.

Antonio Belloni sharing the luxury conglomerate’s willingness to hire 250 people currently employed at the Longarone plant through its Thélios eyewear manufacturing company. Continue reading →

LUXURY GOODS SECTOR FALLS

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Paris Stock Exchange and its luxury goods sector reacted badly to Chinese data on Wednesday May 31. The leading CAC 40 index was down 0.54%, or 39.05 points, at 7,170.27 points at around 10am.

Chinese data weigh on luxury sector. Paris Stock Exchange retreated on Wednesday, May 31, showing little satisfaction with the latest Chinese economic statistics, which once again point to a less vigorous economic recovery than expected, weighing on luxury goods stocks.

The leading CAC 40 index was down 0.54%, or 39.05 points, at 7,170.27 points around 10 a.m., again at its lowest level since the end of March. On Tuesday, it had fallen sharply by 1.29%.

DIOR RETURN IN 1949

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Saturday night, during the rise of the steps of the actress Natalie Portman in a dress from the archives of the house Dior. Between reinterpretation and iconic creation, we reveal the underside of this mythical dress.

And for good reason! This unique piece is a reinterpretation of a Dior model from the fall-winter 1949 Haute Couture collection.

This strapless dress, reworked for the occasion by the workshops of the house of Dior, is composed of tulle fully embroidered with sequins shaded.  Here is all the creativity of the Italian, take a vacation in Mexico and make a dress from the archives.
FM

MYSTERY HAS ALWAYS SURROUNDED CONSUMERS

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There has always been a mystery surrounding consumers.In the $20 trillion U.S. economy, personal consumption expenditures account for 70.8 percent.Due to inflation rates, bank failures, and other factors, consumers are skittish right now.Retail’s leaders are left guessing where shoppers are and where they’re going.

Now is a great time to be a merchant. Consumers are spending more on food and consumables, which saw sales increase in the low double digits, while general merchandise sales declined in the mid-single digits.

Consumer shifts show just how fast retail is changing right now as consumers are changing dramatically.The good news here is that new shoppers seem to be sticking at least for the time being but the less good news is that their activity is mostly confined to staples and necessities.

There is a widespread sense that a tougher consumer environment is on the way. Even Johann Rupert, chairman of Cartier-parent Compagnie Financière Richemont, is looking for a volatile year ahead in the U.S. and described the Fed’s sudden move to higher interest rates as “reckless.”

“The United States will not be as buoyant as a year ago,” Rupert said last week. “Will it return?Consumers are spending more, but they may not be getting more, since inflation is at generational highs and eroding purchasing power.With luxury continuing to thrive while economic concerns push more shoppers to the value channel, the space in between has only gotten trickier, with brands really having to stand out. Continue reading →