In recent years, the cruise season has been a springboard for European luxury houses to fan out to increasingly exotic locales, from Rio de Janeiro to Havana, Palm Springs, Dubai and Seoul. In 2018, the pendulum is swinging back closer to home, with four major brands all opting to stage their shows in France.

As Chanel prepares to unveil its cruise collection in Paris on Thursday, to be followed later this month by Christian Dior in Chantilly, Louis Vuitton in Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Gucci in Arles, the fashion flock is gearing up for an extended stay in the home of Champagne, macarons and train strikes. Continue reading →

It’s game over for Lacoste and Felipe Oliveira Baptista. The heritage French sportswear brand on Wednesday said it has parted ways with the designer, who has been creative director of the brand since 2010 an impressive run in today’s revolving-door era.

The next collection, for spring 2019, will be designed by Lacoste’s creative studio. “A new organization of the creative direction of the brand” will be announced in the coming months, Lacoste said.

Best known for its iconic crocodile logo polo shirt, Lacoste, which this year is celebrating its 85th anniversary, recently relocated its show back to Paris from New York after 13 years presenting Stateside. Continue reading →

The Best Sneakers Of All Time as Seen On Kanye West. Say what you want about Kanye West but you can’t deny the incredible influence he’s had on sneaker culture. From his early collaborations with Adidas, to his full-fledged Yeezy line (which now includes boots and apparel, in addition to sneakers), Kanye always sets the tone for what we want to wear especially on our feet. Taste like a feet in did !

While Kanye has said he draws inspiration from art and architecture, he’s also well-versed in the history of fashion and footwear, so we’d like to think he’s done his research on past sneaker trends as well. May be thought to be hired by Mr. Arnauld ! Continue reading →

Although Roberto Cavalli cancelled at the last minute the first day of Saudi Arabia’s inaugural fashion week, the show went on anyway. Eager to take part in the historic moment, big European names like Roberto Cavalli and Jean Paul Gaultier had agreed to headline Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh.

The fees for their presence has not been communicated.Staged at the city’s Ritz Carlton Hotel, and served as a strong, symbolic step towards a more liberal economy and female empowerment. But Riyadh is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s larger plan dubbed Vision 2030 which is meant to diversify the oil-dependent nation’s economy and nurture new industries.

Often referred to as MBS, bin Salman is known as Saudi’s “millennial prince.” The 32-year-old just completed a world tour to conjure new business for the Saudi Arabian economy. His meetings with Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Apple, for example, made headlines worldwide.

Inside, the exclusive crowd of Saudi female VIPs and aristocrats were feeling relaxed, socializing without their abayas or niqabs, snacking on pastries and sipping Arab coffee served by veiled, local women carrying elaborate silver carafes. Continue reading →

This film is a tribute to Alberto Santos-Dumont and it celebrates his intrepid, thrill-seeking spirit and unstoppable quest to go further. A friend of Louis Cartier, this pioneering aviator was devoted to the skies. His life was dominated by his quest to push the boundaries of the possible and make his dream come true. This story of irrepressible ambition is told in 60 seconds that capture the thrill of adventure and his almost mystical pursuit of take-off.

To capture in images this fearless and free-spirited quest to escape the constraints of reality and attain the unknown, Cartier approached Seb Edwards, a British director who trained in New York and is known for his award-winning campaigns. Continue reading →

In what’s shaping up to be a major year for Maison Alaïa in the U.K., the house founded by the late Azzedine Alaïa will open a flagship on Tuesday.

This is the Paris-based Alaïa’s first flagship outside the French capital, where it currently operates two stores and sells at shops including Galeries Lafayette, 10 Corso Como and Harrods.

Located at 139 New Bond Street  near to IWC and Fendi  the 6,000-square-foot London flagship spans three floors. The space was the former home of the vintage jeweler S.J. Phillips. Continue reading →

H&M’s annual November designer collaboration is always big news and it’s and possibly even more of a headline-grabber this year as the company chose a combination of Coachella, Gigi Hadid and Instagram to unveil the name of the designer brand with which it will be working.

Just after midnight. Designer Jeremy Scott, who presided over the star-studded party, his 12th turn at the festival, should have no trouble translating his Moschino designs into less expensive and just as cheerful versions for the Swedish fast-fashion retailer.

Every year, fashion lovers and bargain hunters alike anticipate news of H&M’s latest designer collaboration the way sports fans wait for draft day. It’s hard at this point, after 16 years of the high-low mash-ups the first of which was with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004 to say which collaboration has been the most spot-on. The Moschino effort may just be one of the more popular, judging from the way fans have snapped up Scott’s designs since he took over as creative director in 2013. Continue reading →

Following its failed bid for Hermès, could LVMH, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, be angling to snap up another independent competitor, Chanel?

Not so, said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, at the company’s annual general meeting in Paris on Thursday.

Asked to comment on rumors that a senior LVMH executive had met with members of the Wertheimer family, which controls Chanel, to explore an acquisition, Arnault said: “Chanel is an outstanding business, but we are not in contact with them. I don’t know who told you that, but in my opinion, it’s fake news.

Privately, Chanel is the object of regular speculations, although Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, the reclusive billionaire brothers who own the maker of 2.55 handbags and tweed jackets, have given no public indication that the brand might be for sale.” But Mr. Arnault had already said that for Hermes and Vuitton before, so who knows?

Kim Jones will be in good company in his new role as artistic director of Dior Homme, which has appointed Yoon Ahn, a member of the designer’s inner circle, as the brand’s jewelry designer.

Known as Yoon, Yoon Ahn has carved a rare niche for herself as an entirely self-taught designer. On the day we met, she had just learned that she’d been named an LVMH Prize finalist. “It’s crazy—we just made pants for the first time!” she says, laughing. “For us to be even be nominated is like, what?”

Tokyo-based Ahn and her partner Verbal, a celebrated rapper in Japan and former member of M-flo, the Nineties hip-hop group, are super-connected in the fashion industry. The power couple, which has its own streetwear brand Ambush that figured among the finalists of the 2017 LVMH Prize, has appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Dr. Martens. They’ve also collaborated with brands including Colette, Sacai and A Bathing Ape. Continue reading →

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Tapping into the expertise of smaller independent stores, Galeries Lafayette has named Clara Cornet creative and merchandising director of its future flagship on Avenue des Champs-Elysées, effective since Feb. 1.

Cornet, who has been working in the United States for five years with edgy retailers Opening Ceremony and The Webster, reports to Nadia Dhouib, who will manage the new Paris department store.

“As part of her missions, Clara Cornet will be responsible for the unique and exclusive selection of brands and products, as well as the visual identity and content for this flagship store  which will open in 2019  to establish it as the international benchmark for a ‘new generation’ commerce, by reinventing the physical store’s codes to surprise and inspire its clients at every visit,”. Continue reading →

McCartney said her option to buy back Kering’s 50 percent stake in the brand had been in her contract from Day One. She said she couldn’t turn it down.

“It is an incredible blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that’s not awarded to many fashion designers with their name on the door. I have four children, I have the opportunity to take control of the business that bears my name and that is extraordinarily exciting. To be afforded that chance as a designer, as a woman, as a mother of four, it’s something I had to take on; McCartney said.

In a statement released on Wednesday evening after the Paris and London stock markets closed, François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, said it was the right time for McCartney to move on.

“Kering is a luxury group that empowers creative minds and helps disruptive ideas become reality. I am extremely proud of what Kering and Stella McCartney have accomplished together since 2001,” he said, adding that McCartney and her team had brought far more than business to Kering. Continue reading →

Louis Vuitton, the premium brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy, whose super-agile vertical supply chain for luxury leather goods rivals that of fast-fashion.

Today one of the house’s bags can be produced and delivered to stores in as little as two weeks but the aim is to shorten it to a week, Valérie Dubois, Vuitton’s director of workshops, France, said during a visit of one of the house’s ateliers in Sainte-Florence in the Maine-et-Loire region on Tuesday.

A handful of journalists were also taken to see an empty field in nearby Beaulieu-sur-Layon on which a state-of-the-art workshop geared to facilitating agility and speed is set to open in early 2019. The structure will serve as a template for future sites, with a new workshop located nearer to Paris also in the works for next year. Continue reading →

After having been taught how to do business, they now are learning how to create a brand museum business like LVMH.

In the vein of fashion as museum art, Hermès has conceived a series of touring “Hermès Heritage” exhibitions, the first of which is titled “Harnessing the Roots” and will touch down at the house’s Beverly Hills boutique on March 31. A specially built structure behind the Rodeo Drive flagship will house the multiroom show until April 7.

The exhibitions explore the history and heritage of the house, which was founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, through a series of objects that highlight iconic themes, colors and motifs from the brand’s origins as a harness-maker and saddler up to the present day. Continue reading →