“Hyères” “means in French yesterday” During Sunday night’s prizegiving for the 33rd Festival International De Mode, De Photographie Et D’Accessoires De Mode a Hyères, Lisi Herrebrugh are a Dutch duo, neither of them fluent in the local speak and therefore momentarily ignorant their names had just been called. So their models beat them to the podium, their chaotic exuberance amplifying the winning collection of menswear infused with the couple’s Caribbean roots. 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
As consumer demand for artisan craftsmanship continues to flourish, brands and retailers are integrating one-of-a-kind, hand-made objects and accessories into their product offerings.
To work in the fashion industry, one must understand the processes behind it. There are two levels of perception. The first level is tangible it implies the aspects of the product that you can consciously touch, smell and perceive, such as quality, comfort and elegance that are the very lifeblood of artisanship.
People started buying Louboutin shoes because, unlike others, they were extremely comfortable, original in design and crafted by hand. This level is based on logic but when it comes to customer choice, fashion has almost nothing to do with rationality. This brings us to the second level that is intangible and rooted in our subconscious. 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?
Cult NYC streetwear brand Supreme’s latest collaboration was announced last Tuesday with iconic German luggage manufacturer Rimowa. They have developed a four-piece suitcase collection.
Since Alexandre Arnault took over Rimowa (after LVMH acquired an 80% stake in the premium luggage company), the young CEO has been rolling out a new, more millennial-focused image for the brand, employing strategies such as pop-up retail experiences and savvy collaborations to give Rimowa further appeal in the fashion and lifestyle spaces.
Indeed, the Supreme collaboration doesn’t look to be the last streetwear partnership for Rimowa this year: Arnault teased an upcoming collaboration with Off-White with an Instagram post in September 2017, before returning to the subject with another photo posted when Virgil Abloh was named at the head of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, this time suggesting that the collaboration was slated for launch in Summer 2018. Continue reading
Does Kering need some money to pay Hedi Slimane’s allemony after the divorce?
In 2011, Kering acquired Volcom, an action sports brand. One of the less visible brands at Kering has begun taking steps to sell action sports brand Volcom to focus fully on the group’s luxury labels.
“In accordance with Kering’s strategy to fully dedicate itself to the development of its luxury houses, the group is also ready to spin off German sportswear brand Puma.
As reported, Kering and Stella McCartney on March 28 said have agreed to end their 17-year partnership and that the designer would purchase Kering’s 50 percent stake in her namesake brand. Continue reading
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
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
Leonard Fall-Winter 2018-19 Paris Fashion Week. The Rite of Winter. As winter came, so did an unstoppable desire to flee the city and the drudgery of everyday life to rediscover nature. Destination: Iceland.
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
Since the Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International, took over Lanvin, the French fashion house, they started by parting away with its creative director Olivier Lapidus and general manager Nicolas Druz. In the meantime, the women’s collections will be designed by an in-house team in the interim.
Joann Cheng, president of Fosun Fashion Group and chairman of the board of directors of Lanvin, has been appointed chief executive officer of the house for an interim period, effective immediately. Druz, who had led the brand since 2017, will take up the new position of managing director of Fosun Fashion Group, where he will support the group’s business expansion in Europe.
“Olivier steered the maison through a transitional period between ownerships,” said Cheng. “We thank him for that, and wish him every success for his own brand and future endeavors.” Continue reading
Kim Jones will present his first collection for Dior Homme in June as its new artistic director of ready-to-wear and accessory collections. The previously men’s artistic director at Louis Vuitton is succeeding Kris Van Assche and will start on April 1. We hope it is not an April fool.
The arrival of Jones represents the first big move by Pietro Beccari, who became chairman and chief executive officer at Christian Dior Couture six weeks ago after stints at Fendi and Vuitton. With his streetwear credibility, 345,000 Instagram followers and loads of famous friends, Jones will be sure to shake up Dior Homme.
“I am delighted to welcome Kim Jones, with whom I had the chance to collaborate previously at Louis Vuitton,” Beccari told . Continue reading
French luxury group Kering has refuted a report of alleged tax evasion published by Mediapart, a French investigative and opinion newspaper, citing confidential documents.
It would seem that the Kering’s brand Gucci has been investigated by the Italian tax authorities that has revealed that Kering had saved 2.5 billion euros in taxes. It should have paid in Italy and France by attributing wholesale revenues from brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent to its LGI logistics center in Cadempino, Switzerland, thereby benefiting from a lower local tax rate. Kering said the Swiss company was established in the Nineties, prior to the group’s acquisition of Gucci Group, and now employs more than 600 people.
LGI is a strategic hub namely for the centralized distribution and logistics of Kering brands it said in a statement. Continue reading
Balmain Fall-Winter 2018-19 collection presented in Paris is a futuristic vision of feature from 90s. Models in sci-fi uniforms in neon-spectrum plissé and holographic paillettes look like girls from Andy Warhol Vinyl Factory or planet of Glamoria. Sparkly and shiny steampunk collection of Balmain has a moto : “We are the new generation”, as read on a T-shirt. There are also some disco inspired pieces, and pieces related to pollution of planet and plastic bags. Continue reading
The Italian accessories brand Piquadro has entered into negotiation to buy the French label “Lancel” which is part of the Swiss luxury Richemont group, parent company of Cartier, Dunhill and Van Cleef & Arpels. Piquadro is an Italian leather goods company specialized in travel and business goods. The company offers products ranging from professional bags for men and women to luggage and small leather goods. In April 2010, it distributed its products in around 1,500 retail outlets. Piquadro holds a large number of patents in recognition of its technical innovations.
Piquadro listed on the Milan Stock Exchange has confirmed talks and that an agreement could be reached by the middle of the year. The sale of Lancel would follow the sale of Shanghai Tang by Richemont last year to an Italian investor. Richemont is currently planning to buy 100% of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group shares as part of an agreement expected later this year. Continue reading
