Attention, overworked New Yorkers, dehydrated models, and globe-trotting CEOs in desperate need of spiritual realignment: your salvation has arrived. And it smells like lavender hand-picked by aromatherapy-certified elves. This summer, Guerlain is gracing us with the grand opening of its largest spa ever inside the legendary (and recently zhuzhed-up) Waldorf Astoria New York. Yes, you read that right: a 30,000-square-foot wellness cathedral dedicated to inner glow, outer glow, and deep post-brunch hydration.

After years of renovations, the Waldorf is finally reopening, more committed than ever to being the final frontier of capitalist self-care. Guerlain, once the spa partner in a former (less opulent) life, is back and bigger than ever with a space so luxurious it’s probably tiled in caviar and draped in PhD-level towels. But don’t call it a spa. It’s a Wellness Spa. Three words that, when said together, roughly translate to: “Please swipe your Black Card now.”

We know L.V as the luxury behemoth, capable of absorbing houses like a trophy collector. But this time, while everyone was waiting for The lord to pull off another coup, it was Prada that stole the show by buying Versace for the modest sum of 1.25 billion euros. A deal conducted with the finesse of a Milanese tailor, while LV, perhaps distracted by a vineyard acquisition or yet another flagship store on the Champs-Elysées, looked elsewhere.

After months of rumours and whispers in the hushed salons of the fashion world, Prada has made official its acquisition of 100% of Versace from Capri Holdings. And the Milanese giant has made no secret of its delight. ‘We are delighted to welcome Versace into the fold of the Prada Group and to write a new chapter for this iconic fashion house’, said Patrizio Bertelli, head of the Prada Group, with the small, satisfied smile of someone who has just pulled off an excellent coup.

The deal will be financed by €1.5 billion in debt, proof that Prada is serious about its ambitions. Andrea Guerra, the group’s CEO, has assured us that Versace has ‘enormous potential’ and that it will take ‘time and discipline’ to drive this evolution. Translation: Donatella has done a good job, and now we’re going to roll out our plan gently.

After raking in $4 billion with Skims (no big surprise), Kim Kardashian decided to relaunch her beauty empire because, of course, world domination wouldn’t be complete without a little contouring and a signature scent.

Industry experts (i.e., those paid to analyze celebrity business) are wondering if, this time around, Kim’s beauty line will have the same staying power as her ever-growing list of businesses. Launching and relaunching brands is practically a hobby for the Kardashian family.

Chanel recruits friends of friends, and Matthieu Blazy is no exception. Freshly arrived as Chanel’s artistic director on April 1 (I thought it was an April fool’s joke?), he is already starting to set up his little kingdom. And as in any good fashion monarchy, you don’t choose your allies at random.

First strategic hire: Andrew Heather. A veteran of the luxury cloth industry, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and worked for Margiela. A golden CV, but above all, a well-stamped membership card in the very closed circle of designers in transformation.

The recipe is simple: take a former McQueen, mix him with Givenchy, sprinkle him with a pinch of Margiela haute couture and throw him into the Chanel arena. The expected result? An entourage worthy of a society dinner, where the petits fours are rarer than the oversized egos.

Against the stigmatisation of the LGBTQIA+ community, Akyol boldly appropriates the insults he suffered as a child, transforming them into veritable banners of pride. ‘The only thing you can do is make banners out of them, so no one can hurt you again,’ said Akyol backstage.

British tennis player Jack Draper has gone from being a friend of Burberry to an official member of its global family. In short, he’s moved from the couch to the living room.

He’s joining the brand’s exclusive club alongside Tang Wei, Zhang Jingyi, and Bright. Suffice it to say, he’ll have to get used to photoshoots where he’ll be asked to stare intently at the horizon while wearing an impeccable trench coat.

“It’s inspiring to see Jack Draper representing Great Britain with such commitment. He’s already one of the most talented athletes of his generation, and we can’t wait to watch his matches in the coming months,” said Daniel Lee, Burberry’s creative director. “We hope he doesn’t sweat on his clothes.”

Draper is ranked number 7 in the world and number 1 in the British ATP rankings, which makes him an excellent advertisement for Burberry: he’s fast, precise, and hopefully waterproof.

FM

In the shadows of the workshops, a secret is often whispered, a whisper of ‘silk’, sometimes a caress of drapery, the house of Alaïa becomes the temple of curves and pure lines, under the expert hand of Mulier. With the glow of the Guggenheim, Pieter Mulier returned to the Big Apple to sculpt the fabric. He delivers a dream sewn of rigour and grace, a symphony of purity, a breath of evidence.

The ‘Tonneau’ bag is a leather goods classic, and an iconic piece that captivates with its elongated, cylindrical shape. Its design is both chic and practical, making it a coveted accessory for fashion lovers and leading luxury brands.

Its origins, and first and foremost its shape, are inspired by barrels, as its name suggests, but also for transporting plumbers’ tools. This tubular silhouette was adopted by leather goods manufacturers in the early twentieth century, in particular to create functional travel bags. One of the most famous models is the LV, launched in the 1930s, which has become a staple of the house, but in reality it is older than that.

Guillaume Larquemain is a designer trained at the École Boule in Paris, a true benchmark in art and design. Continue reading →

The Safilo group brands have decided to make a big (and bold) statement. Thought a logo was already too flashy? Think again. This summer, you’ll need glasses that scream at the world, as if your eyes had just been sponsored: you have to think big or not see at all!.

We’re witnessing a true revolution: glasses are no longer just there to protect you from the sun’s glare, they’re there to dazzle others. With its metallic details and sparkling crystals, Stuart Weitzman’s new collection could well trigger reflections so intense they could serve as street lighting. And I’m not even talking about Ray-Ban Metas with phones and radios, etc.

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A fashion prodigy who must have woken up one day and said to himself: ‘What if I made fashion into a vast playground where nothing makes sense any more, but everyone applauds?’

Born in Northern Ireland, an ideal place to develop a sensitivity to tartan-style curtains, the land of whisky where couture is a clan. He studied at the London College of Fashion before launching JW Anderson in 2008. His idea was to merge the masculine and the feminine, to reinvent gender codes and, let’s be honest, to wreak havoc on wardrobes, which is now forbidden in the United States. He was soon spotted for his keen sense of ‘Why make things simple when you can make them complicated?’ and his love of clothes that defy gravity and common sense, as well as his love for Hecate, the mythological goddess in love with the Moon and magic.

Loewe, the Spanish leather goods brand that decided in 2013 that it was time to abandon its image as a chic old house and invite Anderson to mess things up with his experimental aesthetic. The result? Bags that look like jigsaw puzzles, jumpers that look like they’ve been knitted on acid, and adverts in which you wonder if the designer and photographer hadn’t had a night out with Elon Musk before the shoot. And yet… the fashion world is begging for more, and we don’t know why.

Never has the LVMH Prize shone a light on undeniable talents designers capable of bringing a singular vision to the fashion industry. Today, it seems that this award has become nothing more than a marketing springboard for self-proclaimed creators, where craftsmanship takes a backseat and concept prevails over couture. The selection of the Berlin-based duo Ottolinger is a case in point a brand determined to prove that banality can be labeled as “avant-garde,” as long as it is wrapped in a pretentious rhetoric not of Ariadne’s thread, but of Buzz.

During the last Fashion Week, Ottolinger presented a collection so lackluster that it went unnoticed. A biker jacket in felted wool bonded with scuba fabric a concept that aims to be hybrid but never moves beyond workshop experimentation. Mesh-printed deconstructed dresses soulless variations of a trend exhausted to the core. Overdyed jeans with flipped pockets revealing the original denim a cutout game as revolutionary as a poorly stitched hem. None of this makes a couturier.

The real tragedy is that behind these lukewarm experiments lie the true artisans of fashion: the skilled seamstresses who will never leave the great houses, those who, in the shadows, uphold a craftsmanship that designers like Ottolinger reduce to a mere communication tool. Craftsmanship, tailoring, the precision of a perfect drape these are no longer priorities, replaced by hazy concepts that mask a technical void.

After transforming Balenciaga into a temple of chic streetwear (or chic in jogging pants, depending on the style), Demna is packing her bags to take over as artistic director of Gucci. Her mission? To revive the Italian fashion house with ever bolder ideas. In other words, to make new things out of old, but at a higher price.

‘Demna will bring something exceptional to Gucci,’ said Gucci CEO Stefano Cantino, looking serious and inspired in front of an army of journalists.  Translation: let’s hope he can sell sneakers with holes in them and bags that look like bin liners, but with Gucci branding.

The announcement came as a bombshell in the luxury microcosm, but had already been announced on Canal-luxe.com two months ago, and the musical chairs are endless. Matthieu Blazy at Chanel? Jonathan Anderson at Dior? Donatella Versace on holiday at last?

But back to Gucci. The brand is desperate to recapture its former glory, since the exuberant era of Alessandro Michele came to an end in 2022, leaving behind a baroque wardrobe and a rollercoaster turnover.

Miu Miu, a little-awaited moment to imagine the version of the woman in disguise for the long-gone ‘Uta de Ballenstedt’. However, will Miuccia serve us? The front row was filled with a cheerful kermesse, from a cowgirl in a swimming costume to an army of schoolgirls in pleated skirts ready for their first Manga playground.

But this season, the retro woman is back, with her hair ‘brushed’ like a Manniatis salon, granny pins and underwired bras sculpting the silhouette as if the 1950s were the new Madmen cool. The return of the good old conical bra, an icon of exaggerated femininity, revived in the 80s by Madonna and ‘Jean Paul Gaulé’, already copied from Elsa Schiaparelli, and today by Millennials fascinated by everything that preceded their birth. Nothing’s the same as it used to be! Nor afterwards.

Since arriving at the helm of Saint-Laurent in 2016, Anthony Vaccarello has breathed new energy into the house, juggling Yves Saint Laurent’s legacy while propelling it into a sharpened modernity. The Belgian designer has imposed his vision: a sculptural, sensual and striking style, where every line and every cut seems to have been cut with a scalpel.