Category Archives: PARIS FASHION WEEK 2018
KIM JONES REPLACES VAN ASSCHE
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
OFF SCORE KERING GROUP
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
A PERFUME OF INFLUENCES
Three influencers pick by Bulgari Parfums to help launch its new Omnia Pink Sapphire eau de toilette the pinkest and poppiest scent the brand has ever put out. Described as a sparkling burst of citrus.
“Bella Hadid and Amanda Steele are probably not the first people who come to mind when one thinks of Bulgari.
Created by master perfumer Alberto Morillas, the scent hits counters on Thursday and will see a widened Macy’s distribution as a way to better reach the brand’s target customer. Following in the footsteps of Marc Jacobs, Dior, Hermès, Ferragamo and Coach, the brand is the latest luxury fragrance house to prioritize the social media set, adopting a largely digital first marketing strategy to attract the new generation of beauty consumers. Continue reading
BALMAIN FALL WINTER 2018-19 PARIS
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
LANCEL LEAVES RICHEMONT
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
DIOR ICI MODE
It could seem that one of the key achievement of Dior’s revolution would be a more unified brand with men’s and women’s, Christian Dior Couture and Perfume could be fully integrated under the creative director, Maria Chiuri or others.
Although Maria Grazia Chiuri has been going through criticism, sales ar growing since she joined in 2016. She has brought an activism-tinged, millennial-friendly approach to Dior. Top-selling products are the classic Lady Dior bag, but also new cult accessories designed by Chiuri, including her logo-ribboned slingback heels and metal logo bags.
However, Maria Chiuri remains in a string of name that have taken over since the abrupt departure of John Galliano, who first made Dior a mega-brand during his time as artistic director from 1996 to 2011. And Dior has not recovered its DNA Continue reading
VUITTON IN THE LOUVRE
Vuitton in the Louvre make sence ! Nicolas Ghesquière attended at the Chloe show, next to Wintour ! Maybe Nicolas will leave to the Richmont group who knows ? For this collection Women were at the core of his fall display, which explored quintessentially French notions of elegance. The cropped jacket on a gray buttonless skirt suit was trimmed with spiky metal medallions and chains fine strands sprouting from its embroidered collar, or thick links decorating faux pockets.
Trouser suits and cocktail dresses were paired with graphic waist trainers, the corset-like belts made popular by Kim Kardashian, though their impact was diluted by attaching them to draped halter-neck tops that drooped lower over one breast. Continue reading
HERMÈS PARIS 2018
Certainly, no one expected to be attending a show outdoors with an outside temperature at 6 degrees centigrade. Even if Hermès provided us with some ultra-soft riding blankets to bundle up against the cold, but by the time the catwalk started almost 50 minutes late as usual. In the artificial fog Hermès presents its lastest collection to Duchess and Ladies.
The setting was a transparent awning surrounded by trees bathed in Hermès-orange light a suitably dramatic backdrop for Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski’s opening sequence of sleek outfits in dark leather set off by glinting hardware.
The Hermès woman has a sporty side, too: A sheepskin aviator jacket, a quilted calfskin hoodie or a sweeping blanket coat suggested she was not afraid of hitting the great outdoors. In its great leniency, Canal-Luxe has found it not too bad. Continue reading
MANISH ARORA 2018 PARIS
RICCARDO TISCI AND BURBERRY
Tisci will replace Christopher Bailey, graduate of Central Saint Martins in London, will direct all Burberry collections and present his first for the brand in September. When Bailey stepped down in October, he said February was to be his last collection, with an in-house team likely working on the September outing.
Tisci will be based at Burberry’s headquarters in London. A women’s wear, men’s wear, leather goods and accessories designer, Tisci spent more than a decade at Givenchy.
While Tisci’s arrival at Burberry marks a new beginning, it also signals the end of a dramatic narrative for the designer: Rumors were circulating last year that Tisci was to join Versace, but the much talked-about deal never materialized. Continue reading
SAINT LAURENT PARIS
For the second season, Anthony Vaccarello showed his Saint Laurent collection across from the Eiffel Tower. As written on the invitation and follow-up email, the show started on time at precisely 8p.m. However Kering managed to delay the twinkles for 15 minutes. It was spectacular. Continue reading
JOURNE 2018 PARIS
GARETH PUGH LONDON 2018
BAILEY FINAL REVERENCE
Goodbye Burberry – On Saturday night guests entered the west London venue to the chants and screeches of fur protesters who came out in even larger numbers than last season and entered a vast and largely vacant brick venue where the designer’s guests and friends were gathering to watch his last show for the brand.
The collection was meant to be a support to the LGBT community.
“I’m proud and sad ” said Sienna Miller, who starred in Burberry’s 2016 Christmas campaign, a short film that also featured Dominic West. “All the Burberry girls had to be here tonight.” They came out in force: Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Keira Knightley and Naomi Watts joined Michelle Dockery, Naomie Harris, Lily James and Daphne Guinness.
Chelsea Clinton, who is best friends with Bailey’s husband Simon Woods, sat in the friends and family section. “It was Simon who brought Christopher into our lives and we’re so thankful for that. There was nowhere else we wanted to be tonight” said Clinton, who was accompanied her husband Marc Mezvinsky.
DENNIS BASSO NEW YORK 2018
FOSUM AND LANVIN JUST MARRIED
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International has beat Qatari’s rival Mayhoola Group to win control over the French fashion house Lanvin. The sale agreement leaves Taiwanese media magnate Shaw-Lan Wang, who previously held 75% stake, on board as a minority shareholder with 20%. Swiss businessman Ralph Bartel is apparently holding 25% share in the house’s capital.
Lanvin which was facing a liquidity crises was under pressure to find an investor by the end of the month. Fosun has pledged to bring 100 million euros to the table, although they cautioned that this would only provide temporary relief, given Lanvin’s deepening losses.
The oldest French fashion house, still in activity, has seen its sales erode since a peak of 235 million euros in 2012. In 2016 revenues fell 23 percent to 162 million euros, with a net loss of 18.3 million euros, marking its first red ink in nearly a decade. Continue reading
JOSEPH ABBOUD NEW YORK 2018
BACELONA FASHION WEEK
On 30-31 January was held the 21st edition of the Barcelona fashion week which was visited by more than 32,000 people, including buyers, media representatives and a wider public, representing an increase of 5.7% compared with the previous Summer edition. Continue reading
AF VANDEVORST PARIS 2008
VIKTOR AND ROLF COUTURE PARIS 2018
KARL 30 YEARS AT CHANEL’S
“Karl Lagerfeld is almost as synonymous with Chanel as Coco Chanel herself today, but there was a time when the actual legendary designer was nervously working on his first Chanel collection, Couture for fall 1983. This being the notoriously work-centric Lagerfeld, he was toiling simultaneously for Chloé and Fendi and a “myriad of other clients.”
Not much has changed on that front as the infamously productive designer still heads up multiple houses, including Fendi and his namesake line, but when he first joined Chanel, only part time initially, he wasn’t welcomed with particularly open arms.
Lagerfeld made it through any tensions and overcame his frustrations with the slow production pace of couture and yanked Chanel into the Eighties with his first designs pulling inspiration from the Twenties and Thirties, while decidedly ignoring Chanel’s “comeback” era of the Fifties. But this was a risk, as was Lagerfeld’s decision to move away from the pastels and boxy suits the house had become more-or-less known for. Continue reading
CHRISTOPHE JOSSE COUTURE
FRANCK SORBIER PARIS 2018
When the show started, I immediately thought : “Live as a man, but remain a woman”. Right in the trend, the poet of fashion, Franck Sorbier is listening to our time, and it is precisely what the Haute Couture should be.
In 1920, women discovered not only the power of seduction but also their own body. As Isadora Duncan, famous dancer in the 1920’s, developed a style of free and natural movements or as the “Garçonnes” that Madame Chanel dressed to slum it, the designer has re-established the balance in delivering an undisputed collection inspired by “Les Années Folles”. Franck Sorbier always listens and catches the magic breath of this world.
On a music played by Manu Dibango, the dancers of the Paris Opera, wearing dressed inspired by the “Années Folles” flited from one room to the other one to present the collection. The Sorbier Haute Couture show is always one of the most expected moment of the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. You feel like a cocoon far away from Fashion industry and closed to the soul of fashion. Continue reading