EMPLOYEE A LUXURY CHALLENGE

“With 70 brands and 150,000 staff worldwide, there’s no doubt that LVMH, the parent company of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Guerlain, Bulgari and others…, is a global corporate

But even a fashion force like LVMH cannot rest on its laurels when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff, especially at a time when unemployment in the U.S. is hovering at a near 50-year low of 3.7 percent.

“Recruiting right has always been difficult. “From store level up to ceo’s, having the right people translates immediately into good results”.

So, yes, it’s an obsession and of course we are trying to not only find, but then help keep employees motivated and offer them a journey. A career which could be a journey thanks to the size of the group the fact that we have over 70 brands.” Continue reading

EXCLUSIVE LVMH HOTEL IN PARIS

An exclusive hotel in Paris opened his doors for Canal-luxe.

This morning at 8 o’clock, the futur Cheval Blanc Hotel of LVMH opened its east side doors (the sun always rises on the east)  to Canal-Luxe. We were all excited to discover the fabulous Art Deco building better known by the parisian by La Samaritaine.

A decade ago, the group LVMH bought the department store, La Samaritaine to build which would be soon become the next place of the luxe. It was a long process to come to the end of that project. But as we already stated a few years ago: Paris downtown will soon belong to Monsieur Bernard Arnault and to his group LVMH. He has regrouped around la Samaritaine most of his most famous brands. It would soon become the new golden place for shopping in Paris. Continue reading

VUITTON BALANCIAGA’S 1067 

Nicolas Ghesquière tapped into his obsessions with sci-fi imagery and garment construction with a collection designed to empower women.

Nicolas Ghesquière embraced the moment with his lineup of retro-futuristic clothes, shown in a maze of neon-lit tunnels set up in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum after dark.

“This is not a narrative collection. This is about my obsession to empower women,” he said after the show. “There were so many discussions the last months about the place of women, and I thought that this is really an intuition to want to give power when you are a designer.”

He did that by tapping into a few of his other obsessions: sci-fi imagery and exaggerated volumes. Dominican model Ambar Cristal Zarzuela, making her Paris debut, opened the show in an oversized blouson with mille feuille sleeves featuring photo prints of candy-colored artificial landscapes.

With its echoes of “Star Wars” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album cover, the imagery was reminiscent of Ghesquière’s work at Balenciaga in particular the curved white hats that looked like shrunken versions of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s futuristic 1967 wedding veil. Continue reading

CHANEL BAYWATCH

It was a grey autumnal day in Paris. But at the Chanel show in the Grand Palais, Karl Lagerfeld ensured that summer stuck around for a bit longer. The designer, who previously brought a Chanel supermarket and a rocket bearing the brand’s signature double “C” logo to fashion week, doesn’t do things by half.

This time, a beach was recreated that included an ocean with gentle waves, blue sky, wooden docks and lifeguards. To complete the scene, the former Baywatch actor Pamela Anderson watched the proceedings from the front row. Continue reading

HERMES AT LONG CHAMP

Hermès held its spring show at the Longchamp racecourse, as did Dior earlier in the week, just to tease Mister Arnault. The two houses made very different uses of the venue. If Dior was your rich gypsy aunt who reads Tarot cards and loves modern dance, Hermès was her richer, snobbier sister, for whom tastefulness is next to godliness. She’s not as much fun as the bohemian, but her cashmere is softer, her Champagne is crisper and you can put money on her horse it always seems to win. Continue reading

GUILLAUME HENRY AT PATOU

Sidney Toledano, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Fashion Group, is spearheading the project and has already selected and signed on a designer to lead it: Guillaume Henry.

Last March, Henry exited Nina Ricci and he is said to be passionate about the legacy of Patou, a French designer who brought modernity and buzz to fashion in the Twenties —and innovated in business with fragrances, logos and sport clothes.

LVMH is now in the throes of building teams around Henry with a view to launching the first collection of ready-to-wear and accessories in the second half of 2019.

It is understood the group views Patou as something of a niche, rarified name and not its next megabrand. Consequently, LVMH will likely start with a single boutique, most likely in Paris, along with e-commerce and select wholesale partners.

The relaunch suggests the world’s largest luxury group is anticipating an easing of the streetwear craze, and a swing of the fashion pendulum back to sophisticated chic. Continue reading

CHANEL BUYS A JOURNEY

Expanding its reach into the realm of watchmaking, Chanel has bought a minority stake in Montres Journe, the French luxury house said on Monday.

Established by François-Paul Journe, who made his first watch in Paris in the early Eighties, the company has been making high-end time pieces in Geneva since 1999. It limits production to 900 watches a year, designing and building all of the movements, cases and watch cases.

“Chanel’s stake will enable Montres Journe SA to continue its development by ensuring its sustainability, as well as its autonomy,” Chanel said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chanel in 1998 invested in Bell & Ross and in 2011 in the Swiss watchmaking house of Romain Gauthier, who has made components designed by Chanel teams for the French house’s Monsieur watch. Chanel has not disclosed its ownership levels in the watchmakers. Continue reading

BOUCHERON HEADS OR TAILS

Boucheron and the Monnaie de Paris have teamed to make a series of limited-edition coins, including a 1-kilo (35.3-oz.) pure gold coin in the shape of an emerald-cut stone, with references to the high jewelry house including the Place Vendôme, ivy vines and a diamond encrusted leaf.

The collaboration, which coincides with the jeweler’s 160th anniversary, is meant to celebrate French luxury traditions and follows similar projects with other prestigious French institutions including Sèvres-Cité de la Céramique, Baccarat, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and French chef Guy Savoy. Working with Savoy, the mint issued a rose-gold pan featuring a black truffle, fried egg while it reinterpreted Marie Antoinette’s milk bowl with the Sèvres-Cité de la Céramique. The Cartier collaboration resulted in a coin stamped with the Taj Mahal, complete with a diamond-encrusted dome. Continue reading

BURBERRY FUR OR NOT FUR

Burberry said early on Thursday the no-fur policy will apply to Tisci’s debut collection for Burberry later this month, and the company will phase out existing real fur products.

Over the past year, the brand has come under fire from anti-fur protestors who staged screechingly loud and aggressive protests outside its runway shows. The company also became the target of criticism in the British press for its decision to destroy new, but unsalable, merchandise each year. Continue reading

CELINE NEW LOGO

On Sunday, Céline’s designer Hedi Slimane offered followers clues about the world he is fashioning for the French label on Instagram, revealing a new logo, and some explanations as well.

“The new logo has been directly inspired from the original, historical version that existed in the 1960s,” reads the first line of description, all in capital letters, as is the logo. The designer opted for a “modernist typography” that dates from the Thirties and removed the accent on the first “e” for a “more balanced proportion” evoking the label’s collection in the Sixties, the description continued.

One of the most prominent and influential fashion figures, Slimane joined the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned label in February with the mandate of broadening its scope to add men’s, couture and fragrance lines. His collection makes its debut on Sept. 28 in Paris. Continue reading

STOCKHOLM FASHION WEEK

Fashion Week Stockholm, which has been showcasing some of Sweden’s most interesting brands and designers since 2005, has progressively established itself as one of Northern Europe’s leading fashion events. In part due to their renewed presence during this bi-annual event, fashion houses such as Acne, Tiger of Sweden, Filippa K, Hope, and, more recently, ATP Atelier have gained regional notoriety and brought international attention to the Swedish fashion scene. It has also enabled the so called “Scandinavian aesthetic” – often defined by its minimalism, functionality and simplicity – to be widely popularized and globally recognized.

Much like the other major fashion weeks, it also serves as a platform for emerging and increasingly established fresh talent, presenting a younger generation of designers who are pushing the boundaries of what’s expected when it comes to Nordic style and aesthetic. Here is a selection of up-and-coming designers who are launching Sweden’s fashion into the future, informed by worldly references and infused with their domestic heritage. Continue reading