LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said on Friday it had agreed to buy luxury travel operator Belmond Ltd., owner of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train and hotels including the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, for $2.6 billion, significantly widening its footprint in the hospitality sector.

Established over 40 years ago with the acquisition of Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Belmond operates in 24 countries with a portfolio of 46 luxury hotel, restaurant, train and river cruise properties. It posted revenues of $572 million and adjusted EBITDA of $140 million in the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

“Belmond delivers unique experiences to discerning travelers and owns a number of exceptional assets in the most desirable destinations,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH. Continue reading →

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Joséphine arrived in Paris in 1779 from her native Martinique, soon to steal the heart of Napoleon Bonaparte, before being crowned empress of France. A woman of style and passion, Joséphine infused Parisian society with a sense of originality and audacity, which find fresh expression in the city today.

joséphine’s chateau, Malmaison, was where she indulged her passion for flowers and plants, becoming widely respected among the botanists of her day. Her love of nature helped spread the 19th-century fashion for gardens and greenhouses like the Bagatelle rose garden, the Auteuil Greenhouses and the Jardin des Plantes. Today, this lush, exuberant spirit lives on in Paris’s elegant rooftop and vertical gardens, while Malmaison welcomes thousands of visitors every year. Joséphine’s jeweler, Chaumet, celebrates this love of flowers in its Jardins collection. Continue reading →

This is not Elizabeth Taylor, anyway,” Karl Lagerfeld declared. Encamped in a suite at the Mercer Hotel  which the Chanel entourage took over in full in preparation for the house’s Métiers d’Art show on Tuesday night Lagerfeld quickly dispelled any preconception of a luxe cheese fest of overdone makeup and tricked-out headdresses inspired by La Liz’s (albeit delightful) turn as Cleopatra.

There’s a timelessness to it, he said of the allure of ancient Egyptian imagery, noting that the idea for the collection crystallized before the location was secured. “I always was interested in the old Egypt, from 3,000 years before Jesus Christ. And then I said it would be great to show it in the Met, but I never thought it was possible

But then, if “impossible” exists within the world of Chanel, we’ve yet to see it. Here, the house booked the Met for the show (which necessitated closing public access to the Temple of Dendur for many days prior) and a nearby expanse of Central Park for the party.

Julianne Moore, Margot Robbie, Penélope Cruz, Lily-Rose Depp and Sofia Coppola. One celebrity wasn’t seated: Pharrell Williams walked the show, a vision all in gold, long sweater atop leather pants. Continue reading →

Boucheron is set to open its newly restored Place Vendôme flagship Wednesday.

With its sweeping views of the famed Paris square and its spiraling column, the mansion, which covers nearly 20,000 square feet of space, now has a winter garden and an intimate perch to observe it from in addition to a succession of distinct, refurbished salons. Moving past the traditional realm of a high-end boutique, the upper floors house the label’s design studio and workshops, as well as an entire floor that can serve as an apartment to host its most elite clients overnight stays included.

For the Boucheron project, which coincided with the house’s 160th anniversary this year, the building’s historical stature took precedence, recounted Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, chief executive officer of the jeweler.

Least complicated, by Poulit-Duquesne’s account, was defining the mission of the Kering-owned jeweler with François-Henri Pinault, chairman and ceo of the luxury group. Continue reading →

Patek Philippe chose Milan to unveil its new women’s Twenty-4 Automatic watch. Thierry Stern took the stage positioned under a glass structure erected in the courtyard of the storied 17th-century Palazzo Serbelloni. “It’s been nearly 20 years after the debut of the Twenty-4 Manchette watch and we’ve been working on this new women’s timepiece for the past five years and through 40 prototypes,” said the affable executive.

The Geneva-based company is launching the first model of the collection with a self-winding mechanical movement in a round case.

Asked about choosing Milan for the launch a first for Patek Philippe Stern highlighted the city’s link to “fashion and beauty. We have to be in Milan. If it works in Italy, it will work everywhere.” Continue reading →

“Running is fun, running is cathartic,” I sing in my head before dragging myself down for a spontaneous evening run. Admittedly, I could think of ten other things I would rather be doing at 7pm on a Monday night. The motivational force? Testing out the all-new Nike Zoom Fly Flyknit trainers. Continue reading →

In a dramatic shift for the company, Chanel Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Chanel Ltd., is transforming its wholesale business into a concession model.

The company plans to operate concession departments in its major accounts, which include Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. The process began last year with Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location, and this year several others were converted, namely Saks in Greenwich, Conn., and Atlanta and Neiman Marcus in Atlanta. The rest will be phased in over the next year.

“You might be wondering why, after 12 years of relative silence, am I doing a real interview,” said John Galantic, president and chief operating officer of Chanel Inc. “It’s a time of pretty major change here. The old saying is ‘don’t waste a crisis. But I look at it the other way more, which is when the business is very strong and the demand very desirable, there’s much more leverage and leeway to make change. Continue reading →

Real estate company Hines has bought Colette’s former digs on Rue Saint-Honoré, the hottest street in the property market in Paris, adding the future Yves Saint Laurent flagship to its growing list of high-profile transactions.

The Texas-based real estate firm said its fund behind the deal is an open-ended investment vehicle created in 2006 to buy and manage assets in key European cities and is the fourth acquisition in the past year following other transactions in Dublin, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. Continue reading →

Richemont said Friday it has joined with Alibaba Group in a strategic partnership to bring the retail offerings of Yoox Net-a-porter Group to Chinese consumers.

YNAP and Alibaba will establish a venture to launch two mobile apps for Net and Mr Porter, with Alibaba providing technology infrastructure, marketing, payments, logistics and other technology support to the JV.
In addition, Net and Mr Porter will open online stores on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion. The JV will focus on serving consumers in China and extend to Chinese consumers traveling abroad.

“Chinese customers at home and abroad are an increasingly important customer base for Richemont and for the broader luxury industry said Johann Rupert, chairman of Richemont. Continue reading →

Never perfumes will have been so ugly. A globally recognised leader in direct selling of beauty and related products Avon, today launch Life Colour, its second fragrance collaboration with world-famous designer Kenzo Takada.

“We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new fragrance and the opportunities that it will bring to Avon and our Representatives around the world,” said Jonathan Myers, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Avon. “With marketing activation across 50+ markets, this collaboration will be one of the Avon’s biggest launches of the next 12 months. Continue reading →

Lacoste, without artistic director since the departure of Felipe Olivera Baptista in spring 2018, has announced the appointment of the British designer Louise Trotter. She is taking over as the new creative director of Lacoste, the sports and leisurewear brand famous for its green crocodile logo.

Trotter, 49, who left the British label Joseph in July after leading it for nearly a decade, replaces the Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista who parted company with Lacoste in May.

In her twenties, Trotter worked in Italy and Paris. She then moved to New York, and worked for Calvin Klein, Gap and then Tommy Hilfiger. Continue reading →

On Tuesday, at the 2018 Milano Fashion Global Summit, Della Valle, Tod’s chairman and chief executive officer, stated : “We are buyers, not sellers”. It was clearly announced. Tod’s brand is not for sale.

As reported in February, the Italian luxury group is overturning its business model and launching a new project called Tod’s Factory, in a reference to Andy Warhol. Employing a system mirroring the streetwear drop, the company is to release a mix of capsules and limited editions in collaboration with different designers and friends of the house. Last month in Paris, Tod’s unveiled a capsule collection with Alessandro Dell’Acqua, which will hit stores in mid-November. Continue reading →

The long queues in front of leading luxury stores in Paris this weekend might suggest they were holding the high-end equivalent of a Black Friday sale.

But the crowds gathered outside Dior headquarters on Avenue Montaigne, the Guerlain flagship on Avenue des Champs-Elysées or the Chaumet salons on Place Vendôme weren’t looking to part with any cash  just to catch a glimpse behind the scenes of some of the 70 brands that form LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The event is the brainchild of Antoine Arnault, head of communication and image of LVMH, who launched the biennial initiative in 2011 to counter a perception that the group was only interested in making money.

Antoine Arnault launched the event with a cocktail party on Thursday at the group’s headquarters in front of the new building “the Good Samaritan” where he posed with his father the lord of Luxury, LVMH chairman and chief executive officer Bernard the Great. Continue reading →

“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 →