In honor of the Year of the Snake, Swarovski has revealed its latest Lunar New Year collection, “130 Years of Joy,” marking the brand’s 130th anniversary celebrations. A variety of symbolic designs highlight Swarovski’s craftsmanship and creativity in this collection, which combines tradition with modernity.
At the heart of the collection is the Swarovski Swan. For this milestone year, the swan is reimagined in a new design that combines it with its mirror image, their necks intertwined.In pieces such as a gold-tone pendant featuring one gold-tone and one rhodium-plated swan, both adorned with shimmering Swarovski Zirconia pavé, this design is demonstrated.
I am writing this article because when I went to the store with my friend’s ring to buy her a new one, seeing that the one I had brought was slightly damaged she exchanged it for a new one.
This is a sparkling journey in the heart of the Côte des Bars, a day through the enchantment of the setting sun on the vineyards. There is the pleasure palace with its voluptuousness of the superfluous and the fantasy, taking us to the heart of the medieval and finishing on the hill of the Biodynamic.
As everyone knows, I often visit young designers, and when I saw a jacket with a fabric that looked more like a Napoleonic Guard ceremonial set, I pointed this out to the designer: ‘I like this bomber with these fabrics from the 18ᵉ century to the 19ᵉ because it gives the buyer something to think about. Indeed, it is always reassuring to think that, in a garment, there is a bit of history from the past.’ The designer looked at me with an interested expression, because in fact she hadn’t thought about it, she’d done it instinctively, as artists often have this instinctive vision of the world of the future. It is no doubt commonplace to observe that modernity gives tradition a bye, and to say that the modern is the era of the new or of renewal; it is a little less so to explore this assertion in greater depth and to grasp the twofold gesture that constitutes its substance.
The new of modernity to dismiss the old, for a gesture of rupture, a caesura without appeal. But in the same way that Lord Arnault said to Steve Jobs: ‘You have the technology of the moment, while I am selling the heritage of France’. Modernity begins when it reflects on its separation from the previous world and culture. The thread of tradition is broken, and supposedly cannot be renewed, but as the sentimental man that I am knows, we always need a bit of the past to appreciate the future, or to hate it. Continue reading
Finally a woman at the head of fashion (A hidden message for French organisations.). The British Fashion Council has appointed Laura Weir as its new chief executive, succeeding Caroline Rush. Ms Weir, currently executive creative director at Selfridges, will take up the role on 28 April.
Alessandro Dell’Acqua continued to explore bourgeois codes in a collection that wasn’t short on embellishments but with an anarchic undertone from Jurassic. Rebellion can come in many guises, including wrapped in candy hues and cascades of glitzy sequins.
A woman flew from Australia to meet master perfumer in the South of France. A lover of fragrance, she wanted a made-to-measure perfume. But more than having it just for herself, the client hoped the scent would ultimately be passed down to her granddaughters, to stir up memories of her. A small selection of perfumers are offering bespoke services to people from the world over. Just don’t ask who the clients are Confidentiality the rich aren’t secretive, they’re discreet.
Prices are from 45,000 euros and go up to 100,000 euros-plus. Among major cost contributors are the olfactive ingredients used. Yet still there are often waiting lists for those women and men wanting their own fragrance, since perfumers generally can only accommodate a handful of clients annually. In 1853, Eau de Cologne Impériale was created as a special order for the Empress Eugénie for her marriage to Napoleon III by Pierre François Pascal Guerlain, founder of the perfume house.
In 1933, his grandson Jacques Guerlain developed Sous le Vent for Josephine Baker and six years later conceived Coque d’Or for Sergei Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes to name a few of the made-to-measure creations. A niche market; let’s hope it’s not a doghouse.
FM
The 260-year-old Maison Baccarat is embarking on a strategic shift with the appointment of Laurence Nicolas as its next CEO.A former executive at #Dior, where she led the watchmaking and fine jewelry division for 17 years, Nicolas has since consolidated her expertise in strategic roles at Sotheby’s and Printemps Haussmann.
Already familiar with #Baccarat through her seat on the Board of Directors since 2018, she succeeds Margareth (Maggie) Henriquez PhD, whose tenure was marked by ambitious modernization initiatives.
At the end of December, Valérie Leberichel joined Gucci as SVP global communications, reporting directly to Cantino. Daughter of the most famous florist in Dinan, Valérie Leberichel began her career as head of public relations at Jean Louis Scherrer before becoming communications director at Issey Miyake Europe. In 2002, she joined Celine as communications director. All that remained for Pinault was to take on the general director of the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce, Catherine Leyaouanc, to stock up on Breton women from his region for his house, but as is well known, Bretons work with their compatriots.
Leberichel will “develop a strategic vision for brand positioning and create a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy designed to enhance brand awareness, strengthen emotional connections with audiences across all channels, and drive product demand.”
With Alessio Vannetti’s departure last week, Leberichel will assume Vannetti’s role as executive vice president and chief brand officer. In September last year, Vannetti returned to Gucci, replacing Susan Chokachi, who left after 25 years. Vannetti was previously Gucci’s worldwide communications director from 2015 to 2019, then spent 3.5 years at Valentino as its chief brand officer. Gucci’s chief people officer, Luca Bozzo, is also leaving.
Elie Saab is strengthening its handbag division and has appointed Marina Raphael as its new artistic and design director.
The Greek-Austrian designer, who is part of the sixth generation of the Swarovski family, will remain artistic director of her eponymous brand, which she founded in 2017. A daughter of a family, the little girl has relied on her family to shore up her handbag business. Now she will have to prove herself.
After four years of Fendi’s turbulent collaboration with the Roman house, Kim Jones is leaving Fendi. The British designer, whose position at Fendi was artistic director of women’s haute couture, ready-to-wear and fur collections, will continue in his role as artistic director of men’s collections at Dior in Paris.
Fendi’s parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, announced Jones’ departure in a brief statement Friday.
Kim Jones has made significant contributions to the brand’s creative legacy, seamlessly integrating his modern, cross-cultural aesthetic with Fendi’s historic heritage, according to the joint statement.
After the doves of Lalique, and the horrible series “Les Belles de Nina”, a sort of crowned multicoloured turd; here is a new femininity, which emerges from the Spanish, inspired by mythology, echoing the heritage of the house! Inventing a contemporary goddess of today, but this one will certainly be a bimbo wandering the lobbys of the hotels of the capital, “it’s the spirit of the times”. A fragrance where the Magnolia shines like a real jewel, and for the story…, magnolias appeared before beetles, and of course, Baroness Wildenstein, because fossilized specimens have been found and date back 20 million years before her first unsightly operation. A perfume bottle, like a fan-shaped jewel in the art deco style, a real innovation! It is a copy of a 1960 bottle from Tiffany & Co.; Sterling silver perfume bottle with scalloped sea shell below.
Venus, the goddess of love and seduction, the feminine beauty of Roman mythology, imported to the homeland of Antoni Gaudí who might smell not of mussels, but of clams.
Y/Project, following the death of its co-founder Gilles Elalouf in June and the departure of its artistic director Glenn Martens last month, was placed in receivership by the Paris Commercial Court on September 26, according to legal documents.
Gabriela Hearst brought the American spirit to Paris’s Left Bank on Monday afternoon, presenting her spring 2025 collection at Karl Lagerfeld’s former home to an audience that included Lily Gladstone, with live music by Wesley Schultz of Colorado folk rock band The Lumineers.
Charm, elegance, grace with an apparent sweetness, for a sensitivity sweet as the honey of Lebanon, in a clever mix, it emanates in the room these princess dresses of which the couturier leaves his mark and is part of the lineage of the greatest creators by leaving to fashion an immense heritage of finesse. Continue reading
It was in the center of the Champs de Mars, where there are usually the street vendors of the Eiffel Tower cleared by the police for the occasion. The way Vaccarello stigmatized this change of location or better, is to return to the style of the founder of the house. Instinctively intelligent collection, for a dive into the brain of the master of Oran. Despite all the challenges that the luxury industry faces, the Kering group has just understood that, besides communication, the most important thing is to sell in stores.
Diana is the goddess of hunting, war and the night in Roman mythology, assimilated to “Artemis” in Greek mythology. Artemis, well, funny, isn’t it! Daughter of Jupiter and twin sister of Apollo, she wishes to remain a virgin forever, and when beauty makes its bed, sublime, always alone, she builds her reputation alongside men, but strangely apart too.
The one who invents, unlike the one who discovers, adds to things, and Maria Chiuri, for once, adds a touch of femininity without inventing anything. Amazon huntress to hit the nail on the head, but with the lord, it’s in the thousand billion “bollards”.
Damier Vuitton at Dior for brand synergy and a play of black and white light without the little Pharrells, but also very expensive “flesh”, and as a wink, a little Breton sailor’s shirt to infuriate the prince of Venice. With a Dijon “biker” jacket on her hips, the woman wants to be both masculine and feminine. So here I am on a journey towards my fiery thoughts in the black gravel of the thrill. Beyond the words through which I saw legs walking that stretched out to Dante’s Peak, and how far I pushed into the depths of a dream to write these words. Continue reading
Grunge and sexy that pays homage to fashion apparently! Since it is agreed that the eyes are the mirror of the soul, why not admit that the mouth is also the interpreter of the heart, but that is another story…
Art Deco is making a comeback, and next summer, the Paul Poiret retrospective, the turn of the century for the free woman and today’s vision of the world. André Breton’s surrealism is not far away. The abundant Art Nouveau, cut down by the war, is giving way to the precious purities of Art Deco.
As organic sales momentum slows even more than initially expected and visibility on a potential rebound in luxury sales in China is really low, the French group is increasing its prices.
Over the summer, luxury consumption remained strong only in Japan, driven by Chinese tourism, while the Chinese cluster slowed down, the US cluster did not improve as much as expected and Europe delivered a mixed picture.