RETURN TO BABYLON 2024

Here I am, back from a rather hectic holiday, and today I open my 1,280 emails… Given my advanced age, I discover all these spams sent to me for old-age insurance and incontinent diapers, in itself quite a program… I know that, from time to time for some, I have verbal diarrhea, but still!

So here I am, back in the limelight, in the luxury cottages, because in the houses, the mercato has already begun well before the vacations and the general managers have jumped like the jumping peas. We’re also witnessing the replacement of certain designers, who in fact create nothing, by others who will create no more. It’s the demand of luxury houses that have stayed in the marketing stratégy to sell 10,000-euro bags that you can find in China for 100 euros, and sometimes of better quality.

And then there’s the abundant readers’ mail, which fluctuates between 50% insults and 50% compliments, which makes for a pretty even balance. The day after tomorrow, I’ll probably give you a glimpse of a particularly nice letter to which I’ve replied in kind.

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KORS THE BODY OF MY ENEMY

As inflation bites its mass-market US shoppers and even aspirational consumers after a post-pandemic handbag spending spree, Michael Kors, which generates the largest chunk revenue, has experienced steeper revenue declines than some higher-end peers in recent quarters.

Nevertheless, Tapestry executives (American multinational luxury fashion holding) believe they can take a page from Coach and Kate Spade’s playbook.

In the past couple of quarters, those outlets have been weak for sales. Department stores generate around 10%  revenue, while wholesale accounts for about one-third of Capri’s sales holdings .

In order to showcase Michael Kors and appeal to more consumers, executives plan to increase their marketing investments.

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CHATEAU DES GROTTEAUX

It was the exquisite morning hour, when the sun blushed through the warm Summer mist. My view followed the vines through the Louisiana cypresses, a blond light drenched nature and you’d have thought it was snowing gold. Suddenly, a woolly cloud swam across the azure in the Loire Valley in France.

We pass through the big red gate, and the breadcrumb trail leads us to the building bathed in light. This is the Château of Guillaume Ribier, owner of the house in his day and a great book collector. We’re cheerfully greeted by the new owner. Continue reading

OLYMPICS MARATHON FOR LVMH

After months of speculation, LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton has been named premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A bid of 150 million euros is on the table, for the next privatized bridges in Paris. The beauty of Paris invites us to seek beauty and to constantly surpass ourselves,” said Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH. Above all, more notoriety for his group and a global advertising campaign at little cost.

Léon Marchand, who broke Michael Phelps’ last individual world record this weekend, will be among the LVMH athletes sponsored by the brand. We’ll also have to give to “the Magot Queen” a dress other than the Zara brand like in the photos.

DAME JAN DIED

Dame Jane Birkin, singer, actress and muse of the famous Hermès handbag, died on Sunday in Paris. She was 76 years old.

She had cancelled her concerts for the end of the year after suffering a stroke in September 2021.

Ms. Birkin made her name in the late 1960s after starring in Jack Smight’s “Kaleidoscope”, alongside Warren Beatty, and in Michelangelo Antonioni’s provocative film “Blow-Up”.

A scandalous duet she sang with Serge Gainsbourg, “Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus”, further propelled her fame after being banned by the BBC and condemned by the Vatican. The French will do more press for her than for their great writer, very strange! Milan Kundera’s “L’Insoutenable Légèreté” (The Unbearable Lightness) is less popular than “La légèreté de l’être” (The Lightness of Being) itself.

SKIMS KARDASHIAN

On Monday, Skims launched its new swim campaign featuring co-founder Kim Kardashian ( la Skims Kardashian). The most famous influencer on the planet, who always gets her jewelry stolen, introduces Skims’ Rubberized Scuba and Faux Leather swimwear collections on Skims.com and on Skims’ social media platforms, for a dive into the world of Nikki Beacher and other hooker theater.

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BALENCIAGA JEANNE ARCHIVES

It was hard to find virgin girls at the Balenciaga’s show, though the metal Jeanne d’Arc dress at the end of the collection caused quite a stir.

Stunning optical illusion, where jeans, tweed jackets and Haute Couture fur coats were displayed under the reproachful eyes of Peta association fighting against  “Furriiiiiire”, says the old Israelite by my side, botoxed like a MG and lifted like a French 75 Cannon.

Celebrities who were packed like sardines into golden chairs like the so smart Cardi B, Yseult and consorts, and a few stroll the catwalk, notably the French actress, Isabelle Huppert, with her big emotional eyes that she can’t close them anymore and who cries profusely for good reasons … And like the Black Eagle that the French singer Barbara wouldn’t deny,  wears a dress shining like stars, but not on Hollywood Boulevard walk of fame.

Bang & Olufsen portable speakers or “Bank” & Olufsen, like handbags, are among the best-selling items in Balenciaga boutiques. Music, Rap and Haute Couture were the new cocktail of the Fashion Week.

HUGO MARTIN PARASITE

Studying design, but with optician parents, he was immersed in the world of optics from an early age, and it was only natural that he should become the builder of your eyes. In 2000, he entered an eyewear competition in the Jura region of France with an original idea for glasses with four temples that could only be held together with the help of your temples. He set up his own brand and named it “Parasite”, because like Parasite, his glasses clung to his face and he couldn’t get rid of them.

He dares to do anything, to break free of limits, to see far… and when technology becomes a hindrance, it’s in 3D printing that he bounces back to create new eyewear models. Hugo Martin, founder of “Parasite design”, gives this fashion accessory and its wearers superpowers: the power to please, the ability to fall in love with an extraordinary designer, the likes of which can exist anonymously, because the best are often silent. Note the jacket by designer Dgena.

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CHANEL PORT OF SHADOWS

A stroll along the quays of the Seine is a delight! The body relaxes, the mind escapes and the hum of the bateaux-mouches mingles with the rattle of the waves on the quayside. Lovers embrace and swear eternity, a promise that the night will surely swallow. But how to conceive a work of art in an inconceivable world? It seems insurmountable, and I’m sure that if you were to bake a banana cake at Le Meurice with Baron Hans Gunther Von Dincklage, the world wouldn’t be any worse off.

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FROM MARISA TO CARDI B

So here’s a real ampoule couture metaphorizer arriving like a cynical “Shein” to activate his obscene, blasphemous needle spear as an outward sign of weakness. A runt who relieves himself at the foot of K2, to drown an angel in the lewd sludge of supermarket bimbos.

Cardi B made her dramatic entrance in a velvet gown that she declared “beautiful, amazing.” Normal is the only fashion word she knows.
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