SUPREME LVMH LUGGAGE
Cult NYC streetwear brand Supreme’s latest collaboration was announced last Tuesday with iconic German luggage manufacturer Rimowa. They have developed a four-piece suitcase collection.
Since Alexandre Arnault took over Rimowa (after LVMH acquired an 80% stake in the premium luggage company), the young CEO has been rolling out a new, more millennial-focused image for the brand, employing strategies such as pop-up retail experiences and savvy collaborations to give Rimowa further appeal in the fashion and lifestyle spaces.
Indeed, the Supreme collaboration doesn’t look to be the last streetwear partnership for Rimowa this year: Arnault teased an upcoming collaboration with Off-White with an Instagram post in September 2017, before returning to the subject with another photo posted when Virgil Abloh was named at the head of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections, this time suggesting that the collaboration was slated for launch in Summer 2018. Continue reading
KERING FOCUSES ON LUXURY
Does Kering need some money to pay Hedi Slimane’s allemony after the divorce?
In 2011, Kering acquired Volcom, an action sports brand. One of the less visible brands at Kering has begun taking steps to sell action sports brand Volcom to focus fully on the group’s luxury labels.
“In accordance with Kering’s strategy to fully dedicate itself to the development of its luxury houses, the group is also ready to spin off German sportswear brand Puma.
As reported, Kering and Stella McCartney on March 28 said have agreed to end their 17-year partnership and that the designer would purchase Kering’s 50 percent stake in her namesake brand. Continue reading
DOUCHANGLEE 2018 SHANGHAI
YOON AHN DIOR JEWELLERY
Kim Jones will be in good company in his new role as artistic director of Dior Homme, which has appointed Yoon Ahn, a member of the designer’s inner circle, as the brand’s jewelry designer.
Known as Yoon, Yoon Ahn has carved a rare niche for herself as an entirely self-taught designer. On the day we met, she had just learned that she’d been named an LVMH Prize finalist. “It’s crazy—we just made pants for the first time!” she says, laughing. “For us to be even be nominated is like, what?”
Tokyo-based Ahn and her partner Verbal, a celebrated rapper in Japan and former member of M-flo, the Nineties hip-hop group, are super-connected in the fashion industry. The power couple, which has its own streetwear brand Ambush that figured among the finalists of the 2017 LVMH Prize, has appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Dr. Martens. They’ve also collaborated with brands including Colette, Sacai and A Bathing Ape. Continue reading
INXX WINTER 2018 SHANGHAI
BLINDNESS FALL WINTER 2018 SEOUL
LES GALERIES LA CORNET
Tapping into the expertise of smaller independent stores, Galeries Lafayette has named Clara Cornet creative and merchandising director of its future flagship on Avenue des Champs-Elysées, effective since Feb. 1.
Cornet, who has been working in the United States for five years with edgy retailers Opening Ceremony and The Webster, reports to Nadia Dhouib, who will manage the new Paris department store.
“As part of her missions, Clara Cornet will be responsible for the unique and exclusive selection of brands and products, as well as the visual identity and content for this flagship store which will open in 2019 to establish it as the international benchmark for a ‘new generation’ commerce, by reinventing the physical store’s codes to surprise and inspire its clients at every visit,”. Continue reading
LEONARD FALL 2018-19 PARIS
Leonard Fall-Winter 2018-19 Paris Fashion Week. The Rite of Winter. As winter came, so did an unstoppable desire to flee the city and the drudgery of everyday life to rediscover nature. Destination: Iceland.
GOOD BUY AND GOOD LUCK
McCartney said her option to buy back Kering’s 50 percent stake in the brand had been in her contract from Day One. She said she couldn’t turn it down.
“It is an incredible blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that’s not awarded to many fashion designers with their name on the door. I have four children, I have the opportunity to take control of the business that bears my name and that is extraordinarily exciting. To be afforded that chance as a designer, as a woman, as a mother of four, it’s something I had to take on; McCartney said.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening after the Paris and London stock markets closed, François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering, said it was the right time for McCartney to move on.
“Kering is a luxury group that empowers creative minds and helps disruptive ideas become reality. I am extremely proud of what Kering and Stella McCartney have accomplished together since 2001,” he said, adding that McCartney and her team had brought far more than business to Kering. Continue reading
LIE SÉOUL FASHION WEEK
Chung Chung Lee was born and raised in Seoul to renowned designer parents who founded the legendary Korean fashion house LIE SANGBONG. Having access to the atelier since the age of six, runways and various fashion week events across the globe since the age of 14, Chung Chung was raised in an environment that fostered creativity and encouraged experimentation, hence his innate inclination toward the arts. Continue reading
FACTORY FOR TOMORROW
Louis Vuitton, the premium brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy, whose super-agile vertical supply chain for luxury leather goods rivals that of fast-fashion.
Today one of the house’s bags can be produced and delivered to stores in as little as two weeks but the aim is to shorten it to a week, Valérie Dubois, Vuitton’s director of workshops, France, said during a visit of one of the house’s ateliers in Sainte-Florence in the Maine-et-Loire region on Tuesday.
A handful of journalists were also taken to see an empty field in nearby Beaulieu-sur-Layon on which a state-of-the-art workshop geared to facilitating agility and speed is set to open in early 2019. The structure will serve as a template for future sites, with a new workshop located nearer to Paris also in the works for next year. Continue reading
THE CENTAUR SEOUL 2018
SANTOS BROKECASH MONTAIN
Jake Gyllenhaal is joining forces with Cartier as the new face of its Santos de Cartier watch, The star of films “Brokeback Mountain” an American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee, adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx.
Jake Gyllenhaal embodies the Santos de Cartier man. A man who commits utterly and does nothing by halves. A man who defines fearless as honest and true to himself,” Cartier said in a statement on Monday.
Though considered one of Hollywood’s most stylish leading men, Gyllenhaal has been highly selective in his brand endorsements.
The American actor and producer last year made his debut as an ambassador for Calvin Klein’s Eternity fragrance in a black-and-white spot shot by Cary Fukunaga. Continue reading
HERMES COPYCASH DIOR
After having been taught how to do business, they now are learning how to create a brand museum business like LVMH.
In the vein of fashion as museum art, Hermès has conceived a series of touring “Hermès Heritage” exhibitions, the first of which is titled “Harnessing the Roots” and will touch down at the house’s Beverly Hills boutique on March 31. A specially built structure behind the Rodeo Drive flagship will house the multiroom show until April 7.
The exhibitions explore the history and heritage of the house, which was founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, through a series of objects that highlight iconic themes, colors and motifs from the brand’s origins as a harness-maker and saddler up to the present day. Continue reading
LANVIN OLIVIER STONING
Since the Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International, took over Lanvin, the French fashion house, they started by parting away with its creative director Olivier Lapidus and general manager Nicolas Druz. In the meantime, the women’s collections will be designed by an in-house team in the interim.
Joann Cheng, president of Fosun Fashion Group and chairman of the board of directors of Lanvin, has been appointed chief executive officer of the house for an interim period, effective immediately. Druz, who had led the brand since 2017, will take up the new position of managing director of Fosun Fashion Group, where he will support the group’s business expansion in Europe.
“Olivier steered the maison through a transitional period between ownerships,” said Cheng. “We thank him for that, and wish him every success for his own brand and future endeavors.” Continue reading
HERMES, FLY ME TO THE MOON
Hermès International confirmed its objectives for revenue growth in the medium term, despite growing economic, geopolitical and monetary uncertainties worldwide.
The manufacturer of Kelly bags and silk scarves said that net profits raised by 11% last year to 1.22 billion euros, up from 1.1 billion euros in 2016.
Hermès is in mutation. It becomes a cash machine for stakeholders. When shareholders starts being more important than clients, the products enclines to become low quality products. However for Chinese clients it is not a big deal. Continue reading
JAPAN NEW LOOK
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
CHANEL PARIS FALL-WINTER 2018-19
A forest has grown beneath the nave of the Grand Palais. Surrounded by blue sky warmed by a gentle sun, trees stripped bare by the season and a floor covered with autumn leaves compose an Indian summer, as Karl Lagerfeld says.
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