MANAGERS’ MERCATO

With immediate effect, Philippe Farnier has been appointed executive vice president international of Parfums Christian Dior. In an internal memo, parent company LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced changes in its Perfumes and Cosmetics Division earlier this month. That included the nomination of Véronique Courtois taking the helm of Parfums Christian Dior.

He succeeds Bruno Angibeau, who served as international managing director of Parfums Christian Dior since 2011. He is leaving LVMH.

For now, Farnier will continue to be chief executive officer of Travel Retail LVMH Beauty, working closely with Stéphane Rinderknech, the newly appointed chairman and CEO of LVMH’s Beauty Division. The group is cleaning up after the changes in the group’s newspapers, now it is the perfumes and after certainly couture… It was time!

LVMH SHAREHOLDERS MEETING

The shareholders of LVMH Mo*t Hennessy Louis Vuitton voted 81.6 percent in favor of an extension to 80 for its longtime chairman and chief executive officer, who is 73.  Dressed in the same shade of blue as President Macron, the luxury titan presided over LVMH’s first in-person shareholder meeting in three years on Thursday morning.
In another example of his penchant for hyperbole, Arnault boasted that Christian Dior, a crown jewel of the diversified group, is a French name as famous as Napoleon. As a veiled dig at smaller rival Kering, he pointed out that LVMH’s operating profits in 2021 approached those of other luxury groups.The Sphinx of luxury under the piramyde of the Louvre makes sense.
Since you don’t belong to some anonymous group, you are a part of the family, he smiled at the audience. A few weeks after Facebook’s name change to Meta, he reiterated his skepticism about the metaverse.

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LVMH NET PROFIT DIVES 84 % IN CHINA

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said net profit plummeted 84 percent in the first six months of the year, although it forecasts a gradual recovery in the second half, supported by a strong recovery in China during the second quarter.

Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH, said the group had shown “exceptional resilience” during the health crisis. “While we have observed strong signs of an upturn in activity since June, we remain very vigilant for the rest of the year,” he said in a statement.

“Thanks to the strength of our brands and the responsiveness of our organization, we are confident that LVMH is in an excellent position to take advantage of the recovery, which we hope will be confirmed in the second half of the year, and to strengthen our lead in the global luxury market in 2020,” he added. Continue reading

WHY LVMH IS INVESTING IN MASS BEAUTY?

The luxury conglomerate, which reported record revenue of nearly $60 billion for 2019, is setting its sights on affordable, “clean” beauty via its investment arm, LVMH Luxury Ventures. In an unlikely pairing, the fund invested in Versed, a fast-growing mass label where most products are priced at or below $17.99, and some under $10. The brand recently closed an $11 million Series A, led by Sonoma Brands with participation from Greycroft and Marcy Venture Partners.

This marks the second time in three months that LVMH has invested in a young-skewing line. In October, the conglomerate’s venture arm led a seed round for Madhappy a direct-to-consumer LA-based streetwear line that sells $165 hoodies and promotes mental health. Continue reading

HONG KONG AND LVMH

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said sales rose 17 percent in the third quarter, fueled by rapid growth in fashion and leather goods. Sales totaled 13.32 billion euros in the three months ended Sept. 30, up 11 percent on an organic basis, the company said. Analysts had banked on a 9 percent rise in like-for-like revenues.

LVMH’s performance was driven by its key fashion and leather goods division, which includes Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi. It saw revenues rise by 19 percent on a like-for-like basis to 5.45 billion euros during the third quarter, again sharply exceeding consensus estimates.

Wines and spirits were up 8 percent, while perfumes and cosmetics recorded organic growth of 7 percent. Selective retailing, which includes duty free operator DFS and beauty retailer Sephora, grew 4 percent, and watches and jewelry posted a 5 percent increase. Continue reading

THE LVMH PRIZE

Louis Vuitton has unveiled the names of the eight finalists for the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, and for the first time, designers from Nigeria, South Africa and Israel have made the final round of the competition.

“We are very proud of the international dimension of the prize. It’s really what sets it apart,” Delphine Arnault, the force behind the initiative. “The LVMH Prize is global. It reflects the fact that fashion is now a global market, with a capacity to reach and to touch more and more people, namely thanks to the Internet.”

Among those competing for a grand prize of 300,000 euros, plus a year of coaching from experts at family-controlled LVMH the parent of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi .

LVMH BUYS RODEO DRIVE

Louis Vuitton, is ramping up activity in the hospitality sector, eyeing three recently purchased properties on and around Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for the opening of a Cheval Blanc hotel.

In March 2018, LVMH bought a 6,200-square-foot empty retail space at 456 North Rodeo Drive for $110 million. Then, in September, the luxury powerhouse headed by billionaire Bernard Arnault purchased 468 North Rodeo Drive, the massive 22,250-square-foot, multistory building at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard that was previously occupied by Brooks Brothers, for $245 million from the trust of the family of Margaret J. Anderson, who built the pink stucco Beverly Hills Hotel. In November, LVMH scooped up the 26,523-square-foot Paley Center for Media museum behind the store, at 465 North Beverly Drive, from New York private real estate investment firm Jenel Management for $80 million. Continue reading

ALAIN CHEVALIER DIES AT 87

Alain Chevalier, co-founder of French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has died at the age of 87. Chevalier passed away on Thursday at his home in Megève.

In 1987, Chevalier merged his Moët Hennessy group with Henry Racamier Louis Vuitton, forming LVMH. As chairman of the group in 1989, Chevalier found himself at the center of French magnate Bernard Arnault most famous corporate conquest.

Racamier, the leader of the Vuitton family at the time, had enlisted Arnault help in 1988 to ward off raiders of the LVMH leather goods, Champagne, cognac and perfume group, which was publicly traded but controlled by a jumble of bickering families.

At Racamier behest, Arnault took a minority stake. But when Racamier added new conditions to the terms of their deal, Arnault turned on him and pitted family member against family member, launching what became one of the nastiest hostile takeover bids in French history. 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

LVMH ACQUIRE JEAN PATOU

LVMH has acquired a new perfume brand “Jean Patou”. The giant French conglomerate secretly took management control of Patou last year from Designer Parfums, a UK group based in Watford north of London, which is owned by Mehta business family.

After a couple of months the board of Jean Patou appointed Sidney Toledano to be its new chairman, replacing Nikita Mehta, the 28-year-old daughter of Dilesh Mehta, the CEO and founder of Designer Parfums.

At the time, LVMH board member, Toledano was CEO of Christian Dior. In January, he became the President of LVMH Fashion Group, which controls a series of significant fashion houses including Céline, Fendi, Givenchy, Pucci, Kenzo and Loewe. Continue reading

LUXURY A PARADOX !

luxuryparadoxThe modern luxury industry rests on a paradox-but is thriving nonetheless. At the Trang Tien Ptaza shopping mall in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, some days you have couples in wedding dress and costume who come and pose for photos in front of the fashion brand shop windows like Salvator Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton and/or Gucci offering the sort of backdrop for romance more usually provided by the sea or the mountains. The women are not wearing Ferragamo Vara pumps’ with their distinctive bows, or toting Vuitton subtly monogrammed handbags. Continue reading

LVMH RAID ON AN ITALIAN JEWELLER

repossiLVMH has taken a minority stake in Italian jeweller Repossi. The House of Repossi was founded in 1920 in Turin and the great-granddaughter of the company’s founder, Gaia Repossi was born in 1986 in Turin, Italy. Surrounded very early by her father’s experience and passion for creating artistic jewelry pieces, she develops an unconditional love for drawing and later painting.

She studied painting at the Beaux Arts of Paris, and obtained a master’s degree in archeology. During her studies, Gaia gradually entered the world of Repossi. In 2007 at the age of 21 years, Gaia was appointed Creative and Artistic Director of the House.

In 2010, Gaia collaborated with her friend Alexander Wang for his New York Fall / Winter runway show. The Repossi collection is sold at 90 locations in the world. Its turnover is estimated at around 15 million euros ($15.8 million). Delphine Arnault, deputy managing director at Louis Vuitton, said in the interview that “Gaia’s work points to a promising future” for the brand. Continue reading

MOYNAT IN HONG KONG

MOYNATTo celebrate its 165th anniversary, the Parisian leather goods house Moynat has opened a boutique in the heart of Hong Kong’s most famous mall, the Landmark shopping center, which houses 200 luxury brands.

The boutique is the house’s first location in Asia. Opened on January 8, the “Moynat Gallery” offers accessories and leather goods for men and women, a few rather famous trunks, and will, upon request, offer a personalized service: your bespoke, hand-engraved initials on the trunks and bags. Continue reading

THE GREAT SAMARITAN

samaritaineThe Administrative Court of Paris has again Monday stoped the building site of the Samaritaine department store confirming the cancellation of the building agrement. LVMH, the owner of the store says surprised … and bring the matter before the Council of State as might be expected.

The yard, which had briefly resumed since mid-October, will again be interrupted, as he had been the first time after the cancellation of the building permit by the administrative court in mid-May. He was seized by two associations, the Society for the protection of landscape and aesthetics of France (SPPEF) and SOS Paris, who were concerned about the transformation of the building and compliance with planning rules. Continue reading

FASHION BRIEF

I have always liked to hear how people meet for the first time. Each story is different and unusual.
I am going to tell you how I met Bernard Arnault : An attractive and handsome gentleman walked down the lobby of “the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. We could feel someone energetic and soft. He came alone and went straight to the point and said:  I am Mr. Arnault, the President of Ferinel and I want to build a French Luxury group. Can you tell me more about how works the fashion industry?

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EMPRISE BY LVMH

The Iconic fashion house, Louis Vuitton, introduces its new Emprise jewelry and watch collection with this trippy short named after the line, which explores Parisian origins of the range by taking the viewer through a seemingly never-ending labyrinth of rooms.

You got to wonder how they did it. Louis Vuitton showed its new Emprise collection in an “infinite mirror” installation by contemporary artist Mathias Kiss. The brand unveiled its new video celebrating the collection, an homage to Kiss’ work courtesy of director Raphaël Gianelli-Meriano and the Surface to Air studio. It’s a fast-paced mise en abyme—a telescoped sequence Continue reading