TAISNE RIOCOUR AT THE TOP OF THE SUBLIME
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.
In France, there are sometime chapels which, without noise, export the image of these in all their greatness, like a kind of abstract goddess escaping from a bottle after a light explosion, like Bacchus and the lord of the wine. So here is Les Riceys in the Côte des Bars with its 866 hectares of vineyards, and a commune that has the largest wine-growing area in the whole of Champagne.
Like Helios, Pierre welcomes us with his brotherhood, watching over the pleasure of the others. Coco Chanel said about champagne: “I only drink champagne on two occasions. When I am in love and when I am not. Here, the family produces nectar that helps to amaze the taste buds, but above all, they are passionate. The land of Ricey goes from the mystical to the divine with Pierre, it’s amazing, but also overwhelming. A historian’s concept, you may ask? No, I was thinking more of a network of links that governs a family for a set of poles that found the slopes of the heart of others.
BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY
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
A WOMAN AT THE HEAD OF FASHION
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.
Laura said she would work with designers, industry partners and government bodies to advance the organisation’s mission to champion British fashion through programmes that support creative talent.
AWARDS FOR WINTOUR AND LAUREN
Fashion designer Ralph Lauren receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on January 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Biden presents 19 recipients with the nation’s highest civilian honor.
With Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on January 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.
This is the nation’s highest civilian honor, recognizing Lauren’s extraordinary contributions as a visionary fashion designer, pioneering entrepreneur, innovative business leader and dedicated philanthropist. No comment for Wintour who had asked France and Great Britain for an award, it will finally be the United States that will obtain it thanks to her unwavering support for the Biden campaign.
NO 21 PRE-FALL 2025
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.
CALENDAR OF MY UNWANTED DESIRES
The men’s and couture calendars published by the Fédération des méandres and the Haute “mouture” de la Mode will be from January 21 to 26, and only 38 shows of the men’s collections in 2025 will be presented, followed by 28 fashion houses from January 27 to 30.
Among the expected highlights of the men’s calendar, we find the arrival of New Yorker Willy Chavarria and the return of Jacquemus back home, who had left Paris since 2001.
MANGO FOUNDER DIES
Isak Andic, non-executive chairman and founder of Mango, died Saturday. The Spanish retailer’s chief executive officer Toni Ruiz confirmed that the cause of death was an accident.
Andic was 71 years old. According to media reports, Andic died falling almost 500 feet in a cave of the Montserrat mountain range near Barcelona, in Catalunya, Spain, during an excursion with his family. We extend our deepest condolences to his family.
FM
TROTTER AND KERING
Kering and Bottega Veneta are delighted to announce the appointment of Louise Trotter as Creative Director.Formerly Creative Director of Carven, she is renowned for her meticulous approach to craftsmanship. She will join Bottega Veneta at the end of January 2025.
Thus, Chanel will be able to give the information that Matthieu Blazy will become the creator of the Coco brand, as announced in our magazines a few weeks ago.
The Sunderland-born designer studied marketing and design at Newcastle Polytechnic. She then moved to the US to work as Vice President of Womenswear Design at Gap in New York. She then became Head of Womenswear at Calvin Klein, before taking on a design role at Tommy Hilfiger. Continue reading
THE NEW FASHION EMPIRE
Sales at Zara’s parent company Inditex are holding steady, albeit slowing from pandemic peaks, with sales up 9% during the holiday season from November 1 to December 9.
That’s still below the 14% sales surge seen at the start of last year’s holiday shopping season, however. The news sent shares down 6.5% in Wednesday trading after the news broke. Zar is taking market share from the LVMH-owned brands.
CHANEL CHINESE STYLE
These Chinoiserie give us a luxury without doubt, and without doubt, there is no mystery, and without mystery, there is no more dream. Here the public, brain in hand, film and look through the prism of their mobile phone, and even the AI will not make this collection a sublime moment.
THE QUEEN OF TAX
T
he Alexander McQueen brand is the subject of a tax probe by Italian authorities, Kering announced on Monday. Kering and the company are confident that their operating mode is correct and are pursuing these discussions constructively, it said.
Italy’s financial police allege that Alexander McQueen failed to declare between 60 million euros and 70 million euros in taxable income between 2016 and 2022, leading Florence prosecutors to open an investigation.
To settle an investigation into Gucci’s tax payments related to its Italy sales between 2011 and 2017, the conglomerate paid the Italian Revenue Agency a total of 1.25 billion euros in 2019. Italian tax authorities claim Kering intentionally avoided Italian taxes by directly operating a Swiss subsidiary named Luxury Goods International to distribute Gucci products in Italy. Continue reading
A NICHE MARKET
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
A NIGHT IN NEW YORK
In 2024, New York City is looking forward to a repeat performance of last year’s holiday season. The city attracted 4.4 million visitors in 2023 who spent over $500 million and created 14,000 jobs.
New York City is back, as said Arnold… Holidays are a time when millions of people come to our shopping districts from around the world and we can’t wait to welcome them. Our local economy benefits from thousands of jobs and businesses. There were 4.4 million people in town on the weekend before Christmas last year.
The most popular retail hubs in Manhattan were Fifth Avenue, Bryant Park, Times Square, and SoHo, as well as downtown Flushing in Queens and MetroTech in Brooklyn.
A SILVER TIFFANY AND CO
Tiffany & Co. has opened a reimagined boutique at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, spanning more than 8,000 square feet. According to the American jeweler owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the new location reintroduces Tiffany to Canada and showcases the brand’s latest design concept: a luxury and elevated destination featuring exceptional fine jewelry and diamond designs.
The store’s façade fuses heritage and inventiveness, with 32,000 glass bricks framed by polished aluminum panels. Inspired by the concept of “diamonds in the rough,” the design symbolizes Tiffany’s expertise in transforming rough diamonds into jewelry. The arrangement of the glass bricks further enhances the sense of movement, creating a sense of fluidity and dynamism; visitors are greeted by a custom light sculpture designed by architect Hugh Dutton, paying homage to Canada’s national symbol, the maple leaf.
CHANEL IN THE HOMELAND OF COPYCATS
Although Chanel never visited Hangzhou, the Chinese city dubbed “heaven on earth,” she was fascinated by black lacquer. China tops the list of countries producing counterfeit and pirated goods.
A collection that brings together the intricate skills of more than 100 artisans from the house’s subsidiary subsidiaries, including embroiderers, feather workers, florists, goldsmiths, pleaters, shoemakers, hatters, milliners, glove makers and tanners, was designed by the studio team and depicts the fictional life of a traveler, perhaps modeled on Coco herself, a journey not to Germany, but to China. Continue reading
THE LUCKY BUGGER CLIENTS
The empty house Jacquemus is about to launch its own lottery, to attract customers to its empty store of products worthy of the name. I hope that the National Gaming Authority (ANJ) is aware of this.
A coupon of communication after having opened its first store in London, by offering the British to participate in a traditional French bad tea ceremony thinking that the English know nothing about Tea, and to win a “Bisou Chaine” bag, you know the one made in China and bad quality at 550 euros.
It will be on Instagram, that Jacque mumuse announced the news last Friday. And wants to offer his community to be part of the 200 participants drawn at random to attend and play the Jacquemus Lottery. We can say for next year that he will have had 200 clients.
This pinch butt will be held in Paris “in an iconic place, presented by an icon”, probably a supermarket bimbo. It will be on December 5 at 6 p.m. No more informations.
SUITCASE BUILDING IN BIG APPLE
Luxury brand Louis Vuitton has concealed its New York flagship under renovation under a suitcase-like façade and moved into a temporary shop.
From East 57th Street and 5th Avenue a trunk-inspired facade simultaneously covers a temporary location around the corner, with sculptures developed with OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu . As for the next Vuitton hotel on the Champs Elysées in Paris.
A VETERAN PROCTER IN LVMH
Beware of knockoff, sometimes it can be surprising..Dior Creates New Industrial Department, Taps EssilorLuxottica Veteran as Chief Production Officer. The French luxury house vowed to take a larger proportion of its production in-house following a scandal over subcontractors in Italy.
After being hit by a scandal over its subcontractors in Italy earlier this year, Dior is bolstering its in-house production arm. The French luxury house revealed Wednesday the creation of a new industrial department, tasked with strengthening its overall production capacity over the long term and ensuring the continuity of its knowhow.
“It is more important than ever to sustainably support our various production processes at each stage of manufacturing, respecting the ethical regulations in force, overseeing all the house’s activities, while preserving and promoting Dior’s creativity, craftsmanship and exceptional savoir-faire,” said Delphine Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior Couture.
BACCARAT WHY NOT !
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.
This transition comes as Baccarat seeks to strengthen its international presence and capture new audiences in a constantly evolving luxury market. It’s always interesting to watch someone who has arrived in a profession they don’t know and to see if coming from Dior they can manage a crystal factory!
A IDOL FOR KORS
Idol previously ran Michael Kors through a major growth spurt as the brand transformed from small designer to a publicly traded force in the accessible luxury handbag market.
Now he’s taking direct control of a business in the midst of a major turnaround, while keeping his day job as chairman and CEO of parent company Capri Holdings, which also owns Versace and Jimmy Choo.
After 16 years as CEO of Michael Kors, Cedric Wilmotte is leaving the company. Philippa Newman will take on the role of chief product officer at Michael Kors following the changeover. As president of accessories and footwear, Newman has been with the brand for 14 years. Continue reading