FASHION AND RIOTS

Hedi Slimane, artistic director of Céline, faced with the fear of riots, did not present this Sunday, July 2. As a challenge to the rules of Paris Fashion Week, Jacquemus chose the week between the men’s and haute couture shows to present its collection, on June 26, off-calendar, in the very extravagant setting of the Château de Versailles basin created by Lenôtre.

Thirteen years later, the “customary” of this calendar, which Jacques Mouclier and Pierre Berger had organized for the profession, and not Didier Grumler, as some Irish and other journalists say… recomposing history in low-brow books for the fashion Net-Woke.

So here we are, the ambient mess has already begun, and this year is even worse than the previous ones, because you have to beg for invitations, you have to show up like a manant in either a bure dress or a “drag” dress, for an obligatory four-legged walk as a sign of submission, and so get the chance to be invited to collections that won’t be worthy of the name anyway. That the way it is …

FIRE AT TYFFANY

A fire broke out Thursday morning in Tiffany & Co.’s recently renovated flagship store in Midtown, but the “money never sleeps” boutique was already preparing to reopen a few hours later.

At 9:38 a.m., the New York City Fire Department received a call and crews responded to 727 Fifth Avenue at East 56th Street. According to a NYFD spokesperson, no injuries were reported. Two employees who were on the scene before the store opened at 10 a.m. were sent for medical consultation as a precautionary measure. Every day, 200 employees work in this busy location.

Following a fire department inspection, the retailer has postponed the store’s reopening until Friday. Jewelry, watches, porcelain, gifts, accessories and other luxury items were not damaged by the fire – even the fire didn’t want them! Jeweller wins environmental award and commits to decarbonization, a bad start for CO2.

PACO THE FOURTH OF JULY

With its fashion and fragrance businesses synced up, Paco Rabanne is ready for its close-up and global expansion. The Mariano Puig PlanasPuig-owned fashion and fragrance house is launching makeup, kicking off a D2C intensification with a flagship store in New York City and gradually bringing its new visual identity to several product lines and retail spaces.

This is crystallized in the brand’s new logo, with typeface inspired by the brand’s 1968 hit perfume Calandre. Dossena’s contribution has bolstered Rabanne’s fashion credibility, reworked and clarified the brand’s key aesthetic codes, and recently made significant inroads with celebrities by adding eveningwear.

Beyoncé, for instance, wore a gleaming, waist-cinching Rabanne gown created from round, mirror-effect plates when she appeared at the Stade de France last month. Continue reading

SAINT SERMIN NAKED SOULS

We could have said woolly hair, but in the case of de Saint “Serv-nain”, it was more like short hair. Eureka! “j’ai trouvé”, which I translate for bimbos as “silly” as a thong string. Well, move along, there’s nothing to see in the courtyard of the Musée des Archives Nationales in Paris, and yet there’s so much to read. When I write, I weigh my words, but when I see this, words weigh me down. Here, then, is the flat dressmaker par excellence, who judges beauty in the same way that a tic-tac-toe stumbled upon Olympus would judge the beauty of a goddess’s ass.

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JACQUEMUS LES FOURBERIES D’ESCARPIN

These are the aristocratic women of our time, the Marie-Trottinettes of Versailles, who come to contemplate the couturier of couturiers, the man who can neither sew nor draw, and who is imbued with the noble desire to instruct us.

On Monday, guests at the Jacquemus fashion show at the Château de Versailles shielded themselves from the sun with ivory-colored parasols. The 75 boats lined up along the red runway that skirted one bank were accompanied by baroque music.

The goal of this ambitious fashion show was to position the Jacquemus brand in a more important league, as well as to aim for sales of 500 million euros by 2025. But that’s not going to happen with the dresses presented.

As a nod to Marie-Antoinette and Versailles’ court fashion, the collection is remembered for its frothy skirts and ugliest pantyhose. We’ve certainly not read the same history books.

After a scorching weekend in Paris, we were glad that temperatures had dropped sufficiently for a presentation as hot as the street in Amsterdam’s red light district like the carpet in Versailles.

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VAN NOTEN BY COLOR

Van Noten’s absence of prints robbed the show of its usual visual strength, but it did highlight two things: his distinctive tailoring and his mastery of color. Van Noten favored fluid, lightweight and sometimes gossamer fabrics, putting his strong-shouldered jackets in shirt-quality fabrics that could be tucked into high-waisted pants. Continue reading

NIGO TAKADA

Finally, Nigo chose a symbolic bridge for his track: the Passerelle Debilly, first known as the “Passerelle de l’Exposition Militaire”, then as the “Passerelle Magdebourg” and the “Passerelle Billy”, named after Jean-Louis Debilly, a general in the First Empire, and soon to be known as the Passerelle Pharrell. One of the bridges over the Seine linking the Palais de Tokyo to the Eiffel Tower. What if Kenzo wasn’t Pharrell Williams? He’s a fixture on every LVMH catwalk. Perhaps a Japanese fashion brand Kenzo Takada “A bridge between Afro and French cultures?

THE FUTUR OF LANVIN FUTURE

Lanvin’s next collection will feature rapper Future. After shocking the fashion world last April by announcing the departure of Bruno Sialelli, Lanvin is about to enter a new era: the French fashion house is launching a new entity called “Lanvin Lab” in addition to its collections for men and women, which will continue to be presented at Paris Fashion Week.

International talents are invited to collaborate on projects. We now know who the first guest will be: the American rapper Future, who has already appeared in Hugo Boss advertising campaigns and on the front row of runway shows.

The fashion house explains its decision by its desire to celebrate “an innovative, individualistic vision that bridges music and fashion”. The collection is also a fitting tribute to its designer, Jeanne Lanvin, whose daughter, Marguerite, was an accomplished musician.

Following in the footsteps of Pharrell Williams, another multi-disciplinary artist originally from the music scene, who this week presented his first collection for Louis Vuitton, Future and Lanvin are expected to present their first collaborative drop in the coming months, comprised of clothing and accessories for women and men.

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RICK OWENS BLACK IS BLACK

There are times when Rick Owens wears colors other than black, no way! Owens opted for black for his spring 2024 collection.

He opened the show with flared pants with high, cinched waists, giving the appearance of endless legs not seen since the modeling heyday of Nadja Auermann. Owens created small tops in silk or leather wrapped around the shoulders and chest.

In the parvis of the Palais de Tokyo, Owens’ favorite venue in June, colored smoke exploded from metal rigs plopped in the reflecting pool and presented these elongated, almost alien silhouettes. As a result of the forecast rain, bits of ash drifted down over downwind audience members.

After that, the volumes started increasing, first with strange little smoke stacks protruding from the shoulders, then widening out to the linebacker proportions Owens pioneered, here in featherlight, mille-feuille constructions.

A lustrous habotai silk, which is more commonly used for linings, was featured in billowing shirts, tunics, parkas, and robes. Radical boots resembling pneumatic walking braces were worn by many models

CITIZEN KANE FALL

Christopher Kane Shutters Namesake Company. One of London’s most renowned and talented designers is closing his label, and hoisting a For Sale sign. The company said the board of Christopher Kane Ltd. has recently resolved to file a notice of intention to appoint FTS Recovery as administrators to wind down operations. Continue reading

SETCHU RTW SPRING 2024

A presentation in the outskirts of the city doesn’t make for the most convenient of appointments to squeeze into a packed show schedule, but the fashion crowd freed up a spot on their agenda pronto for Setchu, especially after Satoshi Kuwata received the annual LVMH Prize earlier this month. Continue reading

FENDI FACTORY

No black nightie for sleepless nights at Fendi, and in Benito’s country, we discover workers lost in the intricacies of work attire… Admittedly, my conception of man dates more from the Neanderthal than from Homo sapiens and, consequently, the one presented to me has none of my values or references. But is it really necessary to choose and to want at all costs to make us drink out of a Caterpillar dildo of a Henri III mignon or a Païva, in the masculine form, and not complain?

Silvia Venturini Fendi a few days ahead of the luxury brand’s show at its factory in Capannuccia, Bagno a Ripoli, a 30-minute drive from Florence.

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JAQUEMUS LIKE PUTIN IN VERSAILLES

Jacquemus, the French brand known for its cinematic runway shows in spectacular locations such as a lavender field and a salt mine, will visit the Château de Versailles for its next fashion show on June 26, as part of a brand elevation strategy that includes plans for an international retail rollout.

Designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, known for his Mediterranean aesthetic and deft use of social media, follows in the footsteps of major brands such as NafNAF and Zara. What could be better than a king’s castle for the king of tartuffery?

To be able to do a fashion show at Versailles has always been a childhood dream,” declared the couturier, who can neither draw nor sew a dress.

But Jacquemus CEO Bastien “Dag-Usant” has his work cut out for him! The initiative is part of a long-term strategy to elevate the brand somewhere.

Chiquito handbags, the brand’s best-sellers, start at 490 euros, the company’s cash cow. At 5.2 cm long and 8.7 cm high (with handle), it can only hold the letter “J” in the Jacquemus logo. It’s worn hanging from a ridiculous finger.

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FASHION THE PRICE WE PAY

According to three people with direct knowledge of the matter, EU antitrust regulators are investigating how Kering’s (PRTP.PA) Gucci and other fashion firms set prices of handbags and leather goods for distributors.

Reuters reported previously that the European Union raided Gucci’s Milan site, which makes such products, at dawn in response to a Reuters report. Kering confirmed at the time that Gucci had cooperated with EU regulators.

An EU competition watchdog is investigating whether the companies are imposing consumer prices on multi-brand retailers selling their products and threatening not to sell to them if they don’t.

EU antitrust laws prohibit such practices, and breaches can result in fines of up to 10% of a company’s global revenue.

Guess, a U.S. clothing company, was fined 40 million euros ($43 million) for preventing retailers from setting the retail price of its products independently.

FARRELL DIED AT 89

David C. Farrell, died June 5 in St. Louis. He was 89. Farrell served as May Co.’;s chairman and chief executive officer for 19 years until retiring in April 1998. He’s credited with shaping the modern-day department store, pioneering matrix buying that requires vendors to meet strict sales and profit targets, thereby narrowing the list of vendors that make it into the stores, and running highly productive and tightly managed department stores.

He was at the forefront of big brand marketing, acquisitions, consolidations and aggressive cost management.

The late Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, once called Farrell the best retailer in the country.He was a great merchant and mentor to so many retail leaders through the past 40 years.

Farrell was a workaholic who micromanaged and had an authoritative management style, often labeled dictatorial. He set a strict culture at May Co.

RADIANCE IS A SERIOUS MATTER

When Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, unveiled the new Bulgari Hotel on Thursday, he expressed his enthusiasm for the world’s 9th luxury hotel BULGARI, which has special significance because of its location in Rome, where Bulgari is based, marking as well as its historical significance.

With six floors and over 151,000 square feet of space, plus an additional terrace offering breathtaking views of Rome from the Vatican to the Villa Medici, there was no shortage of superlatives. The Pope himself is said to have blessed the luxury lord’s new flagship from his bed.

Zendaya and Priyanka Chopra attended the opening party, as did Serge Brunschwig, CEO of Fendi, and Toni Belloni, Managing Director of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. All the inteligentia of the LVMH group for an inauguration worthy of French luxury.