Category Archives: BREAKING MODE

IN FRONT OF PARIS MILAN FASHION WEEK

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In the past few seasons and despite the pandemic Milan Fashion Week has quietly but increasingly become a launchpad for several emerging names, under the lead of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, which has spearheaded a series of initiatives to enhance its mentoring role.

As much as the direct-to-consumer business model is mining the appeal, especially business-wise, of international fashion shows, there is still a slew of young designers who are sticking to the format in hopes that showcasing their collections within the frame of established fashion weeks can boost their appeal and global resonance.

Once deemed as dormant or at least less exciting than Paris, especially during the men’s season, the showcase has been able to attract new names, not only supporting Italian creatives but also drawing designers from all continents. Continue reading →

VUITTON 200 YEARS AGO

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Two hundred years after his birth, the Vuitton company is marking the milestone in ways its founder never could have imagined, including a video game with embedded NFTs, a documentary on Apple TV, window installations, artworks, and social media activations galore.

Media is evolving so quickly that every time there’s a new way of communicating, you have to tell your story all over again, said Michael Burke, chairman and chief executive officer of Vuitton. Generations are now defined by technology, not by age.

Vuitton Louis setting off from the tiny town of Anchay in eastern France at age 13. And yet the life story of Vuitton, who eventually reached Paris and apprenticed at renowned trunk maker and packer Romain Maréchal, contains many universal business truths, including the necessity of taking risks, of staying close to the customer, and of passing the baton to the next generation at the right time. Continue reading →

WELCOME TO THE BUBBLE OF…

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Consumers still appear willing to spend lavishly on luxury clothes and accessories, even as markets reopen and other activities like restaurants and travel compete for their discretionary dollars.

The world’s biggest luxury group, which owns 75 brands ranging from Dom Pérignon Champagne to Bulgari jewelry, said its fashion and leather goods, or FLG, division was once again the star performer in the second quarter, FLG activities posted sales of 7.13 billion euros in the three months to June 30, up 40 percent on an organic basis versus the same quarter in 2019, reflecting the resilience of star brands Louis Vuitton and Dior. Continue reading →

KRIS WU INFLUENCESEX

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Several brands, including Louis Vuitton, Bulgari and Porsche, have cut ties with top Chinese Canadian singer-actor Kris Wu as controversial claims surrounding his personal life emerged on Chinese social media over the weekend. A young woman who said she’d dated the pop star accused him of targeting young and sometimes underage females for sex. Continue reading →

VALENTINO 2022

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Fashion is not art,” believes Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. “Fashion always has a practical scope while art is an end in itself.” Ateliers couture collection shown in Venice on Thursday, as 22 out of the 82 designs on the runway.

Andrea Respino inspired a stunning intarsia coat almost trompe l’oeil, said Piccioli made of 150 different swatches of fabrics, from satin to taffeta, laminated and sequined. One could catch glimpses of the painting on the front of the garment, while the back was conceived with the help of Respino, responding with his own creativity to the design.

Another standout was a long, glittering sequined slipdress worn under a floor-length, taffeta bouillonné cape with a pattern reminiscent of poetic images of the moon reflected on a lake by Chinese art curator and photographer Rui Wu.

Fashion and art are creative practices that respond to different purposes one linked to the body and movement, the other completely free from constraints of sorts which nevertheless find a conjunction in the atelier: the place of making, of thinking with the hands, of translating a desire, an idea, a sensation into a tangible object. Continue reading →

FRANCK SORBIER 2022

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The title sounds like a philosophical fable, a dreamlike tale, a belief shared by believers from all walks of life. But he speaks, above all, despite his backward references, of an increasingly hot topicality on the subject of wealth and poverty.

Some time ago, the magazine « L’Histoire » had the headline « The Rich and the Poor, 1000 years of inequality ». Far from me the idea of any morality or a trial of intent. I must admit that I had a lot of trouble choosing the direction of this collection. To be honest, I didn’t want to choose and each character finally found its place.` The Servant, the Ferryman and the Relic.

The Servant embodies a girl of the woods, glades and ponds. A peasant woman who evolves in a bucolic universe which translates my desire for stripping back.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who has never left my thoughts, is once again present in Ermenonville, not far from Chaalis. He will live there for the last ten years of his life. Here, he is at the heart of his deep convictions, those related to nature. Continue reading →

GEHRY AND VUITTON NEW FRAGRANCE

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Louis Vuitton and Frank Gehry have teamed up yet again, this time on a new fragrance line, called Les Extraits Collection.

For it, the French luxury goods house’s master perfumer Jacques Cavallier has created a new collection of extracts of perfume, while Gehry conceived a bottle to hold the five different juices. Each flacon comes topped with a three-dimensional, silver-colored sculptural work reminiscent of wind moving through and swirling a silver sheath.

“My ambition was to reinvent the extrait de parfum of the 21st century, bringing newness and new emotions without having any connections with the existing fragrances at Louis Vuitton by breaking the rules,” explained Cavallier, during a press conference held in Paris on Monday.

The fragrances are called Stellar Times, Cosmetic Cloud, Dancing Blossom, Rhapsody and Symphony. Each represents a different major olfactive family and is concentrated at 30 percent.

The fragrance line marks Vuitton’s second collaboration with the legendary architect, who designed the Fondation Vuitton in the Bois de Boulogne in a Paris suburb.

VUITTON IGNITE THE LUXURY STREETWEAR

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The French luxury brand unveiled the sneakers as part of Virgil Abloh’s spring 2022 men’s collection and Nike Partners With Louis Vuitton on New Air Force 1 Sneakers.

In an homage to hip-hop culture, Virgil Abloh has brought together his two biggest brand partners to create what is sure to be one of this year’s hottest sneaker collaborations.

The shoes, designed in 21 colorways, were unveiled on Thursday as part of Abloh’s spring 2022 men’s collection, a sked whether they would be made available for sale, Vuitton responded: “Stay tuned for more details.”

The shoes feature a small neon green serrated tag on the side, and a label with the Louis Vuitton name and the Nike swoosh on the tongue. Continue reading →

MACRON INAUGURATES HIS MENTOR’S STORE

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Return on investment for Bernard Arnault with the inauguration of the new  department store “La Samaritaine” by the French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday evening, marking the culmination of a 16-year renovation process that promises to galvanize shopping and tourism in the centre of Paris as the city emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Oh la la!” the French leader exclaimed as he walked into the painstakingly restored Art Nouveau building, where 700 employees lined along the stairs and balconies greeted him with loud cheers. Will we be back to the 18th century when staff belonged to the Lord? It looks like Selfridges serie to follow on Netfilix

He praised Arnault and his group for their “relentless” commitment to the project, noting that none of it would have been possible without teamwork. Now LVMH is betting that its 750 million-euro investment will pay off, despite the continued absence of tourists, which are the lifeblood of DFS, the travel retail division which operates the store. Continue reading →

CHANEL THE FALL

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The French luxury house reported on Tuesday that revenues totaled $10.1 billion in 2020, down 18 percent at comparable rates.

This was in line with the forecast by Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, who said in June 2020 that the company was expecting a double-digit drop in sales for the full-year. Chanel underperformed competitors such as luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which saw revenues decrease 16 percent at constant exchange rates in 2020; Kering, which reported a 16.4 drop in organic sales, and Hermès International, which recorded a 6 percent decline. Continue reading →

SACAI AND JONES IN DIOR RESTAURANT

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The Dior men’s artistic director tapped Sacai designer Chitose Abe to work on a capsule line of 57 items that will bear a logo fusing the identities of both labels, with the Sacai name written inside the “i” in Dior a first for the French fashion house. The collection, dropping in November, is sure to be one of the most anticipated this year.

Abe is part of a loose collective that includes Jones, Virgil Abloh, Matthew Williams and Yoon Ahn who are responsible for transforming streetwear into a luxury category.

Both Abe and Jones are serial collaborators. Sacai has partnered with brands ranging from sportswear behemoth Nike to emerging designers like Tomo Koizumi, but Abe said it was important that the balance of power should be equitable.

“Dior is a very respected heritage brand which I’ve admired ever since I decided to become a designer, so it’s a huge honor. It’s also a brand that has historically demonstrated the importance of innovation, but I’m sure that for a maison like this, the decision to add another brand name to its own is not taken lightly. Continue reading →

FERRARI DIVERSIFICATION

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In an exclusive preview, creative director Rocco Iannone and chief brand diversification officer Nicola Boari mapped out their vision and strategy as Ferrari prepares to hold its first luxury fashion show on Sunday.

Ferrari is mythical, said the brand diversification creative director. Ferrari’s community recognizes itself in a series of values that is unique to the label and that need to be understood to be translated into fashion.

First runway fashion show in Maranello, at the headquarters of the storied luxury sports car maker. Iannone, who was tapped to the role in November 2019, will present the brand’s fashion manifesto with a collection for men, women and children. We will see.

VUITTON DANS QUEL MONDE ?

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Nicolas Ghesquière will unveil Louis Vuitton’s cruise 2022 collection with a livestream scheduled for June 15 at 2 p.m.

Perhaps far from the most famous Parisian monuments, the Expiatory Chapel allows us to explore one of the darkest facets of Paris: the French Revolution and the Terror. Built on the very spot where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were buried, it is one of the most secret monuments of the capital. Hotel Cheval should be a good idea.

The French luxury brand is keeping the location and other details under wraps, although it is understood the collection has already been paraded and filmed somewhere in the vicinity of Paris. The content will be viewable on Louisvuitton.com and its main social media. Continue reading →

COURRÈGES BACK IN 1986

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Courrèges is marking its return to men’s collections, joining the official calendar of the next edition of Paris Fashion Week for men’s wear.

Under new artistic director Nicolas Di Felice, the brand will present a dedicated men’s in a show without guests, due to be unveiled online on June 23 at 2:30 p.m. CET.

Among the returning brands are Dunhill, Facetasm and Gamut, according to the provisional calendar published on Friday by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s organizing body. The men’s shows, debuting collections for spring 2022, are scheduled for June 22 to 27.

As France progressively lifts pandemic-related restrictions, the men’s wear week has been cleared for physical shows and presentations, although the calendar did not specify the format of each show.

MILAN MEN’S FASHION WEEK

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Milan Fashion Week is expected to make a major comeback with a rich schedule of physical events in September only. For the time being, Dolce & Gabbana, Etro and Giorgio Armani are the only brands hosting physical runway shows during the week, on June 19, 20 and 21, respectively.

The week, which will involve a total of 63 brands, will also see the official debut of Glenn Martens as creative director of the Diesel label, as well as the launch of a capsule designed by Andrea Pompilio for casualwear brand Harmont & Blaine.

Ermenegildo Zegna will kick off the week with a digital event on June 18 and, among others, Fendi and Prada will also continue to opt for the digital format, scheduled on June 19 and 20, respectively.