Category Archives: BREAKING MODE

HEAD OF ACTIVE COSMETICS

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L’Oréal has named Myriam Cohen-Welgryn to head its active cosmetics division, bringing in a consumer goods veteran with experience in corporate environmental policies to run its fastest-growing business and join the group’s executive committee.

Cohen-Welgryn will report to Nicolas Hieronimus and succeeds longtime L’Oreal executive Brigitte Liberman, who will retire at the end of the year after 34 years at the beauty giant.

A graduate of the French business school ESSEC, Cohen-Welgryn joins from Mars, where she was recently a regional director of the pet food activity. The executive started out her career at Proctor Gamble in brand management in 1989. She later moved to Pepsi Co. and then Danone, where she lead the company’s environmental strategy. Continue reading →

KARL AND THE FAST FASHION

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It was a Big bang that the Lagerfeld for H&M project while he had never visited an H&M store himself, the designer noticed young people in his studio wearing its clothes, and he knew it eclipsed all other fashion brands withe of its mighty distribution network, then numbering about 1,000 stores in 19 countries.

Yet the designer reasoned that a sketch for a Chanel couture dress, Fendi fur coat, Lagerfeld Gallery blazer or H&M shirt involved the same process, cost and effort the design component being the most important. He proved that fast-fashion can also be creative.

Karl had never done mass market and he loved a challenge. He proved he could do an elegant line, but less expensive.

The H&M project magnified Lagerfeld’s fame, as he based the coed range on his emphatic and graphic personal style, hinged on high-collared shirts and lean black tailoring. H&M even included his fingerless driving gloves and a T-shirt bearing a sketch of his face. Continue reading →

PARIS RETURN EMPIRE OF SHOPPING

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The first, post-coronavirus shopping day in the French capital got off to a bumpy start on Monday, but by mid-afternoon a number of streets and some stores, too were buzzing with activity.

Tension had run high in the days leading up to France’s first opening day on Monday. People would be allowed to move around freely, without the obligatory permission form, and most stores were allowed to resume business. But shopping centers, along with restaurants and cafés, were left off the initial list of new openings to be revisited in three weeks’ time.

There was hope that the famed Boulevard Haussmann department stores Printemps and Galeries Lafayette would be given the green light, too, but at the last minute local authorities voted no, dashing the expectations of executives and store employees who had scrambled to outfit their stores, erecting plexiglass in front of checkout stands, setting up hand sanitizer stations, and taping distancing guides on the floors. Continue reading →

MAUREEN CHIQUET A GOLDEN GOOSE

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Former Chanel global chief executive officer Maureen Chiquet will be named president of Golden Goose next month, signaling the brand’s intention to further develop its U.S. market.

The appointment is expected to be finalized after the closing of the sale of the Italian brand to Permira, expected on June 10. Chiquet succeeds Patrizio di Marco, who remains a coinvestor in the label. Ceo Silvio Campara told I want to thank Patrizio, on behalf of the company, too, for being an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and for having known how to interpret the brand and transmit his passion for Golden Goose.

At the same time, the executive said he was “happy to welcome Maureen Chiquet, looking forward to new and important challenges. Chiquet, who exited Chanel in 2016, began her career with L’Oréal in France, later moved to San Francisco and rose through the ranks at The Gap as a merchant under the tutelage of Millard “Mickey” Drexler. Continue reading →

NEIMAN CHAPTER HEAVEN

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Bankruptcy spells a new chapter for the Neiman Marcus Group, with $4 billion of its debt wiped out, different owners and a fresh financing package to keep operating.

But according to the luxury retailer’s chief executive officer Geoffroy van Raemdonck, there is much that will stay intact, at least in the weeks and months ahead.

In an interview on Thursday, just two hours after NMG filed for Chapter 11, van Raemdonck that the existing management will remain with the company through the bankruptcy proceedings expected to last into the fall, and that based on past conversations with creditors, who are now the owners, he’s confident they’re on board with sustaining the Neiman’s transformation strategy he’s been championing for two years. Continue reading →

MICHAEL BURKE CALLS STEVEN BURKE

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Louis Vuitton called on French artist Steven Burke, aka Luckylefthand, to decorate the façade of its Pont Neuf headquarters in central Paris with his bright, minimalist artwork.

The artist, who hails from a surfing town on France’s southwest coast, painted bright, stylized rainbows and his signature hand motif in a nod to social distancing, the hands are symbolically placed with a meter-and-a-half space between each.

The artist said he sought to both convey the feeling of summer vacation while also capturing the current, transitory period.

The neighborhood is also home to LVMH’s sprawling Samaritaine complex, which will house a high-end hotel and small department store, which had been scheduled to open this spring before the coronavirus crisis hit. Continue reading →

PARSONS VIRTUAL SCHOOL

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Parsons Launches Podcast Series for Master’s Program, Public.

As students transition from the classroom to virtual learning, Parsons School of Design has launched a Retail Revolution podcast that features weekly episodes with experts from a variety of fields offering insights and perspectives on how retailers can weather the coronavirus crisis.

New episodes of the podcast, which is housed on its own web site as well as on Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn and Spotify, will air twice a week. So far, episodes have featured Meisha Brown, vice president of department stores for Kering Eyewear; Brandon Roe, marketer and author, and Noam Levavi, chief executive officer of ByondXR. Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE SAME LEVEL AS SAMARITAINE

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Galeries Lafayette’s Nicolas Houzé Preps the Family Store for Reopening. The fabled Parisian department store may return to business on May 11.

Century-old family business Galeries Lafayette has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Stores remain shut, tourists are not likely to return to the French capital anytime soon, consumption forecasts look dicey, sales are expected to drop by 50 percent this year that’s 1 billion euros less.

Executives are rethinking store hours, given constraints of public transport and worker availability child care remains a challenge, as schools open gradually, with limited capacity. Store hours will likely be reduced both during the week and on weekends, and discussions with unions are ongoing.

The group is working to open nearly all of its Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais stores, with the exception of flagships in shopping centers French officials have said large shopping centers will remain closed for the first phase of easing restrictions, which will be revisited on June 2. Continue reading →

PARADISE ISLAND EXILE

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On his island, billionaire Richard Branson confined out of reality. To live rich and happy, let’s live in hiding.” Richard Branson never liked this adage, which was a bit tampered with. The 69-year-old British billionaire has always preferred light and excitement. On Twitter, he presents himself as “a tie-allergic adventurer, philanthropist and troublemaker”. Continue reading →

CHATEAU MARMONT NOT ABLE TO REOPEN

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There isn’t a hotel as closely identified with Hollywood as the Chateau Marmont, which is probably why people have been talking a lot about its future amid the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus.

Rumors abound lately that the 90-year-old hotel and restaurant, still a favorite haunt of celebrities and industry types the world over, has been so pummeled by the coronavirus that it won’t be able to reopen, and its owner, Andre Balazs, might be forced to sell.

The hotel laid off nearly its entire staff (242 people) the same day California and Los Angeles went into lockdown and closed all nonessential business.

Employees received no severance and the layoffs are listed as “permanent” in a required disclosure filed with the state. Continue reading →

FLOWER OF CRYSTAL IN MAY

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Dior Celebrates Lily of the Valley With New Homewares Line. Dior’s tradition of distributing lily of the valley to its employees on May 1 has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Tradition has it that on May 1, Dior gifts its employees a sprig of lily of the valley a French custom said to date back to the 16th century, symbolizing good luck and happiness.

This year, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the May Day custom has been put on hold as most of Dior’s staff continues to work from home. Instead, the French fashion house is celebrating the bloom, which founder Christian Dior turned into a brand signature, with a new homewares collection designed by Cordelia de Castellane.

Currently holed up in her country house some 45 minutes from Paris, the artistic director of Dior Maison has revisited the emblematic house motif with a selection of porcelain plates, hand-painted or engraved glasses, and blown-glass decorative baubles and decanters Continue reading →

BALMAIN VERY RICH BUT STINGY

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Balmain Donates 12 pairs eyewear to Raise Funds for COVID-19.The frames will be sold on video commerce platform NTWRK to raise funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The French fashion house is donating for sale 12 pairs of prototype sunglasses customized by creative director Olivier Rousteing for its men’s and women’s shows in January and February, marking the launch of its license with Lugano-based eyewear start-up Akoni.

The sunglasses will go on sale on video commerce platform NTWRK as part of an activation by RED, the nonprofit organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to raise funds for the Global Fund’s efforts to combat COVID-19.

Balmain and Akoni are donating 12 pairs of the Wonder Boy style that Rousteing has designated as his own wear-it-everyday choice of frames. Continue reading →

WINTOUR SHRED BY TALLEY

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André Leon Talley has detailed the ageism and racism that he faced during his decades-long career in fashion. André Leon Talley’s new book won’t be out until September, but many are already feasting on the fallout he had with his former Vogue boss Anna Wintour.

Penguin Random House has pushed back the release of “The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir” to September. But The Daily Mail’s recent recap of the book exposed how the two high-powered friends and ex-colleagues have fallen out. In an interview Friday, Talley, Vogue’s former creative director, detailed his side of the back story, and emphasized how his upcoming tome centers on his career in fashion journalism, not just his years of Wintour.

Talley said that he and Wintour “had a conversation” and she asked that passages about her daughter Bee Shaffer’s wedding and a few other private references be removed. “This is not a vengeful book about Vogue and Anna Wintour. There are parts in the book where I say that some of the best years of my life were at Vogue.

That said, he added, “From a humanitarian perspective, she left me with psychological scars. I was often left blowing in the wind without any explanation, which I think perhaps she should have given me.” Continue reading →

KERING SADE IN CHINA

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Kering sales fell 15.4% to 3.2 billion euros ($3.47 billion) in the first quarter, impacted, like its rivals, by store closures. That was a 16.4% drop like-for-like, which strips out the effect of acquisitions and currency swings.

At its star Gucci label, which powers most of its profits, like-for-like sales were down 23.2% in the period, contrasting with a less pronounced 13.8% drop-off at Kering’s Saint Laurent brand.

From the start of April, we’ve seen an improvement and positive trends for most of our brands in mainland China. Kering, like rival LVMH, said it was trimming its dividend payout against 2019 earnings by 30%. The firm, which also owns Balenciaga, has been one of the big winners of a luxury goods bonanza in recent years alongside LVMH, and Gucci in particular had been booming.

That has put the cash-rich conglomerates in a stronger position than some standalone brands that were already in turnaround mode when the coronavirus crisis hit.

GUCCI UNDER THE SKIN

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Gucci’s agreement with trade unions revealed on Saturday is a first sign of a restart of fashion’s production pipeline that does not involve protective masks or medical overalls. On April 20, the Florence-based company will reopen its leather goods and shoes prototype industrial complex called ArtLab.

While Italy remains in lockdown until May 3, the reopening was made possible by government provisions issued on April 10 and following an agreement signed with labor unions. The latter is based on the Safety Protocol signed on March 15, reinforced through a collaboration with the virologist Professor Roberto Burioni from Milan's Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. Continue reading →

MUSEUM TOY FOR A BILLIONAIRE

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Billionaire François Pinault has decided to postpone the opening of his art museum at the Bourse de Commerce, renovated by Tadao Ando, until spring 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The historic building, renovated by the famous Japanese architect, was originally scheduled to be inaugurated in June after several years of renovation. It was completed on 9 March and workers were busy putting the final touches to the premises when France entered quarantine on 17 March.

“Following the announcement of continued containment due to the health crisis and given the uncertainty about the date of resumption of activity, the work required to complete the Bourse de Commerce cannot be carried out according to schedule,” the Pinault Foundation said in a statement on Friday.

The City of Paris is in the process of completing the construction work outside the building. Initially scheduled to last three months, this phase is now expected to take eight or nine months due to the rules of social distancing that are likely to remain in place once the lockdown is lifted, the institution explained. Continue reading →

CARTIER SALE IN CHINA

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Cartier to Launch New Santos-Dumont Watch on Tmall’s Luxury Pavilion. As high-end labels clamor for a piece of China’s online market all the more important, with much of the world at a standstill Cartier is drawing on its partnership with Tmall’s Luxury Pavilion to launch a new Santos-Dumont watch model on the Alibaba e-commerce platform.

Dior debuted its Gem Clutch, a satin purse adorned with a jeweled flower, on WeChat last week before rolling it out in other markets, while Louis Vuittion promoted its summer 2020 collection through livestreaming on Xiaohongshu, a popular social-commerce platform. Continue reading →

ZEGNA RESTRUCTURING US

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The Ermenegildo Zegna Group is restructuring its U.S. organization. Luca Lo Curzio, currently worldwide chief marketing and digital officer, has been appointed North America chief executive officer. He will succeed Robert Aldrich, who will leave the Italian men’s wear powerhouse on April 30 to pursue other professional opportunities. Lo Curzio is expected to take on his new role as soon as the COVID-19 emergency ends and allows the move.

Lo Curzio joined Zegna in May 2016 from Luxottica Group. At the Italian eyewear giant, he held the role of global marketing director, retail sun luxury, managing the U.S., U.K., Australia/New Zealand, South East Asia, South Africa, Latin America, Iberia, Germany, Turkey, India and Middle East and North Africa regions. Previous experiences include managerial roles at Bain & Company, Danone Group, and L’Oréal Saipo Group.

The Zegna family and the Ermenegildo Zegna company’s top management have pledged personal donations totaling 3 million euros to fight the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. Continue reading →