ESMOD BEST FASHION SCHOOL

Opened in 1841, ESMOD International fashion design and business school has remained at the forefront of French fashion in one of the world’s fashion capitals, Paris : “a learning tool and a source of inspiration for our students”. Our curriculum covers all fashion professions and offers degrees in Fashion Design, Pattern making and Fashion business, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Long history, unique teaching methods and international network make ESMOD the best place to study fashion in Paris.

France still attracts top students from all over the world, and Esmod is the best school in the word. Congratulations to Satoru Ninothe, the president and Christine Walter-Bonini, the Executive Director, for that success.

WILL MET YOU AT THE GALA?

On May 6th, A few famous fashion names could be missing at this year’s Met Gala..Sources said Ralph Lauren, Dior and Calvin Klein have opted out of spending $200,000 or $300,000. on tables this year.

Ralph, Calvin and Dior have been big boosters of the event, collectively dressing scores of celebrities and high-profile guests for at least the last six years. Ralph’s presence at the Met Gala is even the reason Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are married — the two were both dressed by the designer in 2017, which led to an introduction the evening of the event, as the red-carpet moments are carefully coordinated by Wintour. The one asterisk here is Calvin, which seems to have skipped last year’s event, too, after many consecutive years in attendance. It’s now pulling out of the high-fashion space altogether, while the brand considers the way forward for the overall business. Continue reading

ARIANA GRANDE TRADEMARK

Ariana Grande is transforming her single hit into a beauty line. The singer, who released the pop earworm, “Thank U, Next,” in November and an album of the same name in February, has now filed for a trademark to create a line of beauty products.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Grande filed for a trademark under the title, “Ariana Grande Thank U, Next,” on April 2. The trademark is filed for a number of beauty products, including fragrances eau de cologne, eau de parfum and eau de toilette — body lotions, bath gels, body scrubs and body mists, among others. Continue reading

LOUBOUTIN IN FfRENCH

Christian Louboutin Beauty has inked a deal with Isamaya Ffrench.Isamaya grew up in Cambridge but at 18, after finishing school, she moved to London. She specialized in 3D design at Chelsea College of Arts and ended up going on to study Product and Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins as well as joining the Theo Adams Company; a London based collective of artists, dancers, musicians, actors and singers.

Ffrench, one of the most in-demand makeup artists today, has signed on as the brand’s new global makeup artist. She was chosen by Louboutin himself, according to the brand, and will be tasked not only with creating looks for campaigns, but with product development. Continue reading

CHANEL WON’T BACK DOWN

The luxury brand, which fired its shot across the bow of sophisticated resellers of designer goods last year by accusing The Real Real and What Goes Around Comes Around of selling counterfeits, is keeping the fight alive.

In its New York federal suit against The Real Real Inc., Chanel Inc. disputed the reseller’s assurances that it carries only authentic labels verified by a crack team of gemologists and other experts. Chanel had claimed that only Chanel itself can know what is genuine Chanel, while The Real Real panned the suit as little more than an effort to stamp out competitors in the secondary market.

“Simply put, [The Real Real] cannot hold itself out as an expert authenticator and seller of “100 percent real” Chanel-branded products and then, after advertising and selling counterfeit Chanel-branded goods, claim that its advertising claims are merely ‘general expression[s] of opinion’ that are ‘immune from challenge,’” Chanel’s lawyers argued in the brand’s filing Wednesday. Continue reading

L’XXL BY DELVAUX

The Brillant family welcomes a bold new shape: l’XXL Conceived in collaboration with French designer Jean Colonna, it is the inspired result of a meeting of opposites. Colonna’s cult rock and roll, androgynous style fuses seamlessly with DELVAUX’s craftsmanship and heritage to create a bag that is unique in its modern approach and pared-down aesthetic.

Deconstructed for a highly supple shape and oversized design, l’XXL is a bold interpretation of the Brillant. Laid-back and nonchalant, it plays with the features of DELVAUX’s most emblematic bag, whilst retaining its discreet and elegant essence.

Adorned with a purely ornamental buckle, it has two handles and a striped cotton canvas lining, screen-printed with DELVAUX’s signature crown logo. Its malleable form, two detachable pouches and considerable size give it a big presence, along with a customizable exterior tag containing a polished steel mirror for an added touch of luxury. Continue reading

TARMAC 22 GSTAAD

Located one floor above ground level at the recently reopened Gstaad Saanen airport in Switzerland, Tarmak 22 is a new 3,000-square-foot gallery bringing contemporary art to new heights.

“There are a lot of art collectors in Gstaad, but there aren’t really any spaces to organize shows and get together.

“The location is spectacular, the airport has a very alpine feel: the beams in the hangar are made of 8 meter strips of wood, and it sits in a valley in between the mountains. From the huge windows all around the hangar, the view is either all white in the winter, or all green in the spring.

And the landing strip with all the helicopters reminds me of James Bond movies, Continue reading

RAF SIMON’S HUGE COST

The cost of making Raf Simons’ vision for Calvin Klein a reality and subsequently unraveling his designs after they failed to boost profits has been laid bare and it’s larger than previously thought.

As PVH Corp., which has owned Calvin Klein since 2002, works fast to reconnect the iconic brand with consumers, the price of the whole debacle now looks likely to add up to around $240 million, up from a prior estimate of $190 million.

In addition to the $60 million to $70 million it invested in Simons’ 205W39NYC collection, which alongside his overhaul of Calvin Klein Jeans did not provide the returns it had hoped for, PVH said in its annual report released Friday that total costs related to the restructure necessary to repair the brand are likely to total $170.7 million. 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 .

ASTON MARTIN DBS GT ZAGATO

To celebrate the world-renowned Italian design house Zagato reaching a century in business, and its six-decade partnership with Aston Martin, a release entitled the DBZ Centenary Collection is forthcoming. Only 19 builds will be completed, and each will consist of two vehicles, and the pairing is inseparable. The first vehicle is a DB4 GT Zagato, a track-only continuation of the DB4 GTs produced by Aston Martin and Zagato in the ’60s, while the second is a road-legal DBS GT Zagato, and here you see a first look at the renderings of the beautiful machine. Continue reading

BOBOULES ICE BREAKER GAME

This is a ice breaker game and an excellent opportunity for team building. Nowadays companies are looking for encouraging their employees to work better together, Boboules offers you this chance to enable them to know each other better. But it is also a perfect game to do business with clients. It creates conviviality and links. Your clients will never forget it.

Here is a game that can be practiced by everyone, even in Louboutin or Lobbs. It’s akin to the “bowling green or lawn bowl” Australian chic and selective that the British adore and regarding business networking, you can trust them. Continue reading

LAFAYETTE CONQUER CHINA

Galeries Lafayette believes its China operations can become a one billion euro business and the French retailer aims to have ten stores across the nation by 2025, including a new store here that soft opened Saturday and a Beijing unit.

By 2025, the retailer plans to open in some of the fastest-growing cities in China, with the brand currently looking at opportunities in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Suzhou, and Chongqing, although plans have yet to be finalized. Galeries Lafayette is still a hot brand and all the developers want to work with Galeries Lafayette.

The company’s Haussmann location in Paris has been especially successful in attracting and brand building amongst Chinese shoppers. Continue reading

PAUL SURRIDGE HAS RESIGNED

According to a well-informed source in London, Paul Surridge would have resigned, or is closed to taking that step, leaving his role as creative director of the Roberto Cavalli brand. An announcement is expected to come as early as this weekend.

Sources said the designer over the past few months has grown increasingly frustrated because of the lack of investment in the development and refurbishment of the store network as well as in marketing and communications. He is also said to feel the design team has not been supported, as resources have been scarce.

“The decision last summer to look for an external investor and, more recently, to not provide any more funding have made the original project impossible, and therefore triggered Paul’s decision to look elsewhere,” said one source.

Committed to chief executive officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris and his team, Surridge agreed to stay on to design and present the Spring 2019 and Fall 2019 collections. However, sources now say that Surridge has been approached for another project and wants to distance himself from the company in order to be in the position to evaluate freely the next step in his career. The Roberto Cavalli company made no comment.

SALMA AWWAD NEW EDITOR

Harper’s Bazaar Arabia is bringing in a new lead editor with a design-laden background.

Salma Awwad will next week take up the role of editor in chief of the fashion magazine, one of the only U.S. fashion titles in the region. She succeeds U.K.-born Louise Nichol, who spent about four years at the title and ended her tenure with the March issue. Before that, the title was led by founding editor Rachel Sharp, who is Australian.

So it appears that Awwad is the first native of the region to lead the magazine in its nearly 12 years of existence, having been born in Kuwait to Egyptian parents who raised her in several places across the Middle East. She received her education in North America, and eventually went to The New School’s Parsons School of Design. Continue reading

NEW GILET JAUNES ROUND

The gilets jaunes movement shows no sign of dying down. Protests took a particularly violent turn on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, echoing the first acts of vandalism witnessed on Nov. 24.  Parts of Fouquet’s, a high-end restaurant known for having hosted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s election party, were set on fire.
Champs-Elysées stores including Longchamp, Zara, Swarovski and Hugo Boss were pillaged and damaged. Nearby cars and magazine kiosks were also set on fire.

"Like a huge majority of French people, today I feel a great anger wrote French prime minister Edouard Philippe on Twitter.The acts committed today weren’t done by protesters, but by looters, incendiaries and criminals. No cause justifies this violence. Continue reading