After launching men’s wear on a beach in the South of France last June, Simon Porte Jacquemus, is back to Paris. His new headquarters is four times bigger and he is entering a transitional phase as the brand grows. 69 Quai de Valmy, 75010 Paris

Simon Porte Jacquemus grew up in the countryside in Provence. He comes from a family of farmers and when he was a kid, he was fascinated by his dungarees which looked like a uniform. Continue reading →

Cartier is stepping into its retail future, as it reopens the doors to its revamped London flagship on New Bond Street.

The boutique which is the result of an ambitious nine-month renovation project and even more years of planning offers an elegant and luxurious space that resembles a home and an exhibition space, as much as it does a shop floor.

"If you compare the historical boutique with the one we are opening, the base might be the same, but one has nothing to do with the other," said Laurent Feniou, Cartier’s U.K. managing director, during an interview. He added that the company has moved its London offices from Bond Street to Regent Street as part of the revamp process in order to dedicate the whole building to retail and reimagine what its London flagship can look like.

In line with Cartier’s overall ethos of marrying tradition and modernity, the new space emphasizes some of the listed building’s original features, including wooden panels and a grand wooden staircase that was previously hidden away. Continue reading →

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said on Friday it had agreed to buy luxury travel operator Belmond Ltd., owner of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train and hotels including the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, for $2.6 billion, significantly widening its footprint in the hospitality sector.

Established over 40 years ago with the acquisition of Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Belmond operates in 24 countries with a portfolio of 46 luxury hotel, restaurant, train and river cruise properties. It posted revenues of $572 million and adjusted EBITDA of $140 million in the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

“Belmond delivers unique experiences to discerning travelers and owns a number of exceptional assets in the most desirable destinations,” said Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH. Continue reading →

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Joséphine arrived in Paris in 1779 from her native Martinique, soon to steal the heart of Napoleon Bonaparte, before being crowned empress of France. A woman of style and passion, Joséphine infused Parisian society with a sense of originality and audacity, which find fresh expression in the city today.

joséphine’s chateau, Malmaison, was where she indulged her passion for flowers and plants, becoming widely respected among the botanists of her day. Her love of nature helped spread the 19th-century fashion for gardens and greenhouses like the Bagatelle rose garden, the Auteuil Greenhouses and the Jardin des Plantes. Today, this lush, exuberant spirit lives on in Paris’s elegant rooftop and vertical gardens, while Malmaison welcomes thousands of visitors every year. Joséphine’s jeweler, Chaumet, celebrates this love of flowers in its Jardins collection. Continue reading →

This is not Elizabeth Taylor, anyway,” Karl Lagerfeld declared. Encamped in a suite at the Mercer Hotel  which the Chanel entourage took over in full in preparation for the house’s Métiers d’Art show on Tuesday night Lagerfeld quickly dispelled any preconception of a luxe cheese fest of overdone makeup and tricked-out headdresses inspired by La Liz’s (albeit delightful) turn as Cleopatra.

There’s a timelessness to it, he said of the allure of ancient Egyptian imagery, noting that the idea for the collection crystallized before the location was secured. “I always was interested in the old Egypt, from 3,000 years before Jesus Christ. And then I said it would be great to show it in the Met, but I never thought it was possible

But then, if “impossible” exists within the world of Chanel, we’ve yet to see it. Here, the house booked the Met for the show (which necessitated closing public access to the Temple of Dendur for many days prior) and a nearby expanse of Central Park for the party.

Julianne Moore, Margot Robbie, Penélope Cruz, Lily-Rose Depp and Sofia Coppola. One celebrity wasn’t seated: Pharrell Williams walked the show, a vision all in gold, long sweater atop leather pants. Continue reading →

Boucheron is set to open its newly restored Place Vendôme flagship Wednesday.

With its sweeping views of the famed Paris square and its spiraling column, the mansion, which covers nearly 20,000 square feet of space, now has a winter garden and an intimate perch to observe it from in addition to a succession of distinct, refurbished salons. Moving past the traditional realm of a high-end boutique, the upper floors house the label’s design studio and workshops, as well as an entire floor that can serve as an apartment to host its most elite clients overnight stays included.

For the Boucheron project, which coincided with the house’s 160th anniversary this year, the building’s historical stature took precedence, recounted Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, chief executive officer of the jeweler.

Least complicated, by Poulit-Duquesne’s account, was defining the mission of the Kering-owned jeweler with François-Henri Pinault, chairman and ceo of the luxury group. Continue reading →

Patek Philippe chose Milan to unveil its new women’s Twenty-4 Automatic watch. Thierry Stern took the stage positioned under a glass structure erected in the courtyard of the storied 17th-century Palazzo Serbelloni. “It’s been nearly 20 years after the debut of the Twenty-4 Manchette watch and we’ve been working on this new women’s timepiece for the past five years and through 40 prototypes,” said the affable executive.

The Geneva-based company is launching the first model of the collection with a self-winding mechanical movement in a round case.

Asked about choosing Milan for the launch a first for Patek Philippe Stern highlighted the city’s link to “fashion and beauty. We have to be in Milan. If it works in Italy, it will work everywhere.” Continue reading →

“Running is fun, running is cathartic,” I sing in my head before dragging myself down for a spontaneous evening run. Admittedly, I could think of ten other things I would rather be doing at 7pm on a Monday night. The motivational force? Testing out the all-new Nike Zoom Fly Flyknit trainers. Continue reading →

In a dramatic shift for the company, Chanel Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Chanel Ltd., is transforming its wholesale business into a concession model.

The company plans to operate concession departments in its major accounts, which include Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s. The process began last year with Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location, and this year several others were converted, namely Saks in Greenwich, Conn., and Atlanta and Neiman Marcus in Atlanta. The rest will be phased in over the next year.

“You might be wondering why, after 12 years of relative silence, am I doing a real interview,” said John Galantic, president and chief operating officer of Chanel Inc. “It’s a time of pretty major change here. The old saying is ‘don’t waste a crisis. But I look at it the other way more, which is when the business is very strong and the demand very desirable, there’s much more leverage and leeway to make change. Continue reading →

Real estate company Hines has bought Colette’s former digs on Rue Saint-Honoré, the hottest street in the property market in Paris, adding the future Yves Saint Laurent flagship to its growing list of high-profile transactions.

The Texas-based real estate firm said its fund behind the deal is an open-ended investment vehicle created in 2006 to buy and manage assets in key European cities and is the fourth acquisition in the past year following other transactions in Dublin, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. Continue reading →

Richemont said Friday it has joined with Alibaba Group in a strategic partnership to bring the retail offerings of Yoox Net-a-porter Group to Chinese consumers.

YNAP and Alibaba will establish a venture to launch two mobile apps for Net and Mr Porter, with Alibaba providing technology infrastructure, marketing, payments, logistics and other technology support to the JV.
In addition, Net and Mr Porter will open online stores on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion. The JV will focus on serving consumers in China and extend to Chinese consumers traveling abroad.

“Chinese customers at home and abroad are an increasingly important customer base for Richemont and for the broader luxury industry said Johann Rupert, chairman of Richemont. Continue reading →