The creative force behind Christian Dior’s most iconic collections for three decades passed away on Sept. 6 in Châtillon-sur-Seine, France, at age 97.

The Saint-Nicolas church will hold religious services on Sept. 13. Christian Dior’s founder, Bohan, was Dior’s longest-serving designer. Continue reading →

Vuarnet, the emblematic brand of Roger Pouilloux and Jean Vuarnet, is acquired by LVMH. Vuarnet’s purchase terms and amount are unknown at the moment. But bet 5 years of turnover.

The goal of Thélios, which already produces and distributes optical frames and sunglasses for prestigious brands, including Dior, Fendi, Céline, Loewe, Stella McCartney, Kenzo, Berlutti, Fred and Rimowa, Bulgari or Givenchy, is to restore the mythical splendor of the brand.

When Vuarnet was the heyday of cinema stars, we saw it, for example, on Alain Delon’s nose in “The Swimming Pool” (model 06) or even Jeff Bridges’ nose in “The Big Lebowski”.

It is true that Vuarnet still has a strong image with the public, but it is based on skiing and the mountains. According to Alessandro Zanardo, CEO of Thélios, the company still manufactures mineral glasses in Meaux, in the Paris region, of exceptional quality.

FM

A platform aimed at scaling the fragrance brands in Richemont’s portfolio, Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté, will raise the bar on the company’s beauty business.

Boet Brinkgreve has been appointed CEO of the division and reports to Johann Rupert, the company’s chairman.

Richemont said Brinkgreve will help the six houses already involved in fragrance “reach critical mass in this highly competitive field.”

Among Richemont’s fragrance brands are Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chloé, Dunhill, Alaïa and Montblanc. Cartier is developed by an in-house perfumer, while licensing partners include Interparfums and Coty.Is interparfums in danger?

After months of speculation, LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton has been named premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A bid of 150 million euros is on the table, for the next privatized bridges in Paris. The beauty of Paris invites us to seek beauty and to constantly surpass ourselves,” said Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH. Above all, more notoriety for his group and a global advertising campaign at little cost.

Léon Marchand, who broke Michael Phelps’ last individual world record this weekend, will be among the LVMH athletes sponsored by the brand. We’ll also have to give to “the Magot Queen” a dress other than the Zara brand like in the photos.

Dame Jane Birkin, singer, actress and muse of the famous Hermès handbag, died on Sunday in Paris. She was 76 years old.

She had cancelled her concerts for the end of the year after suffering a stroke in September 2021.

Ms. Birkin made her name in the late 1960s after starring in Jack Smight’s “Kaleidoscope”, alongside Warren Beatty, and in Michelangelo Antonioni’s provocative film “Blow-Up”.

A scandalous duet she sang with Serge Gainsbourg, “Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus”, further propelled her fame after being banned by the BBC and condemned by the Vatican. The French will do more press for her than for their great writer, very strange! Milan Kundera’s “L’Insoutenable Légèreté” (The Unbearable Lightness) is less popular than “La légèreté de l’être” (The Lightness of Being) itself.

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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

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 →

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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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.

Designed to appeal to a younger audience, the resort collection offers a variety of silhouettes and eye-catching colors. During a preview of the collection, Vevers said he doesn’t believe his client goes on cruises or to resorts. The collection continued to build Coach’s legacy through the eyes of the next generation. Continue reading →

There is a new leader at Converse. The Nike-owned company has named Jared Carver president and chief executive officer. Carver’s promotion is part of Nike’s leadership realignment last week. He succeeds G. Scott Uzzell, who was named vice president/general manager for North America of Nike. Continue reading →

With revenues growing 17 percent last year to $17.22 billion, Chanel’s operating profits grew 5.8 percent to $5.78 billion, closing in on luxury’s ultra-exclusive $20 billion threshold.

Announcing double-digit growth across all product lines, the French fashion house said retail teams cultivated local clienteles during pandemic restrictions, alluding to China’s lockdowns last year that hurt luxury sales.

After adjusting for currency fluctuations and changes in company structure, Asia Pacific revenues increased 14.3 percent to $8.65 billion. In Europe, revenues increased 29.6% to $4.72 billion, while in the Americas, revenues increased 9.5 percent to $3.86 billion.

Chanel unveiled its cruise 2023 collection in Monte-Carlo last year, then repeated the show in Miami later in the year, along with its lavish ready-to-wear and haute couture displays in Paris. In the Senegalese capital of Dakar, the brand unveiled its Métiers d’Art collection, making history as the first European luxury brand to do so.

The assets of Bernard Arnault, who holds a little more than 40% of LVMH shares, have thus melted by 11.2 billion dollars. The reason is not the latest Vuitton Cruise collection, but the German banks believe that “it is time to be more selective” in its investment choices. Continue reading →