Luxury goods

Nicolas Ghesquière’s Balenciaga tell-all: executives beware!

April 29, 2013 1:42 pm by Vanessa Friedman

I guess the non-disclosure has ended (well, it’s about six months since he left). The Businessoffashion has an excerpt from ex-Balenciaga Nicolas Ghesquiere’s first big interview – in the newly launched System magazine — since he quit the house he made famous last November, and it’s a doozy. Effectively, the designer is taking on the entire executive side of PPR-about-to-be-Kering, the Group that owns Balenciaga. The interview is sure to ignite the always-burning flames of the creative vs. corporate debate, which flared high post-John-Galliano’s implosion, but have of late been simmering rather lower.

 Read more

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods |

Carmen Busquets has found her new Net-a-Porter

April 25, 2013 2:53 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Ever since its launch, Net-a-Porter has been the gold standard in e-tail: the high-end market leader, with a profit margin far ahead of the pack. And ever since then, entrepreneurs have been chasing its market share. Now Carmen Busquets, one of Net’s original investors (she is still a minority shareholder) thinks she’s found the answer: giftlab.com, a gifting site that provides a host of high-ish-end targeted alternatives to orchids and artisanal chocolate for events from weddings and baby showers to weekend visits. And she’s raised $5 million from US investors, including venture capital firm NEA, and a group of HNIs, to launch in America next September. Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Accessories, Fashion, Internet, Luxury goods |

The subtle, striking, Kering transformation of Gucci

April 24, 2013 1:32 pm by Vanessa Friedman

PPR-about-to-be-Kering is on something of another spending spree. In the last two days they have announced two (count ‘em) acquisitions in Italy: the jewellery brand Pomellato, and the porcelain house Richard Ginori. The first buy is getting the most press, but it’s the second that really interests me. See, it wasn’t officially bought by Kering, but by Gucci (though this could be semantics, since Kering owns Gucci), and the purchase is being spun as the rescue of an important “Made in Italy” brand. Add that to two other Gucci intiatives, and it seems an image change is in the works, and no one has really noticed. Read more

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Marketing |

Reed Krakoff leaving Coach: the implications and the future

April 23, 2013 3:27 pm by Vanessa Friedman

So Reed Krakoff, executive creative director and president of Coach, the man who – along with CEO Lew Frankfort – built it into the $4.76 billion brand, is leaving after almost 16 years. Or will be leaving soon: officially, he steps down in June of 2014 when his current contract is up, which also happens to be just after Mr Frankfort retires as CEO (last September he announced he was leaving at the end of this year). Those are the facts; so what do they all mean?

 Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods |

Are luxury CEOs more depressed about China than they admit?

April 23, 2013 1:59 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Ledbury Research is releasing its latest Luxury Market Insights report, which includes a CEO Outlook study tomorrow, and guess what? Those chief execs aren’t totally convinced the Chinese consumer demand for luxury, which has been slowing, will zoom back, despite what they often say.

 Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in China, Financial results, Luxury goods |

Christian Lacroix to guest star at Schiaparelli: another cook in the brand kitchen

April 17, 2013 1:18 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Diego Della Valle has thrown yet another cook into the Schiaparelli mix: after announcing Farida Khelfa as the “face” of the brand and Vincent Darre as the decorator of the Maison, today he has revealed that Christian Lacroix will create a one-off couture collection, to be unveiled in July, that will be an “homage” to the late designer. That’s a lot of opinions and aesthetics under one roof. But there’s more (and there will be more)! Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Shows, Womenswear |

Why gold jewellery won’t drop with the dropping price of gold

April 16, 2013 4:36 pm by Vanessa Friedman

I know most people aren’t thinking about this – they are thinking about hedge fund managers and how much they may, or may not, lose on their bets – but yesterdays’ dramatic drop in gold prices is going to have an interesting knock-on effect on jewellers and watch makers. Not because it will make their products, which have been creeping upwards over the last decade along with the price of their raw materials less expensive – but because it WON’T. It can’t. Here’s why.

 Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Jewellery, Luxury goods |

From Fendi to Hermes: how fashion pushes your furniture buttons

April 15, 2013 2:46 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Yesterday the Salone del Mobile, aka the Milan Furniture Fair closed, and with it Milano Moda design, the side event created by the Camera Nazionale (Milan’s governing fashion body) dedicated to “events and initiatives of the Houses of Fashion which present Home Design Collections and organize special events related to Design.” This area is growing. Why? Well, partly because of the psychology of shopping: (apologies to Thomas Harris): “How do we begin to covet Clarice?…We begin by coveting what we see every day.”
 Read more

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods |

LVMH’s charm offensive

April 11, 2013 1:28 pm by Vanessa Friedman

LVMH, the largest luxury group in the world by an exponential margin, has a dumb blonde problem: it seems to be the winner in the sector, so it gets attacked and mocked most of all. For a long time, the Group’s reaction to the situation was frustration, retreat, and confusion (or sulking, depending on how you want to spin it). This week, however, they have gone on what appears to be something of a charm offensive.
 Read more

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Luxury goods, Marketing, Politics |

How luxury can succeed in Brazil: forget the bling

April 9, 2013 1:27 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Today the third in a series of World Luxury Index BRIC reports from the Digital Luxury Group (and the Luxury Society) is released – after Russia and China, we have Brazil, and the “Top 50 Most Searched-For Brands”. Guess what? One of these things is not like the other ones! Though conventional luxury wisdom says emerging markets always look to the obvious, in-your-face icons of luxury first, Brazil seems the exception to the rule.

 Read more

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Fashion, Internet, Luxury goods |
BackOlder entries
Newer entries