Riccardo Tisci

The latest must-have luxury accessory: a ballet

May 3, 2013 2:14 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Forget art collaborations – they’re so yesterday. Mobile phones, ditto. These days, it seems, the must-have accessory for a luxury brand (not, note, a luxury consumer) is a gig creating costumes for the ballet. It’s the newest stamp of high-art approval. The latest to join the club: Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci. So what does it mean? Read more

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Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Marketing |

The fracturing of the fashion show system

January 21, 2013 9:02 am by Vanessa Friedman

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It’s couture week in Paris; but we’re a show down on the schedule: Givenchy, which under Riccardo Tisci has held an up-close-and-personal presentation of a handful of elaborate pieces, is taking time out to, well, ease up on the pressure. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Alexander McQueen will also not be holding a show in March during the autumn/winter shows, as its creative director, Sarah Burton, pictured left, will be on maternity leave.

Instead they will have a small presentation; a variation on the tactic Celine’s Phoebe Philo used when she was last pregnant. Her show fell in her third trimester and decided to eschew the stress of a full show for small talk-throughs with tiny groups.

Could it be that both the corporate and creative sides of the business are beginning to think shows may not be the crucial component of a business they have been previously considered? Holy hemlines, Batman! Read more

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Posted in Fashion, Luxury goods, Marketing, Shows |

Givenchy, Burberry, and marketing friends and family

December 18, 2012 4:13 pm by Vanessa Friedman

It struck me, looking at the upcoming Givenchy ad campaign, which features FoR (friends of Riccardo – -Tisci, the brand’s creative director) Mariacarla Boscana, artist Marina Abromovic and matador Jose Maria Manzanares, that one of the biggest fashion trends of recent years has been the selling of a quasi-family-reality – but more fabulous and famous, natch, than any of our real families. This seems to be reaching critical mass, and I rather expect it will continue next year. Why?

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Posted in Fashion, Marketing, Womenswear |

How long can Dior wait?

December 12, 2011 3:34 pm by Vanessa Friedman

Today WWD heralded LVMH supreme Bernard Arnault as their Man of the Year, thanks to his Bulgari deal; relaunch of a new leather house (Moynat); shake-up of his exec ranks; and willingness to let Dior be designer-less until he found the right person to replace John Galliano – who was fired in March. Generally, I agree with their choice, mostly because of Arnault’s smarts in taking advantage of other luxury brands’ scardey-cat timidity in the face of economic crisis (they see consumer slowdown; he sees opportunity to grab market share). My only question is about Dior. I think this is becoming a problem.

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Posted in Luxury goods |