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Tag: luxury brand

  • Lanvin creative director departs the company

    Lanvin creative director departs the company

    Lanvin has announced the departure of its menswear creative director, Lucas Ossendrijver, adding to a turbulent few years for the French label. Appointed under the mentorship of former creative director Alber Elbaz, Dutch designer Ossendrijver served as the creative chief of the 129-year-old brand’s menswear department for 14 years.

    Elbaz, creative director of Lanvin’s women’s wear since 2001, left the house in October 2015 after falling out with majority shareholder Shaw-Lan Wang over the direction of the brand.

    In February this year, Wang sold the title to Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.

    French designer Bouchra Jarrar, who was Elbaz’s replacement, left Lanvin after just 16 months before her successor, Olivier Lapidus, stepped down after only eight months.

    Bruno Sialelli, former head of Loewe menswear, is reported to the front runner to replace Ossendrijver.

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  • Celine and Givenchy joins Paris menswear show schedule

    Celine and Givenchy joins Paris menswear show schedule

    After Hedi Slimane premiered Celine menswear via a co-ed catwalk show on September 28, the brand has announced that it will join the Paris menswear calendar in January 2019. Celine is currently negotiating a show date with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, and it is not yet known whether the brand will present solely menswear, or whether Slimane will pepper the offering with womenswear as per his debut.

    The move is indicative of the fact that Celine’s parent company LVMH has got its sights set on the burgeoning menswear market.

    When Slimane took the helm in February 2018, it was made clear that the new category will be a key sales driver, along with leather goods, accessories and fragrances.

    “The objective with him is to reach at least two billion to three billion euros, and perhaps more, within five years,” LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said of Slimane’s appointment.

    In the last year, LVMH has appointed new head designers at Berluti, as well as the menswear divisions of Louis Vuitton and Dior. And, just weeks ago, Givenchy, another brand within the French conglomerate’s stable, announced that it will rejoin the menswear calendar for the autumn/winter 2019 season.

    As a growing number of brands, including Maison Margiela, Stella McCartney, Balenciaga, Haider Ackermann and Sonia Rykiel, merge their menswear and womenswear for the sake of presentations, LVMH is making great strides to make a splash on both schedules and to take a hold of both markets.

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  • Balmain’s comeback into the couture calendar

    Balmain’s comeback into the couture calendar

    Balmain is returning to the couture calendar for the first time in 16 years. Leading the charge is Olivier Rousteing, who has been at the creative helm of the house since 2011 and is widely credited with boosting the brand’s profile through his Balmain Army – an inner circle of internationally famous poster girls, including Kim Kardashian West and a handful of Victoria’s Secret models.

    Speaking at WWD’s Retail & Apparel CEO Summit, the French designer said that he is “looking to bring back the Parisian DNA” by reviving the couture division.

    The January haute couture shows will premiere his inaugural Balmain output as a couturier, but, he revealed, he has his sights set on accessories, fragrance and cosmetics too.

    Indeed, the Balmain expansion plan is firmly underway.

    In May 2017, Rousteing partnered with L’Oréal Paris on a collection of Balmain lipsticks that he had designed himself.

    He said the collaboration was rooted in three things: “First, the savoir faire, which means couture to me. Second, diversity, because this is a topic that is really important to me. And third, modernity.”

    As with his Victoria’s Secret collaboration the same year, and his H&M collaboration in 2015, Rousteing welcomed the chance to make his creations available to a wider audience through lower price points.

    “A lot of people love Balmain but can’t afford it, and with the lipstick they can get into the Balmain universe in an affordable way,” he said.

    “I create a world that is expensive because with Balmain it’s luxury, but if you think of my ideas and ideologies it’s more than a price on the clothes,” he explained.

    Though couture does not support the affordable aspect of the business model, it will certainly expand Balmain’s world and, crucially, underline all of Rousteing’s efforts with real craftsmanship and integrity.

  • The 15 hottest online luxury brands in 2018

    The 15 hottest online luxury brands in 2018

    Some brands have embraced digital better than others, as evidenced by their popularity online. According to a new report by Luxe Digital, the top 15 most popular luxury brands online are particularly successful at building online awareness but also at forging deep emotional connections with their audience—particularly young affluent consumers.

    The ranking provides a good gauge of the sales potential of the brands for this coming year-end.

    It’s also a great source of inspiration and best practices for luxury leaders. By exploring how the top high-end brands are performing online, one can understand the reasons for their popularity and how their approach could be replicated.

    Gucci is leading the 2018 ranking, followed by French houses Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

    Interestingly, it is Italian fashion brand Balenciaga that saw the most impressive growth thanks to its fresh take on luxury streetwear.

    The Direct-to-Consumer approach emerges as a winning strategy for luxury

    The ranking is largely dominated by fashion brands, although Rolex and Tiffany made it to the top 10.

    It is worth noticing that Lancôme is the only beauty brand to appear in the list, finishing at the 13th position.

    A noticeable trend is the Direct-to-Consumer retail model which is increasingly more adopted by luxury brands. The DTC approach emerges as a great way for high-end brands to control their brand identity online and own their customers’ data.

    Influencer marketing is also playing a key role in 2018. Virtually every brand in the top 15 has collaborated with social media influencers to shape the conversations online and drive brand discovery amongst untapped audiences.

    For luxury fashion specifically, high-end streetwear is clearly making the buzz this year.

    Other noticeable trends for 2018 include more interest in sustainable practices and social causes. Natural cosmetics, natural and vegan beauty products, in particular, are also generating a lot of online interest.

    The rising share of affluent Millennials and Gen Z consumers

    These trends are mainly driven by the growing portion of more socially-conscious, affluent Millennials and Generation Z consumers.

    This shift in consumers’ values and preferences combined with the disruptive impact of new technologies are challenging the traditional notions of luxury.

    As the sophisticated younger generations become important luxury shoppers, modern luxury brands are evolving their offerings to appeal to their specific tastes.

    Luxury brands are also adapting their marketing strategy to offer a seamless shopping experience both online and offline in line with the younger affluent consumers’ growing expectations.

    Conscious of the essential role that new technologies play in driving their narrative, luxury leaders are finally embracing digital technologies.

    For brands, it is clear that the ability or inability to pivot to this new reality will continue to widen the gap between the successfully agile luxury brands and the slow adopters.

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  • Luxury-brand in China rising from grave

    Luxury-brand in China rising from grave

    Luxury-brand sales are reviving in mainland China, with Macau paying the price.

    As China’s currency depreciates, the narrowing price gap is keeping mainland luxury shoppers at home, further contributing to Macau’s retail slump, reports the Macau Business Daily.

    Some brands in China are expecting this year to return to the figures of their sales peak in 2012, says partner Bruno Lannes of Shanghai-based consulting firm Bain. He says luxury sales in the mainland have risen an estimated 4 per cent after three years of decline.

    According to the latest data from the Macau Statistics and Census Services (DSEC), retail sales of watches, clocks and jewellery have fallen 21.2 per cent year-on-year, with the overall volume of retail sales dropping 5.9 per cent in the third quarter.

    More than 45 per cent of retailers interviewed by DSEC expect their sales volume to decrease for the present quarter. Meanwhile, visitor numbers from the mainland edged up 0.4 per cent year-on-year in October, but have fallen by the same amount over the first 10 months of this year.

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