LVMH and Hermès are in the midst of an ugly legal battle over LVMH’s apparent relentless pursuit of Hermès and the potentially unlawful ways in which the luxury conglomerate came into 22.6% of the heritage brand.
While LVMH’s investments have been described as a gradual hostile takeover, Bernard Arnault now insists that is not the case. In fact, it wasn’t even on purpose!
As if being the head of one of the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerates wasn’t enough, LVMH‘s chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault can now add another fancy title to his already ample resume: Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The artist luxury conglomerate formerly known as PPR is making moves.
The just-christened Kering has acquired a majority stake in one of the world’s largest tanneries, WWD is reporting.
The western world started tiring of designer logos back in the early 2000′s, about the time Carrie Bradshaw was packing away her Fendi baguette for good. But for the last decade, the Chinese–who recently surpassed Americans as the biggest consumers of luxury goods–have picked up the mantle of logo-mania. But that may be changing now as the Chinese luxury customers’ taste is becoming a bit more discerning.
Twenty-eight-year-old French couturier Maxime Simoens will debut his first ever ready-to-wear collection in Paris on March 3, thanks to a little financial boost from mega luxury conglomerate LVMH, who yesterday confirmed its investment in Simoens’s young label.
Tory Burch recently gained two new investors, thanks to the sale of half of ex Chris Burch’s stake in the company–a deal which valued her label at well over one billion dollars.
Now, it looks like her company, which is rumored to be going public, may have caught the interest of another powerful investor.
It’s no surprise that at last night’s WWD CEO Summit, Jacobs declared Mrs. Prada his all-time favorite designer, dead or alive. “What she’s created with her husband is really incredible,” he said. “I’m just a big fan.”
That wasn’t all Jacobs revealed during his chat with WWD executive editor Bridget Foley. The designer went on about his current contract negotiations with LVMH (without saying too much, of course). “I’m not really sure…I know that we’re discussing [renegotiations],” he said vaguely when Foley pressed.
He was more frank about his upcoming beauty line with Sephora.
Just last month, Jordi Constans took over as CEO of Louis Vuitton. But he’s already stepping down.
It’s been a few days since we last heard any news on Nicolas Ghesquiere‘s general whereabouts/career direction. But if where the designer ate dinner last Thursday night counts as news, we have some.
It’s official: Louis Vuitton has a new CEO. Jordi Constans has, as of Monday, taken the reigns from the label’s CEO of 22 years, Yves Carcelle.
Unlike many recent fashion industry shakeups, this move was expected, if a bit earlier than anticipated.
News of Nicolas Ghesquiere’s departure from Balenciaga seemed to surprise everyone from Style.com, whose feature about him in their new print magazine offers no real clues, to Cathy Horyn, who just offered up some insight as to why Ghesquière may have decided to leave.
While Ghesquière declined comment, Horyn spoke to “a number of individuals, who requested anonymity because of their dealings with PPR,” who confirmed speculation that Ghesquière has been frustrated with Balenciaga and PPR.
LVMH head honcho Bernard Arnault has recently named his son, Antoine Arnault, CEO of luxury menswear brand Berluti. The 35-year-old, whom you might also know as Natalia Vodianova’s boyfriend, recently spoke to the Guardian about his new role, growing up in the family business, moments of rebellion, and dealing with difficult designers–like former Dior designer John Galliano, for example.
