1. In the same week, Fashion lost two living legends: Italian designer Nino Cerruti passed away on 15 January and, just three days later, so did legendary Vogue editor André Leon Talley. Now retired, both were part of the elite of creators and journalists who, in the 20th century, turned fashion into the cultural and economic global phenomenon that we know today. To better understand their legacies, we recommend reading this obituary of the Italian creator written by Mariana Torres for hola.com and this heartfelt article by Hamish Bowles for vogue.com in which he recounts his memories of André Leon Talley.
2. LVMH bets on Aime Leon Doré: the French luxury giant has acquired an undisclosed stake in the New York-based brand through its investment company LVMH Luxury Ventures. ALD is an independent brand founded in Queens in 2014 by creative Teddy Santis whose specialty is updating American fashion classics by paying homage to the country’s ethnic richness and continental roots. His unique reinterpretation of American fashion has earned him the devotion of avant-garde consumers since its beginnings. For more information, read this article by Robert Williams for Business of Fashion.
3. Inditex perseveres in its sustainability goal. The Galicia-based group has improved its results in “The Global 100”, one of the most reputable corporate sustainability rankings on a global scale. More details of the news in this article by Eva García Morales for Fashion Network España.

Buen fin de semana!

Image: Getty

1. Sézane faces a scandal with colonialist vibes: earlier this week, the French brand was forced to take down a recent campaign shot in the Mexican city of Oaxaca after a leaked video of the shoot  sparked controversy; in it, several members of the production team appeared photographing an elderly local woman who poses and, at their request, dances for the cameras. The people who posted the video on Instagram claim that the woman was paid the equivalent of US$10 for her intervention and that the behavior of the Sézane team during the filming of  the campaign was unacceptable in many ways. Morgane Sezalory, founder of the firm, has stated that the photographs didn’t have commercial purposes and that the whole thing was a spontaneous act born out of her admiration for the Mexican people and its culture. You can watch the video of the discord here and learn more about the incident at Diet Prada.
2. A UK bill aims to make influencers more transparent about their own image. If successful, the Digitally Altered Body Image Bill would oblige brands and influencers to label all commercial images that have been digitally retouched. Another step in the fight against the negative effects of social media on people’s mental health. Read more about the bill in this i-D post by Tom George.
3. And to finish things off, good news for Spanish fashion: 2022 looks like a promising year for The Hoff Brand. After closing 2021 exceeding its own sales expectations, the Alicante-based company, launched in 2016, is embarking on an ambitious national and international expansion plan, which includes the opening of its own shops, franchises and agreements with wholesalers such as Nordstrom. More details of the news in this article by Eva García Morales for Fashion Network España.

Have a great weekend!

Image: @thehoffbrand

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Image: @zara

Image: Off-White

Image: @fortnite

1. The wave of collaborations between brands is merrily going on: first, Net-a-porter announced this week the launch of a capsule collection exclusively designed by LOEWE for them. The clothes and accesorios in it stay true to the values and aesthetics of the Spanish brand but with a much more commercial approach. Later in the week, an unexpected series of Supreme jackets designed by Italian brand Missoni appeared  (you can see them  in the Supreme IG account and buy online at their website). The Missoni spirit is easy to spot in the knitting techniques, the colors and, of course, the classic zigzags.
2. Shein faces scandal this week: some exclusive suppliers of the Chinese fast-fashion brand were accused of labour abuses. You can read more details about it in this piece written by Nigel Taylor for Fashion Network.
3. And, finally, we say goodbye with the spectacular Louis Vuitton fashion show that took place in Shanghai on Wednesday. Nicolás Ghesquière presented (again) the Women’s  RTW SS-22 collection, slightly tweaked to please the asian customers. In case you are wondering why recently the big Maisons are presenting the same collections in different locations in the world, this very interesting article written by Dominique Muret for Fashion Network will explain you the reason.

Happy Weekend!

Image: @supremenewyork

Is the eternal mirage of social media, from which no one is able to scape. No matter how good-looking, rich or famous you are, some content will hit you wherever it hurts you the most. We all admit that, most of the times, we only post edited, filtered versions of our lives, we all know that the rest of the world does it too, yet a part of us still wants to believe that what other posts is the actual, whole truth, that the grass really is greener at the other side of the fence.

This negative impact on the live of followers and influencers alike is just one of the reasons leading to the collapse of the traditional influencer profile, a phenomenon known as influencer fatigue: stagnation of creativity in terms of content, bad practices such as building ghost audiences to attract the attention of brands, or greedily accepting all kinds of “collaborations” with companies, sometimes light years away from the interests of their followers. All this factors have led to an increasing number of social media users who don’t trust and are fed of the classic influencers.

This does not necessarily mean that influencers’ days are numbered, but rather that there is a shift in the trend. According to the Vogue Business article, Meet the “genuinfluencers” who don’t want to sell you anything, written by Kati Chitrakorn, “while luxury brands are investing more in micro influencers (up 14 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to digital marketing firm Lefty), many have reduced their partnerships with macro and top influencers”.

The genuinfluencer that gives the article its title is a new player in the system, “creators who generate followers but who (…) are more interested in sharing advice, talking about their passions and spreading unbiased information, rather than promoting the sale of a new product or collection. They tend to be known for the high quality of their content, rather than their follower count, says Cassandra Napoli, senior strategist at WGSN Insight.” It’s therefore about presenting content that is more honest, transparent and focused on audience’s interest, rather than positioning products and services for brands. A return, if you will, to the innocent origins of the figure of the influencer, more or less anonymous people who shared their passions on the internet with no other motivation but the enjoyment they got from it.

“The landscape has totally changed in terms of who is considered a person of influence and how we define the term,” said Hilary Williams Dunlap, senior vice president of talent at Digital Brand Architects (DBA) for Vogue Business. The key attributes of the influencer now,” the article continues, “are a unique point of view, conversion and community. Brands are looking at how interactive and tightly-knit the following is and how influential the creator is within their community.”

The crises of all kinds that have shaken the world in recent times have been a catalyst for this shift in social platforms. To seduce generations Y and Z, companies have had to refine their strategy: environmental issues, gender inequalities, minority rights, etc. can no longer be ignored. It is impossible, of course, to deny the existence of a pandemic that has dramatically disrupted our consumer habits. The way to get younger consumers is to present themselves as social agents of change. Therefore, those brands that invest so much in presenting themselves as responsible, honest and with values, will not work with that old-fashioned type of influencer whose feed remains oblivious to the turbulence and in which the protagonist seems to lead a life of perfect happiness, full of luxury and long-haul trips that one does not quite know how he or she can afford. Transparency, vulnerability, and a reasonably sincere willingness to improve the lives of the audience; these are the values that consumers (and the smartest companies) are now looking for in their influencers. Let’s rejoice that the hypocritical, self-serving approach to social media is going out of fashion and let’s hope Bella Hadid’s example catches on.

Image: @chrisellelim

1. Facebook now is called Meta. In this video, Mark Zuckerberg spares no efforts to seduce us with his dreams for the next stage of his company (and, according to him, of the whole Internet). The news have been greeted with some skepticism if not plain distrust by the general public, but experts point out that, for companies, the metaverse holds countless business opportunities. You can read an interesting article by Andrea Cappai for The Fashion Law on this topic and possible legal implications here.
2. Designer Antonio Alvarado, one of the last living legends of the 1980’s “movida madrileña”, has been awarded the National Fashion Design Award by the Ministry of Culture and Sport for his professional career. For readers who are not familiar with his figure, this article by Marisol Navarro for ABC gives a brief overview of his life and career. His carefully curated and intimate personal IG account is proof of his artistic talent, as well.
3. Gucci and Chanel have competed for the limelight this week, both presenting their latest collections. While Alessandro Michele and an army of colourful celebrities and models turned Hollywood Boulevard (L.A.) into a delirious seventies dream, the Parisian maison did the same and spared no expense to present its cruise collection 2021-2022 in Dubai.

Image: vogue.com

1. Fendi X Skims. Kim Jones adds yet another surprising collaboration for Fendi, this time with  Kim Kardashian-owned underwear/shapewear brand Skims. As Kardashian announced earlier this week on her IG account, the collection will launch on 9 november, featuring Skims-style clothes covered in Fendi logos. The news has caused quite a stir and conflicting opinions, some suggesting it could be not the best move for Fendi right now. Here you can see some images of the campaign, photographed by Steven Meisel.
2. Puig scores big time and acquires the license to develop a beauty collection for Jacquemus, an alliance that promises to be very profitable for the catalonian group. Jacquemus is currently one of the coolest French brands, incarnating the new French sexy, and has seduced influencers and celebrities worldwide. You can read more about it in this article by Modaes.
3. And staying in the Puig portfolio of brands we move to Jean Paul Gaultier. The french brand has announced this week that soon it will possible to rent or buy vintage clothes and accessories that until now were kept in their archives. Amidst the 90’s fashion fever revival we live in, vintage JPG is more on demand than ever and the company wants to make profit out of it by tapping into new business options, such the rental and resale. More about this in this Harper’s Bazaar article.

Image: @kimkardashian

In a world still struggling to emerge from the pandemic, where brick and mortar stores are in crisis and where many people believe that the days of the department store business model are numbered, Monsieur Arnault is not afraid to swim against the trends. That’s why the French group has invested no less than 750 million euros in the restoration and refurbishment of La Samaritaine, located in the First Arrondissement of Paris, facing the Pont Neuf.

The mission, heroic and risky, seems however, the right fit for LVMH,  specialised as they are in breathing new life into the dustiest and most outdated maisons. If anyone can resuscitate this historic business, it is undoubtedly them.

La Samaritaine was born as a small neighbourhood shop founded in 1869 by Ernest Cognacq and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ. The couple applied the business principles of the then innovative Le Bon Marché establishment: fixed prices, exchange and return guarantees, a wide range of products, etc. Thanks to their business vision, La Samaritaine grew throughout the rest of the 19th century and the spectacular building designed by architects Jourdain and Sauvage in 1900 confirmed it as the most elegant department store in Paris, as well as one of the jewels of French Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The business began to decline in the 1990s and between 2001 and 2010, LVMH acquired it in its entirety. After almost twenty years of restorations, negotiations with the French authorities and, to top it all, a pandemic that has cut off the flow of tourists, the project is now a reality and La Samaritaine shines brighter than ever.

According to Laure Guibault’s article for Vogue Business, The LVMH game plan for La Samaritaine, LVMH-owned travel retailer DFS is in charge of operating the new 20,000 square metre space, with an emphasis on the shopping experience. “It was important to make a shop that differentiates us, given the competitive environment in Paris, so we conceived a place for living and strolling,” Eléonore de Boysson, president of DFS for Europe and the Middle East, told the magazine.

Along the same lines, Benjamin Vuchot, president and CEO of DFS, said: “In a world where commerce is undergoing tremendous change, we have to find new solutions. Hence food and beverage, spa, hair salon and so on. We strive to move away from the purely transactional aspect”.

The article goes on to say that, indeed, the fusion of fashion and food is central to the shop experience. There are twelve restaurant concepts, such as Street Caviar, which combines street food and caviar, conceived by Maison Prunier, and Dînette, by Dalloyau, which offers snacks in a doll’s house format on the womenswear floor. There is also L’Exclusive, offering pastries on the beauty floor. The restaurants are strategically located throughout the shop. “It’s what consumers want today, a promenade. I think food courts are outdated,” says De Boysson. Faced with the inevitable comparisons to Harrod’s, La Samaritaine sells French lifestyle in its purest essence, and in doing so aims to attract tourists and Parisians alike.

As we said at the beginning, the department store business model is not doing well lately, and this was so even before COVID-19 made its appearance. Consider  the bankruptcies of Barneys New York in 2019 and Neiman Marcus in 2020 (although the latter has dodged liquidation and continues in operation). In an interesting episode of her podcast Fashion Law Network, entitled Fall From Retail Royalty: Neiman Marcus, the attorney and specialist in Fashion Law Kasia Zebrowska-Trauben mentioned the impact of e-commerce and even demographic and sociological factors, such as the decline of the middle class as a socio-economic group, to explain this trend. In Spain, the leading exponent of this commercial model is, naturally, El Corte Inglés. Coincidence or not, at the last General Shareholders’ Meeting, a new strategic plan for the company was announced, which focuses on developing business channels other than retail. In this sense, Víctor del Pozo, member of the Shareholders Board, declared that El Corte Inglés will become an “ecosystem of services and businesses, where new activities (as a mobile operator, energy provider, security services, etc.) will play an important role”. Likewise, as reported by Modaes in its article “El Corte Inglés seeks new outlets for its ‘brick’: renting to third parties, ‘dark stores’ and outlets”, in the last year it has carried out several operations to make its real estate assets profitable, such as the sale or rental of some of its spaces, which seems to indicate that the company needs cash.

We’ll see what the future holds for the brand new Samaritaine; Benjamin Vuchot acknowledged to Vogue Business that business will be slow at first. “We know we have a difficult 18 months ahead of us. We expect a return to a decent level of travellers by mid-2022. When the tourists return, La Samaritaine anticipates around 5 million visitors a year.” To conclude, and in relation to the general crisis experienced by department stores, is worth mentioning the so-called “great bifurcation of retail”. This is a theory that Kasia Zebrowska-Trauben also referred to in her podcast and, according to which, in the current scenario, the establishments that are to prevail are of two types: either those  dedicated to the highest ranges of luxury, or, on the contrary, those that offer the lowest prices. Businesses in the middle range (such as most department stores) will often struggle to survive. La Samaritaine, for its part, with its strong focus on the most exclusive luxury, seems to have a bright future ahead of it.

Image: @samaritaineparis