Category Archives: couture
A Hypebeast Comes to the Luxury House
LVMH’s latest venture — a deadstock fabric platform
Nona Source, which launches this Monday, is the brainchild of Romain Brabo, formerly a materials buyer at LVMH-owned Givenchy. “In my role, I would go to warehouses, and I saw the multiplication of deadstocks,” he says. “I thought: on one hand, there are young designers seeking beautiful fabrics to make their collections; on the other hand, couture houses are storing materials they have no use for. How to create a link between them?” Nona is one of the Parcae in Roman mythology, Brabo explains. She spins the thread of life, and Source is a reference to “sourcing”. Read more (Vogue Business)
Chanel Unveils Global Culture Fund To Support Pioneering Artists
Chanel has launched the Chanel Culture Fund, a global programme of initiatives and partnerships that aims to support innovators across the arts in advancing new ideas and greater representation in culture and society.
The fund seeks to champion equality of voice and give visibility to global game-changers at a time when the arts provide a vital source of inspiration and perspectives on the way we view the world. It builds on Chanel’s 100-year heritage of arts patronage, in the spirit of Gabrielle Chanel’s role as a patron and convener of the arts, reaffirming the house’s commitment to the freedom of creation and human potential. Read more (Tatler)
Why Big Brands Are Skipping Fashion Week (PAYWALL)
From Gucci to Saint Laurent, some of the industry’s biggest brands opted out of fashion week again this season. Will they come back? Read more (Business of Fashion)
Why No Other Luxury Company Compares To LVMH
Unsurprisingly, LVMH is a master of storytelling and brand experience creation. Bernard Arnault famously described luxury as the ability to create desire. The greater the lust, the higher the value creation. In turn, more customers flock to the brands with the highest value creation and are willing to pay prices that correspond to that value. Read more (Jing Daily)
Comparing Luxury Investment Around the World
Unlike traditional investments in financial assets, luxury goods can be difficult to value if one does not have an appreciation for their form. A rare painting, for example, does not generate cash flows, meaning its value is truly in the eye of the beholder.
To gain some insight into the market for luxury goods, this infographic takes data from Knight Frank’s 2021 Wealth Report to compare the preferences of nine global regions. Read more (Visual Capitalist)
“Luxury Is That Which You Can Repair”—Why Renewable Fashion’s Time Has Come
The rise of conspicuous non-consumption has been a long time coming. Over the last decade or so, we have witnessed a slow and sometimes painful pivot as fashion at first ignored, then loftily entertained, and finally fell head-over-heels for the concept of “sustainability.” Those who were once dismissed as sackcloth-wearing, soy-munching, Gaia-loving outliers—ideology driven pioneers such as before-her-time Katharine Hamnett, perfectly-timed Stella McCartney, and of-his-time Christopher Raeburn—have proven to be the Cassandras who saw first what most of fashion was too busy making new stuff to realize: As a marker of desirability, being environmentally virtuous has transitioned from niche consideration to central parameter of desire. Read more (Vogue)
Sustainability experts are calling on the fashion industry to go beyond harm mitigation and create positive impact.
Investing in development without putting pressure on the outcomes is key, adds Lebanese-Canadian systems designer Céline Semaan-Vernon, co-founder of Slow Factory Foundation. Over the past year, Slow Factory has run an incubator programme called One x One with Swarovski and the United Nations, pairing three New York-based designers with scientists working on sustainable materials. Read more (Vogue Business)
Prada Signs €90 Million Sustainability Linked Loan
Sustainability linked securities and loans are an emerging form of sustainable finance, with attributes including interest payments tied to an issuer’s achievement of key performance indicators (KPIs) and associated sustainability performance targets. Read more (ESG)
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 