LVMH

If discretion is the better part of valour then the fashion industry is valiantly staying away from its red state friends and their new crusading new Queen, this isn't because we are uninformed princesses without a care for reality despite what we have said this past week and Guy Trebay has now reiterated, no we really just have no comment. Well OK, we like her up do even if we don't condone highlights. We bet Hilary wishes she had been left alone like this too.

Fred Segal has a new pop-up shop called 15 Minutes. It will be run like an art gallery, where the shop’s structure is permanent but the theme, decor and wares on display change regularly

Want to see a picture of Martin Margiela? Eric Wilson has one of the last invisible man. Really, because designers have gotten to be such little publicity hounds (and not for the reasons they should be like say their work) this quiet relative anonymity is considered quite shocking.

If you are concerned with what is or is not wearable on the catwalks, which we think is rather relative to your own comforts, then we suppose its nice that someone is keeping score.

Do you read seating charts like tea leaves? Well Givenchy has much fodder for the divination set as the front row was packed with LVMH executives. What does it all mean!

Perfumer Sarah Horowitz's fragrance brand is going mainstream by repackaging her premiere line of scents in a more accessible form and launching it in Anthropologie. We had no idea that even the perfumers had to go for down market markets and collaborations. Not that we are saying Anthropologie is down market per say.

»Rei Kawakubo has designed a red, pie-shaped shop concept that will house her Comme des Garcons for H&M collection when it comes out in early November; She also chose Peter Lindbergh to photograph Missy Rayder and others for the campaign [WWD]

»Harper's Bazaar brought a cadre of four staffers to couture, while Kate Lanphear is representing Elle alone [FWD]

»Alice Dellal nabbed a MNG Jeans campaign for Fall [Fashionista]

»Nick Knight has asked the likes of Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Naomi Campbell, and Giles Deacon to spin records live on Showstudio.com over 3 days starting July 9 [WWD]

»Karl Lagerfeld seemed to smile in approval at Kris van Assche's latest outing for Dior Homme yesterday [Guardian UK]

»Natasa Vojnovic has gone blonde (NSFW) [Supreme Being]

»Hye Rim Park did recently get married; Vogue Korea has a photo feature story [TFS]

»LVMH won a counterfeit lawsuit against eBay, so the auction site has to cough up $63.2 million [The Cut]

Somehow we feel like we've written that line before. So the scoop, if you were at all tuned into fashion happenings on Friday afternoon (we don't blame you if you weren't, everyone needs a weekend off now and again), is that Louis Vuitton and Commes des Garcon are going half-sies on a three-month pop-up in Tokyo. Specifically, in the Aoyama district, home to the Prada Epicenter and all things covetable in both architecture and luxury goods. The pop-up shop will of course house exclusive collaborations, namely, six one-off monogram bags designed by Comme des Garcon founder Rei Kawakubo. As Suzy Menkes rightly puts it,

"Although there have been many recent collaborations between ‘high’ and ‘low’ fashion, starting with Karl Lagerfeld’s mini collection for fast fashion store H & M, this meld is different, since it involves a beacon of individuality with a company at the heart of corporate luxury management, as part of the LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) group."

There are questions as to whether this joint-venture (instigated by Kawakubo--not, Marc Jacobs or LVMH) will alienate Comme fans. There are questions as to whether Comme is doing a little too much popping up and popping in (count a Speedo collab and an H&M collab, among others). There are also questions as to whether all of Louis Vuitton's bag collab antics might not undermine the brand's reputation for refined luxury (i.e. the days of the trunks and whatnot). Rei Kawakubo is titling her bag for Vuitton, 'The Party Bag' and we can't help but feel it's an overall sentiment for Vuitton's recent handbag endeavors. One big, 'however', is the recent Ebay victory LVMH had which only energized their intellectual property. That is, perhaps the answer to the last question is, despite contradicting whispers, no.

There has been hearsay about financial investing group Apax’s possible interest in buying out the majority of Escada’s shares. However, the Munich-based luxury fashion label confirms today that Apax is reluctant to take such action. Since last summer, Escada’s shares have dropped thirty percent. A new CEO will be assigned on April 17th in an attempt to restructure the fashion brand.


Known for his Indian-inspired work, English designer Matthew Williamson returns to Manchester to celebrate the exhibition of his 10 Years In Fashion at Urbis Centre. The collection of the designer’s contributions to the fashion industry has been featured at the Design Museum in London last October. Williamson was also the former creative director for Pucci.


British designer Anthony Cuthbertson is appointed to be the new creative director for German fashion house Rene Lezard. He has been the former creative director at Burlington and creative consultant for MaxMara. Cuthbertson will showcase both the men’s and women’s collections for Rene Lezard next fall.


A series of online journals called, 'Costumers And Plug Generation' is set to be launched by Ennio Capasa, mastermind behind Italian fashion label Costume National. This series of journals along with Capasa’s personal page will provide visitors the latest updates stemming from the fashion industry including campaign shoots and live commentary. Capasa is known for his use of subtle shapes, dark tones, and sharp tailoring, his personal page can be viewed here.


Delphine Arnault-Gancia advances to the position of Deputy Managing Director at Christian Dior Couture. Formerly Senior Vice President of Marketing, she has greatly contributed to the development of Dior Parfums. Arnault-Gancia is a billionaire business-savvy woman who also works with LVMH, the world’s largest luxury conglomerate.


Research Assistant: Zoe Su