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Business Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
High gold prices ‘a nightmare': French luxury jeweller Boucheron's CEO
[SINGAPORE] The European Union and the United States may have averted a trade war when they made a tariff deal this week, but manufacturing costs remain a nightmare for French luxury jeweller, Boucheron. This is because gold prices have been rising steadily – up almost 40 per cent year on year and close to 70 per cent from five years ago. Yet, the maison has only raised prices by 3 per cent annually, just like it did before gold prices started spiking, says its chief executive officer, Helene Poulit-Duquesne. 'We do not pass on to clients the rise in cost of production, which I believe is a good way of treating them,' says Poulit-Duquesnet over a teleconference call from France in early July. Speaking to The Business Times in conjunction with the launch of Boucheron's latest high jewellery collection, she added candidly, 'It's (also) a nightmare for us because we have to cut our margins'. A piece from Boucheron's latest Carte Blanche high jewellery collection. PHOTO: BOUCHERON Despite that, the Kering-owned brand, which does not disclose sales figures, must be doing extremely well, as Poulit-Duquesne is 'very happy' with its performance. Boucheron's business has been growing strongly everywhere apart from Europe, where things have been 'difficult'. Since she took the helm after leaving Cartier as its director for international client and business development a decade ago, the avid horse rider has done much to raise the brand's profile and expand its business. Boucheron has more than doubled the boutique count from about 40 to some 95 stores around the world, with 17 in China and three in America – all opened within the last six years. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up More men are also wearing jewellery today – a trend Poulit-Duquesne says started in Asia – and something she'd been fighting for, for years. 'We were really the first, five years ago, to put high jewellery on men and at that time, all the journalists were super surprised. But it was not for the purpose of creating collections for men but because we thought our jewellery is above gender. Then two years later, all the competition decided to put high jewellery on men.' High jewellery continues to be 'super resilient' in the face of a gloomy economic environment as its buyers consider items in the category to be an investment. The segment's boom led Poulit-Duquesne to expand capacity by acquiring a high jewellery workshop with about 60 artisans in late 2023. This takes care of its ability to produce jewellery for the top-end of the market for the next 10 years. For Boucheron, high jewellery refers to pieces priced above 250,000 euros (S$371,553), fine jewellery to those priced between 50,000 and 250,000 euros and jewellery for those below 50,000 euros – which makes up over 80 per cent of its turnover. The maison launches two high jewellery collections every year – Histoire de Style in January, where creative director Claire Choisne casts a fresh eye on archival designs, and Carte Blanche in July, where she has total creative freedom. Impermanence, like previous Carte Blanche high jewellery collections, uses unusual and avant-garde materials. PHOTO: BOUCHERON Its latest Carte Blanche collection, Impermanence, was inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi and the art of ikebana. The very innovative, 28-piece collection is designed around six delicate botanical compositions. Like previous collections, they are crafted from unusual and avant-garde materials such as borosilicate glass, ceramic, rock crystal and Vantablack coating – said to be the darkest material on earth. But is it justifiable for Boucheron to charge top-end prices for non-precious materials? 'At Boucheron, we have a precise answer to that,' says Poulit-Duquesne. 'We question what is precious, because what gives value to the piece is not only the precious materials we're using, but the emotion that the product gives to our clients. This allows Claire to use pretty much every material in the world and the reason why she's so innovative.' She says the maison sees its products as works of art – which some of its clients are collecting. 'Of course, we use diamonds and precious metals, but it's just like when you buy a painting, you don't think about the price of the materials used. What you buy are the aesthetics, the poetry, the emotion.'
Fashion Network
22-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp signs licensing agreement with Interparfums
On July 22, French leather goods brand Longchamp announced it has signed a fragrance license agreement with the Interparfums group. The agreement is effective immediately and will run until December 31, 2036. "Under this exclusive worldwide agreement, Interparfums will be responsible for the creation, production, and distribution of fragrance lines available at Longchamp-branded points of sale and across selective distribution (department stores, perfumeries, and duty free shops)," the two groups announced in a joint press release. Longchamp and Interparfums specified that the first launch under the agreement is planned for 2027. The Interparfums group holds the perfume licenses for Boucheron, Lacoste, Karl Lagerfeld, and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others. It also owns the Lanvin, Goutal and Rochas perfume brands. The group reported sales of 880 million euros in 2024. This article is an automatic translation. Click here to read the original article. Copyright © 2025 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
Fashion Network
22-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp signs licensing agreement with Interparfums
On July 22, French leather goods brand Longchamp announced it has signed a fragrance license agreement with the Interparfums group. The agreement is effective immediately and will run until December 31, 2036. "Under this exclusive worldwide agreement, Interparfums will be responsible for the creation, production, and distribution of fragrance lines available at Longchamp-branded points of sale and across selective distribution (department stores, perfumeries, and duty free shops)," the two groups announced in a joint press release. Longchamp and Interparfums specified that the first launch under the agreement is planned for 2027. The Interparfums group holds the perfume licenses for Boucheron, Lacoste, Karl Lagerfeld, and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others. It also owns the Lanvin, Goutal and Rochas perfume brands. The group reported sales of 880 million euros in 2024. This article is an automatic translation. Click here to read the original article. Copyright © 2025 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
Fashion Network
22-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Longchamp signs licensing agreement with Interparfums
On July 22, French leather goods brand Longchamp announced it has signed a fragrance license agreement with the Interparfums group. The agreement is effective immediately and will run until December 31, 2036. "Under this exclusive worldwide agreement, Interparfums will be responsible for the creation, production, and distribution of fragrance lines available at Longchamp-branded points of sale and across selective distribution (department stores, perfumeries, and duty free shops)," the two groups announced in a joint press release. Longchamp and Interparfums specified that the first launch under the agreement is planned for 2027. The Interparfums group holds the perfume licenses for Boucheron, Lacoste, Karl Lagerfeld, and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others. It also owns the Lanvin, Goutal and Rochas perfume brands. The group reported sales of 880 million euros in 2024. This article is an automatic translation. Click here to read the original article.
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Luxury Jewelry That Sparkled Brightest At Paris Couture Week
Composition No. 4, Ikebana-style jewels by Boucheron, on show at Paris Couture Week. A cyclamen ... More brooch, oat stalk hair jewels, caterpillar brooch and butter fly hairpin. It was a rich Couture Week in Paris earlier this month, with houses from Boucheron to Buccellati showing their latest luxury jewels, alongside independent designers like Jessica McCormack and Dries Criel. Boucheron The summer Carte Blanche collection from Claire Choisne and her team is consistently spectacular, but this season's collection stayed with editors for days after the Place Vendôme presentation. Continuing the nature theme of the January high jewelry collection, Impermanence explored the life cycle of nature from budding to decay, through six Japanese Ikebana-style floral jewelry compositions. Each one comprised a vase, botanical elements, and an insect; 28 high jewelry pieces designed to be worn on the body in different ways. Compositions ranged from light — glass, mother-of-pearl, diamonds, and 3D-printed plant resin ingeniously sewn with diamonds to avoid adding metal weight — to dark — onyx, aventurine, titanium and Vantablack® — illustrating the increasing rarity of nature. 'It's about making the ephemeral, eternal,' Choisne told journalists. 'First we considered nature, then how it would sit on the body, rather than the other way around.' Four years and 18,000 hours in the making, Impermanence is a tribute to human ingenuity and the dizzying beauty of the natural world, that is nothing short of breathtaking. The Oat and Fieldstar necklace and earcuff from the Jewels of Nature collection by Chaumet, on show ... More at Paris Couture Week; yellow gold, white gold, white and yellow diamonds. Chaumet More than any other house on Place Vendôme, Chaumet has placed nature at the heart of its creative identity, transcribing plants and flowers into precious metals and gems with verve, for the past 245 years. In a continuation of the strikingly modern Chaumet Bamboo collection unveiled at Couture Week in February, Jewels by Nature felt more classic, with spectacular diamond pave collars, earrings and full parures full of grace and movement. A majestic full-diamond dahlia necklace of impressive volume, and a mixed metal gold and diamond earcuff stood out, and sprinkled throughout, were a series of colored gemstone rings featuring the house's beloved bee emblem, also the theme for the Bee by Chaumet high tea, available this summer at the Peninsula Hotel, in Paris. The 1963 necklace by Graff, on show at Paris Couture Week; white baguette, pavé and oval, diamonds, ... More emeralds and white gold. Graff Alongside more timeless pieces — like a triple-row pear-cut diamond choker that appeared to be lined with baguette emeralds — Graff showed a hero suite, celebrating the freedom and rebellion of Swinging London in the 1960s. The 1963 set, named for the year the house was founded, comprised a necklace, earrings and bracelet made up of a swirl of elongated hoops, traced in baguette, pavé and oval diamonds accented with round emeralds. A bangle and ring by Dries Criel on show at Paris Couture Week, gold, diamonds and tourmaline. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Dries Criel The Antwerp-based designer is going from strength to strength, and in Paris, he showed his first high jewelry collection, marking a move into more preciousness, more colored stones — and more audacity. A natural palette ranging from woodland green to sunny yellow, in gemstones including tourmalines, diamonds, and jade, accentuates his signature forms in the Double Lotus bangle, while the endlessly elegant sphinx earrings showing paraiba tourmaline. Bold, gender-neutral jewelry, which draws on the precision of the dancer and the art of Ancient Egypt. The Rosina necklace by Pasquale Bruni, white diamonds, rubies and white gold, on show at Paris ... More Couture Week. Pasquale Bruni The Italian house chose the Musée des Arts Décoratifs for a decadent and intimate presentation of the Rosina collection, inspired by Pasquale Bruni creative director Eugenia Bruni's family history. Against the backdrop of a former family home overtaken by nature, the inspiration of a powerful matriarch — Aunt Rosina —becomes a capsule collection of diamond pave rose petals, each piece complete with a ruby heart on the inside, representing a beating heart. The Maple Colours earrings by De Beers, on show at Paris Couture Week; white, yellow and rose gold, ... More white diamonds and fancy orange diamonds. De Beers De Beers played tribute to the trees of the countries in which it mines — Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Canada — in a showcase held near the upcoming Rue de la Paix flagship, which is set to open towards the end of 2025. Diamond pavé Baobab roots encircle the neck, while the textured bark of the Namibian camelthorn tree is a reminder of resilience in bracelet form. Elsewhere, mixed metal maple leaves adorn the ear lobes, all with the house's signature mix of polished and rough stones. The Blue Chain Cascade necklace and earring from the Collezione 1967 collection by Pomellato, on ... More show at Paris Couture Week. Pomellato The Milan-based house revisited its archives with Collezione 1967, a joyful romp through three decades of jewelry history. From chain-making in the 1970s, which saw the development of the house's characteristic chunky links, through the sculptural jewels of the 1980s and bold color in the 1990s, the collection was a powerful distillation of the essence of the exuberant Milan-based jeweler, with Pomellato's signature use of colored stones providing energetic accents throughout. The Marea Rosa necklace by Damaini, inspired by pink sand and the ocean on the coast of Sardinia, ... More Paraiba tourmaline, marquise diamond and colored stones, on show at Paris Couture Week. Damiani Editors who stepped into Damiani's Place Vendôme showroom embarked on a Grand Tour of Italy for the high jewelry collection, with chapters based on the country's spectacular coastline, landscapes and cities. Muzo emeralds, a star sapphire and molto diamonds told a story of the sun-drenched splendour. Topped with an ethereal Paraiba tourmaline on a mesh of marquise-cut diamonds and morganites to convey the pink sands of Sardinia, the Marea Rosa necklace was a case in point. A model wears gold and diamond jewels by Repossi, from the Blast collecction. Repossi As the city sweltered under a heatwave, Repossi brought editors down to the cool of the lush outdoor auditorium at the Musée du Quai Branly anthropological museum, for a tour of the collections that inspire Gaia Repossi's jewelry. The most recent elements of the Blast collection draw on the curves and circles of tribal necklaces, with volume and presence recalling the designs of her father Alberto, who led the house in the 1980s and 1990s. Gold wire forms are scattered with diamonds in a sculptural play of light, that draws on elements of traditional Masai, Miao and Indonesian jewelry. The Golden Harvest Butterfly Brooch by Anna Hu, diamonds, fire opal, titanium, by Anna Hu, on show ... More at Paris Couture Week Anna Hu Anna Hu showed at home this season, in her private apartments overlooking Place Vendôme. The designer payed tribute to her other home, Monaco; with La Rose Gracieuse, a titanium, diamond and spinel brooch that recalls Princess Grace's charitable work for children through the Bal de la Rose. Elsewhere, electroplated titanium orchids bloomed next to a series of her trademark butterflies — 'hu' means butterfly in Mandarin — in a blend of Eastern inspiration and Parisian high jewelry expertise. Diamond and gemstone necklaces from the Tempest collection by Jessica McCormack, with cushion-cut ... More colored gemstone pendants, on show at Paris Couture Week. Jessica McCormack Fresh from her store opening on Madison Avenue in New York, Jessica McCormack was showing her easy-wear high jewelry in Paris. Sparkling in the summer sunlight in an airy suite at the Ritz, were ropes of round diamonds, rubies and sapphires with interchangeable button-back colored cushion-cut stones, and matching earrings topped with cornflower blue sapphires, from the upcoming Tempest collection. The spherical black bejewelled evening bag by Buccellati Buccellati The Buccellati store on rue du Faubourg St Honoré was abuzz on Tuesday morning, as the house unveiled new bejewelled evening bags. A revival of a historic line — precious bags from the 1920s and 2000s were also on show — the three models looked to Buccellati's historic craftmanship. A soft velvet pouch was finished with a satin gold frame and diamond filigree, a more structured green velvet bag was quilted and embroidered with gold and diamonds, while the most striking model, a sphere of black velvet was finished with white gold and diamond lace. Dilraba Dilmurat wears high jewelry from the Les Pétals collection by Mikimoto. Mikimoto As feminine and graceful as ever, the Japanese heritage pearl house channelled graceful flora in a high jewelry collection that sparkled in the Parisian sunshine. Colored stones and pearls evoked blooms at different times of the day, with Mikimoto's signature conch pearls appearing on statement earrings and necklaces. In parallel, the house — which also has a strong presence in the Asian beauty market — is about to launch a fragrance collaboration with Lalique, further strengthening its links with Paris. The Atlantis bracelet from the Rare Perfection collection, by David Morris, on show at Paris Couture ... More Week. David Morris The rare Perfection collection spotlit the beauty of colored stones, with unusual cherry red Mozambiquan rubies, a deep purple spinel ring and diamonds from the Argyll mine. Geometric motifs bit through hearts and gentle floral shapes, in a nod to Art Deco that made for a powerful 12-piece collection.
