Latest news with #Vuitton
Observer
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Observer
Louis Vuitton holds fashion show at France's Palais des Papes
Louis Vuitton womenswear designer Nicolas Ghesquiere showed the label's Cruise 2026 collection in the main courtyard of the towering medieval Palais des Papes monument in southern France last week. The audience sat in risers lining the runway set, with French first lady Brigitte Macron, actors Catherine Deneuve and Cate Blanchett and Vuitton's menswear designer Pharrell Williams in the front row. Models marched out just after sunset in metallic suit jackets, wide capes with flame-like patterns and gladiator boots covered in mirrored glass. Some looks had extra pleats or rows of chains that added movement and volume, while looser looks included a layered bohemian skirt and wide-sleeved blouse. Louis Vuitton holds fashion show at France's Palais des Papes Louis Vuitton holds fashion show at France's Palais des Papes Louis Vuitton holds fashion show at France's Palais des Papes The event from the LVMH-owned ( opens new tab label - the world's biggest luxury brand - took place as the luxury industry grapples with a prolonged slump, with a number of fashion brands including Kering-owned Gucci and Balenciaga, privately owned Chanel and LVMH's Dior all recently naming new designers. Ghesquiere, meanwhile, is set to stay in his position, which he took up in 2013, for several more years after a contract renewal in late 2023. —Reuters
Fashion Network
24-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari on driving luxury, staying loyal to designers, and managing 'the best creative duo in our industry'
The show also comes at a busy moment for the brand. This spring, it opened its latest uber-flagship in Milan. Last month, it debuted its new alliance with Formula One at the opening race of the season in Melbourne. Last week, it reopened its restaurant in Saint-Tropez, part of a burgeoning LV culinary division encompassing nearly a dozen restaurants and bars. Vuitton is both the largest and most profitable brand within luxury behemoth LVMH, which last year suffered a slight slip in revenues to a still whopping €84.7 billion. The group does not break out revenues per brand, but Louis Vuitton's are easily in excess of €20 billion. So, the show felt like a smart moment to catch up with Louis Vuitton's CEO, Pietro Beccari. A hard-charging Italian known for his intense energy, Beccari has had a remarkable career, with three stints as CEO: first at Fendi with Karl Lagerfeld as designer; then at Dior with Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones; and now with Vuitton with Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams. Moreover, though this is a rough calculation, it's very likely true to say that over the past two decades, no CEO of elite fashion and luxury brands has racked up a faster rate of growth than Beccari. Fashion Network: Why has Louis Vuitton decided to come to Avignon? Pietro Beccari: We are here because we were looking for somewhere that valorizes France since Vuitton is a French brand. Plus, Nicolas liked the idea of doing something that had never been done—a first show in the Palais des Papes—somewhere where the beauty of the architecture is exceptional. FN: Coming to the Palais des Papes is a significant architectural change for Nicolas, who favored modernist buildings in many Cruise shows. Why the radical change in direction? PB: I am not so sure about that. Recall that when we showed at Isola Bella in Italy, under the rainbow before a fabulous building, that was a pretty classic work of architecture. And finally, the show is very timely. We just have a new pope. And we are in the palace of the popes. It would be hard to have better timing! FN: Why does Cruise remain so important for Louis Vuitton? PB: Cruise is important as it shows outside the seasons and in Paris. It allows us to invite the right people—the press, influencers, and the creative community—to witness something new, to see a collection inspired by a location. That is very important from the point of view of communication. Business-wise, the collection goes in stores in November and stays until February/March, which makes it a long collection that includes the Christmas period. So, it is pretty important for us in terms of business. FN: Vuitton boasts two very striking, yet also pretty diverse, creative directors: Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams. What is the secret to managing and juggling such dynamic talent? PB: Maybe you should ask them! I'll tell you what I believe—they are very different, that is true. But I also think I have the best creative duo in our industry. Thanks to them, our brand has two strong voices and two great creative points of view. And Vuitton is a giant brand. So, I think that is very healthy and that they complement each other and that this is inspiring for them both. Especially as we have very big businesses for men and women, having two perspectives is great. Yes, their characteristics are totally different. Pharrell is a multi-talented artist from music and cinema. He is a musical entrepreneur with very refined taste, ever since the time of Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel. He is a celebrated dandy, as we were reminded of at the recent Met Ball. While Nicolas is one of the greatest couturiers—and one of the last couturiers—as he still designs by hand. He is someone who was born to make great fashion. He is really a true creative director, 100%. So, I think his mélange of lifestyle and pure style and creation is making a pure and explosive impact. Difficult to handle, yes, difficult to handle. FN: We are about to go through four months of shows: menswear and women's wear in Milan and Paris in June and September and couture in Paris in July, where over a dozen new creative directors will be in some of Europe's greatest houses. PB: And counting! FN: Yes, and my question is: do you think there is something to be said for being loyal to a designer? Can that longevity be smart? PB: Well, now, we are in a period of time when people think that changing a designer is the right strategy. Apparently so. But I just re-signed Nicolas for the next five years. So, in a real sense, I believe in a long-term relationship. Karl Lagerfeld was working with me the whole time I was at Fendi. In the end, he was there for 60 years! When I arrived at Fendi, we did not change that. When I arrived at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri was there, and I didn't change. And we worked together and had a great deal of success. Now, I did introduce a little novelty in menswear—with Kim Jones at Dior and Pharrell here at Vuitton. But I think most of the time, in my own personal business experiences, I believe in long love stories. FN: We live in an era obsessed with experiential. Just this week, you reopened the Vuitton restaurant in Saint-Tropez. That makes nearly 10 cafés and restaurants. Why have you focused so much on your culinary community? PB: People don't just want to buy a bag and go home. It's about telling stories—beautiful stories. I believe a brand of such size as Vuitton cannot afford to just be selling bags; it must be a marque of reference and lifestyle and enter into that upper array of brands of culture. Apple is a brand of culture to me, and Vuitton is a cultural brand. That is our force—whether it's acting as a publisher, through collaborations with artists, or through our incredible collaborations with architects in our great stores, like the one we just opened in Milan—so that our customers understand more and more that we are a brand of culture. Our restaurants are part of that. And from what I see, our restaurants and cafés from New York to Milan are having great success. FN: Why does Vuitton seem to do so well amid a global turndown in luxury and a tricky moment for fashion? PB: Well, I think the trick is not to lose your nerve like in Formula One, where we have been busy. When I see the curve, I like to accelerate and go faster. So, managing Vuitton, I don't like to slow down. In luxury, you have to be prepared to take risks if you want to get anywhere. FN: What would be your advice to anyone wanting a career in luxury management? PB: First of all, you have to overwork everyone else. I just told my daughter, who just started a job in New York, that you must work harder than the others. And when the others stop, keep working. In my view, success is 10% talent and 90% sacrifice, application, and dedication. It's about being a little like a maniac with everything. That's what makes someone successful—or at least, that's the advice I would give.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari on driving luxury, staying loyal to designers, and managing 'the best creative duo in our industry'
No one could fault Louis Vuitton or its CEO, Pietro Beccari, for a lack of timing. This Thursday, the house staged a brilliant chevalier-chic Cruise collection inside the Palais des Papes in Avignon, just two weeks after the world focused on the election of the latest pope, Leon XIV, in the Vatican. Staged inside the remarkable fortified Gothic palace, it was a stellar show incorporating heraldic emblems, jousting motifs, medieval mode, and sleek slices of creative director Nicolas Ghesquière 's signature techy sportswear. It also marked the latest Cruise show staged by Ghesquière inside an iconic location, though most of them tend to be expressions of 20th-century optimism, not 13th-century theological power. Previous Cruise shows have been staged at the space-age Bob & Dolores Hope Estate in Palm Springs; the flying saucer MAC by Oscar Niemeyer in Rio; or Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in New York. The show also comes at a busy moment for the brand. This spring, it opened its latest uber-flagship in Milan. Last month, it debuted its new alliance with Formula One at the opening race of the season in Melbourne. Last week, it reopened its restaurant in Saint-Tropez, part of a burgeoning LV culinary division encompassing nearly a dozen restaurants and bars. Vuitton is both the largest and most profitable brand within luxury behemoth LVMH, which last year suffered a slight slip in revenues to a still whopping €84.7 billion. The group does not break out revenues per brand, but Louis Vuitton's are easily in excess of €20 billion. So, the show felt like a smart moment to catch up with Louis Vuitton's CEO, Pietro Beccari. A hard-charging Italian known for his intense energy, Beccari has had a remarkable career, with three stints as CEO: first at Fendi with Karl Lagerfeld as designer; then at Dior with Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones; and now with Vuitton with Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams. Moreover, though this is a rough calculation, it's very likely true to say that over the past two decades, no CEO of elite fashion and luxury brands has racked up a faster rate of growth than Beccari. Fashion Network: Why has Louis Vuitton decided to come to Avignon? Pietro Beccari: We are here because we were looking for somewhere that valorizes France since Vuitton is a French brand. Plus, Nicolas liked the idea of doing something that had never been done—a first show in the Palais des Papes—somewhere where the beauty of the architecture is exceptional. FN: Coming to the Palais des Papes is a significant architectural change for Nicolas, who favored modernist buildings in many Cruise shows. Why the radical change in direction? PB: I am not so sure about that. Recall that when we showed at Isola Bella in Italy, under the rainbow before a fabulous building, that was a pretty classic work of architecture. And finally, the show is very timely. We just have a new pope. And we are in the palace of the popes. It would be hard to have better timing! FN: Why does Cruise remain so important for Louis Vuitton? PB: Cruise is important as it shows outside the seasons and in Paris. It allows us to invite the right people—the press, influencers, and the creative community—to witness something new, to see a collection inspired by a location. That is very important from the point of view of communication. Business-wise, the collection goes in stores in November and stays until February/March, which makes it a long collection that includes the Christmas period. So, it is pretty important for us in terms of business. FN: Vuitton boasts two very striking, yet also pretty diverse, creative directors: Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams. What is the secret to managing and juggling such dynamic talent? PB: Maybe you should ask them! I'll tell you what I believe—they are very different, that is true. But I also think I have the best creative duo in our industry. Thanks to them, our brand has two strong voices and two great creative points of view. And Vuitton is a giant brand. So, I think that is very healthy and that they complement each other and that this is inspiring for them both. Especially as we have very big businesses for men and women, having two perspectives is great. Yes, their characteristics are totally different. Pharrell is a multi-talented artist from music and cinema. He is a musical entrepreneur with very refined taste, ever since the time of Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel. He is a celebrated dandy, as we were reminded of at the recent Met Ball. While Nicolas is one of the greatest couturiers—and one of the last couturiers—as he still designs by hand. He is someone who was born to make great fashion. He is really a true creative director, 100%. So, I think his mélange of lifestyle and pure style and creation is making a pure and explosive impact. Difficult to handle, yes, difficult to handle. FN: We are about to go through four months of shows: menswear and women's wear in Milan and Paris in June and September and couture in Paris in July, where over a dozen new creative directors will be in some of Europe's greatest houses. PB: And counting! FN: Yes, and my question is: do you think there is something to be said for being loyal to a designer? Can that longevity be smart? PB: Well, now, we are in a period of time when people think that changing a designer is the right strategy. Apparently so. But I just re-signed Nicolas for the next five years. So, in a real sense, I believe in a long-term relationship. Karl Lagerfeld was working with me the whole time I was at Fendi. In the end, he was there for 60 years! When I arrived at Fendi, we did not change that. When I arrived at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri was there, and I didn't change. And we worked together and had a great deal of success. Now, I did introduce a little novelty in menswear—with Kim Jones at Dior and Pharrell here at Vuitton. But I think most of the time, in my own personal business experiences, I believe in long love stories. FN: We live in an era obsessed with experiential. Just this week, you reopened the Vuitton restaurant in Saint-Tropez. That makes nearly 10 cafés and restaurants. Why have you focused so much on your culinary community? PB: People don't just want to buy a bag and go home. It's about telling stories—beautiful stories. I believe a brand of such size as Vuitton cannot afford to just be selling bags; it must be a marque of reference and lifestyle and enter into that upper array of brands of culture. Apple is a brand of culture to me, and Vuitton is a cultural brand. That is our force—whether it's acting as a publisher, through collaborations with artists, or through our incredible collaborations with architects in our great stores, like the one we just opened in Milan—so that our customers understand more and more that we are a brand of culture. Our restaurants are part of that. And from what I see, our restaurants and cafés from New York to Milan are having great success. FN: Why does Vuitton seem to do so well amid a global turndown in luxury and a tricky moment for fashion? PB: Well, I think the trick is not to lose your nerve like in Formula One, where we have been busy. When I see the curve, I like to accelerate and go faster. So, managing Vuitton, I don't like to slow down. In luxury, you have to be prepared to take risks if you want to get anywhere. FN: What would be your advice to anyone wanting a career in luxury management? PB: First of all, you have to overwork everyone else. I just told my daughter, who just started a job in New York, that you must work harder than the others. And when the others stop, keep working. In my view, success is 10% talent and 90% sacrifice, application, and dedication. It's about being a little like a maniac with everything. That's what makes someone successful—or at least, that's the advice I would give.
Business Mayor
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Louis Vuitton captures zeitgeist for conclave chic at Avignon show
T he pageantry and drama of the papacy is very much on trend. Hot on the heels of white smoke at the Vatican and Conclave in cinemas, the gothic Palais des Papes in Avignon, home to the popes of the 14th century, hosted a Louis Vuitton catwalk, the first fashion show at the palace in its 700-year history. There was no shortage of pomp and ceremony in the central courtyard of one of Europe's largest medieval structures, where 400 chairs with tall, arched backs and plush, cardinal-red cushions were ranked tightly for Brigitte Macron, Cate Blanchett, Pharrell Williams, a clutch of celebrities making a post-Cannes detour, and a select few of Louis Vuitton's most deep-pocketed clients. Pharrell Williams. Photograph: Alexandre Dimou/Reuters Cate Blanchett. Photograph: Alexandre Dimou/Reuters 'Dressing is a performance,' says Ghesquière. Photograph: Alexandre Dimou/Reuters In a preview, the designer Nicolas Ghesquière said the collection was part-Arthurian legend, part-Haim sisters on stage. (Danielle and Este Haim were in the audience; the medieval ghosts perhaps watching from within the walls.) 'There is something medieval, for sure, but something futuristic too. This is armour, but for now,' he said. Ghesquière chose the building last year, drawn not by its papal origins but by his own memories of attending the experimental theatre festival it hosts each summer. 'Dressing is a performance that we are all part of. I love that about fashion, I think it's really cool,' he said. Pageantry and drama: a model in Louis Vuitton's 2026 cruise collection in Avignon. Photograph: Alexandre Dimou/Reuters That the papacy has been so visible this year is fitting for a designer whose nose for the zeitgeist has secured an impressive 11-year run at the helm of Vuitton. 'The coincidence is interesting, of course. And there is a magnetism to this place, to the idea of believing,' he said. Read More Learn Guitar for $17 Through February 4 The venue also reflects the scale of Louis Vuitton. It is the biggest fashion brand in the LVMH stable, which generated $88bn (£65bn) in revenue in 2024. Filling a gothic palace with celebrities is a power flex the 14th-century popes for whom it was built would have respected. Este, left, and Danielle Haim at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Photograph: Edward Berthelot/Getty Ghesquière understands that luxury has become a vast industry, not because people want to be seen to have an expensive handbag, but because they want to be seen to have status, taste and class, all of which are signalled by taking over the Unesco-listed Palais des Papes. Louis Vuitton will finance a new architectural lighting project to spotlight the facade after dark. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Most of the looks were short tunic dresses worn with slouchy boots, a silhouette that was signalling both heraldic knight and Glastonbury. For evening there were glittering metallic jersey gowns with bishop sleeves: a bit Joan of Arc, a bit Janis Joplin. Short tunic dresses signal both heraldic knight and Glastonbury. Photograph: Alexandre Dimou/Reuters Ghesquière, who has stayed at the top of the game during two decades when fashion has grown from being a niche interest to a billion-dollar business, has a way of making esoteric historical and futuristic references look entirely contemporary. His job, he says, is 'to stimulate the eye. If you want to create a classic, first you have to make something new.' Ghesquière, who is contracted to Louis Vuitton until 2028, stands out as a beacon of stability in an industry in flux. Calm and smiling even minutes before the show, he said he was looking forward to the next Paris fashion week, which will be packed with designer debuts. 'October will be really exciting. Fashion is exploding. Fashion should always be about change,' he said.
Fashion Network
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Network
Louis Vuitton stages conclave cruise show inside Avignon's Palais des Papes
Two weeks after a conclave elected a new pope in the Vatican, on Thursday evening in Avignon, Louis Vuitton staged a fashion conclave cruise show inside the city's Palais des Papes. 'Feminine knights. Arthurian legends,' smiled Vuitton's creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, in a pre-show preview of his heraldic expression of medieval mode-meets-tech futurism. Ghesquière built a huge web of scaffolding to support 450 guests on an elevated set inside a papal palace's Grand Cour, a massive interior courtyard. Pre-show, his signature Japanese gongs chimed every 30 seconds suggesting the calm before the storm. Nicolas opened the action with chivalric chic. Cape dresses with single arms were shaped like inverted shields and finished in jousting colors. A brilliant, magnified monogram cocktail in silver and anthracite sequins was topped by black leather shoulder armor. Space age chevaliers marched in flat-soled boots made of patchwork mirrors or heraldic motifs. If Chevalier Bayard were a woman this is what he would have liked to wear. Appearing in woolen gowns finished with fiery "Game of Thrones" motifs; sexy jacquard cocktails with fur trimmed pockets; or beautiful sparkling chiffon-gathered gowns. Maid Marion on the rampage. Many models sporting hair waxed down like shorn skull-caps, Joan of Arc on trial. As the music soared throughout climaxing with "Excalibur" by William Sheller, like the mythical sword cutting through the chilly spring evening caused by a strong mistral wind. Altogether, a superbly fresh fashion vision by Ghesquière, utilizing medieval ideas even as he subverted and reinvented them, in one of his greatest shows for Vuitton. Guests sat on conclave-worthy wooden chairs finished in cardinal's red as the cast marched along an illuminated catwalk. The models entered the set seemingly out of a gothic tower parading on an elevated runway before eventually posing on a vast flank of 20 rows of empty red cinema seats. The cast and audience all contained within the limestone palace-meets-fortress that was once the center of the papacy. For 67 years, until 1376, seven popes resided in Avignon, after a conflict between the Vatican and France and a deadlocked conclave allowed Philip IV to pressure the cardinals into accepting the Archbishop of Bordeaux as pope Clement V. It was during this period, that pope Benoît XII began building the palace in 1335. A truly rare and magnificent medieval complex with cloisters, cobblestone lanes, steep stone stairs, spires and scores of gothic windows, the Palais des Papes was officially listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list 30 years ago, a recognition this show celebrated. These days, the palace also acts as the nerve center of the Festival d'Avignon, the greatest French language annual theatre celebration. The show was the first-ever inside the palace, and marked a shift for Ghesquière from the epoch-marking locations of his previous cruise shows: the space age Bob & Dolores Hope Estate in Palm Springs; the flying saucer MAC by Oscar Niemeyer in Rio; or Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in New York. Pre-show, stars mingled in a separate courtyard, Le Cour de Clôture - Emma Stone, Jaden Smith, Chloe Moretz, Cate Blanchett, Felix Lee, Pharrell Williams, Saoirse Ronan, Catherine Deneuve, and Alicia Vikander. Sipping champagne to sounds that mashed up eras and genres, just like Nicolas' fashion. The sound of the 70s - from Gerry Rafferty's classic ballad "Right Down the Line" to Bologna-based electronic disco, "Shadows From Nowhere" by Blue Gas. Post-show, the fare was simple but succulent: risotto cooked in huge hollowed-out wheels of parmigiana, washed down by Ruinart champagne. Back in the 14th century, they called the seven decades when the popes resided in Avignon the Babylonian Captivity. This evening, it felt like Nicolas Ghesquière had freed up a lot of ideas and liberated multiple minds. No one felt captive at this fashion conclave.
