The Luxe Chronicles

You Call Yourself A "Luxury" Brand?

Better not drop that bag.

There is more to a luxury brand than merely a hefty price tag and a haughty attitude.

A Fresh Take On Petit Bateau Classics Courtesy of JCdC.

To my mind, the hallmark of a good collaboration is when the resulting products combine both brands' DNA into a graceful, cohesive whole. In other words, the product itself must be desirable on its own independent of the brands behind it. In this respect, the new Jean Charles de Castelbajac collaboration with Petit Bateau looks like a winner.

Not Much Yves Left In This Saint Laurent.

One of the first things Hedi Slimane did when he was named creative director of Yves Saint Laurent was to drop the "Yves" from the brand name. In hindsight, it was a very good decision, if not for the brand, then for the man who founded it.

Random Musings On Fashion Diversity.

The sight of Liya Kebede in an advert for Louis Vuitton on the inside cover of this past weekend's How To Spend It has me mulling over the issue of racial diversity in fashion.

Well If You Can't Beat Them ...

The duel announcements that Chanel would be joining the e-commerce fray in 2016 and debuting a fine jewellery collection on Net-A-Porter starting this week may not seem like much at first blush but in luxury industry terms, it amounts to a minor earthquake.

On The Evolution of The Term "Luxury".

You'll be happy to know that according to Euromonitor International, a market research company, "luxury toilet paper" sales reached $1.4 billion USD last year outselling regular toilet paper for the first time in 10 years. It has been hailed as a sign of a strengthening economy.

On The Marriage/Merger of Yoox & Net-A-Porter.

Roy Lichtenstein's "The Ring (Engagement)" (1962).

It has been a rather frothy two weeks in the world of fashion what with all the talk of mergers and acquisitions relating to Net-A-Porter. As my regular readers will attest, I'm a huge fan and loyal customer of the pioneering luxury fashion site so I've been following these stories very closely.

An Ode To Eres.

It's been a long, hectic winter and I'm very much looking forward to a family vacation somewhere warm and sunny. I've therefore been looking for swimwear both online and off.

Selfridges To Offer Gender-Neutral Shopping Experience.

First, they took on ageism with their Bright Old Things initiative. And now, gender too.

'23 Stories by Conde Nast' & Other Fairy Tales.

I don't believe print is dead although sometimes, it seems to me that the people who work in the industry are doing their best to kill it.