RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — While Sao Paulo Fashion Week kicked off on Friday, the industry’s eyes have been on Brazil and its booming fashion sector for a few weeks already, specifically on Rio de Janeiro and its own designer showcase, Fashion Rio. The weeklong run of shows in the country’s second city traditionally precedes the higher-profile Sao Paulo collections. And in the first month of the new decade and with an increasingly competitive and crowded calendar vying for the attention of busy editors, the pressure was on for Fashion Rio to justify its existence.

Some voices have called for a consolidation between Sao Paulo Fashion Week and Fashion Rio. Others said that the fabled vacation and cruise destination should stick to what it does best, namely beach and casual sportswear. Even the event’s organizers, Luminosidade, signaled that it might be time for a refocusing: in a press conference held last fall in Paris, the organization’s president Paulo Borges promised to transform the week into a first tier platform where international designers would present their resort collections, a laudable if overly ambitious plan that, if it comes to fruition, may take years to implement.

Nonetheless, the real and positive news is that none of the drastic prognostications has, yet, come to pass. Instead, Fashion Rio wrapped up last week after one of its strongest seasons in years. In what seemed to be a concerted, silently agreed upon effort, the over two dozen designers that showed their Winter 2011/12 collections to an international audience proved that a radical organizational reinvention isn’t necessary to make a strong case for Fashion Rio’s continued importance. The overall message was that Rio de Janeiro is moving away from bikinis towards sophisticated sporstwear and doing it with unexpected self-assurance.

… Continue Reading

Lisa Montague, Chief Executive Officer, Loewe

MADRID, Spain — Many of the world’s most legendary luxury brands strike a delicate balance between a strong heritage and a link to contemporary culture and society. In the lucrative market for leather goods, LVMH-owned Loewe, Spain’s answer to Hermès, has a long history of beautiful craftsmanship and a strong link to the Spanish royal family. But despite this rich heritage, Loewe has for many years remained a sleeping beauty, failing to find a contemporary articulation that would quicken the pulse of the young fashion mainstream.

In 2008, Loewe’s stewards at LVMH initiated a repositioning, appointing Stuart Vevers — whose background as the leather goods genius behind the repositioning of Mulberry made him a very good choice — as the brand’s creative director. Then, last year, Lisa Montague, who worked closely with Mr. Vevers as chief operating officer at Mulberry, took the reins as Loewe’s chief executive, reuniting the team that successfully put the British leather goods brand on the global fashion map.

While it remains to be seen whether Vevers and Montague will be able to replicate their success at Mulberry, there are signs that the Loewe’s profile is on the rise: flip through the pages of influential magazines like French Vogue and Loewe is featured in editorial spreads alongside better-known fashion darlings like Givenchy and Gucci. Meanwhile Angelina Jolie, Madonna and Sienna Miller have been photographed toting around the label’s best selling Amazona bag, a sure sign that less famous women will soon follow suit.

The numbers look promising as well. In 2009, as a result of global expansion, especially in China, the company’s earnings rose 7.5 percent to reach an estimated €115m, a good performance in what was otherwise a very tough year for luxury brands, especially those without mega-brand status like Loewe. (Loewe declined to confirm or comment on these figures.)

With a Loewe flagship store designed by Peter Marino, due to launch in London’s Mount Street this Spring, BoF spoke with Ms. Montague at the brand’s Madrid headquarters to discuss the on-going repositioning, her working relationship with Mr. Vevers, and the legendary Spanish brand’s plans for international expansion.

… Continue Reading

Rising Office Towers in Madrid's Financial District | Source: urbemadrid.es

MADRID, Spain — Stately and full of world-class art at any time of the year, Madrid is particularly appealing in the fall, when the city welcomes buyers, journalists and other industry observers from around the world for the year’s second Pasarela Cibeles, in which Spanish designers and brands present their new collections during a week of runway shows. Having recently wrapped up its 52nd edition, Cibeles has grown into a reliable, professional trend and design showcase without losing the independent, even zany spirit that is an advantage of its outsider status.

While it would be easy to dismiss Madrid as a provincial side note on the ever more packed global fashion week schedule, attending the city’s latest round of collections, BoF found that valuable intelligence can be gleaned from the over forty shows, and that the event’s importance beyond Spain can only be expected to increase in future years.

… Continue Reading

São Paulo Cityscape | Source: Superfuture

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — You hear about it at dinner parties and fashion events. It’s been the subject of countless magazine stories and news reports. Something special is going on in Brazil. And today, the momentum has nothing to do with cultural clichés like soccer and samba. Brazil is claiming its place on the global stage and interestingly, fashion is playing a major role in the country’s ascendence.

Significantly, the tremendous energy in Brazil’s fashion market is flowing from both inside and outside the country. For global fashion brands, Brazil is a land of opportunity. Just this year, Diane von Furstenberg, Missoni, Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry have made, or are making, large investments here, opening stores in major urban centres — mostly in São Paulo, but also in the capital city Brasilia, a fast-emerging market for luxury goods. Indeed, a spokesperson for Gucci told BoF that in 2009, their São Paulo boutique was one of the brand’s top performing stores worldwide.

… Continue Reading

NEW YORK, United States — Over the past ten years, the eco-fashion movement has been gathering steam. Following the lead of pioneering brands like Stella McCartney and NOIR, which were founded on the basis of ethical principles near the turn of the millennium, there are now entire fashion exhibitions, forums and blogs all focused on so-called sustainable fashion.

Ethical fashion is also high on the agenda of the major luxury goods groups. In April 2009, having already partnered with Stella McCartney to launch her eponymous label, PPR announced its support of HOME, an environmental call-to-action by filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand. François-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer, said at the time that PPR’s support aimed to use “images and commentary to make us understand that each of us has a responsibility towards the planet, and that we can each act in our own way.”

A month earlier, Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, told investors at the luxury group’s annual shareholders meeting in Paris of his plan to take a 49 percent stake in Edun, the sustainable clothing label founded by Bono and Ali Hewson. “LVMH shares the vision and ethical values of Edun, a pioneer in ethical apparel, and its founders,” he said later. “LVMH is committed to advancing both the social and environmental aspects of sustainable development, which plays an intrinsic role in the development of our brands.”

… Continue Reading