Pierre Mallevays of Savigny Partners | Source: Savigny Partners

Today, BoF brings you an exclusive interview with a key adviser to the private family trust which, as announced today, made an investment in Lanvin, one of the hottest fashion brands in the world.

PARIS, France — Over the past few years, under the creative stewardship of industry darling Alber Elbaz, Lanvin has risen to heights that most fashion brands can only dream of, with nearly unanimous positive reviews from buyers and editors and a seemingly insatiable appetite amongst luxury fashion customers for Lanvin’s clothes, accessories and jewelry.

There was only one problem. After having invested significant sums early on, Shaw-Lan Chu-Wang, who purchased Lanvin from L’Oreal in 2001, was not injecting any more cash to grow the business. This left Lanvin’s hyper industry buzz and brand potential underexploited.

Not anymore. Today, in a press release issued by Lanvin (and as reported in WWD), it was announced that Arpège, the brand’s parent company, has received a cash injection for a minority investment representing 12.5 percent of the equity. The investment was made with a “long-term” view, apparently an indication that the investor does not plan to flip the investment for a quick profit. This is a refreshing change from some of the disastrous investments we have seen in fashion brands in recent years.

I spoke with Pierre Mallevays who advised the private family trust on their investment in Lanvin to learn more about the dynamics of the deal and the fashion and luxury market in general. Pierre is a friend and colleague, and one of the leading investment experts in the luxury space, first having worked as Head of M&A for LVMH for over seven years, and now as Managing Partner of London-based Savigny Partners, a boutique M&A advisory firm.

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Karl who?

PARIS, France – We don’t actively engage in the rumour mill here on BoF, but when the whispers involve Karl Lagerfeld, Olivier Theyskens and Alber Elbaz in a Lanvin and Chanel merry-go-round, it seems worthwhile to engage in a bit of Friday afternoon fashion speculation.

Today, Diane Pernet has published a bombshell post outlining this scenario:

“This is not a fact until you officially read it somewhere else but rumour has it that Karl Lagerfeld will not renew his contract at Chanel and that Alber Elbaz will take his place and Olivier Theyskens will take Alber’s place at Lanvin…Nothing is engraved in cement, these are still just rumours you will have to wait and see.”

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Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano, Spring/Summer 2007

PARIS, France — In a fascinating interview with The Taipei Times, Didier Grumbach, President of the Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (sometimes known as the Chambre Syndicale), provides his point of view on the role of haute couture in the fashion business today, encourages young designers to manufacture in China, and welcomes luxury conglomerates like LVMH and PPR as a necessary part of the fashion eco-system.

On Haute Couture, he tells it like it is. “Couture is in fact not an industry, it is a savoir faire, a craft, and is a complement to ready-to-wear,” he tells the Times’ Catherine Shu. “When haute couture was organized and structured the way it was in 1944, there was no ready-to-wear as we know it today. Everything was made for you. Creative ready-to-wear did not exist. Today Chanel and Dior, the most mythical couture houses, are also at the same time among the biggest exporters of ready-to-wear, and without their ready-to-wear lines, their couture lines could not exist.” … Continue Reading

PARIS, France – When I first met Diane Pernet, it was hard to see beyond her iconic look : a towering pompadour, mantilla veil, cateye sunglasses and platform wedges, all in black, complemented by scarlet red lips and a signature scent.  Since then, I have never seen her in anything else.

But, despite her aesthetic constancy, she is one of those rare souls in the fashion business who still manages to surprise at every turn, with witty observations and an unflinching honesty. And, as I have come to know the person behind the veil, as it were, we have bonded over our shared passion for young design talent, debated ideas for fashion collaborations and industry progress, and exchanged dollops of industry gossip.

Diane, of course, is best known for building one of the most influential blogs in the industry, something she has done by focusing on emerging brands and edgy events from around the world, as opposed to the major brands which are covered ad nauseam elsewhere. But recently, she has been talking to me about A Shaded View on Fashion Film, which will launch at the prestigious Jeu de Paume in Paris in September.

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PARIS, France – There was wall-to-wall coverage of Yves Saint Laurent’s funeral in Paris on Thursday, but as usual, it was Suzy Menkes, in her own erudite and quirky way, who best managed to capture the mood of the moment in her article and video about Saint Laurent’s final farewell.

That John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, Ricardo Tisci, Valentino Garavani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Stefano Pilati, Mark Jacobs, Alber Elbaz, Hubert de Givenchy and Vivienne Westwood were all there to pay homage speaks to Saint Laurent’s towering status amongst his peers and YSL successors. The one notable absentee was Karl Lagerfeld.

Marc Jacobs, speaking of Saint Laurent’s influence on his own designs, said simply “He’s the person who taught me everything I know.” In creative fields like fashion, it is this kind of recognition, respect and influence that stands the test of time. Not dollars and cents.

PARIS, France – The inventor of modern-day ready-to-wear, the first designer to use black models on his runway, the first to bring androgyny to high fashion, the successor to Christian Dior, the first to license his name to other businesses, and one of the youngest designers ever to be at the helm of a major Parisian Haute Couture house, Yves Saint Laurent, died at his home on Sunday evening, June 1, 2008. 

Fans of YSL, or simply those who want to learn more, may want to check out the newly-opened (and, I guess, impeccably-timed) YSL retrospective at the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal which runs until September 28, 2008 and which is being planned in conjunction with La Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent.  Pierre Bergé himself was on-hand for the opening of the highly-acclaimed exhibit last week, and according to a friend on the organising team, he recounted some incredible stories about his life and times with Monsieur Saint Laurent.

Of course, tributes to YSL are pouring in  from up on high, from every corner of the fashion world. But, if you would like to pay your own personal tribute, please feel free to do so here and I will ensure that any tributes and comments are sent over to Montréal to be shared somehow as part of the retrospective.  It would be a fitting way to honour this legendary designer who was, above all, a man of the people, known for empowering women.

Amongst the most anticipated collections this season in Paris were the debuts by new designers at the helm of established brands — Stuart Vevers for Loewe, Estaban Cortazar for Ungaro, and Alessandra Facchinetti  for Valentino. Each brand has faced its own unique challenges in finding the right creative spark to sustain brand awareness and business performance.

While many fashion companies are practically clambouring to establish a presence and gain legitimacy in the lucrative leather goods category, Loewe has a long, rich history in beautifully-crafted leather goods, including a strong link to the  Spanish Royal family. But despite its enviable heritage and high quality, Loewe has had a hard time breaking into the younger fashion mainstream. Enter Stuart Vevers, who has a luxury heritage all his own, with stints at Louis Vuitton and most recently at Mulberry, where he helped put the British brand on the global fashion map.

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It’s been a blisteringly busy Paris fashion week here at the BoF, but we’ve been taking everything in and can finally share some of our views on all the action — and the business implications. This season, we were most interested in Balenciaga and Givenchy — the new Paris establishment — and the series of brand revivalists – including Stuart Vevers at Loewe, Estaban Cortazar at Ungaro and Alessandra Facchinetti at Valentino. Today, the new establishment. Tomorrow, the brand revivalists.

After what was widely considered a tour-de-force from Nicolas Ghesquiere  last season, the anticipation was building for a Balenciaga for A/W 2008. He did not disappoint, picking up on last season’s modern, sculpted silhouette (which, incidentally has also popped up in other collections this season from Marchesa to Bruno Pieters) and producing a more wearable, but still distinctive, collection. Ghesquiere is solidifying his place as the leader of the new Paris establishment.

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In the 1920’s, a young French designer named Madeleine Vionnet created a virtual tornado in the in the fashion industry when she developed the bias cut. By cutting fabric against the grain, she enabled it to cling, drape and give in a way that was flattering to the body. Vionnet went on to build an enviable and innovative business, dressing clients such as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, and Greta Garbo.

The house was shut down during the Second World War, but since then, Vionnet’s technique has been widely used by numerous acclaimed designers, including Azzedine Alaia and John Galliano, who has made the bias-cut dress one of his own signatures.

Now, almost 70 years after it faded into oblivion, the House of Vionnet may not be dead for much longer. Not if Vionnet CEO Arnaud de Lummen has something to say about it. Over the past few years, he has been quietly laying the foundation to resurrect this once-great house to its former glory. De Lummen’s father bought the rights to the Vionnet business 20 years ago and has waited until now to task his son, a Harvard-trained lawyer, to make this ambitious vision a reality.

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Ever since Roberto Rimondi and Tommaso Aquilano of 6267 sent their S/S 2008 collection down the runway in Milan last week, everyone has been talking about that dress.

In her glowing review, Suzy Menkes said the big surprise of the show came "when the models turned to show a wide dress morph into a sinuous shape at the back. It sounds tricky, but the idea worked, offering one of the most intriguing contrasts of the season." Of the show’s standout piece, Nicole Phelps of Style.com said that "Rimondi and Aquilano have an untapped avant-garde streak: Coming, the dress looked like a sculptural, full-blown trapeze; going, it revealed itself to be a body-skimming, provocative sheath." (Note: Unfortunately, no photo of that dress, but another one with similarly constrasting construction is pictured to the left)

Lucky for me, though I missed the show in Milan, I was invited to tea at Place du Marché St Honoré in Paris yesterday evening to take a closer look at the collection. I dragged Jason Campbell of the JC Report along with me — and we were not disappointed and not alone.

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