Stars take to the red carpet, surrounded by paparazzi

LONDON, United Kingdom – According to analysts, we’ve just come through the worst holiday selling season in 40 years.

If that’s not bad enough, Chanel announced that it is laying off 200 people in Paris. Chanel! That surprised everyone I spoke to in the industry. For one thing, Chanel is not masstige — it wasn’t catering to the masses, the part of the market said to be most impacted by the recession. For another thing, it’s French — meaning layoffs have to meet the stiff criteria of French social laws and union rules. And finally, it’s privately held — meaning the company wasn’t under shareholder pressure for short-term results and could therefore take a longer-term perspective. And still, they were compelled to let 200 people go. (The employees laid off were on fixed-term or temporary contracts.)

It seems we’ve got an unmitigated disaster on our hands. … Continue Reading