Sonia Rykiel in talks with investor Fung Brands (Reuters)
"Sonia Rykiel, one of the last family-controlled French fashion houses, is in exclusive talks with privately held Fung Brands which could lead to the investment firm taking an 80 percent stake in the company to help it expand internationally."

China's Hidden Wealth Feeds an Income Gap (NY Times)
"Wealthy Chinese are snapping up gold, Rolls-Royces and yachts, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci faster than ever before, with increases registering not in baby steps, as a decade ago, but in giant leaps — 20, 50, even 80 percent, year on year. The Chinese have become the world's biggest duty-free shoppers. Where is all the money coming from?"

Italy woes weigh on luxury shoemaker Tod's in Q4 (Reuters)
"Italian luxury goods maker Tod's reported lower-than-expected sales in its crisis-hit core Italian market in the last quarter. The owner of the Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier brands, with a market value of 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion), said on Wednesday global sales grew 13.5 percent last year to 893.7 million euros, slightly above analysts' estimates."

Vogue keeps No. 1 rank among fashion titles (New York Post)
"In the closely watched March issues of fashion magazines — where fashion designers typically advertise their spring and summer collections — the Condé Nast flagship Vogue retained its customary No. 1 spot. Vogue had 442.74 ad pages, up 3.7 percent, handily beating Time Inc.'s In Style, which came in No. 2 with 347.0 ad pages, up a healthy 39 pages, or 13 percent."

Cool Designer Ervell Hates to Shop, Wants NYC Store (Bloomberg)
"Dressed in jeans, New Balance sneakers and a simple blue button-down shirt, Ervell, 32, is indistinguishable from the vaguely mussed creative types who pack downtown. What makes Ervell -- and all those scenesters -- so effortlessly cool is his own, eponymous clothing line."