PARIS, France — The recent media conversation in France has been dominated by political scandals. Journalists at Mediapart.fr, the website which first broke the story of Jerome Cahuzac's illegal bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore, were ecstatic when the former budget minister finally admitted the error of his ways after several weeks of outright denials, while Libération found itself in hot water for a front page a story accusing French minister of foreign affairs Laurent Fabius of similar wrongdoing, based only on rumours.

It was a busy week in the fashion newsrooms also, as the French media reacted to Nicola Formichetti's move from Mugler to Diesel, Roger Vivier's new book and the opening of H&M's new retail concept, & Other Stories, in Paris.

While most media outlets only published a short, factual piece on the Formichetti news, Libération's Lisa Agostini dug deeper, calling the brand under his tenure "a true laboratory of fashion in the digital era." Agostini also noted the numerous controversial decisions taken by Formichetti, from the casting of tattoo-extraordinaire Rick Genest as the face of Mugler to the brand's infamous erotica video "Brothers of Arcadia," which was shown on pornography website X-Tube.com.

A new book on Rogier Vivier, published by Rizzoli, gave Le Figaro's fashion editor-at-large Godfrey Deeny the chance to reflect on the life and career of one of France's most famous shoemakers, who made the heels worn by Queen Elizabeth II for her coronation, as well as those worn by Catherine Deneuve for the movie Belle du Jour.

This week also saw the opening of H&M's & Other Stories megastore on rue Saint Honoré. Le Figaro's Emilie Faure wrote a short but exhaustive piece on the offering, predicting that the store will become a Paris best-seller.

Also in the French press this week, there have also been some terrific profiles of notable industry figures. Françoise Marie Santucci interviewed Dior Homme's artistic director Kris van Assche for Libération. "The day I finally started to understand that the real luxury for men was hidden, I found my way at Dior," the Belgian designer is quoted as saying.

L'Express Styles published two long features, the first, a short essay on the notion of style by Olivier Saillard, curator and Director of Musée Galliera, and the second, an interview of Felipe Oliveira Baptista.

Finally, Le Figaro's menswear editor, Frédéric Martin Bernard, covered the phenomenon of high-end designers making sneakers, from Pierre Hardy and Valentino to the Raf Simons and Adidas collaboration.

Links:

Nicola Formichetti quitte Mugler (Libération)

Roger Vivier, griffe paradoxale (Le Figaro)

& Other Stories, une histoire de mode (Le Figaro)

Kris Van Assche, la glace sur le feu (Libération)

Olivier Saillard: "Avoir du style, c'est résister" (L'Express)

Felipe Oliveira Baptista (L'Express)

Compétition de baskets sur le macadam (Le Figaro)