The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Welcome to News Bites, BoF's regular feature of the stories that get the industry talking.
Dunhill has appointed Mark Weston as its new creative director.
Weston is Dunhill's second senior level appointment from Burberry, where he was senior vice president of menswear. In January, the Richemont-owned brand hired Burberry executive Andrew Maag as its new CEO, following the departure of Fabrizio Cardinali.
Weston succeeds John Ray, who exited the role in January 2016 after three years with the brand.
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"The opportunity to creatively develop and design for [this] iconic British menswear luxury brand is rare and exciting," said Weston in a statement. "Dunhill’s innovative and design-driven heritage is a unique platform to build upon by creating purposeful products with an aesthetic that is classic yet relevant today."
Maag added: "Mark brings an innate understanding of menswear and product design that will uniquely drive our brand and business growth forward. Dunhill is the leading luxury British menswear brand with strong foundations and I am excited by Mark’s appointment to lead the brand’s creative vision to the future."
Weston will present his first collection for Dunhill in June at London Fashion Week: Men's in June, showing a selection of pieces from Autumn/Winter 2017 alongside the Spring/Summer 2018 collection. — Tamara Abraham
Robert Clergerie has appointed a new creative director as Roland Mouret exits.
Mouret, who left the brand to focus on his namesake label, is succeeded by David Tourniaire-Beauciel, whose 25-year career has seen him design footwear for Martin Margiela, Phoebe Philo at Chloé and Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga.
David Tourniaire-Beauciel | Source: Robert Clergerie
Despite his impressive roster of collaborators, Tourniaire-Beauciel described his appointment at Robert Clergerie as "destiny." Certainly, the designer's career has come full-circle. He was born in Romans-sur-Isère, a town famed for shoemaking and the home of the Robert Clergerie ateliers since it was founded in 1981.
Tourniaire-Beauciel's father was a shoemaker and he recalls a childhood immersed in the craft until he left for Paris at the age of 24. It is this experience of the technical side of shoemaking that he will bring to Robert Clergerie, to the extent that he will split his time between Paris and Romans-sur-Isère. "Communication in the factory is very fluid," he says.
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Perry Oosting, who succeeded Eva Taub as CEO of Robert Clergerie in April, says Tourniaire-Beauciel was a very natural choice for the role. "It was destiny, when we met it was quite quick," he said. "Sometimes you have that feeling where everything fits.
"It’s a mixture of, on one side, the incredible passion of David towards Clergerie as a brand, because of his roots, then as a shoe designer he understands the technical opportunities and constraints. His fashion experience — what he’s done before — is amazing."
Both Tourniaire-Beauciel and Oosting expressed their gratitude to Mouret for his work with the brand over the past six years. "He wanted to focus more on his own brand, which is normal and rightfully so," Oosting explained. Now the goal is to build on Mouret's success by celebrating the brand's shoemaking heritage.
Tourniaire-Beauciel will show his first collection for the French brand for Autumn/Winter 2018, though his influence will be evident in the Spring/Summer 2018 collection. — Tamara Abraham
Do you have a story for News Bites? Email newsbites@businessoffashion.com.
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