Author: VOG

It was the worst IPO the US market had seen in two years. But the thing about legacy brands? They know how to weather a storm.Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert says that going public was the company’s second best option. The first would have been to keep the brand growing in a “peaceful, positive family atmosphere”, but decades of “complex” dynamics led Reichert (the first person outside of the Birkenstock family to run the company) into the arms of the New York Stock Exchange. He rang the bell alongside Alexandre Arnault, who has been a board member since 2023 (L Catterton,…

Simone Bellotti is heading to Jil Sander, whose creative director post was left vacant by the departure of Luke and Lucie Meier last month.“Simone embarks on this journey with extensive experience and a distinct talent. Over the time spent together we shared the strategic vision and mission for Jil Sander, the values of innovation and sophistication that make it an iconic and unique brand,” said Renzo Rosso, chairman of OTB Group, in a statement.Bellotti was quietly recruited to Bally’s design team in October 2022 from Gucci, where he’d spent 16 years in the design studio under Frida Giannini and Alessandro…

Carven has appointed Mark Thomas as director of design, the house confirmed today. The house, owned by China’s ICCF Group, chose to promote from within after Louise Trotter exited in January to take the creative helm of Bottega Veneta. Thomas joined Carven in 2023 as senior designer.In just three seasons at Carven, Trotter, with Thomas as her second-in-command, managed to inject new energy into the house. “It feels sophisticated and chic, wearable, and I am sure it will sell in the stores,” fashion consultant Julie Gilhart said after Trotter’s debut show at Carven.Thomas, who graduated from Central Saint Martins, is…

Vogue: Where did the name come from?Hannah: Going back to that first conversation when we became friends, it was just like, this industry is shit, right? There’s a lot of shitty things going on. There’s no other word for it, but how can we say it in a glamorous way? So we’re like, ‘fecal matter’ is the scientific word for it. And then, since we were living in Montréal, which is a French-speaking part of Canada, we were like, why don’t we just say it in French, it sounds way more glamorous.Vogue: OK, so you finished school and launched Matières…

And so Burton has opted to go back to the beginning – to Hubert de Givenchy’s first show in 1952. Studying black-and-white photographs of his debut, which was held in a hôtel particulier on rue Alfred de Vigny, christened by a journalist at the time “the Cathédrale”, she was struck by Givenchy’s youth – he was just 25 – and by the obvious camaraderie between the couturier and his models, among them Bettina Graziani, who also worked in his press office. “But what really amazed me,” Burton says, “was how graphic the collection was; it’s very stripped back, not fussy. For me, Givenchy…

The tensions between the US and Ukraine have cast a heavy mood over the Ukrainian fashion community. Designers are showing resilience at Paris Fashion Week (PFW), presenting collections that celebrate their heritage during dark times.Last week, US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office to discuss Ukraine’s war with Russia, and the US’s proposed deal to achieve peace. The meeting, which was conducted in front of news outlets and cameras, ended in an argument between the two leaders, followed by the Trump administration suspending military aid to Ukraine. Now, it looks like the leaders…

On Wednesday, Julian Klausner will take a bow for the first time as Dries Van Noten’s creative director. The 33-year-old Belgian designer, who worked alongside the house’s founder on its womenswear collections since 2018, was appointed to the top seat in December. Van Noten stepped down last March after 30 years.”We are preparing everything, packing all the boxes, doing the final touches,” Klausner says, speaking on Zoom from the DVN office in Antwerp a few days before the show, which will take place at the historic Opéra Garnier in Paris.“I was able to know about the venue really early on…

It promised to be a season of celebrazione in Milan, and the city delivered. Anniversary shows from Fendi and Dsquared2 set a joyful tone, which was reflected by the (mostly) sunny weather. Diesel, Marni and Giorgio Armani were among those to offer standout collections, while several emerging designers had the chance to shine.“The overall mood was very positive in Milan this season,” says Kay Barron, fashion director at Net-a-Porter. “The sunshine had an uplifting effect and everyone was in high spirits. There felt a sense of excitement in the city, and the presentations brought a vibrant atmosphere.”

So that show happened and it was good, really good. Then, we had this party. Perry Farrell DJ’d and Ben Harper was there and this really mixed New York crowd: I mean Grace Jones, Donald Trump, Veronica Webb. It was a situation. It was great.And back in Italy suddenly there were a lot of meetings happening, and people coming into the factory to see things, and a lot going on. At the same time, I’d been working with Manuela Morin inside Bottega Veneta — she was the shoe designer there and had become like my work sister — and we’d…

A very noticeable newcomer to the show calendar is Alaïa. The house’s founder Azzedine Alaïa famously opted out of Paris Fashion Week, choosing to show on his own time instead. Under its current creative director Pieter Mulier, the maison has been often showing its ready-to-wear collections during Paris couture, with a one-off in New York during September 2024. This marks the first time the house enters the official Paris ready-to-wear schedule.Alaïa SS25 at the Guggenheim Museum. Photo: Courtesy of AlaïaSaint Laurent SS25. Photo: Alessandro LucioniCoperni, which showed off-calendar in Disneyland Paris last season at the tail end of PFW, returns…