Almost Summer 2025: Kering and LVMH, One Captain, One Boat...Or Not?
FHP and a Difficult Re-organization, Delphine Arnault on Dior and Jonathan Anderson and The Real State of Fashion in Snapshots and a Journal du Luxe webinar and Change the Date for The Masterclass!
“He knows how to market himself well. Nowadays, that's all that seems to count. He's rebellious in a way that appeals to people with vain, shallow taste. So of course he manipulates his audiences with the blessing of his recording company and the financial investors behind his brand.”
― Jess C. Scott, Sven
Dear DeLuxers,
How are you? First of all welcome to all the new subscribers!
The organic growth of SUN DeLuxe is making me happy and grateful for the attention and the regard that it is shown by the industry key players and all those who are willing to go in depth of some key issues troubling the present and the future of the system and to find healthy ways to make it grow.
In this new group I found great experts with whom I could chat forever, and it’s no gossip nor under the table informations, it’s a real, proactive exchange and new discoveries among like-minded people.
There are many more of us than one might think and coming from different fields, which is truly amazing: from creative direction and design, to fashion and luxury management students, from banks and investment funds to top university professors and program directors, to buyers and merchandisers and great supply chain experts and entrepreneurs, and lawyers and consultants and head hunters, AI experts and innovators, we also have beloved Hollywood talent agents and Big Tech managers as well as media owners. And CEOs, lots of CEOs.From the USA to Europe to Middle East and Asia.
It’s a global, powerful, niche community where every single person counts and can make the difference and is happy to gather to find solutions, usually in front of a coffee (yes, you know my passion) in Milano, Paris, Geneve, Roma, Firenze and, very rarely, London, much more often Forte dei Marmi and Pietrasanta, my outpost now until the end of summer. I was happy to discuss about this with one of you at Cova in Milan.
A precious member of this community, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico heard that I have Georgia O’Keeffe house visit in my bucket list for Christmas and he sent me amazing pictures of an old (but very, very good) advertising campaign of Calvin Klein shot there by Bruce Weber in 1984. I was stunned by the beauty of it, food for thought for shallow art directors and company. This is the top of the fashion imagery, instead. Thank you, you know who you are.
And with other ones I discussed a lot the news about FHP splitting his role in two and staying as Chairman while searching for a Group CEO. They know who they are, too.
And about this we cannot deny that…
Kering and LVMH: One Boat, One Captain
What seems clear in these days is that, in the luxury conglomerates, governance is confused and too much stratified and recruitment at the highest levels has been very insubstantial in the past years.
Kering is an example of this with a Chairman and CEO who is also the major stakeholder and two Deputy CEOs in charge respectively of Brand Development - Francesca Bellettini - and Finance and Operations - Jean-Marc Duplaix since July 2023.
The group was already nosediving but this new organization didn’t help improve the bad revenues and debt trend, on the contrary, the situation has dramatically worsened very quickly.