The Best of BoF 2023: The Year Luxury Outgrew Fashion

Was 2023 the 12 months luxury outgrew fashion? This 12 months, the commerce’s largest mannequin Louis Vuitton appointed the producer, performer and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams as males’s creative director — signaling how cultural strategies that stretch previous vogue, all through sports activities actions, music, art work and media have gotten increasingly more very important to producers. Pattern producers amped up their presence at concert tours, Formula One races, tennis championships and further.

The switch obtained right here amid an expensive panorama in flux. The post-pandemic party is finally over, with producers all through the board experiencing vital slowdowns in Europe and the US. Restoration throughout the essential China market remains uneven. Monetary turbulence is prompting aspirational shoppers to claw once more discretionary spending, leaving the ultra-wealthy to gasoline the market. Within the meantime, emblem fatigue and the “quiet luxurious” phenomenon is reshaping the market at all levels. (This was probably most evident at Gucci, which debuted a model new designer vision beneath Valentino alum Sabato De Sarno in September.)

In a sector affected by change and uncertainty, scale is seen as a key profit. Tapestry (which owns Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman) agreed to buy rival Capri (Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo) for $8.5 billion, whereas Gucci-owner Kering launched a deal to acquire 30 percent of Valentino, amid continued underperformance at its flagship mannequin.

Nevertheless firms can’t rely on scale alone, as seen with the dramatic decline of e-commerce giant Farfetch. Amid tales of a dire financial situation, South Korean retailer Coupang agreed to buy the positioning, in a de-listing deal that’s poised to depart many bondholders and shareholders emptyhanded. A maintain Richemont to amass Yoox-Net-a-Porter fell apart. Even when Farfetch secured a “white knight”, worrying indicators on the outlook for multi-brand luxurious persist.

Prime Tales

Pharrell Williams: The Future of Luxury Is ‘Freedom’: Alongside along with his first Louis Vuitton males’s current behind him, BoF 500 cowl star Pharrell Williams shares his long-term imaginative and prescient for the best way ahead for Louis Vuitton, and splendid itself, with BoF’s Imran Amed.

Can Luxury Brands Grow in 2024?: For over a decade, luxurious producers would possibly rely on casualisation, China and a post-pandemic development to drive report product sales and earnings. Now that these components have carried out out, it’s unclear the place they might flip subsequent for progress.

Case Study | Inside Hermès’ Best-in-Class Leather Goods Strategy: How a singular methodology to supply chain, design, communications and retail has powered blockbuster demand for iconic baggage identical to the Birkin and Kelly, enabling the French leather-based gadgets residence to face down rivals and become a worldwide megabrand with a market capitalisation higher than Nike’s.

Daniel Lee’s High-Stakes Burberry Debut, Explained: The earlier Bottega Veneta designer’s first assortment is London Pattern Week’s hottest ticket. Ahead of the current, BoF breaks down what’s at stake for the British megabrand.

The Business of Gucci’s Designer Debut: Shares rose 4 p.c following a Milan Pattern Week outing which observed Sabato de Sarno hone the mannequin’s universality and upscale enchantment. Critics have been left wanting further in strategies every good and harmful.

Phoebe Philo: The Big Reveal: In Philo’s first appears for her long-awaited namesake label, there’s the luxe minimalism she was acknowledged for at Celine, however as well as a raw, shredded edge which breaks collectively along with her fast earlier, reveals Tim Blanks after an viewers with the designer.

The BoF Podcast | Leena Nair on Leading Chanel Into the Future: Chanel’s world CEO Leena Nair joined BoF founder and CEO Imran Amed at BoF VOICES 2023 to debate the imaginative and prescient she’s crafting for the enduring French luxurious mannequin.