Louis Vuitton and most luxury fashion are still in the Marc Jacobs era — When Marc Jacobs joined Louis Vuitton in 1997, he was told that one things that he cannot touch was the logo. Obviously, he changed the logo. “Anti-snob snobbism” is Jacobs’ 2001 work with Stephen Sprouse. In it, Sprouse and Jacobs translated LV logo into the urban, street, countercultural aesthetic and…

Quality as a competitive strategy —

Different approaches to menswear and womenswear — Will they or won’t they? The question of success of J.Crew’s revival has been going around the U.S. retail industry ever since Brendon Babenzien was appointed the creative director of menswear and Olympia Gayot head of womenswear. Since then, we’ve seen both Giant Fit Chinos and the rise of Olympia…

In the current fashion landscape, there are 4 types — There are brands for Tribeca mommies. There are brands for aging hipsters. Then there are brands for arrivistas, rebels, debutantes or traditionalists. Sometimes, archetypes are obvious and, always, they are useful. A quick look at the womenswear landscape (operative word being quick) gives us four archetypes. J.Crew is for good…

The court jester era — What do Triangle of Sadness, White Lotus, Squid Game and Parasite have in common? Aside of their global popularity, they are all social satires, told with a different degree of nuance and bite. They are also all new, released in the past two years. More than a coincidence, this cultural…

What’s your audience getting out of your content? — When telling stories, brands aim for the mass audience. In their narrative strategy, they also consider mostly what they want to say and how. Motivations and goals of the audience (what the audience wants to get out of the story) are often hidden behind its demographics. Audience motivations and goals…

The blueprint of modern commerce — The top five most visited retail websites in 2022 were Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Aliexpress, and Etsy.com. They are all aggregators. The most visited mono-brand website is IKEA, which is only the ninth most-visited site on the list. Regardless of the consumer traffic and this customer behavior, a lot of retail…

Are aesthetics and scale antithetical to each other? — The GUCCI Twinsburg Fashion Show, September 2022 When Alessandro Michele stepped down as the creative director of Gucci last week, the first question, to the uninitiated, was why. Kering reported a “very solid revenue growth” in the Q3 of 2022, with Gucci contribution of €2,581 million, up 18% as reported…

Why second-hand is the first choice — By 2025, global spend on second-hang clothing will reach $77bn. Total spend on fast fashion is predicted at $40bn, according to GlobalData. Second-hand spending spread to antique shops, furniture, books, jewelry. The pre-owned luxury watch market is set to grow to $30bn by 2025, per McKinsey. There are 154M #vintage…