Fashion Industry News Roundup: 12/22/08

1.) Swiss fragrance house LesNez is nearing release of a new fragrance titled Manoumalia. I reviewed two other LesNez fragrances here (l'Antimatiere and Let Me Play the Lion), and Manoumalia sounds like it might be a bit of an exotic departure from their previous works.

Perfumer Isabelle Doyen was behind the first three LesNez fragrances (Doyen is in-house perfumer for Annick Goutal, and was behind the recent release of the richly layered Les Orientalistes series), but Sandrine Videault steps up to the plate for Manoumalia. Ms. Videault is a former student of the late master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, and there's always a bit of a buzz in fragrance circles when any Roudnitska-trained perfumer comes out with a new piece.

Marie-Helen at The Scented Salamander has an English translation of the promotional materials posted on her blog, and I received an email from the LesNez people today telling me that a sample has been shipped out and I should receive it in early January. And hey, Marin -- it has ylang ylang in it!

Video clip of interview with Dr. Silvio Levi, Italian distributor for LesNez -- unfortunately for us monolinguists in the crowd, it's not in English:

(my apologies to Renè Schifferle, founder of LesNez, for originally misidentifying the interviewee -- what? The man speaks Italian! How was I to know he wasn't the president of a Swiss fragrance company? *sigh*)

2.) Could Perfume Beat the Recession Blahs?:

The Starwood Capital Group is ramping up the growth of fragrance house Annick Goutal, a property Starwood inherited as part of a $3.2 billion acquisition in 2005. While the talk about town has been the sizing down of the luxury giants, the continued revenue growth of Goutal and Starwood Group's positive attitude toward the brand reveals that the fragrance industry might possibly be one of the few survivors of the current economic tailspin.

"'It's a bit of a gem,' said Russell Sternlicht, managing director of Starwood Capital", and Starwood is aggressively polishing that gem with around thirty boutique openings in the next five years, the introduction of new fragrances (the aforementioned Les Orientalistes series, plus a new Japanese inspired floral for February, 2009), a lingerie line, and plans for household linens, cosmetics, jewelry and potpourri. The idea for the installation of Annick Goutal spas within Starwood's many hotel properties has also been mentioned.

A recent discussion on the Perfume of Life forum mentions that Starwood initially had little interest in developing the Goutal brand -- after all, it was a small company packaged into a multi-billion dollar acquisition deal -- but Goutal appears to be one of Starwood's few bright lights in the present economy, so they're gonna let it shine.

Andrew Calvo writes: "Starwood Capital's ability to make a purchase and reinvent that purchase by almost turning it inside out, and then growing it into something amazing is always interesting to watch. Whenever Starwood announces a move, I always consider how that purchase will evolve beyond what is said and what is assumed."

Note: Starwood also owns an 86% stake in the Baccarat Company, and I would be surprised if we didn't see crossover among these two brands in the future. Baccarat Crystal bottles for Annick Goutal fragrances? I can think of about a zillion people that would go bonkers for such a pairing. Of course, I'll probably find out that they've been doing it all along . . . it's not like an investment group doesn't know how to maximize its portfolio.

Note: And I just answered my own question . . .

Related news: High Growth Forecasted for the World Fragrances & Perfumes Market: "Given the increasing willingness among Asian women to use a famous brand to improve their image, opportunities abound in these markets. In the Middle Eastern market, especially Saudi Arabia, close to 84% of women utilize perfumes, while ... 53% of the men utilize aftershave/male fragrance."

Oh, so that's why Ormonde Jayne just opened a boutique in Dubai. Smart.

3.) Chanel Pulls the Life Support Plug on its Mobile Art Show:

"Chanel's Mobile Art exhibition that was slated to travel to major cities worldwide in a Space-Age pre-fab structure by architect Zaha Hadid is over. 'Considering the current economic crisis, we decided it was best to stop the project,' said a Chanel spokeswoman. 'We will be concentrating on strategic growth investments.'"

Ouch. When Chanel execs start bowing to economic reality, the party is way over. Video clip of the canceled product promotion/art exhibition below:

In related news -- Crisis Taking the Shine out of Luxury: "In just a year, said a Paris bank analyst, solid groups such as Switzerland's Richemont, which owns the brands Cartier and Montblanc, or France's LVMH, which owns Vuitton and Gucci, have lost 40 percent of their share value . . . LVMH, the world's leading luxury conglomerate, saw its third quarter growth sliced 50 percent in comparison to the first two terms in 2008."

The article goes on to mention that the watch sector has been especially hard hit, with Swiss watch exports dropping more than 15%. French champagne exports to the U.S. are down 17%.

And in even more related news -- Louis Vuitton drops plans for flagship store in Tokyo: "Louis Vuitton, the world's biggest luxury goods company, has scrapped a plan to open a Louis Vuitton flagship store in the Ginza, the Tokyo shopping district, as a spreading recession takes the luster off designer brands."

If you're already aware of how aggressively Louis Vuitton has been pushing into Japan and the rest of Asia, and how much LV now depends on the Japanese consumer for its revenue stream (Japan is responsible for about 25% of all global luxury sales), this is shocking news, especially considering that LV execs were sounding the All Clear! message only seven months ago.

4.) Oscar de la Renta Announces the release of Sheer Freesia:

Just in time to miss the holiday shopping season, the house of Oscar de la Renta is slated to release a new fragrance in the consumer doldrum month of January. It will be titled, 'Sheer Freesia': "Sheer Freesia was inspired from the garden of de la Renta's Connecticut home. Freesia are well-known for their sweet citrusy perfume and long vase life. The flowers are also among de la Renta's favorites."

Promoted as a limited edition item, it's $21.00 an ounce and available at Macy's, so how exclusive can it actually be? The perfume will be produced by Oscar de la Renta fragrances which is owned by Sanofi Beaute, a unit of Sanofi-Aventis, a globally diversified healthcare/pharmaceutical company . . . and nothing says limited-edition, high-class quality like a perfume from a global pharmaceutical company.

Please wake me when this nightmare is over.

Note: My bad -- Oscar de la Renta Parfums is now owned by L'Oreal, which purchased the rights from YSL earlier this year, and apparently after the article I linked to which mentioned ownership by Sanofi-Aventis, the pharmaceutical company. Hmph. So hey, L'Oreal is at least a gigantic global beauty conglomerate that might have a hair's chance of doing a better job with a fragrance than Sanofi-Aventis. Though it still sounds rather cheap and bland.

5.) Everything Old is New . . . Again:

Take a look at this video clip from 1968, where the future of fashion is imagined. Some of the future-fashion styles aren't too far off the mark:

6.) Anna Wintour is on the Outs:

"The word on the street is that Anna Wintour, "Vogue's" U.S. editor in chief, is considering retirement. Aliona Doletskaya, the editor in chief of "Vogue's" Russian edition, has been on the short list of Wintour successors for some time now."

It now makes sense why Time Magazine would name Anna Wintour as #1 on its worst fashion faux pas list for 2008. No one's afraid of the Red Queen when she's about to lose her grip on the crown.

7.) Bill Blass Throws in the Towel:

"Nearly a decade after Bill Blass retired from Seventh Avenue, the company that bears his name is closing, with many of its remaining staff expected to leave this week. According to current and former designers who have carried on the collection in recent years, the company will close its showroom at 550 Seventh Avenue and eliminate about 30 remaining jobs there as early as Friday."

The company was put up for sale earlier this year by its cash-desperate parent company, NexCen Brands. Designer Peter Som, who was named head designer for Bill Blass women's wear in July of just last year and had been recently working for the label without pay, departed in October of 2008 and was never replaced.

Video clip below of the Bill Blass Fall 2008 collection, which I believe was the last runway collection shown for the label. The Spring 2009 runway show was canceled due to lack of funds:

Related News: Italian fashion house Gianfranco Ferre has vacated its Manhattan digs (Dior is moving in) and is shedding various holdings. Hot young design duo Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of 6267 were recently hired on to breathe new life into the languishing brand, but that just might turn out to be a case of too little, too late.

Video clip below of Aquilano and Rimondi's first collection for Ferre, Spring 2009: