Olivier Lapidus joins Lanvin

[YohjiAddict]

"The french Lanvin" La ignorancia es temeraria...

 

[Fashionstuff]

Can we give Olivier Lapidus a Chance to present his first Lanvin collection maybe?
Everybody were exited when Jarrar was named CD but her first Lookbook was disaster , it was a disaster from the beginning.
Yes, the press write and repeat "Michael Kors Business model" but same time Lanvin plans to return to haute Couture?!
Who knows, maybe it will be a success or maybe it will be disaster and than or Mayhoola will buy it or it will be a bankruptcy.
They want and try to repeat success of Gucci or YSL but i think it will be not easy.

Nobody want one more Michael Kors and i can't imagine Lanvin on this level.

 

[perhydrol]

Can we give Olivier Lapidus a Chance to present his first Lanvin collection maybe?
Everybody were exited when Jarrar was named CD but her first Lookbook was disaster , it was a disaster from the beginning.

But that lookbook wasn't a disaster. It was chic yet the change was too radical and not loud enough and that's why buyers didn't really accept Bouchra. It wasn't like her clothes were disgusting and that's why she's fired. I bet she had been trying to do something more commercial because they wanted French Michael Kors back then.

Everyone was excited about Jarrar because her
couture was truly divine. It was chic, sharp and modern yet feminine at the same time. With that Lapidus guy all we can get is Zuhair Murad / Elie Saab, just ten years late and more tasteless. Do we really need to wait for a collection from a guy that opened a website and calls it an haute couture house?

 

[Fashionstuff]

But that lookbook wasn't a disaster. It was chic yet the change was too radical and not loud enough and that's why buyers didn't really accept Bouchra. It wasn't like her clothes were disgusting and that's why she's fired. I bet she had been trying to do something more commercial because they wanted French Michael Kors back then.

Everyone was excited about Jarrar because her
couture was truly divine. It was chic, sharp and modern yet feminine at the same time. With that Lapidus guy all we can get is Zuhair Murad / Elie Saab, just ten years late and more tasteless. Do we really need to wait for a collection from a guy that opened a website and calls it an haute couture house?

Yes, surely Jarrar clothes were good, elegant and chic but they were not commercial. They were not interesting. They were simply boring. Bouchra's own couture collections were better that her Lanvin. My favorite is her couture ss 15 collection.
Who knows what the Lapidus will offer, he must offer something really interesting, it could be trashy, it could be quirky or could be elegant and sensual but he must deliver because if not than Lanvin will really dead. It is practically dead from before, without Elbaz nobody care about it.
Who knows, see Michele's Gucci , which i personally love, see Demna's Balenciaga , which i presonally don't like at all, YSL when Slimane came back to revamp the brand, so seems that Lanvin hope to succseed taking unknown designer ( and it is not a garantee of success, Hedi and Demna were not unknown and Alessandro worked also in Gucci yet) so Lanvin owner maybe think unknown designer + MK Business concept will revamp the brand. I am not sure that it will -or could work in every brand with any unknown designer, so but who knows what Lapidus will offer, he has archives, he has Atelier and he cas owners Support. Maybe he is a talented and with all this possibilies in Lanvin will create something really good.
I hope they are not going to make Lanvin a-la Michael Kors and sell the stuff on Zalando... or Amazon?

 

[sweetpop]

By the looks of it, it seems there is a huge problem with the owner of Lanvin truly understanding what Lanvin is as a fashion house anymore, especially considering that 16 years ago that she was the one who 'revitalised' Lanvin with Alber and saw the amazing potential Alber had to give. It's not merely just needing to take Lanvin in a more modern direction I don't think, or trying on different business models on the house like trying on clothes on a mannequin, Lanvin needs someone like Tom Ford when he first started at Gucci, someone who knows exactly what they want for the house they are heading, and it is entirely an entirely original concept of their own, not basing it off the idea of someone else.

It grips my heart to think that the concluded 'solution' is to now turn Lanvin into a 'French Michael Kors'... the phrase 'French Michael Kors' ..I- I cannot compute this!! Perhaps the idea is to make Lanvin widely affordable to the masses and when the forecasted wave of profit comes rolling in, then they might gradually bring Lanvin back up to the higher echelons of exclusivity? I think there is a definite possibility that this kind of business tactic could work, especially in bringing in profit for shareholders, but there is a very fine line that senior management must be careful not to cross in over-saturating the market with Lanvin for everyone and essentially making the brand worthless over a short span of time, and generating profit levels like the house used to but also maintaining the house's reputation as a truly coveted luxury brand.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Lanvin was niche under Alber, and has shrunk since then. How are they going to go from being virtually unknown, except for the cognoscenti, to being the 'French Michael Kors'? Exactly what are they planning to leverage to get to that undesirable position?

As a consumer I could never tell, but apparently their rep in the industry has been late deliveries, inefficiency, etc. If that barely flew in the market they were serving, I have a feeling it wouldn't fly at all in the new market they appear to be targeting, which totally depends on regular influxes of, shall we say, moderately-priced merchandise.

Both from a brand recognition and an infrastructure perspective, I can't see that they're at all equipped to make this amazing dream rolleye come true.

 

[vetements]

^^^maybe the fastest way would be like someone mentioned above to make it like Pierre Cardin.
And soon we will start to see lots of eye sore franchises like umbrellas, kitchen cutleries, airline goods etc etc.

A little strange, weren't they trying to purchase the Japanese franchise Lanvin en Bleu not such a long time ago so as to keep its prestige?

 

[fashionista-ta]

Yes, they were, but that was what Alber wanted to do ... he did not like the diffusion thing at all. Now, maybe it was because of the implementation, I don't know.

Before Pierre Cardin was the ultimate over-franchised tackiness we remember, he was an actual good designer. I guess they could go that route ... but I have a feeling this will fall flat as well.

 

[YohjiAddict]

Before Pierre Cardin was the ultimate over-franchised tackiness we remember, he was an actual good designer. I guess they could go that route ... but I have a feeling this will fall flat as well.

Well you can still find poorly made Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne and Yves Saint Laurent dress shirts at low-range retail stores here in Mexico. I guess that's the future for Lanvin.

 

[Pricciao]

Olivier Lapidus sat down with Hong Kong fashion media Ming's with an interview shortly after his ss18 show.

Just a quick walkthrough

1. He didn't say he wanted to make Lanvin the "French Michael Kors."

2. He met Madame Wang 33 years ago in Taipei. He got a phone call from Wang this June.

3. Madame Wang saw his online couture house idea, and she wants to have Lanvin, as one of the oldest fashion house, to connect with the latest technology.

4. The idea of lifestyle was originally brought by Jeanne Lanvin in 1922. He wants to take it from there to make Lanvin a lifestyle brand.

5.The ss18 collection took 42 days to finish. The total amount of time in production was 15 days.

Full interview in Chinese here

 

[GivenchyHomme]

42 days is a generous amount of time for a debut rtw collection. The collection he showed looked like it was thrown together in less than a week. A real pro could really do something special in that short period of time. This brand is such a mess at the moment. They better get their act together real quick or it's bye bye Lanvin!

 

[Benn98]

3. Madame Wang saw his online couture house idea, and she wants to have Lanvin, as one of the oldest fashion house, to connect with the latest technology.

She's been going on about this for a while, and while I get that it is important, I'm not sure why she's so persistent on it. The brand may navigate towards an excessive 'youth' direction with too much tech, like we see at Dior right now. Because technology = youth, make no mistake about that. I quite liked the direction Jarrar went with, and with more time, I'm sure it would have paid off. Why not tailor your brand to service the more mature woman?

 

[Lola701]

If Mrs Wang wants to connect so much with youth, why not give the job to Lucas as he is more in touch with what young people wants/expect from fashion. The menswear is sold at DSM which is the temple for the millenials...

ANd the collection created in 42 days... Stop now. When you're good and talented, you can totally do something commercial and strong in that time frame. A lot of precollections are designed in a month and we know that at some brands, they are even stronger than the main shows.

I've seen the pics from Jarrar's last collection, the resort 2018 and the disconnect is huge.
In 3 years, they had 3 different designers...And i feel like it won't end soon. How can they expect to attract a clientele with that mess...

 

[eugenius]

OK, Lola. I think you can kiss your "Lanvin Ladies by Lucas" dream good bye. A quick google-search leads me to believe he's never done womenswear before (his resume is all in menswear), and every article I've read about him suggests that dressing the Hommes is really where his heart is at, so why would he start doing it now..especially with a broken womenswear line like this one?

 

[fashionista-ta]

Cf. Hedi Slimane

But I agree, it's a total stretch, especially for a house that's been so much about flou.

 

[Lola701]

OK, Lola. I think you can kiss your "Lanvin Ladies by Lucas" dream good bye. A quick google-search leads me to believe he's never done womenswear before (his resume is all in menswear), and every article I've read about him suggests that dressing the Hommes is really where his heart is at, so why would he start doing it now..especially with a broken womenswear line like this one?

Ahahha!
Yes i know...
But as today, accessories & menswear designers are doing womenswear, why not?
And i judged it only based on his good menswear that included some elements of flou (thanks to Alber's influence) even if he has stated many times that he loves menswear and that he even wanted to be more independent from the womenswear...

 

[Benn98]

I personally don't blame him for trying to find a solution to the problems that exist at Lanvin. There's clearly issues up at the top, the CEO Michele Huiban and owner Ms. Wang have been reluctant to invest in the brand for years. So I sort of feel, for lack of better words, these designers who are pressured to make sales for a house like Lanvin that doesn't want to invest anything what so ever. Investment alone isn't the reason why Lanvin has declining profit but I'm sure it would help to have some finical backing.

Valid point, she may have taken some notes from you......
I'm surprised that the article makes no mention of Bouchra Jarrar, as though she never existed. It was penned after she departed. I find it a bit disrespectful.

Can an “Autocratic” Chinese Owner Give Lanvin a Second Life?

Yiling Pan @SiennaPan
November 9, 2017

A great number of high-end European luxury brands like Gucci, Saint Laurent, Hermès, and Dior are having substantial success in the Chinese market. However, Lanvin, France’s oldest high-fashion brand, is struggling.

Back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Lanvin was one of the world’s hip luxury fashion brands. From fashion professionals and retailers, to global celebrities, everyone was truly in love with the designs of Alber Elbaz, the creative director of Lanvin at the time. Chinese consumers were no different.

In a 2015 interview with Chinese domestic fashion media outlet Luxe.co, Shaw-Lan Wang, who owns 75 percent of the company, said the brand had achieved 30 to 40 percent of sales growth in that market. Wang pointed out that this high growth rate was achieved when the country embarked on a nationwide anti-corruption campaign, which banned extravagant spending and luxury gifting culture associated with government officials and hurt the business of foreign luxury brands dramatically.

While the Chinese luxury market has finally started to rebound, Lanvin is bucking the trend and losing market share in China and the rest of the world. The brand has actually been in deep financial distress for almost three years, with an apparent lack of distinct creative design to capture the attention of global luxury shoppers in a highly competitive market.

The 129-year-old legendary fashion label is on the verge of collapse and reportedly may soon have problems in paying employees. The good news is that Wang has decided to “inject fresh cash into the label by the year-end.” Though the size of the capital injection was not specified, the money would be used to reposition Lanvin.

Wang’s timely financial support could alleviate Lanvin’s problems temporarily. However, it remains to be seen if this Chinese-born media mogul is capable, or even willing to, empower an effective strategy that leads to a true turnaround of Lanvin, given her complicated relationship with the brand over the past 16 years.

Those Good Old Days…

Shaw-Lan Wang was undoubtedly the savior of Lanvin when she bought the loss-making brand from L’Oreal Group in 2001. After taking it over, she hired the Moroccan Jewish designer Alber Elbaz who had just left Yves Saint Laurent at the time. It turned out to be one of her best decisions.

Recalling her first meeting with Elbaz, Wang told the Financial Times in a 2012 interview that she hired him because she felt she received respect from Elbaz, unlike other personalities in the fashion industry. Moreover, Elbaz’s work with Yves Saint Laurent appealed to her. Since then, Wang and Elbaz became a pair of powerful partners and developed a very warm relationship. Along with the joining of Paul Deneve, the former CEO of Nina Ricci, in 2006, Lanvin’s revenue growth was back to the positive territory the following year and the brand’s position in the fashion world ushered into a new era.

As a person who constantly refers to her Chinese roots and even famously said “I don’t consider myself Taiwanese, I am Chinese,” Wang did not miss the opportunity to enter the Chinese market. Lanvin’s entry into China started early and was highly successful owing to Wang’s rich connections in the region, as well as her deep understanding of Western luxury culture.

The brand was among one of the earliest European luxury players who opened an online flagship store with a Chinese e-commerce platform. In 2013, the Lanvin’s Chinese e-flagship store was officially launched on ShangPin.com, a Chinese fashion e-commerce site, to sell a wide range of products from men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, handbags, to accessories and shoes. Lanvin’s general manager in China Lily Liu said that the company had conducted extensive research on the Chinese online luxury market for two years before launching on ShangPin.com.

Besides the digital push, the brand also expanded its physical store network in the country under the leadership of Wang. In 2015, she personally attended the opening ceremony of Lanvin’s eighth China store in Chengdu. Chengdu is the biggest city in the southwest China, with an increasing number of wealthy residents in recent years. Many high-end luxury brands, including Moynat and Chanel, all prioritize the city in their China strategy.

Wang is an “Autocratic” Leader

However, the decisive leader quite often has her own views on brand management that diverged from the company’s executive team and the creative designer. Even as Lanvin continued to succeed in China, conflicts between Wang and others at the company worsened.

It first started with Paul Deneve, who left the company in 2009 due to disagreements stemming from Wang’s sale of the brand’s perfume business to Interparfums without informing Deneve in 2007. From Deneve’s departure, it is clear that Wang is the actual decision-maker at Lanvin. Even though the company has a clear executive structure, it was not surprising that she was willing to circumvent it.

Wang’s desire to control did not affect the brand’s creative production until 2015. In late 2015, Elbaz was shockingly fired by Lanvin because of his “unsatisfactory designs,” a move that was not expected and understood by the fashion industry.

However, many of Lanvin’s employees saw it coming for a long time. In a detailed report on Lanvin’s break-up with Elbaz by the New York Times in 2015, many people who used to work for Wang described her character as “autocratic,” and wholly unwilling to accept disagreement.

The brand quickly began receiving criticism for its design and high employee turnover rate at all levels. With Lanvin’s declining sales, many investors and firms wanted to inject cash or even acquire Lanvin outright, but these requests were all rejected by Wang.

Charles-Henry Paradis, a member of the communications team and the representative of the employees on the Comité d’Entreprise and the board, told the New York Times that “She is a very proud woman. She would see selling as an admission of failure.”

What Lanvin’s New Strategy Looks Like

Wang’s cash injection once again consolidates her position at Lanvin as the major controller. The future of the brand will fully depend on her goals and expectations.

The new strategy for Lanvin has two key components. Firstly, Wang has decided to diversify the revenue streams of the brand, which might include hotel projects carrying the Lanvin name in the future. In addition, she plans to bolster the brand’s ties with art.

The brand is also reportedly mulling over creating a leather goods line for fashion outlets, which was criticized by some citing concerns over Lanvin becoming the French Michael Kors.

Regardless, Lanvin will continue to struggle financially for some time and time will tell if Wang’s strategic restructuring will bear fruit.

Source: Jingdaily.com