5 December, 2020

TRP Travel Retail Style Index: December 2020

Welcome to the latest travel retail column for DRG by Alison Farrington aka The Retail Planner (TRP)

As global travel slowly picks up, we look at the business and shopping trends of the travel retail world. Recent highlights include the launch of beauty retail ‘café’ destinations in Hamad Airport, Doha and a focus on exclusive duty-free products in Hainan, where Chinese consumers continue to ‘revenge spend’ their way out of the pandemic, while domestic travel is their only option.

1/ BEAUTY RETAIL-TECH ‘CAFÉ’ CONCEPTS. L’Oréal has launched two ‘phygital’ retail concepts at Hamad Airport, Doha. The new retail-tech destinations – from Lancôme and YSL Beauté – sit next door to each other as one beauty department within the Qatar Duty Free retail space.

The Lancôme concept features a French apartment-inspired décor and the addition of bar stool seating gives a luxury café atmosphere. The counters offer interactive touchpoints where customers can personalise their purchases. It’s the first store in the brand’s EMEAI (Europe, Middle East, Africa, India) division to launch Lancôme’s new Shade Finder tool – the skin tone measurement technology that can identify up to 22,500 shades for foundation matching. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments Beauty, Brands, Business of fashion, News, Retail concepts airport beauty, Alison Farrington, beauty, Bulgari, Cle de Peau, Koché, Luxottica, luxury, LVMH, Pharrell Williams, phygital, Pucci, retail concepts, retail news, Shiseido, shopping, technology, travel retail, YSL

8 April, 2020

Buy it now: investment outerwear from Mackintosh

According to The Industry, people are still buying luxury fashion online.

I’m surprised, but maybe they’re taking advantage of the excellent deals on investment pieces, which I’d recommend if you’re in a position to do so. Any classic items I’ve bought from luxury brands have 100% earned their keep; they last for ages and seem to retain that ‘new’ look for so much longer. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments Brands, Design, Designers, News, Online shopping, Shopping design, gentlewoman style, heritage, luxury, Mackintosh, shopping

26 May, 2019

Will Rihanna’s Fenty LVMH RTW collection sell?

Rihanna debuts Fenty RTW line for LVMH

First look at Rihanna’s Fenty RTW collection for LVMH. She’s the first black woman to get her own dedicated high end line at LVMH. It’s pretty amazing considering Hedi, Phoebe and Nicolas haven’t managed to achieve that.

The collection is created with creative director Jahleel Weaver. “Angles, textures, colors – I screen-shoot them constantly, bookmark them, folder them, then text them all to Jahleel,” Rihanna told the New York Times. “Later, we have a conversation. And hopefully, then, the magic happens.” Although I love the imagery, at first look it’s not saying much that we haven’t seen already. It’s in the Loewe, J W Anderson, ‘old Celine‘ mould of exaggerates silhouettes with off-kilter details. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 2 Comments Brands, Business of fashion, Design, Designers, Music, News, Retail concepts, Trends accessories, Business of Fashion, Fenty, luxury, LVMH, Rihanna

25 May, 2019

LVMH is backing cool jewels

Repossi Robert Mapplethorpe New York Times

An update from the world of fine jewellery. LVMH has quietly taken a majority stake in my favourite cult fine jewellery brand Repossi. According to Business of Fashion (paywall), LVMH (which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chaumet and Bulgari) has upped its stake from 42 percent in 2015, to 69 percent in 2018. I’ve not heard much on the Repossi front lately, but BOF reports that it has been expanding its retail network, with shop-in-shops in Dubai, London and Doha, with New York and Tokyo to come. (more…)