Vogue Business

Paid partnership | Earlier this month, #VogueBusiness and Google invited senior delegates from the Parisian #fashion and #luxury industries to discuss the challenges and opportunities of #AI. The day, hosted at Google France’s headquarters, the half-day summit attracted executives from Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Balenciaga, Hugo Boss and Isabel Marant, among others. Axel De Goursac, director of LVMH Group’s AI Factory, and Joëlle Barral, senior director of research and engineering at Google DeepMind, each spoke to Vogue Business senior innovation editor Maghan McDowell about their work and their goals for #AI in fashion. Plus, Laure Guilbault spoke one-on-one with the founders of four curated startups that use AI to provide new solutions. Here, discover the exclusive key takeaways from the day: https://lnkd.in/ee3semYg

Not already part of the exclusive #VogueBusiness Community on LinkedIn? Join today to find exclusive industry news, insights and updates from our #editorial team, as well as details of how to attend upcoming Vogue Business events. In addition, you will be able to network, share knowledge and collaborate with Vogue Business Members and editors. This week, to celebrate a milestone, we’ve celebrated with a handful of 1:1 calls with the Vogue Business editorial team and Members. Join the group now to build your relationship with fellow Members and editors: https://lnkd.in/ejCYiTt5

We’re excited to announce that extra tickets have been released for #VogueBusiness’s Fashion Futures New York! It’s not too late to secure your place among the changemakers, trendsetters and influential leaders joining us from major brands, including LVMH VP of digital innovation Nelly Mensah.   As the VP of digital #innovation and head of crypto and #metaverse at #LVMH, Nelly has an incredibly rare and valuable perspective on the future of the industry, especially in terms of how technology can be used for good. Register to join us now: https://lnkd.in/eEKMAu86

Is #AI the future? Brunello Cucinelli believes so. On Tuesday, the ultra #luxury brand unveiled its new website powered by AI. Featuring a series of immersive drawings that transport the user through different backdrops as they scroll, users can ask questions about the brand, with answers generated by Solomei AI, the company’s bespoke tool. There’s no menu, and no other areas of the site to navigate — the brand’s main website and e-commerce each remain separate. “We didn’t want to have any pages. We just wanted a website that would follow you as if you had a tailor-made dress, basically. And we wanted this mix of handwork and artificial intelligence,” the eponymous designer explains. Here, Laure Guilbault looks at Brunello Cucinelli’s vision for ‘humanistic artificial intelligence’: https://lnkd.in/em_VBAYQ

The Euros might be over, but don’t pack away your jerseys just yet. The sportswear staple has been getting the fashion treatment in recent months, partly down to the hype fuelled by this year’s tournament. But the trend goes deeper than Euros-mania. Off the pitch, football jerseys have been getting major play from the fashion set. It-girls #DuaLipa, #HaileyBieber and, most recently, #BellaHadid, have stepped out in jerseys over recent weeks. At London’s Capital Summertime Ball, #SabrinaCarpenter threw on an England jersey over her Versace mini dress. Meanwhile, on TikTok, consumers are offering up styling tips for football garb, from slip skirts and ballet flats to jerseys as dresses. In short, football jerseys are on the rise outside the stadium. How — and when — should fashion play? Madeleine Schulz takes a look: https://lnkd.in/dyPH3G68

Accessible or luxury? Will Burberry abandon its decade-long brand elevation journey under new leadership? The British brand has parachuted in former Michael Kors and Coach CEO #JoshuaSchulman in the hopes of stemming its sales decline. Analysts predict that price diversification will follow. “Burberry taking its prices too far in categories where it does not have authority created an issue and, combined with moving the prices away from the core customer, saw sales decline,” says Adam Cochrane, head of #retail and #luxury equity research at Deutsche Bank. Here, Maliha Shoaib outlines the great debate surrounding whether the British heritage brand should lean into ‘accessible’ luxury: https://lnkd.in/ezJ6WS9q

Paid partnership | The season is here and it’s official - #Olympics fever drives sportswear in #China. Contrary to previous predictions of a mild quarterly uplift, higher-tier consumers continue to creep into the lower tier in Q2 2024, per #VogueBusiness research in partnership with Barclays Investment Bank. Over three-fifths of respondents (62 per cent) landed in the lower tier for #luxury purchases this quarter, now tracking 17% above where it was in Q2 2023. In the region, sports brands remain the most-purchased across casual footwear and sportswear, with Nike (58%), Adidas (54%) and Puma (31%) leading the way. Sixty-one per cent of #Chinese luxury consumers are driven by brand name, followed closely by fashion (59 per cent) and exclusivity (41%), reinforcing the potential of luxury disruptors like quarterly favourite Dior (17%). Discover the exclusive report and key takeaways, here.

What’s next for Richemont? The Swiss luxury group weathers Q1 luxury slump with a boom in Japan and its growing jewellery category. Growth was led by Japan (up 59 per cent) and jewellery maisons (up 4%, above consensus expectations of 2.3%). Specialist watchmakers declined by 13%, dragged down by China — though Vacheron Constantin (whose CEO Louis Ferla was just appointed CEO of Cartier) and A Lange & Söhne proved resilient. #Richemont’s first-quarter earnings “should be met with some relief…. Of course the divergence in jewellery and watches performance will trigger questions around the inventory position in the latter,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a note. Here, Laure Guilbault reports on the uptick in performance of the Swiss luxury group that own key fashion names including Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Chloé. #VogueBusiness break down the key factors enabling Richemont to weather the fashion storm: https://lnkd.in/eEbWVVG2

BALENCIAGA brings immersive experience to the fashion runway with Apple’s Vision Pro The #luxury brand’s new app is now integrated with #Apple Vision Pro’s high-value mixed reality headset and #Balenciaga is introducing interactive fashion shows, a revamped lookbook carousel and branded music. With plans to introduce further uses for the app - including additional shows, 3D, high-res runway imagery and ready-to-wear shopping capabilities - Balenciaga’s incorporation of immersive elements is only set to increase. Read #VogueBusiness' senior innovation editor, Maghan McDowell’s outline of what the rise of immersive #technology use means for the luxury brand: https://lnkd.in/e9H7zaEP

Set to become a champion off-track and on the fashion grid, seven-time Formula 1 winner, #Lewis Hamilton, has been named Christian Dior Couture’s latest brand ambassador. No stranger to beating the competition - be it fellow racing drivers at Silverstone, or famous menswear attendees front-row at Fashion Week, Hamilton is equal parts a track and trend trailblazer. Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton has been consistently spotted in the biggest SS25 trends throughout the current F1 season. Following Dior’s announcement that Hamilton’s guest designed collaboration with its renowned artistic director - Kim Jones, will launch this October, the ambassadorship marks his mainstay in the luxury big leagues. Here, Vogue Business' senior trends editor, Lucy Maguire highlights SS25 trends and the rise of F1 fashion collaborations: https://lnkd.in/eQewX45R