Vanessa Friedman discusses markets, growth and Generation X with Stella McCartney CEO, and former Lanvin business development director, Frederick Lukoff
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FT Business of Luxury: Frederick Lukoff, CEO, Stella McCartney
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Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Vanessa Friedman discusses markets, growth and Generation X with Stella McCartney CEO, and former Lanvin business development director, Frederick Lukoff
Vanessa Friedman discusses markets, growth and Generation X with Stella McCartney CEO, and former Lanvin business development director, Frederick Lukoff
A central theme of discussion at the FT Business of Luxury Summit was that of the American economy and its ability to sustain the increases in luxury consumption, witnessed so far in 2011. Opinions were divided, just as they were towards China and so-called ‘emerging’ markets, where most economists acknowledged the upward trend but feared something sinister is hiding on the horizon.
The outcome of such discussions remained unclear, America is back to pre-recession levels of luxury consumption and in many cases exceeding them. But summarising the thinking of a spirited discussion, Gavyn Davies, Fulcrum Asset Management, remarked ‘the future lies in emerging markets, unfortunately the developed markets look a little sick.’
Luxury brand executives remained more neutral. Audiences were surprised to hear that whilst double-digit growth was indeed being achieved in developing markets, a large chunk of Q1 2011’s results, were driven by Europe and America. And although Japan’s luxury industry took a severe hit at the time of the Earthquake crisis, numbers were not as badly affected as they expected.
Frederick Lukoff echoed that sentiment at Stella McCartney, where the CEO acknowledged growth across the board and remained optimistic about the health of both the American economy and the luxury sector at large. Here we present his discussion with Vanessa Friedman about how the brand is performing and what he sees for the future.
For more Luxury Society coverage of the FT Business of Luxury Summit 2011, please see the links below:
– FT Business of Luxury: Licensing vs Collaboration
– 5 Minutes With … Jean-Claude Biver, CEO, Hublot
– Vanessa Friedman, Fashion Editor, Financial Times
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.
