Author: Joan Kennedy

LVMH today announced twenty semifinalists for the 2026 edition of its LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers.The semifinalists include labels from 17 countries. Among them are Indian designer Kartik Kumra’s Kartik Research, Georgian designer Galib Gassanoff’s Institution, Belgian Julie Kegels, Chinese designer Zane Li’s LII, Iamisigo by Nigerian designer Bubu Ogisi and the US-based Colleen Allen.Eight finalists will be selected by the prize committee after the labels present their collections in a showcase at Paris fashion week on March 4 and 5. The winner of the contest’s main prize will receive €400,000 and the winners of the Karl Lagerfeld Prize…

With new collections from Chanel and Dior finally in stores, two of the fashion industry’s highest profile creative reboots are being put to the test. On the other side of the value equation, they’re also addressing the issue of pricing after years of implementing some of the sector’s biggest hikes.Mired in a two-year slump, the luxury industry has struggled to find its footing since the post-pandemic boom wound down, with pricing emerging as a key concern. The problem is most acute at French megabrands Dior and Chanel, which led industry price increases that were much higher than the long term…

Last summer, Nya-Gabriella Parchment, brand partnerships director at influencer management company Digital Brand Architects, asked her Gen Z intern about her career goals. Historically, Parchment found that the question prompted a vague answer. But this time, the intern began to lay out a detailed five-year plan that began with becoming a content creator and ended with her launching a brand. “Now that more people are seeing creators and what can become of it, they are starting to see it as a launchpad to do other things,” said Parchment. “People create a career on their own terms and it can fund…

The fast-moving fashion calendar simultaneously strains independent designers’ resources while feeling increasingly out of step with how consumers shop. New York-based designer Jonathan Cohen wants to find a way to address both.Cohen is restructuring his namesake business into two separate tiers. Jonathan Cohen Black Label will comprise the special gowns, demi-couture and made-to-order pieces he’s known for, while the new Jonathan Cohen White Label includes everyday, affordable pieces dropped at a reactive cadence throughout the year, with eight drops planned so far. Pieces include cotton shirt dresses, denim separates and satin skirts, running from $350 to $650. “White Label sprung…

The Council of Fashion Designers of America released its preliminary schedule for the Fall/Winter 2026 edition of New York Fashion Week, which will run from Feb. 11 to Feb. 16. Rachel Scott will kick off the week with her runway debut for Proenza Schouler.The schedule will feature shows from mainstays including Altuzarra, Carolina Herrera, Coach, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Sergio Hudson, Khaite and Ulla Johnson, as well as upstarts Ashlyn (fresh off a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund win and CFDA emerging designer of the year award), Area, Zankov, TWP, Elena Velez, Fforme, Kallmeyer, Scott’s Diotima, Heirlome, Meruert Tolegan and Zoe Gustavia…

For his 526,000 Instagram followers, StyleNotCom founder Beka Gvishiani is a news source reporting on industry happenings. But Gvishiani considers himself a fan first. “What a fan of Madonna feels when listening to her music is what I feel attending a show by Jonathan Anderson,” he said. Fashion fans are more visible — and influential — than ever before. The Met Gala — often called fashion’s Super Bowl — garnered more engagement across social media and press than the actual American football championship last year, according to Launchmetrics. Just like Swifties, fashion fanatics gather online in communities and comment sections…

Right now at a country club in Winnetka, a ritzy village on Chicago’s North Shore, members are buzzing about two things: Mahjong and Marfa Stance coats. The former, the Chinese tile-based game, has topped Bridge and the rest to become the social set’s favourite pastime. The latter, $1,000 jackets from the British founder Georgia Dant in deadstock Italian and Japanese fabrics, can trace their sudden notoriety in this community to one person: Winnetka native Audrey Fosse. She’s been putting on trunk shows for the brand in her family’s restaurant, Mino’s, since 2022; friends she’s introduced to Marfa Stance have hosted…

Levi’s was off to a good start at the outset of 2025. It was growing gross margin alongside its direct-to-consumer business, and had even made headlines with a Beyoncé campaign after the star name-dropped the brand on her album “Cowboy Carter.”It was a reassuring moment for Michelle Gass, who had taken over as chief executive in January 2024 as Levi’s was in the midst of a course correction. The 170-year-old US denim giant had become a bit sleepy, bogged down by declining wholesale, underperforming business units and unwieldy inventory mixes — often resulting in heavy discounting. Then came the US…

One day, stylist and writer Amanda Lee Burkett hopes to add a luxury watch to her wardrobe. But when she’s ready to make the purchase, she doesn’t plan to head to the Cartier maison on Fifth Avenue to purchase a brand-new model, but instead, to buy one that already has a few scratches and dings. “New out of the box comes off completely differently. It’s a little ‘born yesterday.’ You want the thing so you buy the thing,’” she said. “No. You have to buy the rarest version of the thing so someone can’t just go and buy it. Spending…

Americans love to grumble about how a dollar just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Lately, fashion brands feel their pain. This year, the US dollar has weakened to multi-year lows against the euro, British pound, Swiss franc and many other currencies, thanks to a cocktail of geopolitical uncertainty, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, Trumpian trade tensions and diverging central bank moves among the world’s economic powers. That’s created challenges for the top and bottom lines of fashion brands with significant costs in one currency and sales in another.But the weaker dollar is especially relevant in luxury, where…