Last Week's Recap of the Fashion Industry - From US$1.8 million sneakers to the passing of Alber Elbaz
Hello and welcome to the 48th issue of moderated, a newsletter created to dive into insights and phenomenons of the Fashion Industry. It also has a curation and summary of the most talked about last week’s events of the industry, offering further readings for more details.
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So let’s check the last week’s recap of the Fashion Industry.
Last Week’s Recap
A Pair of Nike Air Yeezy Sneakers Became the Most Expensive Shoes Ever Sold
This Monday, Sotheby’s announced it brokered a sale of a pair of Kanye West’s Nike Air Yeezy 1 sneakers for US$1.8 million. This incredibly high price made them the most expensive pair of (known) shoes to sell, ever. The buyer, a company called Rares, intends to fractionalize parts of the shoes as an investment. Rares is one of the dozens of similar businesses that popped around in recent years selling stakes in luxury pieces, artworks, and collectibles. This business format opened to the masses a market once only accessible to the very wealthy. Even though fractional shareholders won’t be able to physically enjoy the high-end pieces, they will have access to the goods’ investment potential.
To read more about the Yeezy sneakers sale and this fractional market, check this Business of Fashion article.
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Kenzo’s Artistic Director Felipe Oliveira Baptista Is Leaving the Label
The Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira is leaving his position as artistic director at Kenzo after the end of his contract in June. Oliveira Baptista joined Kenzo two years ago, after the departure of Carol Lim and Humberto Leon. The two designers successfully revamped the label with streetwear references in 2011, but the momentum has proven hard to maintain. Their successor Felipe Oliveira Baptista also struggled to maintain Kenzo’s image. which has been stuck in the premium price point for a while. The Portuguese designer wanted to revive the legacy of the label’s founder Kenzo Takada, who passed away last year. Unfortunately, the pandemic impact on sales made this mission even more challenging, and Oliveira Baptista wasn’t able to increase customers’ interest in Kenzo. The label hasn’t yet announced who will substitute Felipe Oliveira Baptista.
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Apple’s New Privacy Implementations Will Impact on Fashion’s Advertising Tracking
Apple started carrying out an upgrade to its iOS operating system this Monday. The upgrade includes new privacy systems to prevent digital marketers from monitoring more than 1 billion iPhone users. Now, users will receive a pop-up notification in apps that try to collect flagged data. This controlled data is whatever Apple believes could be used to track users’ browsing habits across third-party apps and websites. If most iPhone users decline access to these data, the mobile advertising market could suffer a nearly $100 billion impact. But the exact impact is not yet clear for industry experts.
Facebook already criticized the new implementation, saying this will mostly affect small businesses, which depend on data collection to advertise to local customers. As fashion heavily uses data collection to advertise, it will be affected by the new changes. Even with its downsides, the upgrade is a step forward in owning your data. In the last years, it has become clear that data has been used for goals we don’t always agree with, including politics.
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Alber Elbaz, Lanvin’s Former Creative Director, Dies from Covid-19 at 59 Years Old
The pandemic took yet another brilliant figure from the fashion industry. Last Saturday, Alber Elbaz passed from Covid-19 in Paris at the age of 59. Alber, who was born in Morocco and educated in Israel, had an admirable career in fashion. He started working for a smaller dressmaker in New York City but managed to climb the industry. He worked in positions such as the successor of Yves Saint Laurent at YSL Rive Gauche ready-to-wear line and Lanvin’s creative director.
At Lanvin, where he worked until 2015, he transformed the oldest French couture house in continuous operation from a struggling artifact to a hot fashion label with annual sales as high as €236 million. His “woman-first” approach at Lanvin was key to the success: his looks exuded the Paris catwalk's design authority while still being simple to understand and wear for clients. Only two months before passing, this February, Elbaz launched with Richemont group a new label called AZ Factory. Alber Elbaz was a beloved figure in fashion and his contribution will be remembered.
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