Written by Oscar Holland, CNN
The billionaire owner of the LVMH luxury group, Bernard Arnault, has appointed his daughter Delphine as the new head of Christian Dior, it was announced Wednesday.
The 47-year-old will serve as president and chief executive of the French brand from February following a major shakeup at the conglomerate behind brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Givenchy and Tiffany & Co.
Arnault, whose father became the world’s richest man last month, will be moving from Louis Vuitton, where she joined as executive vice president in 2013. She previously spent more than a decade at Dior and has been heavily involved in the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers.
In a press release, Bernard Arnault described his daughter’s career at the company as “defined by excellence.”
“Under his leadership, the convenience of Louis Vuitton products advanced significantly, allowing the brand to regularly set new sales records,” he said. “Her insightful insights into him and his unparalleled experience will be decisive assets in driving the continued development of Christian Dior.”
Models walk in a men’s fashion show at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, organized by Dior in December 2022. Credit: Ahmed Hasan/AFP/Getty Images
He joins the label looking to resume the sustained growth it enjoyed prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The move also comes as Dior, like the rest of the luxury fashion industry, heads into a busy season of major shows and new collections. In the next two months, the brand will present new lines of menswear, haute couture and ready-to-wear for women in the next editions of Paris Fashion Week.
Wednesday’s announcement follows a series of recent changes introduced by LVMH, including a new role for Arnault’s second son, Antoine, who will take over as CEO of the holding through which the family owns its majority stake in LVMH for replace executive Sidney Toledano. .
It was also announced on Wednesday that outgoing Dior boss Pietro Beccari would take over at Louis Vuitton, whose current CEO Michael Burke will remain at Arnault’s luxury empire in an undisclosed capacity. The conglomerate’s share price rose on news of the reorganization.
In a statement, Bernard Arnault praised Beccari, who has been at Dior since 2018, for his “exceptional” work on the house. Along with creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones, who head the women’s and men’s divisions respectively, the Italian executive oversaw several major developments at the brand, including a move into beachwear and a major revamp of the store’s flagship. brand in Paris.
In recent years, Dior has also appointed powerful celebrity ambassadors and collaborators, from Travis Scott to tennis star Emma Raducanu to K-pop star Jisoo. Meanwhile, the brand has put on increasingly ambitious shows, including a spectacular evening extravaganza that used the illuminated pyramids of Giza as the backdrop for its Fall 2023 menswear collection, and expanded its presence in Asia. Last year, the fashion house hosted a show in South Korea for the first time.
Sales of the house tripled, to 6.6 billion euros ($7.1 billion), during Beccari’s four-year tenure, Reuters said, citing Citi estimates.
Bernard Arnault is widely credited for transforming Dior’s fortunes over the years since he first became involved with the brand in 1984. The 73-year-old, who is worth an estimated $171 billion, has not commented no intention of leaving his post at LVMH. last year, the company raised the maximum age of its chief executive from 75 to 80, Reuters reported.
Source: news.google.com