London-based designer David Koma, whose namesake brand has been a mainstay of London Fashion Week since 2009, has been tapped as creative director of Italian designer brand Bluemarine.

Koma will become the brand’s third creative director in two years, after former Tod’s designer Walter Chiapponi left the brand after just one season in the role.

Prior to Chiapponi’s arrival, previous creative director Nicola Brognano had sought to rejuvenate Bluemarine with a sexy, street aesthetic from 2019 to 2023.

Founded in 1977, Bluemarine is owned by Eccellenze Italiane, the investment vehicle of Liu Jo co-founder Marco Marchi.

Koma’s first collection for the brand will be Pre-Fall 2025.

Learn more:

Blumarine Appoints Walter Chiapponi Creative Director

The former Tod’s designer replaced Nicola Brognano in November 2023.

An octogenarian heir to the Hermès luxury fortune, who sparked controversy last year over a plan to leave his money to his gardener, may not have much to give away after all.

In the latest twist to the longstanding mystery surrounding Nicolas Puech’s billionaire status, a Swiss court this month threw out the 81-year-old’s allegations that his former wealth manager had a role in his fortune’s disappearance.

Puech’s lawyers told the court he no longer owns the assets in question: about 6 million shares worth roughly €12 billion ($13 billion) in family-controlled Hermès International SCA. The stake would make him the single largest investor in the purveyor of Birkin handbags and colourful silk scarves founded in 1837. The company has since expanded into one of the biggest players in the global luxury industry and made the Hermès family Europe’s wealthiest. The clan, which counts more than 100 members, has a net worth of about $155 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The decision by an appeals court in Geneva on July 12 found no evidence that financial adviser Eric Freymond mismanaged Puech’s fortune or that the reclusive fifth-generation Hermès heir was duped over a period spanning more than two decades during which time at least some of the stock was sold.

“The ‘gigantic fraud’ to which he was victim was undetectable to common mortals,” the court document read, adding that the allegations lacked clarity and were insufficiently backed up.

A lawyer for Puech, Gregoire Mangeat, declined to comment, while Freymond’s lawyers, Yannis Sakkas and Stephane Grodecki, said their client was satisfied with the outcome that included “harsh words” against the plaintiff. The case was first reported by online magazine Gotham City.

Lasting Enigma

The court decision is part of the fallout of an attempt by luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, founder of LVMH, to gain control of Hermès more than a decade ago. He failed, but Puech became a family outcast over his alleged role in the way Arnault stealthily amassed a stake in the company.

The fate of Puech’s roughly 5.7 percent stake remains a lasting enigma from the showdown, which ended in 2014 when Arnault started unwinding his 23 percent holding and Puech quit the Hermès supervisory board.

In a sign the stake is still a preoccupation, on an earnings call Thursday an analyst quizzed Hermès executive chairman Axel Dumas about whether Puech owns the shares. “We don’t have a way to see and control them,” Dumas replied.

The Swiss decision leaves the question of the shares’ whereabouts unanswered. It does, however, offer a peek into Puech’s current circumstances.

Last year, the resident of Orsieres in the Swiss canton of Valais, described in public documents as a French national with an education in the arts, sought to cancel his inheritance contract with his Isocrates Foundation after reportedly starting administrative procedures to adopt his middle-aged gardener to whom he would bequeath some of his fortune. The decision left the charity in limbo and it has since postponed new grants.

In the Swiss case, Puech alleged his wealth came almost entirely from his shares in Hermès and that he no longer owns any of them, but didn’t realise it because Freymond received all his bank statements. The court document describes a 24-year period during which Puech relied on Freymond to manage his fortune.

Starting in 1998, Puech began transferring to Swiss banks Hermès shares that would eventually number 6 million. From that year, he gave Freymond a series of signed mandates to oversee his accounts. Beginning in 2001, shares were sold, bought and transferred through one of the banks.

Crucially, a profit of €53.7 million was recorded on share sales over a nearly two-year period through October 2010, the same month Arnault revealed to the Hermès family that he had amassed a stake in the company. Puech had no “objections” to the entry of the outside investor into the Hermès shareholding and even considered him an “ally,” according to evidence described in the court document. His family, however, mounted a strategy that ultimately succeeded in keeping Arnault at bay.

Equity Swaps

Puech cancelled Freymond’s mandates in October 2022, set out to take stock of his wealth and organise his succession, according to the Swiss ruling. A year later he filed three cases against Freymond, the first alleging the wealth manager withheld information, and wouldn’t and couldn’t return the Hermès shares. The others related to management of his foundation, loans and other investments.

The court ruling concluded that Puech willingly turned over management of his affairs to Freymond, including by signing numerous blank documents and giving access to his bank accounts. Puech never said he was duped or didn’t understand what he was signing, only that he left choices on growing his wealth to Freymond. He could have revoked their agreement at any time, the court said.

“It’s not clear who prevented the plaintiff from taking an interest in how his assets were evolving,” the court found. Puech’s “blind trust” in Freymond is not an indication of the wealth manager’s dishonesty.

By Tara Patel

Prada’s red-hot Miu Miu label continues to buck slowing demand for luxury goods, with retail sales nearly doubling in the first half, the company reported Tuesday.

The brand’s first-half retail sales jumped by 93 percent year-on-year, accelerating slightly from 89 percent growth in the first quarter. Flagship Prada brand’s retail sales rose 6 percent, slowing slightly versus the start of the year.

Overall, growth held steady at Milan-based Prada Group, with net revenues rising 17 percent to €2.55 billion ($2.76 billion).

Prada’s management team will comment on the results in a call with analysts and investors Tuesday afternoon.

Stay tuned to BoF for updates to this developing story.

Beauty could learn a thing or two from fashion’s embrace of collaboration.

The fashion industry has been collaboration obsessed since Karl Lagerfeld teamed up with H&M to release a special collection in 2004. This groundbreaking liaison, the first time a luxury fashion designer had partnered with a high-street retailer, resulted in a sense of exclusivity and urgency, and empty shelves within hours of clothes hitting stores. It’s served as a blueprint for countless collaborations that have followed in the two decades since.

I’ve always loved the true spirit of collaboration: bringing together different perspectives, aesthetics and energies to expand a concept beyond one person’s brain. The fashion industry is adept at combining visions across artistic landscapes, leading to unique and innovative products that might not emerge from a single vision. When two brands collaborate, they leverage each other’s signature styles and reputations, offering a broader reach not just demographically but also aesthetically. This creates a wider range of opportunities for both collaborators, enhancing brand image and appeal.

This can be particularly beneficial for smaller or niche brands who partner with larger, well-established ones. It also allows larger, more commercial brands to connect with audiences they may not previously have reached, strengthening the creative authenticity that is often lost when a brand goes corporate. This has become a repeat formula for retailers like Target, which has aligned itself with designers including Missoni, Jason Wu and most recently, Diane Von Furstenberg, upping its fashion cred. For luxury labels like Louis Vuitton, which has enlisted a wide range of partners, such as the artist Jeff Koons, fashion editor Grace Coddington and streetwear label Supreme, it’s a way to associate the brand with a beloved figure or burgeoning sector.

But collaborations between fashion brands and companies in other industries can also result in groundbreaking products and concepts, broadening the influence of fashion into new realms. Brands can pool their resources, share costs and benefit from each other’s expertise. This can also help brands stay culturally relevant by aligning with current trends, popular figures or movements, maintaining their appeal in a rapidly changing market. Rimowa’s collaborations with Porsche or fragrance label Aesop, for example, helped reinsert the luggage brand back into the cultural conversation.

Makeup collaborations of this sort often rely on link-ups with talent and content creators to generate hype. MAC Cosmetics has pioneered the way for cosmetic collaborations with the likes of musicians such as Nicki Minaj, Cher and Saweetie as well as the artist Cindy Sherman.

But while fashion brands often team up with another, it’s far less common to see a makeup label collaborate with another existing brand to create innovation in the cosmetics sector.

Maybe it’s because every makeup brand seems to be in competition with one another. (Not that a collaboration between competitors can’t work — Versace and Fendi’s 2022 team-up was much talked about in the industry.)

But I look at them the same way that I look at fashion brands: each has its own visual language, products and therefore demographic. Why would beauty brands not collaborate with one another? The beauty market isn’t one big group of people who all have the same needs, tastes, aspirations nor budget, so why would collaborations not bring those same benefits of expanding to a bigger customer range? Isn’t that something worth investigating?

I’m trying to change the status quo. In May, my makeup brand Isamaya partnered with the cultish facial massage company Face Gym to create a protocol for a facial sculpting and contour device. The tool went viral and sold out within a matter of hours and continues to be one of the best performing products in our range, endorsing my belief in the power of collaboration.

I launched Isamaya with the firm idea of applying this concept of collaboration fashion has been using for decades and create exciting products that transcend the limitations of makeup. We are releasing two body sculpting tools this month with Face Gym to complete our collaboration, and I have two more projects launching this fall with other beauty brands.

Let’s see how far we can go.

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