December 2021

The Business of Fashion
The Art Newspaper - International art news and events

Drew Barrymore’s Makeup Line, Flower Beauty, Closes

Its parent company, brand incubator Maesa, also announced it would be exiting the colour cosmetics category altogether. [...]

Exclusive: Mock Auction Followed By Real Goodbyes As Sunnei Designers Exit Brand

Simone Rizzo and Loris Messina, the founders of Milan’s Sunnei, announced their departure from the brand just after a farewell show in collaboration with Christie’s. [...]

The Bof Podcast | Edward Buchanan on Being Written Out of Fashion History

On The BoF Podcast, the designer retraces his formative years from Ohio to New York, his years at Bottega in Milan and explores how young creatives can succeed in fashion [...]

How Demna Put Gucci Back in the Fashion Conversation

The subversive designer didn’t need a runway show to shift the narrative around Kering’s troubled flagship this week. Best-in-class creative directors are increasingly cross-cultural curators who can conjure up media [...]

Trump Plans New Tariff Push With 100 percent Rate on Patented Drugs

President Donald Trump announced a fresh round of tariffs on pharmaceuticals, heavy trucks and furniture, including a 100% duty on patented drugs unless the producer is building a manufacturing plant [...]

Valentino in Talks With Banks as Luxury Drop Prompts Debt Breach

The Italian company is seeking relief on its covenants after its debt-to-earnings ratio surpassed the threshold set in its credit agreement, Bloomberg reported. [...]

US Consumer Spending Increases Solidly in August

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, rose 0.6 percent last month. [...]

The Frayed Edge: Are Things as Bad as They Seem?

At New York Climate Week, fashion’s sustainability cadre wanted to send the message that work is continuing — and making progress — despite grim political and economic headwinds. [...]

Pinault’s Family Office to Cut Debt as Fortune Wanes

The family will also shun large deals as its investment firm, Artemis, has seen debt soar roughly 40 percent to roughly $8.3 million, Bloomberg reported. [...]

What We Do and Don’t Know About US TikTok Deal With China

How the framework evolves will likely have ramifications for the broader US social media landscape, too, where rivals including Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are jostling for market share. [...]

Jean-Pierre Blanc Steps Down From Hyères Festival

Jean-Pierre Blanc, who founded and directed the Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories for 40 years, is leaving the organisation. [...]

Exclusive: Aritzia’s Shiny New Beauty Partner

The Canadian retailer is collaborating with body care label Salt & Stone to launch an exclusive collection — and apply its accessible, quiet luxury proposition to a whole new category. [...]

The Kicks You Wear: The Hard Part for NikeSkims Begins Now

NikeSkims feels like a sure thing, but the two brands still have a lot to prove when it comes to their new partnership. [...]

Google, Flo Health to Pay $56 Million in Privacy Violation Suit

Google and period-tracking app Flo Health will pay $56 million to settle a class action claiming they violated the privacy of millions of Flo app users by collecting information about [...]

Exclusive: The Inside Story of Carhartt WIP’s Fashion Ascent

In his first interview since taking over as CEO, Wilfried Atzert opens up about his rise from the shop floor to the top job, and his plans to grow the [...]

Why Can’t the Art World Make E-Commerce Work?

Digital sales will never rule the art market’s upper tier, but there’s still scope for selling art merch, multiples and five-figure emerging artists online, argues Marc Spiegler. [...]

What Is Armani Group Worth? It’s Complicated

Giorgio Armani’s will stipulated that 15 percent of the company he founded must be sold by early 2027, but putting a price tag on the group is an inexact science. [...]

Trump Signs TikTok Order With US App Valued at $14 Billion

‘I had a very good talk with President Xi,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House. [...]

Milan Day Three: Self-Examination

At Prada, Moschino and more, designers grappled with their own identities on the third day of Milan Fashion Week, writes Angelo Flaccavento. [...]

Meta Set to Face EU Finding It Failed to Police Illegal Posts

The European Commission is preparing to issue preliminary findings saying that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram lack an adequate ‘notice and action mechanism’ that would let users flag illegal posts for [...]

Amazon to Pay $2.5 Billion to Settle FTC Lawsuit Over Prime ‘Subscription Traps’

The e-commerce giant is also facing a separate case brought by the FTC that the company built and maintained an illegal monopoly. [...]

Natalie Massenet, Erik Torstensson Withdraw Lawsuits Against One Another

The Net-a-Porter founder on Wednesday filed a dismissal of the bombshell lawsuit she filed against her former partner, and Frame denim co-founder, in August. [...]

Full Coverage: Inside the Foundation Wars, Nykaa Lands Deepika Padukone, Bobbi Brown Tells All

This week, I go deep on makeup and the global retail wars. [...]

LVMH Bets on South Korea to Spur Growth on US, China Uncertainty

Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are both looking to expand their flagship maison-style stores in Seoul’s Cheongdam district within the next few years, Bloomberg reported. [...]

Brunello Cucinelli Shares Fall 15% After Alleged Russia Links

Short seller Morpheus Research accused the Italian luxury label of secretly operating in Russia despite EU sanctions. The company has denied the claims. [...]

Mytheresa Sustains Profitable Growth Amid YNAP Merger

The German e-tailer’s net sales grew 12 percent in the final quarter of its fiscal 2025, but its newly acquired Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter saw continued declines during the same [...]

Revision Skincare Appoints CEO

Lisa Paley, formerly of health and consumer goods giant Haleon, will power the company’s next phase of growth with a focus on innovation and expansion. [...]

Eli Lilly Will Bring Experimental Weight-Loss Pill to India

The US pharmaceutical giant plans to launch its experimental oral weight-loss drug orforglipron in India, a senior executive told Reuters, offering an alternative to injectables that many patients in the [...]

UK Sees Surge in Male Facelifts

Growing numbers of men and younger people are getting facelifts, a trend driven by social media, surgical innovations and weight loss drugs, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic [...]

Maison Kitsuné Appoints Abigail Smith as New Creative Director

Maison Kitsuné has appointed British designer Abigail Smith as the brand's new creative director, with her first collection for the brand debuting at Paris Fashion Week. [...]

Birkenstock Lifts Sales Outlook, Buys Factory to Make More Clogs

The footwear brand raised its sales forecast and announced plans for a new factory near Dresden to increase production, as it continues to see strong demand for its footwear. [...]

H&M Group’s Q3 Profits Top Expectations As It Warns of Tariff Costs

H&M reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit due to strong autumn sales but warned of increased tariff-related costs and higher markdowns in the current quarter. [...]

Tiffany Godoy to Step Down as Head of Editorial Content at Vogue Japan

Condé Nast Japan president Juna Kitada will also be stepping down at the end of the year. [...]

Nykaa Names Deepika Padukone Global Ambassador

The Bollywood actress and luxury brand collaborator has been tapped as the face of the Indian retailer’s beauty business, as it continues to deepen its presence both domestically and overseas. [...]

Italy’s Supply Chain Scandals Percolate in Background at Milan Fashion Week

Max Mara’s Maramotti says solutions are on the way for a problem that has dogged Italy’s fashion industry. [...]

Stone Island’s CEO Details New Store Design and Expansion Plans

The luxury Italian sportswear label is revamping stores in key US cities, as it looks to return to growth. [...]

Deported Makeup Artist Andry Hernández Romero’s American Nightmare

He came to the US with a dream of a beauty career free of persecution. Instead, Andry Hernández Romero disappeared for months into one of the world's worst prisons. Now, [...]

Fashion’s Progress on Disclosing Emissions Is Stalling

Advocacy group Fashion Revolution’s second “What Fuels Fashion?” report shows the industry’s continued failure to disclose climate efforts, especially on the critical risks of fossil-fuel based heat stress. [...]

Milan Day Two: Minimalism Vs. Maximalism

If Simone Bellotti’s debut was faithful to Jil Sander, restraint was never an option at Fendi, setting up a day of stark contrasts at Milan Fashion Week, writes Angelo Flaccavento. [...]

Ssense Founders Join Sale Process for Troubled Retailer

Rami Atallah, chief executive of the embattled e-tailer, told employees on Sep. 17 that the company is set to be sold in early October, and announced a new round of [...]

A Quietly Powerful New Voice at Jil Sander

Simone Bellotti beautifully captures the essence of fashion’s ultimate purist, writes Tim Blanks. [...]

Rolex Faces Questions Over Trump US Open Invitation Amid Tariffs Pain

US Senator Elizabeth Warren asked the Swiss watchmaker’s CEO in a letter if Rolex was seeking to ‘curry favor’ with Trump in order to secure special-interest duty exemptions for its [...]

L’Oréal Names New Americas CEO, Appoints Chairman

Alexis Perakis-Valat, currently president of its consumer products division, will accede to the role, replacing David Greenberg who will become the company’s US chairman. [...]

The Debrief | Gen Z Isn’t Buying Luxury’s Story

Prices are up, hype is out and vintage is in. BoF correspondents Lei Takanashi and Jessica Kwon join The Debrief to explain why Gen Z is drifting away from luxury [...]

Demna and Gucci: Written in the Stars

A look book and a movie were all it took to propel Gucci back into the fashion conversation. But Demna already has his sights set on a February show inflected [...]

Report: Nestlé To Undergo Strategic Review of Its Vitamin Business

The food and beverage giant has appointed Morgan Stanley to explore options for its ailing vitamins businesses, sources told Bloomberg. [...]

Tech Mode: What Will Become of TikTok’s Algorithm?

The video-sharing app — and one of fashion’s favourite marketing channels — may soon have new owners, while Meta and Ray-Ban reveal their new high-tech glasses and more brands turn [...]

Beauty Manufacturer Intercos Targets Deals to Expand in US

The Italian cosmetics producer is looking to acquire a US-based skincare and hair care company, according to chief executive Renato Semerari. [...]

Britain’s JD Sports Says Nike ‘Doing All the Right Things’ to Lift Sales

Nike products comprise roughly 45 percent of JD Sports' sales. [...]

Custom Fragrance Maker Olfactory NYC Expands to Texas, Charts US Expansion

The personalised perfumery will open a store in Dallas’ upmarket West Village neighbourhood on Oct. 24, its ninth retail location, with more US openings slated to follow. [...]

Judge rejects collector Ron Perelman's claims of $410m in losses from works that lost their ‘spark’ in fire

Perelman sued his insurers after a 2018 fire at his Hamptons home, claiming works by Warhol, Ruscha and Twombly had sustained damage [...]

New Museum’s longtime director to retire after building expansion opens

Lisa Phillips, who has led the museum through two major construction projects, will step down in April [...]

Simone Leigh’s largest exhibition yet to explore ‘art made under fascism’

The Chicago-born artist has been speaking ahead of a major show at London’s Royal Academy of Arts [...]

Knoedler gallery faking scandal is a gift that keeps on giving

Writer Barry Avrich has followed up his 2020 documentary about the $80m art fraud case with a new book on the saga [...]

‘I don’t want to compare myself with these masters’: Giorgio Armani placed side by side with Raphael and Caravaggio in Milan exhibition

The show at Pinacoteca di Brera was the late fashion designer’s final project [...]

The story behind the Van Gogh still life that looks destined to become his most expensive Paris painting

‘Parisian Novels’ from the Pritzker collection is going on sale at Sotheby’s— along with a drawing that has not been exhibited for more than a century [...]

Museums and ethics, Fra Angelico in Florence, Cornelia Parker’s PsychoBarn—podcast

Unpacking the issues facing cultural institutions today, plus chats about a Renaissance blockbuster and a ”cut-up” architectural installation in Basel [...]

A brush with… Roxana Marcoci, curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Art, says the acting chief curator and senior curator of photography at MoMA, is about considering what it means to be human [...]

The ancient city of Carthage is under attack again—and this time the enemy is climate change

Environmental damage is increasingly visible at the ruins of the former trading hub, located in modern-day Tunisia [...]

Fraud, lax legal procedures and regulatory landmines: why risk advisories are booming

In the wake of several high-profile legal battles and stricter enforcement, advisories like the The ArtRisk Group help avoid financial disaster—and stay on the right side of the law [...]

Outrage over heritage listing of temple in Mexico tied to sex-abuse scandal

La Luz del Mundo’s flagship church in Guadalajara is a unique structure, but should architectural value (and politics) override ethical concerns? [...]

Comment | Return of extinct reptile shows power of reclaiming identity

Caribbean repatriation puts flora and fauna on the cultural identity and property agenda [...]

Christie's to sell three early paintings by Lucian Freud for £20m

Coming from the same private collection, the works span three decades of Freud's career [...]

Lagos symposium—spearheaded by the artist Yinka Shonibare—to dig deep into African archives

The Re: assemblages symposium will bring together artists, scholars and publishers “to collectively rethink African and Afro-diasporic archives as living, contested and future-shaping spaces” [...]

Comment | I bought a Michelangelo—and took it on an Easyjet flight to get it home

When I acquired a sculpture of Christ (OK, not an actual Michelangelo), it was cheaper to go to Madrid and collect it than have it shipped [...]

Marina Abramović to have historic solo exhibition at Venice’s Galleria dell’Accademia in 2026

She will be the first living woman artist to have a major show at the institution since it opened in 1817 [...]

US judge rules NEA’s review of ‘gender ideology’ in grant applications is unconstitutional

The National Endowment for the Arts' policy changes, made in response to one of Trump's executive orders, were found to violate the First Amendment [...]

New York’s Tilton Gallery staging final exhibition after more than four decades in business

The closure comes eight years after the death of the gallery's influential founder Jack Tilton [...]

Participants withdraw from Chicago Architecture Biennial over sponsor’s investment in weapons manufacturer

In a letter to the biennial’s organisers, more than 20 participants wrote that Crown Family Philanthropies’ “sponsorship is incompatible with the values of our work” [...]

Sydney Contemporary art fair sees fourth year of decline in sales

Australia's leading art fair held its ninth, and largest edition, this month [...]

Thaddaeus Ropac is betting on Milan—will it pay off?

The dealer has opened a gallery in the northern Italian city, which is welcoming an influx of new money and favourable tax structures for art [...]

‘There’s no fudging. She deserves to win’: critics react as Turner Prize 2025 opens

Nominees for the £25,000 award were selected on the basis of what the judges felt to be the strongest and best exhibitions of the past year [...]

New York museum celebrates boundary-pushing artist behind Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain

Long Island’s Heckscher Museum of Art dedicates a long-overdue exhibition to Emma Stebbins [...]

Pennsylvania man sentenced to prison for fraud scheme involving forged works by Picasso, Basquiat and Warhol

Court orders fraudster to pay more than $186,000 in restitution and a $50,000 fine, plus serve a two-month prison sentence [...]

Fashion vintage: how two historic Bordeaux vineyards have been restored to former glory under Chanel's ownership

The luxury, fashion and fragrance house has given Nicolas Audebert and his winemaking team the time and freedom to bring back to their best two grand old wines: Château Rauzan-Ségla [...]

Detroit’s first fair, Season, revs up for inaugural edition

The new fair, which has grown out of Detroit Art Week, will bring 11 galleries, a pop-up exhibition and site-specific installations to the former Michigan Central train station [...]

Fra Angelico masterworks reunited for two-venue Florence exhibition

The exhibition brings together more than 140 works, including key altarpieces reconstructed with the help of some detective work [...]

Dog in Rembrandt’s The Night Watch was copied from widely available book, suggests new research

The discovery comes as the masterpiece by the Dutch artist is undergoing a long-term public restoration at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam [...]

As World Press Photo turns 70, is it time for photojournalism to move forward from a history of harm?

The sought after award is celebrating its anniversary with an introspective exhibition—but questions remain about its value in today’s world [...]

Is a Vermeer self-portrait hiding behind his ‘sleeping maid’ at the Met? The museum has provided another clue

The New York institution has supported the claim by pointing to the composition of Nicolaes Maes’s ‘The Naughty Drummer’ [...]

Shanghai residency space merging art and fashion to launch in November

The first resident at Cheruby House—which will also be an exhibition venue—is the Mexican artist and designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane [...]

UK money laundering crackdown continues, as art dealer faces a fine of more than £150,000

Latest penalties from UK’s customs and revenue office reveal a ramping up of regulatory enforcement [...]

Jewish collector's heirs revive Nazi loot claim to Van Gogh Sunflowers painting

The heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are extending their legal battle in the US courts with the Japanese insurance company that currently owns the painting [...]

Florida art-history professor suspended over social media posts about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk

Karen Leader was placed on administrative leave from her tenured position at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton [...]

After a turbulent period of reorganisation, the 18th Istanbul Biennial favours futurity over futility

Despite Turkey's increasing censorship, and against a background of war in the Middle East, curator Christine Tohmé takes a liberating approach to this beleaguered biennial [...]

Picasso painting not seen in 80 years heads to auction in France

The portrait of the artist's lover Dora Maar goes under the hammer with an estimate of €8m [...]

World's largest private Rembrandt collection may be fractionalised, owner reveals

$World's largest private Rembrandt collection may be fractionalised, owner reveals$

Plans are underway for the Leiden Collection of Dutch Golden Age painting, amassed by billionaire investor Thomas S. Kaplan, to be offered as shares on a public stock exchange [...]

'Age alone does not guarantee value': Thomas S. Kaplan is showing his Dutch Old Master collection in US for first time

The collector behind the Leiden Collection talks about the upcoming exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, and why you will not find any of the works in his home [...]

Work in progress: Martin Jennings chosen to create statue of Queen Elizabeth II

Jennings was selected for the project by the UK government, which has announced a provisional construction budget of up to £46m [...]

Ai Weiwei: ‘Nothing scares me anymore—being terrified does not help’

The Beijing-born artist and activist has recently spent time near the front line in Ukraine and is unveiling a major new commission in Kyiv—a large-scale installation responding to armed conflict—as [...]

Letter calls on Judy Chicago and Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolakonnikova to cancel Tel Aviv exhibition

More than 50 artists and cultural figures, many of them based in Israel, have signed the letter [...]

Florida college commissions statue of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk

The state’s only public liberal-arts school continues its political transformation after it became a target of Governor Ron DeSantis’s “war on woke” [...]

Untitled Art Houston opens with a slew of four- and five-figure sales

The Texan fair’s inaugural edition got off to a strong start for dealers who brought more affordable works [...]

Mexico City’s major art museums closed amid union dispute

The two-day closure earlier this month stemmed from a structural crisis in Mexico’s cultural sector [...]

Calder Gardens opens this weekend in Philadelphia

The long-awaited project is not a museum but a contemplative, multi-sensory space—or an underground cathedral [...]

Near Naples, an ancient town is turned contemporary art hub for roving exhibition Panorama

The fifth edition of Panorama, held this month in Pozzuoli, was organised by a consortium of Italy's leading commercial galleries and featured artists from Simone Fattal to William Kentridge [...]

Agnes Gund, collector and philanthropist who helped transform MoMA, has died, aged 87

In addition to supporting many art institutions, Gund was a passionate funder of arts education and criminal justice reform initiatives [...]

Lovers to friends: the intimate story of Van Gogh's sister-in-law and the artist Isaac Israëls

A new display at the Van Gogh Museum reveals the couple's story through paintings and letters [...]

Frida Kahlo dreamscape estimated between $40m to $60m could break artist's auction record

El Sueňo is from a major Surrealist collection amassed by Nesuhi and Selma Ertegun, being sold at Sotheby's New York this November [...]

Kerry James Marshall, National Gallery expansion, Picasso’s Three Dancers—podcast

Ben Luke takes a tour of Kerry James Marshall's critically acclaimed Royal Academy show and meets the curators behind Tate Modern's ‘Theatre Picasso’, and Alexander Morrison discusses the National Gallery's [...]