January 2022

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

Alibaba Preps Big Revamp of Flagship AI App to Resemble ChatGPT

The Chinese e-commerce giants also plans to gradually add agentic-AI features to support shopping on platforms including its Taobao marketplace in coming months. [...]

Brussels Wants to Accelerate Crackdown on Cheap Chinese Parcels

Brussels is proposing to accelerate the removal of the €150 ‘de minimis’ customs threshold for parcels entering the EU, mostly from China. [...]

Asos Cuts Interest Costs in $319 Million Refinancing

The British online fashion retailer’s refinancing deal is expected to boost its liquidity and reduce interest costs. [...]

Holiday Test Looms as Luxury Brands Chase Elusive Rebound

Major fashion houses like LVMH and Kering face pressure to prove that third-quarter improvements can lead to sustained growth amidst a quiet China market and volatile US consumer. [...]

L’Oréal Selling €3 Billion of Bonds for Kering Beauté Deal

L’Oréal SA is selling at least €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) of bonds in a three-part deal to help finance its acquisition of Kering Beauté. [...]

WeightWatchers Plans to Sell Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy Pill

The company’CEO said on Wednesday it plans to sell Novo Nordisk’s much-anticipated Wegovy in pill form if it is launched next year in the United States, deepening its tie-up with [...]

Burberry Returns to Growth as Turnaround Effort Starts to Bear Fruit

It’s the first time in two years that the British luxury brand has reported a return to growth. [...]

Patagonia’s CEO on Selling ‘the Unsexiest Thing in the World’

As the Californian outerwear brand publishes its first ever sustainability progress report, its 50-year effort to model and promote a more climate-friendly form of capitalism is under threat. [...]

The Plan for McQueen

The label founded by Lee Alexander McQueen is ‘not for sale,’ says owner Kering. Instead, the French group is accelerating plans to restructure and reposition the brand after years of [...]

After a Scandal Nearly Derailed Her Brand, Matilda Djerf Reemerges

Twelve months after the Swedish influencer faced allegations of mistreating her employees, she’s opening a pop-up at the London department store, the brand’s first foray into wholesale. [...]

The Business of Beauty and Amazon Beauty Celebrate Founder-Led Beauty Brands in Los Angeles

Founders and executives from Arrae, Phlur, Danessa Myricks Beauty, Haus Labs, Pattern Beauty, Kosas, Patrick Ta, Ilia, Summer Fridays and One/Size by Patrick Starr gathered in Los Angeles for dinner [...]

The Debrief | Why Is Everyone Obsessed With Accessories?

From Labubu charms to stacked bracelets, shoppers are using accessories to personalise minimalist wardrobes, boosting small labels and hinting at a lasting behavioural shift. Diana Pearl joins The Debrief to [...]

Skims Secures $5 Billion Valuation

The shapewear label founded by Kim Kardashian announced it has obtained $225 million in financing on Wednesday. [...]

High Margin: Can Richemont Keep Up Its Winning Streak?

The Cartier owner has been luxury’s most dynamic conglomerate in recent years. But tariffs, high gold prices and a softening US market pose challenges. Plus, Burberry’s moment of truth and [...]

Antonin Tron to Design Balmain

The founder of Atlein will replace Olivier Rousteing, who parted ways with Mayhoola-backed Balmain last week after fourteen years as the house’s creative director. [...]

How Much Do We Really Reveal When We Get Dressed?

A new exhibition – with contributions from Chanel, McQueen and Galliano – places 100 looks under the psychoanalytic lens, and suggests that what we wear is the result of a [...]

Exclusive: Hourglass Founder Carisa Janes Launches New Beauty Brand

Eight years after selling her prestige cosmetics line to Unilever Prestige, Janes has another brand on her hands, launching with 25 foundation shades and a face oil. Can lightning strike [...]

Sportswear Brand On Lifts Annual Targets Again Amid Strong Demand

The Swiss brand raised its annual revenue forecast for the third time this year. [...]

WMH Acquires Production Company Profirst France, To Be Merged with Petit Ami

Under new ownership the agencies will rebrand as The Officin. [...]

i-D Magazine Appoints Marcelo Gutierrez as Global Beauty Editor

The Colombian makeup artist’s appointment was announced Wednesday, along with a standalone beauty zine set to release in spring 2026. [...]

LVMH’s Watch Unit Takes Minority Stake in La Joux-Perret

The move deepens LVMH’s partnership with the high-end Swiss watch movement and component manufacturer. [...]

China’s Singles’ Day Shopping Winds Down With ‘Muted’ Sentiment, Sales Expectations

The world’s largest shopping event failed to spark widespread excitement as ongoing consumer malaise tempered spending. [...]

How to Track Your Brand in the Age of AI

At a BoF Insights breakfast in London, senior executives gathered to explore how algorithms, viral moments and AI are rewriting the rulebook of brand building — and how leaders need [...]

Four Takeaways From the Fall Art Fair Frenzy

Paris is booming amid growing reliance on core collectors and wider market regionalisation. Plus, artists consider Sora 2, YouTube vs Netflix and the Pompidou’s Grand Finale. [...]

Why the Fashion Industry (Mostly) Hates a Weak Dollar

The greenback’s slide this year is reducing the purchasing power of American consumers, depressing tourism and complicating supply chains already rocked by tariffs. Brands say the overall impact can top [...]

Tariffs Are Forcing Brands to Cut Back on Black Friday Deals

Companies such as Coach, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Levi’s are seeking to reduce or phase out promotions this year, even as consumers are increasingly seeking out deals. [...]

Swiss Billionaires Pivotal in Wooing Trump Ahead of Tariff Deal

Billionaires from Richemont and Partners Group, successfully leveraged their influence and personal relationship with Donald Trump to push Switzerland closer to a deal that would significantly reduce US tariffs on [...]

Levi’s to Sell $300 Jeans in More Stores to Tap Growing Demand for Premium Denim

The denim company is expanding its premium Blue Tab line to boost growth and attract a broader customer base. [...]

Report: Kering and Mayhoola to Inject €100 Million Into Valentino

The French group and the Qatari investment fund have agreed to shore up the Italian fashion house’s finances after it breached loan covenants earlier this year, according to a corporate [...]

Apple and Issey Miyake Unveil New Collaboration

Their limited-edition wearable accessory, the iPhone Pocket, is releasing this week. [...]

Unpacking Beauty’s Agentic AI Toolkit

Beauty tech firms and major conglomerates are staking their claims on AI’s next frontier with tools designed to recommend products, book services and streamline back-office operations. [...]

Nike Doubles Down on Recycled Fibres

The sportswear giant announced multi-year off take agreements with textile-to-textile recycling startups Syre and Loop this week, as it looks to reduce its future reliance on virgin polyester. [...]

The Kicks You Wear: Why Après-Ski Is Here To Stay

As we enter the winter season, it’s clear that skiwear is still heavy on fashion brands’ minds. [...]

Worldview | Why China’s Singles’ Day Sales Lasted Longer Than Ever

This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Galeries Lafayette in India, Peruvian vicuna and Lagos Fashion Week’s prize win. [...]

The Silicon Valley Skin-Care Brand Biohackers Are Obsessed With

OneSkin, all over TikTok, merges the beauty industry’s fixation with anti-ageing and tech’s fantasy of halting death. [...]

LVMH Nears China Store Openings as Luxury Demand Begins Recovery

Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany and Loro Piana are all slated to open multistory stores in Beijing this December, while Dior is also in talks to open a new location in [...]

Swiss Watchmakers Rise on Optimism Over Possible Cut in Trump Tariffs

Shares in Richemont and Swatch Group rose after US president Donald Trump said he was working with Switzerland on a deal to lower the 39 percent tariff rate on Swiss [...]

Natura Swings to Third Quarter Loss

Brazilian cosmetic maker Natura swung to a recurring net loss in the third quarter on Monday, hit by slowing consumer demand in its local market, as well as challenges in [...]

Inditex Takes On the Activewear Market

Oysho, the Zara-owner's women's sportswear label, is growing across Europe with its free workout classes and value-led, fashion-focused offering. [...]

It’s Time for Fashion to Get Real About AI’s Impact on Jobs

Fashion brands are racing to deploy AI in marketing, design and employee workflows. But inside companies, a lack of clarity is breeding layoff anxiety — and quiet AI use that [...]

How Textile Innovator Recover Is Turning Sustainable Fabrics Into a Scalable Reality

Textile recycling firm Recover has entered the fabric market by developing a new recycled fabrics range, designed to complement pre-existing recycled cotton fibre offers. BoF sits down with Recover’s CEO [...]

Ashlynn Park Wins CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

Julian Louie, designer of Aubero, and Stephanie Suberville of Heirlome were the runners-up. [...]

Switzerland Moves Close to Securing Improved 15% US Tariff Deal

A 15 percent tariff on Swiss exports to the US would be a significant improvement from the previous 39 percent levy. [...]

Prestige Hair Care’s Shampoo Problem

In recent years, prestige hair care has begun to grow at a faster rate than its mass competitors. The only problem: Shoppers still want drugstore shampoo. [...]

Luar’s Raul Lopez Wins $50,000 Carmen Busquets Couture Prize

Designers Willy Chavarria and Patricio Campillo also received honours at the Latin American Fashion Awards which concluded this weekend in the Dominican Republic. [...]

Shiseido Cuts Forecast, Announces New 2030 Strategy and Leadership

The Japanese conglomerate’s sales dipped to a nine month low in its latest earnings, which accompanied sweeping changes to leadership and the unveiling of its newest action plan. [...]

Nykaa Posts Three-Fold Quarterly Profit Jump

Indian beauty retailer Nykaa's profit more than tripled in its earnings on Friday, boosted by steady demand for makeup and new tie-ups with global brands. [...]

Novo Nordisk Bows Out of Metsera Takeover Battle

The Ozempic maker’s shares rose after Novo withdrew from a $10 billion takeover battle with Pfizer over obesity drug developer Metsera. [...]

Nigo’s Human Made Boosts Tokyo IPO Price

The streetwear brand has increased the price of its initial share sale following strong investor demand. [...]

Is China’s Luxury Market Ready to Rebound?

The short answer is yes — but it won’t soon return to its pre-pandemic growth rates. After two years of turbulence, the market remains shaky, and brands will need to [...]

The British artist David Shrigley wants £1m for piles of old rope

The artist, whose practice is underpinned by humour, has a poke at the art market with his new London exhibition [...]

Why former Sotheby's chief executive Tad Smith is bullish on blockchain art

Ahead of the sale of a Robert Alice NFT painting at Sotheby's New York, Smith discusses his support for bitcoin and collecting digital art [...]

This month’s New York auctions could bring up to $2.3bn

Estimates are up by more than 40% over last year’s November sales, driven in large part by Sotheby’s consignments [...]

A new hope: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art sets September 2026 opening date

The $1bn museum co-founded by the ‘Star Wars’ director George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, will open its futuristic doors next autumn in Los Angeles [...]

On the ground at Art Week Tokyo: amid shifting national politics, Japan’s ‘sleeping beauty’ art scene is waking up

The fifth edition of the “post-art fair” event, which took place earlier this month following the election of Japan's first woman prime minister, received largely positive reviews from gallerists and [...]

Do museums need to crack down on selfies?

The Uffizi in Florence is restricting selfies, and New York’s Frick Collection bans all photography—but other museums encourage them [...]

The Big Review | Manet & Morisot at Legion of Honor, San Francisco ★★★½

Berthe Morisot was at times a leading light to the more established Édouard Manet, who seemingly even filled the gaps in one of her series. But her intimate paintings struggle [...]

The elusive artist Cady Noland has made a shock return: will it impact her reputation?

The American artist has recently broken a long silence with major gallery shows in New York—and the reaction hints at her work’s continuing relevance [...]

Rediscovering Roger Fry, the overlooked Bloomsbury artist who helped bring Cézanne and Van Gogh to the world

A new exhibition at Charleston in Firle while display the extraordinary paintings of an art historian who changed public tastes [...]

Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, devoted to ceramics, reopens after $11m renovation

The museum now boasts a gallery dedicated to Indigenous ceramics, expanded education facilities and enough space to display around 40% of its collection [...]

November Book Bag: from a tome of Japanese printmakers to the first Nina Chanel Abney monograph

Our round-up of the latest art publications [...]

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun made simple: a lively and informed book for the sound-bite generation

The French portraitist has been repositioned for an entry-level audience [...]

‘Make a lot of bad work for as long as possible’: new book brings you top tips from artists

In Lydia Figes’s publication more than 50 successful artists share their wisdom on everything from defining success to dealing with galleries [...]

How art social media accounts are being turned into books

Having lots of followers on Instagram does not guarantee a publishing deal but it helps [...]

Artificial installation: artist hangs own AI-generated work in Welsh museum

The rogue print was on show at National Museum Cardiff for a few hours before it was spotted by staff [...]

Torkwase Dyson and Alia Farid among artists commissioned for next Carnegie International

More than a dozen participating artists have been announced for the 2026 edition of the longest running recurring exhibition in North America [...]

Comment | As Cop30 opens in Brazil, it is time for the art world to embrace ethics with aesthetics

Ten years on from Gustav Metzger’s visionary environmental art project “Remember Nature”, global leaders and gallerists alike must engage with the climate crisis, writes Louisa Buck [...]

Performance artist and festival of culture added to Russian government's list of ‘foreign agents’

Pavel Krisevich and SlovoNovo festival were added to the list on 7 November [...]

Inside Lambeth Palace, the historic building that will be home to the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury

Sarah Mullally, who was appointed to the role last month, will be the first occupant of the palace following its £40m renovation [...]

Fired director sues Philadelphia Art Museum

Sasha Suda claims in a lawsuit that she was terminated after she “clashed with a small, corrupt and unethical faction” of the museum’s board of trustees [...]

Opening of Museum of West African Art in Nigeria delayed after protests

The official preview weekend for the museum in Benin City was disrupted when a group of protestors broke in [...]

Seeing beyond: Issam Kourbaj on mentoring three young artists for Abu Dhabi Art

New works by Salmah Almansoori, Maktoum Al Maktoum and Alla Abdunabi will go on show at the fair and in the city of Al Ain, before touring the world [...]

New York’s Studio Museum—known for championing Black artists—reopens in $300m new home

The legendary institution, which took seven years to build, reopens with an exhibition devoted to the works of Tom Lloyd [...]

Ten essential works of art to see at the Musée du Louvre

The Parisian museum has recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons—so now is a good time to remember its greatness [...]

How is Trump’s new visa regime impacting art world talent?

The cumbersome and hugely expensive system is complicating international hiring across the sector [...]

Marlene Dumas becomes first contemporary woman artist to join Louvre's permanent collection

Nine new works by the South African-born artist were unveiled at the Paris museum last Thursday [...]

Exclusive: Dana Awartani to represent Saudi Arabia at Venice Biennale 2026

The artist has a particular interest in craft traditions—and frequently addresses the fragility of cultural heritage in her work [...]

Peru’s mysterious ‘band of holes’ site may have been bustling marketplace

New analysis of the 1.5km-long site consisting of thousands of holes suggests they may have been used to measure and trade commodities [...]

Tania Willard wins Canada’s top contemporary art prize

The British Columbia-based artist, who is a member of the Secwépemc First Nation, described the experience of taking home the C$100,000 Sobey Art Award as “a waking dream” [...]

Belgium’s famous Menin Gate memorial to host first Armistice Day ceremony since €6m restoration

The structure, once described as a “sepulchre of crime”, has undergone extensive repairs—and now has a “living roof” [...]

California nonprofits keep losing funding in what new study calls ‘the shadow of the pandemic cliff’

The latest Otis College Report on the Creative Economy paints a sombre picture of arts nonprofits in the US’s most populous state [...]

Pursuing ‘a different economy’, London gallery Herald St will open new space in Bologna

At a time when mid-sized galleries are suffering from hasty expansions, Herald St Bologna reflects a more sustainable attempt at growth [...]

ICOM Dubai 2025 will reframe the future of culture

The International Council for Museums’s triennial general conference will be held in the Middle East for the first time [...]

'I never imagined we'd get here': Beirut gallery Marfa' Projects turns ten

As she opens an anniversary show drawing on her global gallerist network, Marfa' founder Joumana Asseily recounts a decade of major challenges and milestone achievements [...]

MFA Boston returns work by enslaved artist David Drake to his heirs, Wifredo Lam, Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi—podcast

Ben Luke discusses the landmark agreement with a curator at the Boston museum, meets the team behind MoMA's new Lam show, and explores a new book on the children of [...]

Tehching Hsieh: ‘I didn’t try to be a superman, my work is not about heroism’

The Taiwan-born artist is best known for a series of year-long performances which subjected his mind and body to near-torturous conditions. As a major retrospective of his work opens in [...]

Exclusive: Philadelphia Art Museum to host sensational Van Gogh exhibition featuring two ‘Sunflowers’

The show will include the rare loan of the masterpiece held by London's National Gallery [...]

Three key takeaways from Lagos’s newest African art symposium

Amid Lagos Art Week and Lagos Photo, this event brought together cultural practitioners for wide-ranging conversations about African and Afro-diasporic art archives [...]

National Trust rejects pressure group’s claim that its buildings are ‘under-insured’

The UK charity has responded to a resolution put forward by Restore Trust, calling for its historic properties to be protected against ‘any eventuality’ [...]

Vatican Museums will return rare Indigenous kayak to Canada

The Vatican is working with the Canadian Catholic Church to return Indigenous artefacts [...]

San Francisco Arts Commission votes to dismantle Vaillancourt Fountain

Decision comes just days after city planning department determined fountain eligible for National Register of Historic Places designation [...]

Comment | Art theft is just the start, what happens after a jewellery heist is the real question

Due to the world-wide publicity of the brazen theft at the Musée du Louvre last month, the stolen jewellery may be impossible to shift [...]

Louvre’s €666m plans for new entrance ‘financially unsound’—and security should come first—auditor says

The much-anticipated report from the Cour des comptes points to issues with the management of the Paris museum and calls for a rethink of priorities [...]

Comment | As the US’s 250th anniversary approaches, museums must keep pushing the American story forward

The Phillips Collection was founded amid a president’s calls for a return to “normalcy”, and today the museum is addressing a city and a country grappling with a similar dynamic [...]

How China’s private museums are navigating a post-boom era

Some museums have closed, falling victim to Covid-19 and a slowing economy, while others are scaling back or regrouping [...]

Film-maker Wes Anderson to recreate Joseph Cornell’s New York studio in Paris this Christmas

The Gagosian show will feature a dozen of Cornell’s most recognisable works [...]

Amoako Boafo serves up a community tennis court in Ghana

The tennis-loving artist is bringing a space for sport, learning and creativity to the Accra neighbourhood he grew up in [...]

Crypto entrepreneur proposes colossal, $450m statue of Prometheus for San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island

Ross Calvin envisions the logistically complex colossus, which would be around 50% taller than the State of Liberty, as a symbol of American ingenuity [...]

Inside the Jewish Museum’s $14.5m renovation in New York City

The institution's revamped third and fourth floors present reconfigured galleries, expanded education spaces and a luminous display of more than 100 menorahs from around the world [...]

First Americans may have sailed from north-east Asia, new research suggests

New research comparing stone tools found at sites across the US and on Japan’s northernmost island suggests a different timeline and mode of travel for the first humans to arrive [...]

Lazin Magazine – New Frontiers – January 2022 (Digital PDF)