Lanvin, the oldest surviving house in French fashion, took to the Paris catwalk on Wednesday for its first outing since being bought by Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate that also owns Club Med.
The deal is significant at Paris fashion week, where most heritage brands are still owned by French-based groups. It is the highest-profile fashion acquisition to date for the Chinese group, which also owns a stake in the American firm St John Knits. Fosun has assets estimated at $75bn (£54bn), and is expected to invest about €100m (£88m) in a bid to restore the house, founded by Jeanne Lanvin 129 years ago, to its former glory.
The high-stakes financial dealings, alongside the knowledge that his predecessor Bouchra Jarrar was removed from the role after just two collections, made for a nervy context for current designer Olivier Lapidus’s second seasonal collection at the Place Vendôme.
Lapidus was appointed by Lanvin’s outgoing owner, Shaw-Lan Wang, with whom he is close, and his days may be numbered under the new regime. Many at the house still mourn the departure of Alber Elbaz, who was ousted from Lanvin in 2015 after 14 years when sales began to slide. Elbaz gave Lanvin a female-friendly, easy-to-wear sophistication that was adored by critics and pioneered an influential new wave of grown-up womenswear, but never came up with the “It” handbag that would have provided financial security.
Here Lapidus conjured up the bold colours and confident sex appeal of Paris catwalks in the 1980s with strong daywear. High-waisted trousers in cobalt blue, burnt-orange ribbed knits under tailored blazers and soft black leather skirts worked nicely for daytime. But evening wear, caught between gaudy ombre sunset satin and stiffly formal ballgown shapes, failed to capture the insouciant magic of Elbaz’s era of partywear. The buzzy young designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is one of the names in the frame if Lapidus’s latest show did not do enough to convince Fosun he should stay.
Fosun fought off competition from Mayhoola, the Qatari backers of Valentino, to take control of a house that has maintained a successful menswear business and is still thought to have real brand equity in womenswear, despite having recorded a loss of €18.3m in 2016, expected to rise to €27m in 2017.
