BY RACHEL JACOBY ZOLDANRJACOBY13 | allure.com
DECEMBER 19, 2016

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In a move I didn't see coming, Bobbi Brown is leaving her namesake cosmetics line after 25 years, WWD reports. (I know, right?!) Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, owned by beauty giant Estée Lauder Companies (which recently acquired Too Faced Cosmetics as a part of a burgeoning brand portfolio that also includes Origins, M.A.C., and Clinique), will continue to exist, but Brown is expected to leave the company by the end of the year. (Read: like ten days from now.).

And while we're sad that the creative genius behind Bobbi Brown Cosmetics (the Bobbi Brown—the one who sat in the backseat of an Uber with our beauty editor recently—more on that later) is leaving her brand, we know it's still in good hands as Peter Lichtenthal, global brand president, will continue to oversee the business in her absence. While Brown has yet to reveal her next move, sources speculated to WWD that she'll have a new business endeavor to focus on in 2017.

But hang on. Let's pour one out for Bobbi Brown and her line for a second. I'd argue that she was not only one of the original pioneers of the natural beauty look, but rather the official inspiration for the no-makeup makeup movement that I actually live by. It's soft, pretty, and frankly unfiltered in a world where seemingly everything is Facetuned, Photoshopped, or "tweaked just a tiny bit." Fabrizio Freda, the CEO and president of the Estée Lauder Companies, told WWD that Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is a "global prestige cosmetics powerhouse, with a highly promising future, poised for its next chapter of growth."

Exactly what that chapter will entail, of course, remains to be seen. And I'm still really jealous of Lexi, our beauty editor, who, yes, got to ride in an Uber with Bobbi and get her makeup done and of course emerged with that ethereal, lit-from-within, only-Bobbi-Brown-could-produce glow.

Thank you, Bobbi Brown, for your 25 years of flawless skin and barely there makeup. Our faces salute you. Mine does, at least.

ARTICLE PARU DANS LE LUXURY DAILY | DECEMBER 2016 

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Burberry's early adoption

British fashion label Burberry came in behind Chanel [2016 LUXURY MARKETER OF THE YEAR],  placing as second runner's-up for its first-mover status.

Burberry added fuel to the conversation surrounding the see-now, buy-now movement, announcing early in the year that it would be changing its runway show schedule. This move consolidated its presentations to two a year, showing men's and women's collections together (Burberry updates fashion calendar to meet global demand).

The brand also took a different move when it enlisted Brooklyn Beckham to shoot a campaign, having the teenage son of David and Victoria Beckham capture the experience on Snapchat (Burberry targets younger market using Brooklyn Beckham, Snapchat).

Burberry was became the first fashion label to create an Apple TV app, becoming the first brand to broadcast a fashion show on the platform (Burberry launches on Apple TV with menswear show live-stream. When launching the fragrance My Burberry Black, Burberry took advantage of a bevy of newer social media tools, such as Instagram Stories and a Snapchat filter, to create a mood around the scent.

While unseated by Gucci in this year's L2 rankings, Burberry was positioned in second place, also showing Genius-level sill in digital.

ARTICLE DU LUXURY DAILY | DECEMBRE 2016

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First runner’s-up Chanel has made itself more relatable to consumers without sacrificing its prestige.

The brand made moves to appeal to a younger audience, casting teens Lily-Rose Depp and Willow Smith in separate ad campaigns.

With a continued focus on video content, Chanel introduced five new films in its “Inside Chanel” series. The brand also launched a new series of unscripted Beauty Talks, inviting personalities such as Gisele Bündchen and Keira Knightley to talk makeup and skincare with its global creative makeup and color designer Lucia Pica.

Chanel’s social media efforts helped the brand top Brandwatch’s rankings of fashion companies, thanks to visibility and increased reach (Chanel, Lexus top social media performers in fashion, automotive fields). The same researcher also found it to be the most reputable brand on social media (Chanel most reputable brand despite low sentiment: report).

The brand also got a nod in the beauty space, with an MBLM report finding it to be the most successful at creating intimacy and an emotional connection with followers (Chanel ranks at top of beauty industry’s brand intimacy chart: report).

A key indicator of brand positioning and desirability, Chanel is one of the highest sellers on the secondhand luxury site The RealReal (Chanel, mega-brands dominate resale market as new sectors surge: report). Chanel was also one of the only brands to record growth in value in Millward Brown’s BrandZ report (Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Chanel only houses to record growth: report).

Aside from its desirability as a brand to own, Chanel was named the most coveted place to work in a survey of millennials conducted by Women’s Wear Daily (www.luxurydaily.com/louis-vuitton-hermes-and-chanel-only-houses-to-record-growth-report/.

Alongside digital efforts, Chanel courted younger clients with a backstage-themed pop-up. The brand also branched out into the conceptual, curating a daily content hub with i-D magazine (Chanel, i-D magazine advocate for female artistic talent on daily content hub).

Italian fashion label Gucci is Luxury Daily’s 2016 Luxury Marketer of the Year for its revamped advertising image under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele.

Gucci won over first runner’s-up Chanel and second runner’s-up Burberry. All three brands were able to adapt and connect with a new generation of consumers while not losing focus on their luxury positioning.

The Luxury Marketer of the Year award was decided based on luxury marketing efforts with impeccable strategy, tactics, creative, executive and results. All candidates selected by the Luxury Daily editorial team and from reader nominations had to have appeared in Luxury Daily coverage this year. Judging was based purely on merit.

Gucci made over

2016 marked the first full year with Mr. Michele at the head of Kering-owned Gucci. Aside shifting the brand’s apparel and accessories design, he has made his mark on the brand’s marketing, replacing an overt sex appeal with a more romantic femininity.

This included a new effort for Gucci Guilty starring Jared Leto that portrayed a subtle sexuality (Gucci’s visual representation of fragrance hopes to shatter society norms) and ensemble runway collection campaigns shot in destinations such as Berlin, Tokyo and Britain’s Chatsworth House.

Playing off motifs created by Mr. Michele, Gucci unveiled a series of artistic initiatives that deconstructed these themes. Its customizable Ace Sneaker was the subject of creative short films, while its codes became the basis for a multiplatform project that spanned a physical space in Tokyo and online mediums (Gucci makes room for reinterpreting brand codes).

Allowing consumers to put their own spin on these new icons of the brand, Gucci also launched customization programs for select products.

During 2016, Gucci opened new headquarters in Milan, centralizing a number of operations in a repurposed aeronautical factory. This Gucci Hub will serve as a location for fashion shows and acts as a physical representation of its changing aesthetic (Gucci takes nontraditional office approach for multipurpose Milan headquarters).

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ARTICLE PARU DANS LE NYT, ELIZABETH PATON, LE 05-12-2016

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Millennials, the much-studied generation whose behavior has seduced and puzzled luxury brands in equal measure, are no longer the sole focus for companies hoping to attract new customers: Generation Z, the label given to those born since 1995, is the latest target audience, thanks to their future purchasing power and the influence they hold over the spending of their parents and grandparents.

Unlike their older peers, who have watched technology gradually embed itself in their daily lives, members of Generation Z are known as “digital natives”: those who cannot remember what it is like to not have a cellphone permanently attached to their hand.

“This is an impulsive group who will turn adverts off, call BS really easily and hate being talked down to,” said Meridith Valiando Rojas, co-founder and chief executive of DigiTour Media, a Los Angeles-based group that has led the way in a booming events trend in live entertainment. “They know there is always something else out there as they have always had that information at their fingertips. That is hard for many brands to contend with.”

DigiTour Media hosts festivals where social media stars step out from behind their bedroom webcams and meet their teenage fan base. The festivals showcase people who have created mass followings on YouTube, Instagram and Music.ly, the lip-syncing app with over 100 million monthly users and that anyone over 21 is unlikely to have heard of. DigiTour Media group now puts on approximately 200 events a year, comprising both DigiFests (one- or two-day showcases) or DigiTours (groups of performers who rove the United States). The combined reach of the acts is 350 million people.

“It is all about bringing the internet to life — their internet to life,” said Ms. Valiando Rojas at The New York Times’s Global Leaders’ Collective conference, held in Washington this past week. A former music executive, she recognized in 2010 that there was no equivalent of a music festival on the market for younger teenagers. She also saw that when it came to hormone-fueled popularity, 21st-century social media stars had as much clout as the biggest boy bands.

“Generation Z are the most influential group of consumers right now. Whether or not they are buying luxury today, they will be tomorrow,” Ms. Valiando Rojas said. “So understanding where they think, where they go and how to advertise to them without rubbing them up the wrong way is crucial.”

That more and more people are looking for experience-led luxury purchases over products is another factor in why brands should be looking to build relationships with this demographic, both on and off their phones.

There is a distinction between Generation Z and millennials in how they behave within their social media communities. Millennials are keen to be unique, but members of Generation Z want to be popular and part of a group. Having grown up immersed in social media, members of Generation Z define their identity by how many “Likes’’ they get on Facebook or how many followers they have. They see their online personalities as extensions of themselves

“That is why these influencers are so important: Teenagers today trust these voices,” Ms. Valiando Rojas said, adding that she booked acts based on their popularity and what the followers of her company’s social media accounts suggested. She pointed to Baby Ariel (age 16), Jacob Sartorius (age 14) and the Dolan Twins (age 16) as some of the biggest names to watch.

ARTICLE PARU DANS LE JOURNAL LES OBSERVATEURS.CH, SUISSE, LE 05-12-2016

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Fidel Castro, héros de la révolution marxiste latino-américaine, est mort depuis maintenant une semaine et sa dépouille croule sous les éloges funèbres dispensés par une pseudo-élite intellectuelle superficielle qui s’extasie devant les faux concepts humanistes du communisme international. Toujours les mêmes bobos conformistes de la pensée unique qui dispensent des bobards à longueur de temps et trompent énormément.

Fidel Castro ne fut pas seulement un sanguinaire révolutionnaire, un dictateur féroce, un boucher pour les pauvres Cubains, un ennemi politique sans état d’âme, qui transforma, « l’île en une énorme prison entourée d’eau » selon les mots de sa propre sœur Juanita qui n’ira pas à son enterrement. Au nom d’une révolution des pauvres sensée libérer les prolétariens et apporter le bonheur à Cuba il en fit son domaine personnel pour son plus grand avantage et se maintenir au pouvoir. De révolutionnaire marxiste il devint millionnaire capitaliste tout en cultivant, pour le public et les médias complaisants, l’image idyllique du chef incorruptible et détaché des biens matériels : le pur des purs révolutionnaires qui en privé nage dans l’or pendant que son peuple meurt de faim.

Selon le magasine Forbes, Fidel Castro faisait partie des hommes « les plus riches parmi les rois, les reines et les dictateurs. » La fortune de Castro est estimée à 900 millions de dollars dus en partie aux revenus d’une minière d’or et de nombreuses entreprises d’États sous son contrôle. Certains observateurs occidentaux et cubains expatriés parlent aussi d’une banque en Angleterre et de 270 entreprises de par le monde sous son emprise. On est bien loin des quelques pesos avec lesquels il se targuait de vivre, à l’instar de la majeur partie des Cubains.

Yacht en bois rare, whisky de 12 ans d’âge, belles femmes, jacuzzi, étaient quelques unes des commodités que s’offrait le Lider maximo. Propriétaire d’une île paradisiaque proche de Cuba, Cayo Piedra, il aimait y recevoir des personnalités comme l’inhumain président de l’Allemagne de l’Est Erich Honecker qui décida de l’érection du mur de Berlin ou l’écrivain communiste Gabriel García Márquez.

« Il laissait entendre que la révolution ne lui donnait aucun répit, aucun plaisir, qu’il ignorait et méprisait le concept bourgeois de vacances. Il mentait  » affirme un des ses anciens compagnons d’armes resté à ses côtés jusqu’en 1994, le lieutenant-colonel Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, réfugié ensuite à Miami et décédé mystérieusement après ses révélations sur le dictateur cubain parues dans un livre intitulé « Double vie de Fidel Castro ».

« Il était convaincu que Cuba était sa propriété » écrit Sanchez. Outre la vie capitaliste, tant honnis en public mais si aimée en cachette, il aimait les femmes : il eut plusieurs épouses, plusieurs maîtresses et huit enfants qui tout comme lui aiment la vie luxueuse. Le colonel Sanchez raconte : « Pendant que son peuple mourrait de faim Fidel Castro a vécu avec toutes les commodités. Et cela est vrai aussi pour ses huit enfants, les diverses épouses et amantes. Le tout dans le plus grand secret ».