Gloria Vanderbilt was an “intrepid heiress, artist, designer, and romantic, who began her extraordinary life as the ‘poor little rich girl’ of the Great Depression,” thanks to her starring role in a salacious custody battle between her parents. Having survived family tragedy, multiple marriages, and a few divorces, the Associated Press reports, she died Monday at the age of 95. More than merely a designer known for her wildly popular – and still enduring – denim collection, Ms. Vanderbilt has been tied to the rise of design denim, a trend that got its roots back in the 1970s and ’80s, and for which she was a pioneer. 

Is it a big deal that Dolce & Gabbana has announced that it will increase its sizing to include garments that will range up to size 54 in Italy, the approximate equivalent of a stateside size 18? You bet it is. The move by the Milan-based brand to extend its sizing – which went into force with its currently available pre-fall collection – “makes it one of the most inclusive designer brands for women,” according to The Independent’s Olivia Petter, a far cry from most high fashion brands, which Fashionista’s deputy editor Tyler McCall says “stop much closer to a size 10 [or] below that even.”  

In its second-ever revenue report, Chanel revealed that it brought in $11.12 billion in sales in 2018, up 10.5 percent from the year prior, while net profits climbed 16.4 percent to $2.17 billion. The reported growth – which takes into account sales of the brand’s ready-to-wear business, accessories, and cosmetics, including its world-famous Chanel No. 5 fragrance – was driven by strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, where it saw a 19.9 rise in annual sales, compared to 7.8 percent  in Europe and 7.4 percent in the Americas.

For the past several years, it has been difficult for many city-dwellers from those in New York all the way to Singapore to avoid one particular scent: the distinctly musky, leathery, sandalwood-y aroma of Le Labo’s Santal 33. The 8-year old fragrance began, according to the New York Times, “as an antidote to mass-market scents.” After all, Le Labo – with its miniscule spending compared to the tens of millions of dollars that prestige brands allocate each year to marketing efforts, and an aversion to big-name celebrity endorsers – is, or is supposed to be, a niche venture. 

“Consumers feel that luxury brands have not upheld their end of the bargain to justify their premium price with clearly superior quality goods,” according to a new report from YouGov. The internet-based market research and data analytics firm’s annual Affluent Perspective 2019 Global Study revealed that 67 percent of the more than 8,200 affluent consumers surveyed say that many mass-market brands “offer a level of quality [that is] comparable to luxury brands,” a blow to the long-standing – and somewhat frequently misplaced – theory that luxury brands demand premium prices purely as a result of the quality of their offerings.  

Using the word "Band-aid" to describe a generic adhesive bandage is problematic. The same goes for the use of "Kleenex" interchangeably with tissues, "Xerox" as synonymous with photocopying, and "Photoshop" to describe the general digital manipulation of photos. Each of these terms (Band-aid, Kleenex, Xerox and Photoshop) operates – or in some cases, operated –  as a trademark, meaning they were originally terms used to indicate the source of one individual brand's products. 

The Mexican government has lodged a “cultural appropriation” complaint against Carolina Herrera for its use of indigenous patterns and textiles in its Resort 2020 collection. Garments from the New York-based brand’s latest collection that “feature a traditional flower embroidery known as ‘istmo de Tehuantepec,” as well as those with “a colorful ‘Saltillo Sarape’ stripe pattern” have led the Mexican culture ministry and the fashion media, alike, to call foul. But legal experts suggest there is more to consider here. 

Gigi Hadid’s response in a pending copyright lawsuit “tests the limits of cynicism because Hadid has gone out of her way to criticize photographers like the author of the photograph [at issue] as a necessary evil of the publicity she receives,” Xclusive Lee, Inc. asserts in its opposition to the model’s recently-filed motion to dismiss. The supermodel, the plaintiff photo-agency argues, “wants to have it both ways. She derides the individuals who capture photographs of her, [and] then turns around and appropriates their work” by posting their images on her highly-followed Instagram account.  

Luxury is the fastest growing category on a new list of the most valuable global brands. According to the annual BrandZ Global Top 100 list put forth by British advertising public relations giant WPP’s data investment management arm Kantar, which ranks the world’s 100 most valuable brands, while Amazon tops the list (with a Kantar-assigned value of over $315 billion – as distinct from its $913.4 billion market capitalization), followed by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Visa, luxury and other retail brands are the subject of special attention for their growing valuations, nonetheless.  

On the heels of widespread reports that fashion brands ranging from H&M to Burberry and Louis Vuitton routinely destroy unsold products in an effort to not only rid themselves of these products but in the case of luxury brands, to save face by keeping them out of unauthorized channels of distribution, the French government says that it will enact legislation to “ensure that unsold materials in this sector are not thrown away or destroyed.” The legislative push, which is being pioneered by French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, is expected to come into force by 2023.