PPR

In just a few months' time, the French luxury conglomerate now known as PPR plans to change its name to Kering. The switch is meant to reflect a major shift in the way the business operates, and in how it wants to be perceived.

Since it began selling off its retail assets, like the French department store chain Printemps, in 2006, PPR has drilled its focus down to the luxury and sportswear brands it owns. The most noticeable thing about the new name, which was announced at a press conference on Friday, is that it sounds like the word "caring" — and that's not a coincidence. In a statement, the company said the name is meant to express "our company culture of taking care of our brands, people, stakeholders, and the environment."

It also comes with a logo, a stylized owl with a heart-shaped face, that's meant to telegraph wisdom and nurturing. A new slogan, "Empowering Imagination," helps to extend that sentiment. After all, the company's brands — like Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen — have grown because of investment, monetary and otherwise, from the executives at PPR.

And in the video, which shows a dramatic visual journey from the designer's studio to the runway and then to the soccer pitch, a strong male echoes the new theme once more. "Imagination needs wings," he says. "Imagination needs caring to become a reality."

Watch ideas take flight in the video above.

PPR just bought a new little brother for Gucci. After months of speculation, Christopher Kane's eponymous label is now a member of PPR's stable of luxury brands. On Monday, the French conglomerate purchased a 51 percent stake in the company and revealed plans to help it grow internationally.

Some of those plans include adding another ready-to-wear line to the Kane umbrella and opening the brand's first freestanding store, which will probably set up shop in London next year.

"Christopher Kane is already established as a luxury label and has a tremendous intrinsic growth potential," said PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault in a statement. "We thus have great ambitions for the brand and will enable it to benefit from our expertise and know-how while providing the space for it to further develop its own creative identity."

Though PPR now owns a controlling share of Kane's label, Kane told WWD that the company "understands and appreciates our creative independence." That said, PPR has not ruled on appointing a new CEO for the brand at a later date. Currently, Kane's sister Tammy runs the business side of the company.

Both sides agree that the primary objective for Christopher Kane is expansion.

"Our long-term ambition for the company is obviously to grow it into a globally recognized brand," Kane said. "We do not plan to make any immediate or major changes to the way that the business is currently managed. All growth will be gradual and organic."

Rumors that Kane's label would join PPR began shortly after he left his position as the creative director of Versace's secondary brand, Versus. At the time, Balenciaga, another PPR brand, had just announced that its longtime creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière, planned to leave the company. Some believed Kane would replace Ghesquière, but that job eventually went to Alexander Wang.

While there's been no official announcement on whether PPR will invest in Christopher Kane's eponymous label, the latest reports suggest the firm is getting closer to making a deal.

Unnamed sources have told WWD that Alexis Babeau, managing director of PPR's luxury division, has interviewed candidates to be the brand's new CEO once it becomes part of PPR's portfolio. Kane currently runs the business with his sister Tammy.

Rumors that PPR would add Kane's label to its stable of brands — which includes Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Gucci, among others — started going around when Kane left his position as the creative director of Versace's secondary line Versus. At the time, it was rumored that Kane would come to PPR to replace Nicolas Ghesquière as the creative director of Balenciaga, a job that eventually went to Alexander Wang. Kane has reportedly been in talks with PPR since November, but so far nothing concrete has come from the meetings.

PPR's executive team is having discussions about backing a new brand, but it's not known yet who the lucky designer to join the fashion conglomerate will be.

"We have been talking about investing in a new luxury name," said PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault in an interview with the Financial Times. "We have no more young brands since Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney have all passed the €100 million mark (just over $132 million at current exchange)."

When PPR makes an acquisition, Pinault said, it usually tries to break into an area where it's underrepresented. For example, the firm recently purchased Qeelin, a Hong Kong jewelry operation. Before that, Boucheron was the only jewelry unit in PPR's luxury portfolio. Pinault also made it clear that PPR "will not buy a promising brand and try to move it into another sector."

And though there has been speculation that PPR has been in talks with Christopher Kane, the firm's method of buying new brands would suggest that his label might not be the right fit. Kane's product is certainly different from other PPR brands. But as far as his business model is concerned, Kane's brand is a smaller, younger version of what PPR already has in its stable. Christopher Kane, Stella McCartney, and Alexander McQueen all offer high-end women's clothing — even around the same price point — and all three brands speak to a modern British design sensibility. If PPR did invest in Kane, it would be at odds with how Pinault has described his brand-buying methods.

Still, this hasn't stopped industry observers from honing in on Kane as a possible contender for PPR's investment. He's been a free agent since he left his position as the creative director of Versace's Versus line to focus on his own brand last month. Kane was even mentioned as a possible replacement for Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga.

If PPR invests in Christopher Kane's eponymous label, will they ask him to return the favor by taking the reins at Balenciaga?

Sources told WWD that Kane has been in talks with the French luxury goods conglomerate — which also owns Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and Yves Saint Laurent — about financial backing for his line. This news comes hot on the heels of Kane's departure from Versace's Versus line, which he designed for six seasons. It also comes just two days before Nicolas Ghesquière is set to leave Balenciaga.

Speculation that Kane would replace Ghesquière has been floating around since Ghesquière's departure was announced earlier this month — but a Kane spokeswoman called those rumors "unfounded." Ghesquière, who, rumor has it, may start his own label with LVMH, was spotted last week having dinner in Paris with LVMH's Delphine Arnault, Dior CEO Sidney Toledano, and Camille Miceli, Dior's artistic director for costume jewelry.

In any case, it's not unprecedented for a big firm to make an investment in a small brand on the condition that its designer works for one of its larger houses. For example, when LVMH bought a stake in Marc Jacobs's line in 1997, he ended up as the creative director of Louis Vuitton. Whether the same will happen with Kane and Balenciaga remains to be seen.

Less than a day after PPR announced that Nicolas Ghesquière would leave Balenciaga, there's already talk of where he's headed next.

Suzy Menkes cites "a person in the Paris fashion industry" as saying that LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault has offered Ghesquière his own fashion house. According to Menkes's source, one of Arnault's children (either his daughter, Delphine, or his son Antoine, CEO of the men's brand Berluti) would take over the business side of Ghesquière's brand. Another source called the situation at LVMH "delicate."

In fact, there's some speculation that a delicate situation with PPR management is what caused Ghesquière to leave in the first place. According to WWD, tensions had been rising between the designer and Balenciaga CEO Isabelle Guichot over a "lack of support and funding" and a desire for a more commercial offering. The freedom and resources Hedi Slimane was given when he took over at Balenciaga's sister label Yves Saint Laurent — changing the brand's name and logo, for example — are also said to have contributed to Ghesquière's departure. The Financial Times' Vanessa Friedman points out that after 15 years of service, Ghesquière was only recently allowed to start advertising. Most of his shows have been staged at Balenciaga headquarters "to save money," but Slimane's first show for Saint Laurent was held in Paris's Grand Palais.

Whatever the reason for the split, Guichot says she already has a "short list" of potential candidates to replace Ghesquière — and she wants to hire a new creative director in short order. While she hasn't named names, sources claim Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra, Kostas Murkudis, and Bouchra Jarrar are among the possibilities. PPR is also said to have its eyes on Londoners Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane, J.W. Anderson, and Thomas Tait.

"My biggest interest is to focus the organization, accompany the team, and develop the brand potential, so it's in my interest to do it as soon as possible," Guichot said.

If Ghesquière had been unhappy about his departure from the brand, he didn't hint at it in a recent profile featured in Style.com/Print. But in the process of talking about embracing Balenciaga's rich past and trying to move it forward, he does betray a sort of introspection about his work. "Because the house has such a history, I have had to look to the future and respect the past for my own moment," he says. Perhaps his moment is now.

Photo: Ghesquière taking a bow at his Fall 2012 show for Balenciaga.

PPR has partnered with Yoox to help build an ecommerce platform for the fashion group's luxury brands — including Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta — that its CEO Francois Henri-Pinault says will create websites "at the level of the shopping experience in store."

"The idea was to build a new business division at the group level, linked to me, to have a 360 degree vision of the digital world," he explained in an interview with Business of Fashion. "The team here is more about sharing experiences and making sure that the basics of e-commerce are fulfilled for every brand, whatever the size. We are benchmarking all the sites against the best practices in the world and we also have consumers testing our brands and using the sites."

Pinault said he decided to partner with Yoox — which currently powers ecommerce sites for Alexander Wang, Valentino, and Jil Sander, among others — because the retailer is the "best player when it comes to ecommerce and logistics platforms in the world of luxury and technology." While all the brands will build their sites from the Yoox base, each brand will have control over the way its site is designed.

The company hopes to have the other sites live and ready to deliver products to 100 countries by mid 2013. Pinault has even toyed with the idea of adding personal touches — like in-home tailoring — to go along with his efficient, up-to-date fleet of websites.

"Two considerations, your customer is close to a store, so at least you should have a service for making appointments and being received on time, or if you're not close to a store, why don't we think — and it's not done yet — of a network of professional tailors that come to your home, based on an appointment online to do the alteration for you?" he said. "This is the type of service that will be completely inaccessible for mainstream brands, but will make the difference between a luxury brand and an accessible brand."

Photo: The finale of Alexander McQueen's Fall 2012 show.

>> Italian label Brioni, which just hired Allessandra Dell'Acqua in May 2010 to raise its womenswear profile, is discontinuing the line. Dell'Acqua, who WWD reports was just in talks to extend his yearly contract for three more years — with a clause giving Brioni exclusivity over the designer — will have his contract terminated.

Brioni's change of mind is attributed to ongoing talks between PPR and Brioni about the French luxury conglomerate acquiring the Italian brand. One industry source told WWD: “This was supposed to be a long-term investment for Brioni. The collection was selling very well, and Brioni was planning to open a number of women’s stores, so I can only assume the entrance of a new shareholder was instrumental in determining this new course.”

If PPR does invest in Brioni, the women's line may not be revived, another source cautioned: “PPR may only want to focus on men’s. It already has so many women’s lines.”

>> Mario Testino photographed Anna Wintour for the April 2011 cover of WSJ. — likely at her request (he often shoots Vogue's covers). Because if there's one thing about Wintour, it's that she does things on her own terms.

Si Newhouse (chairman of Advance Publications, which owns Vogue) attests with an anecdote about a Fashion's Night Out meeting Wintour held in Paris, which had 30 international Vogue editors and publishers in attendance: "It was the first time anybody had gotten them all together. She didn't need my authority to do it — she has a remarkable ability to impose her will. If I had had reservations, she probably would have gone ahead anyway."

Marc Jacobs, too, confirms: "If I get a request for something I don't want to do, first I get an email, then a phone call from someone at Vogue, and now I don't even bother to say no — I know the next call is from her." And New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who Wintour has worked with on a number of initiatives — including Fashion's Night Out — says: "Behind all Anna's grace and poise is some pretty tough resolve. She's not a person you want to say no to."

Even the Costume Institute has bowed to Wintour's requests (she has raised a grand total of $75 million for the organization, after all). For last year's gala, she had a 30-foot hot-air balloon trucked in from South Dakota to float above the museum's Engelhard Court. "When we first saw it, we go, 'Never! We can't have gas in the museum!' " says Met president Emily Rafferty. "Anna's changed our attitude — she's brought us to new levels of thinking of what we can do, but without ever losing sight that we're working in a museum context here."

Needless to say, Wintour's reach extends much further than fashion. Harvey Weinstein, who has known Wintour for 15 years (and more recently married Marchesa's Georgina Chapman), notes: "I'm a streak player, but Anna's there, good or bad. When I wasn't doing so well, Anna would throw a party and put me next to Bernard Arnault." Although he declined to be specific, Weinstein said that he had several business deals come out of that party. And Baz Luhrmann, who just recently cast Wintour favorite Carey Mulligan to star in his upcoming film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, says: "I always talk to Anna about what I'm up to, and I always listen to what she has to say."

Within fashion, too, Wintour is more than just an editor. As Francois-Henri Pinault, head of PPR, says: "She tackles things that are really much bigger than what any other editors take on." Because of Wintour, Pinault is currently discussing how to financially support young designers with the French government. But Wintour never straight-out asks him to do something: "She's much more subtle than that."

She's also something of a matchmaker — whether it's designer to brand (in the case of placing John Galliano at Christian Dior back in 1996; Bernard Arnault — chairman of LVMH, which owns Dior — says of Wintour: "She pointed us towards unexpected choices. I speak very openly to her, and this was quite audacious — it was not about picking the big names of the moment. It took her to see that there was a stylistic closeness between John and Dior. She was the discoverer.") or brand to financier (in the case of Bottega Veneta and Gucci Group or Michael Kors and Sportswear Holdings). "She does this very discreetly, but she's really a kind of consigliere to the entire fashion and retail industry," one former colleague who worked closely with Wintour says. Another former colleague, who attended several corporate matchmaking meetings with Wintour, adds: "I came to realize that she's really the McKinsey of fashion." As for Wintour's word on the matter? "We can suggest," she says, "but in the end, everybody makes up their own minds."

It sounds like Wintour isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Vogue is Conde Nast's most profitable publication, Si Newhouse confirms, adding that he has no successor in mind: "Never. I hope she's here 10 years from now, 20 years from now." Wintour, for her part, says: "With all the new media outlets out there, with all the noise, a voice of authority and calm like Vogue becomes more important than ever. The more eyes on fashion, the more opinions about fashion, the more exploration of fashion around the world, the better it is for Vogue. Vogue is like Nike or Coca-Cola — this huge global brand. I want to enhance it, I want to protect it, and I want it to be part of the conversation."

A few more quotables from the WSJ. profile:

Marc Jacobs on Wintour's cold reputation: "She gets such a bad rap. She stands by the people she believes in, and if you're not one of those people, perhaps you take a different view."

Wintour's take on her reputation: "I care deeply about my friends and my family and they know it, but work is work."

Wintour on cover choice regrets: "I'm not terribly proud of putting the Spice Girls on the cover."

Wintour on the John Galliano scandal: "This is all so tragic."

Wintour on being criticized for using the same people in Vogue: "I try to remain open to new people, but obviously there's a stronger element of trust with people you've known for a long time. I think we have a Vogue vocabulary, and there are certain people we like to have as the backbone of the magazine — Vogue's signposts. We try very hard to integrate the familiar signatures with people we feel are new and up-and-coming, but I would rather err on the side of being a little more familiar than being too . . . What's the right word? . . . Edgy."

WSJ. on Wintour's morning habits: "When I met Wintour in her big, artfully tidy office at Vogue, she had been up since 5 am — her normal waking hour. On most days she goes off to play tennis at 6, but lately she's been nursing a sore elbow and can't play. Which didn't mean no tennis."

>> Stefano Pilati has numerous times over the years been plagued with reports of his imminent demise at Yves Saint Laurent. But despite the house's denial of the latest round of rumors, he says, “You know, it affects me . . . I am a creative person, so I am very vulnerable by nature. When you have the idea for a collection, you are really happy, and when you don’t have the idea, you are upset and down and grumpy. That is your daily life. And that vulnerability . . . it can also be fragility.”

Pilati adds that he has at times wondered if the rumors might be true, and that they have been "an infuriating distraction because he thought that they were driven by jealous colleagues or those who were seeking to unseat him," the New York Times reports.

“I don’t let it go,” he says. “What is it about? I should be here, thinking about how beautiful my job is, and come to the office every day and work with colors and fabrics. But no, you have something that undermines you.”

Yves Saint Laurent just recently posted its first significant profit — of about $15 million — after almost a decade of stunning losses; PPR chairman Francois-Henri Pinault credited Pilati as having played a key role in the turnaround. Nonetheless, Pilati has questioned his place in fashion and whether the pressures are worth it: “I have worked and worked and worked hard again. I have been a monk here [at Yves Saint Laurent].”

But he's staying in the game for now — his contract with the house runs through March 2012, he says, but he will likely start discussing a new contract this Spring — he wants to stay with the brand.