>> Back in October, Giorgio Armani didn't seem very keen on pulling a Valentino and retiring — especially since he had no heir in line — but at 74, he's still looking into other contigency plans for his privately-owned label.  In fact, odd as it may seem, he explored — unsuccessfully — a merger with Hermes, in hopes to unite the companies’ strengths in clothes and accessories.  If it had gone through, he maintains, the deal “could have been something fantastic. Hermes has such class, such prestige.”  The dealbreaker, according to Armani, was that there were too many Hermes family shareholders to reach an agreement.

The alternatives left include going public with a stock market listing — which Armani ruled out, and acquisition offers from other bigger companies, which Armani has so far turned down.  As for an heir, he's still looking, but without much success: "If I’m no longer the one that takes a bow at the end of the fashion show, then we’ll find another solution, though it’s hard to imagine what that might be.  I keep trying to find people who can do things for me. In the end I am always the one who does them.”  In the meantime, he's giving more responsibility to his relatives — niece Roberta Armani handles celebrity relations for the company, and nephew Andrea Camarena sits on the board and runs marketing and licensing.
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>> Tuesday en route to New York, an heir to Hermes pulled a Naomi Campbell.  While on an Air France flight, Mathias Guerrand-Hermes, 36, attacked the captain, grabbing his crotch and then trying to punch him.  Afterward, he was restrained by the captain and three flight attendants, handcuffed, shackled, and tied to a seat in first class until he was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of interfering with flight crew members.

Hermes started behaving strangely three hours into the flight, after taking a prescription aspirinlike drug, Propofan, and “quite a bit of alcohol.”  When asked for comment, the fashion house Hermes released a statement Wednesday, saying that "Mr. Mathias Guerrand" had no company role and that there would be no comment.

This is no Gucci murder, but perhaps if Mathias keeps up the behavior, he can have a Ridley Scott movie about him one day.
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>> THE MODELIZER —The runways have brought plenty of surprise walkers this week — Iselin Steiro and Natalia Vodianova at Balenciaga, Ana Claudia Michels, Frankie Rayder, and Dewi Driegen at Givenchy . . . and now Naomi Campbell is rumored to be appearing on the Hermes runway on Saturday. [Chic Report]

>> ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL — In a time when everyone seems to be focused on black and white, let's take a moment for Lakshmi Menon.  The Bangalorean model appeared in the beautiful Spring 2008 Hermes ads, opened the Givenchy couture show yesterday, and is appearing in the Fall 2008 Givenchy campaign along with Kirsten Owen, Natasha Poly, and Givenchy faves Lara Stone and Mariacarla Boscono. [Vogue UK, Models.com]