Editors' Top Reads: News from Valentino, NEXT, Brunello Cucinelli and more...
Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.beauty team.
A deep dive into Valentino Garavani: The maestro of Italian elegance
When you think of Valentino Garavani, you think of glamour that stops the room, elegance that transcends time, and, of course, Valentino Red. Writing this piece felt like tracing the outline of a life that defined haute couture for more than six decades and understanding why his passing this week truly marks the end of fashion’s Golden Era.
Valentino was one of the last designers whose elegance was never ironic or diluted. Where others leaned into minimalism, he celebrated ruffles, bows, embroidery and polka dots, all executed with a precision that made even the boldest details feel refined and couture worthy. He shaped not just how women dressed, but how the world understood glamour.
What stayed with me most while writing was the weight of legacy. From his international breakthrough at Palazzo Pitti to his final haute couture show in 2008, Valentino pursued couture in its purest form.
As the house he founded moves forward under a new creative chapter, Valentino's passing is a reminder that while fashion evolves, true elegance endures.
Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.
Faithful fashion’s boost from The Traitors
The Traitors has been a hot topic of conversation in our office this month, particularly between myself and our co-founder, Antony Hawman - not just for the gameplay, which has been spectacular to watch, but also for the fashion. It seems our columnist Marcus Jaye agrees.
While Claudia’s winter wardrobe continues to turn heads season after season, the contestants themselves have also emerged as true style highlights, consistently elevating their "castle fits" and giving the fashion industry a welcome boost. Stephen, in particular, has sparked plenty of conversation, and I’ve loved tracking his outfit choices each episode - I’m eagerly anticipating what he’ll wear for the final tonight!
As Marcus points out, the BBC series reaches around 11 million viewers, with up to 15 million tuning in for the celebrity edition - a remarkable share of the national TV audience. The show presents a multi-year opportunity for the British fashion industry to showcase homegrown style and British-made brands. The Scottish location provides the perfect backdrop for classic British fabrics such as tartans and checks, along with cozy, chunky knits. In addition to well-known brands, smaller, artisanal labels are also getting their moment in the spotlight.
Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer.
Brunello Cucinelli launches new AI enabled e-commerce platform
Luxury Italian fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli this week launched a new platform providing customers with a digital experience underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI), and we’re likely to hear about a lot more brands following suit soon enough.
AI is here and it’s here to stay, and it was noteworthy to hear that Brunello Cucinelli himself is so intrigued by how it can “nurture and enhance human intuition.”
The platform, called ‘Callimacus’, has been developed by Solomei AI, a small research centre created to explore the languages of AI and their potential creative, scientific and technological applications.
It offers a novel way to design and build digital experiences, which means the website is without conventional pages and has its own intelligence. It’s all about “individually tailored journeys”, building up a profile of what the visitor is most interested in.
It’s also clearly a great tool for brand storytelling – offering a deeper dive into what makes the brand and its people tick, with insights into Italian culture, family and company and origins, details about the cashmere that Brunello Cucinelli uses, as well as features like ‘the art of repair’.
Cucinelli calls AI a “handmaid of humanity to collaborate with in harmony, rather than as a mere automation for actions, relations and behaviours.” It will be interesting to see how it all develops and who takes the whole thing to the next level.
Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor.
NEXT snaps up Russell & Bromley in rescue deal
With monotonous predictability, a British brand has found itself in distress and therefore in the hands of NEXT (didn't it used to be Frasers that was the inevitable fate of the distressed, until recently?). Most stores will be closed and to all intents and purposes, Russell & Bromley will operate as a licensed brand on the NEXT Total retail platform.
NEXT is an incredible business, of which we should be proud, but I do have to question whether it's a good thing that so many brands have been sucked into its orbit. Can Russell & Bromley, the storied but troubled British footwear retailer that NEXT acquired this week, retain its cachet and quality credentials as part of the NEXT machine? I'm not sure. We are sure however, that it won't be retaining its stores, with 33 of 36 of them at risk of closure as a result of the deal.
Maybe though, Russell & Bromley needs to dial down the pricing and quality a touch in order to be a success. Its heartland customer – staunchly middle class – is under fire right now with VAT on school fees, inheritance tax, the "mansion" tax etc. They've no doubt deprioritised pricey new shoes from their list of expenditure, just as they've traded down to the value supermarkets. Plus, there were some questionable business decisions that R&B made (over-expansion, and I don't love the campaign in the above picture either).
I'm sure NEXT will treat R&B with care, but I'm fed up about the stores. It's not just naive nostalgia that leads me to say that and there were undoubtedly too many of them. I just hope in the future, they may consider opening some in the right locations. All these brands disappearing to online-only entities is too depressing.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
