Manolo Blahnik appoints former La Perla MD as Chief Commercial Officer

Luxury footwear brand Manolo Blahnik has appointed Elodie Bougenault, formerly MD of EMEA and Head of Retail Operations Worldwide at La Perla, as Chief Commercial Officer, commencing 26 June 2023.

At luxury Italian lingerie brand La Perla, where she has been since March 2020, Bougenault restructured the company, developed its omnichannel service and brought the EMEA region back into profitability.

Prior to La Perla, Bougenault was the Asia Pacific Managing Director at Boucheron, the luxury jewellery and watch house, based in Hong Kong. There she was instrumental in piloting the China and Asia Pacific strategy for retail, wholesale and digital, "during a global turnaround plan".

Overall Bougenault spent over a decade in the APAC market with Boucheron, Kate Spade and Marc Jacobs, driving high-growth expansion plans after moving from Paris where she worked with Louis Vuitton and LVMH Holdings.

In her role at Manolo Blahnik, Bougenault will be responsible for delivering and executing the global commercial direction of the brand across wholesale, retail and digital channels. Establishing a strong voice in new and existing markets, she will lead the company’s ambitious expansion plans in particular utilising her wealth of experience in the Asian market.

Andrew Wright, the brand’s current Chief Commercial Officer who took on the additional role of President of the Americas in 2019 for its relaunch, will now focus permanently on “delivering the significant long-term growth plans for the Americas”. They include new stores on both the East and West Coasts of the US, the brand’s largest market, as well as exploring future opportunities in Central and South America.

Kristina Blahnik, CEO of Manolo Blahnik, said: "It is my immense pleasure to appoint Elodie Bougenault to lead our global commercial strategy for the business with her proven track record and wealth of experience. Her knowledge of the Asia market will help us explore and plan the exciting new opportunities that winning our 22-year IP court case in the Supreme People’s Court of China last year has opened up.

"With Elodie's global commercial view on the Manolo Blahnik business and Andrew’s focus on the Americas we now have the solid foundations in place to continue to deliver our long-term commercial strategic plan."