Richemont announces new venture with Alber Elbaz

Luxury group Richemont has announced a new venture headed by former Lanvin creative chief Alber Elbaz.

Called AZfashion, the new venture has been described as "an innovative and dynamic start-up, meant to turn dreams into reality".

Swiss-based Richemont owns brands such as Chloé, Cartier and Alaïa, along with the Yoox Net-A-Porter Group. 

Its chairman Johann Rupert said of the move: “Upon hearing Alber Elbaz describe his vision for fashion and the projects it inspires in him, I was again struck by his creativity and insight.

"His talent and inventiveness, with his sensitivity towards women and their wellbeing, will be of great value to our Group and its Maisons. We warmly welcome Alber to Richemont and look forward to an exciting partnership.”

Elbaz added: “I am very happy to partner with Richemont and to establish my 'dream factory', which will focus on developing solutions for women of our times. I am extremely excited to collaborate with good people, talented and smart individuals and look forward to also having a lot of fun with this new adventure.”

Elbaz was creative director at Parisian house Lanvin from 2001 to 2015 and more recently has been collaborating with Italian luxury leather goods brand Tod's. Prior to designing for Lanvin he had designed ready-to-wear collections at Yves Saint Laurent while the legendary designer himself focused on couture from 1998-1999.