LVMH’s new @24Sevres luxury website opens in department store Bon Marché

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 6, 2017

LVMH debuted its spanking new luxury website @24Sevres in Paris on Tuesday morning, both online and in the corporation’s famed department store Le Bon Marché.

 
The opening salvo of 70 products are all limited edition; blending a mix of top level fashion brands like Miu Miu, Chloé and avant-garde stars like Rick Owens; populists like Acne and Kenzo, with some 10 brands from within the LVMH stable.
 
Nearly all are based on iconic products from each fashion house, though customized in collaboration with a fine artist. Courrèges developed an emblematic Space Age jacket in vinyl done in images of half-eaten apples and old roses, courtesy of artist Chloé Wise. Rabih Kayroux teamed up with Lamia Ziadé for 10 exclusive coats, embroidered with mysterious lovers kissing.

“It’s a Parisian idea of fashion.  The idea is to make each brand work in a creative dimension. That they re-twist iconic products working with artists,” says @24Sevres managing director Eric Goguet. The site will grow the number of brands to 150, occasionally staging other installations in Bon Marché. LVMH’s two mega brands Louis Vuttion and Dior are not yet present, but a gift for editors at the launch breakfast included a Vuitton business card carrier with an image of the Eiffel Tower bearing a 24 balloon.
 
Not all looks were worked on by artists: Miu Miu’s Lady bag was revamped as a mini bijou with crystals and ornamentation; while Fendi’s modern classic Peekaboo bag was re-imagined with Plexiglas geometric motifs. Chloé produced not one but three bags in green and red stripes, oddly reminiscent of Gucci’s signature colors.

 
The new site also mingles in hipster new brands; like Gauchère, the house founded by German-born Marie Christine Statz, which won instant critical acclaim in Paris; or Roseanna, a fresh new French with a cool-gal Parisian sophistication.  Gauchère wowed with a belted trench coat – with the number 35 on the shoulder in reference to the classic car by auto legend Ettore Bugatti, whose granddaughter, artist Caroline Bugatti, collaborated on this coat. A range of shoes included offerings form Salvatore Ferragamo, Nicholas Kirkwood and Tory Burch.
 
Each idea is limited to between 10 and 30 examples, some as few as just five, like a striking Hammock tote from Loewe made with art directors M&M, which featured a large pencil drawing of what looks like a disgruntled student. This retails for a whopping 3,800 euros.
 
“We’ll make six of them and that’s it. The point of the exercise is that they are rare! That’s also the strength of the Bon Marché. It’s our way of creating something exceptional. So, we wanted in extremely limited editions,” added Goguet, who declined to provide any sales projections.
 
@24 Sevres is named after the location of Le Bon Marché store, which opened in 1852. It’s also, blatantly, a play on the English term 24/7.
 
LVMH has spent the past 30 months in January 2015, from its initial internal discussions, preparing for this launch day. Though overseen online by Ian Rogers, the management is in the hands of French-born Goguet, formerly the boss of etailing at Sephora, another LVMH business.
 
This debut selection began selling online this morning. While all of the store windows in Bon Marché on rue de Sevres in the 7th arrondissement were given over to the launch, with a series of videos of models shot in famed Paris locations wearing and carrying the opening looks. The exhibition will last from July 6 to 11.