LVMH

Fashion conglomerate LVMH has been in heated legal battles with French luxury company Hermès, as the family-run company struggles to maintain control over its coveted brand. Despite the family not wanting to sell the company to LVMH, which has long considered Hermès to be a competitor, Bernard Arnault’s LVMH has slowly built up a 22.6 percent stake in the luxury leather-goods company, making it Hermès’ largest shareholder.

Time for TAG Heuer to usher in a new CEO! The LVMH-owned luxury watch brand has named Stéphane Linder chief executive office; his first day will be June 1. Linder’s appointment is a handsome promotion of sorts, as the Swiss exec has been with the brand for two decades, the past three years of which he’s spent as VP of sales for North America. Loyalty leads to plum titles, non?

(NEW YORK) Nicholas Kirkwood To Receive LVMH Backing? [Vogue UK]
Kirkwood is rumored to be LVMH’s next acquisition

Nicolas Ghesquiere Own-label Rumours Gather Pace [Telegraph UK]
The former Balenciaga creative director is reportedly being courted by a number of high-profile investors

Simon Doonan On Being a ‘Sporty Lesbian’ [Fashionista]
Fashionista catches up with the industry fave

R29 Exclusive: JewelMint’s New Collab Is With CFDA Winner Philip Crangi [Refinery29]
You can now shop CFDA designers on the bauble site

Victoria Beckham Tweets Website News [InStyle UK]
VictoriaBeckham.com is set to launch by the end of the month

None other than Karl Lagerfeld photographed brother and sister Antoine and Delphine Arnault for V’s feature on dynamic duos. The sibs sat down with Derek Blasberg for a Q&A and talk about their biz and personal relationship. “Antoine has been a part of my life since I was two years old,” Delphine explains.

Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci has extended his contract with the French luxury house, according to WWD. The Italian designer has signed on for the next three years, and the timing couldn’t be better. LVMH, the luxury parent of 30 brands including Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Pucci, and Bulgari, posted a 12 percent boost in net profits in 2012, ringing in the new year at $4.4 billion.

Martha Stewart asking Marc Jacobs who his favorite porn star is? Indeed, that happened! Last night at the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit opening night dinner at The Plaza, the domestic diva took to Twitter to ask her followers to submit questions for Jacobs and she went there. The crowd included Pamela Love, Olivier Theyskens, Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Elettra Wiedemann, Yigal Azrouel, Eric Wilson, and Tom Florio as Bridget Foley facilitated a discussion with the evening’s keynote speaker. Some newsy items came up, as is the outcome of any heavily industry attended bread-breaking situation, non? To wit: Marc is working on a beauty line with Sephora, his all-time favorite designer dead or alive is Miuccia Prada, and he’s in negotiations with LVMH. But it was that porn question that intrigued the most. The answer? A retired “actor” named Eddie whose last name remains a mystery. Let’s file this away as things we didn’t quite need to know.