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Boohoo Pushes Ahead with Debenhams Rebrand despite Frasers’ Opposition

Debenhams logo is seen on smartphone in front of a displayed Boohoo logo in this illustration taken January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
Debenhams logo is seen on smartphone in front of a displayed Boohoo logo in this illustration taken January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Boohoo Pushes Ahead with Debenhams Rebrand despite Frasers’ Opposition

Debenhams logo is seen on smartphone in front of a displayed Boohoo logo in this illustration taken January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
Debenhams logo is seen on smartphone in front of a displayed Boohoo logo in this illustration taken January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

British online fashion retailer Boohoo said on Friday it would rebrand as Debenhams Group even though opposition from top shareholder Frasers meant the name change for its holding company did not get shareholder approval.

At a general meeting, 62.04% of votes cast supported the official name change, falling short of the required 66% of votes, the company said.

"This general meeting was only related to the technical name change of the ultimate holding company," the company told Reuters in an email.

"While this will now remain the same, the company is absolutely moving forward as Debenhams Group."

Boohoo had announced its rebranding earlier this month.

Frasers, which owns just over 29% of Boohoo shares based on LSEG data, voted against the resolution.

Frasers, majority-owned by British retail tycoon Mike Ashley, in January unsuccessfully tried to oust Boohoo's co-founder from the board, and the companies have been involved in a long-running corporate tussle.

Boohoo, boosted by an online shopping surge during the coronavirus pandemic, has been facing supply chain issues, weak demand and stiff competition from e-commerce firms such as Shein and Temu.

The company has said it sees the Debenhams brand having the potential to achieve multi-billion pound gross merchandise value in the medium term.

In March, Boohoo appointed Phil Ellis, Debenhams' finance director, as its CFO, following the appointment of Dan Finley as the group's CEO late last year.

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Fashion

Saint Laurent Says Designer Anthony Vaccarello to Leave

(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
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Saint Laurent Says Designer Anthony Vaccarello to Leave

(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

Belgian fashion designer Anthony Vaccarello will leave his post as chief designer at Saint Laurent after a decade in charge, the French house's parent company Kering announced Friday.

"Anthony Vaccarello has played a key role in Saint Laurent's development, helping to strengthen its identity and influence across the worlds of fashion and culture," Kering said in a statement, without giving any reason for Vaccarello's departure.

The designer had hinted at his potential exit at his final show for Saint Laurent on September 29.

Saint Laurent is the last major Kering brand to switch creative director as a ⁠luxury ⁠industry slowdown prompted designer changes last year at Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.

"The focus of the new designer will be in currently under-represented product categories, such as women's daywear and menswear, in high-end leather goods, and less penetrated regions such as China/Asia," Barclays analysts said in a note.

Industry speculation points to Chemena Kamali, currently creative director at Chloe and previously womenswear design director at Saint Laurent, as Vaccarello's likely successor.
Saint Laurent's gross revenues fell by 9% and 6% in 2024 and 2025, before largely stabilizing this year, according to Kering.

Fashion

Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa Watch Chanel’s Creative Revival at Paris Fashion Week

Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
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Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa Watch Chanel’s Creative Revival at Paris Fashion Week

Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

Chanel’s artistic director Matthieu Blazy sent the fashion house's suits stretching towards sportswear and evening dresses drifting through clouds, with Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa and Pedro Pascal in the audience as he unveiled his spring-summer 2027 collection.

The Monday night show underscored that a year into his creative revival, Blazy has made the house feel newly unpredictable.

The former Bottega Veneta designer succeeded Virginie Viard, who took over after Karl Lagerfeld ’s death in 2019. Viard’s tenure brought record sales but Blazy’s contribution has been to restore a sense that Chanel’s familiar ingredients can produce something unexpected.

That renewal is visible in his treatment of the house’s symbols: tweed can stretch; formal jackets sit against bare skin; quilted bags turn slouchy.

The appeal lies in giving established clients something recognizable, and newer ones something to reinterpret.

Beneath illuminated birds at the Grand Palais, Blazy's collection traced Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s passage from Edwardian constraint towards the freedom she sought in dress.

“It’s about the women within a woman,” Blazy wrote in his notes.

Across 83 looks, that meant expanding the possibilities of a Chanel wardrobe: knits that skimmed the body, masculine tailoring, airy eveningwear and sharply abbreviated skirts.

Raw-edged waistcoats and narrow skirt suits reworked men’s formal clothes. A pearl-embroidered corset top paired with black trousers brought the tension between restriction and ease into focus.

Older fashions lingered in ruffled collars, peplums and traces of corset boning.

The strongest development was Chanel’s new “smocked tweed,” designed to stretch and move with something of athleticwear’s ease. It was a useful proposition for an expensive, familiar garment: preserve its character while improving its possibilities.

Competing patterns and frothy tutus sometimes tipped towards costume. Dres

ses made from layered, printed silk were more persuasive, turning cloud formations and changing light into shifting color, The Associated Press reported.

Model Dyanira Hurbuscher opened and closed the collection — carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 handbag, borrowed from the famed archives.

That element neatly framed the collection’s ambition: continuity with room for change — a balance Blazy’s revitalization of Chanel rests on.

He has made Chanel's heritage feel available for play, backed by serious work in the ateliers.

Lipa wore a sleeveless skirt suit with pink heels. Kidman attended with her daughter Faith Margaret.

Fashion

Chanel Unveils Tiger-Print Tweed and Sheer Skirt Suits in Spring/Summer Paris Show

Models present creations from the Spring/Summer 2027 collection of Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 05 October 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Spring/Summer 2027 collection of Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 05 October 2026. (EPA)
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Chanel Unveils Tiger-Print Tweed and Sheer Skirt Suits in Spring/Summer Paris Show

Models present creations from the Spring/Summer 2027 collection of Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 05 October 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Spring/Summer 2027 collection of Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 05 October 2026. (EPA)

Chanel showed see-through skirts and tiger-print tweed in creative director Matthieu Blazy's spring/summer 2027 collection on Monday as the Parisian fashion house rides a wave of enthusiasm that has helped drive sales even as other luxury brands struggle.

Since his first collection a year ago, Blazy's designs — injecting youthful glitter and loud color combinations into the Parisian label's traditional tweed suits — have attracted new customers to the brand and kept Chanel stores ‌buzzing with activity.

Front-row ‌guests including Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman, ‌and Pedro ⁠Pascal arrived to throngs ⁠of cameras in the vast expanse of the Grand Palais. The glass dome roof was hung with a giant moon and a flock of luminescent seagulls, while the floor was laid in a Martian orange-and-green pattern in reflective resin.

Models emerged wearing skirt suits in sheer cream ⁠or black fabric embroidered with flowers and beads, ‌and in tweed loosened into a ‌wide windowpane print with mesh panels, or reworked in ‌an eye-catching red-and-white tiger print.

“Chanel felt as alive as ever,” ‌said Angélique Liautaud, womenswear buying and merchandising director at French department store Printemps. “The masculine wardrobe, the fluid dresses, the lingerie, the liberated body, brought a new sensuality to the house.”

Some skirts were sliced ‌into swinging panels, others were shortened into pleated mini-skirts paired with cropped jackets showing the ⁠midriff. Hems ⁠were frayed or finished with metallic beading.

Models sported new versions of the brand's two-tone pumps — in leopard print or tiger print with a cream toe, or baby blue and silver, while sandals were chunky with a large interlocking C logo in gold across the front. Quilted handbags came in black, burgundy, and white with a couple of wild variations in zebra print layered with clashing primary colors.

Blazy, known for soundtracking his shows to anthems from the 2000s, ran out to greet the crowd after the finale to the heavy synths of "Gimme More" by Britney Spears.