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MaxMara’s Fluffy Residence Experience opens in London

The Fluffy Residence by MaxMara, London, UK

UK – Italian fashion powerhouse MaxMara is bringing its whimsical Fluffy Residence to London’s Covent Garden from 16 to 26 December 2023, celebrating the iconic Teddy Bear Coat’s enduring charm. This immersive and free experience invites visitors to escape from the daily hustle in a place entirely made in Teddy fabric.

Previously enchanting fashion enthusiasts in Chengdu, China, and Milan, Italy, The Fluffy Residence honours the Teddy Bear Coat’s decade-long legacy. As part of the Teddy Ten Anniversary, it offers a total Teddy takeover, letting visitors explore a dimension beyond fashion when even a dining room and a bathroom are made from fluffy Teddy fabric. The experience includes interactive windows showcasing Teddy’s fluffy city and a magic mirror generating your Teddy alter ego.

The activation is an excellent promotion for MaxMara’s signature textile, and makes the brand experience interactive and sensorial. As explored in our analysis of Next-level Luxury Pop-ups, brands are experimenting with pop-up spaces to better connect with their audience and grow brand awareness and loyalty in real life.

Strategic opportunity

Embrace immersive brand activations that go beyond traditional retail experiences. Create interactive and sensorial environments that connect with your audience on a personal and emotional level

Louis Vuitton’s tableware melds modernity and tradition

Louis Vuitton, France

France – Louis Vuitton has made its first foray into tableware. The luxury brand has introduced a permanent range that revisits the house code for the dining space, consisting of porcelain dishes, glasses and carafes.

The Louis Vuitton Tableware is designed to be equally functional and decorative, bridging tradition and modernity. Crafted in fine porcelain and made in France, the dining set comes in timeless shapes and a simple white and blue colour palette. The luxury house’s iconic monogram flower motif is featured across the product range, making the line easily recognisable to a trained eye. To complement the Monogram Flower Tile tableware, the line includes Twist Glasses and Flower Carafes produced in coloured crystal.

The move signals Louis Vuitton’s development of lifestyle offerings, celebrating the graphic spirit of the Maison across new products. The brand has been expanding its culinary universe, namely by collaborating with pastry chef Maxime Frédéric for the Louis Vuitton Café earlier this year, where the tableware made its first appearance.

Read more on luxury brands’ savoir-vivre ambitions in our Topline Tableware microtrend.

Strategic opportunity

Taking inspiration from Louis Vuitton’s approach, can you use brand extensions to tiptoe into consumers’ homes and tap into the Residential Retail opportunity?

Foresight Friday: Alice Crossley, foresight analyst

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, foresight analyst Alice Crossley dives into the revival of Another Man magazine, editorial directors of AI and Pho’s London hangover clinic.

: Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the future of media, in recent months we have seen the exciting revival of a few popular magazine titles. Just one month after being shut down, US digital publication Jezebel has been revived by Paste magazine, Nylon will relaunch its print edition in 2024 and Dazed Media has announced the return of menswear biannual Another Man in April next year, with an aspiration ‘to bring back a conversation about what modern masculinity means in 2024’. That’s something to look forward to!

: Meanwhile, The New York Times has appointed Quartz co-founder Zach Seward as the newspaper’s first editorial director of artificial intelligence initiatives. Does the future hold a print media resurrection or Generative AI Magazines?

: Vietnamese restaurant chain Pho came to the rescue of Londoners earlier this week with Pho-Fix, a two-day festive hangover cure pop-up in Soho. From 12 to 13 December the free-to-attend pop-up provided rehydrating IV drips, piping hot bowls of pho, restorative juices and soothing eye gels and skincare masks on a first-come-first-served basis. After one too many Tinned Tipples at our Christmas party on Wednesday I’m disappointed the pop-up isn’t still open today – safe to say I’ll be sticking to Sober Bars in the new year.

Quote of the week

‘The last half year has truly been shocking. Scientists are running out of adjectives to describe this’

Samantha Burgess, deputy director, Copernicus, at COP28

Stat: Women’s growing economic power in China reshapes luxury market

Hermes Fit, China

China – The global luxury market is undergoing a major shift due to the increasing economic power of women. Research from Havas Media Network indicates a rise in luxury spending among women, with 27% spending more than £50,000 ($63,350, €58,000) on luxury items, far more than the figure for men at 17%. This surge is driven by personal achievements and the symbolic value of luxury goods.

In China, women’s financial empowerment is expected to significantly boost consumer spending by 2030. The prominence of Chinese women in the luxury market is also rising, influenced by factors like higher incomes, social media and a focus on self-expression, as revealed in State of Luxury China.

According to the 2023 Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World list, China tops the rankings globally, with 68 self-made women billionaires, or 62% of the world’s total. The US and the UK follow with 23 and five billionaires, respectively.

Strategic opportunity

As women in China continue to propel the luxury market forward, it is important for brands to consider the luxurians of tomorrow, assess the generational shifts and rethink their tech stack. What strategies are you implementing to better connect with Gen Z?