Star's fall and rebirth ; Christian Lacroix's resurrection from the ashes

Every brand will know its highs and lows, but how can a luxury brand recover from such a blow when it's number one asset - its name - is tarnished ?

Founded in 1987 at the heart of Paris, the French fashion house Christian Lacroix quickly gained notoriety for its first Haute Couture collection with resounding success. Sunny, vivid, intricate detailing, theatrical, suffused with the culture of the Mediterranean, the collection dusted off the scene of Parisian fashion of the 1980s which had been dominated by the minimalist Japanese aesthetic throughout the decade. After spectacular beginnings, the Lacroix phenomenon went far beyond borders and was propelled to the front pages of all the most prestigious fashion magazines in the world. In the two following decades, the brand continued to expand its operations to include a ready-to-wear line, jeans, perfume, menswear, childrenswear, lingerie, homeware, household linen, tableware, …

Everything seemed to be wonderful for this young luxury brand, which embodies French haute couture at its most splendid and extravagant, without seeing into the financial reality. However, even in its heyday, the house failed to make a profit (Fox, 2009). The main problem was in its core product category. Industry observers have blamed Lacroix's decline on its design which were too expensive to produce and too impractical to wear.

Christian Lacroix declared bankruptcy in May 2009 after accumulating losses of approximately $150 million since the brand was founded by the eponymous designer in 1987.

In 2010, when Christian Lacroix had just begun its transformation, Nicolas Topiol realized that the brand had a very serious positioning problem: Christian Lacroix had gone too far in its pursuit of high fashion, making it unaffordable for the general public. At the time, a scarf could sell for thousands of euros, and the company promptly adjusted its strategy by introducing affordable gifts and candles sold in gift stores.

The second problem was that Christian Lacroix lacked iconic patterns or other elements that would make the brand recognizable. In response to this problem, Christian Lacroix created a very successful butterfly print. Later in 2007, another print was introduced on the bottle in collaboration with Evian Mineral Water, which was the tenth year after creative director Sacha Walckhoff took over from the brand founder.

In 2010, Nicolas Topiol, who knows the house Lacroix, was not allowed to make any more mistakes. The main challenges faced by the company was to innovate while remaining faithful to the values that have made the success of the house. To combine creativity and heritage, and this is what the brand is all about nowadays.

To resurrect the brand, he started with a huge restructuration, a physical one with the offices, and one to build a new reflection of how to develop the firm. The main idea was to focus on fashion accessories, home furniture and men's fashion (which was already licensed). Topiol said that going back to feminine fashion is not excluded at all and will be a later objective. (Sophie, 2017). A turning point for Lacroix was the launch of licensed home furniture with Designers Guild, which helped the company to start a comeback in the world of couture (S.E., 2017).

To reach customers more easily and moreover to get a better access to their data, Topiol decided to introduce a global e-commerce for the brand. Lacroix invested on social media which are adapted to their visual and colorful brand. And with more than 5’500 retails all around the world, Lacroix is able to touch all the aficionados of the brand at different moments of their life.

By now, the brand has pretty much started a new life. Having entered the decoration and lifestyle market while still maintaining their men’s fashion department, Christian Lacroix recentred its activity towards more profitable domains than the highly expensive fashion wear it once produced. Its online boutique, bolstering its presence on the internet and better-established design elements have made its exuberant image more identifiable in the minds of consumers.

Having exited the women’s couture market for almost 10 years, the firm is now re-entering it through collaborations, having released a new collection with the Londonian fashion company Rixo. After Christian Lacroix finally found an efficient niche in the market, there’s a lot to expect from the French brand in the upcoming years.

The Luxaholic Team


REFERENCES

Fox Imogen. (2009). End of a fairytale: Christian Lacroix fashion house to strip down. The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/01/christian-lacroix-fashion-house-closure

History. Christian Lacroix Website.

https://www.christian-lacroix.com/histoire

S.E. (2017, October 3). Christian Lacroix’s Nicolas Topiol Stands By His Brand. WWD. https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/christian-lacroixs-nicolas-topiol-stands-by-his-brand-11012127/

Sophie (Nov, 2017). Le renouveau de la maison Christian Lacroix , le challenge de NicolasTipiol. https://www.welcometothejungle.com/fr/articles/lacroix-30-ans-deja

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