Things haven't been too good for Esprit. As we reported, earlier on this month stocks in the company plummeted by 22 per cent despite the fact that they had enlisted the help of Gisele to help with a big re-branding effort.
Since that didn't work, for their fall 2012 campaign they've decided to use Erin Wasson, who has fronted their campaigns before, on her own. In the shots the model appears sporting simple parkas and staple knits oozing the laid back, painstakingly cool aesthetic that she's become known for. If they're trying to appeal to a more fashion conscious customer, Wasson seems like the perfect choice. After all, look how well she did as the face of Zadig & Voltaire.
Over the past few Gisele Bündchen has been surrounded by pregnancy rumours and while the model hasn't commented on the speculation yet, her latest editorial in Vogue Brazil hasn't done much to quieten the claims.
As you will see from the gallery, in just about every one of the Patrick Demarchelier-lensed shots, Bundchen poses either with an arm covering her stomach of standing in a strategic way to avoid having it on display. Okay, so it doesn't quite confirm that the reports are true but considering that the shoot was shot in June, it does suggest that the rumours shouldn't be rejected altogether.
You see it. I don’t get on with Gisele. We don’t see eye to eye, we argue and we don’t enjoy working with each other (they have shot three campaigns together). Like I say, we are very privileged but what we do isn’t saving lives, it isn’t brain surgery. And I’m not going to get on with anyone who takes it for granted or thinks they’re someone special. My advice to any young model is very simple. Just don’t believe your own hype.
Last night Esprit hosted a party to launch their new store on London's Regent Street but despite the expansion effort, it looks like things aren't going particularly well for the retailer.
Last year they brought Gisele and Erin Wasson on board to front their campaigns as part of an effort to shake things up but according to reports out yesterday, it hasn't had the affect that they had intended. CEO Ronald Van der Vis resigned at the beginning of the week and was followed by chairman of the board Hans-Joachim Körber, who stepped down yesterday.
Both departures have 'caused the company's stocks to plummet 22 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange not that they were doing swimmingly beforehand,' The Cut reports. Analysts told WWD that the company is underperforming despite the big turnaround plan making its future look bleak.
Gisele isn't only the most successful model in Brazil. As Forbes continually likes to remind us, she's also the richest model in the world. This week she returned home to support a model search competition, TopCUFA, which she's sponsoring.
The initiative isn't just another modeling competition. Instead its premise is to 'boost slum dweller's self esteem' by scouting girls from deprived areas in Brazil. At the event, Bundchen met with the final 30 hopefuls and spoke to them about her experiences of rejection (she was turned down by 32 agencies before being signed) and her tips to make it in the industry.
When Emmanuelle Alt last booked Gisele to cover the magazine for their April issue last year, she looked feminine and demure sporting that white lace Dolce & Gabbana dress that dominated the covers last spring. For their June 'body issue' though, the Brazilian looks far from demure sporting nothing more than tiny black bikini shorts.
The cover looks fresh and is definitely one of the best summer covers out right now and the timing couldn't be better. Alt hasn't had the easiest time since being appointed editor-in-chief last year, especially with the new direction that she's pushing the publication in but based on the comments on The Fashion Spot, the cover is going down really well.
You can see these black Balenciaga biker boots everywhere and we have Gisele Bundchen to thank for them being featured in the brand's SS11 show.
"The idea was to have this crazy casting with Gisele and Amber Valletta and Carolyn [Murphy], and they said no for high heels," Nicholas Ghesquiere explained. "They were not used to walking with heels anymore. Gisele was worried; she would not walk with my heels ... I was already thinking flats and I was already preparing the flat shoes."
After Kate Moss' big appearance at the fall 2011 Louis Vuitton show back in March, we were all expecting that the star would appear in the brand's ad campaign. For the fall 2010 campaign Marc Jacobs chose supermodels like Christy Turlington, Natalia Vodianova and Karen Elson but this season he opted for fresh faces.
Of the six models chosen - including Daphne Groeneveld and Anais Pouliot - the eldest was Gertrud Hegelund aged 20. So does this suggest a movement away from the credit crunch? Over the last few years brands have taken a conscious step to cast the 'supers' and big money models like Gisele in order to appeal to 'mature' women who were amongst the few who still had a disposable income during the downturn. With that in mind, does the reversion back to fresh faces signal that all is well in the luxury world?
