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British photographer Martin Parr dies aged 73

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Nicola Mira

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December 8, 2025

British photographer Martin Parr, renowned for his colour-saturated pictures and the ironic gaze with which he observed his compatriots’ daily life, passed away on Saturday aged 73. The announcement was made by the Martin Parr Foundation in a press release.

Martin Parr – Afp

“It is with great sadness that we announce that Martin Parr (1952-2025) died on December 6, 2025, at home in Bristol,” stated the foundation. Magnum Photos, the agency for which Parr had worked for a very long time, gave the sad news at the same time.
 
Parr became famous thanks to his highly recognisable aesthetic featuring close-up shots and a saturated palette, and the amused, sympathetic eye with which he observed his favourite themes, like mass tourism and consumerism, and his subjects, from sunbathers with crimson-baked skin to village fête participants.

Over the last 30 years, Parr’s style won over many fashion labels, and he collaborated with some of the top luxury houses. Last year, the Fashion Faux Parr book traced his links with the fashion world, featuring some 25 images taken over the course of several decades.
 
Parr’s influence extended beyond the domain of photography aficionados, even if his documentary-style work, sometimes described as kitsch, earned him as many admirers as detractors.
 
Parr was born in Surrey on May 23, 1952. He was introduced to photography by his grandfather, an enthusiast himself, and began taking pictures in black and white, like the great masters of the 1970s.
 
He rose to prominence in the mid-1980s, with The Last Resort, a study of working-class people on holiday in New Brighton in Merseyside. It was a foretaste of his future work, notable for the use of flash photography for exteriors shots too.
 
After a career fraught with challenges, Parr became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1994, despite Henri Cartier-Bresson’s initial opposition. He went on to lead the agency from 2013 to 2017.

With AFP

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Comité Colbert elects Hélène Poulit-Duquesne as new chair of luxury federation

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December 8, 2025

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December 8, 2025

The Comité Colbert has unanimously elected Hélène Poulit-Duquesne to be the new chair of the leading French luxury federation. Poulit-Duquesne, the CEO of Maison Boucheron, succeeds Laurent Boillot. She will take up her new responsibilities in June 2026, working alongside Bénédicte Épinay, general delegate of the Comité Colbert.

Hélène Poulit-Duquesne – Boucheron

 
Poulit-Duquesne has been a long-term active member of the Comité Colbert. As CEO of Maison Boucheron, she has served on the association’s board of directors since 2018 and became its vice president in May 2022.
 
“I am proud and happy for the trust placed in me today. My roadmap is to continue supporting the Comité Colbert’s major challenges: promoting our expertise and supporting our industries, collectively promoting our values and our Houses internationally, and placing sustainable development, a future challenge for the planet and our professions, at the heart of our strategies,” said the Boucheron CEO in a release.

The Comité Colbert’s membership includes a wide variety of French luxury labels such as fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Dior, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Balmain; fine wines like Château Lafitte Rothschild and Perrier Jouët champagne; perfume brands- Frédéric Malle, Guerlain, and Francis Kurkdjian; jewellers such as Van Cleef & Arpels and Messika; and master chefs and restaurants including Yannick Alléno, Taillevent, and Guy Savoy.
 
“Each Maison of the Comité Colbert, beyond its individual performance and regardless of its market share and size, has a greater role to play: that of defending values that are universal and cement the foundation of our collective: the values of art, culture, and craftsmanship, the hand of man. Because they have meaning, they give meaning. They enrich the lives of millions of people and inspire them to dream,” insisted Poulit-Duquesne.
 
A notably experienced executive, Poulit-Duquesne has held senior positions in three of the largest luxury groups in the world- LVMH, Richemont, and Kering.
 
Hélène Poulit-Duquesne is a graduate of ESSEC Business School in the Paris suburbs, who began her career at LVMH before joining Cartier International, the key brand in the Richemont Group, in 1998. In 2010, she joined its Executive Committee as director of international marketing, before joining the Kering Group at the end of 2015 as CEO of Maison Boucheron.
 
“I am delighted at the prospect of working with Hélène Poulit-Duquesne to serve, together with our collective, the influence of an industry whose excellence and creativity are one of the major jewels in the crown of the French economy. We are committed to supporting its development, honouring its expertise, and amplifying its international influence,” added Épinay.
 
Created in 1954 on the initiative of famed perfumer Jean-Jacques Guerlain, the Comité Colbert is a non-profit association recognised as being of public interest, bringing together 98 French luxury houses and 17 cultural institutions. The Comité Colbert’s goal is to work together to promote the French art of living internationally, as well as to preserve and pass on French expertise and creativity.

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Louvre trade unions call for rolling strike next week

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December 8, 2025

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AFP

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December 8, 2025

Trade unions at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Monday called for a rolling strike next week over working conditions, piling more bad news on the beleaguered institution. The announcement came a day after the world’s most visited museum admitted to a major leak in late November and nearly two months after an embarrassing heist in which French crown jewels were stolen from its permanent collection.

The Louvre at night

In between those two incidents, it had to close a gallery containing ancient Greek ceramics over fears for the safety of a ceiling. Three unions- the CGT, Sud and the CFDT- called for a rolling strike starting Monday December 15 which was voted for at a staff meeting of around 200 employees “with unanimity,” CFDT official Valerie Baud told AFP. If followed widely by the Louvre’s 2,100-strong workforce, it could lead to the closure of the institution in the run-up to the Christmas holidays when Paris is full of festive holidaymakers.

The Louvre was forced to shut temporarily on June 16 this year after gallery attendants, ticket agents, and security personnel organised a spontaneous walk-out over what they see as understaffing and overcrowding. In a joint letter addressed to Culture Minister Rachida Dati on Monday, the unions wrote that parts of the Louvre were being regularly closed because of “insufficient staff numbers as well as technical failures and the building’s ageing condition.”

“The public now has only limited access to the artworks and has trouble moving around. A visit to the Louvre has become a real obstacle course,” they added, according to a copy seen by AFP.

On Sunday, the museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, said that an open valve in the heating and ventilation system had caused water damage to 300 to 400 journals, books and documents in the Egyptian department. The damaged items date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are “extremely useful” but are “by no means unique,” Steinbock added.

On October 19, a four-person gang raided the museum in broad daylight, stealing jewellery worth an estimated $102 million in just seven minutes before fleeing on scooters. The incident has highlighted major security vulnerabilities and heaped pressure on government-appointed Louvre boss Laurence des Cars. She has called it “an immense wound that has been inflicted upon us.”

Des Cars and unions had warned repeatedly before the break-in about conditions inside the Louvre and the cost of maintaining the vast former royal palace. The home of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” welcomed 8.7 million people last year.
 

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Matalan says revamped store see higher sales, names director of international

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3 hours ago

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December 8, 2025

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December 8, 2025

Matalan’s store refresh programme is clearly having an impact with the retailer saying in an update on Monday that the customer response is exceeding its expectations, as well as announcing the arrival of a new director of international.

Matalan

It has completed all 30 of the 2025 planned revamps within the year, as part of its £25 million investment in its physical estate that’s intended to drive the business’s transformation.

And it’s clearly worth the money as the refreshed stores are generating higher footfall and are outperforming the wider estate by 14% in terms of sales, “well ahead of expectations, with customer satisfaction scores up significantly”.

It means the company is now planning to accelerate the number of refits next year to 40, which is 10 more than it had planned.

Updates to the stores include simplified layouts and better signage, with fitting rooms and tills relocated to central, more accessible areas. There are also plans to roll out new self-service tills early next year, as well as  self-serve click & collect.

The interiors are also “brighter and more inviting interiors, thanks to upgraded LED lighting and expanded visual merchandising, all spearheaded by Matalan’s newly appointed head of VM, Fran Theanne”. 

And it’s been investing in car parks, new signage and improved external lighting to increase visibility on retail parks as well.

Plus many of the refreshed stores feature new concession partnerships to complement the retailer’s own “newly elevated core ranges”. Those partnerships include womenswear brands Little Mistress, Blue Vanilla and Quiz, with others to follow.

Matalan

As mentioned, the store investment programme is costing the company £25 million. It will renew its entire estate with the programme running for three to five years, although the speed seen so far suggests it could be at the lower end of that timescale. 

Chief retail officer Katherine Davis said: “We’re listening and investing in what matters most to our customers. The results speak for themselves – higher footfall, happier shoppers . This all ladders up to delivering a better experience for our customers – as well as our colleagues on the shop floor – and winning market share, which is central to our ambitious business transformation.”

Meanwhile, Steve Ridehalgh has joined as director of international, reporting to Davis.

He’ll be responsible for the business’s international growth strategy as part of the second phase of its turnaround. That means a focus on opening new markets and building franchise partnerships.

He joins with significant experience in overseas expansion and franchise development, having been responsible for the global expansion of Oasis and Warehouse. He was most recently franchise director at Debenhams and then partner at PartnerWise Franchise, advising retailers on global strategy.

He began his career with Alshaya Group in Saudi Arabia and then oversaw international ops at BHS.

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