At Cuernavaca’s Grill, a Mexican restaurant in the Fashion District of downtown Los Angeles, owner Nayomie Mendoza is used to seeing customers line up for lunch.
AFP
But the vibrant neighborhood filled with boutiques and shops has become a ghost town amid raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carrying out President Donald Trump‘s hard-line policy of sweeping up and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Even in the early summer season when tourists flock to the southern California city, Mendoza is left staring at empty tables.
“A lot of our neighbors are afraid to go out” because of the ICE presence in Los Angeles, Mendoza said, with the city boasting a significant Latino workforce.
“Our sales… they’ve been down by 80 percent,” Mendoza told AFP.
“It’s hurting more than ever.”
The “saving grace” for the restaurant in this time has been delivery orders, she said.
As a so-called “sanctuary city” with hundreds of thousands of undocumented people, Los Angeles has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration since the Republican returned to power in January.
After ICE raids spurred unrest and protests last month, Trump dispatched the National Guard and US Marines to quell the disruption.
Washington does not seem to be backing down anytime soon.
“Better get used to us now, because this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles,” US Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino told broadcaster Fox News on Monday.
“The federal government is not leaving LA,” he added.
Local businesses dependent on foot traffic are the collateral damage of the raids, Mendoza said.
“This is probably worse than COVID,” she said, referring to mandatory lockdowns during the pandemic.
Manuel Suarez, a street vendor near Cuernavaca’s Grill, agreed.
“Now is worse because during the pandemic, even though it was a pandemic, there were sales,” said the toy vendor, who has worked in the Fashion District for 35 years.
“Now it’s completely in crisis,” he told AFP.
Suarez said many merchants have closed their stores as a precaution as raids intensify in the city, or have otherwise cut the number of employees due to drops in sales.
“Here in downtown and in LA, there’s been a lot of raids because of ICE, so it has brought fear into our Latin community,” said Jose Yern, manager of Anita‘s Bridal Boutique, a Fashion District shop specializing in dresses for Latin American “quinceanera” coming-of-age ceremonies.
“They are scared to come in (to the district). But if they’re coming in, they’re coming specifically to a specific store, doing what they need to do, and then heading back home,” he added.
Shopkeepers communicate with one another via walkie-talkies, reporting any noise, helicopter or law enforcement presence to warn those who are undocumented.
“It’s unfortunate that the government does not understand that when it attacks us, we all lose,” said a vendor who did not want to disclose his name for privacy reasons.
“But we are not leaving. What’s going to happen here is that we are going to be playing cat and mouse. Let’s see who tires out first.”
NARS Cosmetics has revealed Kaia Gerber as its newest global brand ambassador, saying she’s a “beauty and fashion icon [and] a longtime collaborator” of founder and creative director, François Nars.
Kaia Gerber by François Nars
She certainly adds a newsworthy element to any brand she fronts having walked the runways for the biggest global designer labels as well as appearing on the covers of the world’s top glossy magazines.
She’s been in demand by high end and mass-market labels this year and in May was announced as Mango’s latest face in a deal that the retailer called a “collaboration” set to run throughout the year. Two months earlier she’d appeared with her mother Cindy Crawford for Mango’s rival Zara with the duo headlining a new session of its ‘Zara Streaming’ initiative.
She makes her debut for NARS with the launch of a campaign shot by François Nars for the new Afterglow Lip Balm. That product launches in January and continues the trend for high-end brands diving deep into a once-humble category and backing their launches with major campaigns.
Shiseido-owned NARS has been expanding in recent periods and only in October announced a strategic partnership with Indian giant Reliance Retail’s omnichannel business Tira to boost accessibility in the country. Gerber’s presence is likely to be a boost for its growth plans.
François Nars said of her: “Kaia is a true beauty, a supermodel of today who carries with her the spirit of another era. Working with her on this campaign felt like stepping back into the age of the original icons. Those supermodels were more than faces; what I always loved about them was their joy. They loved the camera, the artistry of makeup and hair, and fashion itself. Most importantly, they gave everything in front of the camera, pouring their energy into creating the most beautiful images possible. Kaia has that same spirit and photographing her was like reliving the magic—one of the very things that made me fall in love with this industry in the first place.”
NudeProject is advancing its European expansion. The Spanish urban fashion brand has added Germany to the list of markets in which it has a retail presence: on Friday December 12, it opened a store on Alte Schönhauser Straße in Berlin.
New Nude Project store in Berlin – Nude Project
The store is the brand’s first permanent location in the German capital, although it tested the market in the city last spring with a pop-up. With this opening, Nude Project now operates four international brick-and-mortar stores, alongside existing locations in Milan, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. In October, the brand crossed the Atlantic to make its first foray into US retail with a temporary pop-up in Miami.
Founded in 2019 by Bruno Casanovas and Alex Benlloch, the firm has become a phenomenon among younger consumers and has progressively expanded its catalogue in recent years, spanning both womenswear and menswear, as well as accessories.
Collaborations are a key part of the brand’s identity; in fact, it has just unveiled a new capsule with Playboy, its third joint launch. In financial terms, it reported revenue of €26 million in the 2023 financial year (the most recent figures available).
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Retail giant Next has been a major acquirer of brands in recent years and a report claims that premium footwear chain Russell & Bromley is now on its shopping list.
Billie Piper for Russell & Bromley
Next either owns or has majority stakes in Reiss, FatFace, Joules, Cath Kidston, Made, Laura Ashley’s homewares and more. But while it has a big war chest for acquisitions, it’s not the only company targeting Russell & Bromley.
Sky News reported that the 145-year-old family-owned footwear and accessories is courting investors and Next is one of several parties in talks with Russell & Bromley’s advisers about a deal. None of the other potential buyers have been identified.
Russell & Bromley confirmed this autumn that it had appointed advisory specialist Interpath to look at funding options for the business.
In October, CEO Andrew Bromley said: “We are currently exploring opportunities to help take Russell & Bromley into the next phase of our ‘Re Boot’ vision. Since the announcement of the ‘Re Boot’ earlier this year we have made significant progress, positioning us well to build on our momentum and continue along our journey. We are looking forward to working with our advisory team to secure the necessary investment to accelerate our expansion plans.”
The company has stores and concessions in the UK and Ireland and is led by Bromley, who’s from the fifth generation of his family to run the chain.
Earlier this year, he oversaw the launch of a five-year turnaround plan focused on “refining the brand proposition, elevating the product offering, streamline operations and fuel market expansion at pace”.
In September, the change of approach could be seen when the company launched a quirky campaign fronted by pop star-turned-actress Billie Piper. It was overseen by creative director Daniel Beardsworth-Shaw (who joined as the brand’s first CD in 2024) and was an unusual move for the label that’s not previously been known for its celebrity ambassadors or surreal campaign concepts.
In its last accounts, covering 2023, the company reported turnover down to just under £40 million from almost £45 million. EBITDA was a loss of £3.2 million after a narrower loss of £404,000 the year before. And the loss after tax was £6.9 million, also wider than the loss in the prior year of £4.6 million. The company didn’t share any details about what had gone wrong.
Those accounts were filed in early November 2024 and its next filing (covering 2024) is due before the end of this year.
Whether Next or another business buys it or takes a stake (it’s unclear which option the controlling family favours) will clearly have big impact on its future direction. Next already has a strong track record in the premium sector in which Russell & Bromley operates with its stewardship of Reiss.
Next declined to comment on the Sky News story, and both Russell & Bromley and Interpath couldn’t be reached.
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