Begg x Co has named Vanessa Seward as its new Creative Director, the Scottish cashmere marque announced on Wednesday.
Seward has already made her debut with a Begg x Co Capsule collection for Fall-Winter 2025, showcasing womenswear, menswear and homeware.
The Franco-Argentine designer will continue as Begg x Co Creative Director for the ensemble of the product categories as from Spring-Summer 2026, the brand explained.
“I feel very privileged at this point in my career to work with Begg x Co. It’s a company whose values coincide exactly with how I feel luxury and fashion should be migrating to in the coming years. More than ever I’m partial to King Charles’ “Buy once, buy well.” I believe in fashion investment, buying fewer items but of better quality to keep or hand down,” said Seward in a release.
Born in Argentina, Seward grew up in London before moving to Paris aged 12. In a busy career, she spent most of the 1990s as an accessory designer for Chanel, before joining Tom Ford at Yves Saint Laurent. Subsequently she assisted Loris Azzaro, before taking over as creative director of that house following his death in 2003. She later joined Jean Touitou at A.P.C. launching a ready-to-wear label together under her own name.
“It’s a thrill to work directly with their two mills, knit and woven, as part of their team in Scotland. I feel I’m dealing directly with a group of craftspeople committed to the highest quality. Begg x Co has a unique identity based on bold color association, responsible craftsmanship and artistic collaboration which resonates with my personal path of combining portrait painting and fashion,” Seward added.
Begg x Co designs and manufactures responsible cashmere knitwear, accessories and homeware for the modern lifestyle with mills in Ayr on the west coast of Scotland and Hawick, “The Home of Cashmere,” in the Scottish Borders.
“To this, I’d like to add my long-lasting obsession with wardrobe templates. Begg x Co already has a cult following. My goal is to help them become a staple, the go-to brand when one dreams of a luxury cashmere item. It’s fashion with substance, authenticity and I dare say, a soul, a Scottish one for sure. I feel that makes sense in today’s luxury market,” Seward concluded.
German retail sales rose in 2024, but growth should be more modest this year due to the high level of uncertainty, according to retail association HDE.
Last year, retail sales rose 1.1% compared to the previous year in inflation-adjusted terms, official data showed on Friday. The HDE forecasts 0.5% growth in real terms this year.
“Consumption and the retail sector in Germany will not really gain momentum in 2025 either,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth. “There is simply too much uncertainty,” he said. “Wars, high energy costs and overall economic stagnation are a toxic cocktail for consumption.”
In nominal terms, retail sales rose by 2.5% in 2024 and are expected to grow by 2.0% in 2025, according to HDE’s forecast.
The latest HDE survey with 700 retailers shows that 22% of respondents expect sales to increase this year, while almost half of them expect results to be below the previous year’s level.
In December, retail sales fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month, official data showed. Analysts had predicted a 0.2% increase.
Many big names in UK retail had a good Christmas season — despite the sector being generally sluggish — but it seems John Lewis Partnership (JLP) may not have been one of them.
The retailer — which operates its eponymous department stores and webstore, plus Waitrose supermarkets — has missed its profit target after a disappointing festive season.
It hasn’t shared any info officially but internal documents seen by The Telegraph suggest bad news to come when it does release its results.
Those internal documents have only been shared with staff so far with the company saying that sales have fallen short of expectations and it’s unlikely to achieve its hoped-for £131 million full-year profit.
The company is said to have blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for the sales miss in the month to 21 December, although also the fact that key trading days fell outside the period.
Sales targets were missed at both of the firm’s chains, although the newspaper said it still claimed it outperformed rivals and staff should be “proud of our performance”.
It will be interesting therefore to see exactly what its figures were as a number of rivals have actually reported a good Christmas. If its stores have beaten other supermarkets and chains like M&S, perhaps its targets were too ambitious in the first place.
We won’t know for a while, but we do know that with M&S resurgent, JLP’s supermarkets and department stores have lost some of their lustre as the destination of choice for Britain’s middle classes.
So what were the firm’s benchmarks? Back in September it had said it was seeing strong demand and expected a significant rise in profits for the year to January. The prior year’s pre-tax profit had been £56 million and the year before that it made a loss.
It had also talked about its turnaround efforts paying off and that it was seeing a “considerable improvement” in performance, with the John Lewis chain in particular expected to benefit from a buoyant second half.
Christian Dior Couture announced on Friday that Kim Jones, its Dior Homme artistic director, is leaving the post after seven years.
It’s been rumoured for some time that he would exit the label but it’s not yet known what his next step will be.
Jones has been widely praised for his work at Dior with his latest men’s collection shown this month being hailed as a success.
He’s been a key creative at LVMH having also designed its Fendi women’s collections. And he helmed Louis Vuitton’s menswear before he joined Dior.
The company said it “wishes to express its deepest gratitude” to the designer “who has accelerated the development of Men’s collections internationally and has greatly contributed to the worldwide influence of the House by creating an inspiring wardrobe that is both classic and contemporary, and connected to some artists of our time”.
And Delphine Arnault, who’s chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture,added: “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable work done by Kim Jones, his studio, and the ateliers. With all his talent and creativity, he has constantly reinterpreted the House’s heritage with genuine freedom of tone and surprising, highly desirable artistic collaborations.”
Jones meanwhile called it a “true honour to have been able to create my collections within the House of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey. They have brought my creations to life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the artists and friends I have met through my collaborations. Lastly, I feel sincere gratitude towards Bernard and Delphine Arnault, who have given me their full support.”