Two key European luxury labels have launched new campaigns with Valentino Garavani and Roger Vivier launching new creative marketing drives in the accessories and footwear sectors.

Following the recent launch of the Nellcôte bag campaign, Maison Valentino now continues its storytelling journey with the unveiling of the second chapter: the Valentino Garavani Vain bag campaign. 

Conceived by creative director Alessandro Michele and shot by photographer Sharna Osborne, we’re told the campaign “is a tactile exploration of emotional intimacy and femininity. Evoking the aesthetic of analogue photography, it crafts an atmosphere where beauty is suspended in time”.

The brand added that “the images, with their faded colour tones and grainy backdrops, are imbued with a powerful texture that recalls the dreamlike sensibility of early film and the intensity of voyeuristic cinema”.

Looking almost like video stills, the bag is the focal point of every image as the visuals portray two women “in a series of compositions that suggest an atmosphere of private and shared allure. Whether together or apart, they appear caught in a world of whispered secrets and shadowy glamour, where the Vain bag becomes a silent witness to their intimacy”.

The campaign supports new developments for the Vain bag this season with the introduction of a new top handle style featuring an elongated handle that allows it to be worn on the shoulder. There’s also a new oval-shaped vanity bag, with a top flap acting as a lid, that “brings a modern attitude to the line while preserving the original bag’s refined codes”.

The signature shoulder bags also return with updated finishes and “rich surfaces”, that is, multicolour floral embroideries rendered in beads, velvet, raffia, or leather, and a new printed animalier variation referencing the RTW collection.

Vivier’s Paris life

Meanwhile, at Riger Vivier, the new campaign for the autumn 2025 pre-collection is called ‘La Vie Parisienne’ and was conceived by brand creative director Gherardo Felloni “as both homage and provocation”.

Shot inside a hôtel particulier (one of the grand townhouses found in key French cities) “and along hushed city streets, the story unfolds like a secret — caught in a glance, stretched across a brocade sofa. It captures something rarer than beauty: character. Here, elegance isn’t constructed. It’s instinctual”. 

So far, so very Parisian. But the company said that “this is not the Paris of clichés. Nor is the Vivier woman one. She is elegant but unpredictable, refined yet untamed — never explaining, always becoming. Like the muses who once wore Vivier — Deneuve, Bardot, and beyond — she moves between worlds. Perhaps an art dealer. Perhaps a writer. Or neither. She doesn’t follow fashion. She defines style”.

It features a variety of both formal and casual shoes, along with bags. 

So who are the stars of this particular show? As far as the models are concerned, Felloni has cast three women “who embody this spirit”. There’s Louise de Blegiers,” with a modern intensity beneath her quiet poise; [plus] Zoé Adjani and Léa Rostain, actresses whose presence distills softness and edge. Parisian by birth or by affinity, these are not women who perform femininity — they reinvent it”.

John Lewis has announced the appointment of a new chief customer officer with experienced fashion retail exec Anna Braithwaite set to take up the role on 1 October. 

She’ll report to Peter Ruis, MD of John Lewis, and we’re told she “brings a deep expertise in customer and brand strategy”. 

Braithwaite will be responsible for leading the John Lewis brand and marketing across all channels, loyalty, customer experience, and creative and content teams, with a remit to ensure “the brand continues to deliver exceptional quality, value and service for its customers”.

She has more than 25 years of brand and marketing experience, most of it immersed in the fashion sector, and actually began her career at John Lewis, joining as a graduate trainee before spending a decade in a variety of marketing roles. 

After that she moved to Hobbs and Jacques Vert before joining Tesco, where she was head of brand marketing for F&F Clothes and global brand director for non-food. Most recently, she was M&S’s marketing director for fashion, home and beauty.

Ruis said “her understanding of the John Lewis brand and her laser focus on the needs of customers makes her the ideal person to lead our customer and marketing strategy”. 

UK retail property giant Landsec said this week that it’s “reached the next major milestone in its transformation of Gunwharf Quays after breaking ground at Marlborough Square”.

Its latest round of improvements is designed to boost the visitor experience and reinforce the Portsmouth outlet destination’s appeal among affluent shoppers and international visitors. 

The owner/operator of key retail centres including Bluewater, Trinity Leeds and Liverpool One, said Gunwharf Quays remains one of the UK’s best-performing retail outlets.

And having upgraded The Avenues part of the property earlier this year, it expects the new works (which will be complete next spring) to add to its appeal.

It’s enhancing shopfronts and façades, improving landscaping, expanding washrooms, and adding extra seating, all designed to “improve dwell time and enable stronger flagship presentations”. 

A new retail unit will also launch “to bring a new brand experience to the centre in time for peak trade over the Golden Quarter” and brands including Crew Clothing and M&S will move into larger units, with M&S expected to continue trading throughout the works.

The new investment follows what it said has been a period of “standout commercial success with a record year for sales and footfall and more than a quarter (28%) of stores on-site breaking performance records in FY24/25,” we’re told.

Tim Treadwell, head of retail portfolio at Landsec, said: “We continue to see strong demand from leading brands looking for premium environments to grow their outlet offerings.”

That’s perhaps unsurprising given the polarisation in UK retail with certain destinations/supermalls outperforming while those with less unique appeal struggle to attract both brands and shoppers.

Gunwharf Quays has a number of built in advantages aside from being run by one of the country’s key retail property specialists. It’s in a historic, waterfront location with a good selection of premium stores (Russell & Bromley is among its latest arrivals), and plenty of leisure activities, including a cinema and bowling.

Interestingly too, earlier this year, Landsec installed 1,287 solar panels throughout Gunwharf Quays, one of the largest arrays of solar across UK shopping centres. These generate more than 500,000 kWh annually and reduce the destination’s carbon emissions by 115 tonnes, the equivalent of planting 5,400 trees.