The House of Dior has created a fashion odyssey that will be the key installation inside the French Pavilion at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, which opens this Sunday.

Dior’s display is a blend of fine art, haute couture, sporting excellence, architecture, fragrances, original sketches, 3D printing and hundreds of toiles.

The Paris-based couture maison is very much on a full-court press in Japan. On Tuesday, it stages its fall women’s ready-to-wear collection in the historic city of Kyoto. Today, it released its latest campaign, where the house’s couturier, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is inspired by the Land of the Rising Sun. Seen in a series of graceful, poetic shots by Yuriko Takagi, a faithful collaborator of the house, the campaign features a fusion of Japanese savoir-faire and French couture through designs that revisit the traditional kimono jacket, with its ample and enveloping lines adorned by an enchanting garden sketched on silk.

In Osaka, Dior’s installation is organized around the theme of “Hymne à l’amour,” in a tribute to the fervor for craftsmanship and handmade work, reflecting the excellence of Parisian haute couture.

A plural homage to the beauty produced by gestures, embodied alternately by a Rodin sculpture, the timeless Bar suit – a symbol of Dior elegance presented in three variations: blue, white and red – and by the legendary “Amphores Tricolores” designed by Christian Dior in 1949 and reissued for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Echoing the first vocation of Christian Dior, who aspired to become an architect before turning to couture, is the Lady Dior bag reinterpreted by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima for the “Lady Dior – As Seen By” project in 2024.

Back in Paris, Sejima’s best-known building is the futurist glass structure that ripples along the Rue de Rivoli, acting as the entrance to the Art Nouveau La Samaritaine department store, which is controlled by luxury conglomerate LVMH, the owner of Dior.

Turning to fashion, precious three-dimensional expressions of original sketches and more than 400 emblematic white toiles—presented on different scales—are spotlighted at the heart of a monumental installation. All are placed alongside bottles of iconic Dior fragrances, reinterpreted through 3D printing. In the center, Dior models come to life in poetic images created by Japanese artist Yuriko Takagi.

The installation features a dreamlike choreography punctuated by the works of Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who revisited the iconic Medallion chair in 2021.

Mytheresa has been pretty quiet about its plans for Yoox Net-A-Porter since announcing it was acquiring the business from Richemont and changing the wider group name to LuxExperience BV, but that all changed on Friday when it unveiled a raft of key management developments.

The new senior leadership team for the combined group will be effective on closing of the YNAP acquisition and “has been nominated to drive and create the leading, luxury multi-brand digital group for true luxury enthusiasts around the globe,” we’re told.

The company said that “to further strengthen the unique and differentiated identities of each store brand, separate dedicated management teams are put in charge to deliver the best curated brand offerings, to create highly engaging inspiration and develop lasting customer relationships”. 

That said, at the group level, functions will be consolidated into a shared group infrastructure “that will deliver best- in-class and efficient services for the multi-brand luxury business across technology, operations, customer data analytics and corporate functions”. 

A newly transformation function at group level will also steer the group-wide transformation. 

The completion of the deal is imminent — planned for 23 April — and the new name and leadership team will hit the ground running at that point.

Who’s who

So who’s in the new team? At the most senior level, existing execs retain their roles although with an expanded remit for the larger group. Current Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger will be CEO and MD, continuing to lead the group’s overall strategy.

Current CFO Martin Beer, who led the 2021 IPO and was crucial to the YNAP deal, will continue as CFO but will also be an MD.

Existing CTO Philipp Barthold will be group CTO, driving the continued enhancement of Mytheresa’s technology platform and overseeing the migration of Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter onto Mytheresa’s advanced tech stack. He’ll also lead the group’s fraud prevention initiatives.

COO of 10 years’ standing Sebastian Dietzmann will be group COO responsible for customer care, studio production, and all warehouse operations. But when the deal completes, he’ll step down from the Management Board.

Gareth Locke, Mytheresa’s current chief growth officer, will be chief data & analytics officer (CDO), a new role in which he’ll be responsible for the development of group-wide customer insights and customer analytics tools, “thus leveraging the power of the combined data pool to support the store brands in serving all customers”. He’ll also step down from the Management Board.

The firm’s current commercial chief Richard Johnson, will become chief business officer for the group, another brand new role. He’ll manage vendor partnerships including budget, planning, category expansion, operations of the Curated Platform Model as well as the group’s sustainability initiatives. Since joining in 2017 he’s been key in “cultivating outstanding and enduring brand relationships and spearheading various category expansions including menswear, fine jewelry & watches, kidswear and home”.

Current chief people officer Björn Kastl will take that role at a group level.

YNAP’s existing president of the Online Flagship Store, Francesca Tranquilli, will become chief transformation officer and will orchestrate the transformation of YNAP’s four brands, as well as the combination of the businesses into the new LuxExperience Group. She’ll also continue in her YNAP president role.

Mytheresa’s North America president Heather Kaminetsky will become Net-A-Porter CEO and “will be responsible for defining and driving a re-energised customer proposition across the globe as well as simplifying the organisational structures”. She previously worked for that business as VP global marketing until 2016.

At Mr Porter, Toby Bateman will return at its CEO having earlier in his career been responsible for many of its key developments.

Meanwhile YNAP’s COO Mirko Nobili will “transition” from that role and becomes CEO of Yoox. 

The Outnet’s MD Sabah Naqushbandi will continue in that role, again “spearheading the brand’s ongoing transformation by sharpening its value proposition and reinforcing its unique portfolio of previous-season luxury fashion”.

Michael Kliger said of all this: “We have selected our future management team at store brand and group level to bring together the most experienced and capable leaders for each role. All these outstanding leaders share a passion for customers, the willingness to drive change and a deep understanding of their business areas. This thoughtfully selected team draws on Mytheresa’s established management strengths, the experience of strong leaders from the YNAP organisation, and is further enhanced by highly accomplished external hires.

“The strong store brand management teams for Mytheresa, Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, Yoox and The Outnet will create individual brand identities and a differentiated, yet complementary, multi-brand luxury offering for customers. At the group level, the new established leadership team will strategically focus on efficiency and thus boost the profitability of the store brands. 

“The team’s shared goal is to deliver an exceptional luxury experience for our customers and to increase the profitability of the group. I am excited and confident that, with our passion and expertise, we will rapidly improve all businesses and achieve our financial goals in the expected timeframe.”

Darshan Mehta, former managing director and CEO of Reliance Brands Limited, passed away on April 9 to an outpouring from the retail industry. The executive had joined Reliance Brands at its inception in 2007 and led the company for over 17 years.

Mehta passed away from a sudden heart attack, India Retailing reported citing a source close to the matter. Many messages of condolences from peers and colleagues can be seen on Linkedin and Facebook as of April 10. 

Mehta was known as a veteran of India’s fashion and retail industry and was a specialist in the country’s premium and luxury retail landscape. At Reliance, Mehta oversaw the introduction and expansion of more than 90 global fashion and lifestyle labels, including Valentino, Versace, Armani, Bottega Veneta, Coach, Jimmy Choo, Pottery Barn, Muji, Zegna, and Boss.

Mehta stepped down from his executive responsibilities in 2024, transitioning to a mentorship role within the Reliance Group. He remained on RBL’s board as a non-executive director and continued to advise on leadership development and growth opportunities.

Prior to his time at Reliance, Mehta served as president of Arvind Brands Limited between 2001 and 2007. Mehta is also widely credited with pioneering global luxury retail in India during a time when the market was still in its infancy.