Is Chanel, as a group, seeking a buyer? Or relocating its headquarters to Dubai?

Luxury maisons have been flocking to the Middle East these days for various reasons. Valentino‘s Creative Director Pierpaolo Picciolii was the guest of honor at a ‘grand’ event in Doha hosted by its owner, Qatar’s most influential woman, HH Sheika Moza Bint Nasser, former First Lady and mother of the Emir. Picciolli designed a capsule of bespoke ”Couture” Abayas for the occasion, putting up the collection on display at a museum in Qatar.

Giorgio Armani ‘celebrated’ 10 years since the opening of its first hotel, the Armani Hotel Dubai – a venture which has not led beyond a second hotel in Milan due to reportedly a very rocky relationship with joint venture partner, Dubai real estate giant Emaar. Armani showcase a catwalk show for the occasion.

In 10 years since opening, Armani Hotel Dubai has become infamous for its huge staff turnover including no less than 5 General Managers but also for not having conducted any renovations. Mention should be made that Armani Hotels is a joint venture between Giorgio Armani SpA and Emaar.

In 10 years, Mr Armani has never hosted any event at the hotel, himself not even having visited. Despite some expansion ‘attempts’ driven mostly by Emaar with new hotels rumoured for Marrakech and London, Mr Armani has firmly denied any plans for the expansion of the Armani Hotel brand beyond Dubai and Milan.

Cartier hosted a series of events within the women’s dedicated Pavillion at Dubai Expo 2020 but also two events in the desert, including a music concert. The messages of brand communications were confusing, on the one side supporting a cause and on the other side having a commercial purpose to showcase its latest collections.

Dior ‘made headlines’ planting two 3D printed pop-up installation in Dubai on the Jumeirah Beach, showcasing its summer 2021 Dioriviera Collection which had already been widely featured at pop-ups in posh holiday destinations such as Capri, Montecito, Bodrum or Cannes.

Dior has brought on an additional attraction to Doha, its international travelling exhibition ‘Dior, Designer of Dreams’ which just closed in Brooklyn. Afterall, Doha is home to one of Dior’s top three Haute Couture clients, therefore, an appearance in person in Doha by Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri was more than justified.

While each of the above mentioned maisons would somehow ‘have a reason’, Chanel‘s presence seemed awkward, motivated neither creatively nor financially – the Middle East represents a small percentage of Chanel’s sales and the very few couture clients would always make their purchases in Paris. Why would Chanel suddenly become ”accessible” and host a large catwalk show in Dubai as a repeat of its Spring Summer 2022 collection?

Chanel’s catwalk show was far from the grandeur and elegance for which the house is known for, especially since Karl Lagerfeld redefined the  DNA of the brand and the brand communications. Chanel’s show in Dubai was awkwardly positioned and presented, with mediocre lighting and with a lacklustre runway set up. The house had a really hard time extracting photography even for the social media. Or could it be that Chanel is exploring opening a hotel in Dubai? Or striving to draw attention to a potential billionaire buyer?

Also ‘lost in translation’ appeared Virgil Abloh, however, he did not take the advantage of travelling to Doha for free on a Qatar Airways jet, instead he flew on a private jet most probably paid by LVMH. In Doha, he ‘inaugurated’ the ”Figures of Speech” exhibit at the Doha Fire Station. On Instagram he felt he would need to clarify the location of the exhibit and he posted a map which pinpointed the venue as being in Saudi Arabia, close to Dubai.

Witnessing this ”influx’ of luxury brands, some have rushed to the conclusion that Dubai may take over as the fashion capital of the world? This is an insane assumption, considering that brands are constantly striving to stay true to their roots and origins, drawing on craftsmanship. If there is one evident outcome is the loss of credibility and desirability.

Almost at the same time, what have other major luxury brands been up to, in other parts of the world?

• Hermes hosted a spectacular exhibition in Copenhagen showcasing ”Hermes in The Making” putting under display the various metiers
• Gucci swept American off its feet, with a gigantic Hollywood street ”parade” type of catwalk show – with A list celebrities modelling for the Italian brand
• Bottega Veneta chose Detroit to showcase its ”Salon 3” Spring Summer 2022 Collection – t he show was held at the historic Michigan Theatre, whose mammoth size is undoubtedly a testament to the cultural and historic importance of the classic American city.

Oliver Petcu in Dubai

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