Fashion is so much fun, that often, we forget it is a lucrative business that makes billions of dollars every year. Dior, Marchesa, and Valentino do not don the bodies of some of the most famous people in the world for free for nothing...it is all in an effort to get everyday people, like you and me, to buy a Dior handbag, even if we cannot afford the $20,000 couture gown, a Marchesa blouse, or a Valentino shoe. Which we DO!

Anyhow...every now and then we should post a little something about the business and history of fashion. So when we get all excited about our new Chloe Paddington or our Louboutins we found on sale on Bluefly...we have a little bit more insight into why we pay top dollar for top style.

So for our first lesson:
LVMH and PPR are the largest luxury brands in the world.
Louis Vuitton Moet and Hennessy merged in 1987, and formed THE largest luxury holding company in the world. This French company owns many of the brands we think of today as seperate brands: Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Celine, Pucci, Donna Karan, eluxury, Sephora, Givenchy, Tag Heuer, Fresh cosmetics, Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Chandon, Dom Perignon, and Belevedere. The company grossed over 2 billion euros in 2003.

PPR is the second largest fashion conglomerate in the worl. Its subsidiaries include: Gucci, Sergio Rossi, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Balenciaga, and Puma (the reason why SM and AM have Puma line). The company also holds Redcats, a mail order company, that includes LaRedoute, Chadwicks, Brylance, and metrostyle.

Richemont, is the third largest fashion holding company, founded in 1988 in Switzerland. The company includes Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Baume et Mercier, Mont Blanc, Chloe, and has a partnership with Ralph Lauren.
(Source: Wikipedia)

These companies have maintained the luxury and high quality of these fashion houses by providing a strong foundation of support and once many failing houses are purchased by these groups, they see a fast turnaround and resurrection of the brand.