Lancel to start new era with Barbara Fusillo in charge of design

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 22, 2018

Lancel is turning over a new leaf. The long-established French label specialised in travel and business bags, which in June 2018 was sold by Swiss luxury giant Richemont to Italian leather goods group Piquadro, is staging a relaunch with a more extensive, totally revamped collection, which will be unveiled in Paris during the next fashion week.

“It’s a very comprehensive collection, marking the label's new course under the aegis of creative director Barbara Fusillo,” Marco Palmieri, the founder and boss of Piquadro, told FashionNetwork.com. “In the past, [Lancel] created products which were renewed only after some time. Each new season wasn’t heralded by the presentation of a new collection. We have now introduced this new approach,” he added.

Fusillo joined Lancel in September 2017, a few months before the label was bought by Piquadro, and has remained in charge of style after the acquisition. Fusillo graduated from the Istituto Marangoni and the Accademia Italiana design schools, and notably was at Prada for six years, where she worked on Miu Miu’s leather accessories, before moving on to Marc Jacobs and eventually Lancel.

“For the time being, Lancel's results are in line with our expectations. We are currently focused on restructuring the product range,” said Palmieri. Lancel is distributed via some sixty stores and retail corners. “We have already reappropriated two stores that were set to close, in Dubai and Moscow,” said Palmieri.

In parallel, Piquadro is keen to tap the amazing heritage of Lancel, whose archives are kept in Paris, in a historic building at 50 rue Ampère, where the label established its headquarters in November 2012. An itinerant museum is being created, and it will go on a worldwide tour, notably in Asia, to showcase the world of Lancel.

The handbag label was founded in Paris in 1876 by Angèle Lancel, and when Richemont bought it in 1997, it had been struggling for some years. In 2014, as the losses were piling up, sales plummeted and Lancel called on the leadership of Marianne Romestain, who recently moved to the Galeries Lafayette department store group.