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Wednesday 12th May
Selfridges to have scaled down refurb
Plans for a £300m redevelopment of the Oxford Street site have been scuppered by the owner Galen Weston. The original plan was designed by Lord Foster of Thames Bank that included a 336 bedroom 5 star hotel, extra 100,000 square ft of retail space and 300,000 square ft office development. A swimming pool, spa and underground car park were also thrown in for good measure according to The Times. However, the plans have been scaled down to a £20m refurb for the current food-hall and existing hotel.... just a face-lift then!
Laura Ashley and Alistair Blair - the new combo
Blair of Central St Martins fame is joining forces with the under performing clothes retailer Laura Ashley. Last week the LFF reported that sales for the homeware sector of Laura Ashley were extremely buoyant and total sales were badly let down by the clothing division. Will all change now or will the daring designs of Alistair be too extreme for the traditional Laura Ashley customer. Time will tell.
Not so lucky Luc?
Looks like Luc will not be receiving his £450,000 handshake from M&S after all. Not to worry Luc £5.6m in salary and benefits over a 2 year period not bad!
Manufacturing dip "an absolute shocker!"
Output declined in March by 0.3% according to the Office of National Statistics. This was against a back drop of an expected rise of 0.5%. Philip Shaw, Investec Chief Executive expressed "these figures are an absolute shocker, which remain at odds with buoyant industry surveys".
"I will let you know when the times comes"
said Giorgio Armani denying reports that he is about to retire. Nevertheless rumours are rife that Armani has approached the Cuban-American designer Narciso Rudriguez to be the next "big chief".
Any offers for Pierre Cardin?
The 81year ever-modest flamboyant designer Pierre Cardin has put his empire up for grabs. With an unbelievable turnover of £24m Cardin is hoping to sell for a value of over £270m...can you believe that figure. I always thought anything that had the Pierre Cardin label on was a bit cheesy...how wrong was I?
Asda gets Intimate
The supermarket chain is branching outing the world of lingerie with an own label designed my Michelle Mone. Michelle of Ultima Bra fame will launch the new collection in Autumn under the label Michelle for George.
Jenny Holloway
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