Elevate Your Career in the Luxury Industry.

Richard Morszeck who – inspired by the early days of aviation – discovered grooved aluminum as the ideal lightweight material for RIMOWA suitcases. A design classic was born. With the same ingenuity and courage as his father and grandfather, third generation owner Dieter Morszeck paved the way for RIMOWA’s global success. Thanks to his focus on state-of-the-art technology, uncompromising quality and timeless design, RIMOWA suitcases have become the global companion of choice for a sophisticated clientele. Today, with 3,000 employees worldwide, RIMOWA continues to combine craftsmanship with precision technology and a commitment to courageous innovation, staying true to its heritage in today’s ever-changing world.

Van Cleef & Arpels was born in Paris’ place Vendôme in 1906, following Alfred Van Cleef’s marriage to Estelle Arpels in 1895. For over a century, their names have graced some of the finest High Jewelry ever created. Over the years, the Maison has remained faithful to a highly distinctive style characterized by creativity, refinement, poetry and enchantment. Whether inspired by nature, couture or the imagination, its collections evoke a timeless world of harmony and beauty. Today, this heritage is perpetuated by all those who contribute to Van Cleef & Arpels’ excellence.

The house of FENDI was established by Adele and Edoardo Fendi in Rome in 1925. The opening of the first FENDI boutique – a handbag shop and fur workshop followed. Soon winning international acclaim, FENDI emerged as a brand renowned for its elegance, craftsmanship, innovation and style.

In September 2020 Kim Jones is appointed Artistic Director of Couture and Womenswear, while Delfina Delettrez Fendi, fourth generation of the Fendi family, joins the Maison as Artistic Director of Jewelry.

Today FENDI is synonymous with quality, tradition, experimentation and creativity.

Marc Jacobs created Marc Jacobs International with Robert Duffy in 1984, basing the brand on two very simple concepts: a love of fashion and a commitment to quality. Finding the perfect balance between tradition and innovation, highlighting Jacobs’ exuberant creativity, the brand has become a driving force in the industry. With the addition of Marc by Marc Jacobs in 2001, Marc Jacobs International now offers two complete lines of ready-to-wear and accessories. Part of a generation that’s conscious of the world around it, sensitive to humanitarianism and social entrepreneurship, Marc Jacobs has made its mark as rebellious, unpredictable, original, unique, and authentic all at the same time. Committed to the communities around them, Marc Jacobs International leads by example, supporting over 75 charities and organizations around the world.

In 1984 Marc Jacobs launched his first collection under his brand and became the youngest designer to receive the New Fashion Talent award granted by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Influenced by all areas of culture, Jacobs was artistic director at Louis Vuitton for 16 years from 1997 to 2013.

”I am neither an American nor a French designer; I am just a designer. We have a real freedom to explore and collaborate with those around us. We’re constantly rethinking and reinventing ourselves.”

The brainchild of Boston watchmaker, Ariosto Jones, IWC Schaffhausen as its name suggests is an international watch company that is renowned for crafting luxurious timepieces that prove style and functionality can work together with effortless ease. Having founded the watch company in 1868, Ariosto achieved his vision by bringing together progressive American production techniques and the skilled craftsmanship of Swiss watchmakers, in order to create world-class timepieces that are of the highest standard, both aesthetically and functionally. Today, IWC Schaffhausen has gained an international reputation based on a passion for providing exquisite timepieces that embrace the very latest timekeeping innovations and styling. As a result, IWC Schaffhausen is now one of the world's leading brands with a reputation for creating watches that combine supreme precision and exclusive design.

Thélios is LVMH’s vertically integrated luxury eyewear company, founded in 2017 to design, produce and distribute sunglasses and optical frames for LVMH maisons and selected proprietary brands. It operates its own manufacturing base in Longarone, Italy, built around Italian production, luxury-quality standards and tightly managed distribution.

Thélios collaborates with 11 LVMH maisons and 2 proprietary brands, with a portfolio that includes Dior, Fendi, Celine, Givenchy, Loewe, Berluti, Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Barton Perreira and Vuarnet.

Restoration Hardware is the world's leading luxury home furnishings purveyor, offering furniture, lighting, textiles, bathware, decor, and outdoor, as well as products for baby and child.

Parfums Christian Dior is Dior’s beauty division, dedicated to fragrance, makeup, skincare and spa and beauty activities. Headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, it sits within the LVMH group and operates as a global beauty business.

The House of Dior was founded in 1946, with Miss Dior launched alongside the New Look in 1947. Parfums Christian Dior has grown from that heritage into one of the defining names in luxury beauty, spanning creation, marketing, retail and international distribution.

Panerai, also known as “Officine Panerai”, is a brand on its own. While Panerai watches have been available to the public only since 1993, the brand has a long and rich history, mainly linked to the Royal Italian Navy. The brand started as a simple workshop created in 1860 by Giovanni Panerai, in Florence, Italy. His “officine” wasn’t only a shop and workshop for timepieces but was also as the city’s first watchmaking school. The main step in Panerai’s history will occur in 1916, after Guido Panerai (grandson of the founder) took over the family business and created “Radiomir”, a self-luminous material that allowed to see the time in the dark and underwater.

For some years already, Panerai was supplying the Royal Italian Navy with high precision instruments. Radiomir, a radium-based powder that gives luminosity to the dials, patented in 1916, will become a key element in Officine Panerai’s production. In 1936, on the eve of the Second World War, Panerai creates the first prototypes of the model now known as “Radiomir” for the frogman commandos of the First Submarine Group Command of the Royal Italian Navy. This large 46mm watch, with superior water resistance, featured a luminous dial and will be delivered as of 1938 to military forces – after several changes to the original concept, including the creation of the “sandwich dial”.

Multiple developments followed, all for military-issued watches only. In 1940, Panerai presents the Radiomir 1940, with reinforced lugs and a cushion-shaped case made with edges that are more pronounced on the side – a shape that will later become the brand’s hallmark. In 1943 will be developed another milestone watch, the chronograph “Mare Nostrum” for deck officers. In 1949, the brand launches a new luminous material named “Luminor”, this time based on tritium, which supersedes the radium-based paste. Coincidentally, the eponymous watch will be introduced, with the development of the trademark crown-protecting bridge – again, an element that will forge the brand’s DNA.

In 1972, the brand will be passed to engineer Dino Zei, after Giuseppe Panerai, son of Guido, dies. The brand still acts as a military supplier, with Italian Navy supply contracts long covered by military secrecy. The production is however now only focused on diving instruments, such as compasses and wrist depth gauges, as well as pressure compensation underwater torches.

It’s only in 1993 that Panerai will be launched to the public. Officine Panerai indeed presented a collection of three series of limited edition watches: the Luminor, the Luminor Marina and the Mare Nostrum, which draw inspiration from the historical models created for Second World War commandos. An important step in the brand’s history occurs in 1997, when the Vendôme Group, later to be named Richemont, will invest in Panerai and make available internationally and transforms it as one of the major players of the industry.

Since then, the brand has launched multiple collections and has even started to create its own in-house movements, thanks to production facilities based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Yet, all the watches that are stamped with the name Panerai are reminiscent of the watches created for the Italian frogmen, with the typical military elements.

This story was originally featured at https://monochrome-watches.com/panerai/.

Alessandro Berluti was born in 1865 in Senigallia, a small village in the Italian region of the Marches. After having been trained as a cabinetmaker during his youth, he left his homeland at the age of 19 to try his skills abroad. He arrived in Paris in the late 19th century, a time when the city was experiencing an explosion of creative and artistic expansion. For a decade thereafter, Alessandro worked as a shoemaker, crafting bespoke shoes for clients of international renown, men and women alike, including such sophisticated celebrities such as Isadora Duncan and Elisabeth Arden. His keen eye for aesthetic lines, coupled with a passion for working with hardwood is essential for custom footwear craftsmanship which earned him a reputation as a talented shoemaker. He showed his skills in 1895 to create a new shoe. the Alessandro lace-up. And Berluti was born.

It was more than 120 years ago that Alessandro Berluti first inscribed his signature on a pair of shoes and, in doing so, founded Maison Berluti. From its early days, the Berluti style has been known for it's technical virtuosity and offbeat creativity that spring from its deep roots of savoir-faire in bespoke creation. Though Maison Berluti has kept up with the times, its spirit of craftsmanship has remained unchanged. We continue to innovate in each new chapter of the Maison’s story, pushing the limits of technique and style.

Bespoke is one of the foundations of Maison Berluti. Alessandro Berluti, a cabinetmaker by training, had an extraordinary talent for sculpting wood and impeccably balancing volumes. His artistry inspired every subsequent generation. Crafting a pair of bespoke shoes involves some 250 operations, 50 hours of assembly and three appointments with a Master Shoemaker. Many specialists are involved in making bespoke shoes: the last-maker, the pattern-maker, the cutter, the stitcher. It is the peerless savoir-faire of these and other artisans that makes a Berluti shoe unique.

The Berluti patina, developed in the 1980s, revolutionised the world of men’s shoes by incorporating nuanced colours at a time when most shoes were black or brown. The Venezia leather interacts beautifully with the colours, as they take on exquisite transparency and depth. The shoes exude life and character, as each patina is unique, born of the handiwork of the Maison’s expert colourists.