EXCLUSIVE: Paco Rabanne Fashion Names New General Manager
The Paco Rabanne fashion house has named Nadia Dhouib its new general manager, WWD has learned.
She starts Tuesday and reports to Vincent Thilloy, chief brands officer for Paco Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier, which are both owned by Spanish fragrance and fashion group Puig.
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Dhouib previously served as managing director of Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées and was the architect of the store’s strategy, designed to reflect the way people shop online. She had a 15-year career at Galeries Lafayette Group, including as a deputy buying director for many categories.
At Paco Rabanne, she succeeds Bastien Daguzan, who is leaving the company in April “to pursue a personal project.” It is understood Daguzan is opening an advisory company to support upcoming brands.
“Daguzan and Puig have mutually agreed to part ways,” the company said in a statement. “Both parties remain close and are proud of the strong development of the Paco Rabanne brand during this period.”
Daguzan capped off his five-year tenure last November with the opening of a flagship boutique on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, signaling parent company Puig’s ambitions for the brand, which is targeting sales of 1 billion euros by 2025.
While the bulk of that sum will be generated by the label’s fragrances, including bestsellers such as XS and 1 Million, its fashion division has been growing at a strong clip, and launched online sales in China with the opening of a digital flagship on Alibaba’s Tmall Luxury Pavilion.
Driven by creative director Julien Dossena’s acclaimed online shows during lockdown, the label’s fashion revenues were expected to rise 20 percent in 2021 compared with 2019, after jumping 200 percent between 2018 and 2019.
The designer recently returned to the Paris runway with his fall 2022 collection, a futuristic lineup of skimpy dresses.
The Montaigne store is expected to play a key role in driving e-commerce sales, which account for 60 percent of fashion revenues at Rabanne. The brand’s wholesale network generates more than half of its revenues online. Rabanne has 350 points of sale worldwide, including some 15 shops-in-shop in department stores.
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