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Kering Announces Investment in Chinese Fashion Group Icicle

Kering Announces Investment in Chinese Fashion Group Icicle

Kering announced a minority investment in Chinese fashion group ICCF, better known as Icicle, its flagship brand.

Luca de Meo, chief executive officer of Kering, disclosed the deal at the luxury group’s Capital Markets Day in Florence, Italy.

Financial terms and details were not immediately disclosed.

De Meo said the Icicle transaction comes under House of Wonders, a new Kering entity investing in emerging brands in adjacent categories and various geographies.

House of Wonders was characterized as part of Kering’s eye on “Next Luxury” as a way to grow in new segments like longevity.

In a press release, Kering said the partership “brings together ICCF’s deep understanding of the Chinese luxury ecosystem and cultural landscape with the Kering long-standing expertise in craftsmanship, operations and brand development in Europe.”

It said proceeds from the investment would support Icicle’s “continued international expansion of the brand, as well as the enrichment of its product offering across new categories.”

Founded in 1997 in Shanghai, Icicle specializes in women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and accessories and operates more than 200 stores, including flagship locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Paris.

The release described House of Wanders as focused on “emerging luxury houses with strong cultural relevance across markets, categories and geographies.

“Through House of Wonders, Kering aims to build long-term value through a disciplined, partnership-driven approach, engaging with brands defined by a distinctive vision, deep authenticity and global resonance potential,” it added.

Kering also owns Chinese jewerly brand Qeelin.

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Deadspin | Oilers can wrap up home ice in playoffs with win over Canucks <div id=""><section id="0" class=" w-full"><div class="xl:container mx-0 !px-4 py-0 pb-4 !mx-0 !px-0"><img src="https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/28723891.jpg" srcset="https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/28723891.jpg" alt="NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Edmonton Oilers" class="w-full" fetchpriority="high" loading="eager"/><span class="text-0.8 leading-tight">Apr 13, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; The Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal scored by forward Connor McDavid (97) during the second period against the Colorado Avalanche.Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images<!-- --> <!-- --> </span></div></section><section id="section-1"> <p>The Edmonton Oilers cannot win the Pacific Division, but home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs remains in play for the two-time defending Western Conference champions as the Vancouver Canucks arrive on Thursday for the regular-season finale.</p> </section><section id="section-2"> <p>Edmonton also will welcome back a key contributor, Zach Hyman, who has not played in two weeks.</p> </section><section id="section-3"> <p>The Oilers (40-30-11, 91 points) have a playoff spot sewn up. Which spot remains up in the air, as Edmonton, the Anaheim Ducks (42-33-6, 90 points) and the Los Angeles Kings (35-26-20, 90 points) all play on the final day of the regular season.</p> </section><section id="section-4"> <p>Edmonton holds a one-point lead over both division rivals and owns the regulation-wins tiebreaker over both (31 for Edmonton, 25 for Anaheim and 22 for Los Angeles), so getting to overtime would clinch the division’s second-place spot.</p> </section><section id="section-5"> <p>However, a regulation loss at home to the Canucks (25-48-8, 58 points), who own the NHL’s worst record, could create chaos depending on what the Ducks do in Nashville and the Kings do in Calgary. The Oilers still could end up in the division’s second or third spot, or they could fall all the way to the conference’s last wild-card spot.</p> </section><section id="section-6"> <p>If the latter happens, Edmonton would have a best-of-seven series against the Colorado Avalanche, who own the league’s best record. Colorado claimed a 2-1 shootout victory in Edmonton on Monday.</p> </section><section id="section-7"> <p>Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters after practice on Wednesday, hours before the Vegas Golden Knights won the Pacific Division title with a 4-1 home win over the Seattle Kraken, that the plan for Thursday was to play to win and get the best seed possible.</p> </section><br/><section id="section-8"> <p>The return of Hyman will boost the Oilers’ chances, the coach said. In just 57 games, the forward ranks third on the team with 31 goals.</p> </section> <section id="section-9"> <p>Hyman, 33, last played on April 2. Since then, he has been out with an undisclosed injury as the Oilers wanted him ready for the postseason. Knoblauch noted the team’s past four games, a 1-1-2 stretch that includes three one-goal losses, show Hyman’s value.</p> </section><section id="section-10"> <p>“He’s cleared and he’s healthy,” Knoblauch said, “so I think that it’s a good idea to put him in and see what he can do. Obviously, it’s not just him finding his game and getting ready for the playoffs. (Thursday) is a very important game for us.”</p> </section><section id="section-11"> <p>Despite the Canucks being in last place, they have embraced a spoiler role in the past week. Vancouver has won three straight, all in overtime or a shootout by a 4-3 score. The games were on the road against the Ducks and a San Jose Sharks team that was then still in contention, and Tuesday in the Canucks’ home finale against the Kings.</p> </section><section id="section-12"> <p>Jake DeBrusk scored two goals against Los Angeles, including the game-winner at 2:58 of overtime.</p> </section><section id="section-13"> <p>Even though the Canucks’ season will end Thursday night, coach Adam Foote is happy with the way the team came together after the trade deadline that saw the club deal several veterans.</p> </section><section id="section-14"> <p>For instance, right after Vancouver took a 2-1 lead in the first minute of the second period on Tuesday, the Kings tied it 12 seconds later and took the lead after another 73 seconds. Foote said that if that happened earlier in the season, the Canucks would have spiraled. In this instance, they rallied.</p> </section><section id="section-15"> <p>“We’re doing things right,” he said. “We’re playing as a team. They’re sticking to the game plan.”</p> </section><br/><section id="section-16"> <p>–Field Level Media</p> </section> </div> #Deadspin #Oilers #wrap #home #ice #playoffs #win #Canucks

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Candidates 2026 review: Vaishali finds her moment, Sindarov owns the field <div id="content-body-70868779" itemprop="articleBody"><p>For a long time, Indian chess Grandmaster R. Vaishali existed in the shadows, and thrived there.</p><p>First, it was the presence of her brother, R. Praggnanandhaa, who garnered the lion’s share of attention owing to his prodigious talent.</p><p>Even in Indian women’s chess, Vaishali was never the centrepiece. The more experienced Koneru Humpy and D. Harika remained the country’s flagbearers.</p><p>Following Divya Deshmukh’s swift ascent after her FIDE World Cup 2025 triumph, Vaishali was pushed further into the background.</p><p>But over a fortnight in Cyprus, battling through an elite field, Vaishali stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight reserved for the elite.</p><p>By becoming the first Indian to win the FIDE Women’s Candidates title, the 24-year-old qualified for the World Championship final against China’s Ju Wenjun later this year.</p><p>Vaishali entered the Candidates as the lowest-ranked player in the women’s section. Her performance in the opening rounds reflected that: she began with four draws.</p><p>A defeat to Zhu Jiner in Round 5 triggered a shift in approach. From Round 6 to 11, Vaishali won four games and drew the other two to surge into the lead.</p><p>“I think in the first half, my games were super shaky. I was just scoring points by luck. The loss against Zhu was very crucial. In the second half, my game started to become better,” explained Vaishali in the post-tournament press conference.</p><p>Zhu would return later to halt Vaishali’s momentum with a dominant win in Round 12, setting up a thrilling finish. Heading into the final round, Vaishali was in joint lead with Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva.</p><p>But Vaishali benefited from her compatriot Divya, who held Assaubayeva to a draw. The equation was simple: the Candidates was Vaishali’s if she beat Kateryna Lagno.</p><p>With all eyes on her, Vaishali held her nerve to systematically dismantle Lagno’s defence and claim the requisite point. The spotlight had never shone brighter.</p><p>When asked what changed for her in Cyprus, Vaishali replied: “I think it’s just [the result of] continuous hard work. Somehow, I was not getting results in the last couple of years. I think everything came together here in this tournament.”</p><p>The chaotic unfolding of the women’s section stood in contrast to the procession-like nature of the open section. Javokhir Sindarov dominated the Candidates, tallying 10 points, the most any player has accumulated in a single edition.</p><div class=" article-picture center"><img src="https://ss-i.thgim.com/public/chess/vz72fx/article70868814.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/55207201433_5116d50e6c_o.jpg" data-original="https://ss-i.thgim.com/public/chess/vz72fx/article70868814.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/55207201433_5116d50e6c_o.jpg" alt="Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov’s unbeaten run, sealed with a round to spare, sets up a World Chess Championship clash against D. Gukesh later this year." title="Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov’s unbeaten run, sealed with a round to spare, sets up a World Chess Championship clash against D. Gukesh later this year." class=" lazy" width="100%" height="100%"/><div class="pic-caption"><figcaption class="figure-caption align-text-bottom"><p> Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov’s unbeaten run, sealed with a round to spare, sets up a World Chess Championship clash against D. Gukesh later this year. | Photo Credit: Niki Riga / FIDE </p><img class="caption-image" src="https://assetsss.thehindu.com/theme/images/SSRX/lightbox-info.svg" alt="lightbox-info"/></figcaption></div><p class="caption"> Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov’s unbeaten run, sealed with a round to spare, sets up a World Chess Championship clash against D. Gukesh later this year. | Photo Credit: Niki Riga / FIDE </p></div><p>The Uzbek GM, playing his maiden Candidates, blazed through the opening rounds, winning five of his first six games to open up a sizeable lead.</p><p>What stood out most in those early games was Sindarov’s razor-sharp opening preparation, which helped him outfox his experienced opponents. This often gave him a significant advantage on the clock, allowing him to dictate the middlegame and steer games towards inevitable wins.</p><p>In Round 5, Sindarov drew World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura into a compromised position with precise opening play. The American struggled to untangle himself and ended up spending over 67 minutes on a move, the second-longest any player has taken for a single move in Candidates history.</p><p>Despite burning time on the clock, Hikaru chose a move (13. h4) that only worsened his position. Sindarov seized the advantage and coasted to a comfortable win.</p><p>Such was Sindarov’s dominance that even a mid-tournament accidental leak of his opening routines on the online chess portal Lichess barely slowed his charge.</p><p>With the title almost secured, the 20-year-old shifted into a pragmatic mode in the latter half of the Candidates. There were no desperate pushes or unnecessary experiments as he steered games into comfortable draws to seal the biggest triumph of his career with a round to spare.</p><p>For the quietly confident Sindarov, this was a performance he always believed he was capable of.</p><p>“In my opinion, I’m one of the [most] talented players. But you can never predict that you will become the world champion, because it is very hard and you need to be lucky.”</p><p>“I have always believed I can be one of the strongest players in the world and cross the 2800 rating. I’m very happy, but I’m not surprised to win this tournament because I always believed in myself,” said Sindarov.</p><p>As Sindarov claimed the spotlight emphatically, the much-hyped Fabiano Caruana and Nakamura receded into the background.</p><p>The American GMs entered as favourites, backed by their experience against a comparatively inexperienced field.</p><p>But both Caruana and Nakamura flattered to deceive, withering under Sindarov’s onslaught. It remains to be seen whether the two veterans have the energy and motivation to navigate another Candidates cycle in pursuit of a long-overdue World title.</p><p>India’s sole hope in the open category, Praggnanandhaa, was left behind as well. The 20-year-old began with a confident opening-round win against Dutch GM Anish Giri but fell away from there, failing to win another game to finish seventh in the eight-man standings.</p><p>Sindarov will now square off against India’s D. Gukesh for the world title in a 14-game match scheduled for later this year. Their clash has already created history, as it will be the youngest World Chess Championship final of all time, with both players under 21 and Gukesh six months younger than his rival.</p><p>This will also be the second consecutive all-Asian World Championship final, signalling a shift in the balance of global chess.</p><p>With Gukesh’s recent form in decline, Sindarov has already been labelled the favourite.</p><p>Meanwhile, Gukesh has announced that he will scale back his tournament commitments as he prepares for the title defence.</p><p>Sindarov, however, is wary of underestimating his opponent.</p><p>“I will play against one of the strongest players in the world, and we both have equal chances. Probably, because he played in a [World Championship] match, he has more experience, so a little bit more chance [for him]. Our playing strengths are very close. It will be a very interesting match,” explained Sindarov.</p><p class="publish-time" id="end-of-article">Published on Apr 16, 2026</p></div> #Candidates #review #Vaishali #finds #moment #Sindarov #owns #field

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