These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Wednesday.

Richemont Quarterly Sales Surge 20%

Richemont, the parent company of brands including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, climbed 20% in the first quarter to €6.33 billion ($7.5 billion), fueled by robust performance in every region and a pickup in watch sales. The results highlight jewelry’s emergence as the luxury industry’s key growth driver as shoppers shift spending away from handbags, benefiting Richemont while rivals LVMH and Kering continue to struggle. {Richemont}

Bluemercury Appoints New CEO

Alexandre Choueiri has been named CEO of Bluemercury, effective Aug. 3. He succeeds Maly Bernstein, who left the company in September 2025 to join Bath & Body Works. Choueiri previously held leadership positions at Kering Beauté Americas and L’Oréal. {Business of Fashion/paywalled}

How Handbags Are Taking Over Menswear

Menswear’s next big commercial category is the handbag, with public figures like soccer player Erling Haaland and actor Jacob Elordi driving mainstream visibility for the category. Handbags reportedly appeared in 15% of the Spring 2027 menswear runways across top houses, while searches for “men’s handbag” are up 637% year over year. The trend comes as luxury leather goods look to smaller-ticket accessories and menswear to help pull the category out of its two-year slump. {Fashion United}

Romain Spitzer Named Bottega Veneta’s CEO

Kering has appointed Romain Spitzer, formerly president and CEO of LVMH Beauty’s Fragrance Group, as Bottega Veneta’s new CEO effective Sept. 1, filling a vacancy left when Bartolomeo Rongone departed in March for Moncler. Spitzer joins creative director Louise Trotter, whose first two shows drew a positive response, as the brand posted the strongest Q1 growth among Kering’s fashion houses. {Vogue Business/paywalled}

Chanel Taps Gracie Abrams as the Face of Its New Fragrance

Chanel has named singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams as the face of Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu, the brand’s new fragrance. “I feel an immense sense of pride. I love that Coco is someone who leaves a mark everywhere she goes,” Abrams said in a statement. Created by in-house perfumer Olivier Polge, the fragrance and campaign will launch in August 2026. {Fashionista Inbox}

Schiaparelli Launches First U.S. Boutique

Schiaparelli will open its first standalone U.S. boutique this fall at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, marking the brand’s West Coast debut. The 2,244-square-foot space, designed by creative director Daniel Roseberry in partnership with architecture studio Halleroed, will feature an apartment-like layout with golden tones, lacquered wood and the house’s signature Surrealist motifs. {WWD/paywalled}

Ingredient-Focused Skin Care Top AI’s Beauty Recommendations

The Ordinary leads the list of beauty brands cited in AI responses according to data from 5W AI Communications, with CeraVe and La Roche-Posay rounding out the top skin-care picks. The trend favors brands with strong ingredient transparency and dermatologist credentials, while legacy names like Estée Lauder lag far behind. As AI-driven search grows — NielsenIQ reported over 1 billion weekly beauty searches on ChatGPT — brands are expected to invest more in content optimized for LLM discovery. {Glossy/paywalled}

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