US Vogue editor – British born Anna Wintour – was the target of an anti-fur campaign at the Chanel catwalk show at Paris fashion week on Friday. An antifur activist shoved a tofu pie into the face of Wintour, who was quick to reply: “I think it was organic. It’s good for the skin.”

Wintour wasted no time in having her hair and makeup touched up and her raspberry Fendi jacket cleaned off. But she questioned security at the shows, since the attack happened beyond the metal detectors. Asked what actions she would take, Wintour didn’t hesitate to say: “Wear more fur.” Over the weekend, protesters chanted antifur slogans in French outside of shows, including John Galliano and Louis Vuitton.

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Los Angeles boutique Kitson scored big time with its T-shirts proclaiming ‘Team Aniston’ and ‘Team Jolie’ during the recent split of America ‘s sweetheart and heartthrob Brad Pitt and his subsequent dalliances with co-star Angelina Jolie. With Aniston T-shirts outselling Jolie’s team 20 to 1, shoppers were able to proclaim their sympathies loud and clear.

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Now, women can show their support of another woman scorned with the new ‘Team Sienna’ T-shirts, after Sienna Miller was cheated on by her fiancé Jude Law. As they say in Hollywood , you ain’t nobody till somebody’s wearing your name on a T-shirt.

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UK’s biggest retailer Tesco has reported its first slowdown in underlying sales for two years, revealing that it too is subject to weakening consumer confidence, reports the FT. Finance director Andy Higginson said that the 5.5 percent underlying sales growth in the 14 weeks ended 19 November, compared with 6.6 percent in the previous quarter, was “very strong” when seen in the context of the company’s “longer-term historical performance”.

Although the food sector performed steadily, the non-food sector has felt the effects of lagging consumer confidence. Growth in non-food sales was below last quarter’s 13 percent, although still up in the double digits. Half of all the new space in the UK consisted of non-food. The company said that non-food now accounted for 6.5 percent of total group sales. Higginson said that Tesco planned to open four more non-food Tesco stores in a bid to expand that sector, and added that the company was “sensibly cautious but confident” about Christmas.

Despite the slowdown, Tesco – with a market share of 32 percent – still outperformed the three other big supermarkets. “That 5.5 percent rise (in underlying sales) is twice the size of Sainsbury’s growth,” Andrew Fowler, analyst at Merrill Lynch, told the Financial Times. Sales in the UK rose 11.6 percent, up from 10.9 percent last quarter. Higginson said that 3.7 percent of that was generated by new stores. With Tesco continuing to cut prices, price deflation was 1.6 percent. International business was “slightly ahead” of expectation, with sales rising 16 percent.

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In three years, some 60 percent of Gucci Group’s investments will be located in Asia, according to the group’s chief executive Robert Polet. A “new concept” of shops will be “unveiled in late 2006” in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Polet promises in an interview with Les Echos newspaper, with 12 shops opening in the region in the coming 36 months. “Continental China is becoming a vast area of development” while the Asia Pacific region now accounts for 21 per cent of the group’s sales, the former Unilever executive explained.

Opportunities presented by organic growth in the sector would also be exploited, Polet said. He is banking on “growth of five per cent a year” in the luxury goods market, although he believes the group can “grow a little faster than the market”. If his market predictions are borne out that means annual growth of seven per cent for the group.

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Under a seven-year strategic plan launched last December, the Gucci brand is to be doubled in size with gross margin increased to 70 per cent and spending on marketing and communications rising by 20 per cent in the first three years. Gucci Group, a subsidiary of Pinault Printemps Redoute, is not looking to reposition its top-end brand, Polet maintains, despite the launch in July of a more expensive line of leather goods. “It’s more a question of responding to a major trend in the luxury sector,” he said.

The period of flux heralded by the departure of Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole had ended six months ago, according to Polet. “The way we manage the group has completely changed because we have gone from a partnership between a chief executive and an artistic director to a group of 20 directors,” he added.

The Costume Institute in New York has chosen English designers whose works will be part of an “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” exhibit from May 3 to Sept. 4.

The exhibit will feature a mix of British designers, tailors, milliners, a jeweler and a cobbler. John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Bailey for Burberry, Hussein Chalayan, Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney are the featured fashion designers; Paul Smith, Ozwald Boateng, Anderson & Sheppard, Richard Anderson, Huntsman, Richard James, Henry Poole and Carlo Brandelli for Kilgour are the tailors; the millinery will be by Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy; jewellery will be by Shaun Leane, and Manolo Blahnik will provide the shoes.

“It was really hard to come to the selection of designers because there is such a great breadth of creativity in Britain,” said Andrew Bolton, associate curator of the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, according to WWD. “We wanted the work of designers to reflect the themes of the English period rooms. We wanted clothes to have a direct dialogue. That made it easier for us to narrow down our focus and selection.”

Bolton said the final list of designers was determined by who was the most transgressive or best represented the idea of tradition. “We felt that British creativity comes from this violent crash between tradition and transgression, and so the designers we have chosen reflect the idea of tradition and transgression in British culture and British fashion.”

The exhibit’s contemporary pieces were culled from the 30-year period between 1976 and today. The show also includes historical pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries, which will be juxtaposed with the contemporary designs. The exhibit will comprise about 60 pieces.

On Tuesday British retailer Matalan denied that it had issued a profit warning, despite reporting a 10.6 drop in underlying sales since the beginning of the second half. The company also admitted that there was “little evidence to suggest that this will improve in the near term.”

Finance director Phil Dutton said the drop in sales did not equal a profit warning, but said “the next eight weeks will determine everything and it’s very difficult to predict and so we’re giving no guidance.” Chief executive John King admitted that the company had bought 40 percent less seasonal stock for Christmas than last year in an effort to remain conservative, but told the Financial Times that he was nervous, like he was every year.

The company attributed the recent disappointing results to slower sales of coats and sweaters due to the warm autumn weather, as well as its planned departure from the “grey” clothing market, a slow start to the Christmas season shopping and a continued poor performance of its home business. Pre-tax profits were down 28 percent to £30.7 million for the first half, while sales dropped 2 percent to £527.8 million. On the up side, gross margin was up 1.4 percent.

London Margin, the upscale streetwear exhibition, is continuing its quest to help young, urban brands reach a wider audience amongst key retailers and press. For many, Margin London was created out of necessity. Retailers travel the world looking for cult labels and the next big thing but rarely find at mainstream shows where costs prohibit fresh talent from taking part.

The main drive of Margin London was to establish a show where new young labels could find an affordable platform. The exhibition has certainly succeeded and has delighted buyers and press alike with its mix of left-field brands and commercial successes waiting to happen. The next edition of Margin London will be on the 12th & 13th February 2006. For more information go to www.marginlondon.co.uk .

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Luxury giant Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy has reported a 13 percent sales gain to €7 billion for the first six months period. It boasted “market share gains across the brands.â€? Underlying sales rose 12 percent, thanks to a continued strong performance of the fashion and leather goods arm. The Louis Vuitton and Fendi brands are still its bestsellers. The news has allayed fears that the luxury goods sector is showing a slowdown, particularly in the US . The results were slightly above analysts’ expectations. The group reiterated that it expects “very significant growth in its results for 2006â€?. Antoine Belge, an analyst at HSBC, told the FT that the figures could counter investors’ fears, stating that they had “overestimatedâ€? how badly a rise in US interest rates would affect luxury goods demand. Meanwhile, the watches and jewellery division grew 23 percent, led by Tag Heuer. The group said that there had been accelerated growth “in several Asian countriesâ€?, and attributed growth in Chinese tourism as a reason for the success of its retail operations.

The Peacock Group, which owns Peacocks, Bon Marche and The Fragrance Shop, is set to open over 60 new stores as part of a £15 investment programme. Peacocks and Bon Marche will both increase by 30-plus, while three new stores will be added to The Fragrance Shop’s portfolio, in addition to a £2.5 refurbishment programme for the perfumery.

Richard Kirk, CEO of the Group states: “Our brands are among the most exciting growth stories on the high street today. We know what our customers want and each of our brands is very focused on its core target markets.

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Luxury group PPR has said that it has entered into exclusive talks with RREEF to sell its Primtemps department store group to the fund for €1.08 billion. RREEF oversees the real estate portfolio of the Italian La Rinascente department stores and the Borletti Group, which is controlled by Maurizio Borletti, chairman of La Rinascente. PPR said on Tuesday that the transaction will be submitted to the European competition authorities and to Printemps employee representatives. If the deal is approved it will create a department store concern with 32 stores in Italy and France and collective sales of more than €1 billion. The new management structure has not been revealed, although Borletti last year brought Vittorio Radice on board as chief executive of La Rinascente. In a statement he said: „We have a lot of faith in the potential of this retail format, which increasingly turns shopping into entertainment. We want Printemps and its employees to be part of a new surge in development as we continue the repositioning and brand improvement that was launched several years ago.“ Printemps employs approximately 5,200 people and had reported sales of €752 million last year. The deal will include the Citadium sports megastore in Paris and 24 Made in Sport stores, the Madelios men’s emporium in Paris and a Printemps Design unit at the Centre Pompidou.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for PPR told WWD that the company is not looking to sell its other retail activities like the Fnac book and music chain and the Conforma furniture stores. „We will keep all of our businesses that are in line with our strategy for organic growth and international expansion. Printemps was a marginal, small part of our overall business.“ PPR is believed to concentrate increasingly on luxury goods.

Borletti first partnered with RREEF last year to buy La Rinascente, the store his family founded in 1917. He appointed chief executive Radice, who transformed Selfridges, to give the chain an overhaul. Radice outlined a plan to double sales to €605 million in the next seven years and aims to add more product categories to the stores. Department stores are facing challenges including increased competition from specialty stores, rising rents and more demanding consumers.