LVMH has named Anne de Vergeron as CEO of Repossi

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Nov 23, 2020

LVMH has named Anne de Vergeron to be the new CEO of Repossi, promoting an experienced executive who had already been a board member of the Place Vendôme jeweler.

“Anne has been there since LVMH took its first investment in Repossi. It’s a very good idea. She is a woman and that’s simpler. There is a definite awareness of what we want to achieve, and she knows how to work together with a designer,” explained Gaia Repossi, the house’s creative director.

An experienced investment banker, De Vergeron arrived at Repossi four years ago, when LVMH bought its first stake in 2016.

“I work more like a fashion designer in terms of image, marketing and product development. At Repossi, we work on trends and telling stories and trying to do less but better. Working with a group like LVMH which is used to working with creative designers makes things a lot easier,”  Repossi told FashionNetwork.com.

In May 2019, LVMH acquired the option of majority control of Repossi. Founded in Turin in 1950, the house has been guided for the past decade by Gaia Repossi, the fourth generation of the family.

The house’s next major step is to roll out its own e-commerce platform in February.

“We expect to have about 30 references in the online shop. And it will have a democratic feeling. Recognizable pieces with a clear signature; statement pieces. Prices that start at €600 with our rings, all the way up about €25,000 to €30,000 for some pavé versions,” explained Repossi in a call from her office.

She added that house will reserve its more precious items of jewelry for its physical stores.

“Don’t forget, we are a couture house. And that I come from an old jeweler family,” she smiled.

Repossi has already been retailing online with quite a few e-tailers, albeit with limited selections: Dover Street Market; Net-A-Porter; Matches and the websites of Selfridges, Saks and Bergdorf Goodman.

The brand remains resolutely design forward. It linked up with Flavin Judd of the Donald Judd Foundation to revamp the brand’s historic boutique in Monaco. It boasts two flagships – Paris and Monaco – and four other shop-in-shops.

Worldwide, Repossi sells with 50 stockists, having reduced its distribution during the pandemic to focus less on  wholesale.

“That is very LVMH. And, honestly, for what we do, that is a good thing,” concedes Gaia.

“Adaption in our group is very fast and efficient. But sometimes jewelry needs to move slow, and sometimes we need to remember that. Better to do less and better and maybe not produce so many references. To let us tell our stories but not overload,” concludes Repossi, who has spent most all of 2020 here in Paris, commuting to her studio on her electric bike across the Seine from her apartment in Saint Germain.