Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/468853
94 BAL HARBOUR MUSICAL CHAIRS A guide to the whirlwind year in fashion and the designers who now helm some of the world's most luxurious houses. BY LYNN YAEGER T hat French guy who was so sure that "the more things change, the more they remain the same" certainly wasn't talking about fashion. When it comes to style, even the least chic among us knows that this industry is all about change! Renewal! The next new thing! Fashion houses—even those that have been around for a hundred years—are more and more switching things up, trading designers as if they were baseball players, and reviving old labels that haven't had a living createur since Zeppelins plied the skies. Trust me, there have been so many illustrious firms taking on new blood recently that you can't tell who is where, and designing what, without a score card. In fact, even with the handy guide we have prepared for you, your perfectly coiffed head will be spinning. First up, let's look at the companies who clearly want someone who will carry out the signatures of the house. The granddaddy of this noble enterprise is the great Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, a master who manages to make Mademoiselle's hallmarks—the soft tweeds, the cropped jackets, the Double C buttons and buckles—completely fresh and modern. Although Lagerfeld has been in Madame's patent-leather pumps for a while, there is a host of new people following this venerable path. Let's give a warm shout-out to Peter Copping, who is taking over for the late, incontestably great Oscar de la Renta. With the delicate feminine sensuality he promulgated at Nina Ricci, his former employer, Copping seems like the perfect guy to take the beribboned reigns. And who, you may ask, is coming into Nina Ricci? The lovely young Frenchman Guillaume Henry, direct from the kicky Carven catwalk. Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2013 runway show.