Post by SMART FASHION COUNCIL

KARLIE KLOSS: "I FEEL LIKE I'M THE PERSON RUNNING INTO A BURNING BUILDING" + OTHER TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK 07.04.2026 Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner's Bedford Media has been quietly assembling a legacy publishing portfolio — I-D, the rights to relaunch Life, and now W magazine. Her own framing of the bet: "I don't think that we're going to have Facebook outcomes on this investment necessarily... my intention is to build a really viable business, but to make really meaningful work along the way." It lands alongside Bain & Company and Comité Colbert's new luxury AI research showing 64% of Chinese luxury buyers and 82% of very heavy spenders used AI on their last purchase — while only 10% of Maisons think they're any good at showing up in AI search, and third-party editorial content dominates what LLMs actually cite. 👑 Leaders — Helen Connolly's genuine full-circle moment: New Look CEO returns to run George at Asda, the brand where she started 15+ years ago, calling it "coming home." Erica Berchtold becomes David Jones' first female CEO in 188 years. Ravi Thanawala (ex-Nike) takes over as American Eagle's CFO. Giulio Bergamaschi leaves Acqua di Parma to become Louis Vuitton's men's product chief. Charlie Cole, an AI-commerce veteran, takes the helm at Lands' End. Melanie Richards, former KPMG UK deputy chair, joins Dr. Martens' board. Plus moves at H&M France (Thomas Estrany), Kappahl, Poundland, DpHue (Bethenny Frankel), Belmont Park Village, Coty (Markus Strobel's "Coty.Curated" reshuffle), and CNMI (Carlo Capasa re-elected, with Gucci, Prada, and Armani all at the board table). 💲 Finance — Bending Spoons closed its Nasdaq debut up nearly 40%, co-founder Matteo Danieli crediting a philosophy of "minimizing luck" through operational discipline. Reformation's S-1 has a line that's very on-brand: "Not to brag, but after 17 years, we've gotten pretty good at this." Armani taps BCG ahead of a September stake sale, with EssilorLuxottica, L'Oréal, and LVMH named preferred bidders. Venice AI hits a $1B valuation on crypto-native capital. Plus Beauty Tech Group's post-IPO board build-out, Etched's $5B AI chip valuation, and Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5 launch. 🚀 Innovation — New Look's Creative Director Anica Wislawski on its new Fermat AI partnership: "It allows us to remove time from parts of the design process and reinvest it where human creativity matters most." Google launches Nano Banana 2 Lite at $0.034 per 1,000 images. Marie Adam-Leenaerdt wins the 2026 ANDAM Grand Prix two years after losing her first bid. Pandora launches its Pandora Wonders creative platform with stylist Harry Lambert. Plus Under Armour's Feng Chen Wang partnership and the full NYFW Spring 2027 schedule. 🏎️ Join the SMART FASHION COUNCIL Connect with like-minded builders, access real-time insights on how AI creates new layer value: https://lnkd.in/gBAp8s_h #ai #chrematistics #fashion #crypto #blockchain #innovation #defi #vc #angel #smart