Lanvin 2001: Wang buys dormant couture house, bets on Alber Elbaz, revives luxury icon

By the late 1990s, Lanvin, founded by Jeanne Lanvin in 1889 and the oldest French fashion house still operating, had faded into a perfume business under L'Oréal, irrelevant in luxury ready-to-wear. In 2001 Shaw-Lan Wang, a Taiwanese newspaper magnate with no fashion background, bought the house from L'Oréal through her holding Harmonie SA. Her stated motive was almost whimsical: a Hong Kong friend had worn Lanvin for 30 years and would be proud if she owned it.

The pivotal decision came next: instead of hiring a safe industry name, Wang met Alber Elbaz, recently pushed out of Yves Saint Laurent, and chose him because his press book opened with 'Homage to Yves Saint Laurent' — 'Good, I thought. He knows respect.' She gave Elbaz near-total creative freedom to 'wake up the Sleeping Beauty.' His feminine, drapey cocktail dresses made Lanvin a red-carpet staple again and turned the house into one of Paris's most coveted labels.

The revival held for over a decade: revenues climbed to a peak of €235 million in 2012 and an estimated €250 million in 2014, with the brand selling in more than 50 countries. In 2007 Wang also monetized the fragrance and cosmetics arm, selling it to Inter Parfums for €22 million. But the relationship between owner and designer frayed, and Wang dismissed Elbaz in October 2015 — after which sales fell 23 percent to €162 million in 2016 with an €18.3 million net loss, the house's first red ink in nearly a decade.

Revenues rose from a marginal couture operation to a €235 million peak in 2012 and an estimated €250 million in 2014; Lanvin was again a top Paris luxury house.

Wang trusted a single outsider's creative vision for 14 years rather than chasing short-term trends.

Elbaz was chosen on character and taste, not résumé, after being discarded by another house.

Creative freedom was contractual in spirit: Wang stayed out of design and let Elbaz run the aesthetic.

The revival was built on product women actually wore — 'dresses that make women feel beautiful and easy' — not on logo licensing.

The collapse after Elbaz's 2015 dismissal proved the value of the pairing by subtraction.

A dormant brand revives when an owner picks one creative visionary, gives them near-total freedom, and holds the partnership for a decade-plus instead of cycling designers.

After Elbaz's dismissal in October 2015, Lanvin cycled through designers Bouchra Jarrar and Olivier Lapidus while sales eroded from the €235 million 2012 peak to €162 million in 2016 with an €18.3 million net loss. Elbaz received a settlement of roughly €10 million in arbitration over his dismissal. In 2018, with the house running out of funds, Chinese conglomerate Fosun took a majority stake and invested €120 million; Wang's share fell from 75 percent to around 20 percent. Elbaz died in April 2021 at 59.