Lanvin

Lanvin helped invent the luxury sneaker: Lucas Ossendrijver launched the first Lanvin urban sneakers, with their signature patent-leather toe caps, around his AW 2006 men's collection, and they later crossed into women's lines. For buyers, the value lies in that pedigree and the house's reputation for refined craft. If you want a quiet, well-made designer trainer rather than a logo-heavy one, Lanvin is a natural choice.

Lanvin is the oldest French fashion house still in operation, founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin in Paris. That endurance, paired with a legacy of couture, perfume and craft rather than hype, gives it deep prestige. It built its name on history and feeling, which is why it is still mentioned alongside the great Paris houses today.

It is one of fashion's most touching emblems. The logo was inspired by a photograph of Jeanne Lanvin and her daughter Marguerite in matching outfits at a costume ball in 1907, and was drawn in 1923 by the illustrator Paul Iribe. As Alber Elbaz put it, "It's not a lion, and it's not a horse. It's a mother and a daughter" — a logo he found deeply emotional.

That is Arpège, launched in 1927 and still the house's signature scent. Jeanne Lanvin created it to celebrate the thirtieth birthday of her daughter Marguerite, by then a musician, and the name translates as "arpeggio." It later carried the tagline "Promise her anything, but give her Arpège." Lanvin's earlier scent, Mon Péché (My Sin), arrived in 1925.

Lanvin was founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin in Paris, beginning as a millinery shop at 16 Rue Boissy-d'Anglas. Lanvin, born in 1867, had started a small millinery as early as 1885, and her daughter Marguerite, born in 1897, became her muse. Making clothes for Marguerite led to a children's line in 1908 and, after she joined the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture in 1909, full womenswear.

Peter Copping became artistic director of Lanvin in 2024, leading both the womenswear and menswear collections. His earlier work includes leading Balenciaga's return to haute couture and creative roles at Oscar de la Renta and Nina Ricci. He follows a line of directors that includes Alber Elbaz and, more recently, Bruno Sialelli.

Appointed artistic director in 2001 (with his tenure running through 2015), Alber Elbaz revived Lanvin with dramatic, flowing silhouettes in luxurious fabrics that critics loved. He introduced new packaging in 2006 in Lanvin's favourite forget-me-not flower colour, a shade Jeanne Lanvin is said to have seen in a Fra Angelico fresco, and in 2010 designed a sell-out guest collection for H&M.

Yes. In May 2009 Michelle Obama was photographed wearing Lanvin's suede sneakers, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps, while volunteering at a Washington food bank. The moment brought the house mainstream attention in the United States and helped cement the Lanvin sneaker as a modern icon.

Since 2018 Lanvin has been a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based Lanvin Group, after Fosun International acquired the house that February. The group, originally Fosun Fashion Group and renamed Lanvin Group in 2021, also includes Sergio Rossi, Wolford, St. John Knits and Caruso, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023.

Lanvin's distinction is age and intimacy. As the oldest French fashion house still operating, founded in 1889, it predates many of its rivals, and its identity is built on a mother-and-daughter story rather than a single bold logo. Where some houses trade on spectacle, Lanvin leans on history, craft and a softer, more emotional kind of Parisian elegance.

It always has. Jeanne Lanvin expanded early into a children's line in 1908, interior design with Armand-Albert Rateau in 1920, and launched men's, fur and lingerie lines in 1926, plus the celebrated Lanvin Parfums in 1924. More recently, Lanvin Lab launched in 2023 with collaborative mini-collections, the first with rapper Future, so the house keeps reaching beyond ready-to-wear.