PARIS — Charlotte Tasset, who helmed the Nina Ricci fashion and fragrance businesses since May 2018, has left the brand, WWD has learned.
Executives at Puig, Nina Ricci’s owner, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Tasset left the company a week ago, according to industry sources. She was the first executive to be named to lead both Nina Ricci’s fragrance and fashion activities.
A few short months after her hire, Tasset helped sign on buzzy young Dutch design duo Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh as the new artistic directors of fashion at Nina Ricci. Their debut collection for the house was presented during the pre-fall 2019 season, followed by the fall 2019 line displayed in March on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar.
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The pair was expected to bring a contemporary edge to the brand that’s already full of femininity and heritage, as well as a “big dose of coolness,” according to José Manuel Albesa, president of brands, markets and operations at Puig, at the time. He suggested Nina Ricci take a cue from the name of its bestselling fragrance, L’Air du Temps, and move with the times.
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Other changes were afoot during Tasset’s tenure at Nina Ricci, too. This April, the brand said it was closing its historic flagship boutique, located at 39 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, as it pivoted to a digital-first strategy, in line with its price repositioning.
“Given a very unstable worldwide situation and ‘new normal’ stakes, we made the bold choice to accelerate Nina Ricci’s new vision process, which will be all about one brand, digital first and approachable luxury,” Ricci said in a statement issued to WWD at the time.
“This naturally included the closing of our brick-and-mortar flagship for the coming opening of a digital flagship. And, of course, we are delighted to have Paco Rabanne, it remains in the family,” the group added, referring to another Puig-owned brand.
For fall 2021, Nina Ricci’s creative directors cut the number of looks they presented by 30 percent, and prices were divided by 2.5, in order to make the collection more accessible.
Nina Ricci was founded in 1982 and is known for its bestselling fragrances.
The brand’s fashion is carried by around 80 retailers worldwide, including Le Bon Marché, Printemps, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Isetan, Joyce and Lane Crawford. It’s also sold online through Net-a-porter, Farfetch and Ssense.
Prior to serving as Nina Ricci’s general manager, Tasset was chief merchandising officer of women’s wear, lingerie, beauty and children’s wear at the French department store chain Printemps, starting in 2009. In the role, she accompanied the store’s renovations and helped to reposition the beauty and women’s fashion divisions in the luxury sphere.
Prior to that, Tasset held positions as a consultant at Arthur Andersen and Capgemini Consulting, before joining Gap France as commercial director and later Sephora as chief merchandising officer.
Her next move could not immediately be learned.
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Nina Ricci Closes Historic Flagship Boutique in Paris
EXCLUSIVE: Nina Ricci Names Charlotte Tasset as General Manager