Are the middle classes killing off luxury fashion? Stella McCartney would really like to know

Luxury fashion sales enjoyed a boom during Covid as lockdown pushed people to seek solace in retail therapy. But the subsequent cost of living crisis has seen shoppers turn their backs on such extravagance. Adam Luck looks at an industry being forced to cut its cloth accordingly

Not so stellar: the fashion designer’s label is among those suffering (Getty/Shutterstock)

From Paris’s chic Marché Saxe-Breteuil, the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Cate Blanchett and Chris Rock could glimpse the Eiffel Tower while taking in Stella McCartney’s fashion show.

As ever with the legendary Beatle’s daughter, no expense was spared for her spring-summer 2024 show, but it was not just the Paris landmark that cast its shadow over the extravaganza.

Behind the bonhomie, new figures uncovered by The Independent show that Anin Star Holding, the company behind Stella McCartney Ltd (SML), has just registered a £185m loss for 2022. This is because McCartney and fellow shareholder – fashion giant Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) – have recognised that projected profits are not going to be at the level they had envisaged. And they are not alone.