MAM
Kingfisher celebrates fifth edition of Fashion Awards
MUMBAI: Expect some fizzy fun when beer brand Kingfisher hosts a fashion awards. And that’s just what happened at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards 2005 held recently.
The Kingfisher Fashion Awards – one of the first fashion awards – brought together Indian designers, ravishing models and the hottest celebrities to honour the contributions of professionals in the fashion industry who have worked hard to establish themselves in a highly competitive market.
The judges for this year were Dr Vijay Mallya, Prasad Bidapa, Shobhaa De, Nonita Kalra, Asha Baxi, Atul Kasbekar, Sathya Saran, Caroline Young and Feroze Gujral.
The highlight of the evening was the new line of Kingfisher pr?t unveiled by eminent designer Manoviraj Khosla. Neeta Lulla, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Narendra Kumar also showcased their latest collections. India’s top models including Sheetal Malhar, Nethra Raghuraman, Fleur Xavier, Acquin Pais, Shahwar Ali, Aryan Vaid, Upen Patel, Muzamil Ibrahim, Praveen Sirohi, Inder Mohan Sudan, Zulfi Syed and Rajneesh Duggal walked the ramp for this show.
As a build up to the event, Kingfisher Model Hunt was conducted in the most happening night spots of Mumbai. The model hunt was conceived to ensure that new talent was given an appropriate platform to make their debut and get recognised. Judges Atul Kasbekar, Prasad Bidapa and Manoviraj Khosla selected Jasmine Dawda and Tanveer Shah to walk the ramp with India’s topnotch models.
UB Group chairman DR Vijay Mallya said, “The Kingfisher Fashion Awards play a significant role in encouraging and promoting the best in Indian fashion industry. We are delighted to have created this platform to celebrate exceptional talent. It is not only designers and models we honour, but also the creative foundations on which this industry is built.”
The winners were as follows:
Category Winner
Designer of the year Rajesh Pratap Singh
Female Model of the year Deepika Padukone
Male Model of the year Rajneesh Duggal
Photographer of the year Bharat Sikka
Lifetime achievement Award Shahab Durazi
Make-up artist of the year Mickey Contractor
Hair stylist of the year Cory Walia
Fashion writer of the year Superna Motwane
Contribution to the fashion industry Neeta Lulla
Contribution to the fashion industry Narendra Kumar
New model of the year – male Mustafa Hussain
New model of the year – female Rachael Bayros
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
