Mugler appoints Pascal Conte-Jodra as managing director

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jul 23, 2018

There is new man at the helm of Mugler. The French fashion label, founded by designer Thierry Mugler in 1974 and owned by the Clarins group, is now headed by Pascal Conte-Jodra. The general management of the Clarins group’s fashion business was previously overseen by Sandrine Groslier, the group’s president.

Clarins has chosen a manager with a strong operations experience to take charge of Mugler, a label which is in the midst of a relaunch phase. Until 2017, Pascal Conte-Jodra worked for the LVMH group, as Global Vice President Finance & Business Controlling at Marc Jacobs in New York. Before then, he spent eight years, still in New York, at Carolina Herrera (owned by the Puig group), as vice president in charge of expansion and strategic planning.

In the last few months, Pascal Conte-Jodra was a mentor at the Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin (the French Federation For Women’s Ready-to-Wear), assisting emerging designers in their development strategies as part of the Federation’s ‘Talents’ mentorship programme.

Mugler is currently undergoing profound changes. In 2016, Clarins sent a first strong signal by introducing a new logo and eliminating ‘Thierry’ from the brand’s denomination, so that both the fashion and fragrance business were under the same brand name. In 2017, US designer Casey Cadwallader was appointed creative director. He showed his first collection last May. Mugler, which owns a store in Paris, develops four collections per year and also produces an accessories line. Mugler’s fragrance business was initiated in 1992, with the launch of Angel, and is one of the brand’s mainstays. The challenge for Cadwallader and Conte-Jodra is to boost Mugler’s revenue and improve its profitability.

The Clarins group owns, among others, the Clarins, My Blend and Azzaro brands. According to consultancy firm Deloitte, in 2016 the group generated a revenue of over €850 million, and was 32nd in Deloitte’s world ranking of luxury corporations.