Anna Wintour, CFDA, Bulgari and Dior: This Week in Luxury

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Not for the first time, fashion and political circles have been intersecting as rumors continued to swell regarding Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s potential placement in President Barack Obama’s advisory board. However, Conde Nast put those rumors to rest by offering Ms. Wintour the position of artistic director of the entire publishing house, therefore cementing her presence at the company. In this new role, Ms. Wintour has influence over all publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour.

Meanwhile, the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced its nominees for the 2013 CFDA Fashion Awards in June. Nominees for women’s wear, men’s wear and accessories include Suno’s Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis, Creatures of the Wind’s Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters, Cushnie et Ochs’ Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, Tim Coppens, Todd Snyder and Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow, Maxwell Osborne, Pamela Love, Jennifer Meyer and Irene Neuwirth. Honorary awards will also be given to Vera Wang, Riccardo Tisci, Oscar de la Rentaa, Colleen Atwood and Tim Banks. The awards are June 3 and will be broadcast the following day on Style.com.

The Italian tax police announced on Thursday that it confiscated several real estate properties including corporate investments and life insurance policies traceable to Bulgari execs – a total of $60 million. The investigations focused on fraudulent earnings statements and evasion of tax payments around $4 billion, starting from 2006, set up through allegedly made-up companies in the Netherlands and Ireland, according to Women’s Wear Daily. In addition, police found documents called “escape strategy” designed to find alternatives to Italy’s high tax rate. The Bulgari situation is not too different from the current case against Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who are charged with alleged tax evasion after the sale of Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to a Luxembourg-based holding company, which some say was the designers’ way to get out of paying high taxes in Italy.

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French fashion house Christian Dior had a busy week, gearing up for two collaborations with top retails on either side of the pond. This week launched Dior’s month-long Harrods invasion, comprising an exhibition, 33 window displays, savior-faire, exclusive products and a 50-seat café. Meanwhile, Dior feted its new in-store boutique at Bergdorf Goodman in New York that includes Raf Simmons’ first ready-to-wear collection for Dior as well as spring-centered window displays.