Swedish high street giants Hennes and Mauritz, who own H&M, COS, Monki and Cheap Monday, are rumoured to be branching into a luxury line.

Designer Behnaz Aram, who joined the company’s design team in August last year, is thought to be heading up the new luxury brand.

H&M spokeswoman Charlotta Nemlin refused to confirm the speculation but did admit the company is constantly working on new endeavours.

Hong Kong investment firm Fung Brands has bought 80 percent of French fashion house Sonia Rykiel in a partnership aimed at boosting the brand’s global presence.

“The partners want to develop the company as a true international luxury brand,” they said in a joint statement.

The Rykiel family will retain a 20 percent stake and the founder’s daughter, Nathalie Rykiel, will remain vice president of the board, it said.

Oscar de la Renta, the high-fashion designer, is launching a digital inspiration Board open to everyone who wants to share an idea for his next collection.

For the next 3 months, fans will be able to upload images or videos to the site; these will then appear on a screen in de la Renta’s studio to help inspire his Resort line.

The Board was launched following the label’s New York Fashion Week presentation February 14, with the designer himself casting the following video appeal for design ideas (below).

French luxury group Hermes has posted record sales of 2.8 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in 2011, highlighting the resilience of luxury brands in the face of the weakening global economy.

The group’s sales were up 18.3 percent last year, beating the target of 15-16 percent growth, it said in a statement, and its operating margin was up more than 30 percent.

The famed maker of luxury bags and silk scarves said revenue growth had been led in non-Japan Asia, where sales were up 29 percent, and in the United States, where they were up 26 percent.

French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH – Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy has paid US$200 million for a 10 per cent stake in Chinese fashion brand Ochirly.

The buyout gives L Capital, LVMH’s private equity arm, to hold a direct stake in the family-owned Ochirly which has total value of US$2 billion.

The investment gives L Capital an opportunity to break into China’s strong fashion industry while Ochirly gains recognition through having a global investor.

The growing power of the Chinese consumer might have the world in its thrall but it seems it won’t be too long before their lust for luxury is more satisfied a little closer to home.

Traditionally, Chinese shoppers have had to head overseas to pick up the latest fashions or other luxury items, due mainly to steep taxes on such items back home.

A recent survey by the World Luxury Association claimed that 72 percent of Chinese consumers believed that luxury goods were cheaper overseas than at home, while 69 percent of those polled traveled simply because they had a wider choice of goods available to them when they did.