Louis Vuitton, the French maker of laminated canvas handbags, was named the world’s most valuable luxury brand for a seventh consecutive year.

The brand, owned by LVMH, is worth $25.9 billion, a 7 percent increase from 2011, according to Millward Brown Optimor’s 2012 BrandZ study.

Hermes, in which LVMH owns a stake, rose to second place with a value of $19.1 billion, up 61 percent on last year. Rolex, the closely-held Swiss watch brand, was ranked third at $7.17 billion, a 36 percent gain.

French fashion powerhouse Dior has named Raf Simons as chief designer to succeed John Galliano who was fired more than a year ago for racist outbursts.

The 44-year-old Belgian, who started out designing furniture, will be responsible for Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Women’s Accessories.

He will premiere his first Christian Dior Haute Couture collection in Paris in July, said Dior, one of the crown jewels in Bernard Arnault’s LVMH luxury empire.

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.

LVMH Group’s yacht-building firm Princess has announced formal entry into India and is aiming to sell up to five luxury boats in the next year.

Smallest of these yachts cost INR40million ($790,000) while at the higher end, the price can go up to INR300million ($6,000,000).

“We will sell four to five yachts in the next 12 months,” Sharad Kachalia, a director at Navnit Marine, Princess International’s distributor for the country.

Much has been speculated ever since Dior’s creative head John Galliano fell from grace due to an anti-Semitism scandal five months ago.

Everyone from Azzedine Alaia to Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci has been named as a potential replacement in the process.

But when respected trade publication Women’s Wear Daily adds water to the rumor mill, it is usually an entirely diffrent story in terms of credibility.

Monday’s paper reads that according to an anonymous source, Marc Jacobs is entering negotiations with the house this week.

Rappers’ fascination with luxury brands is far from dying down: following this summer’s surprise hit “Gucci Gucci” by Kreayshawn, it is Soulja Boy who is expressing his fashion love with an EP dedicated to Bernard Arnault.

Soulja Boy has turned his attention to Arnault’s signature brand Louis Vuitton, offering lyrics such as: “It don’t make no sense why they LV fake. But mine’s real!”

But while Soulja Boy manages to mention and correctly pronounce the label more than 60 times, Arnault likely won’t be pleased with being called Robert instead of Bernard several times as part of the new song.