My Market Insight, the company for data, commentary, and analysis across various media platforms, has revealed its weekly beauty insight today with a focus on PR performance of skincare across, print, online and social channels in 2017. The report focuses on trends throughout the year as well as identifying brands that have performed well against key metrics i.e. mentions, earned media value (EMV) and social engagement.

In 2017, skincare received 28% of all beauty PR. It was the 2nd largest category in terms of both PR mentions and EMV, led only by cosmetics. Skincare EMV was worth £110 million or 16% of the total beauty market. The largest proportion of skincare PR mentions came from consumer magazines; delivering 22% of all skincare mentions. Whilst YouTube created just 10% of all skincare PR mentions, it generated 57% of the category’s EMV.

Undeniably Social Influencers, particularly on YouTube, are a driving force for the beauty industry. We highlight ways in which Social Influencers shaped the skincare category in 2017, from brand and Influencer collaborations to promoting brand exposure.

Content Summary:

Kiehl’s Since 1851 achieved online EMV worth £400,569, the greatest online EMV performance by a skincare brand in 2017.

Whilst Glossier only launched in the UK in October 2017, Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanse, was the most popular product on YouTube in 2017, receiving 372,089 likes.

FleurDeForce generated the greatest number of Skincare PR mentions on YouTube in 2017. Fleur's YouTube skincare content also ranked in first place for skincare engagement.

Standout Performance:

Pixi Beauty collaborated with skincare expert Caroline Hirons to create “Pixi by Caroline Hirons Double Cleanse”. In 2017, Double Cleanse was the most mentioned skincare product across print, online and social combined. In addition to this, Double Cleanse achieved the third highest skincare EMV, worth £896,565. Also, Pixi Glow Tonic was the 2nd most mentioned skincare product in 2017, achieving 263 PR mentions.

Charlotte Tilbury Instant Magic Facial Dry Sheet Mask achieved a lot of buzz in the media when it launched in January 2017, due to its revolutionary concept. The Dry Sheet Mask was the 5th most mentioned skincare product in 2017, receiving 172 PR mentions across print, online and social combined worth £433,836 EMV. The largest proportion of EMV for the mask came from Lydia Millen’s YouTube channel worth £47,806 EMV.

In 2017, Kate La Vie was in the top 10 Social Influencers for Skincare Instagram engagement, achieving 114,704 likes. Skincare coverage on Kate’s YouTube channel also generated 60,530 likes and 1,952,179 views worth over £200,000 EMV. Katelavie.com also featured 76 skincare PR mentions. Altogether, Kate featured 116 skincare different products across her platforms. Glossier Priming Moisturizer was Kate’s most mentioned product in 2017, producing 15 PR mentions.

If these insights interest you, call for more information. You can gain access to My Market Insight's data for as little as £750 and DIARY directory Subscribers receive a 20% discount.

Two months after legendary designer Azzedine Alaia's sudden death plunged the fashion world into mourning, an exhibition in homage to the "King of Cling" opens Monday in his studios in Paris.

The Tunisian-born designer, renowned for the way his clothes hugged the body, died suddenly in November aged 82, reportedly of heart failure after falling down the stairs at his home.

The diminutive maverick, who ignored fashion week convention by showing when and where he wanted, in July produced his first couture collection in six years to rapturous reviews.

Now some of his most iconic dresses are going on display in the glass-roofed gallery next to his studio and home in the Marais district where he used to show his creations.

It includes the dress worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell, his longtime friend and muse, when she led his last collection down the catwalk.

The pair were so close Campbell called the designer "Papa", and she was inconsolable at his funeral in Tunis.

Alaia studied to be a sculptor and used his fine art training to sculpt with needle and thread.

Fashion historian Olivier Saillard, who has curated the show which runs until June, said Alaia's famously flattering cut was timeless.

To hammer the point home, none of the dresses in "Azzedine Alaia: I am a Couturier" have a panel explaining when they were made.

"I defy anyone to distinguish between a dress made in 1981, 1995 or 2017," he told AFP.

Instead curious visitors must consult a catalogue at the door.

- 'Last of the couturiers' -

Saillard described Alaia as the "last of the couturiers", capable of doing everything himself and making his mastery invisible.

"Like Balenciaga and all those who knew how to cut and sew, he moved further and further away from making an obvious show of his brilliant technique."

He said his clothes "didn't shout, there was nothing bling about them", instead he went for an eternal style that never went out of fashion.

Almost all the dresses in the show -- including ones he made for pop star and actress Grace Jones -- are in black or white.

"Alaia used to say that you can make an idea more precise in black and not dilute it," Saillard said.

The famous hooded dress he made for Jones and the fire brigade-red zip one he created for pop superstar Rihanna are among the 41 classic dresses on display.

Although his private life was always a mystery, the designer kept an open house in Paris during fashion weeks as celebrities rubbed shoulders with students and waifs and strays at his large kitchen table where he cooked for all comers.

Alaia moved to Paris at the height of the Algerian war of independence, where he soon got a job with Christian Dior, only to be let go because he did not have the right immigration papers.

Despite the setback, he moved on to work with Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler before going out on his own with his own wealthy clientele.

A foundation has now been created to safeguard his work, and will also hold regular exhibitions from his vast personal collection of couture.

A retrospective of his work, "Azzedine Alaia, The Couturier", will open at the Design Museum in London in May, when his brand will also open its first British boutique.

Luxury jewellery brand Azza Fahmy Jewellery has announced its UK store launch on 1 March at Mayfair's Burlington Arcade. Azza Fahmy has collaborated with Julien Macdonald, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, Matthew Williamson and created bespoke collections for The British Museum. The concept store forms part of the Egyptian brand’s international retail network expansion plans and will reflect elements of their latest Galleria 40 store in Cairo which marked the direction of future designs

UK natural and organic brand ORGANii has launched its new Arica Gel. Certified COSMOS Organic and certified vegan, the 50ml tube is an extension of its personal care range and can help to cool and relax tired muscles and joints, as well as offer relief for muscle pain, bites and stings, bruises, sprains, swelling and stiffness. The gel is now available to buy from selected stockists at £3.95.

Push PR has been appointed to handle the press and publicity for pop-up hairdressing concept Chop-Chop London. Chop Chop London offers quick, convenient and quality dry styling and cutting for all races, genders and hair types.

Footwear brand Malone Souliers has appointed Charlotte Wickenden as Junior Press Assistant. Additionally, Lucy Rumble has been promoted to Head of Communications.

Julia Sugden PR has been appointed to handle the press and publicity for shoe boutique My Fashion Tribu. Established in 2013 founder Jane Galland combined her passion for accessories, fashion and travel to bring together a carefully curated collection of shoes for women and children.

Diesel Parfums has unveiled actor Alex Pettyfer as the face of the brand's upcoming Only the Brave fragrance campaign. In his soon-to-be-unveiled first campaign for Only the Brave, Alex will lead and unite a global squadron of young and influential braves.

My Market Insight, the company for data, commentary, and analysis across various media platforms, has revealed its weekly beauty insight today with a focus on PR performance of skincare across, print, online and social channels in 2017. The report focuses on trends throughout the year as well as identifying brands that have performed well against key metrics i.e. mentions, earned media value (EMV) and social engagement.

In 2017, skincare received 28% of all beauty PR. It was the 2nd largest category in terms of both PR mentions and EMV, led only by cosmetics. Skincare EMV was worth £110 million or 16% of the total beauty market. The largest proportion of skincare PR mentions came from consumer magazines; delivering 22% of all skincare mentions. Whilst YouTube created just 10% of all skincare PR mentions, it generated 57% of the category’s EMV.

Undeniably Social Influencers, particularly on YouTube, are a driving force for the beauty industry. We highlight ways in which Social Influencers shaped the skincare category in 2017, from brand and Influencer collaborations to promoting brand exposure.

Content Summary:

Kiehl’s Since 1851 achieved online EMV worth £400,569, the greatest online EMV performance by a skincare brand in 2017.

Whilst Glossier only launched in the UK in October 2017, Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanse, was the most popular product on YouTube in 2017, receiving 372,089 likes.

FleurDeForce generated the greatest number of Skincare PR mentions on YouTube in 2017. Fleur's YouTube skincare content also ranked in first place for skincare engagement.

Standout Performance:

Pixi Beauty collaborated with skincare expert Caroline Hirons to create “Pixi by Caroline Hirons Double Cleanse”. In 2017, Double Cleanse was the most mentioned skincare product across print, online and social combined. In addition to this, Double Cleanse achieved the third highest skincare EMV, worth £896,565. Also, Pixi Glow Tonic was the 2nd most mentioned skincare product in 2017, achieving 263 PR mentions.

Charlotte Tilbury Instant Magic Facial Dry Sheet Mask achieved a lot of buzz in the media when it launched in January 2017, due to its revolutionary concept. The Dry Sheet Mask was the 5th most mentioned skincare product in 2017, receiving 172 PR mentions across print, online and social combined worth £433,836 EMV. The largest proportion of EMV for the mask came from Lydia Millen’s YouTube channel worth £47,806 EMV.

In 2017, Kate La Vie was in the top 10 Social Influencers for Skincare Instagram engagement, achieving 114,704 likes. Skincare coverage on Kate’s YouTube channel also generated 60,530 likes and 1,952,179 views worth over £200,000 EMV. Katelavie.com also featured 76 skincare PR mentions. Altogether, Kate featured 116 skincare different products across her platforms. Glossier Priming Moisturizer was Kate’s most mentioned product in 2017, producing 15 PR mentions.

If these insights interest you, call for more information. You can gain access to My Market Insight's data for as little as £750 and DIARY directory Subscribers receive a 20% discount.

Thigh-high Ugg boots, post-Weinstein men paraded as dogs, pigs and dinosaurs and a tartan army of plaids and check -- as Paris men's fashion week ends Sunday, we look back on the big trends and talking points:

- Men are pigs -

This was the week when the fashion industry had its Weinstein moment with allegations that two star photographers had harassed and assaulted models.

Julien David, Walter Van Beirendonck and Comme des Garcons caught the air of the times by putting dog, pig and dinosaur heads on their models, while the American Rick Owens ripped his "clothes in anger... It's draining to watch unhealthy cycles repeat themselves, behaviourally and historically, and it is hard to suppress a howl of rage," he said, with his own president also in his sights.

Sacai designer Chitose Abe and French brand Etudes also took a stand against Donald Trump by using the New York times "The Truth is Hard" slogan on their clothes to support media outlets Trump has accused of "fake news".

- Ugg ugly no more? -

They have been called "Australia's joke on the rest of the world", and many thought they had been confined to fashion Alcatraz. But no, Ugg boots are back and this time they are thigh-high.

Uber hip Y/Project designer Glenn Martens tried to turn the sheepskin slippers into fetish objects of desire -- although the jury is out.

Martens described wearing them as putting your "feet in warm butter" and said bringing them to the crotch "keeps your thighs as well as your feet warm".

More conventional Uggs turned up in the Sacai show with designer Abe admitting "I wear them myself in winter... even outdoors."

- Check out the tartan -

There was no doubting the dominant pattern for next winter. The skirl of tartan and check ran through three quarters of the Paris collections, making fashion week sometimes feel like one extended Burn's Night.

From street style brands like Facetasm and Andrea Crews to White Mountaineering, Henrik Vibskov, Sacai, Agnes b, Thom Browne and the romantic classicism of Alexander McQueen, a tartan army was one the march.

No more so than with the "Prince of Prints" Dries Van Noten, whose beautiful use of Stewart tartan may have finally rescued it from clutches of Bay City Roller kitsch.

Ironically, the British heritage brand Dunhill's debut Paris show was a tartan-free zone, proposing instead the shiny leather business suit.

- Man bags -

With so much to be money to be made, it is no surprise that fashion keeps insisting that men need the equivalent of handbags. Rare was the show this week that did not have a model holding a manbag, swinging a sack or shoulder bag slung nonchalantly over one arm.

Even Van Noten, who is normally above such things, included one. While a cat-shaped, highly strokable clutch bag was also spotted on one front row, Loewe won the originally prize for its elephant-shaped manbag which sits on the knee. Clearly a must for the man who cannot fit everything into his trunk.

- Boots with suits -

Whether it is the influence of the television series "Peaky Blinders" or to man-up more fey androgynous looks, robust boots walked all over every other form of footwear on the catwalk. Dr. Martens were omnipresent with even Dior paying homage with their own versions of the butch work boots, while Rick Owens won many new fans with his suede "hover bovver" boots with extended soles.

Boots were almost the rule under well-cut of suits, with John Galliano debuting a male version of the Tabi boot at Margiela as did wunderkind Demna Gvasalia rather cheekily at Vetements.

And Officine Generale went hell for leather with their vintage Mexican police boots, which designer Pierre Maheo said "became a reference for narco culture when many (officers) crossed over to the dark side."

Hedi Slimane, the designer who pioneered the skinny look at Dior and Saint Laurent, is to take over at Celine, the brand's owners said Sunday.

The 49-year-old French-born creator is one of fashion's biggest and most enigmatic names, and his future has been surrounded by speculation since he walked away from Saint Laurent last year.

The luxury giant LVMH, which owns Celine, has given Slimane complete control of the brand's images and creative side in order to sign him up -- a concession which put him alongside Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld as one of the most powerful designers in fashion.

They are also letting him create a menswear line at the label, which up until now only made clothes for women.

Announcing the surprise appointment, Bernard Arnault, the owner of LVMH, said: "He is one of the most talented designers of our time.

"Hedi will oversee and develop all creativity for both women's and men's fashion, but also for leather goods, accessories and fragrances," he added.

Slimane fell out with Saint Laurent reportedly because of his frustration at not being able to control its perfume and cosmetics arms.

Slimane's skinny and rock star chic looks made millions for both Dior and Saint Laurent, and were much copied by mass-market brands.

Lagerfeld, who famously shed 41 kilos (90 pounds) in order to squeeze into Slimane's skinny jeans, was the first to cheer the news of his move.

"I am enchanted, what a great choice," he told Women's Wear Daily. "It will be great."

- Friend of the stars -

Like Lagerfeld, Slimane is a renowned photographer, and he has spent the last seven years living in Los Angeles, where he had moved his studio at the end of his reign at Saint Laurent.

The designer drew much of his inspiration from the LA rock scene, which he tirelessly documented with his photographs and in his blog.

A mysterious and intensely private figure, he nonetheless has struck up close friendships with many A-listers including pop star Lady Gaga.

AFP understands that he will continue to live in the city while he designs for Celine, and start work within 10 days.

Slimane borrowed many of the elements of his grungy, androgynous look from the world of rock, with his skinny style initially influenced by British indie bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines.

The Libertines bohemian frontman Peter Doherty became a friend and muse, and figured prominently in his 2006 photo book, "London Birth of a Cult".

- 'The Sultan of skinny' -

Arnault, who is known to be close to the designer, said Slimane will use his "global vision and unique aesthetic virtuosity in further building an iconic French fashion house."

He will make his first bow for Celine during Paris women's fashion week in September, when he will show a co-ed collection with clothes for both men and women.

"I am delighted to join Bernard Arnault in this all-embracing and fascinating mission for Celine," Slimane said.

"I greatly look forward to returning to the exciting world of fashion and the dynamism of the ateliers."

Slimane will also be reunited at Celine with Sidney Toledano, one of fashion's most influential backroom figures.

The pair were a formidable team at Dior where Slimane was a huge trendsetter until his departure in 2012.

Dubbed the "Sultan of skinny", Slimane designed for the late rock star David Bowie, with his skinny silhouette dominating men's style for more than a decade.

He takes over at Celine from the highly-rated British designer Phoebe Philo who quit last month after a decade at the helm.

She had created a cult following at the label for her hip minimalist and very modernist style.

Philo had also lately embraced the oversized trend which Slimane is credited with kickstarting at Saint Laurent with his long gorilla-sleeved jackets.

While his designs have made millions, Slimane's immigrant origins are modest. He was born in a working-class district of the French capital to a Tunisian father and Italian mother, who worked as a dressmaker.

He first wanted to be a journalist before slipping into fashion after he became an assistant to Jean-Jacques Picart, one of the founders of the haute couture house Christian Lacroix.

Celine, which has a turnover just shy of one billion euros ($1.2 billion), was founded by Celine Vipiana in Paris just after World War II.

Dominique Gardiner, previously Acting PR Manager at M&Co has announced that she is going freelance. Dominique will continue to work on her personal fashion and travel blog, It's A Style Thing, and would like to hear from fashion and lifestyle brands who need PR, events and Influencer engagement support. Dominique has worked in PR and events for 10 years, prior to working at M&Co she was Senior Press Officer at Schuh. 

The year 2018, barely underway, has already dealt a series of disheartening blows to the quest for an Alzheimer's cure.Within the first three weeks, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer abandoned the costly and frustrating field of dementia drug development, and two promising treatments stumbled in patient trials.

Alzheimer's support groups are putting on a brave face, but the collective disappointment is palpable as the global cost of caring for some 50 million dementia sufferers is set to reach $1 trillion (819 billion euros) this year.

"It's very fair to say that progress is slow," David Reynolds, chief scientific officer at Alzheimer's Research UK, a charity, told AFP.

"Companies have put a lot of time, effort and money in over the last 25 years, and there haven't been any new medicines launched in this area for 16 years now."

Experts say it takes 12-15 years, on average, and more than $2 billion to develop a single drug.

According to the Alzforum website, which gathers data on candidate drugs, fewer than 300 have made it to Phase II drug efficiency trials so far.

Only five have ever been approved to treat symptoms such as memory loss associated with Alzheimer's, first identified more than 100 years ago.

With a clinical trial failure rate of over 99 percent, there is still no licenced drug that slows the condition's progression, or cures it.

Today, about 100 candidate dementia drugs are enrolled in trials, compared to over 1,000 for cancer, according to Reynolds.

One reason is that "pharmaceutical companies ultimately are companies. They are beholden to their investors," he said.

"A return on investment is really: How much time and money do you put into getting a new medicine versus how much money can you make once you've actually got it? In this area, success has been very difficult to come by."The stakes are high.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 10 million people per year are diagnosed with dementia, with Alzheimer's disease accounting for about two-thirds of cases.

By 2030, the number of sufferers is projected to reach 82 million globally, and by 2050 some 152 million.

The medical, patient-care, and economic costs are enormous.A heavy burden falls on family members, the majority of care providers worldwide. Many have to give up their jobs.

Alzheimer's affects mainly older people—about one in four over-85s is a sufferer. And numbers have soared as lifespans have lengthened thanks to medical advances in other fields.

With cardiovascular disease and cancer the biggest killers in the 1960s and '70s, that is where most of the research money went.

"In dementia, that investment wasn't there. So the amount of knowledge... about the disease is at a much, much earlier stage, and arguably the brain is a much more complicated organ" than the heart, said Reynolds.

To this day, scientists don't know exactly what causes Alzheimer's, leaving drug developers stumped.

On January 6, Pfizer announced an end to its "discovery and early development efforts" for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's dementia drugs.

Two days later, Danish company Lundbeck reported its idalopirdine compound did not "decrease cognitive loss" in patients, and on January 12, biotech firm Axovant announced the end of the road for its offering, intepirdine.Experts say every failure of a drug reveals something new about Alzheimer's disease, which is thought to be associated with a buildup of protein "plaques", and "tangles" in the brain.

One important recent realisation was that an effective treatment may have to begin long before symptoms appear as protein build-up likely starts decades before disease sets in.

This, in itself, presents a research challenge.

"How do you find these patients?" when they are in middle age and symptom-free, explained French neurology professor Bruno Dubois. "How long do you treat them?"

Drugs in development today are targeting several tracks.

Some use antibodies to mop up proteins in circulation, or enzymes to inhibit their production.

Another experimental approach is vaccination: training the body to produce its own antibodies to attack disease-causing proteins.

"We are not moving backwards," insisted Reynolds.

Yet, he was "by no means certain" that a goal set by the G8 in 2013 to develop a cure or treatment for dementia by 2025 can be met.

"Even knowing the obstacles, we have never been as optimistic as we are today," added James Hendrix, a director at the US-based Alzheimer's Association, one of several non-profit research funders.

"We will not slow down in our fight against this terrible disease," he vowed.

"We are steadfastly committed to both advocating for further increased federal funding for Alzheimer's and dementia research, and increasing our own level of research funding to get us to where we ultimately need to be—a world without Alzheimer's disease."

All of the jewels looted in a multi-million-euro robbery at the Ritz hotel in Paris have been recovered, a source close to the case said Thursday, as a police hunt for two of the robbers continued.

In the latest of a series of audacious heists in France, a gang armed with hatchets and handguns burst into the five-star hotel on the capital's glitzy Place Vendome on Wednesday evening and smashed the display windows of jewellery shops on the ground floor.

The robbers, wearing balaclavas and gloves, entered through a rear staff entrance and swiped gems and watches worth over four million euros ($4.8 million).

But the plot began to unravel as soon as they attempted to make their getaway, with three men arrested when they came up against locked doors as they tried to flee out the back of the building.

Some of the loot was recovered after being dropped during those arrests, a source told AFP.

The rest of the jewels and watches were found in a bag dropped by one of the two robbers who got away, another source said.

The three arrested men, all around 30 years old, are from the Seine-Saint-Denis area north of Paris, and are "well known to the police for armed robbery, violent crime and receiving stolen goods", a source close to the inquiry said. Police extended their custody for a further 24 hours on Thursday night.

The incident took place at about 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) as the streets of Paris were busy with people making their way home from work.

A police team in charge of patrolling the square -- home to some of Paris's top jewellers and watchmakers, as well as the justice ministry -- was quickly on the scene.

- Attractive target -

Several luxury brands display their jewels in the storied Ritz, famous as the lodging of choice for Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway as well as Britain's Princess Diana, who spent her final hours there before dying in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997.

The hotel, opened in 1898, has been owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed since 1979.

Wednesday's robbery took place 18 months after the Ritz's palatial doors were re-opened to guests following nearly four years of renovations and a massive fire.

On finding their escape route blocked the thieves threw the loot out of a window to two accomplices waiting outside.

One of the two accomplices escaped in a car that was found abandoned north of Paris.

The other made a getaway on a motorbike, dropping a bag of jewels and knocking over a pedestrian while speeding the wrong way up a one-way street.

The hotel's management has declined to comment on the robbery.

Place Vendome has been the scene of several heists in recent years.

- Long list of heists -

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb praised officers for quickly apprehending three of the robbers, saying they had "done our police force credit".

But the audacious strike at one of Paris's most glamorous hotels could cast a cloud over the Ritz's image.

France has found itself repeatedly in the headlines for high-profile robberies, particularly in Paris and on the Riviera.

Security around Place Vendome was reinforced in 2014 after five high-end jewellery and watch stores were hit by armed robberies in less than seven months.

The losses in those attacks ranged from 420,000 euros to two million euros.

In October 2016, US reality TV star Kim Kardashian was the target of one of the biggest heists in recent years while attending Paris Fashion Week.

Five men held Kardashian at gunpoint in the luxury apartment where she was staying, making off with a diamond ring and other jewellery valued in total at nine million euros.

British designer Kim Jones is to quit Louis Vuitton after he shows his final men's collection for the label on Thursday, the brand said Wednesday.

His departure from one of the plum jobs in men's fashion is likely to set off a fresh round of musical chairs, with speculation mounting that he may be on his way to Versace.

The 44-year-old has led the luxury French brand since 2011 after he was poached from British heritage house Dunhill, which he dusted down and gave a new lease of life.

Vuitton said that Jones "has been the driving force behind some of the house's most successful projects and collaborations", with eye-catching hook-ups with hip New York streetwear brand Supreme and the iconoclastic British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman.

Jones brought his passion for wildlife and for exotic travel to his ultra luxurious collections for Vuitton, mixing a lingering nostalgia for British colonial chic with a streetwise edge.

Vuitton's chairman Michael Burke praised Jones' ability to "set trends" and for making the label "the leading brand in luxury menswear today.

"All of us who have been fortunate to work with Kim wish him continued success in his next venture," he added in a statement.

Women's Wear Daily, the fashion industry bible, had reported that the designer was in talks with Versace in September, but the Italian brand would not comment on the rumours.

WWD praised the Briton in September as one of the "small clutch of marquee designers who can straddle the luxury and streetwear worlds, which is why Versace might have come knocking."

Jones could also be a contender for the British brand Burberry which has been looking for a creative director to replace Christopher Bailey, who is leaving in March.

The billionaire family that owns Dutch clothing retailer C&A is on the brink of selling the chain to Chinese investors, a German media report said Sunday.

The deal is close to being finalised, Der Spiegel weekly said, citing "insider sources".

C&A, founded in the Netherlands in 1841 by the German-Dutch Brenninkmeijer family, has over 1,500 stores across Europe employing some 35,000 people.

The chain, which focuses on offering affordable clothing for men, women and children, also has a smaller presence in China, Mexico and Brazil.

The reclusive Brenninkmeijer family owns C&A through the Cofra Holding company headquartered in Switzerland.

C&A declined to confirm or deny the mooted sale when contacted by Spiegel, the magazine said.

The Cofra holding company told the magazine in a statement that C&A was looking into growth opportunities in all regions.

"The ongoing restructuring of C&A also includes exploring different ways to pick up the pace in growth markets like China and in the digital area, and could potentially include partnerships and other kinds of additional, external participations."

Believed to be worth some 20 billion euros, the Brenninkmeijer family is one of Europe's wealthiest and most secretive, according to Spiegel.

It is also large, comprising some 1,000 family members whose shares in C&A are bundled into the Cofra Holding company based in the Swiss town of Zug, Spiegel added.

Today, Ailsa Miller joins weekly magazine Stylist as fashion editor. Alisa was previously shopping editor at Tatler.