Fashion
French police hunt Louvre jewellery thieves
By
AFP
Published
October 20, 2025
The hunt was on Monday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewellery from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight.
Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organised crime group.
The heist reignited a row over a lack of security in France’s museums, with Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin admitting Monday to security flaws in protecting the Louvre.
“What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels, and give France a terrible image,” he told France Inter radio.
After several other robberies from French museums in recent months, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had acknowledged Sunday that securing them was a “major weak spot”.
The thieves arrived between 9:30 and 9:40 am (07:30 and 07:40 GMT) Sunday, shortly after the museum opened to the public at 9:00 am, a source close to the investigation said.
They used a truck with an extendable ladder like those used by movers to get access to the Apollo Gallery, home to the royal collection, and cutting equipment to get in through a window and open the display cases.
A brief clip of the raid, apparently filmed on the phone of a visitor to the museum, was broadcast on French news channels.
The masked thieves stole nine 19th-century items of jewellery, one of which- the crown of the Empress Eugenie- they dropped and damaged as they made their escape.
It is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s website.
Eight “priceless” items of jewellery were stolen, the culture ministry said Sunday.
The list they released included an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie-Louise.
Also stolen was a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds, and a necklace that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France. It has eight sapphires and 631 diamonds, according to the Louvre’s website.
The whole raid took just seven minutes and is thought to have been carried out by an experienced team, possibly “foreigners”, Nunez said.
The intervention of the museum’s staff forced the thieves to flee, leaving behind some of the equipment used in the raid, the culture ministry said.
The loot would be impossible to sell on in its current state, said Alexandre Giquello, president of the leading auctioneer house Drouot.
It was the first theft from the Louvre since 1998, when a painting by Camille Corot was stolen and never seen again.
Sunday’s raid relaunched a debate over what critics says is poor security at the nation’s museums, far less secure than banks and increasingly targeted by thieves.
Last month, criminals broke into Paris’s Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth $700,000.
The same month, thieves stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in the central city of Limoges, the losses estimated at $7.6 million.
Sunday’s robbery sparked angry political reactions.
“How far will the disintegration of the state go?” said far-right National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella on social media, calling the theft “an unbearable humiliation for our country”.
President Emmanuel Macron said on social media that “everything” was being done to catch the perpetrators and recover the stolen treasures.
Copyright © 2025 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) expects the upcoming Budget to futureproof India’s textile and apparel sector through measures that will make the arena more resilient, innovative, and globally competitive.
CITI has urged the Union Budget to futureproof India’s textile and apparel sector through reforms on raw material pricing, competitiveness, sustainability and trade facilitation.
Seeking duty-free cotton, technology and green schemes, and export support, CITI said that high US tariffs threaten jobs in a sector vital to GDP, exports and livelihoods.
“Our optimism that the forthcoming Union Budget will significantly move the needle on policy and regulatory reforms is bolstered by the government’s steadfast commitment to the growth and development of India’s textile and apparel sector,” CITI chairman Ashwin Chandran said.
“The Budget enabling the creation of a stronger growth ecosystem for the Indian textile and apparel sector can also have a positive ripple effect on the Viksit Bharat (developed India) goal,” Chandran added.
India’s textile and apparel sector is the second-largest provider of jobs and livelihoods in the country. It is also a significant contributor to the country’s GDP and exports.
Some of the specific measures that the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) would like to see in the coming Budget are:
1. Raw material and price stability-related:
- Removal of import duty on all varieties of cotton fibre.
- Change in MSP formula for cotton to align with international benchmark prices.
- Launch of a Cotton Price Stabilisation Fund.
- Ensure availability of man-made fibres (MMF) at globally competitive prices.
2. Competitiveness, technology, and sustainability-related:
- Launch of a Green Technology Scheme to support MSMEs’ transition to clean energy and sustainable practices.
- Launch of an alternative scheme to the erstwhile Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.
- Launch of a scheme to promote indigenous textile machinery manufacturing.
- Address high power costs and industrial cross-subsidies.
- Establishment of a National Textile Fund.
3. Trade Facilitation-related
- Extension of RBI’s Trade Relief Measures to cover the entire textile value chain.
- Increase in Basic Customs Duty on all types of knitted fabric to curb imports at unviable prices.
- Reintroduction of the MEIS Scheme.
- Extension of the facility of Duty-free Import of specified items/goods to exporters of made-ups.
“Combined, these measures could increase the resilience of India’s textile and apparel sector and help it become a more powerful force globally, while also contributing towards realising the national target of creating a $350 billion textile and apparel industry in India by 2030,” Chandran said.
India’s textile and apparel sector has been hit hard by the 50 per cent US tariff on Indian goods, effective August 27, 2025. The steep US tariff has adversely affected numerous Indian textile and apparel companies, thereby increasing the risk that millions of people working in this sector may lose their jobs and livelihoods.
The US is the single-largest market for India’s textile and apparel exports, contributing almost 28 per cent to the total revenue of the country’s textile and apparel exporters. India’s exports of textile and apparel products to the US were valued at nearly $11 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25.
“India’s textile and apparel exporters have stepped up their diversification efforts, but it is tough to quickly make up for potential business losses in the US. Also, while existing and upcoming FTAs would create new opportunities for India’s textile and apparel sector, these benefits will require time to materialise,” Chandran said.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)
Published
January 19, 2026
Valentino Garavani, an icon of Italian fashion, founder of his eponymous maison, and widely regarded as one of the greatest designers of all time, died in Rome on January 19, surrounded by his loved ones.
Born in Voghera, Italy on May 11, 1932, he showed remarkable artistic talent from an early age, which led him to study drawing and fashion in Paris, where he worked with couturiers such as Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.
Upon returning to Italy, he opened his first atelier on Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, supported by his business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. International success soon followed: his debut show at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti in 1962 marked his breakthrough, establishing him as an undisputed standard-bearer of Italian fashion worldwide. In 1968, the famous “V” logo was introduced, later becoming the emblem of the maison. Equally iconic is his signature red, inspired by a gown he saw at the opera in his youth, which made this shade a defining hallmark of the house.
Valentino Garavani announced his retirement in 2007, at the age of 75, with a final show celebrating his extraordinary career. His legacy is also chronicled in the 2008 documentary directed by Matt Tyrnauer: “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”
Garavani’s lying in state will be held at PM23, Piazza Mignanelli 23 in Rome, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 21 and 22, 2026, from 11:00 to 18:00. The funeral will take place on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 11:00, at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Piazza della Repubblica 8, Rome.
This article is an automatic translation.
Click here to read the original article.
Copyright © 2026 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
Hilary Duff excites fans as she revives hit songs during London gig: Watch
Budget should strengthen India’s textile & apparel industry: CITI
Afghanistan’s hunger crisis worsened by winter, aid cuts
-
Tech1 week agoNew Proposed Legislation Would Let Self-Driving Cars Operate in New York State
-
Entertainment7 days agoX (formerly Twitter) recovers after brief global outage affects thousands
-
Sports5 days agoPak-Australia T20 series tickets sale to begin tomorrow – SUCH TV
-
Fashion3 days agoBangladesh, Nepal agree to fast-track proposed PTA
-
Business4 days agoTrump’s proposed ban on buying single-family homes introduces uncertainty for family offices
-
Politics3 days agoSaudi King Salman leaves hospital after medical tests
-
Tech4 days agoMeta’s Layoffs Leave Supernatural Fitness Users in Mourning
-
Tech5 days agoTwo Thinking Machines Lab Cofounders Are Leaving to Rejoin OpenAI