#and show isabelle is far more independent and skilled than book isabelle

[darcyolsson]

i literally can't decide of the shadowhunters tv show girlbossified isabelle or degirlbossified her. she was already very hashtag girlboss but i think what it comes down to is that they made her less #girl and more #boss so where does that leave us

[oblivions-omen]

Name: Isabelle Ricktor Epithet: Oblivion’s Omen

Devil Fruit: Mythical Zoan; Black Dog

DOB: January 13th, 1498 Age: 24 ( 26 post-ts )

Height: 5'3" ( 160cm ) Weight: 125lbs ( 56kg ) Blood Type: F Sexuality: Pansexual

Home Location: West Blue ( Tussen Island—not canon )

Skin Color: Alabaster Eye Color: Silver Hair Color: Black-Silver Ombre Hair Length: Mid-back Hair Type: Wavy Hair Style: Messy low ponytail tied back with a red ribbon

HAKI

Observation: Yes ( skilled ) Armament: Yes ( novice ) Conqueror’s: No

Current Job: Bounty hunter/Assassin

DISTINCTING FEATURES

♦️ branding scar on left side of pelvis ( a couple inches in from the hipbone ) ♦️ moon phase tattoo along spine ♦️ three piercings in left earlobe, two in the right

LIKES

♦️ Reading/studying ♦ Strong coffee ♦ Good alcohol ♦️ Animals ♦️ Anything soft/cute ( she refuses to admit this out loud ) ♦️ Blades or sharp objects ♦️ Nature ♦ Night sky ( mainly just the moon ) ♦ Silence

DISLIKES

♦️ Loud noises ♦️ Hospitals ♦️ Obnoxiousness ♦️ Being interrupted ♦ Confined spaces ♦ Strong, noxious smells

PERSONALITY

Personality Type: ISTJ-T

                                                Personality description & visual below the cut...

Introverted

Isabelle likes to keep to herself most of the time, tending to be the quiet, anti-social individual lurking within the shadows. It’s just easier for her in the long run if she doesn’t make unnecessary connections as she’s constantly moving from place to place. Being alone for the majority of her life has made her rather emotionally constipated as well, so she sometimes has difficulty making those emotional connections when she wants to, often coming off as cold, indifferent or even sarcastic in her interactions with others.

Serious

Everything that happens around her is taken with the utmost seriousness. Isabelle feels that the moment she decides to slack off, even for a few moments, something terrible will happen. Goofiness isn’t really in her vocabulary, and she often scoffs at those who don’t seem to have an ounce of seriousness about them.

Short-Tempered

It doesn’t take much to set Isabelle off. Usually she’s able to reign it in fairly quickly, but you can tell when it’s just barely being contained, like hot water just about ready to boil over. A physical tell of her annoyance is that her eyes shift colors, from their typical silver to a deep, blood red.

Determined

Once Isabelle has set her mind to something, she follows through, regardless of how difficult the task may be. She could be on the verge of death, and still be adamant that she can continue. The only thing that could get in her way is being physically over-powered/restrained. Her determination is what has made her such a successful assassin.

Intelligent

Despite having basically grown up on the streets, Isabelle is quite intelligent. She’s both street, and book smart, and will forever have a thirst for knowledge. In her down time, when she’s not occupying the local tavern, Isabelle can usually be found in a local book shop or library browsing the many different tomes their walls offer. Quick at picking up new skills, she only needs to be shown how to do something a couple times before being able to properly do it herself.

Observant

Isabelle is very detail-oriented. Small things that most people would over-look is quickly noticed by her, and she never does a half-assed job of something. It makes her somewhat of a perfectionist when completing tasks or planning, needing the whole picture before she’s satisfied. She also remembers faces far more easier than names.

Loyal

If you can manage to get underneath Isabelle’s hard exterior and have her really open up to you, you’re damn sure she’s going to be loyal, almost to a fault. It’s extremely rare for her to consider anyone a friend—with how deep seeded her trust issues are—and she takes the role very seriously. However, with her loyalty comes blunt honesty. If you’re being an idiot, she’s going to call you out on your bullshit, plain and simple. Her Devil Fruit has something of an influence on how she goes about showing her loyalty to others as well, especially when she has a deeper connection with someone.

Independent

It takes a lot for Isabelle to accept help when she needs it. She would much rather do what she needs to do alone, than inconvenience someone else with her troubles. Any form of coddling or sympathy is often met with a vehement refusal, and a couple colorful words. Isabelle has it in her head that she constantly needs to prove herself to everyone around her, and getting help interferes with that. Her independence coincides with stubbornness in more ways than one.

Cautious

Isabelle always thinks ahead before going into any situation. Often conjuring up multiple outcomes for any given situation and in turn having an array of plans thought up should one go belly up. She refuses to allow herself to be caught off guard by anything lest it be the death of her. However, things do happen.

                                                                      art commissioned by kilaquin on dA

[heiiressapparent-blog]

[[ lyndsy fonseca, cisfemale, she/her ]] EKATERINA ‘ERICA’ MARKOVY-WRIGHT just walked into the club, the 31 year old HEIRESS has been a member since MARCH 2014. i heard they’re pretty DETERMINED & HARD-WORKING, but can also be a little MANIPULATIVE & COLD. rumor has it, they’re DEMI-PLATONI-PANROMANTIC/PLATONI-PANSEXUAL and also love BONDAGE/SHIBARI, IMPACT PLAY & SENSORY PLAY, but are turned off by BODILY FLUIDS, FEET & VORE.

**hi all, i’m jack and i’m super excited to join bliss and get back into roleplay again-- also please forgive my rambling and i’m so sorry it’s taken forever for me to get an intro up; i was knocked out with anaesthetic on monday so i’m a little goofy, tired and sore. i really hope y’all like erica though, she’s one of my most precious projects and i’ve been playing her for about seven to eight years. i’ll probably add to this as i go, too!

-- erica’s the eldest of four siblings at 31 to their parents, mikhail markovy and isabelle wright, and is currently in line as heir to her mother’s very successful clothing line, and receives some royalties from her father’s very well-received book series.

-- erica has always been the kind of person to work extremely hard, either to prove herself or to prove to others that she’s worth the air she breathes. having been born in new york, and moving out to los angeles of her own volition, she found that while she enjoyed the hustle and bustle of new york, and la for that matter, she found it extremely hard to live independently while living so close to her mother. even as she grew into adulthood, she found she was still treated like a child, and for someone as headstrong as erica, she found it extremely difficult to live a normal life while constantly butting heads with isabelle.

-- before she moved, however, she attended college in new york for law; a last ditch effort to gain independence. unfortunately it didn’t work in the way she’d been hoping, and she soon realised that despite scoring rather high within the course, she didn’t have the drive, fire nor the interest in becoming a lawyer in any field. with no real destination in mind and no goal to strive for, erica moved out west, at first landing in washington before eventually moving south to los angeles, making the city her new home.

-- currently, erica is doing her best to support her lavish lifestyle by performing odd jobs here and there (at least, ones that she’s qualified to do). with that in mind, her father, mikhail, has been taking as much money from his account, that he’s sure isabelle won’t notice, to send to his daughter in order to keep her fed and watered. unfortunately, he has foolishly trusted his eldest daughter to spend it in the right places without truly checking in on her and asking her where it’s all been going-- his wishes for how it might be used may happen... or they may not.

-- being a regular at club bliss does mean that quite a bit of the money goes toward drinks and drugs, dancers and escorts at bliss when erica feels as though there is a lull in excitement in her life, which is far more often than she would like to admit. so, no, she may not be using the cash in the smartest way possible (even she knows that) and with her preference for the finer things in life, it can disappear much faster than she realises.

-- one more important quality to note about erica is the fact that no matter what her younger siblings do, wrong or right, she can’t help but love them unconditionally. she’d protect and follow them to the ends of the earth in order to keep them safe-- really, there isn’t a thing she wouldn’t do for her siblings.

-- just a few more quick facts: her full name is ekaterina ‘erica’ leanne aliena markovy-wright; a fair mix between her father and mother’s names, and she vehemently demands that others call her erica as it is easier to remember, and simpler to pronounce. she is of jewish-american and russian descent, from her mother and father respectively. she can speak english, russian, yiddish, hebrew, italian and french. thanks to her mother’s determination (which was passed down to her), ekaterina will work at something, even a menial or useless skill in order to become better at it, regardless of whether or not it will get her further in life.

-- she’s panromantic and pansexual, as well as polyamorous and demiromantic. she also tends to develop feelings for people she may be friendly with, which has led her to identify as platoniromantic/platonisexual. erica’s not entirely sure if it fits, but until she can unearth a more appropriate term, this is the one she’s sticking with.

-- she’s quite slim, and very athletic, attending the gym as often as she can to keep herself in the best shape possible. her height, however-- she’s not entirely sure where she got these genes (both her parents are quite tall), but she’s by far the shortest in the family-- barely managing to hit 5′4″ on a good day. she’s also lost the genetic lottery when it comes to her eyesight, stuck with rather severe shortsightedness, and astigmatisms in both eyes. she chooses to wear contacts instead of glasses to minimise the attention brought to this particular physical ‘handicap’.

-- regarding the type of people she’s into, as long as she can hold an intelligent conversation, they’re physically attractive, tend to find more intense aspects of bdsm to their liking, and don’t show interest in erica simply because of her money or her last name, there’s a high chance that her curiosity will spike upward. if she is simply looking for a quick shag, then it truly does not matter-- but she has her favourites, several regular escorts that she’ll approach with an agreement she’ll have set up long before that point in time.

personality traits: sadistic, manipulative, diligent, hot-tempered, dutiful, adaptable, determined, witty, intelligent, agile, impulsive, hedonistic.

possible connections: honestly, anything and everything! i’m up for past lovers, enemies and rivals, best friends, and everything in between. if you have an idea for a connection erica might fit, just shoot me an im on discord or here and we can sort out details!

[golockhart]

Hermès: behind the scenes of the French luxury gem

by Isabelle Chaboud

Hermès is a quintessential French luxury brand. But behind the beauty, refinement and quality of its products, the company is also financially strong. What are the cornerstones of its success?

The group published outstanding figures for the 2016 financial year, recording sales of more than 5 billion euros (up 7.5%). While the two leading companies in the luxury market (LVMH and Richemont, according to a Deloitte study, “Global Powers of Luxury Goods 2017”) far surpass Hermès in turnover (37.6 billion euros for LVMH at the end of December 2016, and 10.6 billion euros for the Swiss company at the end of March 2017), no luxury industry group beats Hermès’ performance. In 2016, the company’s net profit represented 21.1% of sales, far above the industry average of 8.95% and ahead of both LVMH (10.5%) and the Richemont Group (11.36%).

In our opinion, Hermès’ four major strengths are: a real identity, the creativity and skills of its artisans, innovation, and the fact that it remains an independent family company.

Maison Hermès, Dosan Park, Seoul. Forgemind ArchiMedia/Flickr, CC BY

A real identity

Founded by Thierry Hermès in Paris, in 1837, the company established its identity through its products. After starting out with horse-riding and carriage accessories, today the group operates in a wide range of sectors (detailed in its 2016 reference document, including clothes and accessories (21% of sales), silk and textiles (10%), perfumes (5%), watches (3%) and other products (4%), including jewelry, lifestyle products and home wares. Accounting for 50% of sales, leather goods and saddlery still make up the backbone of the company.

The group is deeply attached to its French identity: it is not simply “Hermès”, but “Hermès Paris”. The majority of its products are still manufactured in France, with 4,300 craftspeople and 61.4% of its workforce located within the country.

Maintaining a large part of their manufacturing in France is a key element of Hermès strategy. This contrasts with a number of companies in the luxury sector that have looked overseas in a search for short-term profits, a phenomenon decried by Dana Thomas in her book, Deluxe : How Luxury Lost Its Lustre.

The exceptional creativity and skills handed down from generation to generation constitute the second plank of the Hermès strategy.

Hermès ad, 1923. Wikipedia

Creativity and skills of its artisans

In 2007, Jean Louis Dumas, the group’s iconic chairman from 1978 to 2006, told Vanity Fair: “We don’t have a policy of image; we have a policy of product.”

Hermès would not be Hermès without timeless, iconic models such as “The Kelly bag” (created in 1930, renamed in 1956) and the much larger “The Birkin Bag” (1984).

It takes two years for an artisan to learn how to work leather and six years when it comes to precious leathers. One of Hermès’ core principles is that each bag be made by the same artisan, from start to finish. As Axel Dumas always says, “The rule of one bag, one artisan is part of our DNA”.

At Hermès, the idea of responsibility is very important – the artisan must master all of the different stages of fabrication. Quality begins with the choice of materials. To secure its supply of the highest-quality raw materials, Hermès purchased three Australian crocodile farms at the end of 2012.

The company’s third strength lies in its combination of creativity, invention and innovation.

The Hermès store on Avenue George V, in Paris’ 8th arrondissement. Moonik/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

Sense of innovation

To give just a few examples, Hermès launched Petit h in 2010, under the direction of Pascale Mussard, whose motto is “Don’t throw anything away, we will always find a use for it”. The majority of these pieces are on display in a 1,500-square-meter room at 17, rue de Sèvres, which opened in 2010. Formerly the pool of the hotel Lutetia, the space was listed as a historical monument in 2005. This contrasts with the boutique at 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, which has a modern style, vast spaces, and light-colored wood. This makes for a very different, but unmistakably Parisian, atmosphere. The space also includes a florist, tea shop and bookstore.

Petit h shows another side of Hermès luxury, demonstrating how much the group strives to make high-quality products available while meeting clients’ expectations in terms of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. More recently, Hermès worked with Apple to create handcrafted leather bands for the Hermès Apple Watch, released October 2015. While this might seem a minor sales’ contributor (unfortunately, sales figures aren’t available), it created extensive media buzz.

Finally, the last plank of the Hermès strategy is its shareholding and management structures.

The group’s executive board. From left to right : Eric du Halgouët, Guillaume de Seynes, Olivier Fournier, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Charlotte David, Wilfried Guerrand, Axel Dumas, Florian Craen. Hermès

An independent family company

The group has been run almost exclusively by the family since its creation in 1837. At present, Axel Dumas (the sixth generation) is the sole manager. Company control has also essentially remained within the family since Hermès entered the Paris stock market in 1993. The only exception occurred between 2010 and 2014, at the time of the so-called “Hermès affair”, which was been laid out in “Hermès vs LVMH : A timeline of the drama”, in The Fashion Law.

By keeping control and capital within the family, Hermès has been able to maintain its independence and its unique long-term model. Between 2007 and 2016 the company’s turnover increased by a factor of 3.2 and their operating income quadrupled. As of July 10, 2017, the share price was valued at 442.40 euros. Hermès market capitalization was above 46.2 billion euros, which is 24 times its EBITDA, or nearly nine times its turnover.

A perfect combination of tradition and modernity, Hermès has been able to evolve while keeping an eye on the upcoming challenges. It has also taken measures towards the vertical integration of its supply chain, controlling its retail network, continuing a policy of no licensing and creating greater geographical and product diversification, to avoid overdependence on saddlery and leather goods.

Yet the company must ensure it does not overly rely on diversification, offering thousands of different products. Some lines could be discontinued, such as watch-making, which is constantly losing market share. Lastly, Hermès needs to embrace the digital revolution and offer an attractive online experience as a complement to their real-world boutiques.

Rooftop sign. twiga269/Visual Hunt, CC BY-NC

Some 180 years after its birth, Hermès still excites the imagination of potential clients with unparalleled products, while generating profits and cash flows. At end 2016, its cash and cash equivalents amounted to 2.3 billion euros, with hardly any debt.

But what will the next step be? As a publically listed company, Hermès is required to be more forthcoming than it might prefer. Given its impressive war chest, it’s possible that the family – which bought back almost 70% of the company’s capital – may one day delist it to prevent a hostile takeover. Given the stock’s current valuation it would be an extremely costly move, but isn’t out of the question for a family that has always remained true to its roots and vision.

Isabelle Chaboud is Professeur associé d’analyse financière, d’audit et de risk management at Grenoble École de Management (GEM)

This article was originally published on The Conversation.