VICTOIRE DE CASTELLANE
Victoire de Castellane will never been a great French jewellery designer. For many years she was the designer for Dior highly recommended by her oncle who was working for Karl Lagerfeld. To tell you the truth, she does not how to draw and when she was working at Dior, she used to say that there were enough designers to understand her inspiration. Inspiration she found in her grand mother, Sylvia Hennessy, Comtesse de Castilleja de Guzman who used to change jewells several time a day.
That is all her experience ! So can you imagine Vermeer asking to students to draw for him « La Laitière » : isn’t it ridiculous ! We wonder how a luxe firm like Dior can tolerate it. Victoire de Castellane succeeded to run Read more »
HAPPY EASTER FOR FASHION
The most famous eggs produced by the House were the larger ones made for Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia. These are often referred to as the ‘Imperial’ Fabergé eggs. Approximately 50 eggs were made; 42 have survived. Another two eggs, the Constellation and Karelian Birch eggs, were planned for 1918 but not delivered, as Nicholas II and his family were executed that year, and Nicholas had abdicated the crown the year before. Seven large eggs were made for the Kelch family of Moscow.
The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gem stones. The Fabergé eggs have become a symbol of luxury, and the eggs are regarded as masterpieces of the jeweler’s art. “Fabergé egg” typicaly refers to products made by the company before the 1917 Read more »
CAVALLI, 3 EXCLUSIVE CLIENTS
To celebrate DFS Masters of Fragrances, Roberto Cavalli has designed the most exclusive version ever produced of one of its iconic fragrances, Roberto Cavalli Oud Edition. Limited to three pieces only, this work of art was inspired by the designer’s passion for gold.
Roberto Cavalli Gold Edition blends the noblest perfumery ingredients. It opens with a sweet and luminous top note of saffron that gives way to the woody and animal tones of sensual oud wood—the gold standard in Arabic perfumery. The fragrance closes on a deep root note of incense that adds a subtle veil of mystery.
To shelter such a vibrant and addictive elixir, an ultra-luxurious flask was designed. The bottle and the Read more »
ZAHIA PLAYS TAPESTRY
Ex-call girl Zahia Dehar poses as Marie-Antoinette for Pierre & Gilles for part of their new installation at the Gobelins gallery. Some have called it vulgar, other think it costs too much (35.000€ / £29,000 / $48,000), but it’s here – Pierre & Gilles have set up their installation in a room transformed into what seems like a disco party at Marie-Antoinette’s house, replete with Zahia portrait, overturned chair and cuddly toy rats.
You can check it out as part of the exhibition The Gobelins in the Enlightenment – A golden age of the Royal Manufactory. And if you’re fans of Pierre & Gilles Read more »
H&M DARES WANG
Wang is the first American designer to partner with H&M. It is the tenth years the company has been doing these capsule collections, and at 30, Wang is the youngest. Stella McCartney was 34 when she teamed up with the Swedish fast-fashion chain in 2005. Karl Lagerfeld, Versace, Lanvin, and Isabel Marant were among H&M’s previous designer collaborators.
“We’ve always liked Alexander’s designs,” explained H&M’s creative advisor, Margareta van den Bosch. “He’s very contemporary. It’s very young, but it’s also things that can Read more »
INSIDE POWER OF FASHION
Francesco Trapani, former Senior Executive at LVMH and Head of Italian Jeweller Bulgari, has been appointed Executive Vice Chairman of Clessidra to strengthen the Italian private equity firm’s pool of seasoned industrial managers.
Trapani, who joined LVMH when he sold his family business Bulgari to the world’s biggest luxury group in 2011, resigned as group head of watches and jewellery on March 1.
No formal explanation was given for Read more »
GRANVILLE FROM DIOR
Villa “Les Rhumbs”, Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, is a Belle Epoque style 19th century clifftop villa overlooking the sea. It is the only “Musée de France” labeled French museum dedicated to a couturier and has been presented, for ten years already, Haute Couture garments on three floors.
The exhibit titled “The Legendary Images: Great Photographers and Dior” will be a tribute to the esteemed shutterbugs who have captured the storied maison’s couture and ready-to-wear designs over the years. By the numbers, there will be 200 images from 80 iconic photographers that encompass 60 years of design, alongside 60 couture gowns, and a handful of significant documents to round out the presentation that features designs by Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, and the most recent looks from Raf Simons and Kris Van Assche.
Among the selected photos featured in the exhibit: Patrick Demarchelier, who launched a Read more »
TOM FORD MARRIES RICHARD BUCKLEY
Congratulations to Tom Ford and Richard Buckley, who have just confirmed that they were recently married. The pair were wed in top secret in America.
They welcomed their first child, son Alexander “Jack” John Buckley Ford, in 2012, and live in London.
PETER POPPS
After working as a shoe designer for a number of large brands and opening dozens of stores, Peter Popps decided to continue under his own label, in 2003. Popps no longer designs everyday shoes, his current creations are not even made for walking. Thanks to these outstanding designs, named Bow, Cube, Circle and Oval, and Lace-Up and Circle, Peter Popps can even include fashion icons such as Lady Gaga and Janet Jackson to his regular fan base.
Peter Popps has never been an easy student. “I honestly spent most of my schooldays sitting backwards in my chair,” says Popps in an interview with NowFashion. “I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to become, had zero concentration and therefore decided to start working at a shoe store, Cinderella, at the age of fifteen,” Popps added. A well made decision. Read more »
ADRIANA DEGREAS
Adriana Read more »
GLORIA COELHO, SAO PAULO
Once again the Latin American industry is gearing up to witness an array of summer-2014/2015 collections at the most highly anticipated 37th edition of the Brazilian Sao Paulo Fashion Week (SPFW). We start by GLORIA COELHO.
In addition to the well-known designers, the evening will also feature catwalk parades from new entrants like Kallieno Wagner, Giuliana Romanno, Lolitta and Lilly Sarti.
Welcome at the Fashion week of Sao polo.
ROITFELD INSPIRED BY MAPPLETHORPE?
Robert Mapplethorpe (November 4, 1946, New York City – March 9, 1989, Boston, Massachusetts) was an American photographer, known for his sometimes controversial large-scale, highly stylized black and white photography. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, and still-life images of flowers. His most controversial work is that of the underground bondage and sadomasochistic BDSM scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s of New York. The homoeroticism of this work fuelled a national debate over the public funding of controversial artworks. There is no doubt now that Mrs Roitfeld surely found her porn chic inspiration from Mapplethorpe. Read more »
FASHION BRIEF
I have always liked to hear how people meet for the first time. Each story is different and unusual.
I am going to tell you how I met Bernard Arnault : An attractive and handsome gentleman walked down the lobby of “the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. We could feel someone energetic and soft. He came alone and went straight to the point and said: I am Mr. Arnault, the President of Ferinel and I want to build a French Luxury group. Can you tell me more about how works the fashion industry?
MODEL AT 60 YEAR OLD
If you thought that fashion and silver hair could not coexist, you were wrong. The new face for American Apparel is a beautiful 60 year old with grey hair and a royal posture.
No surgery and Photoshop touch-ups, Jacky O’Shaughnessy, an actress,was chosen as a testimonial for the brand exactly for her natural elegance (she admitted that she was spotted during a dinner) thus bringing to a global level the scouting work started by Ari Seth Cohen with his blog Advanced Style.
Could this be a new step towards the ultimate demolition of the ultra young, white model cliché? ¨People over 50 are back believe me.
WHEN KARL COPIES GURSKY
Sometimes the best way to get to the essence of a fashion show is to see it through the eyes of another artist. It is for that reason that Canal-luxe has asked one of its creative journalists to decrypt the Chanel Show. He then discovered that karl Lagerfeld found his inspiration from a German visual artist, Andreas Gursky.
At the last Chanel fashion show in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld built a Chanel supermarket concept store in which you could only buy products Read more »
EMPRISE BY LVMH
The Iconic fashion house, Louis Vuitton, introduces its new Emprise jewelry and watch collection with this trippy short named after the line, which explores Parisian origins of the range by taking the viewer through a seemingly never-ending labyrinth of rooms.
You got to wonder how they did it. Louis Vuitton showed its new Emprise collection in an “infinite mirror” installation by contemporary artist Mathias Kiss. The brand unveiled its new video celebrating the collection, an homage to Kiss’ work courtesy of director Raphaël Gianelli-Meriano and the Surface to Air studio. It’s a fast-paced mise en abyme—a telescoped sequence Read more »
HERMES INSIGHT
This Hermes film invites you to travel back in time, to grasp Hermès’ intricate mechanics, and to discover the emblematic horological creations punctuating its history.
From its first watch in 1912 to the present day, Hermès is driven by the desire to infuse beauty into utility and to offer creative responses to the needs it encounters in wending its way through time. Read more »
HERMES TAKES OFF
This year Hermès has once more increased his sales, benefits and margins. Those results confirm the excellent health of this prestigious French fashion house. « In a context which is not always easy, Hermès has achieved a historic result », said the President Axel Dumas.
For several years, Hermès has not stop generating profits and remains with Chanel & Louis Vuitton, one of the most beneficial brands of the luxe industry. His growth is not only mainly due to the Asian market but also to the United States market and thanks to the tourism in Europe. Since 2008, Hermès has more than double its turnover.
However the group does not plan exceptional dividend as 2014 might be a difficult year. Therefore shareholders like LVMH might not be very pleased !!!
TEX SAVERIO
Indonesian designer Tex Saverio presented his new Fall-Winter collection at the Paris Fashion week 2014/2015. His scintillating collection in baroque spirit was hightlighted through fabrics like tulle, satin and leather. His signature can be identified thanks to details on collars, and edge sleeves.
