C LIKE CHENON SCEAU CHANEL
Chanel had hoped to invite 200 guests to creative director Virginie Viard’s first fashion show outside Paris, but a second French lockdown forced the brand to revise its plans. When visitors take a guided tour of the Château de Chenonceau, they are often intrigued by the interlocking C that appear throughout the castle.
The initials are those of Catherine de Medicis, the former queen of France whose portrait hangs above an elaborate carved stone chimney bookended by lions. But to 21st century eyes, they look similar to the Chanel logo.
Also known as the Ladies’ Château, Chenonceau has a history marked by a succession of powerful women, of which the Renaissance rulers, in particular, inspired the label’s founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Continue reading
BEST CHRISTMAS IDEAS 2020
COPYING BEAT OVEN
Camus said : “If you live with a lame person, you will soon be limping yourself”. Here are some sketches of hell on a splendid throne of Qatar, a parade of the mediocre that our decadent have spontaneously given birth to for the inexorable breakdown of the aesthetic and moral sense of sewing. In this adulterated universe swarming with small “designers” who, in the name of modernity, re-ingurgitate the work of their predecessors without having talent. The designer thinks he carries a needle like a sword, but it scrapes the stream and tirelessly copies his predecessors without having their genius.
It is a very sad profession; the one where one accepts that one without knowing how to assemble a tailor, without a little hand that works for him! It is a very strange profession to dub a mystifier who takes the ideas of some and mixes them with those of others to redo something old and new made by others. Apologize to Mr. Balmain, Mr. Givenchy, Mr. Guy Laroche, Mr. Montana and all those great designers who made fashion existing and what it is today, which you rapture in abundance. Continue reading
PHILIPPE CASSEGRAIN PASSED AWAY
Longchamp’s President Philippe Cassegrain dies of COVID-19 complications. Philippe Cassegrain, the designer of Longchamp’s famous Le Pliage bag, died in a hospital from COVID-19 complications, the French accessories house announced on Monday. He was 83.
Cassegrain held the title of president, and dedicated more than 60 years to the family-controlled firm. His father, Jean, founded Longchamp as a producer of tobacco pipe coverings. The company would go on to specialize in men’s leather goods from wallets to clutches made in its factories in France’s Loire Valley.
According to Lonchamp, Cassegrain was drafted by his father to advance the firm’s international expansion, sending him off to Asia, Africa and the U.S. in the fifties with Longchamp samples in his suitcase.
When he returned, he joined the business officially and helped his father in everything from creation and manufacturing to marketing and sales development. He took on the management helm in 1972, and introduced travel bags mingling nylon with leather. Continue reading
SIX MILLION EUROS FOR A HANDBAG
Luxury is a matter of money. Elegance is a matter of education. An Italian niche accessories brand, Boarini Milanesi, has just unveiled a hyper luxurious bag that retails for 6 million euros. How is that possible? The top-handle bag is crafted from alligator skin and festooned with 10 white gold butterflies studded with sapphires, diamonds and Paraiba tourmalines totaling more than 130 carats. Only three of the bags, which requires 1,000 hours of work to be completed, are to be produced.
Behind the astonishing opulence of the project lies a giving-back strategy. In fact, 800,000 euros from the sale of each bag will be donated to institutions dedicated to ridding the sea of plastics.
This decision is deeply linked to Boarini Milanesi’s cofounder Matteo Rodolfo Milanesi’s personal history, who wanted to celebrate the love for the sea of his father, who passed away when he was only a teenager. Continue reading
DESIGNER FRAGRANCES WHAT NEXT
Designer fragrances have had a storied history. Paul Poiret became a perfume entrepreneur in the early 1900s, while Gabrielle Chanel in 1921 introduced Chanel No. 5. Christian Dior started his storied perfume business with Miss Dior in 1947.
Yves Saint Laurent came out with Y in 1964. Norell, in 1968, “hit American department stores like a bomb,”. Halston by Halston launched in 1975. “In its second year, it made more money than the whole of Max Factor USA,
“Then came Opium in 1977, the blockbuster from Chantal Roos ,” YSL launch that channeled the brand’s essence of excess with everything from its provocative name, juice, advertising, bottle and launch party one year later on a boat moored in New York’s South Street Seaport, where vessels loaded with opium used to arrive from Asia. Continue reading
THE CARNAVAL OF SHANGHAI
For four days at the start of every November for the past seven years, a small water canal town two hours southwest of Shanghai turns into a lively hub celebrating all things Hanfu and traditional Chinese culture.
One of the largest events nationally on the Hanfu enthusiasts; calendar drawing thousands, the Xitang event costs just 90 renminbi, or $13, to take part. It brings together a carnival, fashion runway show, archery exhibitions and marketplace among its activities but mostly, it a fashion showcase. People spend their days parading around in their best Hanfu attire posing with the picturesque scenery the ancient town provides, wandering the grassy knolls and across its old curved stone bridges.
Dogs and cats also get the dress-up treatment. One trio of friends had two cats stashed away in clear pet carrier backpacks. Both had been outfitted in Hanfu. after the party they certainly eat them
THE WALKING DEAD
Actor Christian Serratos is best known so far for her role in “The Walking Dead,” but she’s about to become a lot more recognizable to the masses when she takes on the role of Selena in Netflix’s upcoming “Selena: The Series,” which premieres on Netflix Dec. 4.
She attended the American Music Awards Sunday night, wearing a Tom Ford gown and Forevermark jewels selected for her by her “Designer” .
As a stylist when you fall in love with something, you hope that the right girl and the right event comes along so that you can get the dress and style it. And she was the right girl. She’s stunning and I think Tom Ford noticed how stunning she was. It just felt right; she feels like the Tom Ford aesthetic. It was a really good collaboration.
A FLAVOR OF NEWS
Puig Acquires Majority Stake in Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury became the latest founder to score a billion-dollar beauty deal when Puig agreed to buy a majority stake in her business for what sources said was about 1.2 billion pounds. BDT Capital Partners also bought a stake in the business. For fragrance-focused Puig, the acquisition furthers exposure to the color cosmetics category, which the company has played in with Christian Louboutin Beauty and Carolina Herrera’s makeup line. The Charlotte Tilbury business also has an expanding and successful skin-care component, and was growing quickly even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple strategic buyers, including the Estée Lauder Cos., were said to have looked at the business. Continue reading
SNEAKER IN GOLD
Fans of Balenciaga’s Track.2 sneaker can now buy a limited-edition sculpture of the shoe, part of a new category named Objects produced outside of the Paris-based label’s fashion collections. Only 20 of the metal sculptures, shaped like a size 41 sneaker, are available in Balenciaga stores and on its web site priced $5,750.
The sculpture is made in Italy with 16 cast brass pieces that are soldered and coated with palladium. Further objects, ranging from collectibles to items for everyday use, will be introduced individually throughout the year.
Saint Laurent, which like Balenciaga belongs to French luxury group Kering, began diversifying into limited-edition objects last year with the opening of its Rive Droite concept stores in Paris and Los Angeles, selling everything from yoga mats to Saint Laurent-branded condoms.
After transforming the stores into museums, the Fashion Brands transforms the accessories for the museums.
UNDERCOVER WINTER 2020
CANADA GOOSE
When your primary business is making outerwear to keep people warm in cold temperatures, the idea of global warming is especially dangerous. In April, Canada Goose laid out a sustainable impact strategy plan that includes becoming carbon-neutral by 2025.
Canada Goose offers a lifetime warranty on its products, which are all made in Canada, and will introduce the Standard Expedition Parka in January a jacket made from recycled and undyed fabric, lining and interlining, 100 percent responsibly sourced down and reclaimed fur. Inspired by the company’s signature Expedition Parka, the new model generates 30 percent less carbon. It will retail for $1,495, while the Expedition Parka sells for $1,295. Continue reading
LOCKDOWN OVERSIZED ME
When designers showed their fall collections they had no idea we would be sequestered at home in our leisure wear for the foreseeable future.
Per usual, they paraded models down the runway in gorgeous gowns and sky-high heels, tailored suits and pointed boots. But one thing they did get right for fall 2020 is the oversized look. Continue reading
OPEN FOR RALPH LAUREN
The Australian Open and Ralph Lauren Corp. are due to announce, Ralph Lauren come the official outfitter of three of the tennis world’s four Grand Slam tournaments, following longstanding partnerships with the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, which commenced in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Under a new global long-term partnership that will commence with the 2021 Australian Open — which will take place from Jan. 18 to 31 at Melbourne Park with at least 25 percent crowd capacity, according to Tennis Australia — Ralph Lauren will dress all on-court officials, including chair umpires, linesmen, lineswomen and ball boys and girls in a specially-designed collection of apparel and accessories.
With the event taking place in the middle of the often scorching Australian summer temperatures in Melbourne reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit last January the collection was designed with the country’s climate in mind.
DIOR JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU
Dior Launches Men’s Tailoring Capsule Line, Kailand Morris, the son of Stevie Wonder Just Called to Say I Love You espacialy your money.
Jones has designed a capsule collection dubbed Modern Tailoring, launching worldwide today in selected Dior men’s stores and online, that offers an updated take on formal dressing with the addition of some sportswear staples. Among the talents photographed by Brett Lloyd for the project are model Kailand Morris, the son of Stevie Wonder and fashion designer Kai Millard Morris, who interned at Dior last summer, as by coincidence !!
You know what’s interesting, when I go to the stores, and I go to the one in SoHo in New York, it’s all the NYU students saving up to buy a suit from Dior for their graduation. I would never have thought of that when I was a kid, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford it, but times have changed,” he said.
It’s not always the people you expect to buy suits that are buying them. But we cater for everyone and I think that’s kind of super important. I know our customer base is wide; But Trump said is a Fack news! No ? You see the pictures.
PROENZA SCHOULER 2021
They emphasized easy-to-wear ribbed-knit separates and dresses, and stripped any artifice from their tailoring, which is just slightly oversized and mannish save for the suits’ soft pastel colors.
SANDERS ON INTERNET UNIQLO
After many years away from the fashion scene, Jil Sander is back with a new +J collection that drops Thursday at Uniqlo stores worldwide internet.
The German designer, acclaimed for her meticulous brand of minimalism, marked a big fashion comeback in 2009 when she partnered with the Japanese retailer for a new brand of well-crafted fast fashion. Continue reading
THE CLASH OF CYRILLISATION SWISS
After the cloud, the house has designed in her studio a pimple for pimp. We already had the “Cruch” of Chanel, when will we have the “Fart” of Bulgaria?
Here are the sectarian, iconoclastic Visigoths and autistic barbarians who cross the blue line of the Swiss Alps to give us a course on High Jewelry. And from Switzerland, they come to visit the peasants of Paname to impose on us a diamond setting around looking like a mini “plug” shaped link that you ladies can use at your convenience.
We remember the Plug tree by Paul McCarty on Place Vendôme, here is for the Rue de la Paix the “banal Plug”, reconverted into a bracelet ring and vérotis. We will end up thinking that the houses of the Place Vendôme are sexual obsessed. But, it is true that the house produces “bad taste” as the “Incroyable” French poête said “beauty” !
I look with curiosity this fake real jewelry, my lips tightened, my eyes are tensed, because my eyes can definitely not support this design to appreciate this fake of luxury from the ” Suisse Landes “. There cannot be any impunity with some laws that you must follow the path of the Dior dealers. Continue reading
WINES FOR CHRISTMAS 2021
The Grands Crus de France are truly the showcase of the excellence of French viticulture. Indeed, it is with these wines that the whole world can perceive the exceptional character of the terroirs and the know-how of our winegrowers, our oenologists and all the people who make up the fabric of France’s winemaking world.
From the 13th century through the 17th and 18th centuries, most of the wines of France enjoy an outstanding reputation! Cheval Blanc in Saint-Emilion, Petrus in Pomerol, Yquem in Sauternes, Margaux, Latour in Pauillac, Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan, to name but a few, find their names mentioned in numerous historical collections.
Margaux is one of those jewels that adorn the crown of Bordeaux’s great growths. Situated on the left bank of the Gironde river in the wine region of the Médoc, this appellation of more than 1450 hectares, includes 21 grands crus classés in 1855. Continue reading
YANNICK MACHADO
Perfectly constructed, superbly embroidered, he announces it himself, one is never better served than by himself. “I would like to give women the opportunity to show their strength, not their power”. So here is a chapter for a label that is Chinese whereas it should be French and be part of Chambre Syndicale. Yannick Machado, half Italian and half French with a hint of Portuguese, is a hardened bachelor who loves wedding dresses. Who knows why? Continue reading
MY OWN PRIVATE GUCCI
Gucci’s creative director will present the new course of the brand through a seven-part film series he has codirected with Gus Van Sant.Gucci’s upcoming collection will appear throughout seven episodes running from Nov. 16 to 22, screened during a new digital fashion and film festival called GucciFest. Continue reading
THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO
Egypt-Based Okhtein Branches Into Eyewear, Retail. The brand is looking to grow from a handbag label into a lifestyle one and expand its international footprint.
Accessories label Okhtein has become a star in its Cairo, Egypt, Now the label is broadening its ambitions, with the aim of growing from a handbag label into a lifestyle one by way of a new eyewear category.
The sunglasses seemed like a good transition to play around with, and to display the strength of the brand identity.
Their brass minaudière bags have been gaining more visibility internationally and catching the eye of major celebrities including Beyoncé and Cardi B, while select international retailers such as Browns and Selfridges have picked up the label.
The company’s sunglass launch saw immediate traction, with one style even making an appearance in Balmain’s latest men’s wear campaign featuring the Colombian superstar Maluma.
AFRICAN QUEEN
