POWERFUL WOMEN: “To receive this honor from you is as much an honor as the honor itself,” Diane von Fürstenberg said as Christine Lagarde declared her a Chevalier of France’s National Order of the Legion of Honor.
A former French minister who was number two in Forbes’ “World’s Most Powerful Women” ranking for 2019, Lagarde was the first woman to have ever been managing director of the International Monetary Fund and, as of November 2019, is the first female president of the European Central Bank.
The ceremony, held at France’s Ministry of Foreign affairs in Paris on Friday, was an ode to feminine power. Lagarde praised von Fürstenberg’s career as a fashion designer, her involvement for women’s rights and her actions as part of the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, which the designer joined in 2016.
“I want to thank Lady Liberty, the symbol of friendship between France and America,” said von Fürstenberg as she accepted the honor. “I want to salute what the Statue of Liberty represents: freedom and hope. We need to remember that it was initially named ‘Liberty Enlightening The World,’ and God knows we need it today.”
Guests, including the designer’s son Alexander von Fürstenberg and grandchildren Tassilo and

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

TWO PIERRES: The store at number 27 Rue Saint-Honoré was packed. A crowd had gathered for the latest from Pierre Cardin: a new collection by his protégé Pierre Courtial.
Though Cardin has fostered the careers of many fashion designers, most famously Jean Paul Gaultier, it was the first time he has sponsored a collection by an emerging talent — a new model he plans to replicate in other European locations.
Courtial’s colorful suits and minimalist dresses with scalloped or jagged edges were scattered about the room. Black sandals with hot pink laces were glued to the ceiling.
The young designer, who comes from a village in the south of France, had started out in engineering despite an interest in sewing and fashion. “I didn’t know anybody from this milieu which seemed closed and inaccessible to me,” he said.
But, with the encouragement of friends who thought he’d be better off ditching the computer and expressing himself through design, he signed up for the École de Condé, a design school in Paris, and soon joined Cardin’s studio as an intern.
“I understood right away that he was quite extraordinary, he himself didn’t believe me,” said Nello De Lucia, who heads the design studio and has worked

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

The best walk of Paris Fashion week wasn’t Kendall Jenner or the dual-generation Hadids, or even Naomi Campbell at Kenneth Ize. The best walk was Adèle Haenel, who marched out of Friday night’s César Awards after Roman Polanski won the prize for Best Director for “J’accuse” (English title: “An Officer and a Spy”). “La honte! La honte!” Haenel said while exiting the theater. “Shame! Shame!”
As has now been widely reported, Haenel is the first French actress to have made a sexual abuse claim against a powerful man. A former child actress, in November, she said that she was harassed and touched inappropriately by the director Christophe Ruggia beginning when she was 12 years old. He has denied her accusations. Haenel has since become something of a nucleus for the #MeToo movement in France, where she’s well-known. She’s now set for breakout recognition in the United States, given the buzz around her film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which garnered 10 César nominations, including her own, for Best Actress. It won only one award, for Best Cinematography.
Polanski has been famously and comfortably on the lam from the United States since 1978, when he fled the country prior to sentencing after his guilty plea for drugging and

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

An affluent segment of diners has an appetite for ever more exclusive experiences.

Pick a lane and relax into it.

In the words of children’s book heroine Eloise, it’s the room on the tippy-top floor.

FASHION HOLOGRAMS: Guests treaded carefully upon arriving at the Lourdes presentation on Wednesday: the floor at the entrance of the Dragons Elysées restaurant was a pane of glass atop an aquarium.
That wasn’t the only quirky detail that evening. Instead of racks of clothing or even a photo installation, designer Andreas Aresti decided to show his debut women’s wear collection on holographic screens.
While his name might not ring a bell, Aresti is behind some of the buzziest fashion brands around: he started at 17 years old at Gypsy Sport, then went on to design for Tim Coppens, Kanye West and Stefano Pilati for the launch of Random Identities. The designer is now working on the relaunch of Hood By Air alongside Shayne Oliver.
“My aesthetic is an accumulation of all of these experiences,” said Aresti, who is now 26 years old.
Named after his mother, Lourdes is a brand offering clothes that are easy to wear: multi-pocket jeans, silk dresses, leather pieces and a skirt created out of an upside down ribbed cotton tank top, a nod to Aresti’s personal style – he confessed to wearing one everyday.
The color palette — earthy tones of brown, black, beige and hints of blue — was

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

While some American retailers were skipping town amid the coronavirus scare in France came word on Saturday that Kanye West was parachuting in with a double-hitter .
A happy few were invited to Sunday Service — where West gathers a choir to sing gospel versions of his songs — slated for a 9 a.m. start. Shortly after, invitations dropped for a Yeezy Season 8 show on Monday night.
West has experimented with a variety of formats to unveil his Yeezy collections, from stadium-sized fashion performances to Instagram-driven campaigns.
He will cap off a day with a full slate of shows from the likes of Stella McCartney, Giambattista Valli, Y/Project and Alexander McQueen.
More from WWD.com:
Kanye West Is Getting a Warm Welcome In Wyoming
Kanye West Talks Virgil Abloh, Adidas, and Running for President in 2024
Kanye West Is Expanding His Fashion Empire

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Honorific London’s excellent take on the classic piece of furniture is as useful in the morning as it is in the evening.

We put the limited-edition, race-inspired model through its paces on Northern California’s Skyline Boulevard and were blown away.