Prabal Gurung is making his debut in the London retail scene.
The New York-based designer has partnered with Selfridges, which launched the brand’s spring 2017 collection earlier this month, and was in town to celebrate the launch with an intimate dinner cohosted by Tank magazine’s Caroline Issa.
Gurung said he found the perfect partner in Selfridges, not only because of the high caliber of the store but also because its buying team stood behind the political message he has been trying to communicate with his latest collection.
“The store is very dear to me and home to many great designers, but it was also very important that they were supportive of the message I want to pass with my collections and the values of my brand. We live in really unsettling times and this isn’t something that you can do alone,” the designer said.

Sophie Pera, Prabal Gurung and Eugenie Niarchos. 
Courtesy Photo

Gurung, a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, weaved in messages about women and diversity during his latest runway show, with plus-size models on the runway and a finale walk with models wearing T-shirts that featured slogans like “I am an immigrant” or “My boyfriend is a feminist.” The British department store bought

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IN WITH THE NEW: Up-and-coming men’s wear designer Daniel W. Fletcher has secured Liberty London as his first stockist in the U.K.
The young designer has partnered with Liberty on a three-week pop-up store, which aims to introduce Fletcher’s aesthetic to the Liberty customer and give the brand more visibility. The retailer will then go on to stock Fletcher’s fall range as part of its men’s wear department.
“I have been talking to Liberty for a while now but we waited until we could launch something properly. I didn’t want it to get lost on a rail at the back of a store. This is my first stockist in London, which is the home of the brand, so I wanted to mark that moment properly,” said the designer, adding that he was drawn to the retailer’s distinctly British identity, which is in line with the references to English heritage often used in his collections.
The young designer, known for his politically minded collections — his first show was staged as a flash protest against Brexit — has so far been sold at Opening Ceremony in the U.S. and on the brand’s own e-commerce platform. He said that he hopes the partnership with Liberty will expose

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Reversible? Been there, done that. Designers are proposing dresses with dual constructions, yielding a twofer of playfulness and polish.

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CANNES-CANNES: The red carpet race is on.
Dior ambassador Marion Cotillard and fellow French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, a close friend of Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière who also attended the Saint Laurent show in March decked out in bodycon creations by Anthony Vaccarello, will be the stars of the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival in May.
They are the female leads of Arnaud Desplechin’s “Ismael’s Ghosts,” which will kick off the 70th edition of the festival. The movie’s potentially downbeat storyline centers around a widowed film director whose life is sent into a tailspin when his former lover returns from the dead.
Unveiling the official lineup at a press conference on Thursday, Thierry Frémaux, the event’s artistic director, said the festival will be taking place in a “historic context for France,” falling “just days after an event that is playing out like a thriller,” referring to the country’s presidential elections.
“The festival will be suspended in time,” he added. “Let’s just hope that in the meantime, the situation with Syria and North Korea will not cast a shadow over this event that we hope will be a stable and festive moment.”
Nicole Kidman is also set to get some red carpet mileage with two films —

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LONDON — Reebok has teamed with the Polish streetwear label Local Heroes on a limited-edition version of the brand’s Classic NPC II sneaker for women.
This is the second time the brand, known for its casual, playful aesthetic, has teamed with the sneaker company. For this latest project, founders Areta Szpura and Karolina Slota looked to their favorite music festivals for the limited-edition style.
“We really wanted the shoe to resonate well with our designs and what we’re known for as a brand,” said creative director Wlodi Wlodarczyk. “We use a lot of pink and bold colors in our clothing, and can’t see anything wrong with that — who doesn’t love pink? We also believe that fashion doesn’t need to be seasonal, which is why we thought that putting in this fuzzy, furry insert and releasing the shoe in spring was an amazing idea. We wanted the shoe to be fun and to reflect the positive and cool personality of girls who wear Local Heroes.”
Wlodarczyk said Reebok gave them complete freedom to redesign the shoe. “The sampling process was quite long, and we were changing the concept a couple of times — looking for the right fur, adding different textures and patterns,

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