Saint Laurent, Victoria Beckham, Michael Kors: The ‘SoHo Grifter’ hired a professional to consult on her courtroom appearance.
WINNERS’ CIRCLE: Salim Azzam and Roni Helou scooped the ready-to-wear award at the inaugural gala dinner for Fashion Trust Arabia, the non-profit initiative that supports design talent across the Middle East and North Africa region. The event took place at the Doha Fire Station in Doha, Qatar with attendees including Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, FTA’s honorable chair, and co-chairs Sheikha Al- Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and Tania Fares, founder of the Fashion Trust.
The winners will work with the FTA and Matchesfashion.com to develop their brands globally. Other winners included Krikor Jabotian for evening wear, Mukhi Sister for jewellery, Zyne for shoes and Sabry Marauf for bags. Their collections will be available to purchase at Matchesfashion.com.
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, chair of Qatar Museums said the FTA prize is the only initiative of its kind in the Arab world, “creating a space to find, nurture and cultivate the most talented designers on an annual basis. The initiative’s mentorship will help a new wave of talent receive global attention. This commitment to education runs through everything we do at Qatar Museums.”
Fares said it was “immensely exciting to think about what the winners might all be capable of with the mentors and guidance
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FLOWER POWER: Jo Malone London has set up a quiet retreat in central London for the brand’s first immersive installation, which will run from Friday until Sunday. Situated at Victoria House, next to Holborn Station, the underground venue is bringing the brand’s latest limited-edition fragrance, Frangipani Flower, and the Blossom collection to life.
“The collection really called for an experience like this because it is so vast, and I really wanted to be able to transport people to another world. We’re a creative fragrance brand, so we’re not only exploring with ingredients, but with our launches,” said Wandjina Glasheen-Brown, creative director of Jo Malone London.
Upon entry, visitors are guided through a visual installation. Water droplets are designed to fall randomly from the ceiling into a basin beneath, and the ripples trigger the formation of different color patterns.
On the other side of the installation and in the main room, blossoms are arranged on a long acrylic table in a gradient from yellow to red, mirroring the colors of the new Blossom collection.
A view of the Jo Malone London Blossoms Installation.
Courtesy
“This is going to be a place to come and relax, I want people to have the time and space to really take this
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French Connection, the British fashion brand, will relaunch its FCUK logo through an exclusive capsule collection with Urban Outfitters. The collection launches April 1 in select Urban Outfitters stores across North America and online at urbanoutfitters.com.
The collection includes FCUK logo T-shirts, tank tops, crew neck and hooded sweatshirts, and denim for women and men. There are 12 styles in total, eight for women and four for men, however several of the styles are unisex. The collection retails from $39 to $129.
“Our brand has always been driven by innovation and change. When FCUK launched in the Nineties, it pushed boundaries and was wildly popular with a youth that celebrated individuality and self-expression,” said Stephen Marks, founder and chairman of French Connection. “The timing is right to bring this back and introduce it to a new generation that shares this attitude and energy.” Urban Outfitters has the capsule exclusively for four months, said Marks.
Officials at Urban Outfitters declined comment.
FCUK, the attention-grabbing and controversial logo of the French Connection brand, was introduced in the company’s ad campaigns in the spring of 1997. The abbreviation was born after British advertising executive, Trevor Beattie, visited the French Connection offices and noticed the abbreviation FCHK on
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TOKYO — Japan’s most major fashion event wrapped on Saturday after six days of runway shows, installations and exhibitions. And while the season brought with it many newcomers with fresh ideas — and brought back familiar, popular brands as well — many buyers and journalists lamented the subdued atmosphere.
For the first time in five seasons, Amazon, the headlining sponsor of Tokyo Fashion Week, didn’t hold its popular At Tokyo events. The program aimed to bring designers and brands that wouldn’t normally show on Tokyo runways to a local audience. Past participants of At Tokyo include Sacai, Undercover, Anrealage and N.Hoolywood. And now that attendees have grown accustomed to the spectacle, there was an overall feeling that something was missing from this season.
“This season, partly because there was no At Tokyo, I felt there wasn’t as much energy, but I think that’s also just the basic state of things,” said Yuji Yamazaki, director of Beams.
Yoshimi Nagao, a buyer for Takashimaya, echoed Yamazaki’s opinion, saying, “Since At Tokyo is no longer happening, I’m a little worried about how the popularity or newsworthiness of Tokyo Fashion Week will progress in the future.”
The lack of the At Tokyo program also led attendees
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COMPLETELY FRAMED: Inclined to spend 10 hours outdoors each day shooting and to cover 16 or 17 parties a week, New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham amassed a slew of photographs.
Nearly three years after the photographer’s death at the age of 87, his friends Steven Stolman and former coworker John Kurdewan offered a slide show celebration of his life Wednesday night at the Museum of the City of New York. Along with the runway shots and on-the-town party pictures, there were numerous images of the always-smiling street photographer on and off duty.
Stolman said The Times is doing “an extraordinary retrospective coffee table book,” which is due out this fall. “Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography” is set to be published by Clarkson Potter on September 3. Meanwhile, Kurdewan has an “amazing collection of memorabilia, personal photographs, letters, Post-it notes and other keepsakes from working with Cunningham that would make for a compelling story, Stolman said. The photographer’s archives prior to 1993 are owned by his family, and those post-1993 belong to The Times, he added. His total estate reportedly was valued at $4 million.
Wednesday’s crowd also saw photos of Cunningham’s sparse loft where boxes of files
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The 13-year-old Louis M. Martini Lot 1 proves the long-term value of small-lot winemaking.
There were few groundbreaking releases this year, but a few managed to rise above the pack.