Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown leads an exclusive grape-to-glass program.
He’ll receive the award at a ceremony next year.
Long synonymous with the working world, suits assume a more playful élan for spring as designers tweak classic tailoring and blend in streetwear elements.
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Plus-size retail firm Dia&Co has raised $40 million in new financing that brings its aggregate raise to $95 million.
The Series C round of $40 million was led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital. Sequoia led its Series B round of $30 million. The total funding since the firm’s founding in 2015 is $95 million.
The company was founded by Nadia Boujarwah and Lydia Gilbert. Rebecca Kaden of Union Square will join the firm’s board of directors, alongside existing director Alfred Lin of Sequoia.
As for Sequoia’s participation in the B and C rounds, Lin described the opportunity in the plus-size category as “massive.” Lin also said what made Dia&Co unique compared with others in the space was its “mission to revolutionize every aspect of the shopping experience for plus-size women from the marketing to the inventory to the highly engaged community the company has attracted.”
Dia&Co also said that Francis Nzeuton joined the company as chief financial officer. He had led the finance team at Amazon, and most recently led finance for Amazon’s U.S. consumables business.
According to Boujarwah, “Sixty-seven percent of the population wear plus sizes, which starts at size 14.” She noted that the company, as a
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Rebecca Taylor is the next contemporary sportswear company to move into the sharing economy. Today, Taylor will launch Rebecca Taylor Rntd, a rental service that allows the brand to serve the customer in a new way by combining traditional ownership and subscription rental.
“With the rising popularity of clothing rental, I was excited by the opportunity to explore this platform as it felt like a natural progression for the brand,” said Janice Sullivan, chief executive officer of Rebecca Taylor. “Rebecca Taylor provides exciting, trend-right, occasion and wear-to-work options which are the strongest-performing categories in rental,” she added.
The service is powered by Caastle, which as reported earlier this week, is working with Vince as well on their rental service, Vince Unfold.
Caastle’s technology platform will handle all reverse logistics, garment care and shipping.
Rebecca Taylor Rntd will offer such categories as blouses, dresses, pants, sweaters, outerwear and denim. Customers can subscribe for a monthly fee of $159, which will give her access to four prioritized items per shipment. The program allows for unlimited exchanges per month and offers a discounted price for items she wants to purchase. The discount is determined by how many times the item has been rented, as well as a
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In Fiore’s latest solid fragrance, Baisers de Jasmin, is a first for both the brand and its collaborator, French makeup artist Violette.
This is the first collaboration for the fragrance brand, which launched 20 years ago, and the first fragrance collaboration for Violette, who earlier this year was named the new global beauty director and spokesperson at Estée Lauder.
In Fiore Baisers de Jasmin
Robert Couto Photography
“I look for someone who I align with very well aesthetically and also creatively,” said Julie Elliott, founder of In Fiore, on working with Violette. “I like a strong personality, which may be contrary to a collaboration, but I love women who are confident in their creativity and ability to make decisions. In this case, when typically there would be conflict, it worked beautifully.”
A fan of the brand’s solid fragrances, Violette reached out to Elliott about creating a new scent together that embodies female empowerment. Going through multiple iterations, the two decided on a jasmine-based scent, which Elliott combined with botanical versions of benzoin and white amber.
“I really care about celebrating women and enhancing who they are as they are and not changing them,” Violette said. “I told [Elliott] it was my dream to do a perfume
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LONDON — Britain’s luxury industry may be ready to honor Manolo Blahnik next week for a storied career, but ask the designer and he’ll argue it’s way too early to be talking about such things.
“A legend? I don’t think I’ll ever be a legend. That’s maybe in other people’s minds — but not in mine. I still have a future, a few more years — I hope,” said the designer, whose drawing board is full and whose passion for history, the classical world — and tradition — remains unquenchable.
On Nov. 19 Blahnik will receive the Luxury Legend award from Walpole, the sector body for U.K. luxury, during the black-tie British Luxury Awards at London’s Dorchester hotel.
The award recognizes outstanding individual achievement in, and contribution to, the success of luxury, with past winners including Justine Picardie, editor of Harper’s Bazaar U.K., Ralph & Russo and Julia Peyton-Jones, former director of the Serpentine Galleries in London.
“To say Manolo is a legend is far from hyperbole, it’s almost an understatement,” said Helen Brocklebank, chief executive officer of Walpole.
The man known to the industry and consumers alike as Manolo said winning accolades was never his end game.
“You know what? I have never done anything with goals
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