Bridget Foley’s Diary: Salon Style

It seems there’s barely a topic in American life that can’t wend in short order toward Donald Trump. But the presence of glass exhibitors at The Salon: Art + Design, which opened Thursday night at the Park Avenue Armory? Yes, even that.
Jill Bokor is the executive director of the show, which typically opens on the Thursday after Election Day. (Thursday’s opening benefited the Dia Art Foundation.) Over a recent coffee at the Americano, Bokor recounted what she calls “the misery of two years ago,” when the shock of Trump’s presidential win was still very new and, for many, very raw.
On that opening evening, attendees found their focus diverted from shopping. “They wanted to look, they wanted to see each other and they wanted to sob,” Bokor recalled, though she added a quick inclusivity caveat: “I mean, there were probably people there who’d voted for Trump.”
The following Saturday, typically the event’s biggest day, traffic woes generated by anti-Trump demonstrations caused a dip in show traffic, which caused a dip in sales, and crappy sales led some vendors to drop out. That left Bokor challenged “to make lemonade out of lemons.” Or at least to procure highfalutin vessels for lemonade, because at that

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09.11.2018No comments
Women’s Designers Embrace Men’s Market

Among the plethora of trends unveiled on the spring 2019 women’s runways, one of the most unmissable and persistent was men’s wear.
Headlined by Celine — where Hedi Slimane introduced the French brand’s first full men’s offering since it was founded in 1945 — the season saw a host of designers make a similar splash, with The Row, Jacquemus, Tibi, Prabal Gurung and Monse also diving headfirst into a vibrant — and less crowded — segment of the market. And retailers are cheering the moves — and writing orders.
From the designers’ perspectives, getting into men’s wear allows them to flex their creative muscle — and add some volume to their bottom lines.
Gurung said he’s always wanted to launch men’s wear “and now just felt like the right time. We are living in a day and age where traditional roles, genders and identifiers are shifting, and we see more and more men looking for unique and creative ways to express themselves. We are also such advocates for diversity and inclusion, so we wanted to extend our brand offering to be able to include men.”
To be sure, Gurung spied an opening. “I see so much elegant and sharp tailoring in the category, and

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09.11.2018No comments
Azzedine Alaïa Association Opens Bookstore

PARIS — “We found amazing things; he had all the books on Madeleine Vionnet, books that nobody else has, hidden up in his apartment. He had treasures,” said Carla Sozzani over coffee on Thursday in the fabled kitchen of the Maison Alaïa HQ in the Marais district here.
Flanked by Azzedine Alaïa’s life partner, painter Christoph von Weyhe, with Alaïa’s massive St. Bernard, Didine, at their feet, Sozzani was taking a break from overseeing preparations for the opening of the Maison Alaïa bookstore, La Librairie, on Saturday.
Located just off the kitchen, the store gives onto the courtyard of 18 rue de la Verrerie, the house in which the late couturier lived and worked, and where he envisioned his museum. A café will open in January.
The space used to house a small boutique run by Alaïa’s twin sister, Hafida, selling a mix of vintage pieces and creations by the Tunisian-born designer, who died in late 2017.
Members of the Alaïa team moved about the store area dotted with unpacked boxes of books. Lying on a table, waiting to be positioned on the end wall, was a giant portrait of the designer by his friend, artist and director Julian Schnabel, made of broken plates.

The Azzedine

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09.11.2018No comments
Rachel Roy Taps Kate Chase-Lansdale as President

Kate Chase-Lansdale has been named president of Rachel Roy.
The role has been vacant for two years and was previously held by Denise Johnson.
Chase-Lansdale joined Rachel Roy in July 2017 as senior vice president, sales and a member of the senior leadership team. Earlier, she was vice president of sales at Lucky Brand and before that, held executive sales roles at Splendid, Ella Moss and Free People. She started her career at Saks Fifth Avenue in buying positions for contemporary and bridge collections.

Kate Chase-Lansdale 
NG_Inc.

Daniel Abramovitch, chief executive officer of Rachel Roy, said, “Kate had an immediate impact on the Rachel Roy business when she joined, leveraging her industry relationships, product savvy, financial acumen and team building skills to expand distribution and launch Rachel Roy Collection.” He said he was pleased that she would be taking on a bigger role at the firm, alongside the strong team they’ve built. “We look forward to her continued success and exponential growth for the company,” he said.
Chase-Lansdale, who will be based at the New York headquarters, said she’s looking forward to leading the brand into the next chapter. “Brand loyalty coupled with a strong product aesthetic gives us a solid foundation and tools in which

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09.11.2018No comments
Mary Katrantzou on Her Unlikely Collaboration With Victoria’s Secret

In the decade since starting her namesake brand, Mary Katrantzou has designed everything from sneakers to packaging for beauty products. One thing she’d never designed? Bras. So it came as a particular surprise when she got the call from Victoria’s Secret asking her to collaborate on a collection to be presented tonight at the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion show.
“It’s so unexpected, it’s so interesting,” Katrantzou said on Wednesday night at The Plaza in New York at one of the many 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion pre-game events, including the unveiling of the Swarovski-made Fantasy bra on Monday evening (also at The Plaza). “Sometimes you have certain things you want to happen and you manifest to happen and this something that came out of nowhere.…That conversation [with Victoria’s Secret] was interesting, just because of the values we both share about empowering women.”
Katrantzou said she was especially compelled to work with the lingerie giant to collaborate on the technical aspect of designing women’s underpinnings. “That was the exciting part. You always think of the anatomy of a woman when you design and how you create a second skin for the woman,” she said. “Perfecting the fit, you want to do the best you can. You want

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09.11.2018No comments