INFLUENCER AWARD: The French government recognized Chanel for its commitment to supporting craftsmanship at an awards ceremony held during Paris Fashion Week.
Bruno Pavlovsy, Chanel’s president of fashion and president of its Paraffection subsidiary, which controls 26 specialty ateliers, accepted the prize for economic influence at the Grand Prix du Rayonnement Français awards, held in the presence of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday night.
The audience of politicians, business leaders and creatives included Virginie Viard, fashion studio director at Chanel; Eric Pfrunder, image director at Chanel; Anna Wintour, editor in chief of U.S. Vogue, and Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre, a longtime communications executive at the house, who also sat on the jury.
In his acceptance speech, Pavlovsky noted that Chanel’s collaborations with artisans date back to founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who worked with Massaro on the production of her signature two-tone shoe, jeweler Goossens for her costume jewelry, and Lemarié on the camellias that are an emblem of the house.
“For these houses, it is as much about heritage and preserving cultural and technical knowledge as it is about resolutely looking ahead. To that end, these skilled artisans are permanently innovating, recruiting and reinventing their trades and techniques in the service of creation and

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TOKYO — After more than a decade with Moncler, designer Francesco Ragazzi launched his Los Angeles-inspired streetwear brand Palm Angels in 2015. Now things have come full circle as he was one of eight designers to participate in the Moncler Genius project. Ragazzi was in the Japanese capital on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the Moncler Genius Building, a pop-up store in the city’s Aoyama district.
“I started at Moncler, so when they asked me to be a part of this project, it was an honor for me,” said Ragazzi, who still serves as Moncler’s artistic director. “I had to put my understanding of the brand and my experience and sort of play with its DNA – the down jackets and the shiny fabric. The show in Milan was like a museum, and this is kind of like the gift shop of the museum.”
The store’s interior has simple white walls and black fixtures, allowing the unique designs to speak for themselves. In addition to the clothing collections, there are items such as toy cars and figures, skateboards, and more. Ragazzi’s collection is distinguished by phrases such as “I’m so high” and “Make it rain.”
As reported, in addition to the Tokyo location,

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LOS ANGELES — Monogram doesn’t care to operate as a mono-category business. Plenty’s been happening over the past several months in a bid to diversify and grow the business.
The founders, for starters, made the move to Atwater Village from Brooklyn to be closer to the company’s manufacturing facilities. The Los Angeles area is where all of its fabric sourcing, screenprinting, cut-and-sew and other points of production are based.
The company, launched as a direct-to-consumer T-shirt brand with a vintage vibe, is still small with Jeff Halmos and his wife and cofounder Lisa Mayock the only two running the business. They work with freelancers and outsource services such as shipping and warehousing.
Earlier this year, the company dipped a toe into wholesale for the first time with Barneys New York. In a few weeks the brand will begin shipping to specialty stores, such as TenOverSix and Fred Segal in the U.S., in addition to some doors in Japan, Korea and Australia.
“We’re keeping the distribution fairly limited and just making sure that it’s the right kind of store that we think would be able to sell the product really well,” Halmos said. “They’re going to be buying primarily bestsellers and our site will still have

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