Sotheby’s Teams With Michael Clark on Contemporary Curated Auction

DANCE MEETS ART: British dancer and choreographer Michael Clark is the next guest curator for Sotheby’s ongoing series of art exhibitions and auctions, Contemporary Curated.
Clark, known as one of the most rebellious Royal Ballet School alumni, is joining the likes of Erdem Moralioglu and Anya Hindmarch, who have previously curated exhibitions for the famed auction house.
Having always been informed by art and maintained close relationships with artists, such as Sarah Lucas, Leigh Bowery and Peter Doig, the process of curating the exhibition was a natural one for Clark, who currently serves as artistic associate at London’s Barbican Center.
The artworks he selected aim to showcase the “ongoing dance” between art, fashion and dance with movement being among the biggest themes of the works on display, from Rebecca Warren’s sculpture that exaggerates and distorts the female figure to Tom Wesselmann’s “Study for Sunset Nude,” an abstract drawing of a nude female figure.
Other highlights include Sarah Lucas’ “Ones Knob” created using cigarettes and beer cans, Oscar Murillo’s “Drawing Off the Wall” and an abstract piece by Günther Förg featuring a series of monochrome canvases.

Sarah Lucas’ “Ones Knob.” 
Courtesy

“I’m slightly envious of something like the Günther Förg which takes abstraction to a level that I can’t,” said

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11.04.2017No comments
Macy’s Relocates, Reopens in Century City

SPRUCING UP: Even as Macy’s is shuttering stores, it moved forward with the expansion and reopening of its Westfield Century City location.
The 156,000-square-foot, two-level unit — representing an addition of 50,000 square feet from the retailer’s previous space at Los Angeles’ Westfield Century City — brings a Bluemercury spa, home and new brands into the men’s and women’s departments.
The redone and relocated department store is part of the mall’s $1 billion redo, which also includes a remodeled Bloomingdale’s and the eventual relocation of Nordstrom from the Westside Pavilion to Century City expected in October. The mall’s recent first-phase completion saw the opening of some 25 retailers.
Macy’s new Century City store adds two My Stylist offices on each level.
The second floor, which contains women’s, kids and the new home department, includes a dress department to cater to the large swath of customers in the area who shop the store for events.
“We’re a big social dress store because we have a lot of studios across the street. We have a lot of the awards-season customer that comes here to shop,” said store manager Negin Shahabikia on a recent walk through of the new space. “We’re surrounded by the Platinum Triangle. There’s Holmby

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11.04.2017No comments
Urban Decay, The New Stand ‘Pretail’ Basquiat Collection

Urban Decay’s new Basquiat Collection is hitting the subways of downtown New York.
The brand has teamed with The New Stand, the underground retailer and app trying to redefine the traditional newsstand experience, on a “pretail” experience. Today, The New Stand’s location in the Union Square subway station will launch the nine-piece makeup range — two weeks ahead of its official launch on Urbandecay.com and at Sephora, Ulta, Macy’s and Belk.
Urban Decay has a complete takeover of the front of the store, with campaign images and branded installations splashed across the space, as well as corresponding content populating The New Stand’s app.
“It really harkens back to [Jean-Michel] Basquiat’s early graffiti days on the Lower East Side.…It’s an homage to his downtown New York roots,” said Tina Pozzi, vice president global brand marketing at Urban Decay.
She said only 100 units of each item will be for sale in the space, as well as The Vault, a special-edition set that includes all nine products in the collection packaged in mini replicas of Basquiat’s artwork. The $169 set includes two eye shadow palettes; a blush palette; three shades of 24/7 Glide-on Eye pencil and three shades of Vice Lipstick.
While it’s not the first time

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10.04.2017No comments
CEO Talks: Francesca Bellettini on Saint Laurent’s Next Big Goal

PARIS — Francesca Bellettini is riding high.
The chief executive officer of Saint Laurent last year steered the brand’s revenues past the barrier of one billion euros, or $1.11 billion at average exchange rates. The house posted comparable growth of more than 20 percent for the sixth year in a row, despite a change in creative direction mid-year.
Its explosive growth has turned Saint Laurent into the second powerhouse at parent company Kering, though still less than a third of the size of Gucci. Now Bellettini has set her eyes on the three-billion-euro mark, a target she has felt within reach ever since she joined the company in 2013.
“Everywhere I was looking at the brand, the potential was like an energy that was there and that was ready to explode,” she told WWD in an interview at Saint Laurent’s corporate headquarters on Avenue George V.
Among her plans for 2017 are growing Saint Laurent’s store network, including the opening this month of a second flagship in Tokyo; a deeper push into travel retail; the opening of a dedicated shoe workshop in Italy; a revamp of its e-commerce site, and heavy investment in digital communications.
Then there is the company’s planned move next year into new

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10.04.2017No comments
Memorial Service for Santiago Barberi Gonzalez Announced

A memorial service honoring Santiago Barberi Gonzalez, Nancy Gonzalez president and creative director of the Nancy Gonzalez accessories brand, will be held April 25 at 4 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fofh Avenue in Manhattan. Invitations were emailed to family and friends on Saturday afternoon.
Barberi Gonzalez died March 24 at the age of 40. The cause of death remains unknown.
Santiago’s mother Nancy Gonzalez had issued a statement about her son’s death, calling him “a creative genius. He was a rare talent, with a great passion for his craft, his art and his family.”
El Museo Del Barrio will also conduct a special tribute for the fashion executive at its spring gala, planned for May 11.

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09.04.2017No comments
Gina de Givenchy Launches Geeg Specializing in Headwear for Women Fighting Disease

WELL-COVERED: As a cancer survivor, Gina de Givenchy knows firsthand the complex emotions that women face while fighting disease.
Her new e-commerce business, Geeg, specializes in head coverings made of shirting material, turbans and other specialty items designed to help lift the spirits of the unwell.
After having a double mastectomy and starting treatment for breast cancer in 2013, the former fashion executive said she struggled to find any headwear that was “relatable” to her. Starting to think about going back to work, de Givenchy said. “I really wanted to start my own business. It really was like a bolt of lightning, after searching the Internet. It’s not really something that you’re walking the streets for. There was nothing that was really designer and luxury. And there was no real retail shopping for the cancer patient.”
That realization was “really strange” for de Givenchy who had always been connected to the fashion industry through her posts at Richard Tyler, Chanel and Jil Sander. She explained, “I sort of felt like the same person even though I didn’t look like same person. I just felt sort of shortchanged.”
Recalling her own purchases, she said, “What it really comes down to is I needed something that

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08.04.2017No comments
The Blend of the Traditional and Contemporary Dominates Amazon India Fashion Week

NEW DELHI, India — While the fashion  silhouette changed this season at the 29th edition of Amazon India Fashion Week Winter 2017, held in association with Maybelline New York, the shows opened with a focus on how to blend traditional craft with contemporary design.
The first show of the week, featuring 13 designers, focused on using handlooms in modern fashion. A collaborative effort between the Fashion Design Council of India and the Handloom School supported by retailer Good Earth showcased work by designers including Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap, Singh Suket Dhir, Raw Mango, Akaaro, Antar-Agni, Eka, Pero and Urvashi Kaur.
As Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India, observed, the event dedicated to India’s handlooms and textiles did indeed make a “giant leap in the legacy to promote the homespun.”
Anita Lal, founder of The Good Earth Co., said, “We’ve never participated in fashion shows. But we realized that in order to popularize the concept of handloom it has to be seen as something desirable, something that has a certain appeal to younger people, which is why we did the fashion show and sponsored.”
Textile minister Smriti Irani, who was at the event, observed that the industry itself was going through

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08.04.2017No comments