Nick Knight and Garage challenge fashion's fleeting
nature by creating an editorial built around a permanent form of art:
tattoos. In a two day livestream, Knight shoots six models, including
Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss, in looks styled by Charlotte
Stockdale. Six great tattooists, including Scott Campbell and Angelique,
will then interpret the images as real tattoos on willing body art
fans.
Here is the link:
http://showstudio.com/project/always_forever
VICTORIA BECKHAM is the guest editor-in-chief of French Vogue's December issue. The designer worked with the magazine's editor Emmanuelle Alt to create intimate photo shoots starring herself and David Beckham, and candid interviews.
"Being asked to be the guest editor of the Christmas issue of Vogue Paris this year was an incredible honour," says Beckham. "Working with Emmanuelle Alt and her team was both exciting and inspiring, and I am so proud of what we have created."
Inside the issue is a detailed profile on David Beckham ("We've had our ups and downs, but we're so proud of each other."); fashion stories photographed by David Sims, as well as Inez & Vinoodh; excerpts from Beckham's personal photo album; and a "teatime chat" with Valentino, one of the designer's good friends.
"We handed over the running of this issue to a woman who, throughout our working together, has proved to be the exact opposite of her public image," said Alt. "She is spontaneous with a great sense of humour; humble, yet at the same time driven by a healthy ambition. She is a perfectionist, like everyone who is passionate about their work."
THE Holy Cross has been trivialised by contemporary fashion, says the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Most Reverend Justin Welby believes that the symbol has lost its true meaning, adding that wearing a cross on a necklace is the equivalent of wearing an electric chair around your neck.
"For those early Christians, it was a badge of shame," he said. "Today it is more commonly seen as a symbol of beauty to hang around your neck. As a friend of mine used to say, you might as well hang a tiny golden gallows or an electric chair around your neck."
The Archbishop's comments were made in the foreword to his new book,Looking Through The Cross, which will be published in February.
"Are we now living with a symbol emptied of power by time and fashion? Christianity with a powerless Cross is Christianity without a throne for Christ or an aspiration for Christians," he continued. "A Cross that has no weight is not worth carrying."
SUZY MENKES will receive the Special Recognition Award at the British Fashion Awards on Monday, December 2. The honour celebrates her 25-year career at the International Herald Tribune, now The International New York Times.
"Suzy is the fastest mover in the west - or east," said Sarah Mower, BFC ambassador for emerging talent. "I have only ever beaten her to the race backstage about three times in 15 years. The brain under that front-roll is a phenomenon. I'm in awe of the agenda-setting pieces she pens between Milan and Paris which both interrogate fashion's motives and put it in its rightful cultural and economic place. Besides that, she's the greatest defender of journalistic integrity, the greatest inspiration and the naughtiest wit I know."
After graduating from Cambridge, having been the university newspaper's first female editor, Menkes went on to work for The Times, The Evening Standard and TheIndependent, before joining the IHT in 1988. She holds the Legion d'Honneur in France and a British OBE.
LOUIS VUITTON's new Moscow exhibition is the subject of controversy after the display angered Communist Party representatives. A spokesperson for the label was unable to comment.
The bone of contention is the venue - a giant, nine-metre-high replica of a vintage Vuitton trunk, situated in the city's Red Square - which some Russian politicians argue is too close to the tomb of Vladimir Lenin, who famously led the socialist Bolshevik Revolution, which resulted in the seizure of power from the Russian government and eventually the creation of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state.
"This is a sacred place for the Russian state," Sergei Obukhov, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, told the Wall Street Journal. "There are some symbols that cannot be trivialised or denigrated."
Red Square has been used for commercial purposes before, including fashion shows, Christmas ice rinks and music concerts.
The new flagship boutique opens today and occupies 2000 square feet at 480 Broome Street in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood, New York.
It’s the Australian label’s first international flagship store and was designed by architect Kelvin Ho of Akin Creative to house Sass & Bide’s signature designs in a modern space that incorporates the beauty of the natural world.
"It feels wonderful and surreal to be opening our first international flagship. It's such an amazing time for the brand and an exciting new chapter for us," said Sass & Bide creative director Heidi Middleton.
"We wanted to create a powerful first impression that really captured the energy and spirit of the brand. The completion of that process was deciding to build a tree-like sculpture that would weave in and out of the store space, representing beauty, strength, modernity and spirit."
SLOW and steady wins the race, that's the key to Hermès's success.
"Today is very much about a lot of media and information, everything going too fast, everybody can sense there is something wrong about that and I think Hermès marries the values of something a bit slower and authentic," says Christophe Lemaire, artistic director of the brand for the past three years and himself self-confessedly "old-fashioned" when it comes to social media and even emails. "Fortunately my girlfriend is much more of a geek than I am, she's more of this generation that's familiar with the web and everything."
For him, instead, it's about having a sense of perspective.
"It's about time, real luxury is time. The quality of relationships, human relationships. Personally, when I came to Hermès as a designer I felt very much welcome - the sharing of ideas and dialogue, support. I think it's a pity that fashion became like war, so much pressure and violence, somehow and I think for a young designer it must be so hard," he says.
Having been at Lacoste for ten years prior to his Hermès appointment and with an eponymous label under his belt, Lemaire - who is considered and quietly spoken - is a seasoned designer, so the pressure and pace of fashion is something he has learned to tame.
"I have a little bit of experience and I have distance with that. I always had a distance with fashion. I love designing, I love clothes, I love my work, but I'm very clumsy with my own image. And the media thing, I'm never interested in the circus around fashion - it's all about image and I'm more interested about something that is true and that makes sense," he says.
And something is certainly making sense right now - last week the brand reported a solid improvement of sales in the third quarter, growing by 12.9 per cent at constant exchange rates and, separately, celebrated all things Hermès with a special Woman's Universe event in Paris. And there is quite a universe - the bags (of course), the scarves, the shoes, the jewellery and the ready-to-wear...
"Hermès is very special in that there is such a strong working culture. It's very much like a family thing and everyone is involved," points out Lemaire. He's keen to note that it's the constant dialogue and exchange of ideas among those who work there that contribute to the success that it is: Pierre Hardy on shoes and accessories and artistic director Bali Barret.
"It's different from other luxury brands in the sense that there's not really one head designer," he sums up. "It's very much us talking together, an exchange, and there is not a parameter of organisation. When you come to Hermès, you have to understand the beauty of it. It's a different process and a different result but I like that."
The iPhone app brings to (virtual) life Scott’s design process.
Fittingly called L’App, L’Wren Scott has released an app to give her fans an intimate behind the scenes look at her life as the fashion designer of her eponymous label.
Billed as a ‘visual journey’, it includes an integrated social media hub for her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, her latest collection imagery and look books and access to her inspiration boards.
If that wasn’t reason enough to download L’App (it’s free and available on the AppStore now too), it also gives a glimpse into Scott’s imminent Banana Republic collaboration, a 47-piece capsule collection hitting select stores on December 5th.
“Fashion is an art form created and curated to be seen by others – to stimulate the imagination and electrify the sense,” says Scott, who is also famed for being the girlfriend of Mick Jagger.
“L’Wren was the first designer to launch a collection on Instagram and continues to be at the forefront of fashion and technology,” said Richard Kerris, CEO of Kerris Media, who has developed the app.
For a label that’s only seven years old, Scott’s unique digital strategy is putting her in the top tier of fashion’s new guard
As the keynote speaker at the 2013 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, Tom Ford dished out a generous serving of advice to the young designers in the crowd. Here are his top tips for building a brand with your name on it:
1.“Trust your instincts when it comes to design.”
2.“Never sell a controlling interest in your name. Ever. Ever.”
3."Decide for you if fashion is an art or an artistic business. This will affect how you set up your company."
4.“If your president or chief executive officer thinks they know the difference between dark burgundy and aubergine, fire them.”
5.“If you’re designing your own label, then know yourself.”
6.“We have to have genius creative thoughts precisely four times a year and on exact dates."
7.“You have a voice that can influence contemporary culture as much or more than anything else.”
8.“Know your ideal client — the dream person you design for, your fantasy muse, so to speak.”
9.“If your brand is to have a strong identity, it must come from you and not from a committee.”
10.“Have a five-year plan, a 10-year plan, even a 20-year plan. And possibly an exit strategy.”
11.“Remember that our customers do not need our clothes.”
12.“Try to remain positive. I struggle with this one too.”
13.“Find a great business partner and don’t let them go. This is absolutely key.”
14.“Be thankful to all those who help you on the way up. You won’t get there without them. Cherish them, and don’t forget them.”
MARY KATRANTZOU launches her debut e-commerce site tomorrow - baby steps towards her first flagship store.
"E-commerce is an exercise in learning about your customers and preparing for your first standalone shop," she told us. "For that reason, the customer service had to be right and it had to be engaging, so we took our time with it. I also wanted it to feel bespoke and personal. We've had a strong online platform from the beginning with our social media channels, but the website will be a place where we can collect data about our customers and interact with them using one platform."
A digital campaign, masterminded by Ferdinando Verderi, is already in full swing on Marykatrantzou.com - a living countdown in order to build anticipation. The website has been in the pipeline for the past year, as soon as Katrantzou realised that had both the resources and time to develop an online platform exactly in the way she wanted. Web developers King and Partners were hired to help create the site's aesthetic.
"As with anything that takes over a year to make, the concept evolved," said Katrantzou. "We had so many ideas that were narrowed down. I wanted it to be visually precise and minimal, but not clinical - it has more of a gallery feel to it."
Highlights include an exclusive, limited-edition range taken from the label's debut resort collection and a section called Mary's World, which details the brand's latest news and events and offers a live feed from its social media channels. The launch is the first stage of the company's expansion - developing its accessories is next on the agenda, and a standalone store is also on the distant horizon. Her first foray for shoes - a collaboration with Gianvito Rossi - lands in stores in February-March.
"We'll open a shop as soon as we can, but I'm aware that customers want something for all seasons, and that these things take time," she said. "At the moment, we're trying to build an infrastructure to launch bags. It'll be a small, inclusive range, but it has to be desirable and I'm a perfectionist, so it won't happen quickly!"
Over the past 12 months, luxury conglomerates such as Kering and LVMH have looked to London's crop of designers to invest in - with stakes having been bought in Nicholas Kirkwood, JW Anderson and Christopher Kane. Is Katrantzou hoping for a similar deal?
"We would be open to it, but it would have to be the right partner and right time. Ideally, it would be very strategic and a way of helping the company grow. It's a great way of speeding up expansion. I can't say anymore," she laughed.
See what to expect from the website by watching the below film:
