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Tucked in The Avant/Garde Diaries Project Space in Soho is Le Cabinet de Curiosites of Thomas Erber—a compilation of limited-edition goods curated by Mr. Erber, a journalist and consultant. Le Cabinet de Curiosites (or CDC) is an annual collaborative affair whereby Erber brings together approximately fifty independent artists, brands, and designers, and gives them carte blanche to create (and, of course, sell) items that are alluring and exclusive.
New York is his fourth installment (Colette in Paris, Browns in London, and Andreas Murkudis in Berlin were CDC's previous venues), with Bangkok as its next. And last night's launch was hosted by one of the CDC's very first permanent guests, Parisian label Maison Kitsune, who produced a special black flight jacket with shearling. "It's a very American style that's perfect for New York," Maison Kitsune creative director and co-founder Masaya Kuroki (co-founder Gildas Loaec was also in attendance), who's been friends with Erber for fifteen years, said of the topper. "Thomas has style, and he's sharp," added Kuroki. "He has his modern eye but still appreciates all the old traditional things, which is so Maison Kitsune."
The designer's sentiments were echoed by second-time participant, House of Waris founder Waris Ahluwalia: "Mr. Erber is great. He really pulls it all together," Ahluwalia said. "It's nice to be in the company with other artists, and CDC is always a great show of mixed media, of everything from jewelry to caviar."
Notable items on offer include a French caviar-leather rolling case by Want Les Essentiels de la Vie, a rare copper-encased Marquis de Montesquiou Armagnac, twelve unique Vulcain timepieces, and a Moulinette x Højmark bicycle with graphic details etched into its steel frame.
"I have seen many young entrepreneurs and brand founders who put a lot of heart and soul into their [products], and on the opposite, I have seen many artists who are dealing with their own career as entrepreneurs," Erber said. "My role is to define the limit between both and to curate them with authentic enthusiasm and sincerity."
Le Cabinet de Curiosites of Thomas Erber is open through December 23 at 372 Broome Street, in New York.
Italo Zucchelli, the creative director of Calvin Klein Collection's menswear, was unexpectedly enthusiastic about a subject in fashion—at least in men's fashion—that most prefer to ignore: pre-collections. "It's kind of new for men," Zucchelli said. Not long ago, the situation was much the same for womenswear: Pre-collections were commercial lines, meant to bolster store buys (in practice, they often make up to 70 percent, or more, of many retailers' annual purchases) and distill the themes of the mainline "editorial" collections presented on the runway into more wearable, salable form. But anyone reading Style.com over the past few years has seen pre-collections boom, often into runway shows of their own. (See our complete coverage if you disbelieve.)
ould the same happen for menswear? Zucchelli, for one, makes such a thing seem possible. (His sales, he reports, are split fifty-fifty between pre-collections and Spring and Fall collections.) "The pre-collections became bigger and bigger," he said. "Now I'm injecting fashion." The Pre-Fall 2014 collection, debuting here, makes the point. The airy palette of the Spring '14 collection, inspired in part by the work of James Turrell, turned darker, but blue remained dominant. Makes sense: Navy is a color no man is afraid to buy. But Zucchelli made good on his promise of more fashion in this traditionally sales-friendly offering. A bonded flannel car coat, easy and approachable, was spliced together with a panel of contrast fabric. "Techy" was Zucchelli's word for it. That future-leaning, technological bent, which has characterized many of his collections for the label, was evident throughout: In the moire jacquard motif on suits and jackets, the slash details worked into the seams of tailored garments, and, most of all, the printed graphic sweatshirts and tees that the designer said were already attracting significant sales attention. They featured blue-tinted aerial illustrations of one of the world's techiest cities: Tokyo.
An army of mannequins clad in vibrant plaids, masks, and cowboy hats. A cherry-red assemblage fashioned from a Coca-Cola cart. A photograph of a giant ear. These are just a few of the works one encounters while touring German artist Isa Genzken's new show at the Museum of Modern Art.
The exhibition marks Genzken's first retrospective stateside, presented with support from Celine. (Creative director Phoebe Philo is a huge Genzken fan, and flew to New York to toast the opening with a party.) "It's past time," says MoMA curator Laura Hoptman. "It's a goldmine of innovative work by a strong woman artist that had never been seen in the United States. It was kind of a curator's dream." Indeed, visitors unfamiliar with Genzken who, now 65, has been producing art for the past forty years, are given much to explore, from the artist's minimal wooden Ellipsoids to her unsettling found-object sculptures to her imposing comments on metropolitan architecture.
"Genzken has a broad brush. She's moved from one language to another with alacrity," says Hoptman. "There's a seamlessness to how she looks at how we live every day—the junk we see on Canal Street, the construction sites, the cool clothes, the beat of techno music—that's embedded in this very lofty ideal of what culture is. For me, that is the future of contemporary culture—it's high, low, and everything in between. She's very much a banner woman for that."
Here, Hoptman shares her thoughts on a few of the highlights from the show.
Isa Genzken: Retrospective runs through March 10 at the Museum of Modern Art, moma.org.
Baby, what's your sign? Even if you aren't an astrology junkie, we can all agree that star-and-moon motifs have a universal appeal this season. Maybe it began with the fuzzy Saint Laurent cardigan from Fall '13, which turned up on off-duty models and actresses alike, or perhaps it was Gravity, the blockbuster film set in the stunning Milky Way Galaxy. Slip on a pair of star-studded heels for a ladylike take on the trend, or opt for a glint-y clutch for a night on the town. However, if you're into horoscopes, you can always just wear a zodiac charm and let destiny take care of the rest. Shop our favorite cosmos-inspired pieces by Khai Khai, Jimmy Choo, and more, below.
Pillars of the British fashion industry gathered at the London Coliseum tonight for the British Fashion Awards—an annual ceremony that honors the creme de la creme of the country's creative talents. In addition to much-coveted honors such as Womenswear Designer of the Year (which Donatella Versace presented to Christopher Kane), Brand of the Year (won by Burberry, whose Christopher Bailey also took the Menswear Designer of the Year title), Accessories Designer of the Year (won by Nicholas Kirkwood), Model of the Year (Edie Campbell), and the International Designer of the Year Award (Miuccia Prada), there were a few special prizes to bestow. i-D magazine's founders Terry and Tricia Jones earned a standing ovation when they picked up their Outstanding Achievement Award, Marc Jacobs turned up to hand Kate Moss her Special Recognition Award, and Samantha Cameron presented a deserving Suzy Menkes with her Lifetime Achievement honor. As for the up-and-comers, J.W. Anderson took the New Establishment Award, while Simone Rocha and Agi & Sam won the emerging womenswear and menswear categories, respectively. Finally, the Emerging Accessories Designer Award fittingly went to Nicholas Kirkwood's protegee Sophia Webster. Tune in tomorrow for complete coverage of the ceremony, as well as Kate Moss' undoubtedly raucous after-fete. To see all the winners, visit the British Fashion Council's Web site.
There's more to Moscow's Red Square than the Kremlin, Saint Basil's Cathedral, and Lenin's tomb—for more than a century, it's been home to GUM (short for Gosudarstvennyi Universalnyi Magasin, or Main Universal Store in English), Russia's gigantic three-level, glass-domed department store, which celebrated its 120th anniversary last night.
GUM has had a long and often starry line of admirers over its century-plus in business. Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky bought their Patek Philippe watches there. It has survived closures (and opponents, like Stalin, who reportedly hated it), but has always come back. Ten years ago, Bosco di Ciliegi took over the monumental store and restored GUM's nearly 300,000 square feet to its nineteenth-century splendor. That 19th century splendor is now home to some very 21st century luxury brands, including Dior, Hermès, Giorgio Armani, and Louis Vuitton. Tiffany & Co. is set to arrive next year.
Much of the media coverage has centered on the fate of the giant Vuitton trunk that the label erected out in the Red Square, where the brand was planning to house its Soul of Travel exhibition. After protests from the Kremlin, it is now being dismantled and removed. (Vuitton plans to hold the exhibition elsewhere as soon as possible.) But the political brouhaha didn't dampen GUM's birthday mood. The retail center set up a rustic outdoor Christmas fair and staged a period costume party on its Red Square ice rink, which recalled the days of the tsars. Guests sipped hot mulled wine in the snow and snacked on Russian dumplings and crepes with salmon. Revelers even had the chance to mint their own GUM anniversary coins before indulging in the mammoth birthday cake and taking to the ice where a brass band played.
As the fashion on offer in Moscow remains alarmingly pricey due to Russia's notably high import tax, the best luxury bet at GUM may be the store's legendary ice cream. Despite the frigid temperatures, there were hordes of people waiting in line for some of the frozen treats. As Winston Churchill once put it, "You cannot defeat a nation that enjoys ice cream at minus-40 degrees C."
"I am an interiors geek—I have been slightly obsessed with homes since childhood, and that's why this project just came naturally to me," said creative director and now author Rob Meyers on the eve of his book launch. The tome in question is Behind Closed Doors, which catalogs images of twenty-five creative people's homes, with a twist: They were all taken by the creatives themselves.
Olivier Theyskens, Nicola Formichetti, Courtney Love, Marc Quinn, and Gary Card are among those who participated in Meyers' first book, which was five years in the making. "I worked with all these crazy talented people and I thought, Hey, I wonder what their homes look like," said Meyers, whose resume includes stints with Arena Homme+, POP, Wallpaper*, World of Interiors, and Nylon. "I gave them all disposable cameras and asked them to take pictures of their fave bits in their homes," said the author of his subjects. "And amazingly, they came through. The cameras came back fully loaded."
Jeremy Scott's incredible eighties post-Memphis furniture pieces (above, top) and surreal Ronald McDonald collection; Martha Stewart's bank of fridges, jars of spatulas, and bowls of eggs; and Courtney Love's assortment of wedding cake figurines (above, bottom), which includes a pic of her own wedding topper with Kurt Cobain, are just a few of the images included in Meyers' book. But he insists that this is not what you think: "It's not like these people have been papped or violated in any way. These pictures are not at all intrusive because [the participants] took the pictures of their homes themselves, and showed as much or as little as they wanted. This comes from their hearts."
Priced at $29.95, Behind Closed Doors will be available from Rizzoli in March 2014.
Peter Kaplan, the editorial director of Fairchild Fashion Media, of which cbamd.com is part, died yesterday. He was 59. There will be many anecdotes in the coming days and weeks—Peter was one of the rare people you come across who could legitimately be described as legendary—but for now it is enough to say that everyone at cbamd.com is immeasurably sad and our thoughts are with his family. Because he was the editor of the New York Observer for 15 years and in that time defined its ironic, knowing take on the city's elites, he became known as the godfather of snark, an attitude that launched a thousand blogs. But Peter's approach to journalism was irony-free and had nothing to do with snark; it was heartfelt and passionate. I would say he regarded it as a sacred duty. When I was getting ready to write my editor's letter for the first issue of cbamd.com/Print, which was less of a traditional editor's letter than an attempt to capture the chaos of the fashion shows, he said to me, "It doesn't matter what you write as long as you believe it. In other words you shouldn't take an ironic attitude to your subject. It should be what you believe." I smiled because it went against his reputation, but in a nutshell that was how he thought of journalism, no matter whether you were writing about U.S. presidents or the politics of the catwalk. Of course, he wanted it to be exuberant—the first thing he said to me when cbamd.com came under Fairchild's umbrella was "we're going to have so much fun"—but it was exuberance with a serious intent. In that and so many other ways, Peter was inimitable.
"Claridge's asked us to create this year's Christmas tree, and we were delighted because London and Claridge's are two of our favorite places, and Christmas is such a magical time," Stefano Gabbana told cbamd.com last night at the annual Christmas tree unveiling at Claridge's, an event that, for many Londoners, marks the beginning of the festive season. "To be asked was such an honor considering the great designers who have taken part before. We just hope that we have achieved our goal of bringing a bit of Italian artigianalita [artistry] to London."
Well, they can tick that box. The beautiful ornaments that were painstakingly hand-blown, carved, and painted in an Italian workshop included pupi (wooden puppets), toy soldiers, medieval knights, and even orange, lemon, and watermelon wedges that transported us directly to a Sicilian garden. This collaboration carries on the tradition established by Claridge's in 2009 of inviting a fashion house to dream up a tree, with Dior and Lanvin rising to the challenge at Christmases past.
Eva Herzigova, David Gandy, Poppy Delevingne, Joan Collins, and more sampled Italian canapes out of festively wrapped gift boxes and were treated to a moving tenor performance that held the entire crowd in rapt attention. "The environment they created is so very special—the atmosphere here is absolutely rich with this infusion of Italian culture," offered Herzigova. "I think with this, the boys have outdone even themselves, if that is possible."
New It bags and It shoes regularly enter the fashion orbit, but this season's unexpected must-have accessory is the humble—or not so humble—belt. Back in September, we clocked Celine's Thanksgiving-appropriate pilgrim buckle on Anna Dello Russo, Giovanna Battaglia, and Elina Halimi, and noticed plenty of statement-making cinching on the Spring runways, too. Michael Kors, Haider Ackermann, and Tom Ford created a wasp-waist silhouette with classic men's leather belts, while other designers assumed a more-is-more approach. Lanvin's Alber Elbaz featured sweet cummerbunds decorated with bedazzled hearts; Peter Dundas sent out medallion-spangled bands worthy of a boxing champion at Emilio Pucci; and Vera Wang was snapped wearing an ultrawide style that swallowed up her entire torso.
Here, just in time for Thanksgiving viewing, a slide show of our favorite waist-cinchers.
