Rebekah Wing
Anna Le
Steve Frous
Ala Konturek
Weronika Kumanek
Watch out, Kering. LVMH is comin' round the bend on the young designer investment front—or it's rumored to be, anyway. Today, WWD reports that LVMH is believed to be in talks with London-based up-and-comer Jonathan Anderson of J.W.Anderson.
The emerging talent, known for his wares' slick cuts and androgynous appeal, has been on the rise for the past few seasons. Earlier this year, he launched his very first ad campaign, which debuted exclusively here. And who could forget his collaboration with Versace's Versus? No doubt, a little help from LVMH would further elevate his line—and his profile. In related news, there have been whispers the past few months that LVMH is looking to invest in accessories designer Nicholas Kirkwood's growing business, too.
This all comes on the heels of Kering's headline-making move to buy a 51 percent stake in Christopher Kane in January, as well as the company's purchase of shares in Altuzarra just last week. All in all, it looks like luxury parent corps are invested in funding the future of fashion—here's hoping the designers will continue to stay their respective creative courses.
For AnOther Magazine's twenty-fifth issue, Jefferson Hack, the founder of Dazed Publishing Group, has tapped renowned Belgian stylist Olivier Rizzo as the guest editor of the British culture and fashion biannual.
Centering on the ideas of travel and transformation, Rizzo brought a rich texture, wit, and sense of performance to his three shoots with photographers Willy Vanderperre (above) and Alasdair McLellan (below). "Guest-editing the well of AnOther Magazine was fantastic," Rizzo told Style.com. "Jefferson, [creative director] David James, and I have a long-standing, close relationship in the magazine, where the mutual respect and support leads to total creative freedom." For the cover, he styled actress Cate Blanchett in the midst of a decadent night garden, channeling the theatricality of new-wave Berlin. Hailing from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Rizzo has some pretty serious styling cred: He's done Prada's shows since 2006, as well as the runways of Jil Sander and Louis Vuitton, and the campaigns for Raf Simons and Dior.
Furthermore, he's known for working with photographers such as Paolo Roversi, Steven Meisel, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Craig McDean, and Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for publications such as Vogue Italia, W, i-D, Fantastic Man, Love, and Vogue Hommes International.
Take a sneak peek at Rizzo's AnOther spreads, which debut exclusively here, and check out the full issue when it hits newsstands on September 12.
Last night, Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani staged an exhibit at the Italian Trade Commission celebrating—you guessed it—Italian fashion. The free-thinking editor mixed old and new, asking eight up-and-coming directors to present their fashion film spin on some of Italy's biggest names, from Prada and Giorgio Armani to Missoni and Versace. "We chose the brands, they chose the clothes," Sozzani said at yesterday's exhibit-turned-party, wearing a bold print dress by emerging Italian talent Stella Jean.
"Everybody is Italian tonight!" exclaimed Calvin Klein's Italo Zucchelli. True enough, the party had the likes of Joy Bryant, Amanda Hearst, and Johan Lindeberg showing off their Italian side—if only for the night. DJ Mia Moretti held out her Ferragamo clutch and Fendi shoes like an badge of honor.
Guests clamored inside the space, where digital screens broadcast each of the films. Headphones allowed them to listen in. Ann Dexter-Jones pointed to Carlo Lavagna's An Italian Adventure, which had its Dolce & Gabbana heroine swimming in the Mediterranean. "I want to be in Sicily in that one," she said.
Eyewear label Oliver Peoples has deftly carried the lofty title of "classic" while remaining innovative in its field. Now the twenty-five-year-old brand has just relaunched its Web site, creating an overhauled digital flagship. "Although in my opinion, nothing can really compare to our in-store experience," Oliver Peoples co-founder and creative director Larry Leight admitted, "the new site is as close as it gets."
Split into four interactive categories, the site delves into Optical, Sun, the World of Peoples, and Working Opticians. The former two categories offer customers an array of current and classic styles, as well as street-style photography. The World of Peoples is where the brand's voice comes to life through editorial content, campaign videos, collaborations, and interviews with relevant tastemakers, starting with Bret Easton Ellis, who just happened to name-drop the label in American Psycho. "The goal was to make our site a place where [customers] could not only find a great pair of sunglasses or optical frames, but also come to learn about our Southern California lifestyle, inspirations, collaborations, and alignments," Leight said.
And as for Oliver People's heritage, Working Opticians brings the site back to the intricacy of the brand's design process, offering detailed peeks at OP's start-to-finish craftsmanship. Needless to say, the new Web site really does convey the label through a more focused lens. Here, Oliver Peoples shares the finished product for the first time, exclusively with cbamd.com.
Labels: LPD New York, designed by 22-year-old Benjamin Fainlight, and Conflict of Interest NYC, whose designers are not yet ready to expose themselves and thus want to be known, for now, as "agents." The collections were presented in tandem at an installation-cum-party in New York's Garment District.
Need to Know: Let's start with LPD (left), a one-year-old label that gained notoriety thanks to its mesh athletic jerseys emblazoned with designer monikers—SLIMANE 68, for example. Yet wisely, the label's young founder recognizes that a one-trick pony does not a brand make, and, for the first time, will offer a fully cut-and-sewn Spring '14 lineup that extends well past the gimmickry. On mud-covered models, he showed both men's and women's separates, some rendered with eye-catching grayscale landscapes or Japanese lettering. LPD's inherent street sportiness isn't sacrificed, though—this was lean, mean, and greased to the concrete bone. In particular, keep a lookout for sweatshirt-material shorts with a leather-mimicking finish, as well as an upcoming collaboration with Jessica Stam.
Label: Houghton, designed by Katharine Polk
Need to know: Imbuing Katharine Hepburn's unfettered spirit has been Houghton's calling card ever since the brand launched last year. Deceptively easy yet feminine, Houghton's wares quickly earned fresh-faced celebrity fans, including Lucy Hale, Selena Gomez, and Dascha Polanco.
Stylist-cum-designer Katharine Polk extolls the value of simple, effortless dressing with Spring '14, taking cues from a recent trip to Miami. She confessed to having sketched the entire collection poolside. Pleated tunics and basketweave dresses (each handwoven and crafted using as many as a hundred strips) recalled lounge chairs and the swaying of palm trees. Elsewhere, there were drop-waist dresses and jumpers in a minimal palette of gray, mint, white, and black. Embroidery with gold threading, which appeared on everything from bikini tops to the collaborative Birkenstock sandals, was a nice punctuation. But it was the onslaught of shimmery chiffon gowns, which, catching hold of the Hudson River wind from the catwalk of the Standard Hotel's balcony, really succeeded in bringing Miami to New York.
She says: "I always describe her [Houghton girl] as a 'tomboy in a gown,' " said Polk. She then added, "She's someone who really appreciates fashion and quality—she'll wear the gown, but wear it with flats."
It seems that Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle site, Goop—which has, in the past, collaborated with the likes of Warby Parker, Clare Vivier, and Butter London—has a new project in the works with Stella McCartney.
While the Telegraph speculates about the details of the partnership—Sportswear? Lingerie? Skincare?—all we know, per the site's homepage, is that it's launching in September. As if next month isn’t busy enough, we'll also be tuning in on the first to get the scoop on Goop.
Oscar de la Renta is fed up. This season, the designer is slashing the number of invites that will be sent out for his Spring' 14 show—a move that follows his choice to host two back-to-back shows last season in order to accommodate more guests. "It's important for [certain industry professionals] to look at the clothes and see them. They shouldn't have to go through 30,000 people, and 10,000 who are trying to take pictures of all of those people who are totally unrelated to the clothes," the designer told WWD. "When you do megashows, it loses the reason of why we're showing…Why have 20 million people with zero connection to the clothes?" he added. A fashion show that focuses solely on the new collection? What an incredibly novel (and dare we say welcomed) concept.
Stockholm fashion week came to a close yesterday, and it was fitting that the Swedish Minister of Culture chose this season as the first to award a representative of the fashion industry with the government's oldest medal—the Illis Quorum. It was given to Margareta van den Bosch, H&M's head of design for more than twenty years, for her contribution toward raising Swedish fashion to international success and stimulating the growth of Swedish designers. And her efforts, it would seem, have paid off. During the Spring' 14 shows, there was a noticeably stronger international presence from buyers, members of the press, and even street-style scenesters—some of whom experienced a touch of wardrobe confusion thanks to the sunny and unusually hot weather.
Suitable for an outdoorsy nation of egalitarian renown, quite a few of the shows featured both menswear and womenswear, and there was an emphasis on practicality, nature, and the modern luxury of affordable garments. Impossibly high heels and astronomically expensive handbags were nowhere to be found—rather, designers expressed a fascination with functionality. J.Lindeberg articulated this via puffer jackets and boots punctuated by insect prints (above, left).
In her BACK presentation, Ann-Sofie Back offered workwear that was mirrored in her collection for Cheap Monday, and monochromatic and nude color schemes dominated at Whyred and Carin Wester. Tiger of Sweden provided a refreshing closing show that mixed punky details with micro-patterns and sharp tailoring.
It seems the stars picked up on Resort'14's black-and-white cues on the red carpet this week. Wednesday afternoon, Taylor Swift mixed and matched Elie Saab separates at a press event in L.A. She paired a white blouse with a sheer lace panel on the front from Fall'13 with black pleated shorts from the Resort'13 collection. On the opposite coast, funny girl Tina Fey exited Late Show With David Letterman wearing a black-and-white body-con Reed Krakoff dress with a printed bodice that was perforated at the shoulders.
Tuesday night featured an appearance from model and new mom Lara Stone, who helped hubby David Walliams celebrate his birthday in London while wearing a gray camo minidress from Christopher Kane's Fall'13 runway. While she's technically wearing it on the sidewalk (left), we figure that, when you're a supermodel, the world's your red carpet.
That same night, Lily Collins continued to shine on the red carpet at the Berlin premiere of her film The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, in a black Paper London crop top and floor-length Halston Heritage skirt, accented with a chunky gold-chain necklace and gold cuff. Lady Gaga had a very busy Monday, stepping out in four different outfits while traveling to and from several TV and radio appearances throughout the day to promote her new single, "Applause." To start the day, Mother Monster arrived at ABC's studio in New York for Good Morning America looking decidedly smart in a conservative (for Gaga, at least) black Balenciaga Resort'14 frock. Her newly sophisticated style is a welcome change from the queen of sartorial shock. But fans of her more eccentric looks need not fret—she later changed into a white sculpted paper Mathieu Mirano ensemble for her on-screen appearance.
