Prada's Caffe Principe: Where Excellence Meets Timelessness in Forte dei Marmi
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Paloma Elsesser Wages War on 'Fatphobia' in D Repubblica May 19 Cover Story
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Supermodel Paloma Elsesser covers the May 19, 2023 issue of D Repubblica, styled in a wide range of sensual, dark beauty looks by Laetitia Gimenez Adam.
Luxury labels including Blumarine, Dolce & Gabbana, Maison Alaia, Niccolò Pasqualetti, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and more join forces with Paloma in designs that do not contain the female body.
Photographer Pablo Di Prima [IG] is in the studio./ Hair by Matt Benns; makeup by Marcelo Gutierrez
Paloma Elsesser is waging a war against fatphobia, saying:
"It's absurd that such a large percentage of people are excluded. Who can think that fashion only interests thin people?". "I want to get the message across that even if you're imperfect, you can have the life you want," she explains. And here she talks about the days on set when you don't have "that" size, the hypocrisies of the system and that time at the age of 8 in Gap's dressing room ...
The Failure of BodEquality
Non-luxury retailing is having major struggles with keeping their businesses solvent. But in the case of BodEquality, a new challenge I’ve not read before, has entered the convo. Brands should invest years of losing money to earn the trust of potential plus-size customers. I will also add, even if you are trying to achieve new sustainability goals that require major financial investment.
Our dear Edward Enninful, EIC of British Vogue, has very strong opinions on this topic. Let him take his three new supers he has crowned and his very intelligent self and become a “flying squad of larger-bodies intelligence” that is deeply-embedded in three test case brands.
Don’t just demand representation. Do something constructive.
Read MoreAngelina Jolie Launches Atelier Jolie For Self-Expressive Humanists Clients and Global Creators
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"We will use only curated quality vintage material and deadstock," Jolie wrote under her Instagram post, which revealed a rustic brand logo [see collage] designed by Peter Miles, an art director who has collaborated with such fashion brands as Celine, Gabriela Hearst and Repossi. "You will be able to repair or upcycle a piece from your closet you wish to revive, perfecting fit, breathing new life into what could have been thrown away, and creating quality heirloom garments with personal meaning."
Speaking personally, Anne thinks Jolie will get help from women like Gabriela Hearst and Maria Grazia Chiuri. She has deep roots into the luxury brands community — brands with excellent deadstock. Jolie wears Gabriela Hearst frequently. And don’t forget Stella McCartney, who two years ago was in charge of deadstock across all the LVMH divisions. The only one not in the LVMH fold now is Hearst.
Oh please, I love this!!
LVMH Luxury Ventures, the fund created to assist young and promising brands, acquired in 2019 a minority percentage of Gabriela Hearst. The investment of the French conglomerate will allow the brand to develop all over the world. I just checked, and that investment remains on May 18, 2023.
Read More"If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys & Queen Charlotte's Women of Color Orchestra
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Last Monday, May 8th, Alicia Keys celebrated the 20th anniversary of “If I Ain’t Got You”, and she did it in the style of “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”, debuting on Netflix.
The track was produced with the Queen Charlotte's Global Orchestra, a 74-piece ensemble made up entirely of women of colour.
The orchestra features renowned musicians from all over the world, including Ofentse Pitse, who’s the first Black female conductor of South Africa. Among the musicians are Rimon from Netherlands, Amel Bent from France, Alicia Away from Germany, Cherrie from Sweden, and Delara from Norway. The musical arrangement was made by Bobbie-Jane Gardner.
Alicia Keyes was dressed by Dior, wearing a SS23 ensemble pairing a crinoline skirt in plumetis tulle with delicate lace encrustations with a matching bra top. via Dior IG.
Read MorePrada Reopens in East Hampton, NY As Summer Luxury Rentals Market Cools
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With the opening of Prada’s East Hampton newly-redesigned store at 2 Newtown Lane, the summer 2023 luxury brands offering is nearly set.
Prada opened the 1600 square foot store in July 2022 with green and white cabana stripes and not today’s blue and white. The Italian luxury brand will drop product exclusive to the Hamptons, where this is their only store.
In the world of post-COVID summer rentals, the overheated market appears to have cooled. The number of rentals has expanded as demand has fallen.
Read MoreMiuccia Prada Talks 30 Years of Miu Miu with Kendall Jenner on Display for W Magazine
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Supermodel Kendall Jenner wears Miu Miu favorites styled by Max Pearmain and Miuccia Prada in this fashion story lensed by Alasdair McLellan [IG].
Read W Magazine for all the vintage Miu Miu fashions and also an interview with Eric Wilson titled “Miuccia Prada Talks 30 Years of Miu Miu, Her Greatest Experiment.”
Mrs. Prada is troubled with the idea of presenting post-pandemic fashion as a form of “escapism or entertainment during difficult times”.
“I really don’t like this idea that ‘Fashion is a dream,’ ” Prada says. “First of all, if I have a dream, I want to achieve it, so it’s an objective or a direction. Something that has a strange beauty of who-knows-what-it-is, I really detest.”
Read MoreExtinction Rebellion Activists Protest at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris
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Extinction Rebellion France attacked the Fondation Louis Vuitton as a “a cultural and philanthropic and most of all fiscal tool" of the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group.
Defending their protest, the organization pointed to the failure of major corporations to take action on climate change, writing:
"That's why we demand that corporations take their responsibilities and act in the fight against global warming, and that the government put in place the Citizen Convention for Climate which proposed among other things the impact of greenhouse gas emissions of companies, reinforcing their obligations in the face of environmental demands and condition their financing to green criteria.”
The organization pointed out that current emission levels of companies listed on the CAC40 index would lead to a 3.5 degree Celsius increase in temperatures by 2100.
Read MoreSpring 2023 Dior Gardening Capsule Collection by Ellen Von Unwerth Pts 1 & 2
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The Dior Gardening Capsule from the Spring-Summer 2023 collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri has an abundance of flowers and fauna — such style abundance that we’ve split the photoshoot into two sections.
Punctuated with the dreamy Dior Petites Fleurs and Dior Birds prints created by Tassinari & Chatel by Lelièvre Paris, the capsule bridges elegance with functionality for a group of sweet young fashionistas gone a little bit wild.
Elin Svahn styled the large fashion shoot with models including Carla Pereira, Freja Rothmann-Pallesen, Kiki Wei, Lineisy Montero [major], Lulu Tenney [major], Mary Alexandridi, Raynara Negrine, Tina Diedhiou and more, lensed by Ellen Von Unwerth [IG]. / Hair by Guido Palau; makeup by Peter Palau; set design by Alexander Bock
Read MoreGuerlain Taps Aristide Najean To Honor Le Bouquet de la Mariée Fragrance
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Renowned glassmaker Aristide Najean has collaborated with LVMH-owned Guerlain to honor the 170th anniversary of the luxury brand’s Bee Bottle. Najean created a fantastical Murano glass limited-edition flacon housing Guerlain's Le Bouquet de la Mariée fragrance.
Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain created the first bee bottle to celebrate Empress Eugénie's marriage to Emperor Napoleon III on that date.
Napolean I — often called Napolean the Great as the military and political leader known to global historians — had personally chosen bees as a symbol of the French Empire because of their ancestral ties to resurrection, power, tenacity, and hard-work.
Guerlain’s 170th Anniversary Exhibit
Guerlain Director of Art, Culture and Heritage Ann-Caroline Prazan invites us to rediscover Guerlain’s iconic Bee Bottle, which celebrates its 170th anniversary in 2023 with a stunning exhibition at Guerlain’s flagship boutique.
The House pays tribute to the iconic Bee Bottle by inviting eleven women artists to revisit the Flacon aux Abeilles in a 21st century artists update of Guerlain’s heritage.
Read MorePasticceria Marchesi Inspires Prada Caffè Harrods London Until January 2024
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On the eve of its 200th anniversary, the spirit of Pasticceria Marchesi transformed as the Prada Caffè has popped into the main floor of Harrods in Knightsbridge, open until January 7, 2024.
Open from 9am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 6pm on Sunday, Prada Caffè is a full-fledged restaurant serving strong espresso accompanied by pistacchio fagottini and eggs Florentine with caviar for breakfast. Take heart — you can also enjoy yogurt and granola.
The Prada Group acquired control of Pasticceria Marchesi in 2014, nearly 200 years after its opening at Via Santa Maria alla Porta. Despite the change in ownership, the pastry shop continues to operate with the same passion for excellence at its original location, offering its fresh patisserie, signature chocolates, and classic Milanese Panettone.
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LOEWE SS 2023 Women's Campaign with Taylor Russell by David Sims
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The LOEWE Spring Summer 2023 women's campaign, shot by David Sims [IG], features LOEWE Global Brand Ambassador Taylor Russell posing as a form of acting.
A theme throughout the LOEWE Spring 2023 season, beginning with the late September 30, 2022 fashion show is artifice and provocation.
LOEWE’s enormously-talented creative director Jonathan Anderson took his audience on a modern, almost clinical journey into the natural world, with anthurium flowers as his guide.
Enter the Anthuriums
This ‘non-threatening’majority-view flower is the perfect hospitality gift, even for someone you don’t know well.
These modern flowers look like an erect phallus penetrating a flower that is in fact poisonous. Not only with pets but in the human mouth, you will experience a painful burning sensation with blisters and swelling if you eat an anthurium.
In this LOEWE Spring 2023 Campaign, Taylor Russell wears anthuriums as a breast plate. There’s a lot of human psychology going on here.
Read MoreDigging Deeper Into Pharrell Williams' Real Mission at Louis Vuitton Mens
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A fashion industry earthquake happened this week with the appointment of Pharrell Williams as Creative Director at Louis Vuitton Men’s, replacing his close friend Virgil Abloh who passsed in November 2021. The hip hop mogul, business entrepreneur, social activist with a high-volume voice on racial and gender-justice has drawn major criticism from fashion writers who argue that Pharrell’s lack of a formal design education indicates that all that matters to LVMH is his celebrity status.
I don’t mean to sound sassy, but knowing that Louis Vuitton doubled its volume from $10 billion to $20 billion in the last four years suggests that this executive team knows what it’s doing. I’m a maverick to the core and rarely silent on important topics.
But I do show respect to professionals who have just accomplished unimaginable results in business, results that defy logic. Before accusing them of being money-hungry Las Vegas strippers ready to trash the most valuable brand in the luxury world for a few bucks, I dig deeper.
Read MoreThe Beautiful Pharrell Williams has been Named Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director
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I never praise myself, but I KNEW Pharrell was the perfect human for Louis Vuitton Mens and that LV would see it that way, too.
I’ve asked Louis Vuitton Mens [and Dior — too — both men and women] and Etro this morning to pick up the mantle that few businesses can lead. LVMH is well aware of what I am saying. And they are listening.
This video about Pharrell’s ‘Black Ambition’ organization is only about two years old. Clearly Virgil knew how ill he was, but we see here Virgil and Pharrell really speaking to issues of black success. The convo goes deep into their values as humans.
Felecia Hatcher is very succesful in her own right and she serves as CEO of ‘Black Ambition’.
Read MorePhoebe Philo Returns in September 2023: Sound the Trumpets!
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On Resee.com, Phoebe-era Céline is one of the top-three selling labels. Imagine that fact: Phoebe’s Céline follows Chanel and Hermès.
Phoebe understands us — the woman wearing her fashion — is a constant theme among her devoted. Lynette Nylander, the executive editorial director of Dazed, explained further. Down to the most finite detail “how wide her armholes are, the fact that she always paired things with trainers. This is someone who’s not living a curb-to-cab lifestyle. I’m on the subway, I’m sweating, but I still want to evoke some sense of fantasy. Phoebe was the master of doing that.”
Backed by LVMH, Phoebe Philo will be available to see and buy in September 2023. One assumes this will go well, because for every 20-year-old, who doesn’t even know about Phoebe Philo, there’s a 35-year-old who is thrilled to have her back in business.
Read MoreBanana Republic Holiday 2022 by Richard Phibbs Connects Humans in United Experience
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The Banana Republic Holiday 2022 Campaign is terrific, as are the images by Richard Phibbs [IG]. I see the Polo vibe here, but it feels like sound ground Banana is standing on.
Note that as recently as August 2022, Fast Company was asking if Banana Republic will ultimately be forced to change its name. This question comes within a larger America’s public school’s movement whereby students, parents and some civic leaders argue they shouldn’t have to go to a school named after presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
AOC does not support the eradication of all references to America’s past, because our past is very complicated. Our role is to move forward.
The cast of the Banana Republic campaign includes Cherokee Jack, Chinchin Hsu, Louise de Chevigny, Nya Gatbel and Ryan Porter and the campaign was shot in Iceland.
Many in the cast have worked on other Banana Republic campaigns this year.
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Balenciaga Recklessly Threw Children and Prominent Women to the Curb
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Balenciaga’s Betrayal Is 3-Fold
1) Few of us believe the campaign ever came to life without the approval of Demna or someone very high up at Balenciaga, Demna undercuts his own fashion industry credibility.
2) Balenciaga threw Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman, Bella Hadid and more to the curb. The brand didn’t give a twit how Demna’s artistry might impact their careers and reputations.
3) America has angry vigilantes toting AR-15s and other high-capacity guns killing people at random — and many victims are members of the LGBTQ community, called groomers.
Read MoreLouis Vuitton Holiday 2022 Hits Snow Slopes and Ski Lodge Style
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Louis Vuitton shares its 2022 holiday campaign against an enchanted snowscape backdrop. Key pieces from the Louis Vuitton ski collection join off the slopes luxury sportwear in core colors of red, cream, black, blue and camel. Models include Jade Nguyen, Klara Kristin, and Mathilde Brandi.
Read MoreLOEWE Perfumes Opens First US Store at Bergdorf Goodman NYC
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