Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Is Trackable Clothing Fashion's Latest Trend?

As Artificial intelligence expands, we are being observed and categorised in parts of our lives that weren’t previously watched. Now, our clothes are monitoring our behaviour too.

Tommy Hilfiger has expanded its Tommy Jeans line to include a tech-focused sub-division called Tommy Jeans Xplore. Each hoodie, accessory or denim style has an embedded Awear Solutions’ Bluetooth low-energy smart tag, connecting the product to an iOS app, which acts as an incentivised point platform. Customers will be awarded gift cards, concert tickets, discount codes and access to exclusive brand events for wearing the Xplore products, and passing US Tommy Jeans outposts.

“Never before has a brand been able to understand how the consumer truly uses the product after it leaves the store,” Liron Slonimsky, chief executive officer and founder of Awear Solutions, commented on the intergrated technology. But, the company’s aim to connect with its community of highly-engaged micro brand ambassadors is thwarted by the fact that a smart tag can’t go deep into human experience. An app can’t understand what a customer is thinking or feeling aside from responding well to classical conditioning. In other words: rewards.


Uncertainty lies in whether customers relinquish control of their personal data to Tommy Jeans by wearing its 23 Xplore items. And does Tommy Jeans have the authority to share the data with the other global Tommy Hilfiger brand divisions? Or with competitor brands? With breaches of trust coming to light, like Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica case, it could seem hard to quantify a pair of gig tickets against inclusion in a fashion powerhouse’s data engine.

Privacy and personal safety is afforded by data encryption and the ability to turn off tracking via the app. Disconnecting from Tommy, however, means that wearers will be disqualified from receiving rewards and shut out from the Tommy Jeans Xplore community temporarily. Being part of the brand experience comes at the price of being switched on full time.

As AI advancements continue to break down barriers between company and customer, and buzzwords such as “trackable fashion” are bandied around, we’re forgetting another phrase of similar prominence: “traceable fashion”. In the quest for newness, let's hope the industry focus doesn't shift away from the main transparency crisis it's facing: sustainability.

Why Lauryn Hill Waited Until Now To Front Her First Fashion Campaign

Question: why has Lauryn Hill never fronted a major fashion campaign before?

“Lauryn Hill does what Lauryn Hill wants to do,” stylist Mel Ottenberg, who has been a primary force in shaping Rihanna’s identity, tells Vogue of how he came to work with Hill on the singer’s autumn/winter 2018 campaign for Woolrich, which saw her take creative control both conceptually behind the camera and as a model in front of it. “She marches to her own beat, and with this project she got to completely show her instincts as a creator. So much of her vibe is in the pictures, it’s so cool.”

Woolrich selected the founding Fugees member to help recast the brand’s identity through its “Woolrich: American Soul Since 1830” series. All contributors following Hill will be picked for their creative ingenuity and contribution to America’s music scene, but Hill, whose solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was one of the defining neo-soul albums of the late Nineties and paved the way for artists such as Amy Winehouse and Alicia Keys, has been integral in helping forge the new Woolrich path.


“It was fun to celebrate outfits that display real American grit,” Ottenberg says of Woolrich’s trademark checks, denim, workwear and outerwear that the brand is reviving for autumn. “These pieces have been part of the American vocabulary for over a hundred years, and they are definitely part of my soul as a stylist, and Lauryn’s identity.” For the jackets alone, which are screen-printed with collages of Hill and her eponymous album cover, she came up with 30 jacket sketches – something that came naturally as she has been designing and customising her own clothes for years.

The shoot took place in the Harlem theatre where Hill shot the video for “Doo Wop (That Thing)” 20 years ago in 1998. When the singer walked on set to meet Ottenberg, photographer Jack Davidson and the Onyx Collective, the entire ensemble was in awe. “I rarely get starstruck,” Ottenberg shares, “But she was a force to be reckoned with. She’s a tough cookie, but so beautiful... A mega star, with such modern style.”

There was a certain synergy on the day because of the history steeped in the place, and the new era for both parties. “We had her in all these really wild looks that symbolise who she is now as an artist, and the new approach of Woolrich,” Ottenberg explains. And of course, Hill set the mood by practising the vocals for her 20-year anniversary tour of The Miseducation. “It killed everybody, it was the most exciting ever,” Ottenberg says in fan mode once more. “I have a history of working with strong women, because they inspire and challenge me, but this was really special”. The “Ex-Factor” singer is back in the spotlight, and her beat is still just as infectious.

Is Kris Grikaite The New Natalia Vodianova?

Kris Grikaite hadn’t even considered modelling two years ago. When a photographer friend visited Moscow’s Avant agency for work, the Omsk-born teenager went along for the ride. She was signed immediately. Prada casting director and Vogue contributing casting director Ashley Brokaw came calling, Grikaite was booked as a spring/summer 2017 show exclusive, and was promptly catapulted to catwalk fame, as editors around the globe started Googling the name of the model who bore a striking resemblance to Natalia Vodianova.

“I didn’t understand what a big deal it was,” Grikaite said of her Prada debut at the age of 16. “To be honest, I remember very little from my first show because I just wanted to do a good job.” She graduated to the opening slot of the autumn/winter 2018 and spring/summer 2018 Prada shows, remained equally nervous, but, she says, “by the end of them, the audience looked happy, and I was happy too.” The corresponding Prada campaigns shot by Willy Vanderperre were among the first in her book.

Now 18, with a campaign and catwalk portfolio including Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Céline, Grikaite says she still feels like a newcomer. “Travelling, working with photographers, meeting interesting people, and discovering creatives” spurred her to move from Omsk to New York to join the fashion treadmill full time, but she’s taking her career in her stride, working hard to bolster her language skills. “I do struggle, but I study every day and I see a lot of improvement,” she says positively.


Other models have been “friendly and helpful”, but she’d like “to see more diversity among models, for both men, women and the LGBTQ+ community”, and she has a low tolerance level for “dishonesty and impoliteness”. “Unfortunately, there are some people like that in the world… We are still not where we should be.”

Indeed, Grikaite seems old before her years, preferring to spend time with her agents, or her friends who are older and on the career ladder back in Russia. She doesn’t put too much weight on social media, preferring to read or listen to music than click refresh on her near 100,000 follower count. “I like to showcase my latest work on Instagram, and to show a little bit of my everyday life,” she says. “But at the same time, I try not to attach too much importance to it.”

It’s hard not to feel drawn to this polite young woman, who reiterates how grateful she is that people like Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, who included Grikaite in his autumn/winter 2017 newcomers list on Models.com, believe in her. “She’s often referred to as ‘baby Natalia’, and you can’t deny the similarity between them,” Vogue fashion bookings director, Rosie Vogel, comments. “Arresting, intriguing, hard but soft at the same time. She feels incredibly modern and everyone is very drawn to her.” If the similarities between Grikaite and Vodianova stem beyond looks to become a driving force for social change, the industry is lucky to have her.

Louise Trotter Leaves Joseph

Louise Trotter has stepped down from her role of creative director at Joseph after nine years. Her last collection for the British label will be pre-fall 2019, and she will leave the company at the end of August, with her successor announced in due course.

“Working for Joseph has been an incredible experience, and I feel very lucky to have been surrounded by such an amazing and talented team who worked alongside me with passion and creativity,” Trotter said of her tenure at the brand. “I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my team and the brilliant collaborators who have travelled on this journey with me.”


Trotter joined Joseph in 2009 after holding the same role at Jigsaw, and prior to that positions at T Hilfiger and Gap. She is widely credited with elevating the blueprint of eponymous brand founder Joseph Ettedgui, who found success in the Nineties catering for successful women – including Trotter, herself – looking for a streamlined uniform of basics to suit their lifestyle. Trotter's masculine/feminine mix of luxe separates and buttery leathers have made Joseph a firm fixture on the London Fashion Week schedule, and she has expanded the womenswear offering to include shoes, handbags and, most recently sunglasses, with a burgeoning menswear division too.

Hirosuke Takagi, chief executive officer of Joseph, said Trotter had made “a significant contribution to the brand, in particular our international expansion, the launch of menswear and, most recently, accessories.” He added that the company was grateful “for her important contribution to Joseph and the foundation she has built for its continuous success".

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Why Théâtre Le Palace Represents The Freedom That Fashion Looks For

he year is 1978, and Karl Lagerfeld is arriving at Théâtre Le Palace in a gondola. His former partner, Jacques de Bascher, has fashioned himself a wearable version of the Rialto Bridge for the Venetian-themed ball. Vogue Italia contributor Anna Piaggi is negotiating a large platter of fish on her head in an effort to look like an Italian fishmonger who has caught her haul in the Grand Canal.

“Every night was a surprise,” resident DJ Michel Gaubert, who filled the intimate basement dance floor with his eclectic New Wave, disco, funk and jazz between 1978 and 1982, tells Vogue. Tributes to the Veneto region’s architecture might have turned heads on the streets, but inside the 9th arrondissement theatre-turned-nightclub, the dresscode was the DNA of the “crazy cast of people who lived the night, the glory of night, the fun of the night, the expression of the night, which was not allowed in the day”.

The nightlife impresarios in Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent’s sets would leave Le Palace at four o’clock in the morning, and be at work just hours later at eight. “These people came alive at night!” Gaubert continues. “They made, borrowed or bought things from flea markets to make outfits that were really out-there, because dressing up was a very important part of going there. The street is freer now – you can dress up all day long. It was difficult back then for the people who just wanted to live.”

If New York’s Studio 54 brought disco lovers to the dance floor, Le Palace drew in an eclectic, off-beat crowd. “It was intellectual, it was different,” Gaubert muses. French painter Gérard Garouste decorated the downstairs layer, which became a base for artists to come and go through the twilight hours. But, he maintains, "the amazing thing about Le Palace was that everyone, I mean everyone, mixed together.” There were no VIP areas, just nooks and crannies on the club’s several levels. “It was very free and very open every single night… something I haven't seen in a while.”


Moves on the floor were not dictated by Saturday Night Fever, but the New Wave genre filtering through Europe. “When Gary Numan played, everyone did a kind of pogo, novo dance where they jumped up and down. It was so fun to watch.” At the end of the night there would be a thousand cigarette butts on the floor, but people were respectful of the old theatre fixtures. “People never destroyed stuff,” Gaubert is quick to point out. “The drugs were different, the drinks were different back then.” Anyone who was anyone drank vodka peppermint.

Gaubert played his last set at Le Palace after the 10pm to 7am shifts began to take their toll: “In those days DJs didn't play for two hours, we played for the entire time, I had to get my days back”. The energy had sustained him through each spectacular shift for as long as it could. “It was like a big family, we all wanted the place to be incredible, and more incredible every night.” He counts robots and mermaids as former colleagues, as well as the wonderful Edwige Belmore, who worked the guest list, and Fabrice Emaer, the owner who let Thierry Mugler design some of the staff uniforms. He was "always on good terms with" the “prince of the night”, from the opening night when Grace Jones sang "La Vie en Rose" on a Harley Davidson surrounded by dry ice, to the last.

When Emaer died in 1983, it was the end of an era. “Things were changing politically in France, the mood changed,” he recalls. New, avant-garde performers, like Jones and Prince, weren’t flying in and out of town to hang out with Le Palace’s crew. Gaubert believes it is this sense of freedom that keeps pulling the fashion pack – Hedi Slimane recently celebrated his 50th birthday there and Gucci will stage its spring/summer 2019 show in the space – back to the theatre. “There’s a sense of real French decadence to Le Palace that is such a part of Paris culture. I think fashion is always looking for that,” he concludes. Alessandro Michele, who Gaubert has collaborated with numerous times, is poised to revive the excess and artistry with his unstoppable maximalist Gucci juggernaut on September 24th – for one night only.

Victoria Beckham Is Slam-Dunking Women’s Sportswear Into The Same Realm As Men’s

Victoria Beckham has been teasing clues about her Reebokcollaboration via her Instagram account since November 2017, and now the British designer has slam-dunked her basketball-inspired merch into her e-commerce store.

The limited-edition, unisex collection comprises six T-shirts, two hoodies and one pair of socks, which are all inspired by her research trips to the Reebok archives. “The pieces that immediately stood out to me most were the basketball products from the ’90s, because the brand played such an important role in the style of that era,” she tells Vogue exclusively. “I have so many memories of the cool kids in school wearing Reebok classics. Seeing how people are reconnecting, or connecting for the first time, with the decade is inspiring in itself.”

She kept the collection mostly monochrome, because “it feels very of that time”. Anyone who sat in the Posh Spice fan club, rather than Baby, Ginger, Sporty or Scary’s, will know that to be true. A sunset-orange colourway roots the merch firmly in her current aesthetic as a designer, however. “It’s a positive, energising colour that we have really played around with at Victoria Beckham in the past,” she explains. “I love the graphic use of it in conjunction with the black and white.”


Unisex was at the core of the design process, because, as a woman who works out daily, she’s tired of female fitness wear designed with the formula “shrink it, pink it”. Sportswear, she maintains, has a long way to go to “be just as strong and powerful as the men’s product”, and she hopes her capsule is a step in the right direction to influence others.

Beckham consulted experts in the field and basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal on the culture surrounding the sport. “He’s hilarious,” she says of the 7ft 1” sporting giant who reduced the woman who famously rarely smiles to giggles. “It’s always nice to spend time with someone who doesn’t take life too seriously.” Each tee and hoodie pay homage to her new friend with a silhouette of Shaq shooting hoops printed on the front, along with his jersey number 34 and a list of his accomplishments on the back.

The VB logo looks modest stamped on the sleeve, and corresponds with the equally modest price tag. Socks are £40, T-shirts are £110, and the hoodie is £160. We’re yet to see Beckham, herself, in anything but the tees, but Brooklyn Beckham has been busy staging a street-style shoot with Alice Dellal wearing customised versions of the kit. #VBReebok is all about personality, whether you know the three-second-rule or not.

Gigi Hadid Is One Of Albert Watson's Four 2019 Pirelli Calendar Girls

The 2019 Pirelli calendar explores the fictional stories of four women: Gigi Hadid, Julia Garner, Laetitia Casta and Misty Copeland. The Vogue cover girl, actress, dancer and model, respectively, were given character parts by photographer Albert Watson, who shot the 12 pictures over 10 days in April on location in Miami and New York.

Hadid plays the woman who seemingly has it all, but her success is steeped in sadness. Her only haven is her plush New York apartment in the company of her confidant, who is played by Alexander Wang. Garner moonlights as a photographer, whose portfolio so far only contains pictures of plants, and not the portraits she desires. Her model, Astrid Eika, patiently sits for the aspiring auteur. Casta adopts the role of painter, who spends her days in a down-town loft with her dancer boyfriend, who is acted out by Sergei Polunin. Copeland, likewise, is a dancer, who supports her dream of stardom by working the stages in a local strip club. Her boyfriend, Calvin Royal III, also has his sights set on the West End stage.


Though behind-the-scenes images of Watson capturing his protagonists are all Pirelli has released so far, the photographs suggest the brilliance and grandeur that are typical tropes of the Scotsman’s work. The theme not only follows the unconventional path of the previous three calendars, which saw Pirelli move away from the soft-core calendar-girl aesthetic it had celebrated since 1964, but it celebrates Watson’s versatility as an artist. His four calendar girls will join the likes of Kate Moss, David Bowie, Alfred Hitchcock and Steve Jobs, who all sit in Watson's portfolio.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Nick Knight Wants To Change Your Perception Of London

Nick Knight’s latest project has simultaneously expanded his CV to Knightsbridge historian and master of disguise. Confused? Head to the intersection of Sloane Street and Brompton Road and all will become clear.

The photographer, British Vogue contributor and SHOWstudio founder was tasked with masking the works-in-progress Knightsbridge Estate, which will house seven flagship stores, a 67,000 sq ft office space, 35 luxury apartments and a rooftop restaurant once complete in late 2019. The theme? The Knights of Knightsbridge.

Knight took on the brief with the vigour of a self-confessed dreamer who spends his time fantasising about “really, really spectacular” fashion, and managed to swerve any Game of Thrones undertones the theme could suggest. He called in armour-like creations from designers including Gareth Pugh, Rick Owens, Iris Van Herpen, Yohji Yamamoto, Moncler and Maison Margiela and curated a blockbuster shoot that celebrated three things: the mythology surrounding the name "Knightsbridge", the multi-culturalism of the city, and a balance of established and future fashion talent, alike. New season pieces from CSM graduate Ed Mahoney are styled alongside archive John Galliano for Dior in the 18 11-metre high images that stretch 120 metres around the West End.


“London is such a fantastically cosmopolitan place, with so many different races and cultures coming together," he said of his delight at decorating his hometown. “We looked at different perspectives of the knight, the warrior and the protector within our city – and the country! England is international-looking, which is what makes Brexit so stupid. It's a step in completely the wrong direction.”

Knight's main challenge is to get people to look up from their phones and take in his “public exhibition”. He hopes it will permeate people’s conscious longer than just an Instagram picture. “With any campaign image you want to get through to people and change how they perceive their lives after that. It's a big ask, but there's no point having a big billboard and saying nothing,” he shares. “You want people to look at the world in a different way after they have seen the world that you've created.”

The photographs will punctuate the landscape for 18 months, and Knight has resided to the fact that his work will be subjected to considerable wear and tear. “Fashion is supposed to be entertaining, but the weathering of the images also shows its purpose,” he muses. Adapting and evolving is what Knight, as an industry figurehead, does so well. Let’s hope his dose of fashion fantasia influences the country too.

Zandra Rhodes Talks Diversity, Social Media And Shoes

It’s so funny,” Zandra Rhodes tells Vogue of how she ended up in Kurt Geiger’s autumn/winter 2018 campaign. “They were my neighbours for almost 20 years!”

The brand’s factory, it transpires, was situated next to the Fashion Textile Museum, which Rhodes founded, from 2000 to 2011. The accessories giant upscaled to larger premises in Clerkenwell three years ago, but Rhodes is still fond of its footwear. “What is so clever is that they put themselves into a very modern bracket,” she says of Kurt Geiger's appeal. “There’s a real diversity to the shoe styles.”

The campaign is a riotous line-up of British characters. Dame Joan Collins, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, artist Christabel MacGreevy and models Alice Dellal, Alek Wek and Reece King all star alongside Rhodes. “I think diversity in a campaign is very important now because the world you're selling to is more and more diverse,” she asserts. “Brands need to look at the bigger picture.”

With her bubblegum-pink, razor-sharp bob (the result of experimenting with textile dyes in her studio many moons ago) and patterned get-up (an archive piece from her Fantastic Flower Garden SS88 collection), the 78-year-old dame quite literally pops against the blank canvas, which was chosen to let each individual’s style do the talking. “As a designer, I suppose my job is to stick my neck out and think of things in a different way,” she explains of her loud and proud personal brand identity. “I think most people get confidence from being able to link back to something.”


On the shoot, Kurt Geiger's motley crew sat outside the studio and put the world to rights while awaiting their turn in front of Erik Torstensson's camera. “Oh my gosh, how the fashion industry has changed,” she shares. “It moves almost quicker than we're able to breathe!” When Rhodes started out in 1969 there was no internet – “there wasn’t even fax, you had to telephone or visit everyone!” – and she admits she’s still not 100 per cent social-media savvy. “The young people working for me absorb all that because they get it,” she notes. “I've always found that I have to go into myself when designing. I don't always want to see what everyone else is doing because it takes a distinctive edge off what I try to achieve.”

She concedes that she probably should have become au fait with digital marketing sooner, but her career highlights are categorically offline. Receiving her copy of British Vogue in 1975 and finding Princess Anne wearing one of her designs in a Norman Parkinson shoot, and watching Princess Diana wearing a Zandra Rhodes dress when she announced her pregnancy in Japan, are both up there in the Rhodes hall of fame. “I told them all about my adventures in frocks!” she laughs of the shoot.

As her brand is about to turn 50 next year (there’s a book and an exhibition in the pipeline), there's lots of wisdom for her to impart on the younger generation. “You have to think around the challenges,” she muses. “Coming up with designs is challenging, but I was the first designer to do a cowboy collection in 1975, before anyone else even thought about cowboys! I'm so lucky that I've been surrounded by these ideas.”

Kurt Geiger’s decision to enlist a blockbuster cast after sitting out the last campaign season is part of its expansion strategy, which will see it open 100 doors in the US this autumn, in addition to Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia. Rhodes is thrilled to represent this global customer, and is humble about the fact her own brand still has global appeal, but she goes back to the importance of nurturing brand identities as well as personal ones. “I don't know what will happen, I suppose we might go into overload,” she says of the pace of the fashion industry. “After social media, there will be another layer of something else, but we don’t know what that's going to be.” As long as we have characters like Rhodes to keep the online and offline landscape colourful, it won’t be dull.

Mark Sebba, Former CEO Of Net-A-Porter, Has Died

Mark Sebba, the former chief executive officer of Net-a-Porter, has died at the age of 69, his family have confirmed in a statement.

Sebba was at the helm of the luxury fashion e-tailer for over a decade, serving as CEO from 2003 to 2014, and previously as the company’s chief operating officer. He was integral to the growth of the company, launching businesses including The Outnet, Mr Porter, the in-house clothing label Iris & Ink, and the magazine Porter.

On his retirement in 2014, Net-a-Porter founder and former chairman Natalie Massenet created a video that declared Sebba the most loved CEO in the world. Massenet, who started Net-a-Porter in 2000 and left on the eve of the company’s merger with the Yoox group in 2015, called Sebba her “greatest ally” and a “true partner”. She described him as “a man of incredible integrity, wisdom and strength. Not only has he grown our business exponentially and healthily and guided us through our sale to Richemont — he has also brought calm and confidence to the core of our group.” In 2010, when Richemont acquired a 93 percent interest in the business, the company was valued at £350 million.


After his life at Net-a-Porter, Sebba lent his advice to other entrepreneurial businesses. He became chairman of the fresh flowers supplier Flowerbx, an adviser to the board of plus-size e-commerce brand Eloquii, a board member at tech investment bank GP Bullhound, and a non-executive director at LMS Capital plc, a private equity firm. He was also a trustee of the V&A Museum and chairman of its commercial arm, V&A Enterprises, and lent his support to Hyde Housing Association, which provides financially accessible housing in the southeast of England. He is survived by his wife, Anne Sebba, three children and five grandchildren.

Ivanka Trump Is Closing Down Her Fashion Brand

Ivanka Trump is shutting down her namesake retail business, 17 months after starting her work at the White House as a senior adviser to her father, the president of the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company’s 18 employees have been informed that it will be closing and that Ivanka will address them later today. “Ms. Trump had contemplated the move in recent months,” the article says, “as she grew frustrated by the restrictions she placed on the company, IT Collection LLC, to avoid possible conflicts of interest while serving in the White House.”

Trump’s brand sells moderately priced (and frequently floral) wardrobe basics, shoes, handbags, and jewellery, and her website also hosts a blog that covers such She-EO–adjacent topics as “How to Create an Inclusive Work Culture”. Having cultivated a reputation for herself as a model for working American women long before entering the administration — Ivanka Trump HQ launched a Women Who Work campaign in 2014 — there is a clear overlap between the issues Trump has focused on in her White House work and the lifestyle her brand, in which she still has a vested financial interest, purports to offer.

But Trump has heretofore been seemingly unbothered about such conflicts of interest; she has continued to wear her sheath dresses and pumps from her own label to events she attends as a White House employee, even after watchdog group Democracy Forward sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics in January demanding an investigation into her using her public position for private financial gain. As recently as this past May, she was awarded seven new trademarks from the Chinese government around the same time her father, Donald Trump, vowed to help ZTE, a behemoth Chinese telecommunications company. And there was the meeting she took way back in 2016, about one week after the election, with her father and Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe at Trump Tower. Shortly after, it was reported that Ivanka’s company was about to close a deal with apparel company Sanei International, owned in part by the Japanese government — that agreement subsequently disintegrated.


You can see why it might be annoying for Trump to continue to swat down backlash that she shouldn’t be using her proximity to the American government to hawk necklaces that say “opportunity is everywhere.” When discussing her reasons for not selling the company shortly after the election, she told CBS News that it was to prevent outsiders from “licensing and leveraging the name of the 45th president of the United States of America — completely unfettered,” which is obviously what Trump wanted to do herself (it’s called leaning in, people).

Proponents of the #GrabYourWallet campaign, which urged customers to boycott stores that sold Ivanka Trump items, are celebrating the brand’s shuttering as a win; several retailers like Nordstrom, Jet.com, and Gilt dropped the fashion line in the past year and a half. The Wall Street Journalreports that while the brand’s sales have fallen in recent months, a company spokesperson argued that the decline was due to high sales during and immediately after the 2016 election. Either way, we know that Donald Trump will attribute this move to the shrewd business acumen the Trump name is known for and likely tweet about how Ivanka is a high-quality person.

Karlie Kloss Announces Engagement

Karlie Kloss has announced that she is engaged to her long-term boyfriend, Joshua Kushner, with an Instagram picture of the couple, who have been dating for six years.

“I love you more than I have words to express,” the 25-year-old model captioned the photograph. “Josh, you’re my best friend and my soulmate. I can’t wait for forever together. Yes a million times over 💍.”


Kloss met Kushner, 33, who is the brother of Jared Kushner, advisor to Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump's husband, in 2012. It is speculated that the proposal took place on their recent holiday in Italy, where they were photographed on a yacht off the coast of Capri with the likes of Paul McCartney and Misha Nonoo.

Presenting Dr Ashish Dutta And The Science Of VASER

The British cosmetic surgery industry has certainly had a change of face over the last several decades. With London acting as the protagonist, the UK based industry is now worth a staggering £3.6 Billion Pounds, thanks to a myriad of top trends and celebrity endorsed ´non-invasive´ treatments which claim to dramatically change your appearance, whilst allowing you to go home hours later.

Unless you live at a top of mountain or have a complete disregard for the daily media, it is hard to ignore the impact and interest that some of these treatments have had. One of the most revolutionary of all the procedures that´s currently sweeping the capital city involves a pioneering type of ´smart-liposuction´ which goes under the name of VASER Liposculpture, operates using Ultrasonic sound waves and can leave you with a body so sculpted that you could well leave the clinic the same day with abdominals. Yes, that´s right – a six pack.

However just how effective is this claim and what are the facts aside from the fantasy? Eminent British based ´top ten´ ranking Cosmetic Surgeon Dr Ashish Dutta sat down with us at his Harley Street clinic to describe the implications and procedures of this modern day marvel.


Dr Dutta can you describe to us exactly what is VASER Liposuction?

VASER stands for Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance which means that the procedure makes use of ultrasound technology in order to perform the liposuction procedure. VASER Liposuction is an alternative technology to the traditional liposuction procedure. It is a body contouring procedure that targets the removal of unwanted body fat. It is essentially a procedure by which fat deposits beneath the skin are removed in order to improve the aesthetics and the overall appearance of the body. It is based on the latest technology uses an ultrasound device that liquefies fat before removing it from the body using suction force.

How is VASER Liposuction different from traditional Liposuction?

VASER Liposuction is also known as Lipo-selection which implies that it is more of a selective fat removal, unlike the traditional liposuction which works on a total fat removal. This type of Liposuction focuses upon targeting the fat cells while still preserving the essential connecting tissues. This helps in attaining smoother results and a better and quick healing process as compared to the traditional liposuction surgery. Also, it is believed that VASER Liposuction is more effective in the treatment of densely fibrous areas such as the back, the post-tummy tuck abdomen, the breasts (male and female), and the areas which have been previously suctioned.

The fat cells removed using VASER Liposuction can often be harvested in order to be used for fat transfer in other areas of the body where they are more desirable. VASER Liposuction is also a minimally invasive procedure as compared to other liposuction procedures which means that there is less bleeding or scarring and it also implies that there is speedy recovery as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure.

How does VASER Liposuction work?

VASER Liposuction uses ultrasound energy in order to melt fat. It is then removed through a thin tube called a cannula. VASER Liposuction uses ultrasound high-frequency vibration to break fat cells apart. This technique makes it easier to remove fat. It is especially helpful in areas with dense and large volumes of fat.

How safe is VASER Liposuction?

VASER Liposuction procedures have been successfully carried out on patients around the world. The instruments for a VASER Liposuction procedure are much smaller and less invasive as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure. It also uses minimally invasive ultrasound technology so there is less damage caused to the body. Older methods did not have the technology to liquefy fat before removing it from the body which could cause damage to the veins and other delicate organs of the body. With VASER Liposuction, it is now possible to liquefy fat before its removal which makes it possible to carry out the procedure without causing much harm to the body.

How much time does the procedure take to be completed?

The procedure can take about one to several hours to complete, depending upon the area and the number of areas to be taken in for treatment. Larger bodies and more masses of stored fat will clearly require more surgical time for their safe extraction.

What is the average downtime involved?

VASER Liposuction is a less-aggressive procedure, which means that there is a faster recovery time as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure. The surgery usually involves 12 hours of rest and 2-3 weeks of avoiding strenuous activities.

Is the procedure painful?

Since VASER Liposuction is a low impact procedure, less pain is experienced as compared to that in the standard liposuction procedure. Some of the applied local anaesthetic stays in the area which helps in minimizing post-surgical pain in the treated area.

What are the side-effects of the procedure?

The potential risks from ultrasound energy may include burns. Some of the possible side-effects may include bleeding, scarring, skin contour irregularities, nerve compressions, skin necrosis, seroma, fluid imbalance. These are not restrictive and some other complications or side effects may arise, depending on the individual functioning of every person.

Is there a risk of bruising, like in the case of traditional Liposuction?

VASER Liposuction involves the use of a saline solution, so there is typically less bleeding and bruising. After the application of local anaesthetic, the surgeon fills the area to be treated with a saline wetting solution in order to numb the area and shrink blood vessels. This helps in minimizing the risks of post-surgical swelling and bruising.

How long do the results take to appear?

Patients are able to see results right after the procedure but the best results start to appear after 5-6 weeks of the treatment.

In conclusion, these are some of the most frequently asked questions about the VASER Liposuction procedure. Please bear in mind that one must always consult with a professional Surgeon and discuss the prospective effects on the individual body before getting entering into any type of surgery

Dr Ashish Dutta is a Board Certified Cosmetic surgeon and founder of the Aesthetic Beauty Centre´s in Newcastle, Sunderland and London; underlining him as one of the few highly trained and accredited surgeons in the United Kingdom. For more information on Dr Dutta and his services, please refer to his personal social media channels on FacebookVimeo, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Gucci To Show SS19 Collection At Le Palace

If walls could talk: Le Palace, the legendary theatre-turned-discothèque was Paris’ answer since to Studio 54 when nightlife impresario Fabrice Emaer took control of its enormous dance floor in the 1977. Edwige Belmore manned the door; Blondie, Prince, Talking Heads and The Clash graced its stage; Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld’s circles worked the crowd. It was debauchery contained within Art Deco walls – all plush velvet, marble tiles and plenty of dark corners.

Four decades on and the fash pack still loves a party. The 9th arrondissement venue recently had a private lock-in for Hedi Slimane’s 50th birthday, and on September 24 it will host Gucci’s spring/summer 2019 collection as part of the brand’s love letter to Paris.

“The Théâtre Le Palace resonates with the vision of the house as it is a venue that gave life to a (sub)culture that has inspired young generations up until today,” a statement from Gucci said of the space.


Though it is the first time the location has ever hosted a catwalk show, Alessandro Michele’s longtime music collaborator Michel Gaubert was a resident DJ at Le Palace during its heyday. Expect the playlist to live up to those heady nights in the Seventies, and the 9pm show time to facilitate after-hours revelry on the transition day between Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks.

Gucci’s ode to the Paris started with its pre-fall 2018 advertising campaign, which took inspiration from the 1968 marches and riots in the country, and saw the brand hold its cruise 2019 show on the Promenade Des Alyscamps, a Roman necropolis outside the walls of the old town of Arles. The final instalment, however, could see an Italian heritage brand trump all other shows on the Paris schedule with its blockbuster venue. For one season only, Alessandro Michele intends to reign supreme in the French capital.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Dr Ashish Dutta And The Science Of VASER


If you're in London, planning to get VASER Liposuction surgery and you have some doubts in your mind, here are some FAQ's about the VASER Liposuction procedure answered by Dr Ashish Dutta, a Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeon in the UK and founder of Aesthetic Beauty Centre in Sunderland, Newcastle, London.


What is VASER Liposuction?

VASER stands for Vibration Amplification of Sound Energy at Resonance which means that the procedure makes use of ultrasound technology in order to perform the liposuction procedure.

¨ VASER Liposuction is an alternative technology to the traditional liposuction procedure. It is a body contouring procedure that targets the removal of unwanted body fat. It is essentially a procedure by which fat deposits beneath the skin are removed in order to improve the aesthetics and the overall appearance of the body.¨

VASER Liposuction is based on the latest technology uses an ultrasound device that liquefies fat before removing it from the body using suction force.

How is VASER Liposuction different from traditional Liposuction?

VASER Liposuction is also known as Liposelection which implies that it is more of a selective fat removal, unlike the traditional liposuction which works on a total fat removal.

¨VASER Liposuction focuses upon targeting the fat cells while still preserving the essential connecting tissues. This helps in attaining smoother results and a better and quick healing process as compared to the traditional liposuction surgery.¨

Also, it is believed that VASER Liposuction is more effective in the treatment of densely fibrous areas such as the back, the post-tummy tuck abdomen, the breasts (male and female), and the areas which have been previously suctioned.

The fat cells removed using VASER Liposuction can often be harvested in order to be used for fat transfer in other areas of the body where they are more desirable.

VASER Liposuction is also a minimally invasive procedure as compared to other liposuction procedures which means that there is less bleeding or scarring and it also implies that there is speedy recovery as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure.

How does VASER Liposuction work?

VASER Liposuction uses ultrasound energy in order to melt fat. It is then removed through a thin tube called a cannula. VASER Liposuction uses ultrasound high-frequency vibration to break fat cells apart.

This technique makes it easier to remove fat. It is especially helpful in areas with dense and large volumes of fat.

How safe is VASER Liposuction?

¨VASER Liposuction procedures have been successfully carried out on patients around the world. The instruments for a VASER Liposuction procedure are much smaller and less invasive as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure. It also uses minimally invasive ultrasound technology so there is less damage caused to the body. Older methods did not have the technology to liquefy fat before removing it from the body which could cause damage to the veins and other delicate organs of the body. With VASER Liposuction, it is now possible to liquefy fat before its removal which makes it possible to carry out the procedure without causing much harm to the body.¨

How much time does the procedure take to be completed?

The procedure can take about one to several hours to complete, depending upon the area and the number of areas to be taken in for treatment.

What is the average downtime involved?

VASER Liposuction is a less-aggressive procedure, which means that there is a faster recovery time as compared to the conventional liposuction procedure. The surgery usually involves 12 hours of rest and 2-3 weeks of avoiding strenuous activities.

Is the procedure painful?

Since VASER Liposuction is a low impact procedure, less pain is experienced as compared to that in the standard liposuction procedure. Some of the applied local anaesthetic stays in the area which helps in minimizing post-surgical pain in the treated area.

What are the side-effects of the procedure?

¨The potential risks from ultrasound energy may include burns. Some of the possible side-effects may include-bleeding, scarring, skin-contour irregularities, nerve compressions, skin necrosis, seroma, fluid imbalance. These are not restrictive and some other complications or side-effects may arise, depending on the individual functioning of every person.¨

Is there a risk of bruising, like in the case of traditional Liposuction?

¨VASER Liposuction involves the use of a saline solution, so there is typically less bleeding and bruising. After the application of local anaesthetic, the surgeon fills the area to be treated with a saline wetting solution in order to numb the area and shrink blood vessels. This helps in minimizing the risks of post-surgical swelling and bruising.¨

How long do the results take to appear?

Patients are able to see results right after the procedure but the best results start to appear after 5-6 weeks of the treatment.

These are some of the most frequently asked questions about the Vaser Liposuction procedure. One must always consult with a professional Surgeon and discuss the prospective effects on the individual body before getting into the surgery.

Dr Ash Dutta is the founder of Aesthetic Beauty Centre and is one of the few highly trained and accredited surgeons in the UK. You can follow him on Facebook, Vimeo, LinkedIn & Twitter.

Alber Elbaz Makes A Comeback

I think there is a lot of soufflé and I’m looking for the real cake, the real chocolate, the real deal,” says Alber Elbaz. He’s using dessert as a metaphor for the fashion system and constant state of disruption we’re living in, a time when the real deal is hard to come by. But Alber is, of course, the realest deal, and like a good cake, few things are as addicting as he. Once you’ve walked through a party in one of his dresses or had the pleasure to chat with the designer himself , you will find yourself positively hooked.

Currently, Elbaz is hooked on LeSportsac bags. For the past year, he’s been working with the brand on a series of nylon bags, backpacks, and weekenders printed with his carefree sketches. “It was a nice project with nice people - you know I’m very sensitive to the people I work with, and I felt very comfortable with the team at LeSportsac, the Japanese and the American teams,” Elbaz begins explaining how the partnership came to be. “I liked the idea of a democratic and iconic company that is there for so long and known for its sketches, so I thought, why not? It will be fun!”

Elbaz’s styles launch in stores and on Lesportsac.com on August, with an official party on September 5 during New York Fashion Week, each featuring some of the designer’s signature graphics. There are knapsacks printed with the word kiss, wristlets that read chic, a massive red leopard print weekender, and a few of Elbaz’s dancing girls on a tote, each wrapped up in a voluminous dress, centered among joyous messages like you look divine. Of the text prints, which were a staple in his catwalk career, Elbaz says, “Words are an important thing for me because I think the world we’re living in today is such a world of visuals, and sometimes the whole visual world gets so chaotic that we need a little bit of words and stories. I always believe that stories last and the visual stays for a very short time and we go on, so I always put words.” The overall message, as he tells it, is that this is a “joyful and funny and happy project,” and in carrying one of these bags, you should feel joyful and funny and happy yourself.


The nylon fabrications, too, were important to the designer, who has been on a career-spanning search for lightness and maybe also freedom. Of his time off travelling, where he says he was more of a voyeur than an exhibitionist, he noticed something about women today. “Looking at the world, looking at all these women around the world, I saw that all they actually need is some lightness in life. Their life is sometimes getting a little too heavy - heavy duty, so why not go into a light bag story?” he says. “And there’s something really smart about LeSportsac: You have all the pockets, it’s very organised, but more than anything, it’s so light.”

To us Alber addicts, the million dollar question still lingers: Has this fashion-world collaboration sparked an urge to get back in the ready-to-wear business? “The answer is yes,” he says. “But I’m taking the time, I’m not really in a rush. I always feel I want to do things I love for people I love and for women I love, so this is always the issue. I mean, here I am waiting for Mr Right or Mrs Right, or whatever you call it. For the time being I am observing. I think it’s quite an interesting thing to stop from time to time and to look around and to try to see and understand and accumulate ideas and words and stories and needs and life and life changes. I think as a designer, we have to take all of it into consideration.”

As our conversation comes to a close, we find ourselves talking about food again. Seeing as LeSportsac bags are ideal for travel, with all their pockets and resilient fabric, I ask Elbaz what he packs for a trip. “I’m always afraid to be hungry in the middle of the ocean, because you know how it gets on those airlines, they give you what they give you and that’s it. I’m always afraid to be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and to be hungry, so I always have something to eat,” he says with a laugh. “I have snacks, I have something to eat, I have crayons, and pencils, and some papers, and a great book. It depends, a T-shirt. I think LeSportsac bags are great because they are adjustable and you can put so many things in there and there is always a place for more. There is something very generous about those bags, the more you put inside the more you want to put inside. It’s like sugar, the more you use it, the more you want to use it.”

Paul Andrew On Salvatore Ferragamo’s New Chapter

The autumn/winter 2018 season is the start of a new chapter in Salvatore Ferragamo’s story. It is the first for Paul Andrew, the British creative director, who was taken on by the house in September 2016 to design its shoes, and made head of womenswear in October 2017. In September 2018, he introduced the concept of a co-ed show to the catwalk, and, now, to his first campaign.

Shot by Harley Weir and featuring Stella Tennant, Shanelle Nyasiase, Rianne Van Rompaey, Xiao Wen Ju, Piero Mendez and Edoardo Sebastianelli, Andrew worked alongside menswear director Guillaume Meilland to realise his vision. “I want Ferragamo to assert a distinctly special voice,” he told Vogue ahead of the launch. “The best way to do that is to be collaborative, inclusive and open – which is why I’m so excited to be working alongside talents like Guillaume, Harley, and this powerful cast of models. Together we’ve found a harmony that truly reflects the bold and positive change that’s afoot at Salvatore Ferragamo.”

The new brand vision is rooted in shoes (naturally) and each image homes in on the new-season bags and boots – all in Andrew's rich, inviting colour palette. The weight on its accessories division is indicative of the fact that, like most luxury labels, the Ferragamo Group makes the majority of its revenue on accessories. In 2016, it generated 79.3 percent of its income through its footwear and leather goods categories, according to the Business of Fashion. Ready-to-wear counted for 6.5 percent in comparison.


By placing an accessories designer, one who was awarded the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2015, at the heart of its business, Ferragamo follows an emerging industry trend. Mulberry, Dior and Valentino, among others, have also placed designers who started off their careers as leather goods specialists at the centre of their ready-to-wear offering.

Andrew, however, is keen to pay homage to his predecessors as he moves the brand forward. “There has always been a sense of modernity in the legacy of Salvatore Ferragamo evident from his creations, ingenuity and dynamic personality,” he explained of his archive research. “To celebrate this talent has required an immense study of the brand’s iconic codes paired with today’s creative sensibility, and a respect to form and function. With Guillaume, we’ve set the foundation for an ongoing narrative, a cinematically dynamic future ahead.”

Could Mislabelled Fake Fur Lead To A Total Ban?

A ban on selling real fur should be considered because consumers have been tricked into buying animal fur labelled as fake, a cross-party group of MPs have told ministers.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has found that retailers, local authorities and Trading Standards have been failed to enforce regulations around the sale of real fur. Its report, Fur Trade in the UK, highlighted the labelling system as confusing and called out retailers, including TK Maxx, Amazon, Boots, Boohoo and Tesco, for inadvertently mislabelling real fur products as fake. Retailers, such as Kurt Geiger and Etsy, it said, also follow no-fur policies but have sold “faux fur” clothing or upholstery made from animal materials.

“Reports of real fur being sold as fake fur shows that retailers are flouting their responsibility to consumers,” Neil Parish MP, chair of the committee, said. “Retailers of all sizes are complacent about the issue of fake faux fur. It is illegal to give misleading information and Trading Standards have been poor at identifying and acting against those who are doing so.”


He advised the government to ensure that local authorities are properly resourced, and local authorities to ensure that Trading Standards are properly trained. Brexit, he said, was an opportunity to refocus efforts. “The labelling of clothes must be consistent, transparent and customer-friendly, but current EU requirements are not good enough to allow consumers to understand the origin and contents of their clothing.” Animal species, the country of origin and how the animal was reared and killed should be presented on a label, rather than the current stipulations, which simply state that an item of clothing is made from "materials of animal origin".

Despite UK-wide bans of fur farming since 2003, and EU bans on the sale of cat and dog fur (2007) and seal fur (2010), it is still legal to import and buy fur from a range of other species including fox, rabbit, mink, coyote and chinchilla. In the last year, the UK imported almost £75million of animal fur, according to the most recent trade statistics from HMRC, with the majority of these animals factory-farmed in battery cage systems in countries such as China, Poland and Finland.

“It is a total double standard for us to still be importing and selling fur from animals still suffering the same conditions we banned here,” Humane Society International (HSI UK) executive director Claire Bass commented. “The UK government has the opportunity to blaze a trail as the first country to ban the sale of all animal fur, so we are delighted that EFRA committee members are pressing government to launch a public consultation to help inform and build that case. A UK ban would be a major nail in the coffin of this morally bankrupt industry.”

Sunday, July 22, 2018

A Tribute To Michael Howells

He was always the first person up. You would hear his bath running loudly through the double doors of the Terrace bedroom, the sounds of Wagner, show tunes or Elgar drifting up the stairs, played at top volume. Half a bottle of Floris bath essence in the bath. He’d have been for a walk by the estuary at dawn, filled the house with cow parsley, beech leaves and wild flowers and drawn a set for a new ballet by breakfast. “We must rehang the pictures on the bachelor’s landing. Have you cut back the magnolia yet by the morning room door? It really needs doing. Shall we watch Now Voyager again after lunch?” No tent pole, flower pot or table was safe from being “mossed up”. Get those chairs and put them in the Alchemilla mollis – the brown against the green works.” By 7am he had often done a full day’s work. Michael found beauty in everything. It was his joy and passion. I have never met anyone as committed to this form of expression. He created a world filled with beauty and friendship and the most incredible creativity. He was the house guest and wonderfully funny friend you never wanted to leave.

Michael was a production designer and art director who was able to tread seamlessly between the disciplines of fashion (he contributed to Vogue for over 25 years), theatre, ballet and film with a brilliance that enabled him to create some of the most spectacular and ambitious sets in these fields. “There are not enough adjectives to describe Michael,” said the costume designer Sandy Powell, as we both tried to make sense of a world that will no longer benefit from Michael’s brilliance and remarkable capacity for friendship and kindness.

I first came across Michael when I was a junior fashion writer at Harpers and Queen. I was in Paris for the shows, and a rusty key was the invitation to a Galliano show. The venue was a Hotel Particulier in the Marais behind a crumbling wall. We got there late, and weren’t allowed in by the security men, but climbed on a step and looked through the windows. We saw a staircase with dead leaves strewn down it, and a room filled with smoke. That was Michael, of course. Out of the smoke and down the stairs walked models dressed in bias cut black satin, lips painted aubergine and eyes lined in kohl. They were the most beautiful dresses I had ever seen, but the set, the absolute romance of it, that was what took my breath away.

A few years later I, along with my husband and some others, had started a festival in Cornwall, in the grounds of Port Eliot, where I lived for a while. We had done the sets for the first two festivals, but as the event grew, I felt I wanted us to do more with the stages. One day a close friend said, “You should talk to Michael Howells, he’d love you and Port Eliot.” We had lunch. The next weekend Michael was on a train to Cornwall. That first festival he made a stage which revolved. He would dress one side of the set and press and a button and spin it round. As the weekend progressed his sets got more elaborate with objects he had found in the house and the stage span faster and faster between each set change.

This was the beginning of a relationship with Port Eliot. Over time he became the creative director of the festival and worked with my late husband and I on the opening of the house to the public. A few years ago we gave him his 50th birthday party. A symbol of that party remains in the house to this day, a chandelier covered in blue hydrangeas and white feathers hangs in the drawing room and never fails to stop people in their tracks when they see it for the first time. It was so beautiful, we could not take it down after the party. Somehow Michael had managed to create something that absolutely fitted a room designed by John Soane in an ancient house in Cornwall. He gave it a modern note which did not jar. “Michael’s work at Port Eliot was such a symbol of success,” says Patrick Kinmonth, a fellow legendary production designer, art director and friend. “His relationship with the house and you and Peregrine and the spirit of that place, was a very beautiful thing. He took the house and only added and didn’t remotely take away from what was already there, he was so clever.”

During his time working at Port Eliot, Michael gathered around him an art department which comprised of god children, friends’ children and volunteers who camped beneath the big oak tree in the park. Along with his friends Sarah Husband, Carrie Lawson, Andy Tomlinson, Derek Brown, Alfie McHugh, Sarah Mower, Joseph Turnbull and Monty Richthofen, they created the look of the festival. We had no money and gave Michael virtually no budget, but it did not make any difference, in fact, he thrived on the challenge.

“You could give him a pile of elastic bands and paper clips and he would make something extraordinary,” says Sandy Powell. “Something you had never seen before. Out of pages from old books elephants’ heads, birds, a ball gown made entirely of paper for an imaginary ball at Manderley magically appeared." At the same time, he inspired the next generation and the one after that to get involved in production design. “He was literally like the Pied Piper,” says Hannah Rothschild, whose daughter worked on the festival in Michael’s art department. “He inspired people at every turn. He found reserves and talents in people they did not know they had.”


Ed Hall, theatre director, agrees: “There was no hierarchy in the work place with Michael. No fuss. No drama. All he was interested in was talent and hard work, and if you didn’t have talent but worked hard he would embrace you.” Michael worked with Hall on some of his most successful theatrical projects. “He did all the costumes on my Chariots of Fire. Not only were his costumes brilliant, but he was also an extraordinarily practical man. He worked out how to do an excess of 100 quick changes in the show. The thing ultimately about Michael is that he was a 360-degree artist. It is important the world remembers him like that. The world has to remember how talented he was.”

The writer and artist Jessica Berens adds: “On a personal level Michael always encouraged people to ask questions about established concepts and behave badly whenever possible." This, she believes, was particularly reflected in his work at the Port Eliot festival, where he started a flower show. “Michael believed great craft was produced in England at the folk level of Womens Institute events and summer fetes and that this craft risked being constricted by the sanitised ethos of the middle brow and Middle England. So, while working within the established criteria of the WI aesthetic he managed to encourage the presentation of wider ideas.” Thus, Berens knitted a giant terrorist for the scarecrow competition. “As an annual gallery of local artistry, it was a spectacular display of ideas worthy of anything displayed in contemporary galleries and far outreached what is expected of those who enter the traditional summer competitions of English tradition.” Yet at the same time no one could have loved English tradition more than Michael. Indeed, he said recently that if he won the lottery, “I would go round restoring the village halls in England because villages have lost their heart and sense of community and if they had village halls it might bring it back.”

At the same time, Michael loved excess. In Spain on a film, Kitty Arden, his floral collaborator for 44 years asked him, “How is your Spanish?”. Michael replied, “'Mas lentequelles por favor’ is all I need.” “More sequins please”. “He managed to do opulence without it turning into a hot mess. Without going too far,” says Sandy Powell. “All those Dior and Galliano shows, there was a lot going on in his sets and a lot going on with the dresses, but it did not distract from the clothes. One of my favourites was the show he did with those huge tulips which should have distracted but they worked with the clothes so beautifully.” Knowing that balance, that was Michael’s skill.

Michael literally saw the world from another perspective, another point of view. He was a striking figure in the artistic landscape at 6ft 7in. He was a giant of a man, but he did not shy away from this. In fact, he enhanced it. He insisted on wearing pointy shoes which only elongated his already large, but also very elegant, feet. Whilst working on a film in Spain he was fitted for a matador outfit. The Spanish tailor had to get a step ladder to measure him from the shoulder. He also ordered a cape in purple. He was very physical and despite his size knew how to move with dexterity, and was the best dancer I know. Kitty Arden remembers that he would show the models how to sashay properly before many of the Galliano shows. He was particularly good at showing the models how to walk up the stairs. “At the first Galliano show at the L’Opera in Paris there was a huge staircase, I remember he showed the girls how to walk up a giant set of stairs. He would do a twirl at the corner, look back at the audience, slowly put his hand on his waist and tilt his head as if he was wearing a hat. It was genius. He knew how to work a room.”

Some of the most memorable parties of the last 30 years were orchestrated by Michael. He started when he was a student at Camberwell. Fi Cotter Craig remembers going to one of Michael’s parties when they both lived in Coleherne Court in the ‘80s. “Michael was the most glamorous person I had ever met. I walked into his flat and there was a horse at his party. A grey horse. I think the horse stayed all night. They had to get it out the following morning.” Michael was at the vanguard of big party fantasia that emerged in the early ‘80s. “He brought the great outdoors into tents, ballrooms and stately homes with foraged materials which he organically grew into set pieces of pure genius. It was Blue Peter on acid with a touch of Narnia too,” says Totty Lowther, another old friend and collaborator. “No one can deny he wasn’t a fucking genius,” says Camilla Lowther, another old friend and for many years his agent. “I don’t think there are many people like that anymore. This digital age doesn’t allow it. He was utterly ambidextrous and complete in his talent.”

One of his most profound collaborations was with his great friend Mark Baldwin, artistic director of the Rambert Company. Over a period of 20 years they worked together. “Michael was a brilliant designer. A visionary. He was a stickler for detail, the right shape, the right shade. The music was the plot. Michael sought atmosphere and loved movement. He made me laugh like no other. He loved people, he loved ideas.”

Michael’s work in television culminated in the work he did on Victoria. He built a wing of Buckingham Palace in an air craft carrier near Leeds. He used 2,5000 sheets of mdf for the floors and walls then 16 miles of two by two timber for the flat structures and braces. Michael was in his element. “I took this shot and sent it to Michael a couple of weeks ago,” said Jenna Coleman, who plays Queen Victoria. The photograph is of a room in the palace which Michael made. “The chandeliers are down, which seems so fitting now. Michael was a graceful, glorious, gentle giant. A creative genius, with a supreme eye and a twinkling wit. A palace created from walnuts and hand-sourced sea shells. Truly, there wasn’t a day you walked on set without being awed by him. The shining star of Victoria. You are one of a kind Michael and how we shall miss you so.”

The Dress Victoria Beckham Wore To The Royal Wedding Is Now Online

Following the roaring reception the Duchess of Sussex’s Stella McCartney evening gown garnered, the designer decided to recreate the royal wedding dress for her clients to purchase. Now, another British designer has got in on the action.

The dark-navy slash-sleeve mididress that Victoria Beckham wore to celebrate the nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle goes on sale today. Customer interest was so high after she premiered the prototype that her client services team started a waiting list for it. Demand was overwhelming. The dress promptly became part of the brand's pre-spring/summer 2019 offering, and Beckham fast-tracked production so that fans could purchase it sooner.


"I went to a very special wedding recently and wanted to wear something that felt feminine, and appropriate, but that also had a bit of an edge to it,” Beckham said of her fluid design with D-ring detail. “This dress was the perfect choice, I felt great in it all day and knew I wanted to make it available for my customer this summer."

Expect the £1,495 dress to promptly sell out, but those who fail to snap up their slice of the royal-wedding fanfare can await a new drop in November. A red and milk version will be included in the official pre-spring/summer 2019 collection launch, as the "Victoria effect" rolls on throughout 2018.

JW Anderson On Why Collaborations Get The Best Results

What you have to realise with a collaboration is that you cannot over control it because then it loses its excitement,” Jonathan Anderson says walking around Soho’s new temporary Toy Gallery. The space, populated with coloured cubes, soft play boxes and Perspex display cases, is the joint retail experience of Anderson and Converse, and celebrates the latest Chuck 70 “Toy” trainers the Irish designer has imagined for the brand.

Now in its second season, there is no danger of the excitement fizzling out of this partnership. Anderson’s new Chucks, with loud patent vinyl instead of canvas and terry toweling as laces, mirror the playground quality of the gallery. “There was something I really liked about the collaboration being just bizarre,” he explains of creating the dégradé gel and soft pile materials. “Sometimes you want something that is, in a weird way, slightly ugly, because I think that's where you find newness. You always find newness through things that your eyes aren't used to.”

The trainer styles were not born out of a wild Willy Wonka-esque session in the studio, but a streamlined design process with functionality at its core. “When you have a product which is so iconic, it forces you to be focused, because there is a parameter you have to remain within,” he asserts. “I actually think you get better results through collaborating because you've got restraints in terms of their branding, our branding, and then in terms of construction. You have to think more about product design than fashion design.”

Designing the functional object is something Anderson holds dear, because he lives in Converse himself. “I'm obsessed by this idea of a uniform,” he explains. “When I design it's very difficult for me to wear fashion, because I feel like I have to keep continuing to reinvent myself. If I was to wear something new, then I feel like I would be trapped somehow.” At an estimate, his wardrobe comprises 100 white T-shirts, 100 black T-shirts, 100 grey T-shirts, 100 navy T-shirts, 30 pairs of chinos, 30 pairs of jeans, one style of Converse, one style of trainer, one style of Oxford shoes, a leather jacket, a Gore-Tex jacket… He pauses: “It’s a very non-thinking process. It's not that I believe that I'm a classic person, but I feel like that is all that I could physically cope with.”


He gets a kick out of others wearing his creations, though. “Sometimes in design you go places internally, but you don't actually see the physical reality of someone wearing the product. You’re so consumed by the show outfit, and then when you get surprised by it [in real life], it’s completely different from how you imagined it.”

As fans line up to visit Anderson’s playground on Beak Street, there’s plenty of Converse x JW Anderson trainers to be seen. “The whole joy of Chucks is that they become the person somehow,” he laughs of preferring the scuffed, beaten-up versions on Soho’s streets as opposed to those on display.

There’s more than glossy trainers to visit for. Over the next three days, zine workshops and discussions with curator Kimberly Drew, female creative network Babyface and multi-media artists Kusheda Mensa, Christabel MacGreevy and Antonia Marsh will take place. “My philosophy is that I don't feel like I work, so anyone I work with has to be someone that has the same philosophy, and they enjoy what they're doing,” Anderson explains of his line-up. Visit the Toy Gallery and you can have no doubt that this personal mission statement is infectious for those who work with him too.

The Converse x JW Anderson Toy Gallery is situated on 20 Beak Street, W1F 9RE, and is open until July 22. The Toy trainers are priced from £120-£130. To apply for tickets for the events, email RSVP@toygallery.co.uk.

Michael Howells Has Died

Michael Howells, the legendary production designer and art director, has died.

His decades-long career spanned fashion, film and theatre, and he is widely credited with realising some of the most ambitious sets in these fields. Closely aligned with many of fashion’s most-celebrated creators, Howells collaborated with John Galliano on fashion show sets for both his eponymous label and Christian Dior, and realised the catwalk visions of Christian Lacroix and Alexander McQueen.

Creative partnerships with high-profile photographers, including a long-standing relationship with Nick Knight, have also seen Howells design the advertising campaign backdrops of global brands, including Louis Vuittonand Christian Dior. He lent British Vogue his talent, imagination and wit as a contributor on numerous occasions.


"Not only was Michael Howells a genius, he was also a sweet and honourable man. I will miss his laughter," editor-in-chief Edward Enninful commented.

Howells’s influence on performing arts has seen him complete the sets for titles including Bright Young Things with close friend Stephen Fry, Shackletonwith Charles Sturridge, About Time Too and Miss Julie with Mike Figgis, and most recently ITV’s Victoria. His theatre credits include MSM/DV8 Physical Theatre at the Royal Court, Towards Poetry for The Royal Ballet and many more memorable stage productions that pulled ideas from travel, art, literature and history alike.

He won and was nominated for many awards across each field, including the inaugural Isabella Blow British Fashion Creator of the Year Award in 2007 and the Prix d’Excellence de la Mode for his work with Galliano in 2007.

Introducing The 10 Finalists Of The 2018 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

After much deliberation the 10 finalists of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund have been announced. They are:

Batsheva, Batsheva Hay
Bode, Emily Adams Bode
Christian Cowan, Christian Cowan
Hunting Season, Danielle Corona
Jonathan Cohen, Jonathan Cohen and Sarah Leff
Luar, Raul Lopez
Matthew Adams Dolan, Matthew Adams Dolan
Pyer Moss, Kerby Jean-Raymond
Rebecca de Ravenel, Rebecca de Ravenel
Scosha, Scosha Woolridge

The 10 finalists were chosen by a panel of judges including Anna WintourDiane von Furstenberg, Steven Kolb, Andrew Rosen, Mark Holgate, Nicole Phelps, Roopal Patel, Jeffrey Kalinsky, Eva Chen and Joseph Altuzarra.


"This year's 10 finalists will more than ably follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before them," said Anna Wintour, American Vogue editor-in-chief and artistic director of Condé Nast. "They're not only talented, they're engaged with a rapidly changing world, reflecting a whole new set of values and beliefs about what fashion can and should be."

"For the past 15 years, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has transformed American fashion by creating a path for emerging designers to find success in the business of fashion," said Steven Kolb, President and CEO of the CFDA. "The programme has had global impact and inspired other fashion capitals to put a focus on emerging talent."

Over the next couple of months, judges will meet with each finalist in their studio and review their current collections, leading to a winner and two runners up being named at a November 5 fashion show and gala in New York. The winner will receive $400,000, while the runners up will take home $150,000 each. All winners will also receive a year of mentorship from CFDA designers and fashion executives.

According To The Lyst Index, These Are The World's 10 Hottest Brands

Fendi has leapt into the world’s 10 hottest brands following months of high-profile love from the Kardashian-Jenners, according to the latest Lyst Index, released exclusively to Vogue. In the second quarter of 2018, the Italian fashion house became the eighth most popular brand in the world, moving up from number 17 in the previous quarter.

The highly influential Kylie Jenner can surely take some of the credit. In April she shared a picture with her 108 million Instagram followers, in which she wore a vintage Fendi dress and belt bag, and pushed baby Stormi in a pram plastered with the brand’s logo. It’s not the only celebrity boost that the Karl Lagerfeld-helmed label has enjoyed this year. On the cover for her April single "Chun-Li", Nicki Minaj wore a Fendi fur jacket and logo-printed thong, and back in February, Kim Kardashian West shared an image of herself in matching monogrammed sheer tights, blouse and coat, posing for Odda Magazine. No surprise that those iconic Fs were one of this spring’s most coveted logos.

The Lyst Index, compiled by the global fashion search engine Lyst, is a quarterly ranking of more than five million shoppers a month across 12,000 designers and stores. It’s based on a broad analysis of online shopping behaviour, including Google searches, Lyst page views and searches, wishlist saves and purchases. Another key finding? Italian brands are some of the strongest in the world right now, holding five of the 10 slots. Versace, in particular, is rising up the ranks – from 21st place in the first quarter of the year to seventh place for April to June.


The jump can most likely be traced back to the Catholicism-themed Met Gala in May – Donatella Versace co-hosted the event and the house dressed Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian West, Katy Perry, Blake Lively, Gisele Bündchen, Mary J. Blige and Cindy Crawford. Brand awareness may also have been boosted by store expansions, a slew of big-name magazine covers featuring the spring/summer 2018 collection (including British Vogue and Vogue Japan), and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, an unauthorised TV drama that aired earlier this year.

Gucci enjoyed a prosperous second quarter too. The label reclaimed the top spot on the list from Balenciaga, which dropped to third place. The index also includes a breakdown of the hottest products of the quarter, and Gucci is winning there as well: the GG logo belt – an influencer favourite that’s been worn by Alexa Chung, Lou Doillon and Kendall Jenner – was number one. Also ranking highly were Fila Disruptor sneakers (number two) and Prada’s nylon and leather belt bag (number four), while Balenciaga’s controversial platform Crocs sneaked in at number 10. The second release of these in June saw them sell out worldwide for a second time.

Prada and Nike (the top-ranking sportswear brand) also joined the top 10 names of the quarter, while Givenchy enjoyed a rise of two places to fourth position, almost certainly thanks to the Duchess of Sussex’s Clare Waight-Keller-designed wedding dress. Valentino, Yeezy, Moncler and Stone Island, however, all dropped out. See the lists in full, below.

Hottest brands of Q2 2018 (April to June)

Gucci (previously 2)
Off-White (4)
Balenciaga (1)
Givenchy (6)
Dolce & Gabbana (8)
Vetements (3)
Versace (21)
Fendi (17)
Nike (20)
Prada (11)

Hottest products of Q2 2018

Gucci GG logo belt
Fila Disruptor sneakers
Gucci logo-print swimsuit
Prada nylon and leather belt bag
Jacquemus Saudade dress
Off-White ℅ Virgil Abloh industrial belt
Chanel canvas cap-toe espadrille flats (pre-owned)
Céline Edge sunglasses
Goat Whitney dress
Balenciaga platform Crocs