Season Of The Panda

As plans for world domination go, Nicola Formichetti’s isn’t bad: Pitch your tent in some of the biggest fashion cities in the world, and bring gifts. After debuting Nicola’s, his temporary pop-up store, in New York last New York fashion week, he’s bringing his show to China, where Nicola’s is popping up at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and Beijing, beginning today. In Hong Kong, architect Mark Gage of Gage/Clemenceau created a space paying homage to Formichetti’s animal spirit of choice, the panda. More than 100 pandas decorate the shop-in-shop, nodding both at Formichetti’s nickname, NicoPanda (he even has his panda avatar tattooed on his arm), and a new, limited-edition collection of NicoPanda x Lane Crawford merchandise created especially for the event. Tees, iPhone and iPad cases, Moleskin notebooks, toys, and even mah-jongg sets (the game is huge in China) are emblazoned with the “MangAvatar,” and all products are available for purchase worldwide at www.lanecrawford.com/nicopanda. But it’ll take a trip to Hong Kong to check out the archive of costumes Formichetti created or selected for Lady Gaga as her fashion director, including pieces by Lacroix and Mugler, where he is also creative director. The store and microsite run through May 31.