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subscribe to style file blog via RSSSea, Sex, And Sun—And YSL
February 1, 2012
The Resort season found YSL’s Stefano Pilati in a nautical mood. So when the label commissioned Maciek Kobielski to shoot an atmospheric video for the collection, the coast is just where he went. Kobielski shot Eniko Mihalik in Cannes for the sultry new spot, debuting exclusively on Style.com.
tags: Eniko Mihalik, Maciek Kobielski, Stefano Pilati, YSL
The Winery’s Winners
February 1, 2012
The early bird catches the worm—that saying was certainly appropriate this morning when, before rush hour, a crowd of industry insiders flocked to the Museum of Arts and Design for breakfast to fête the winners of the 11th annual Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation awards. The birds? Designers Tim Coppens, Sunhee Moon’s Sunhee Huang, Titania Inglis, Eighteenth’s Alexa Galler, Haus Alkire’s Julie Haus and Jason Alkire, Correll Correll’s Vera and Daphne Correll, and Dezso’s Sara Beltran. The proverbial worm? $25,000 grants to fund their Fall presentations at New York fashion week, starting next Thursday.
“This is not something I would typically do on a Wednesday morning,” mused Coppens, who launched his menswear collection in April. “I was surprised to win, but it feels really good.” The judges, including former Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart, Gilt Man’s Josh Peskowitz, and Paper’s Kim Hastreiter, were all on hand to congratulate the recipients. “We all know how hard it is to get a solid footing in this business,” Peskowitz told Style.com. “This industry requires new people to be able to put forth new ideas, and having this award ensures that process continues.” Meanwhile, retail guru Gilhart bestowed some words of wisdom to the newly coronated designers. “Show up and bring something different to the table,” she advised. Adding, “This is not an award that is about lights, camera, action—it takes time.”
That is certainly true for industry veteran Huang, who has been working on her collection for the past 15 years. “I started crying when I heard the news,” Huang admitted. “I tried to launch the line several times, but it was difficult financially. This is the third time and I feel like it’s the start of my career.”
tags: Alexa Galler, Ecco Domani, Josh Peskowitz, Julie Gilhart, Julie Haus and Jason Alkire, Kim Hastreiter, Museum of Arts and Design, Sara Beltran, Sunhee Huang, Tim Coppens, Titania Inglis, Vera and Daphne Correll
In The Family
February 1, 2012
When he’s not in the city, Yigal Azrouël lives a laid-back, short-board surfer lifestyle. He rides waves on Mexico’s Baja coast, chills out by the Mediterranean in his native Israel, and skips down to Costa Rica for sun, surf, and sand. So, understandably, his offshoot contemporary line Cut25 balances city style (little leather jackets and blazers) with weekend relaxation (easy draped sweaters and wispy scarves). It’s a cocktail that works. On Friday, the line is expanding via its first standalone retail store on Grand Street. “I love the location,” he said over the phone. “The east side of Soho has a really cool vibe, between the stores and galleries. I love Saturdays surf shop and there’s Opening Ceremony, Jil Sander, and Derek Lam.”
Good neighbors always help, but so does family. Azrouël collaborated with his nephew Dror Benshetrit on the interiors of the 1,400-square-foot space. “No one knows me better than Dror,” Azrouël said. “It’s not like I have to even think about it, because he’s already on the same page. He’s my best friend.” The final design includes bleached wood, distressed steel columns, and striking geometric forms that double as sculpture and merchandise space. Speaking of the stock, the designer has created exclusive pieces for the store and curated a fun selection of special collaborations and books. And that’s all before fashion week, which has kept him plenty busy with his eponymous collection. “I come in early,” he said. “Then I don’t even know what time I leave the studio. I don’t even want to look at the clock.”
Cut25 opens Friday, 129 Grand St., NYC.
tags: Cut25, Dror Benshetrit, Grand Street, Jil Sander, Opening Ceremony, Yigal Azrouel
OpenSky’s The Limit
February 1, 2012
“Up until six months ago, I thought OpenSky was an airline,” CFDA CEO Steven Kolb admits. For those in the same boat, OpenSky.com is actually a new e-commerce site that offers members (sign-up is free and open to anyone) access to a virtual cabinet of celebrity and expert curators. Members to the site choose the experts—spanning fields from fashion to design to food to fitness and including Julianne Moore, Carolyn Murphy, Lori Goldstein, and more—that most appeal to them, and can then shop items said experts curate for the site. Starting tomorrow, you can count the CFDA among them. As part of a new initiative, OpenSky members will be able to buy exclusive accessories from CFDA members including Diane von Furstenberg, House of Waris’ Waris Ahluwalia, Albertus Swanepoel, Selima Optique, and Fallon’s Dana Lorenz.
“We wanted to start with accessories since American accessories are the best and they never get the spotlight they deserve,” Kolb explains. “But ultimately it is the CFDA’s dream to sell something from all 400 CFDA designers.” Until then, designers like Swanepoel, a milliner, are enjoying their moment in the spotlight. “It is amazing exposure for my small brand,” he says. “I do not currently have e-retailers on board, so this is a first for me.” Here, in this Style.com exclusive video (above), Swanepoel talks about the four exclusive hats he made for the program.
tags: Albertus Swanepoel, Carolyn Murphy, CFDA, Dana Lorenz, Julianne Moore, Lori Goldstein, OpenSky.com, Selima Optique, Steven Kolb, Waris Ahluwalia
Hot-Rodding With Prada
February 1, 2012
Steven Meisel shot the Spring ‘12 Prada ad campaign in the most sensible place for the hot-rodding, fins-and-taillights collection: a gas station. Now here’s your first look at the accompanying video campaign, with Natasha Poly, Elise Crombez, Guinevere Van Seenus, Meghan Collison, Ymre Stiekema, and newcomer Katryn Kruger all strutting their stuff. Baby, you can drive my car.
tags: Elise Crombez, Guinevere Van Seenus, Katryn Kruger, Meghan Collison, Natasha Poly, Prada, Spring '12, Steven Meisel, Ymre Stiekema
Jonathan Saunders Wins BFC/ Designer Fashion Fund, CDG Rolls Out Another Beatles Collection, Alberta Ferretti X Macy’s, And More…
February 1, 2012
Jonathan Saunders is this year’s winner of the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund. Saunders will receive a cool £200,000 prize along with a personalized business mentoring program. Saunders beat out the likes of Peter Pilotto, Mary Katrantzou, and Richard Nicoll for the award. [Vogue U.K.]
The sporadic but well-received Comme des Garçons by the Beatles collection will return for another installment later this month. On February 17, CDG stores and Dover Street Market will release the merchandise—a green apple-printed backpack and two tartan shirts. Prices range from $395 to $860. [Hint]
Actress and musician Charlotte Gainsbourg sat down with Nownesss to discuss her forthcoming album, Stage Whispers. Gainsbourg describes her creative process, growing up as the child of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, and being the muse of Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquière. [Nowness]
Alberta Ferretti will be the next designer to create a collection for Macy’s contemporary Impulse department. Available April 17, the line is inspired by the Amalfi Coast and will consist of “light summer clothing that evokes the spirit of my beautiful country,” Ferretti tells WWD. The collection of about 30 pieces will range from $49 to $119. [WWD]
tags: Alberta Ferretti, Beatles, BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Comme des Garcons, Jonathan Saunders, Macy's, Stage Whispers
Astrid Among The Argentines
February 1, 2012
“As a model, I used to go to the most exotic locations—in the depths of Kenya, Brazil, and India,” model-turned-photographer Astrid Muñoz told Style.com last night. “When the shoots were finished and everyone went back to their hotels, I stayed behind with my camera and took pictures. Then I built a dark room in my flat and since then, I have been totally taken over by photography.”
At London’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Bond Street boutique last night, a crowd of friends and family, including Clive Owen, Natalia Vodianova, Charlotte and Andrea Dellal, Anouck Lepère, and Poppy Delevingne, came by to take a look at her first London exhibition. The sepia-toned photographs depicted gauchos and horses in the Argentinean outback. That was no coincidence. Munoz’s current partner is Eduardo Novillo Astrada, an Argentinean polo player and ambassador of Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Guests crammed into the tiny shop to celebrate the work, featured in the latest Jaeger Le-Coultre publication, Yearbook Five. “The photographs are absolutely riveting; they capture the vibe of that region so well—she genuinely has an eye,” said Vodianova. But for Muñoz, whose work on the gauchos will be released in a forthcoming book, it is not just Argentina that inspires her: “For me, the more remote a location, the more difficult to get to, the better,” she said, freshly back from the Amazon jungle, where lunch was bugs and crocodiles and where the hotel room was a hammock strung on to a tree. “The most incredible subjects to photograph are in the most inaccessible places. And trust me, I will get to as many as those places as I can.”
tags: Anouck Lepere, Astrid Munoz, Charlotte and Andrea Dellal, Clive Owen, Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Jaeger-LeCoultre Bond Street, Natalia Vodianova, Poppy Delevingne, Yearbook Five
From PR To Design, An Industry Insider Crosses The Aisle
February 1, 2012
New York-based designer Gabby Sabharwal sings the same tune as most women when it comes to shopping for swimwear: “I find it stressful—the fitting rooms have those weird lights, there’s always those annoying stickers in the suits, and I could never find anything that fit me correctly,” she tells Style.com. “The ones that did fit would be too skimpy. I thought, ‘I can’t be in front of my dad or my boyfriend’s family in this.’ “
Her solution was to found her own collection of printed swimsuit separates, Giejo, to address these concerns. All her tops and bottoms are sold individually, for mix-and-match effect. “Girls today mix high and low, and with my swimwear you can do the same,” the designer says. “The biggest thing is you don’t want to see yourself on the beach and have other girls in the exact same thing—this way that won’t happen.”
Giejo is Sabharwal’s first foray into the world of design, after years of working as a fashion publicist. Despite her lack of formal design training, she found her work experience was on her side. “Working in PR, I was always nervous that I wouldn’t be taken seriously because I didn’t have a full design background, but everyone and all of the designers were so encouraging and wanted to help make it happen,” she says. Tucker’s Gaby Basora was particularly encouraging. So were retailers. The debut Giejo collection hits stores, including New York’s Creatures of Comfort and L.A.’s Madison boutiques, in late February, and an exclusive collection for Barneys New York, made up of Aztec and floral prints, arrives on the retailer’s shelves in late spring—just in time for beach weather.
tags: Barneys New York, Creatures of Comfort, Gabby Sabharwal, Giejo, Madison
20-Year-Old Newcomer Matthew Terry Raises The Bar—In His Underwear, Naturally
January 31, 2012
Joan Smalls and Saskia de Brauw aren’t the only models playing gymnast these days—the male models for Calvin Klein Bold mounted the parallel bars in just their underwear for the brand’s new Steven Klein-lensed campaign.
“I have always liked gymnastics and I give the people that do it a lot of credit because they make it look so easy, but it’s actually really hard,” Matthew Terry, the label’s 20-year-old new underwear model, tells Style.com. “It was one heck of a workout doing some of the poses they wanted.”
Here, catch Terry and his sexy cohorts, Arran Sly, Chris Garavaglia, and Myles Crosby, in action in these exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the Joshua Tree shoot. An unreleased image of Terry from the campaign is below.
tags: Arran Sly, Calvin Klein Underwear Bold, Chris Garavaglia, Matthew Terry, Myles Crosby, Steven Klein
Coach’s Card Shark
January 31, 2012
Coach’s latest trump card? Hugo Guinness. To celebrate its recent teamwork with the British linocut artist, the brand threw a casino-themed bash at the Jane Hotel ballroom last night, complete with a blackjack table, an illusionist, and a house-of-cards builder—a nod to the fact that the collaboration, in addition to leather goods, includes a very covetable deck of hand-drawn Coach playing cards. Guinness quietly occupied a banquette area while Maria Cornejo chatted with friends nearby and Lisa Marie Fernandez tried her luck at roulette. (She only recently got the bug, Fernandez said: “I just got back from the Chanel party in Las Vegas and I won big!”)
For the collaboration, which makes use of both original and archival images, Guinness explained that he’d briefly given up his normal routine of working at home in Brooklyn in order to take meetings at Coach’s Madison Avenue headquarters. Office life, he confessed, seems like a world apart. “It’s very different, isn’t it? There’s a whole protocol there—people come in, and then they disappear again, and you don’t know why they’ve come in,” he said. “It’s just weird, it’s a different world.” But it may start to feel familiar soon enough—Guinness and the brand are already thinking about doing a second project, potentially for the holiday season.
tags: Coach, Hugo Guinness, Jane Hotel, Lisa Marie Fernandez, Maria Cornejo
