22 posts tagged "Anna Sui"
Sophie Dahl: Happiness Is A Warm…Cup Of Tea
What makes Sophie Dahl happy? A quiet cup of tea. For Alice Temperley, it’s luxuriating in a warm bath. Christian Slater is partial to watching original Star Trek reruns while Vivienne Westwood loves a good laugh with her husband. And photographer Lorraine Goddard has photographed each of them doing just that, all in the name of a good cause: She’s shooting joy to help create it, donating profits to Young Minds, a children’s mental health charity.
Goddard, the ex-wife of Adam Ant and PR maven to Dame Westwood, knows a thing or two about depression; her ex suffered from it in a very public way. Undaunted, she set her lens on the flipside—joy and comfort—and rounded up a group of high-profile friends, including Zac Posen, Anna Sui, Amy Sacco, and Dita Von Teese, to sit for her. The private view of her Out of Context exhibit at London’s Getty Images Gallery last night brought many of her subjects, including Mary McCartney, Alice Temperley, Bella Freud, and Joe Corre. (Many later decamped to the Sanderson Hotel courtyard to continue the party.) “Lorraine asked me to be photographed and of course I said yes,” said jeweler Stephen Webster. “I didn’t know what it was for, but it didn’t matter—whatever she does, I would back. Anyone who knows her would.” That’s the kind of support that should make the photographer pretty happy herself.
For more information or to donate, visit www.lorrainegoddard.co.uk.
The Past Perfect At James Coviello
If James Coviello ever decides to hang up his fashion hat, it’s comforting to know he’s got a bright future as an antiques dealer waiting as a very viable plan B. The designer—who got into millinery when pal Anna Sui needed some headgear for a Steven Meisel shoot she was styling, followed it up with stints at Oscar, Calvin, and Todd Oldham, and launched a full apparel collection of his own in 2000—has an expansive collection of antiques, just the sort that come in handy when you’re opening your own store. His Orchard Street shop, which opened last night, recalls a bustling ladies’ emporium of the nineteenth century. Dresses hang on cast-iron brackets, chapeaux sit in sliding-glass case doors, and the entire scene is lit with brass gas lamp fixtures. Even the 23-karat gold-leaf storefront sign was sourced through a guy in New Jersey who still executes the process as it was done over 100 years ago. Sui, on hand to host, took a moment to pick out a French porcelain vase for herself. Interested customers can do the same. In addition to his ready-to-wear collection, Coviello will be offering lifestyle items, too: French soaps, vintage letterpress stationery and carved graphite pencils, and home decor like the exquisite taxidermy-and-floral-arrangement bell jars that he designs.
70 Orchard St., NYC, www.jamescoviello.com.
Rags Time: Marc Levin On HBO Doc Schmatta
Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, Marc Levin’s history of the Garment District, airs tonight on HBO. After tracing the origins of the New York City rag trade back to immigrant-staffed sweatshops like the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Levin proceeds to track the rise of the Garment District—those mid-century decades when approximately 95 percent of the clothing sold in the United States was made domestically, making it the number one employer in New York City. Times, needless to say, have changed. Today, close to 95 percent of the clothing sold in the United States is made abroad, making the Garment District so much a shadow of its former self that a fight to save it from extinction is currently being waged. Schmatta tracks that devolution, as well. In so doing, the film raises important questions about how the fashion industry infrastructure we currently take for granted will be forced to adapt in the post-recession, post-Inconvenient Truth era. Here, Levin talks to Style.com about fashion as microcosm, his own rag trade genealogy, and the fact that he’s not trying to be Michael Moore.
You’ve got a lengthy filmmaking résumé, and nothing on it indicates an interest in fashion. What made you want to tell this story?
It was a curveball, actually. I went to Sheila Nevins at HBO with an idea for a documentary about hedge funds, and while we were sitting there, brainstorming, she brought up the fact that her blouse was made in China, her pants in Bangladesh, and so on. She thought there was a story there, and she suggested I go check out the Garment Center. I said, “You want me to do something on the schmatta business?” And she said, “Schmatta. Great title.” That’s how things get done, sometimes. Continue Reading “Rags Time: Marc Levin On HBO Doc Schmatta” »
Are Parties The New Shows?
This season, New York fashion week is all about the parties. Of course, some people—yes, Olivier Zahm, I’m talking to you—might say every season is about the parties. But this time around it feels like the extracurricular activities are threatening to become the main event, with the collections relegated to the role of warm-up act. We may still be in a recession, but apparently there are few more cost-effective brand-building strategies than persuading a celebrity to put her name on the invite and plying a thirsty crew of hipsters and editors with a few hours’ worth of free booze and maybe even some food. Tonight, for example, there is an Agent Provocateur dinner, a launch for Anna Sui’s Target line, a book party for Amanda Brooks given by Diane von Furstenberg, a pair of competing model bashes (courtesy of Women & Supreme and Ford Models, respectively), and the unveiling of Saks’ new designer floor hosted by Charlize Theron and featuring the likes of Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Vera Wang, and, of course, Christian Siriano. And fashion week doesn’t even officially start until tomorrow.
Over the coming nights, all the cool indie mags are throwing the sort of events carefully calibrated to reinforce their status as cool indie mags: the talented and slyly industrious Zahm is ascending to the Standard’s new lounge in the sky for his Purple magazine party; Jefferson Hack’s Another magazine bash is at the Jane; and Dasha Zhukova is unveiling her version of Pop at a location too cool and secret to mention (think the home of a big-shot art dealer). Love‘s Katie Grand, meanwhile, is ganging up with Alexander Wang to take over a gas station on Tenth Avenue (Love‘s owned by Condé Nast so not strictly indie, but you get the point). And here’s the proof that parties are the new shows: None of these London- and Paris-based publications are blowing their carefully husbanded budgets here because they think New York is the fashion capital of the world; they know it’s the buzz capital of the world, the city of eight million paps, bloggers, and Twitpicers. Further proof: Whereas even the most boosterish editor looks at the fashion calendar and feels her steely heart sink a little (20-plus back-to-back shows a day), planning your after-hours schedule is potentially a more rewarding experience (did I mention the free drinks?). Let’s see, it’s Tuesday the 15th, how can you get from the Sartorialist book signing (hey, Scott) to the Coco Before Chanel screening (bonsoir, Audrey), while looking in on the Ron Arad/Notify party at MoMA (hi, Linda Evangelista) and the Dsquared² eyewear launch waythehellover on the West Side Highway (big kiss, J. Lo), and still have enough energy left over for Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld’s shindig at Indochine (bisous, Carine)? This is where Red Bull comes in. Well, Red Bull and other things.
And I haven’t even mentioned half the designer parties (Marc’s doing a little something, of course, with or without Lady Gaga; Gareth Pugh’s hosting a dinner at Milk Studios and he’s not even based in New York; Calvin Klein, whose overachieving PR department may be more responsible than most for making the party as big a deal as the show, is doing dinner at the Standard Grill). My advice to any designer showing between 9 and 11 a.m. on a fashion week morning? Don’t bother stuffing those silly cosmetic freebies in the goody bag: Two Alka-Seltzers will do just fine, and, please, keep the music low.
The Jolie-Pitts Move Uptown, Moss’ New Gig, And More…
Attention Upper West Siders, Angie and Brad could be your new neighbors. The couple and their brood are reportedly co-op shopping, and while we’ve always pegged AJ as more of a Lower East Side kind of gal (more tattoo parlors), we guess this move befits Hollywood royalty. [NY Daily News]
Is Kate Moss Sir Philip Green’s go-to business consultant? The model is reported to be signing on with Green and Simon Cowell’s new entertainment venture as a “figurehead” and talent scout for new bands. Given Moss’ romantic history, on-again-off-again musician boyfriend Jamie Hince
should be nervous. [Vogue U.K.]
Anna Sui’s Gossip Girl-inspired line for Target is decidedly teen-friendly, but Target execs fear mere mention of the racy CW drama could be bad for business. (Have Target execs seen Matthew Williamson for H&M’s ads?) The line will still hit stores, but it will need to be rebranded. Were they thinking something more along the lines of The Cosby Show? [NY Daily News]