48 posts tagged "Donatella Versace"
Alexander Wang Said To Be Headed To Balenciaga
According to the New York Times‘ Cathy Horyn, Alexander Wang is the frontrunner to take over at Balenciaga. The move would make a certain amount of sense given that Wang, with his rapidly expanding New York-based line, has shown that he can make the edgy commercial. What then of the rumor, first reported in WWD yesterday, that Balenciaga’s parent company PPR is looking to invest in Christopher Kane’s label? Kane was posited by the Twittersphere as a likely Balenciaga candidate, though he denied it himself. Even after I plied him with several margaritas at a recent London dinner, he insisted he wanted to concentrate on building his own business. If PPR were to invest, it could give credence to the rumor that rival LVMH tycoon Bernard Arnault has struck a deal with outgoing Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghèsquiere, and PPR wants to strengthen its own stable as much as possible. Along with the news today that J.W. Anderson will be doing a capsule collection for Kane’s former boss Donatella Versace at Versus, this could be a rare case of designer shuffling where everyone turns out to be a winner.
On Our Radar: Versace Underwear
Breaking news from the Department of Things We Figured Already Existed: Versace underwear. Given the label’s girls-and-boys-just-wanna-have-fun message—not to mention its preference for less as more—the return of skivvies to the house seems to be a no-brainer. And as anyone who saw the Spring ’13 men’s show may have already guessed (subtle? Nah) full collections of underwear and swimwear for men and women are en route for Spring 2013. The new underthings will be “unmistakably Versace and are designed for men and women who want to look and feel bold and sexy,” said noted bold-approver and sexy-feeler Donatella Versace.
Christopher Kane: The Plot Thickens
Christopher Kane has had a busy weekend.
The house of Versace, which has supported Kane since his student days at Central Saint Martins, announced today that Kane is leaving the Versus line, which he has designed since 2009.
The news follows hot on the heels of rumors this weekend, first published in France’s Nouvel Observateur, that Kane had been tapped to lead Balenciaga in the wake of Nicolas Ghesquière’s departure. The rumor created a brief flare of internet buzz before Kane issued a statement denying it from London on Saturday afternoon.
There’s been no official update on the opening at Balenciaga—the house issued no comment on the Kane rumors—and Kane said in a statement today that “the time has come to dedicate all my focus to the future of the Christopher Kane label.”
As for Versus, it will now be under the watchful eye of Donatella Versace herself, in collaboration with a series of young designers and stylists. Rather than remain a traditional fashion collection shown on the runway in Milan, it will transition to become a series of capsules and limited-editions, shown during special events wherever and whenever the spirit may strike. The first will take place in New York this Spring. An e-commerce store for Versus is also in the offing for next year.
“This is a very exciting development for Versus, and I’m thrilled to be engaged in such a major shake-up of the fashion world’s rules,” Donatella told WWD. She added that Kane “will always have my total support.”
A New Home For The Medusa: Soho
Donatella Versace, after years of search, has finally found a place to hang her heel. (A reporter at a preview of her new Soho shop this afternoon wondered whether she ever went for a flat shoe: “What’s a flat shoe?” she replied.) “I love Soho,” she said. “I walk up and down, up and down.” She’d wanted a Soho shop, she added, for a long time, “but I needed the collection to be good enough for it.” Now it is.
Unlike the mansionlike Fifth Avenue Versace store, downtown, at just under 1,800 square feet, is practically a studio apartment. The difference between it and her closet, Donatella joked (or didn’t?): “My closet is bigger.” Small or large, the store combines Italianisms—a marble mosaic floor, inspired by Gianni’s own taste for classical flourishes—and nouveau Soho sleekness, with curving Plexiglas panels.
In addition to the store design, one of the new boutique’s innovations is a selection of limited-edition products created and curated by a revolving panel of inspirational friends of the brand. For the first, Versace tapped her Versus collaborator Christopher Kane, who also made the trip to New York to christen the shop. They include T-shirts with images from the brand’s past, like the Avedon ones below. “I’ve been lucky enough to see the archive, and the pictorial archive is so large,” Kane said. “It would take weeks upon weeks to see it all. It’s a hard edit, but Donatella is a really good editor.” His capsule collection, sold exclusively at the Soho store, also includes Medusa-head goods aplenty: tees, ear buds (left), stationery, and even a board game à la Chutes & Ladders: Medusa & Greca.
The All-Original Minaj
Since becoming a fashion show front-row regular and style star, Nicki Minaj has had everyone from Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci to Donatella Versace to Oscar de la Renta clamoring to dress her. Despite her designer duds, the Trinidad-born rapper from Queens still has a penchant for a good old pair of kicks. “I remember my first pair of Adidas shoes was pretty basic—they were black and white,” Minaj, a longtime fan of the Adidas brand, tells Style.com. “More recently, I wore the Adidas wedges on the set of Madonna’s video; I could walk in them for hours. After that, I contacted Adidas about it and now they are my favorite thing to wear on tour. You get the height, but the comfort of a sneaker,” she adds. And so began her partnership with the iconic sportswear label.
Today, the pop star makes her debut in the newest chapter of the Adidas Originals “Adidas Is All In” Fall ’12 ad campaign, along with fellow brand ambassadors, her friend and designer Jeremy Scott, singer Sky Ferreira, hip-hop artist Big Sean, Korean pop phenomenon 2NE1, and NBA MVP Derrick Rose. “Adidas asked if I had anything that would work for a commercial and I said let me create something. I was already working on a particular song and I just went in and carved it out for them, and I make references to the Adidas Originals’ shell-toe sneakers,” the pop star says of her song “Masquerade” (off her new album), which she wrote specifically for the brand’s film by Melina Matsoukas, debuting here on Style.com. “As a brand, they represent fun—they are inspirational and they feel like you are running a race, kind of like the Olympics. It’s about the fight to go hard and to win and to be victorious in whatever you do. When I let them hear it, they fell in love with it.” Speaking of the Olympics, Minaj admits to being a gymnastics fan. “Yeah, actually I went home after my show last night and watched the women’s gymnastics. I just like observing like every regular human. It always amazes me what those girls can do. Hats off to them!” Minaj, who is currently on tour, says over the phone from Dallas before heading into the studio.
Of filming the video (below), which was shot in front of New York’s La Esquina restaurant, she explains, “We got to the set late at night and I didn’t really know much about what we were about to do, and they started filming a street shot, kind of like a nightlife scene of me and Jeremy Scott leaving this club and the street becomes like a runway for style. I love Jeremy and his clothes and I just walked in the trailer and put on the first thing I loved—the coat and sneakers—and said, ‘I’m ready to go.’ “
But her Adidas gig is just one of the star’s many projects—”busy” would be a massively understated way to describe Minaj these days. She’s announcing new music in a few weeks (“I know my fans will spazz over that”), shooting videos for her new album, has a fragrance due out in September and her Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded tour, and she’s currently hard at work on her own clothing line. “We already have the designs—the quality is top-notch and I won’t let anything go out that I wouldn’t wear,” she says. “The hurdle is deciding the stores to place the line in—we have gotten interest from huge giants in the industry.” Is she consulting her designer friends for a little advice? “Good question. I haven’t sat with any designers to talk about it just yet, but I am pretty sure I will chat with Jeremy and Donatella [Versace] to get their words of wisdom. I know what my fans love when it comes to dressing. I can gauge what they love based on their tweets from my videos and pictures. I am pretty sure we will do really well with it and go from there. I’m just following my heart, really.”