4 posts tagged "Jeremy Laing"
In Paris, A Varied Crowd Vies For The ANDAM
Paris Vogue‘s Emmanuelle Alt, Colette’s Sarah Lerfel, Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon, and other fashion insiders—myself included—gathered at the Ritz in blazing-hot Paris today to cast our votes for this year’s ANDAM Fashion Award winner. Last year, the €200,000 prize went to Hakaan Yildirim. This year, Adam Kimmel, Anthony Vaccarello, Commuun, Jeremy Laing, Palmer/Harding, and Yiqing Yin are in the running. (Yin was also up for the newly launched Young Fashion Designer Prize, alongside Calla Haynes and Barnabe Hardy.) I can’t reveal who won until tomorrow night when it will be announced at the French Ministry of Culture, but I can tell you how different the presentations were.
Kimmel, fresh off his “dark surfing” Spring 2012 men’s runway show, said he hates public speaking, then spoke off the cuff and at length. The most interesting tidbit: “For many seasons now, it’s been a dream for me to do womenswear,” he told us. (He designed wife Leelee Sobieski’s suit for the CFDA Awards, left.) Vaccarello, a shy Belgian, barely opened his mouth at all, preferring to let his three prototypes for next season do the talking. Commuun’s Iku Furudate and Kaito Hori tag-teamed, sharing such inspirations for their upcoming show as late fifties cinema, natural graphics, and Japanese architecture. Laing read from well-prepared notes, citing influences from Kawakubo and Yamamoto to Cristobal Balenciaga and Madeleine Vionnet to McQueen, for whom he freelanced for four seasons. Palmer/Harding’s Levi Palmer and Matthew Harding, among the least well-known of the bunch, introduced us to their shirting concept. And Yin gave a sneak preview of her haute couture show next week. She’ll be working extra hard between now and then: She lost one of her three dresses to a scooter tail pipe on the way over. Check back tomorrow for the results.
Kimmel, Laing, Vaccarello, And More
Among The 2011 ANDAM Prize Nominees
ANDAM, the French organization devoted to the development of young fashion talent, announced its six finalists for its annual award today, and it’s an international bunch of up-and-comers—some better known than others. Adam Kimmel (a look from whose Fall ’11 men’s collection is above, right), Anthony Vaccarello, Commuun, Jeremy Laing (a look from whose Fall ’11 collection is above, left), Matthew Harding, and Yiqing Yin will go head-to-head in Paris at the end of June. Up for grabs is a €200,000 prize, courtesy of the National Association for the Development of the Fashion Arts, and a yearlong mentorship by Ralph Toledano, formerly of Chloé. Like previous winners Hakaan Yildirim, Giles Deacon, and Gareth Pugh, the designer who takes the prize is obligated to set up operations in France. I’ll be sitting on the jury with, among others, Toledano, Hilary Alexander, Emmanuelle Alt, Sarah Lerfel, Humberto Leon, and ANDAM founder Nathalie Dufour next month. Stay tuned for the blow-by-blow.
Is Silver The Color Of Spring 2011?
‘Tis the season to make jewelry. More and more of New York’s ready-to-wear designers—suffering, we’re sure, from an overabundance of free time—are adding custom or collaborative jewelry to their collections for the Spring ’11 season. And if you’re a fan of silver, you’re in luck.
Jen Kao has collaborated in the past with other designers on jewelry for her namesake label, but this Spring, she steps out on her own, launching a collection of sterling silver bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and even a belt that pick up Spring’s romantic theme. “When I can be, I am always head-to-toe in jewelry, but it still always feels like there’s an essential piece that’s missing. I particularly love pieces that become such a part of you that you don’t ever want to take them off,” Kao says. “I wanted to design jewelry that speaks the same message as the clothing: personal, easy dramatics.” The weird, slightly supernatural romance of her current theme—”the youthful kismet of desert princes meeting zombie brides,” she says—was replicated in a gift to editors: a dangling pendant from the upcoming collection (above), complete with a hand-penned poem.
For his upcoming collection, Jeremy Laing worked with fellow Torontonian Jaime Sin on a few silver pieces as well. Sin’s main occupation is DJ—she’s done the music for Laing’s shows for the past few seasons—but she’s launching her line on Laing’s girls, some of who will be wearing the geometric pieces Sin and Laing co-designed (above).
And for Fashion’s Night Out, Rogan Gregory and Pamela Love put their heads together for some limited-edition jewels, too. The engraved lockets from the new ROGAN vs LOVE collection are inscribed with dark, allusive phrases—”What Have Your Eyes Done To Me?,” “Don’t Stop Love,” and “Don’t Cry” (above). They’ll be available for $435-475 on Fashion’s Night Out at the Black Carnival, the Bond Street block party co-hosted by Rogan, The Smile, and Oak.
Designer Diary: Jeremy Laing Goes To The Races
I don’t know much about NASCAR, or any car, really. Nevertheless, I couldn’t turn down an invitation for myself and my friend Tommy Ton to hang out with reigning NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra, who happens to be a fan of my clothes. Plus, the girls at Capitol, one of the best boutiques around, were planning the trip and I love seeing them. I knew I was in for an interesting weekend en route from Toronto when a U.S. Customs official offered to swap places. Here’s my weekend as a NASCAR designer.
Friday, October 16
Our weekend started with a dinner of true Southern cuisine at Chandra and Jimmie’s place. Grits never tasted so good. The ham biscuits were a revelation. After dinner, Jimmie drove us over to his “man space,” a warehouse that is home to his multitude of trophies, cars, and framed flags from all the races he has won. It was like a Price Is Right showcase! We played Photo Hunt for hours and enjoyed the salvaged nineteenth-century hotel bar.
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