11 posts tagged "Kirna Zabete"
Hellessy Knows What Women Want
A woman can’t live on cocktails alone. So why do designers churn out so many cocktail dresses? That’s a question that nagged Sylvie Millstein, the designer behind the newly launched label Hellessy. Millstein, who was born in Paris to a French father and a Japanese mother, was the head merchant for Chanel in Japan before relocating to New York in 2007, where she’s been raising a family and acting as a personal shopper and stylist to private clients. “I don’t have a background in design,” she said at a preview of her Fall collection yesterday morning, “but I do have a background in merchandising, so I know how clothes work on the customer and what they want: beautiful finishings, price points.” Her new label isn’t completely devoid of cocktail numbers, but seeing a void in the market for elevated daywear, that’s where Millstein put her focus. In the mix are pieces like a luxed-up parka with a fur collar, long-sleeve sheaths, flaw-concealing peplum tops, a trompe l’oeil jacket that’s actually a shirt you zip into in back, and leather jeans—”secret weapons,” Millstein calls them, “that come out every week, or every other week.” Fans of Victoria Beckham’s simple, body-enhancing dresses will want to take a closer look at Hellessy. Azzedine Alaïa, Rick Owens, and Stella McCartney are among Millstein’s favorites; their sensibilities inform her work, as well. The collection, which was picked up by Kirna Zabete in New York for Spring, retails for less than $2,000.
Exclusive First Look: The Shops At Target Pop-Up
The fall installment of The Shops at Target, featuring over 230 designs from Kirna Zabête, Odin, The Curiosity Shop, and Patch NYC, officially launches globally September 9. But before then, the retailer is set to unveil its one-night-only New York pop-up shop for Fashion’s Night Out tomorrow. “The collaboration with Target is our first design effort,” Beth Buccini, one half of the Kirna Zabête duo along with Sarah Easley, tells Style.com. “We challenged ourselves to make the product strong enough to be worn with the luxury designer items we sell at Kirna Zabête. High-low dressing is the new reality.” The success of the previous designer Target collaborations has more than proven that fact. (“I have a super-cute Jason Wu for Target T-shirt that I’ve worn everywhere from horseback riding to fashion shows, and a Proenza Schouler dress that is a vacation favorite,” she admits. “However, the pièce de résistance is my Missoni x Target bike.”) We’re expecting this round will be no different from the last, so if you are hoping to snag some of these pieces, we advise you to get there early tomorrow. Here, Style.com has the first look inside the shop.
The Shops at Target pop-up, 440 W. 15th St., NYC.
On Our Radar: Sophia Webster
I spend the majority of my days checking out seasoned designers’ collections. While I love to see the evolution of a designer’s work, I especially enjoy being surprised by something out of the ordinary, like a new brand that I know nothing about. That’s exactly what happened to me last week. In between a crazy schedule of Resort shows, I stopped by to see Nicholas Kirkwood’s latest shoes. The scoop: tons of metallics, lots of single soles, very chic evening shoes, multicolored pumps, and animal prints.
Just as I was about to leave the showroom, I popped into a second room with more shoes. To my surprise, it wasn’t more from Kirkwood, it was a collection by Sophia Webster, who worked with him for years and is now launching her own line with the help and support of Kirkwood. The shoes (her debut outing) have the same British cool factor as her mentor’s, but she’s kicked things up a notch and her shoes are even brighter and more playful than his. Webster certainly has her foot in the right door for now, and I can’t wait to see where she’ll be in the next couple of years. While I was there, I spotted a team member from luxury New York retailer Kirna Zabête eyeing the pieces and can only hope other stores will be placing orders, too. Sophia Webster is definitely one to watch. Here, Style.com has an exclusive first look at Webster’s heels.
White Out
Memorial Day weekend is finally a few days away, and although I wear white year-round, including during the winter, I especially can’t resist buying new white pieces for summer. It’s my go-to color for warm weather. One of my favorites in my wardrobe is a cotton dress from Jenni Kayne Spring ’11—I’ve worn it over and over again. But every year I add a couple of new summer white pieces to my collection. Earlier this year, during Milan fashion week, I was lucky enough to find a great full-skirted Alaïa number at the Corso Como outlet for a bargain, but besides that, I have yet to find the perfect new additions for this summer—until now. Here are a few items I have my eyes on.
From the top left: Acne Lucille denim dress, $353, available at www.mytheresa.com; Proenza Schouler sleeveless belted shirtdress, $850, available at www.kirnazabete.com; Diego Dolcini flat sandals, price on request, available at www.diegodolcini.it; Mother Runaway skinny flare jeans, $196, available at www.shopbop.com; Lanvin two-tone minaudière, $2,390, available at www.barneys.com.
Caterina Gatta, Rome’s Vintage Print Princess
Mary Katrantzou might be Europe’s reigning print queen, but up-and-coming Rome-based designer Caterina Gatta is carving out a niche of her own with her limited-edition contemporary collection of LVPDs, a.k.a. little vintage print dresses. Last night, Gatta was one of seven young Italian designers fêted at London’s Italian Cultural Institute for the first edition of the city’s International Fashion Showcase 2012, an initiative to promote emerging talents from all over the world. While various presentations took place at 19 embassies and cultural institutions around London, we watched Gatta unveil her 13-piece collection of vintage print dresses. And these aren’t just any old fabrics—Gatta hunts for the last few meters of fabric from the likes of Gianni Versace, Valentino Garavani, and the iconic Rome Couture brand Lancetti. (The fabrics are either traceable back to the original designers’ collections or signed by the original designers themselves on the selvage.) Along with the dresses, Gatta showcased a selection of hats, also in vintage prints, which she designed in tandem with her latest discovery, Milan-based milliner Francesco Ballestrazzi.
Gatta’s pieces will be in stores this spring at New York’s Kirna Zabête and Julie Skinner’s vintage haven P.S. Postscript Couture in the Meatpacking District, but her six-dress collection (sketches, below) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lancetti is already available (and selling well, she reports) on Yoox.com. For the birthday tribute, Gatta scoured the back rooms of Italy’s fabric shops for original Lancetti prints and reinterpreted them in her own contemporary style. In the pipeline for Gatta is next spring’s collaboration with primo Italian silk printer Mantero in Como, whose extensive print catalog for the world’s top designers has her in a state of bliss. “The real difference this time is that we will be reprinting, which means it’s no longer limited-edition and I can mix patterns on unexpected fabrics like lace,” Gatta tells Style.com.