4 posts tagged "Marc Newson"
The Latest From Pitti: Less Is More
The economic news from Italy, Pitti Immagine’s ambassadors admitted at a diplomatic lunch mission today, is not good. But they contend they have every reason to be sanguine. The biannual Pitti trade fairs—menswear Pitti Uomo, womenswear Pitti W, children’s Pitti Bimbi, and the textile fair Pitti Filati—draw a more international crowd season after season; for the 83rd fair, to be held January 8-11 of next year, a full 40 percent of the vendors are international.
The big news so far has been the invited guests: Kenzo, which will present the Fall ’13 menswear collection, and Maison Kitsuné, which will stage its first ever show for women’s pre-collection. At lunch, Kenzo designer Humberto Leon and Carol Lim (left) professed their gratitude for the Pitti invitation, even if accepting it means their hectic international schedules, overseeing Kenzo and Opening Ceremony, became that much more hectic. (Leon estimated that he is now on a plane once every five days, with key stops in Florence, Tokyo, Paris, and L.A.) But in their way, Leon and Lim are shaking up the Pitti orthodoxies: They are, Pitti CEO Raffaello Napoleone said with a gasp, showing during the afternoon instead of the usual evening spot.
Kenzo and Kitsuné both hit a sweet spot a hair below the usual designer price point, which is likely no coincidence. “Smart casual is doing well,” Pitti Chairman Gaetano Marzotto announced in his opening remarks, calling out a bright spot in the market. (And adding, to a mostly tie-less crowd, “Like you are dressed now—you in particular.”) But the main-stage designers won’t be the only ones showing at Pitti. Among the other debuts will be Adidas SLVR, G-Star (which will show its latest collection created in collaboration with industrial designer Marc Newson), the returning Pitti veteran Andrea Pompilio, and the adored Japanese line White Mountaineering.
The London Scene, From An Old Hooker Den To A Neoclassical Manse
Location, location, location. The realtor’s mantra came to mind on Thursday night in London. First, the NEWGEN event at Somerset House, the new home of London fashion week. The neoclassical structure is one of the city’s most elegant riverside buildings, with a sweeping terrace that was particularly seductive in the summer gloaming. It’s also ideal for shoots—i-D was photographing the NEWGEN winners as they were announced. Amanda Harlech let Robert Forrest tear her away for a hard-hatted tour of the building site that will eventually become Robin Hurley’s new club. It’s in Shepherd’s Market, a louche-ly quaint hooker hangout of centuries past, and Rifat Ozbek had created a convincingly decadent mock-up of what the finished product may look like. Then, while Harlech linked up with Sarah Mower and the fashion world at the Royal College of Art’s graduate show, a smattering of London’s art, pop, and design aristocracy joined some genu-wine lords and ladies at Lancaster House, where HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg was hosting a dinner to celebrate the 75th anniversary of his grandfather’s acquisition of Château Haut-Brion. There’ll be eight dinners in eight key cities around the world, but how many of them will be set in a spectacularly maintained neoclassical (again, but it’s such a good look) mansion that was once assessed as the most valuable private house in London, with St. James Palace on one side and Buckingham Palace on the other, just across—more or less—the velvety greensward? Speaking of velvet, the main course of lamb was served with a Château Haut-Brion 1961 that smacked unforgettably of velvet smoke. Those savoring it included Viscount and Viscountess Linley, Bryan Ferry and Amanda Shepherd, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld and Erin Heatherton, and Charlotte Stockdale and Marc Newson, whose boy-toy table talk with Matthew Freud was—according to Camilla Lowther, who was parked between the two—all about planes. Their own, one assumes. Speaking of taking flight, Serena, Marchioness of Bute, looked heaven-bound in a fishtailed goddess dress by Roland Mouret (pictured).
Blasblog: Hardy Boys and Girls
The chic set celebrated the joy of high heels last night at the 10-year anniversary fête for Parisian cobbler Pierre Hardy. Actress Joana Preiss, who spent the majority of the night sitting down with the likes of friends Nicolas Ghesquière and Hide Nakata, explained that the real pain after breaking her foot two months ago in a freak pool accident wasn’t the fracture, the cast, or the healing. No, what upset Preiss was that she couldn’t wear the funky, metallic Hardy stilettos she loves. “But he has been helping ease the pain,” she smiled, pointing to a pair of flat crocodile boots the designer had given her for the evening. The relationship between pain and pleasure is integral to the sorts of shoes that Hardy prides himself on creating, of course. “Can you have one without the either?” he asked. Replied stylist Charlotte Stockdale, there with husband Marc Newson: “As long as they look good and sexy, it’s worth it.
Charlotte Takes Stock
Charlotte Stockdale is one half of a London-based power couple. In addition to designing the interior of New York’s Lever House restaurant, her husband, Marc Newson, is known for his funky, amoeba-shaped furniture and commissions for LVMH, Qantas, Nike, and the Gap. Stockdale, a stylist with her own impressive list of clients—Paul Smith, Dolce & Gabbana, and Patrick Cox—was in town helping Karl Lagerfeld style the Fendi show. We caught up with her before the show and asked her for her 2009 Milan fashion week likes and dislikes. “I am hating that jimble-jumble eighties look,” she groaned. “It’s neither modern nor desirable, and those who have chosen to pick it up have been too literal—it’s a look for the lazy.” She clarified: “When Marc Jacobs turns his mind to something he is able to twist it into something completely original, in his own brilliant way. It’s so attractive that everyone follows.” And her likes? “Minimal—it’s a real challenge. Raf Simons at Jil Sander is an ace at it.”