Grace Coddington turned 50 in 1991, Anna Wintour threw her a blowout party at Indochine in New York, with portraits from her modeling days adorning the walls. Coddington wore Alaia (left), and Azzedine himself flew in to surprise the redheaded editor at the dinner.
Word is Coddington has again reserved all of Indochine tonight — this time to celebrate her 70th birthday. We look back at some of our favorite Coddington pictures over the years in tribute.
>> While Aerin Lauder is working on her upcoming "luxury lifestyle brand" Aerin — which is expected to encompass beauty and fragrance, accessories like sunglasses, and home accessories — she will remain a global ambassador and creative consultant for Estee Lauder, in a deal that will net her $700,000 annually.
The agreement runs through June 2016, with the $700,000 retainer fee increasing 4 percent at the end of each fiscal year until its expiration. Lauder is also required to put in at least 35 days of personal appearances worldwide for the Estee Lauder brand; for each day past the 35-day requirement, she will be paid $20,000 a day, with the daily stipend increasing $1,000 with each contract year.
Estee Lauder, meanwhile, has the exclusive licensee rights to "core beauty products" produced by the Aerin label — cosmetics, fragrances, toiletries, skin and hair care, and beauty accessories — while licenses like eyewear are being arranged with other companies.
Lauder described the positioning of Aerin as luxurious, but "easy" luxury: "It’s not fashion in the sense of clothing.” Instead, she says, Aerin will be targeting a luxury customer who “want things made simple.”
Merchandise is expected to begin hitting stores next Spring, with the Aerin lifestyle brand preceding the Aerin cosmetics collection.
>> In the past week alone, three brands have held shows in China — Valentino and Marc by Marc Jacobs in Hong Kong and Burberry in Beijing — but Burberry's was hardly a straightforward runway show.
For its first event in China in 10 years (and in celebration of a new Beijing flagship), Burberry gathered more than 1,000 guests in front of the massive stage at Beijing Television Center last night to showcase its Fall 2011 collection. Virtual image technologies — holograms, projections, and animations — were used on the runway, creating the illusion of models disappearing, switching looks, or transforming into snow clouds as they walked by one another. Some models were even joined by holograms of themselves.
Christopher Bailey, a heavy proponent of pushing the envelope with technology, said yesterday morning: “I love the vehicle of technology. I love using it as a platform in which to communicate the ideas, the attitude, the spirit of the company. Sometimes as an industry, perhaps we think it is not a legitimate channel in which to speak to people. I just don’t really agree with it. Fashion is supposed to be about making things relevant. Yes, it is luxury. Yes, it is aspiration. Yes, it is supposed to be inspiring. But I think there is nothing more inspiring than talking digitally, because you can get attitude, you can get music, you can get sound, you can get video and movement. You can actually articulate so much of your brand using this medium.”
Highlights from the show in the video above.
