Posts for August 2nd 2012

Link Time

Alexa Chung's Gossip, Karlie Kloss's Juicy Ads, and Kanye's Next Show

All the news bits fit to print.



All the news bits fit to print.

  • H&M is bringing its line of affordable home goods — already available in Europe — to the US. The cheap-chic furnishings and decor will hit American stores in 2013. [WWD]

  • Valentino will be the subject of a retrospective due to open at London's Somerset House this November. Valentino: Master of Couture will focus on the Italian designer's 50-year career in couture and will feature over 130 iconic dresses. [Telegraph UK]

  • He's back. Kanye West will reportedly show his third womenswear collection in Paris this October. [Fashionista]

  • The Upper East Side is getting a visitor: Alexa Chung will appear on the sixth and final season of Gossip Girl. [Refinery29]

  • Natalia Vodianova is the face of Stella McCartney's Fall 2012 ad campaign; this is the third season in a row that the model has fronted the label. [Elle]

  • And in other Fall 2012 campaign news, Juicy Couture has tapped Karlie Kloss for its latest ads, which were photographed by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

  • Stephanie Seymour

    The Many Adventures of Harry and Peter Brant II

    Fashion's latest obsession isn't a shoe or a handbag or even a designer scandal: it's two teenage brothers by the names of Harry and Peter Brant II, the youngest sons of supermodel Stephanie Seymour and billionaire businessman Peter Brant.

    Fashion's latest obsession isn't a shoe or a handbag or even a designer scandal: it's two teenage brothers by the names of Harry and Peter Brant II, the youngest sons of supermodel Stephanie Seymour and billionaire businessman Peter Brant. The boys (15 and 18, respectively) are also the subject of a profile in the September 2012 issue of Vanity Fair, which examines why the fashion and art worlds are so taken with them. The unabashed way in which they share the details of their fabulous lives — in both interviews and through their joint Twitter account, @HarryPeterBrant — might have something to do with it. See a few snippets from their profile below.

    On private islands and supermodels: "We stayed at an island with Naomi [Campbell] not too long ago. It was like a private island," said Peter. "We were all, like, on one of those little rafts in the bay. We were, like, lying around talking, and the rope that connected the raft to the beach got broken off. . . . And we just started drifting, but we didn't notice. And then one of us got up to get water or something from, like, a cooler, and we were, like, 'Where are we?' We had drifted way out into the ocean. We all started freaking out and, like, waving our arms."

    On disappointment on not getting into the Met Gala: "I had arranged for the baby panther and everything," Peter says. "What could be better than diamonds and exotic baby animals?"

    "You're nobody until PETA either loves you or hates you," says Harry.

    On their art-collecting, fashion-loving parents: "There's just no way around it," Harry says. "We wake up and see beauty everywhere. Both my parents bring such a unique element to it. They've both devoted their lives to beauty."

    "We have lengthy dinner conversations," Harry adds. "It can be about anything — whether we went to a show, or an auction, or an option sale. It can be about gardening or fashion or magazines."

    "We're, like, a very aesthetic family," says Peter.

    Prada

    Watch: Prada's Fall 2012 Campaign Video

    It's all but a game.



    It's all but a game. At least it is in Prada's just-released Fall 2012 ad campaign video, where models Anne Vyalitsyna and Magdalena Frackowiak face off in a surreal game of chess. Watch as every move they make has life-sized consequences for fellow models (or pawns?) Elza Luijendijk, Iselin Steiro, Madison Headrick, and Vanessa Axente. Lensed by Steven Meisel.

    Los Angeles

    Is John Galliano Moving to Los Angeles?

    If rumors are to be believed, John Galliano may be joining Hedi Slimane as a resident of Los Angeles in the near future.



    If rumors are to be believed, John Galliano may be joining Hedi Slimane as a resident of Los Angeles in the near future.

    According to a story in The Hollywood Reporter, a kilt-wearing Galliano was seen lunching with Katherine Ross — a former public relations executive for LVMH who now works as a consultant for Balenciaga — in the City of Angels late last month. The next day, he was overheard telling friends that he and his partner Alexis Roche — who worked as a style consultant at Dior during Galliano's tenure — are looking for apartments in Los Angeles, intimating that Roche wants to start a career as a celebrity stylist.

    Roche's Twitter account was silent for most of July and as of yet has not offered any updates relating to the rumored move. In March, LA-based jewelry designer Markus Molinari tweeted at Roche, saying that it was "GREAT seeing you and John and that little dog of yours at lunch!" In April, Galliano was spotted breaking bread with Grace Coddington in New York, and just last month he was seen meeting with Anna Wintour in Paris during Couture week.

    In June, Slimane announced that he would design Saint Laurent Paris from the city, where he's lived for several years.

    Giorgio Armani

    Giorgio Armani: "I've Sacrificed My Life"

    Photographs of Giorgio Armani's lifestyle may look undeniably fabulous, but the designer says his success has come at the cost of his personal life.



    Photographs of Giorgio Armani's lifestyle may look undeniably fabulous, but the designer says his success has come at the cost of his personal life.

    "Life, I have sacrificed life," said the designer in an interview in Elle UK's September issue. "The life of a young man when I first started out and the life of a grown man at the age I am now."

    Armani, who turned 78 last month, is both CEO and creative director of his business, which he owns outright without any outside investors. He says building his empire made having time for friendships a difficult challenge.

    "It is even more so now. Even harder, which is very sad because life is all about friendships, discovering people's personalities, falling in love, not just once or twice, but often. In a word, life. To live in the world. For example, I don't know Milan. People tell me of Milan," said the designer, who has lived in the city for over half a century.

    His personal life isn't the only sacrifice Armani has made for the sake of his business. He told WSJ. Magazine in June that his penchant for exercise once put him in the hospital.

    Diesel

    Sophia Kokosalaki to Leave Diesel Black Gold

    Diesel Black Gold has announced that Sophia Kokosalaki will leave the brand after being its creative director since 2009.

    Diesel Black Gold has announced that Sophia Kokosalaki will leave the brand after being its creative director since 2009. She will present her sixth and final collection for the brand during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 11, and a replacement will be announced in October.

    "The last three years I have spent at Diesel Black Gold have been a very interesting and enjoyable experience," said Kokosalaki in a statement. "I would like to thank the whole DBG team for their hard work and support in helping me to establish this line. I am now looking forward to new challenges and wish Diesel Black Gold every success in the future."

    Renzo Rosso, Diesel's founder, said he was grateful for Kokosalaki's hard work. "Thanks to her talent, Diesel Black Gold has defined its clear identity as a premium stand-alone label."

    Kokosalaki founded her eponymous label in 1999. In 2006, she was appointed creative director of Vionnet, but resigned in May 2007 to focus on her namesake brand.