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SPRING 2014
T by Alexander Wang leather zip dress, available at The Webster, 305.868.6544; Kenneth Jay Lane silver drops chandelier earrings, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100.
CONTRIBUTORS We asked our contributors: “What was the last book you read and loved?”
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FASHION FRENZY Here’s what to see, visit and wear this Spring.
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TROPICAL MODERN These days, fashion designers are lavishing as much attention on bib necklaces
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and chandelier earrings as hemlines and handbags. FRINGE BENEFITS Though its purpose may once have been utilitarian, the latest crop of fringe is pure fancy.
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CALL OF THE WILD Tribal prints dominate the season with Alexander McQueen leading the pack.
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THE MALE GAZE Make way for the rise of the male supermodel.
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WHO’S THAT GIRL? Joan Smalls has had a meteoric rise from tomboy to couture-clad muse.
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A LA MODA The legacy of Italian fashion design is marked by a new exhibition in London.
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SELF TAUGHT Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld is shaking up the traditional art gallery structure, one collaboration at a time. 62 STYLE DIARY We talked to four tastemakers to see what they’ll be wearing this Spring.
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IN DEMAND Author Sharon Salzberg proposes that multitasking may be less productive than you think.
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Emporio Armani white print blazer, 305.868.2113; Tom Binns tiered color-blocked necklace, available at The Webster, 305.868.6544.
A KOONS WITH A VIEW Eduardo Costantini brings together two of his passions at Oceana Bal Harbour.
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CURATED TRAVEL Christie’s expands beyond the auction room.
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ART & SOLE Watch out for fancy footwear this season as the men’s fashion industry continues to boom.
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TREND REPORT Accessorize in the season’s top trends.
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LITERARY CIRCLE Author Edwidge Danticat talks with her editor Robin Desser about writing, where ideas
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come from and what it takes to break through writer’s block. THE SWEETEST THING Model Magdalena Frackowiak slips into Spring’s flirtiest dresses.
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WHITE HOT Maryna Linchuk burns up the beach in the season’s sexiest silhouettes.
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KINGS OF COOL The Rag & Bone empire continues to expand. Next stop: Bal Harbour.
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BURN BRIGHT Commit to a single color this Spring, and make it a bold one.
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THE SATIRIST Konstantin Kakanias combines a masterful line and a critical eye.
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Balenciaga dress, 305.864.4932; Jennifer Fisher chain link ring, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Maison Martin Margiela cuff, available at Saks Fifth Avenue; de Grisogono diamond watch and ring, 305.865.8765.
GOLD RUSH Pile on the season’s best metallics to make even Midas green with envy.
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BROAD NEW HORIZONS The contemporary art scene in Miami is ready to take its place
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on the international stage. A SWISS LEGACY Akris’ Albert Kriemler brings passion and inspiration to his family’s
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storied fashion brand. WILD SUCCESS One of New York’s most buzzed-about restaurateurs, Ben Towill, shares
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a few of the key ingredients to his success. FASHION FÊTES Here’s to partying around the world with Bal Harbour's brands.
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TOP SHELF Stock up on these stylish tomes.
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THE ICONOCLAST Suzy Menkes, style icon and the undisputed queen of the front row,
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talks to Kate Betts about memorable runway moments, luxury and the thrill of discovery.
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Maryna Linchuk photographed by Koray Birand and styled by Sarah Gore Reeves wearing a Chanel pullover, La Perla one-piece swimsuit, de Grisogono Boule and Jane rings and Van Cleef & Arpels earrings.
Magdalena Frackowiak photographed by Catherine Servel and styled by Sarah Gore Reeves wearing a Chanel printed crepe dress, pearl choker, ring and bag.
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We like to keep a well-balanced mix of sources when gathering fashion intel. In this issue, we set out to give you a panoramic view of the Spring season by checking in with supermodels, style setters, socialites, runway fixtures, fashion editors and critics. The 2014 Spring collections bring new excitement and (for the first time in what feels like forever) utterly wearable—dare I say, even inviting—trends. We spent a day on the beach with megamodel Maryna Linchuk as she showcased the alluring whites of the season: from a Tom Ford safari jacket (irresistible) to a flirty Phillip Lim dress and many “Oh, I want that” options in between. Art prints dominated the runways, and who better than Magdalena Frackowiak—the Polish supermodel who’s been a magnetic presence on the international runway circuit since 2006—to show us the season’s best? Magdalena wears Chanel’s sublime print, one of my favorite dresses of the season, on one of this issue’s covers. If you want to know what “real people” who are known for their personal style are currently drawn to, see our “Style Diary” featuring Lizzie Tisch, Erika Bearman, Miroslava Duma and Cecilia Dean: these women know how to dress. Also, the recently opened Akris boutique at Bal Harbour Shops is reason enough to celebrate the season, and I am delighted to bring you our exclusive interview with Albert Kriemler, creative head of the global fashion brand. The Swiss-based designer’s masterful touch has garnered a following that reads like a who’s who list, including Princess Charlene of Monaco. And don’t miss our highly-coveted back page, where we pair up two of the brightest minds in fashion: Kate Betts, former editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, and Suzy Menkes, renowned fashion critic for the International New York Times (formerly the International Herald Tribune). Betts talks to the famed journalist about the new digital landscape, style icons and how she defines luxury. Still seeking a dose of inspiration? Just stroll through Bal Harbour Shops and take in the host of visual delights that are sure to galvanize you throughout this season and the next. See you at Bal Harbour!
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Sarah G. Harrelson
Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson with designer Doug Meyer
Publisher/Creative Director Carlos A. Suarez
Bal Harbour Magazine Publisher/Creative Director Carlos A. Suarez Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Sarah G. Harrelson Executive Editor Tali Jaffe Contributing Fashion Editor Sarah Gore Reeves Contributing Writers Kate Betts, Tanya Dukes, Mark Ellwood, Rachel Felder, William Kissel, Stella Lee, Jessica Michault, Brandon Palas, Bee Shapiro, Alyssa Shelasky, Lynn Yaeger Contributing Photographers Koray Birand, Douglas Friedman, Alexander Neumann, Ben Fink Shapiro, Catherine Servel Editorial Coordinator Noelle Lacombe Graphic Designer Adriana Sandoval Copy Editors Jodie Remick, Omar Sommereyns Digital Imaging Specialists Matt Stevens, Pete Jacaty Interns Hanna Domit, Rasheia Harris, Eunice Shriver Account Services Joe Brennan Chief Executive Officer Mike Batt
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Contributors “What was the last book you read and loved?”
Lynn Yaeger is a fashion writer who lives in New York City and has an imaginary apartment in Paris, where she spends all, or at least most, of her time visiting flea markets. She writes frequently for Vogue, The New York Times’ T magazine, Travel + Leisure and the Sundance Channel’s Full Frontal Fashion website.
“The last book I read and loved is Dave Van Ronk's ‘The Mayor of MacDougal Street,’ a memoir about the Greenwich Village folk scene in the ‘50s and ‘60s, that I wanted to read after seeing ‘Inside Llewyn Davis.’”
A former hedge fund attorney, Bee Shapiro is now a contributing columnist to The New York Times Fashion & Style section. Her work has also been featured in Vanity Fair, W, Harper’s Bazaar and Fast Company.
“Maria Semple’s ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette?’ was zingy and hilarious, really a perfect travel read with wit and excellent storytelling. Although I have to admit I’m a tad biased in this case—the story is set in Seattle, my hometown, and one of the main characters is named Bee!”
Kate Betts is a contributing editor at Travel+Leisure and was until 2009 the editor of Time Style & Design, a special supplement to the magazine. Previously, Betts was editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar and the fashion news director of Vogue. She is the author of the book “Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style” (Potter Style).
British-born, New York-based Mark Ellwood has lived out of a suitcase for most of his life. After college, Ellwood moved to New York to become a print and broadcast journalist, specializing in luxury goods, travel, fashion and contemporary art. He contributes regularly to the Financial Times Weekend, HowToSpendIt.com, Bloomberg Businessweek, W and Departures. His new book, “Bargain Fever: How to Shop in a Discounted World” (Penguin/Portfolio), was released last fall.
“‘Let The Great World Spin’ by Colum McCann. The stories collide in the most unexpected and beautiful fashion in this sweeping novel about love and loss.”
“Hands down: Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life.’ She's a Scottish author with an effortless brilliance. The book is like a lyrical, magical realist ‘Groundhog Day.’”
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Contributors “What was the last book you read and loved?”
Based in New York and traveling the world, Ted Loos indulges his short attention span by covering art, architecture, wine and food. Loos regularly contributes to Vogue, Departures and The New York Times. He was recently a panelist at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley.
“I really liked Bill Bryson's ‘One Summer: America, 1927.’ A great snapshot of a moment in American history.”
Tanya Dukes is a freelance creative consultant and writer on fashion, jewelry, travel and design. She was formerly the accessories editor at Brides where she “covered engagement rings galore and every other wedding embellishment imaginable.” As the style editor at Elite Traveler, Dukes covered the international circuit of jewelry and watch fairs.
“I devoured the first two books from Hilary Mantel's trilogy of intrigue in Henry VIII’s court, ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring up the Bodies.’ The period’s religious turmoil, blind ambition and plentiful beheadings make our current political scandals look absolutely tame.”
Fashion editor and stylist Sarah Gore Reeves was born and raised in Manhattan. She began her career in the fashion industry as a model for Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, but quickly learned that her creativity would be best put to use as a stylist. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with photographers such as Patrick Demarchelier, Mark Seliger, Ruven Afanador and Norman Jean Roy. Gore Reeves has worked with celebrities and top models, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Karolína Kurková, Gisele Bündchen, Cindy Crawford, Carrie Underwood and Heidi Klum. She’s also the fashion director of Vogue México/Latin America.
“‘Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking’ by Malcolm Gladwell...about perception and judgments you make quickly.”
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Native New Yorker Stella Lee has a penchant for urban escapes. After spending four years in the small town of Hanover, New Hampshire, during college, she has since spent much of her time as a Manhattanite, in the fashion departments of Vogue, W, InStyle and Harper's Bazaar. Lee is currently an independent fashion stylist working for editorial and commercial clients. This issue, Lee produced the “Style Diary,” as well as the Spring trend report.
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Contributors “What was the last book you read and loved?”
Rachel Felder is a New York-based style writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WWD, Financial Times, Travel + Leisure and Town & Country, among others. The author of two books, she is currently working on a novel that revolves around the gritty rock ‘n’ roll clubs of New York City.
“I recently reread Proust’s ‘Remembrance of Things Past,’ one of my favorite books, that I now want to read for a third time.”
Ben Fink Shapiro is a New York City-based fashion and portrait photographer who first began shooting as a teenager in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating from Vassar College with a BA in media/film studies, he assisted fashion photographers Miles Aldridge and Kenneth Willardt. Ben’s portrait work has been published in Vogue, British Vogue and Vogue Korea.
“Last book I read and loved was Helmut Newton’s ‘Autobiography.’ I also loved ‘The Bishop's Daughter’ by Honor Moore.”
An avid world traveler raised in an international home, Rima Suqi has explored and covered emerging destinations in the Middle East and Africa, far-flung luxury resorts in French Polynesia, as well as those closer to home and the burgeoning arts scene in Marfa, Texas. The Chicago native has traveled to over 30 countries and subjected herself to innumerous spa treatments—all in the name of journalism. A columnist for The New York Times and a contributing writer for InsidersGuidetoSpas.com, Suqi also contributes to Departures, Elle Decor and American Way.
“I’m a big fan of Sharon Salzberg, so I was happy to read her new book for my assignment—and I loved it.” 38 BAL HARBOUR
Jessica Michault is the editor-in-chief of fashion industry website NowFashion.com. For more than 15 years, she has covered everything in the world of fashion, from the red carpets of Hollywood to the haute couture collections in the City of Light. Born and raised in San Francisco, she is now based in Paris, where she lives with her husband and three daughters—and an ever increasing collection of luxury handbags and vintage hair combs. Michault’s work has been published in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Vogue Italia, Vogue Japan, Harper’s Bazaar Brasil and GQ Deutschland. She also has a weekly fashion segment on France 24 television.
“A book that I recently read and loved...I would have to say ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn.”
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FASHION FRENZY
What to see, visit and wear this Spring
Kate Moss by David Bailey, 2013
THROUGH HIS LENS
Renowned photographer David Bailey curates a show of his own images at London’s National Portrait Gallery. “Bailey’s Stardust” is one of the Gallery’s larger-scale photography exhibitions, with over 300 high-emotion portraits—from the faces of famine in East Africa to the private moments of The Rolling Stones. Through June 1.
COOL FACTOR
What is cool? “American Cool”—a stylish exhibit featuring photographs of 100 famously rebellious icons who embody the word—opens up this precise conversation. Think Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, Faye Dunaway, Elvis and the legendary jazz saxophonist Lester Young, who brought an essential African-American sensibility of “cool” into the modern vernacular in the ‘40s. On view at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., through September 7.
Yazbukey’s Mirror Fish clutch
FRESH CATCH Yazbukey, the namesake jewelry and accessories line from French designer Yaz Bukey, has quickly become a favorite among style setters and statement makers from London to Los Angeles. Here, she discusses her Spring collection, available exclusively at The Webster. How did you come up with the Fabulous Market concept? The collection is inspired by the late ‘50s/’60s, when packaging design had its boom. These ads made women believe they were fancier if they cleaned their homes with good-looking products! It’s incredible that we can sell anything with the right packaging. What was the first piece of jewelry you designed? A macaroni necklace when I was a kid that I painted blue. How did Plexiglas become your main medium? It's a capricious material—that's why I like it. I'm into trompe l'oeil, real and fake, reality and dreams. For me, Plexiglas represents these things. 44 BAL HARBOUR
From left, The Fords Modeling Agency Brochure, circa 1964, photo by Irving Penn; a spread from Vogue, “Fashion: Jane Holzer–At-Home Italian Style,” November 15, 1964, photographed by David Bailey
SWEET BABY JANE
The relationship between Andy Warhol and “Baby Jane Holzer,” one of Warhol's most influential muses and Factory intimates, is explored at the Norton Museum of Art’s “To Jane, Love Andy: Warhol’s First Superstar.” Expect unseen films, photographs of Holzer throughout her modeling career, iconic paintings, sculptures, prints and discussions of the Warholian era, as well as rarely seen material from Warhol's own Time Capsules. Through May 25.
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE NORTON MUSEUM OF ART; © JULIAN WASSER, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND CRAIG KRULL GALLERY, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA; © PHILIPPE HALSMAN ARCHIVE
From left: Audrey Hepburn, photographed by Philippe Halsman, 1955; Joan Didion, photographed by Julian Wasser, 1970
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PHOTOS © NICK KNIGHT (BLOW)
LASTING IMPRESSION David Yurman pavé diamond Philip Treacy cut-out mouths pop Renaissance art hat, Spring 2003; right, Cable burka bracelet. Undercover by Jun Takahashi, Spring 2003
The Somerset House, one of London’s premier cultural centers, honors the iconoclastic Isabella Blow with the exhibition, “Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!” The program brings to life her extraordinary perspective on fashion and art—and, of course, the feral style maven’s stupendous wardrobe. Blow’s monumental inspiration for Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy, Steven Meisel, Sophie Dahl and David LaChapelle, among others, is celebrated throughout the show.
WALK THIS WAY For all the elaborate finery they send down the runway, designers are more often spotted in sneakers than stilettos when it’s time to take their final bow. That low-key, functional approach has influenced Spring accessories, making flats of every kind most wanted this season. Key silhouettes upgrade favorite standbys. Labels including Lanvin and Jimmy Choo elevated the look of sporty skate shoes with luxe fabrics and graphic, feminine prints. Loafers—especially Charlotte Olympia’s—are the polished option of choice. And for devotees of maximalist dressing, a low heel can have high drama. At Dolce & Gabbana, gladiator flatforms were topped with jewels, gold coin details and baroque flourishes. Lanvin snakeskin slippers 46 BAL HARBOUR
To mark the 30th anniversary of David Yurman’s Renaissance cable bracelet, David—along with his son and design director Evan—has created a number of special limited-editions, ranging from colorful aluminum Renaissance bracelets to full pavé pieces in white, black or cognac diamonds. The limited-edition white pavé diamond bracelet, seen here, is set with more than 28 carats covering the cable's entire surface. Here's to the next 30 years.
Etro Multistrand tribal necklace
Miu Miu Swarovski pearl and crystal necklace
Valentino Pisces bracelet
TROPICAL MODERN These days, fashion designers are lavishing as much attention on bib necklaces and chandelier earrings as hemlines and handbags.
Tory Burch Catlin flower moonstone ring
Prada leather and crystal earrings
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Giorgio Armani resin, silk and rock crystal earrings Chanel Plexiglas bracelet in metal, glass, strass and enamel 48 BAL HARBOUR
Fendi metal cuff with fox fur
“Jewelry is a tool to put a personal stamp onto everything from jeans to a dress with a low back.”—Mary Alice Stephenson
Though its purpose may once have been utilitarian, the latest crop of fringe is pure fancy.
FRINGE BENEFITS BY LYNN YAEGER
There’s a fringe phenomenon happening this season, including at Gucci, seen here. 50 BAL HARBOUR
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’m a big fan of tassels. I love to see them swinging from Marc Jacobs’ latest neo-Victorian frocks; Dries Van Noten’s golden trim makes my heart skip a beat; and I swoon for the creations of Junya Watanabe, whose ideas for spring include swaying suede filaments. But I have never, in what has been an endlessly long life reporting and writing about fashion, encountered the fellow who was apparently the father of it all—one Julius Fringe, a clothier in the 18th century who supposedly invented the stuff that bears his name as a means to chase flies away from the body. I learned about this Julius from Yahoo! Answers, and if that site is not the soul of veracity (no other trace of Mr. Fringe turns up, despite my assiduous research), there is some truth, maybe, to the idea that fringes can shoo away, if not flies, at least rainwater—which purportedly is the reason that Native Americans edged their garments in just this way. But of course, moisture repulsion hardly explains why, in addition to the designers cited above, everyone from Altuzarra to Alexander Wang has jumped on the fringed surrey, if you will. For this, I propose two delightful explanations which may in fact happily coexist: first, the current fringe fad is part of this season’s enthusiasm for “tribal” fashion, an exploration and embrace of other cultures, mostly imaginary lands where happy, bright prints clash merrily and jewelry is bold and wooden; and second, the sexy peekaboo nature of the fringe itself, which reveals and conceals with each of the wearer’s minutest shakes and sways and has a charm that has enchanted us for at least a century. Could it be the confluence of last year’s “The Great Gatsby” and the enduring appeal of the Crawley women from “Downton Abbey”—the current season begins in 1922—that is also informing the present appetite? In the 1920s, as hemlines rose precipitously, fringe was a way of making abbreviated skirts appear longer, even though they most obviously weren’t. It was also wonderful on the dance floor, hanging from piano shawls and shimmying enthusiastically to the Black Bottom. Alas, when the market crashed on that sad October day in 1929, the fringe style largely shrank as well, retreating into sartorial hibernation until Elvis donned a particularly stringy leather jacket, and, 10 or so years later, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper roared across movie screens in “Easy Rider” resplendent in shaggy buckskin. Before you knew it, millions of young people were suiting up like High Plains drifters. Well, that was then, I can hear you saying right about now. It’s all very historically fascinating, but am I really flippy enough, flirty enough, to handle a passel of fringe? Here is what I recommend: start slow. Pack your flip-flops, your gym togs and all those things you carry around every day in a devastatingly handsome fringed tote from Céline, Gucci, Valentino or another rarefied label. Pretty soon, you’ll be moving up to Phillip Lim’s delicate patchwork fringe skirt or spinning around town in a Pucci poncho, feeling like a modern-day version of Lady Mary crossed with Janis Joplin—and won’t that be a groovy way to greet the new season?
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Clockwise from above: Valentino Zodiac fringe clutch; a look from Chanel Spring 2014; Gucci’s black suede Bamboo shopper; a look from Marc Jacobs Spring 2014
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CALL OF THE WILD
From clothing to accessories, tribal prints dominate the season with Alexander McQueen leading the pack. BY RACHEL FELDER
This season’s strongest looks haven’t been designed around a leg-baring skirt length or a brand-new silhouette. Instead, the focus is on impactful prints, typically with a tribal feel that suggests a trip to an African bazaar or crowded Moroccan souk. Used on everything from boxy, cropped tops to sleek eveningwear, these patterns, sometimes bedecked with feathers or beads, have been reinterpreted to be surprisingly wearable—transformed with fluid fabrics and accessible shapes. Sarah Burton’s Spring collection for Alexander McQueen exemplifies the trend, with flippy skirts and day dresses in a lasercut ethnic print and separates in a red, white and cobalt pattern reminiscent of a
hand-woven basket. The line’s accessories also pick up the theme, with bags and shoes embellished with zebra-like black stripes on white, or a black and red Masai print. And the trend is prevalent across the board right now, in clothing from lines like Proenza Schouler and Etro and bags from designers like Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch and Phillip Lim, who adorned his trademark Pashli bag this season with an abstract print in green-and-black haircalf. “Everyone’s completely gone rogue with it,” says celebrity stylist June Ambrose. “Designers are being very clever with the prints in terms of their placement and mixing the media. It’s really allowing the consumer to be a little bit more
creative and not afraid to put things together. It’s very refreshing because it’s being revamped in a way that has a little more imagination.” In their unfussy color palette and clean styles, this season’s tribal looks make a sort of controlled fashion statement—it’s on trend, but doesn’t go over the top. For those looking for an even softer expression of the trend, structured Zulu-inspired print bags or brightly patterned ladylike pumps offer a refined counterpoint to, say, a little black dress. “Seeing the trend interpreted in different ways allows you to find your personality and your own personal style within it.” Alexander McQueen’s feather-print De Manta clutch and looks from the Spring 2014 collection
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FE R R AGA M O.CO M
Clockwise from above: Nate Gill, Salieu Jalloh, Brahim Zaibat, David Agbodji and Brad Allen photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott; Sean O’Pry on the cover of Vogue Paris Hommes International and David Gandy for a Dolce & Gabbana fragrance campaign.
THE MALE GAZE Make way for the rise of the male supermodel. BY WILLIAM KISSEL
When Baltimore native Noah Mills walks down a runway for Versace and Canadian-born Simon Nessman strikes a pose for blue chip brands like Giorgio Armani and Michael Kors, neither of today’s male modeling titans seems aware of how their effortless swagger and winning smiles are literally changing the face of the fashion industry. The business of being a supermodel, an occupation once reserved for the world’s most seductive and highest-paid women, has now become a respectable career for men as well. Eschewing the ubiquitous celebrity of pro athlete, Details magazine even put 10 of the world’s top male models on its February cover. Although Sean O’Pry’s $1.5 million paycheck last year for hawking products for Dolce & Gabbana and Ralph Lauren is still a far cry from the $42 million supermodel Gisele Bündchen received in 2013 (female models still earn 148 percent more than their male counterparts, according to Payscale.com), the price of gazing at those flawless faces on the runways and ogling those chiseled bodies in the pages of magazines has been steadily rising for years. Russian-born Arthur Kulkov took home a $905,000 paycheck last year and ranked only at number four on Forbes’ list of highest paid male models, while at the top of their game in the mid-1990s, models like Mark Vanderloo, once named “Male Model of the Year” at the VH1
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Fashion and Music Awards, and Marcus Schenkenberg—you may know him as the face and body of Calvin Klein underwear— only garnered about a third of that. What’s fueling the demand for higher-profile, higher-paid male models? Industry experts say the increase in exposure and salaries is fueled by the boom in spending on men’s luxury goods, which have increased 55 percent since 2009, shortly after the economic crises began, compared with a paltry 37 percent for those of women. “All men’s categories are outpacing women’s. This is a mega-trend” in the world of fashion, Claudia D’Arpizio, a luxury goods consultant with Bain & Company, recently explained in The Wall Street Journal. Once considered a prop on the arm of more recognizable female faces in advertising campaigns, male models are now becoming singular cash cows for top brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada, all of whom have introduced stores geared exclusively to the whims of men. And while it’s doubtful top models like Clément Chabernaud, Tobias Sorensen and David Gandy will ever achieve the worldwide name recognition of a Kate Moss or a Naomi Campbell, as more and more mass market brands like H&M and Abercrombie & Fitch blanket billboards across the country with their profiles, chances are you already know their faces.
WHO’S THAT GIRL?
Joan Smalls’ meteoric rise from tomboy to couture-clad muse.
FROM LEFT: Joan Smalls on the cover of Vogue Australia May 2012; on the runway at Jean Paul Gaultier’s Haute Couture Spring 2014 show; at the Conde Nast Celebrates Editorial Excellence dinner; at last year’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show; at the CFDA Fashion Awards.
When Tom Ford calls you muse and Beyoncé features you in a music video for her self-titled iTunes hit album, it’s safe to say you’ve made it. Such is Joan Smalls’ current rising star status. In a few short years, the 25-year-old Puerto Rican stunner has shot up the Models.com rankings to top the charts with bookings from Estée Lauder, Prabal Gurung and Versace. Banking on her feline eyes and sharply angled cheekbones, Smalls heralds the return of the glamorous, verifiably beautiful model, says Betty Sze, managing editor of Models.com, a world dominated in recent years by odd features like alien eyes and Klingon-size foreheads. But beauty is just one asset in her toolbox. “Her personality, intelligence and professionalism are part of the whole package when you book a woman like Joan,” Sze says. Yet Smalls wasn’t always a clear shooin. Far from the bright lights of Parisian catwalks, she grew up in a middle-class family in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, a tiny town
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known more for dairy cows than fashion. She has credited her good manners to her parents, who raised her and her two older sisters (she was the tomboy) to also stick up for themselves. It’s helped steel her through situations that have been less than charmed, such as fashion’s diversity problem: she was often told there was only room on bookings for one black model. After moving to New York when she was 19, she dabbled for years in commercial modeling. “Then she signed with IMG and her agent called everyone to say, ‘I’m really going to make her into something,’” casting director James Scully recalls. “We were like, ‘Good luck with that.’” Things turned the corner, however, when she met Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy’s designer, who quickly put her on an exclusive contract. Groundbreaking campaigns soon poured in, such as a plum Chanel campaign (she’s the first black model to be featured) and an Estée Lauder contract (she’s the first Latina face for the beauty
behemoth). “She’s certainly been opening doors for diversity since,” says Scully, who has cast Smalls in Tom Ford and Stella McCartney shows. “She’s the only black girl in the last 10 years who has gotten the major covers,” he adds. “In fashion, you can say ‘Joan’ and that’s all you have to say. That’s the same thing Cindy and Naomi had.” Sze agrees. There will always be the “new girl,” she says, but when it comes to important bookings, “The industry values a model like Joan who understands her role in the big picture.” That’s what Joan and all the “supers” get, Sze adds. Or perhaps, in Smalls’ case, it’s also a story of patience and perseverance. “She had a good number of years in the business before she reached this level; she had the time to have a sense of herself,” Scully says. “A lot of models, you can’t even take out to dinner.” Smalls, on the other hand, “is engaging and intriguing,” he says. “If you’re going to dinner with Tom Ford, you better be able to hold your own.”
PHOTOS BY PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES (JEAN PAUL GAULTIER), DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES (CONDE NAST), KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE (CFDA), RANDY BROOKE/WIREIMAGE (VICTORIA SECRET)
BY BEE SHAPIRO
A LA MODA
The rise of Italian fashion design is marked with a new exhibition in London.
For anyone who’s ever lusted after an Armani suit that slouches just so or a Versace slip that’s been artfully slashed thigh-high, it’s hardly news that Italy is a source of mood-elevating fashion. How exactly that came to be the case is a lesser-known story. A new exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum—”The Glamour of Italian Fashion: 1945-2014”—will change all that. It traces the world of modern Italian design from its post-war renaissance to this season’s breakout young talents. With an unprecedented collection of treasures that ranges from early couture ball gowns to rare pieces shown at Sala Bianca in Florence, the pivotal ‘50s collections that first put Italy on the fashion map, visitors will get a glimpse of the looks that first challenged Paris for supremacy on the global stage. Some of the high-profile early adopters of those designs were actresses—Audrey Hepburn, Claudette Colbert and Ava Gardner—who shopped while on location in Italy and became walking billboards for the designers. The exhibition also celebrates the origins of Italian icons: family-run Missoni brought the world bright, sporty and much-imitated zigzag knits, while Rubinacci contributed to making Neapolitan bespoke tailoring a byword for masculine elegance. One of the exhibition’s sponsors, Bulgari, contributed a dose of glitz to the mix, including a diamond, platinum and emerald necklace once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. It’s not just polished runway confections that get all the glory. The exhibition gives its due to the unsung elements that conspire to make Italian style so desirable. Textile manufacturers and exporters that are responsible for sumptuous fabrics used in Italy and beyond share the spotlight with behind-the-scenes experts in crafts like dyeing and weaving. Also on display are the influential, stylized, black-and-white advertising campaigns photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri produced for Gianfranco Ferré, and edgy and charged Benetton ads that showed more political provocation than clothing. Spring 2014 catwalk pieces by fresh faces like Fausto Puglisi and Valentino’s powerhouse design team Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli are a dazzling final flourish that might inspire a post-show shopping spree. They’re definite proof that there’s plenty of young Italian talent to create the next generation of wardrobe necessities.
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PHOTOS © VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
BY TANYA DUKES
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The first Italian runway presentation at Sala Bianca in Florence in 1955; an embroidered evening dress designed by Mila Schön in 1966; Dolce & Gabbana embroidered booties; Valentino Garavani with models, circa 1967.
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SELF TAUGHT
Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld is shaking up the traditional art gallery structure, one collaboration at a time. BY JULIE BAUMGARDNER
While the great debate in higher education still rages, history has seen a slew of innovators who never were schooled in the fields they went on to change—Abraham Lincoln, John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates are prime examples. While Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld went to college (University of Southern California to be exact), he studied neither art history nor business. In fact, the scion of fashion icons Carine Roitfeld and Christian Restoin earned his degree in film. “I consider myself to be very new to this business,” Roitfeld confesses. But make no mistake, the 29-year-old has become a force in the art world, especially since opening his project space on the Upper East Side last year, although Roitfeld has been staging one-off happenings since 2008. “The way I started was kind of unconventional,” he says. “Five or six years ago, there weren’t that many pop-up exhibitions going on.” And while his famous last name may inspire some to whisper slurs of slander and nepotism, “all of my energy is focused on the space.” Roitfeld, who slumbers on the third floor of his 78th Street townhouse live/work space, is adamant that he’s not
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a gallerist but rather a devoted dealer to his artists. “I’ve had to learn to try and build a program,” he explains, “I did not want to open a gallery. I enjoy flexibility and freedom, and like to show different things.” Come March, Roitfeld unveils an eightweek exhibition of Berlin-based painter Shannon Finley, whose colorful geometric abstractions have also caught the eyes of those in the know. In a world of “Do what you love, love what you do,” Roitfeld makes the case that passion begets professionalism. “It’s super competitive, but at the end of the day it’s what drives you,” he says. “There is really nothing else that I would want to do than what I’m doing.” Gratitude must run in the family— when his idolized editrix mother Carine famously abdicated her throne at French Vogue, it took her little time to land on her feet. Why, some may ask? Well, as Karl Lagerfeld said to her: “You are quite modest.” Fastidiousness too is a Roitfeld trait. Last year, not a month went by that Vladimir didn’t have a show he curated hanging in one exhibition space or another—and not just at his own domain. In continuing with his pop-up roots, Roitfeld co-
curated “Mercy Merci,” with Vogue-darling Christine deMessineo at 980 Madison Avenue (where powerhouse Gagosian has a gallery space), as well as collaborations with the galleries Lehmann Maupin in New York and Cardi Black Box in Milan. By championing younger artists such as Nicolas Pol or Clare Rojas as well as established artists like Peter Lindbergh or Tom Wesselmann, Roitfeld has invigorated his project space with a variety of shows that suggest a confident dexterity across the art historical and market landscape. “We’re a small operation, so we have close relationships with the artists we show,” he says. For a dealer-curator onetwo punch, one would assume he too has a taste for acquisition. “You have to collect,” he says. “I’ve only started collecting about a year and a half ago—not established artists, but the up-andcoming and the new generation.” Who they are, he will not say— and, with much to be wary of in shady backroom dealings and price-fixing pieces, Roitfeld is shrewd to keep mum. For someone whose ken comes from the school of life, it seems he’s learned the lessons of the trade never found in books.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY
Though Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld studied film, he has become a force in the art world. At left, his Upper East Side project space.
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We do not learn for the school, but for life
Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Avenue - 305.864.4833
STYLE DIARY
“CHRISTIAN DIOR’S CIRCLE SKIRTS ARE DEFINITELY ON MY RADAR THIS SEASON.”
PRODUCED BY STELLA LEE
HIPSTER CHUCK “I love walking through Central Park in NYC in my Converse sneakers. They make me disappear in the crowds, lost in my own thoughts.”
A look from Christian Dior Spring 2014, Saks Fifth Avenue
Converse Chuck Taylor All Star, Neiman Marcus
CLASSIC READS
MIROSLAVA DUMA Meet Russia’s most in-demand style setter. PORTRAIT BY OLIVIA BEE
I
n the blink of a fashion season, Miroslava Duma, a former Russian Harper’s Bazaar editor and founder of the fashion news site Buro 24/7, became a street style staple. Her diminutive frame, whether draped in Gucci, Stella McCartney or Lanvin, has become the ultimate “get” for fashion houses who know of her sartorial—not to mention social media—impact. Just ask Roger Vivier, which has made her the latest face of its Spring 2014 collection, Vivier's Codes. In addition to lending her doll-like visage to brands from Chanel (as a brand ambassador) to Salvatore Ferragamo, Duma is also the digital media director for the Russian department store TsUM (Russia's answer to Saks Fifth Avenue) and a model represented by Next Paris. —Tali Jaffe
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“I’m fond of classic Russian literature. I’ve recently finished ‘Anna Karenina.’ It’s interesting to examine the forward-thinking author’s philosophies through the characters he depicts.”
SINGULAR SENSATION “I absolutely love this embroidered jumpsuit from Valentino!”
DAINTY LADY “These kitten heels from Roger Vivier are elegant and sophisticated— perfect for business meetings.” Roger Vivier patent leather Virgule
COLOR EFFECT “Chanel always has some great accessories that add fun pops of color to your spring wardrobe.” Chanel Yellow Jersey bag.
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MADE IN THE SHADE
“HATS AND SUNGLASSES ARE SO ESSENTIAL FOR ME IN THE SUMMER.” RAG & BONE WIDE BRIM BEACH HAT
© 2014 CHLOE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
BAL HARBOUR SHOPS STORE 116 9700 COLLINS AVENUE BAL HARBOUR, FL 33154 CHLOE.COM
STYLE DIARY
La Mamounia
NOVEL SUGGESTION “I’m currently deeply engrossed in ‘The Goldfinch.’”
FARAWAY ESCAPES “Last fall I went to Marrakech, which was incredible. Go there and stay at La Mamounia; it’s perfect.”
ERIKA BEARMAN
I
t's not very common for an executive's moniker to be as recognizable as the fashion brand she represents. But such is the case for Oscar de la Renta's Erika Bearman, better known as OscarPRGirl to those who have ever stepped foot into the social media stratosphere. As of press time, @OscarPRGirl had more than 260,000 followers on both Twitter and Instagram. The senior vice president of global communications is as active behind the scenes as she is out in front. She's often captured by fashion shutterbugs wearing midriff-bearing ensembles (you'd think the trend was created thanks to her) and of course the latest ODLR looks. Her eye for interior design is as sharp as her fashion sense; for the Southampton house she shares with her investment banker husband Jonathan, she turned to decorator Miles Redd, who outfitted the house with his signature pops of color and a dose of Hollywood Regency that perfectly suits this social media starlet. —TJ
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FANCY FOOTWORK
MEDIEVAL TIMES
“I’VE RECENTLY BECOME OBSESSED WITH THE ARMS & ARMOR WING AT THE MET. IT’S VERY ROMANTIC, JUST THE WHOLE IDEA OF IT—KNIGHTS AND CHIVALRY, SO BEAUTIFUL AND DANGEROUS.” The Bloomberg Court in the Arms and Armor Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum
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“These were one of my favorite looks from the Oscar runway collection. What a gorgeous silhouette.”
SPARKLY ACCENTS “THESE BIG BRIGHT EARRINGS LOOK AMAZING WITH WHITE DRESSES.” OSCAR DE LA RENTA CLEMENTINE PEAR-SHAPED EARRINGS
LACING UP “I love all of Oscar de la Renta’s white lace pieces for the Spring. Oscar does lace like no one else.”
COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
This fashion executive and social media maven has style to spare.
BAL HARBOUR SHOPS ZEGNA.COM
ANIMAL INSTINCT
“I’M VERY LUCKY TO LIVE IN SUCH A VIBRANT CITY AS NEW YORK, WITH NO SHORTAGE OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. THE JAR EXHIBIT AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART IS A HIGHLIGHT. EACH PIECE OF JEWELRY IS A WORK OF ART.”
MOOD BOARD “The Charles James exhibit that will be at The Met this spring is so inspirational. The colors and construction of his clothes were incredible.”
Charles James Ball Gowns, 1948, by Cecil Beaton
CHARLES JAMES BALL GOWNS, 1948. COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, PHOTOGRAPH BY CECIL BEATON, BEATON/VOGUE/CONDE NAST ARCHIVE. COPYRIGHT © CONDE NAST; DAVID X PRUTTING/BFANYC.COM (TISCH)
JAR ZEBRA BROOCH (1987). PHOTO BY KATHARINA FAERBER. COURTESY OF JAR, PARIS
STYLE DIARY
LIZZIE TISCH This best-dressed list fixture has a new fashion venture of her own. PORTRAIT BY DAVID X PRUTTING
T
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PUMPED FOR SPRING
“I LOVE THIS NICHOLAS KIRKWOOD PUMP. IT’S THE PERFECT SHOE FOR SPRING WEATHER.”
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he last six months have been a whirlwind for Lizzie Tisch. Last fall, she and partner Kim Kassel founded Suite 1521, a membership-based luxury fashion retail experience, in New York's prestigious 980 Madison Avenue building (also home to Gagosian Gallery's uptown outpost) and Vanity Fair included her on their “International Best-Dressed List”—the ultimate style accolade. This spring, the milestones continue when The Costume Institute's renovated wing—made possible by a $10 million donation by Tisch and her husband Jonathan—reopens as the Anna Wintour Costume Center, which will include the 4,200-square-foot Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery. Fashion and philanthropy go handin-hand for Tisch: in addition to The Met where she is chair of Friends of The Costume Institute, she also serves on the board of Citymeals-on-Wheels and is a member of the Couture Council at FIT. —TJ
Nicholas Kirkwood sage raffia hexagon pump, Saks Fifth Avenue
UNFORBIDDEN FRUIT “I have my eyes on Edie Parker for my spring wardrobe wishlist! I predict the fruit bags will be some of the hottest accessories this season.” Edie Parker clutch, Saks Fifth Avenue
BREAK A SWEAT
“I can’t survive the summer without SoulCycle at the Barn in Bridgehampton.”
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Portuguese Perpetual Calendar.
year – until 2499 – is shown in four digits. In
Ref. 5023: One thing at IWC always remains the same: the desire to get even better. Here is one of the finest examples, with the largest automatic movement manufactured
short: a watch that has already written the I WC . E N G I N E E R E D FO R M E N . future.
by IWC, Pellaton winding and a seven-day power reser ve. The perpetual calendar shows the date and moon phase, and the
Mechanical IWC-manufactured movement, Pellaton automatic winding system, 7-day power reserve with display, Perpetual calendar (figure), Perpetual moon phase display, Antireflective sapphire glass,
Sapphire-glass back cover, Water-resistant 3 bar, 18 ct red gold
STYLE DIARY “Sunglasses are a summer must-have. I love mine from Calvin Klein.” Calvin Klein Square sunglasses
SKIN FOOD “Healthy skin is so essential, especially in the summer. Panama hat, a pair of sunglasses and then I’m all about beauty products for glowing skin.”Clarins After Sun Moisturizer Ultra-Hydrating, Saks Fifth Avenue.
BEST IN SHOW “This Alexander McQueen runway look is one of my Spring favorites.”
HOT PANTS
Venice Beach, California
“It feels like every summer sees the return of short shorts—which I love—but I will never wear.” A look from Michael Kors Spring 2014
ARTSY MOOD “Ohne Titel has got me thinking about geometric patterns and colors.” A look from the Spring 2014 collection, Intermix
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
CECILIA DEAN
“LA IS MY CURRENT MISTRESS OUTSIDE OF NYC. I REALLY ENJOY VENICE BEACH, AND CAFÉ GRATITUDE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE LOCAL SPOTS!”
This power editrix isn’t afraid to make a fashion statement. PORTRAIT BY DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS
T
hough she's probably best known as the editor of Visionaire—the limited-edition, experimental fashion and art quarterly (that's rarely actually printed or bound)—Cecilia Dean wears many other hats. She also publishes V and V Man magazines, is a creative adviser for Nymphenburg Porcelain and is the co-founder of MOVE!, a performance art festival with a heavy fashion tie-in. And while her creative capacity is sought after by would-be collaborators, Dean's sartorial sense is what keeps street style shooters hovering outside her SoHo offices. Whether in custom Givenchy or off-the-rack McQueen, the former model cuts a formidable silhouette. —TJ
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PUT ON THE CUFF
“THESE CLASSIC CUFFS ARE ALWAYS IN STYLE.” BONE CUFFS BY ELSA PERETTI FOR TIFFANY & CO.
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QUICK BITES “I LOVE THE FISH TACOS AND THE VEGETARIAN QUESADILLAS AT ROCKAWAY TACO IN ROCKAWAY BEACH.”
DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/WIREIMAGE
HIP TO BE SQUARE
IN DEMAND
In her new book, bestselling author Sharon Salzberg proposes that multitasking may be less productive than you think. BY RIMA SUQI PHOTO BY MICHEL COMTE Chanel Iman, on location in Beverly Hills for Bal Harbour Fall 2010
Attention multitaskers: think you’re getting so much done, so much faster? Quite the opposite. On average, it takes you 50 percent longer to finish a task, and you make 50 percent more mistakes than your more focused counterparts. Do not despair, though. A new book by meditation guru Sharon Salzberg—”Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement and Peace” (Workman)—offers tips for multitasking rehab, as well as a plethora of other solutions for navigating an often tricky work environment. I was surprised to read that people often get the same rush from multitasking as from gambling. The great myth of our time is that multitasking will make us so much more effective and efficient, and that we’ll get so much more done. The reality, as studies show, is that we’re not doing things well and we’re not getting more done. Is there rehab for multitasking? Yes, it’s short moments many times. I like the term “un-tasking”—it may not be something we can do all the time, but sometimes, like when we’re on the phone, maybe just be on the phone and not check our email at the same time. You also suggest “stealth meditations.” What is that? Stealth meditations include things like when you’re walking from room to room at work, instead of texting at the same time as you’re walking or planning out a
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meeting in your head, maybe just walk and really experience everything along the way. Or notice how you’re holding something like a pencil or a cup. Sometimes we have so much tension going on that we don’t realize we have a death grip on these objects. It makes us even more stressed. If we realize those things, we can relax. Email communication is a huge issue now and sometimes the source of major problems. There’s a lot to be said for writing out the email and not pressing send right away—pausing and letting things sink in. In that pause, see if you can tune into your motivation or intention. What do I actually want to get or see happen out of this communication? Did I say it in the way that is likely to get me what I want? Can you discuss the concept of “open awareness?” It’s not being stuck in any one perspective and realizing that sometimes we can look at things from different angles. Psychologists tell us one of the most powerful things we can do is keep a gratitude journal—write down three things at night that you are grateful for. You can certainly apply that to the workday. You also talk about surrender as a sign of strength, which sounds like a paradox. I think many people equate surrendering with losing a battle. Sometimes, we just have to say, “I have done everything I can do, and now nature needs to take its course.” We can’t always fix everything right now. There are many moments of letting go.
A rendering of Oceana Bal Harbour, featuring two works to be installed there: Jeff Koons’ Pluto and Proserpina and Ballerina
A KOONS WITH A VIEW Developer and art collector Eduardo Costantini brings together two of his passions at his newest venture, Oceana Bal Harbour. BY LINDA LEE
Is there a connection between putting up an artful building and building an art collection? Aby Rosen combined both in New York with Lever House and in Miami Beach with his W hotel. Alan Faena— the man behind the starchitect megaproject Faena House (formerly the Saxony Hotel)—opened his own arts center in Buenos Aires in 2011, and promises a Faena Arts Center in Miami Beach designed by Rem Koolhaas will open later this year. And now another Argentine enters into the Miami developer-collector scene, this time in Bal Harbour. In 2011, when Eduardo Costantini saw that the Beach Club was for sale, he became determined to own what he called “the best land in Miami.” After the papers were signed a year later, he began envisioning a luxury building that would take advantage of the five-and-a-half acres of oceanfront and be noted for, among other things, two large and very expensive sculptures.
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More than a decade ago, in his native Buenos Aires, Costantini founded Malba, a modern and contemporary art not-for-profit institution filled with more than 500 works he had collected: an iconic Frida Kahlo self-portrait and works by noted Latin American artists including León Ferrari, Roberto Matta, José Bedia, Tarsila do Amaral, Fernando Botero, Joaquín Torres-García and Guillermo Kuitca. Then he kept on buying art and building. In 2012, Mr. Costantini bought two giant Jeff Koons works—Pluto and Proserpina and Ballerina— to sit on the west and east axis of the 28-story Oceana Bal Harbour. “We thought at first we couldn’t afford it,” he says. But his other project in the U.S., Oceana Key Biscayne, was selling briskly. He could tell the real estate market had revived. And so he plunked down $14 million for the two sculptures. Pluto and Proserpina, one of an edition of three, is going to the Whitney Museum of
American Art in New York for the Jeff Koons solo retrospective in June. Both Oceanas are designed by Arquitectonica to align with the ocean. And to break up the “perception of a wall,” as Costantini refers to it, the buildings have a central inset with a breezeway punched out in the base, which will line up with the marina on the bay side of Collins; a landscape by the Swiss maestro Enzo Enea will emphasize the axis. The building is set 300 feet back from the street, as were the previous buildings. Costantini is donating green space along Collins Avenue to the Bal Harbour Village, and completion is scheduled for 2016. That means Mr. Costantini has plenty of time to purchase more art for the Oceana projects. “We still need to buy eight to 10 canvases for both lobbies—at least seven by seven feet,” he said. And he will, of course, continue to buy for his own collection as well.
CURATED TRAVEL Christie’s expands beyond the auction room, giving its clients in-depth access to the art world at large. BY MARK ELLWOOD
Last November, a clutch of jewelry aficionados gathered in the New York workshop of Van Cleef & Arpels for a private preview of its newest designs. They also took in a specially arranged tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s blockbuster JAR show nearby and enjoyed a salon-style meeting with designer James de Givenchy that showcased his finest, rarely seen pieces. For a few days, the cabal were treated as gem world rock stars—all thanks to the efforts of Christie’s Travel, the newest subsidiary of the storied British auction house. Quietly launched late last year, this division was directly inspired by a longstanding but lesser-known art world tradition. Museum donors are often invited to exotic locales on private jaunts hosted by the institution’s director or curator as a gesture of gratitude for their support. Christie’s Travel has co-opted this concept to offer it to any art lover—not just philanthropists or even the auction house’s existing clients. Led by veteran gallerina Karen Stone Talwar, the subsidiary will run just 20 or fewer trips yearly, with a limit of 15 guests each time. Each jaunt will have a Christie’s expert on hand at all times and center on different art world must-sees, whether a fair, like a trip in March to TEFAF in Maastricht, or a world-renowned opening, such as the debut of The Broad museum in L.A. this fall. Logistics and back-end support come from tour firm Abercrombie & Kent, while Talwar and her team provide a priceless addition: access. “Anyone can ask
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a concierge to book you to the front of the line of a museum queue—we can do what they can’t do,” she explains. To wit: anyone can visit Jaipur, but only Talwar’s guests will have tea at the local royal family’s home; Angkor Wat is a travel staple, but her trip to Cambodia and Vietnam will also include a gala dinner inside a 12th-century temple at nearby Angkor Thom. Christie’s Travel was the brainchild of Eric de Cavaignac, the firm’s global head of corporate development (his dream trip: West Africa to see the nascent contemporary art scene there). As the art world has grown more international, he explains, it has also become more enmeshed with travel, organically generating this brand extension. “For our clients, it’s really about why art is important and how it fits in the world—less about a transactional relationship with a sale happening in 10 minutes,” he says. He stresses that the trips don’t just pivot on their priceless access but also on the people, whether seasoned auction house staffers or fellow travelers, noting “something inherently social is attached to culture now.” A group of strangers from Latin America visited London for the Frieze Art Fair last fall and bonded so well over shared interests that the entire band reunited for a Christmas dinner at one of their country homes in Brazil. Undoubtedly, they exchanged gifts from Christie’s, too.
PHOTO BY RAYMOND MEIER / TRUNK ARCHIVE
Christie’s Travel provides its clients access to bespoke experiences around the world.
ART& SOLE Watch out for fancy footwear this season as the men’s fashion industry continues to boom. BY WILLIAM KISSEL
Bally calf suede Balboan lace-ups with Flex Tech sole
Shoemakers have long used technology to give a modicum of comfort and modernity to traditional men’s footwear. Now, for Spring, designers are employing more texture, Technicolor and Old World dye techniques to offer men’s shoes—from heavy dress brogues and bluchers to loafers and sneakers—a healthy dose of fashion and versatility as well. The idea that a shoe could be both textural and technical is a notion first advanced by Bottega Veneta, the Italian luxury brand most recognized for its proprietary leather weaving technique known as intrecciato. The concept requires ultra-thin strips of
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leather—thin enough to maneuver under the needle of a sewing machine—that are later woven together for both textural beauty and maximum durability. That signature, first created in the 1960s, has guided designer Tomas Maier throughout his tenure with the Venetian fashion house, which has figured out a way to employ the intrecciato method on everything from bags and belts to footwear. Maier’s shoe of desire this season is a loosely woven peekaboo loafer in a variety of subtle dark colors and shapes (including dress slip-ons, lace-ups and slippers) sitting on a stylishly thin leather sole that
he pairs with everything from retro-inspired gray flannel suits to casual roll-neck knitwear. The versatility of the woven form has also caught the attention of other designers, many of whom have rallied behind the weave, be it applied via leather, cloth, ribbon or even raffia. Always an innovator, Giorgio Armani weaves his magic this Spring on a collection of 1930s-inspired, twotoned spectators made of perforated leather and natural raffia that look thoroughly modern, especially given the footwear’s chunky white sole—another strong trend. The Milanese master uses the same trick in
Although texture is universal in men’s footwear this season, the use of bold colors, prints and other optical effects also lend versatility to the mix.
reverse on his new men’s loafers, which include a leather upper resting on a sole covered in woven raffia. Others are applying the woven designs in equally imaginative ways. Take the work of Italian designer Cesare Paciotti, who found the means to restyle a classic chukka boot—an important shoe shape from designers as diverse as Armani, Brunello Cucinelli and Paul Smith— using woven strips of leather for a lightweight, airy spring alternative to an otherwise traditional Fall favorite. And while gladiator sandals and woven lace-ups vaguely reminiscent of those found on Sicilian fisherman continue to fascinate the talents of Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, the design duo are also using the woven technique to their own unique fancy at Dolce & Gabbana, including a tightly braided dress shoe and exotic-skinned sneakers with braided soles. Although texture is universal in men’s footwear this season, other styling techniques such as the use of bold colors, prints and other optical effects also lend versatility to the mix. Two of those style tenets collide in Etro’s decorative woven shoes, which include colorful Mexican serape-inspired patterns woven into dress slippers with sleek leather soles. Likewise for the designs of Bally and Paul Smith, whose multicolored trainers, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, are color-blocked like a Mondrian painting, or woven from a Maharam upholstery fabric, respectively. Even Giorgio Armani—rarely one for gimmicks—applies a batik-like graphic print on many of his lace-ups and loafers this season for an unexpected visual treat. At Gucci, the Florentine company’s menswear is coming up roses, with floral arrangements found on everything from jackets and pants to sport shirts. However, designer Frida Giannini purposely kept the brand’s footwear unadorned by concentrating on classic leather sneakers with ubiquitous white or natural rubber soles. This mixing of aesthetics also plays into the footwear designs of Miuccia Prada, who tethers a pair of monochromatic or two-tone twill weave sneakers with oversized rubber soles to just about every outfit in the Spring collection, from classic gray suits to tropical floral jackets to slouchy trousers. Prada calls it “the cliché of the exotic (florals)” mixed with “the cliché of summer (sneakers).” Meanwhile, Salvatore Ferragamo designer Massimiliano Giornetti says he was thinking of “the vibration of the sportsman” when he created his sporty collection of tri-colored slipons and open-toed sneakers reminiscent of Olympic gladiators of centuries long ago. Of course, even in Spring when men’s footwear is generally softer and more colorful, there is always room for shoes with a more serious side. For some time now, shoemakers have been looking to Old World tanning techniques to give contemporary footwear a vintage, bespoke look. That concept is employed to great effect this season by brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna, the latter also eschewing laces on dress footwear in exchange for flexible gussets to hold the shoe in place. Although Brunello Cucinelli’s wing tips are decidedly classic in form, the Italian designer renders them in soft, colored suede for a modern interpretation of an Old World favorite. Bally, available at Neiman Marcus, understands that color and texture are not a replacement for comfort technology. With that in mind, this Spring the brand introduced Flex Tech, a proprietary technology in which the leather sole of a soft-sided cap-toe shoe is hollowed and replaced with a soft deerskin inlay that allows the soles of even the most serious footwear to bend in half without sacrificing the shoe’s sinuous shape.
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Paul Smith cheetah print leather Juniper ankle boot
Cesare Paciotti basket woven leather chukka boot
Dolce & Gabbana woven raffia oxfords inspired by Sicilian fishermen
Dolce & Gabbana highly polished crocodile oxfords
Etro tribal print woven silk smoking slippers
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TRENDS
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Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane triple-chain Forcat belt
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Christian Dior patent leather pump, Saks Fifth Avenue
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Ralph Lauren Collection Ricky bag
Mary Katrantzou Alexa heel, The Webster
Louis Vuitton Flowers Retro bandeau, Saks Fifth Avenue
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Roger Vivier Virgule Pivoine sandal
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LITERARY CIRCLE
Following the publication of her most recent novel, “Claire of the Sea Light,” award winning author Edwidge Danticat talks with her editor, Robin Desser about writing, where ideas come from, and what it takes to break through writer’s block. BY KATE BETTS
W
riters, more than most creative souls, have to face the blank page daily. For some, a great editor provides the kind of support, perspective, and focus necessary to produce a unique story—a story so compelling that the reader would never know what kind of literary collaboration contributed to its success. Award winning author Edwidge Danticat and Knopf editorial director and vice president Robin Desser have such a collaboration. On the occasion of the publication of Danticat’s most recent novel, “Claire of the Sea Light,” the author and her editor talk about what it takes to bring a story to literary life. Kate Betts: Where did the idea for this novel come from? Edwidge Danticat: I started writing “Claire of the Sea Light” in 2005. I had seen a documentary about children who are in orphanages in Haiti, children whose parents had placed them
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there even though they were obviously not orphans, and while watching that documentary, Claire’s character suddenly came to me. I had the first chapter, in which Claire, age seven, goes missing; then I put it away for a while. It was during that period that my father died of pulmonary fibrosis, my uncle died in immigration custody, and my daughter Mira was born. I wrote a memoir about all that called “Brother, I’m Dying,” which Robin also edited. I went back to Claire after the memoir was published and was able to see it with fresh eyes. After working on it for some time, I showed Robin a draft. (I only show her finished manuscripts, not pieces). KB: What is the difference between writing fiction and writing nonfiction? ED: There is a lot more freedom in fiction. You get to make things up. With nonfiction, you have to be a lot more careful. The facts
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“I long for Edwidge’s next book. I know that when she’s ready, I am in for a marvelous adventure, a surprise and a beauty.” —Robin Desser
exist, but people remember them differently. You also might alienate your loved ones, people who’ve gone through an experience with you but have a different read on it. KB: As an editor, Robin, do you recognize a fiction writer immediately? Or is it easy for some writers to cross over between nonfiction and fiction? Robin Desser: Fiction can be as much about voice as story. A number of my writers can, like Edwidge, traverse the two with equal power and grace. I published a memoir called “My Own Country” by Abraham Verghese in paperback when I worked at Vintage, and went on to edit and publish his extraordinary novel, “Cutting for Stone” at Knopf. These books shared a beauty of voice and story, and honesty; they both read with great emotional and moral suspense. I published Cheryl Strayed’s memoir “Wild,” which grabbed me with its voice, wisdom and humor right from page one. Before “Wild,” Cheryl had written a terrific and well-regarded novel that we have subsequently reissued at Vintage. Cheryl’s next book might be either novel or memoir, but either way I’m sure it will be as uniquely and genuinely hers, and a fabulous and exciting project to work on with her and to publish. KB: Where do ideas come from—both as a writer and an editor? ED: Ideas come from everywhere: from life, from dreams, from the morning paper, from everything that you react to in some way when you see it or feel it or remember it. Ideas come from everything that moves you, or haunts you or that you feel passionate about. KB: What do you read for inspiration as a writer, and as an editor (I know you have to read a lot of manuscripts, but what else)? ED: I read pretty much everything, including cereal boxes. I read more for pleasure than inspiration, and as much reading as I can manage with two small children at home.
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RD: When I’m on vacation I mostly want to read, which my family doesn’t quite understand, considering it’s what I do so constantly for work. But it’s my joy, and I also think it’s important you remind yourself of what first drew you to the profession in the first place—not just the business of publishing, but really that you just love to read, that you love books. KB: So what are you both working on now? ED: I am working on a young adult novel called “Stun Me” about twin sisters living in Miami. RD: I long for Edwidge’s next book. I know that when she’s ready, I am in for a marvelous adventure, a surprise and a beauty. In the meantime, there are a number of great books I am working on now. One that comes to mind is a novel by Cristina Henríquez, called “The Book of Unknown Americans,” which is a beautiful and important book coming out in June of this year. Told in a seamless mix of different characters’ voices, it’s at once a powerful story about what it means to come to this country from somewhere else, and a deeply affecting love story told without an ounce of sentimentality. It’s one of those books that gets so much of its force and beauty and truth from its voices—from the people who seem not just to inhabit it but who come alive on its pages. KB: As an editor, how do you inspire a writer who might be feeling blocked? RD: Sometimes it’s simply about offering your confidence in what she or he is doing. Sometimes it takes months or even years. And then inspiration can come in an instant. My guess is that most of the time, it cannot be willed. It’s mysterious and wonderful to me, always, how writers do what they do. My hope is that somehow expressing belief in the writer, that you love and respect and admire the work they are doing and will do, even if you’re not sure exactly what it’s going to be, will help a writer get past the block and believe in what’s ahead.
PHOTO BY JONATHAN DEMME (DANTICAT)
Robin Desser, vice president and editorial director for Knopf, has worked with bestselling authors including Cheryl Strayed, Claire Messud and Edwidge Danticat. Haitian author Edwidge Danticat’s latest novel is “Claire of the Sea Light.”
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THE SWEETEST THING Model Magdalena Frackowiak slips into Spring’s flirtiest dresses and has us swooning. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CATHERINE SERVEL STYLING BY SARAH GORE REEVES 132 BAL HARBOUR
Miu Miu embellished dress, 305.993.2300; Christian Louboutin So Kate pumps, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100.
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Prada crepe Detallante printed dress, 305.864.9111; Dolce & Gabbana earrings, 305.866.0503.
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Maryna Linchuk burns up the beach in the season’s sexiest silhouettes. Photography by KORAY BIRAND Styling by SARAH GORE REEVES
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Fendi leather and organza strapless dress, 305.861.7114; Jerome C. Rousseau Floyd Croco sandals and Alexis Bittar silver spiked collar, available at Intermix, 305.993.1232; Van Cleef & Arpels Oiseaux de Paradis diamond ring, 305.866.0899.
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Erdem Faldo dress with sheer inserts and sandals available at The Webster, 305.868.6544; Chanel cuff, 305.868.0550.
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Costume National top and skirt, available at Neiman Marcus, 305.865.6161; Jimmy Choo clutch, 305.864.3656; Alexis Bittar spiked collar necklace available at Intermix, 305.993.1232; Christian Louboutin Miss Rigidaine patent leather pump, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100. Photographer: Koray Birand Stylist: Sarah Gore Reeves Stylist assistants: Alexandra Kulukundis and Seppe Tirabassi Hair: Felix Fischer/Factory Downtown using Moroccan Oil Makeup: Angie Parker/Altered Agency using NARS Manicurist: Isis Antelo using Red Carpet Manicure Produced by Broder Productions Art Direction: Juan Carlos Castro Model: Maryna Linchuk/DNA Model Management
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KINGS OF COOL
THE RAG & BONE EMPIRE CONTINUES TO EXPAND. NEXT STOP: BAL HARBOUR BY BEE SHAPIRO
Though they’re British expats, Rag & Bone’s David Neville and Marcus Wainwright are defining American style.
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‘‘I
t’s like a dorm room,” jests David Neville, who, with Marcus Wainwright, cofounded the wildly successful contemporary label Rag & Bone. It’s a frigid New York winter day outside, and like the weather (and despite Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week looming just days away), the pair of managing partners are cool as can be. Hanging in their joint office, which is dotted with runway image clippings and other memorabilia—like a framed photo of them grinning with Anna Wintour—such is their laidback air that perhaps dormitory comparisons aren’t so far off. Certainly, the look they’ve developed has often nodded to boarding school uniforms, the kind they used to wear in their native England. In fact, the two actually met in 1995 as teenagers at Wellington College, a posh boarding school outside of London. “Those were some formative years,” says Wainwright. After college, the two pursued diverse ventures: Wainwright launched a telecom company, while Neville tried out investment banking. It was Wainwright who eventually decided to give fashion a go (he designs the Rag & Bone collections). First he quit the telecom business, he recalls, and then headed to Tulum, Mexico, for sunshine and diving. “Then I met a hot girl on the beach, who is now my wife,” he says with a chuckle. Wainwright and his “hot girl,” model Glenna Neece, moved to New York, and by the end of 2001 he had laid the groundwork of their brand, which was officially founded in 2002. Neville, who also married an American—makeup artist Gucci Westman—joined a few years later and has taken on the business side of things. Neither had formal fashion training, but both were fast learners. A lot of it was “just figuring out how it was done,” says Wainwright, pointing to the accessibility of Manhattan’s Garment District as a huge asset. “I don’t think we could have started it in London—it doesn’t have a garment district, really. Here, you can get anything you want related to clothes, like buttons, spandex and lots of weird stuff.” Neville, meanwhile, always had an interest in “product and brand,” he says. “I worked at an investment bank, but loved clothes and loved personally buying clothes. It was a little Jekyll and Hyde in that I had to wear a suit to work and then buy my clothes for the weekend.” The duo began the line with menswear, researching craftsmanship and using old American factories. There were roadblocks, but not enough to sway them off course. “We had some tough times, but we were always very optimistic and enthused by what we were trying to achieve,” Neville says. “The spirit of New York was a big factor.” Today, the company—with several seasons under its suavely cinched belt and after teaming with garmento Andrew Rosen, who also has a hand in Theory, Alice + Olivia and Proenza Schouler—is in expansion mode. Womenswear, which debuted shortly after the inaugural collection, has been an impressive driver. The category now comprises some 75 percent of the business, with much credit to accessories and the little leather booties everyone is running around town in, as well as Rag & Bone/JEAN. The brand also recently added a third floor of office space to its Meatpacking District headquarters in New York and is opening a new store at Bal Harbour Shops this spring. Indeed, the company has had its eyes cast south for some time now. They hosted a fashion show at Soho Beach House with Saks Fifth Avenue in 2012, showcasing Spring looks with jolts of neon and neoprene. “It was cool,” Neville says, pointing to a photo of the custombuilt runway that spanned the hotel’s swimming pool. “Miami fashion gets a little bit of a bad rap, maybe,” Neville adds. “But there’s a lot going on. We see Miami as one of the strongest markets.” He emphasizes the diversity of South Florida visitors, whether they be South American, Asian or European. “There definitely seems to be a lot of momentum,” he says. Likewise, momentum is exactly is what Rag & Bone is capitalizing on. “We created a brand and we just need to keep maintaining the brand at the highest possible level,” Wainwright says. For the two, that means not selling out on design and integrity, and to “not slack.” “It does feel like there’s a big opportunity to be one of the next big American brands,” Wainwright continues. “One of the next Donnas, Ralphs, Calvins—they’re multibillion dollar companies. Why can’t we be one of those?” Looks from the Rag & Bone Spring 2014 Men’s collection
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BURN BRIGHT Commit to a single color this Spring, and make it a bold one.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEXANDER NEUMANN STYLING BY KIM JOHNSON
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Alberta Ferretti blouse and skirt available at Neiman Marcus, 305.865.6161; Kenneth Jay Lane necklace, bracelet and ring, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Alexis Bittar ring available at Intermix, 305.993.1232.
Fendi silk blouse and shorts, 305.861.7114; Roberto Cavalli belt, 305.865.1749.
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Chanel Fantasy tweed dress; Manolo Blahnik pumps, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Bulgari gold, amethyst, chalcedony and pavĂŠ diamond necklace, 305.861.8898.
Nina Ricci sleeveless dress available at Neiman Marcus, 305.865.6161; Kenneth Jay Lane bracelet available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100 de Grisogono white gold, sapphire and emerald ring, 305.865.8765.
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Nina Ricci sleeveless dress available at Neiman Marcus, 305.865.6161; Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane Classic Sac de Jour bag, 305.868.4424; Christian Louboutin So Kate pumps, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Kenneth Jay Lane bracelet available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100.
Photographer: Alexander Neumann Stylist: Kim Johnson/Altered Agency Hair: Hair by Felix Fischer/Factory Downtown using Moroccan Oil Makeup: Martin Schmid/Altered Agency using Chanel Model: Paulina Panas/Wilhelmina Assistant: George Price Producer: Broder Productions
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SA TI RI ST KONSTANTIN KAKANIAS COMBINES A MASTERFUL LINE AND A CRITICAL EYE TO VIVIDLY CAPTURE THE FANCIES AND FOLLIES OF THE FASHION WORLD. BY TED LOOS
Her Past...(New York living room), 2001, by Konstantin Kakanias, from the book “Mrs. Tependris: The Adventures of an Art Collector.” BAL HARBOUR 163
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he Los Angeles-based artist Konstantin Kakanias has some very fashionable friends: the legendary designer Diane von Furstenberg; Vogue’s man-about-town Hamish Bowles; shoe maestro Christian Louboutin. It’s not surprising, since Kakanias started his career in the field, drawing and developing fabrics for Yves Saint Laurent in the 1980s. But his relationships with those famous folks— about which he could not be less boastful, only mentioning them as an afterthought—are particularly strong because he now exists in a separate realm, one of fine art that frequently depicts the world of fashion with a gimlet eye. He’s enough removed from it to see it with some perspective. The basis of Kakanias’ art is the draftsman’s pen. And the creation sprung from that pen that has truly taken on a life of its own is a character called Mrs. Tependris, a fashion-obsessed society lady of a certain age who is both terrifying and hilarious. Imagine a Greek version of the late dynamo Nan Kempner, but with superpowers and karate moves. “I’m a good satirist and critic,” says the genial Kakanias, 52. “Mrs. Tependris is satire. The best critic makes people laugh. And it’s an homage at the same time.” Introduced almost 20 years ago and chronicled in The New York Times Style Magazine, she has endured and thrived in several books and videos, existing to remind everyone of the ridiculousness of fashion—and why we need that over-the-top element in our lives. “She’s your aunt,” says Kakanias, who likes to point out the fact that we all know someone who’s at least partly like Mrs. Tependris. “She’s a lady I used to see as a child, picking up her daughter but dressed up in couture. I wanted my mother to be like that, but she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She has many syndromes of modern society—but on steroids.” You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Mrs. Tependris battle, beat and then befriend a giant spider, who then
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gives her a ride on his hairy back to an ultra-chic fashion show in the loopy video “Tependris Rising” (it’s on YouTube). Kakanias’s own journey—somewhat less dramatic than his creation’s—has taken him from his native Greece to stints living in Paris, New York and now Los Angeles, where he lives with his husband, a designer for Band of Outsiders. (There was also a year on a Greek island, which sounds idyllic, but Kakanias says it was “the worst year of my life.”) His time in France helped him hone his illustration skills as he worked for French newspapers and magazines. He settled on Los Angeles in the late 1990s partly because of the vibrant art scene, a decade before it was widely recognized as having such creative vitality in an area other than the film industry. “The first reason was the weather,” he adds. “The second was the art. I really felt it was superior to New York.” But wherever he is, his artistry comes back to the basics of the drawn line. “As a child, I started drawing,” he says. “I hated school very passionately. I have made my living with drawing since the beginning. I don’t really know how to make a living doing anything else.” Kakanias has leveraged that talent into many media, sometimes making ceramics, videos, paintings or sculptures. They’re not always as upbeat as Mrs. Tependris either, the artist says: “I’m torn between the dark and light. It’s always something between tragedy and comedy—it’s very Greek.” These days, Kakanias toggles between commercial work—he recently did a video for Diane von Furstenberg, since, as he puts it, “I have a tendency to work with friends”—and projects that please just him. “I’ll do a mobile, an installation. I have no problem with any kind of expression,” he says, adding with a laugh: “It doesn’t mean I do them well.” He’s too modest. Ceramics are one area he has enlivened with his wit and his line. Like the ancient potters, Kakanias knows that a pot or a plate is not
only a useful everyday tool, but also an ideal surface to draw on. “I’m less interested in the form than in the painting,” he says. Last year, Gray Gallery in Los Angeles put on a show called “Jet Set,” featuring two series of plates depicting world-traveling, bon-mot-dispensing, feathery chickens—perhaps bird versions of Mrs. Tependris—and it’s a concept that Kakanias first explored in a set of ceramics for his friend Christian Louboutin. A blue chicken named Meredith says, “Darling, don’t touch my hair.” To get a sense of how busy the artist is, one need only read this sentence from The Wall Street Journal’s Marshall Heyman, who chronicled that gallery opening: “‘An entire set of plates costs around $50,000,’ said Mr. Kakanias, who is about to start work on an animated film with the perfumer Frédéric Malle, as well as design a party in Morocco, launch a bathing suit line for Orlebar Brown, develop a fabric line with the interior designer Michael Smith and prepare a drawing show for his gallery in Los Angeles.” You know, a regular Tuesday. Kakanias’ European erudition—and his playful ability to riff on it—comes through even on a plate. “I did one set based on Plato’s ‘The Symposium,’” he says, an appropriately Greek topic. “But it happens in a hair salon. The real ‘Symposium’ happened in a living room, so it’s not that far off.” Whatever the medium, stories drive every piece. “I’m never abstract,” he says. “There’s always a narrative in my work, with psychological situations.” So what’s next for him? The artist has an ambitious plan, at least in concept: “My next aim is to combine these two worlds: pure art and pure fashion. I’ve had to stop working in one to do the other, but it’s time to put the two together.” Kakanias isn’t sure how he’ll manage that fusion, but given what he’s achieved so far, many of his fans will be watching with great expectations. Even the hard-to-please Mrs. Tependris might approve.
Clockwise from above: Peter Marino at a fashion show, 2012; An Interlude— Ouzo + Meze in Mykonos, 1996 from Kakanias’ book "Freedom or Death;" Mrs. Tependris and Devon the Spider, a still from Kakanias’ animated film "Tependris Rising;” Anna Wintour, a still from “Tependris Rising.”
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Gucci dress, 305.868-6504; Tom Ford clutch and bracelet available at Neiman Marcus 305.865.6161; de Grisogono ring, 305.865.8765; Jennifer Fisher brass choker available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100
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GO LD RU SH
There’s nothing tragic about this Greek saga. Pile on the season’s best metallics and enough gilded jewelry to make even Midas green with envy. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSICA CRAIG-MARTIN STYLING BY ANDREW MUKAMAL
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Michael Kors pants, available at Neiman Marcus, 305.865.6161; Emilio Pucci beaded dress available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; ChloĂŠ brass cuff, 305.861.1909; de Grisogono ring, 305.865.8765
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From left to right: Phillip Lim pants available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Emilio Pucci top and pants available at Saks Fifth Avenue; de Grisogono emerald necklace, 305.865.8765; Gemma Redux cuffs available at Saks Fifth Avenue; Yestadt Millinery gold turban available at Saks Fifth Avenue
Versace pleated stretch blazer, bra and shorts, 305.864.0044; Balenciaga metal choker, 305.864.4932; de Grisogono bracelet and watch, 305.865.8765
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Wes Gordon jacket available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; de Grisogono ring and earrings, 305.865.8765; Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane necklace, 305.868.4424
Balenciaga dress, 305.864.4932; Jennifer Fisher chain link ring available at Saks Fifth Avenue, 305.865.1100; Maison Martin Margiela cuff available at Saks Fifth Avenue; de Grisogono diamond watch and ring, 305.865.8765 174 BAL HARBOUR
Photographer: Jessica Craig-Martin/ Walter Schupfer Management Stylist: Andrew Mukamal Stylist Assistant: Zach Keller Photographer’s Assistant: Lauren Caulk/ 4th Floor New York Hair: Adam Markarian/Bryan Bantry Agency for Oribe Haircare Makeup: Sara Glick Models: Kristy Kaurova/New York Models; Mitch Baker/Soul Artist Management; Ben Bowers/New York Models
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BROAD NEW HORIZONS The contemporary art scene in Miami is now a lot more than a fair. It’s all grown up and ready to take its place on the international stage. BY TED LOOS PHOTO BY IWAN BAAN
The new Pérez Art Museum Miami features a hanging garden by French landscape architect Patrick Blanc.
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hen the new Pérez Art Museum Miami opened in December, timed to coincide with the world’s most important art air, Art Basel Miami Beach, it was clear that something had permanently changed in the city that was once derided as either a mindless, sunny paradise or a crime-ridden swamp. It’s now an international mecca for art and architecture, among its many other charms. This isn’t news to locals, as it’s been building for some time. But currently the evidence is overwhelming and can be shouted to the world. For starters, Frank Gehry’s white and regal New World Center, completed in 2011, gives the most recognized architect a spot in the center of Miami Beach—and he kept his signature style of billowing sail shapes relatively reigned in, as if to signify the city’s newly grown-up status. PAMM, from the cutting-edge Swiss architecture team of Herzog & de Meuron, establishes, in a stroke a kind of style that could be called tropical modernism, with its deep-set and shady verandas, hanging gardens and fetching combination of wood, glass and steel. (The firm is also designing a deluxe condo, Jade Signature, one of several starchitect-designed residential projects underway in Miami.) “The successful completion of this project really says something about Miami’s vitality right now,” says Thom Collins, PAMM’s director, who has a major traveling show of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei up through March 16 and a show called “Caribbean: Crossroads of the World” debuting on April 18. The Bass Museum of Art is turning a venerable 50 years old this year and is offering a serious lineup of exhibitions to celebrate its anniversary. The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami continues its strong run, with a show of international art star Tracey Emin on view through March 9 and an exhibition of works by Kenyan-born, New York-based artist Wangechi Mutu opening on April 18. And even the quirky, iconoclastic Wolfsonian-Florida International University, with its incredible holdings of early 20th century art, is expanding. A new space in downtown Miami was donated to the museum by its founder Micky Wolfson, in addition to the main location in Miami Beach. And, of course, there is Art Basel’s local outpost—founded in 2001 (with its first edition postponed to 2002 because of 9/11) —an art fair that somehow grew from an acorn to an oak in just a couple of years, and which garners more worldwide attention than any other single art event. “Art Basel and Miami Beach grew up together into this cultural powerhouse,” says the collector Mera Rubell, the founder, with her husband and children, of the Rubell Family Collection. “It was the most unlikely place; no one expected it. This used to be a place for only fun and games.” Of course, the Rubells—now offering a show of their Asian art-buying adventures, “28 Chinese” through August 1—and other savvy families are part of the reason the fair has thrived. Access to the treasures of private collections and private museums created a cachet around the fair from the start. “The idea that private collectors can open their homes—that really
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came out of Miami,” says Marc Spiegler, director of all three of Art Basel’s worldwide editions. “And no other city in the world can match the size and quality of private collections that Miami has.” He’s referring to bountiful gems like the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space and the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse. Those long-established families are being joined by new blood on the art scene, like Alex Gartenfeld, the 27-year-old MOCA curator who is also its interim director. As a New Yorker, he has the perspective to observe right away how Miami is different from other cities. “It’s been fascinating to see how the institutions all work together,” he says. “It’s a really tight-knit community. Sounds corny, but it’s true.” That means other museums won’t overlap with MOCA’s coming slate of up-to-the-minute contemporary shows of Virginia Overton, Ryan Sullivan and John Miller, artists who haven’t been given the full museum treatment elsewhere. “American institutional debuts, that’s part of our DNA—that’s what we do,” says Gartenfeld. “We try to catch that right moment.” Identifying and celebrating that moment of emergence has always been a Miami strength across culture at large. “The city is powered by a desire for new experiences,” says PAMM’s Collins. That’s why alternative art spaces have been one of the driving forces in the past 20 years and have helped lead the city to where it is today. Silvia Karman Cubiñá, who now heads the Bass Museum, helped found The Moore Space, one of the most important of them all, and ran it for seven years, putting on a string of memorable shows like “French Kissin’ in the USA.” The Moore Space is now closed, but Cubiñá actually points to that as proof of the city’s maturity. “Alternative spaces have a lifespan,” she says. “Gradually, the city outgrew the need for what we were doing.” At the Bass, one of the city’s longest established players, Cubiñá has put together a serious lineup for this year, with a traveling show of heralded African artist El Anatsui bookended by two shows organized on-site: one called “Vanitas: Fashion and Art” and the other called simply “GOLD,” a 50th-anniversary homage to the material across many media. Cubiñá cites the local foundations, particularly the Knight Foundation, as key to the development of the art scene. Just one example is Art Basel’s “Public” sector in front of the Bass, which had its run extended from the week of the fair to a full four months, courtesy of a Knight grant. Both Collins and Cubiñá are in their 40s, and that means the Miami museum future is in their hands. “There’s been this generational shift,” Cubiñá says. “A successful older set of leaders retired, and now the 40-year-olds come in and do their thing. I don’t know what it all means yet, but it’s going to be significant.” Young leaders are thinking in new ways about everything, including the old idea that Miami could only thrive from December to May. “What has impressed me in my time here, as someone who knew Miami only through the art-fair lens, is that it’s increasingly a year-round cultural community,” says Collins. “Even in the dead of summer, there’s stuff going on all the time.” From PAMM’s downtown location on the water to Wynwood’s galleries and the fair-filled shores of Miami Beach, the energy is palpable. As Cubiñá puts it, “This isn’t a sleepy city anymore.”
STARR TREATMENT
RESTAURATEUR STEPHEN STARR—WHO MADE HIS FIRST FORAY INTO THE MIAMI MARKET WITH MAKOTO AT BAL HARBOUR SHOPS—CONTINUES TO SHAPE THE MIAMI CULINARY SCENE WITH THE OPENING OF VERDE AT THE PEREZ ART MUSEUM MIAMI. THE MENU PLAYS UP LOCAL SEAFOOD AND INGREDIENTS, INCLUDES A RAW MENU AND DISHES THAT SPEAK TO MIAMI’S MULTICULTURAL INFLUENCES, LIKE CANE SUGAR DONUTS WITH CUBAN COFFEE DIP AND FLAN. Open daily for lunch, and for dinner on Thursdays.
PHOTO BY ROBIN HILL (BASS MUSEUM); COURTESY RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION
MIAMI’S CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS span from privately-held museums, such as the Rubell Family Collection in Wynwood, whose current show, “28 Chinese,” features Zhu Jinshi’s Boat, seen below. Miami Beach is home to two museums: the Bass Museum of Art, above, is one of the longest established players and is headed by Silvia Karman Cubiñá, while the Wolfsonian-FIU is expanding beyond Miami Beach to open a second space downtown. Its current show, “Rebirth of Rome,” includes Giuseppe Riccobaldi Del Bava’s Lloyd Sabaudo. The Famous Counts [Lloyd Sabaudo. I Famosi Conti], 1927, at left.
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A SWISS LEGACY
Akris’ Albert Kriemler brings passion and inspiration to his family’s storied fashion brand, invigorating it for the 21st century. BY JESSICA MICHAULT PORTRAIT BY FRANCO P. TETTAMANTI
Akris’ signature Ai medium messenger bag
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When Albert Kriemler walks into a room, he doesn’t exactly turn heads. Tall and lanky with salt-and-pepper hair and thick-rimmed glasses, he can easily blend in with a crowd. But then, ever so slowly, his understated elegance, refined manners and calming presence begin to draw people to him, like moths to a flame. That same subtle heat could also describe the clothing that Kriemler designs for Akris. The house has built a sterling reputation for producing evergreen pieces in luxe fabrics—designs that satisfy the needs of women seeking outfits that have a classical foundation with just a touch of edge and ingenuity to make them feel modern. “There is only one house like it,” says Didier Gumbach, president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the French fashion body that for the past decade has invited Akris to show its ready-to-wear collection during Paris Fashion Week. “Albert is passionate about the métier, fashion and above all quality,” adds Gumbach. It’s a passion that has been passed down through generations of Kriemlers. Back in 1922, the family-run business got its start when Kriemler’s grandmother, Alice Kriemler-Schoch, began making aprons in her home on a single sewing machine. Her simple and straightforward “Swiss dot”-patterned aprons became known for their quality and durability. The name Akris was born as a derivative of Kriemler-Schoch’s first and last names. “I grew up amidst patterns and seamstresses in the fashion house my grandmother had founded, during a time when my parents were transforming it into an international brand,” acknowledges Kriemler. “I started to draw clothes at a very young age. I’ve always loved fabrics and I traveled to shows with my parents. It was a natural thing—fashion is in the roots of my family.” From those humble beginnings, three generations of the family have helped turn the discrete Akris brand into a worldwide fashion powerhouse. Kriemler joined the family business in 1980 and today is its creative director, setting the sartorial course for the house, while his brother Peter, the company’s CEO, deals with the financial side of the business. “It’s close and fast and loyal,” says Kriemler about the advantages of working with family. The ability to move quickly without having to worry about backlash from investors (or the risk of a third party trying to take control of the house) has given him a creative freedom few designers ever experience. Kriemler considers the unique location where his brand is based to be a major asset and one of the key contributors to Akris’ success. Situated in the mountain city of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Akris takes full advantage of the town’s heritage as a center for the textile industry. Since the 15th century, the city has produced quality textiles and has been at the forefront of innovations in the field. It has a particular expertise in the arenas of lace and embroidery. In fact, it was in St. Gallen that the first embroidery machines were put to use. “Some of the most advanced companies creating fabrics are based here,” says Kriemler. “Design teams from Paris and Milan travel here to check out what’s new. We are here every day. That generates a different level of cooperation.” The house may be based in Switzerland, but it seems to be
Albert Kriemler joined Akris, his family business, in 1980 and today is its creative director, setting the sartorial course for the house. BAL HARBOUR 181
“I grew up amidst patterns and seamstresses in the fashion house my grandmother had founded. It was a natural thing—fashion is in the roots of my family.” —Albert Kriemler
particularly in tune with what American women are looking for in their designer clothing purchases. According to Colleen Sherin, the senior fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, Akris’ success in the United States comes from a number of critical factors that the brand is able to faultlessly blend together: “There is the focus on the finest materials, the impeccable tailoring and the designs that are classic and timeless, offering just enough fashion to be current and relevant. It’s a brand that is truly defined by understated luxury.” Kriemler remembers first registering the power of fashion when he was a very young boy, watching the effect that his mother would have on people when she would arrive at events looking modern and elegant. So keen was his eye that he still remembers a yellow, lacquered Courrèges coat and also an ecru, heavy wool crêpe Ted Lapidus coat she wore when he was about seven years old. It is this attention to detail and the designer’s fascination with incorporating new fabrics into his work that has helped push Akris to the higher echelons of ready-towear fashion. It’s why Kriemler has found loyal customers in the likes of H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco, whose cool grace and statuesque beauty is a living and breathing incarnation of the Akris ethos. Kriemler is a bit of a Renaissance man. His interests are as diverse as they are heartfelt. Art and literature, as well as architecture, film, nature and modern photography, intrigue him; he is ceaselessly in search of new avenues of inspiration. Currently, the European spacecraft Rosetta, which has been traveling through the cosmos since 2004, captivates him. Its purpose? “To chase a comet and put a satellite on its surface 800 million kilometers from Mother Earth this August to find out what really happened during the Big Bang,” explains the designer. One area of Kriemler’s work where all of this exploration comes into fine focus is through the vibrant prints he uses in each of his collections. They’ve been as diverse as the images of Formula 1 racecars to streetlamps, to green algae and honeycombs. It’s more often than not that these prints set the tone and steer a collection into a particular direction. This clever use of prints has helped to keep Kriemler on message with his designs. He presently produces 10 collections a year, so he admits that his creative process is rather structured, although he confesses that most moments of inspiration come to him while he’s traveling. And when he’s not on the road for the house, he’s hard at work at the brand’s headquarters. By 8 a.m., he’s in his atelier working with his design team and doesn’t leave his desk until at least 7 p.m. If he has any free time, Kriemler likes to spend it with his close-knit group of friends. But it’s clear that nurturing the Akris brand into the next century of its existence is at the heart of everything that Kriemler does. For the designer, the continued prosperity of Akris comes down to getting a few fundamental fashion elements right: “It’s about looking fabulous, but it’s also about feeling at ease and experiencing a certitude that is enhanced by the best of fabrics and the perfect cut and fit. It has to feel right all the time. This is happiness for me. It’s exciting to witness a new generation of dedicated, open-minded and sleek women discovering Akris.”
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Above, looks from Akris’ Spring 2014 collection; Kriemler with Princess Charlene of Monaco
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WILD SUCCESS
IT’S HARD TO PINPOINT WHAT EXACTLY MAKES A RESTAURANT COOL. HERE, WE TALK TO ONE OF NEW YORK’S MOST BUZZED ABOUT RESTAURATEURS, BEN TOWILL, WHO SHARES A FEW OF THE KEY INGREDIENTS. BY ALYSSA SHELASKY PHOTO BY BEN FINK SHAPIRO
Ben Towill and Phil Winser might be from England, but they’re being chased around New York City by almost everyone who’s stylish, sustainable and superhungry. Everyday sightings at the pair’s three eateries include celebrity loyalists like Jake Gyllenhaal, who often has fourhour brunches over beet juice and (unbelievable) avocado toast; Ryan Gosling, indulging in charming and electric tête-à-têtes at the long, communal table; and striking models like Dree Hemingway, who is also Winser's longtime girlfriend. With their three exceptionally delicious, authentically farm-to-table Manhattan restaurants The Fat Radish, The Leadbelly and The East Pole, and nonstop, all-the-rage cameo appearances at Paris Fashion Week, beachside in Montauk and at the Frieze Art Fair, we were happy to grab Ben Towill, half of the still-under-30, über-British duo, for a quick chat.
Ben Towill (left) and Phil Winser
You’re food guys, style guys, party guys… I am a restaurateur in New York. How do you start and end your day? I wake up early, normally go running or to the gym or do yoga. My nights end attempting to read one of the many books I start but never finish. What’s your favorite meal? Sounds so simple, but pesto pasta would be my last meal. Who’s the hardest crowd to please? We’re lucky to work with lots of different groups. We do Frieze Art Fair every year, several fashion events and things like our farm dinner series where we focus on one animal, five courses and see what our amazing team in the kitchen can come up with. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living—everyone loves good food. Favorite vacation spot? Guéthary in the southwest of France. Dream destinations for a restaurant? 17 Orchard Street [the current address of The Fat Radish], 14B Orchard Street [The Leadbelly], 133 East 65th Street [The East Pole]. Last three songs you listened to? John Boutté’s “Hallelujah,” Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party” and André Bourvil’s “Salade de Fruits.” Upcoming projects? I’m trying to just focus on what we have, although there is a Fat Radish cookbook coming out in the fall. What’s the recipe for your success? A great team, a great friendship and that I love what I do. What are the words you live by? Less is more. BAL HARBOUR 193
FASHION FĂŠTES Partying around the world with Bal Harbour's brands
Justine Koons and Stella McCartney at her Autumn 2014 presentation
Pierre Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromeo
Models at the Stella McCartney presentation in New York. Edwina TopsAlexander
Paloma Faith at Giorgio Armani
Lauren Bush Lauren, David Lauren, Cherie Chung, Ricky, Dylan and Andrew Lauren Maggie Gyllenhaal
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Florence Welch
Roberta Armani and Fabiola Beracasa
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Suzy Menkes, Franca Sozzani, Livia Firth
Alice Taglioni, Ralph and Ricky Lauren
Liv Tyler and Dree Hemingway
Olga Kurylenko at Gucci’s film release party for “The Director.”
Elena Perminova at Gucci’s film release party
Andre Saraiva, Virginie Mouzat, Olivier Zahm Francois Henri Pinault and Frida Giannini
At Ralph Lauren’s dinner and runway presentation in Paris 196 BAL HARBOUR
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Alber Elbaz, Geraldine Pailhas and Christopher Thompson at the Lanvin tribute event for artist César in Paris.
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TOP SHELF Stock up on these stylish tomes.
The Art of Fashion Photography This collection of cutting-edge fashion photography features images from some of today’s emerging fashion photographers as they delicately balance both art and commerce. Harmonizing the need to be both commercially viable while staying true to their creative vision, this dazzling volume showcases the multitude of surprising, often shocking directions taken. (Prestel)
Hinckley Yachts: An American Icon Avid sailor Nick Voulgaris III navigates through this revered yacht company’s history and legacy, showcasing how the vessels became a symbol of American sport and leisure. Sailing enthusiasts David Rockefeller, Martha Stewart and Charles Townsend contribute stories of their own experiences owning and sailing Hinckley’s magnificent yachts. (Rizzoli)
Seven Sisters Style: The All-American Preppy Look All-American fashion is personified in this beautiful book that takes an in-depth look at what constitutes the timeless style of the Seven Sister colleges of Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley. Alumnae like Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis pioneered preppy clothes as an inspirational lifestyle filled with national pride, education and exclusivity. Author Rebecca C. Tuite also examines the 20th century evolution of the collegiate “uniform” that can best be described as “from Barnard to Bergdorf.” (Rizzoli)
Jacques Garcia: Twenty Years of Passion This lavishly illustrated tome takes readers into the private dwellings of Jacques Garcia, a celebrated interior designer and antiquities connoisseur, 20 years after he purchased the beloved Château du Champ de Bataille in Upper Normandy, France. Having restored it from near ruin, Garcia allows unprecedented access into the magnificent interiors and gardens of the château—a treasure trove of 17th and 18th century architecture, furniture and garden design. (Flammarion)
Behind Closed Doors: The Private Homes of 25 of the World’s Most Creative People What happens when disposable cameras are given to 25 high-profile musicians, photographers, artists and bloggers? Well, quite simply—a stunning photographic collection of their stylish interiors. Author Rob Meyers creates an intimate behind-the-scenes look into the homes of Olivier Theyskens, Courtney Love, Jeremy Scott and others. The photos are revealing, edgy and raw. (Rizzoli)
200 BAL HARBOUR
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Miami // March 17-30, 2014
miami is about to get intense
THE ICONOCLAST many fashion moments. Perhaps the most amazing KATE BETTS: When did you know, absolutely, that was when Yves Saint Laurent showed his Ballets Russes you wanted to be a reporter? collection. It was such an amazing shock to the SUZY MENKES: Since my mother still has the system—visionary—and people really were crying in “newspaper front page” I drew at age five (and guess the front row. (Now they cry only when they are not what: there is a little fashion drawing of a woman in a given a front row seat!) hat!). It was a very long time ago. I was pretty focused KB: Is there something in the ever-changing digital on the idea of being a journalist. When I went to landscape of fashion now that really excites you? Cambridge, I signed up to work for Varsity, the The digital world is the most thrilling thing that has university newspaper, on my first day. happened over the last decade. But after the initial KB: I read somewhere about the time you snuck out excitement, things have gotten more complicated. of Cambridge in the middle of the night to buy a Fashion is now so “out there”—it is for everyone, and pair of white Courrèges boots. Tell me about your anyone can post a selfie and become an Instagram first fashion must-have. Sarah Burton, Suzy Menkes and Kate hero. On the down side, there is so much turbulence SM: College was formal and restricted back in the day. Moss at the Alexander McQueen dinner and everything is so instantly available that the fashion I was desperate for a pair of white Courrèges at Frieze, London. excitement often seems to be about getting “going-to-the-moon” boots. But they were sold only in something first rather than what that item actually is. London, and we had to sign in for lectures and be in To me, the great thing about a joined-up world is that our rooms by 9:30 in the evening. I climbed over the wall, breaking my jump with my gown (yes, we had to wear those Harry Potter fledging designers across the globe can showcase their work. If you live in London, professor black capes). I got on the 5:30 a.m. milk train to London. I waited outside New York or Paris, that does not mean much. But for Kiev, Kuala Lumpur, Hong the shop until it opened, sprinted back to the station and got back to Cambridge Kong, Lagos, Nairobi, Rio—it is really fantastic that artistic and dedicated people can get out there instantly into the wide world. And that applies to bloggers, in time for a noon tutorial. I wore those boots for the rest of the day! too—that open-to-the-world feeling. KB: What was your first big break in fashion? SM: I was working as a junior reporter at The Times of London. I applied for a KB: What is one piece of advice you’d offer a young fashion journalist today? fashion editor job at the London Evening Standard, where the editor in chief SM: Nothing has changed. Journalism is first and foremost about the Charles Wintour gave me the job at age 23. He also introduced me to his daughter who/what/when/where/why. Insider reporting, with the assumption that everyone knows who Alexander Wang is, only goes so far. It is much more interesting and Anna. And the rest is fashion history. KB: This year, you celebrate 25 years at the International Herald Tribune (now worthwhile to dig deeper and ask why there are so many ABC (American-born called the International New York Times). What was the biggest scoop you’ve Chinese) designers making it today? What do they have in common? What are the big differences between them? When are Chinese-born designers going to take had in your career at the newspaper? I am not sure that fashion “scoops” are the same as in general journalism. [But] yes, over the fashion world? It is about taking something from fashion and developing I was the first journalist to confirm that Karl Lagerfeld was going to Chanel; that the idea. For example, not a report on club sandwich-sized shoe soles, but a Yves Saint Laurent was retiring; and (from his own lips) that Nicolas [Ghesquière] question: Why has a post-feminist generation accepted shoes that are not made was definitely signed up for Louis Vuitton. But I am more interested in being there, for walking? at the beginning, of so many designers’ careers: Raf Simons, now at Dior, when he KB: Who is your style icon? was a Belgian kid on the menswear teen scene; Stella McCartney, when she made SM: A male or female who puts him or herself together in an interesting way—the over vintage lingerie bought from a flea market stall in London’s not-so-glamorous absolute opposite of free frocks for the red carpet. You know when someone is Notting Hill; Azzedine Alaïa when he was a “petit couturier du coin”—a local iconic because it is not fashion but style. dressmaker. That’s the real fun of being a fashion editor—feeling the stirring of KB: Your idea of luxury? SM: Beautiful things that have been touched by human hands. And objects that excitement at the arrival of a newbie. appeal to the senses: touch, stroke, smell. I much prefer a hand-woven scarf than KB: Can you name your favorite fashion moment? SM: There are so many! I loved Comme des Garçons’ “gruyère cheese” sweater a cashmere sweater churned out in a factory. But, like everyone else in the fashion with holes in it and Marc Jacobs’ beachwear turbans when he was at Perry Ellis. So world, my greatest luxury is time!
208 BAL HARBOUR
PHOTO BY DAVID M BENNETT/GETTY
As a young co-ed at Cambridge, Suzy Menkes jumped over a wall for a pair of Courrèges boots, and it’s been a race to get the fashion world scoop and discover new talent ever since. Here, Kate Betts interviews Menkes—the undisputed queen of the front row and a style icon herself—about memorable runway moments, luxury and the thrill of discovery.
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