Salt SS12 by Show Media Ltd

SWAROVSKI® is a registered trademark.

YI Q I N G Y IN ’S CRE AT IO NS ARE M ADE W I TH SWAROVSKI E L E ME NT S .

A DD S PA R KLE TO YO U R LIFE AT W W W. S WA RO VSK I-ELEMEN TS.CO M

CONTENTS

Above, from left: Hopi bracelet, Atelier Swarovski by Eric Daman; loose net long-sleeved jumper, gold skirt with Swarovski Elements, belt and knitted briefs, all Craig Lawrence

Quick Response (QR) codes can be found throughout this issue, enabling the reader to view additional multi-media content via a smartphone. To scan the code, simply download one of the many available QR apps, such as QR Reader

13 THE CUT Swarovski news from around the world, beginning with launches and award events

28 UNdiSCOvEREd gEMS Meet the winners of Helena Christensen’s Unsigned model search

14 NEWS The latest global news, including Christian Lacroix’s costumes for the ballet in Paris

31 NEWS A Mugler movie; a crystal bicyle; Dubai’s designers showcase Swarovski Elements

16 NEWS Supporting young talent; a Victoria’s Secret showstopper; a dazzling Catwoman

32 AUTO ExOTiC Car designer Vicki von Holzhausen applies her aesthetic to a range of handbags

18 ROMAN TREASURES Kate Moss explodes into a thousand crystals at Rome’s Fashion Week. On ﬁlm, that is

35 TRENd TAlK The latest looks, hot off the runway: bold prints, candy colors and silver shimmer

20 ROSE iN blOOM The crystal-bright eyewear of Kerin Rose is a hit with the likes of Rihanna and Gaga

36 gRANd diSplAyS Christmas saw Swarovski add extra glitter to the Harrods windows – and the whole store

22 MESSAgE fROM lA An exciting art installation on the glamorous shopping street Rodeo Drive

38 All SEEiNg Frederikson Stallard’s ‘Iris’ installation for Swarovski Crystal Palace catches the eye

24 jOy Of giviNg Swarovski joins philanthropic forces with Bianca Jagger, Marc Quinn and others

40 ligHT WORKS Chandeliers that use Swarovski Elements are design highlights at One Hyde Park

26 NEWS Rodarte’s works of fashion/art in Florence; Vogue Bambini’s sparkling kids’ fashion show

42 NORTHERN bRigHTS How Christian Dior fell for Swarovski crystals, basing an entire line on them

CONTENTS

44 PARTNERS IN SHINE Works of beauty featuring Swarovski Elements, by fashion leaders such as Viktor & Rolf and Jason Wu 58 dIvINE ANd mATERIAl focuS Swarovski Crystal Palace joined creative forces with architect John Pawson on a striking installation at St Paul’s Cathedral 62 RockET mAN Richard James brings a touch of Savile Row tailoring to Elton John’s Vegas stageshow 66 SucculENT PIEcES How leading designers have incorporated Swarovski Elements into their jewelry 74 mARy, QuEEN of RockS Mary Katrantzou has wowed fashion with her prints and crystal-bedecked creations 76 cloTH PuRPoSE Denim designer Scott Morrison describes how a new generation of the fabric has developed – plus the most exciting examples 82 gIRlS oN fIlm Duran Duran; Naomi, Cindy and the supers; Dolce & Gabbana and Swarovski… music videos do not come any more glamorous

86 SuITE dREAmS Swarovski Elements give sparkle to fashion inspired by the halcyon days of partying 96 WoRld RomANcE The latest innovations in shape, cut and color from Swarovski Elements 106 SImPlE PlEASuRES Swarovski Elements’ trend themes for spring/summer 2013 home in on the important things in life, such as heritage, authenticity, craftsmanship and romance 114 sketch Looks Long-time Swarovski collaborator Giles Deacon has an exclusive artistic reponse to the latest Swarovski Elements innovations 116 SHININg THRougH Patrick Goossens continues the work his father began 60 years ago, designing jewelry for fashion icons Schiaparelli and Balmain 120 SWARovSkI STockISTS Swarovski store locations and contact details worldwide 122 cRySTAl uNIvERSE The phenomenon of brinicles – strange columns of ice crystals in the Arctic seas

Above, from left: Fredrikson Stallard’s recent lighting creation at the Swarovski Crystal Palace; Viktor & Rolf’s dress for Swarovski Atelier’s S/S12 collection; new hue Crystal Luminous Green, as featured in this season’s range of Swarovski Elements

giuseppe zanotti design

shop at www.giuseppezanottidesign.com

printemps-ĂŠtĂŠ 2012

welcom e to salt

Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Salt, which showcases and celebrates the creative use of Swarovsk i Elements in the worlds of jewelr y, architecture, art, design, film and stage. In these pages we look both at the technological precision and artisanal skill involved in the creation of Swarovski Elements, and the way in which these then inspire the most innovative and artistic talents all over the world in a myriad of different cultural areas. Therefore, as in previous issues of Salt, we profile a combination of collaborators both long-established and new – creative talents as diverse as the rising star of fashion design Mary Katrantzou, legendary couture jeweler Patrick Goossens, pop royalty Duran Duran, architect John Pawson, design duo Fredrikson Stallard and denim guru Scott Morrison. Swarovski’s passion for nurturing new talent stems from our commitment to innovation. Thus, in this new edition of Salt you will find evidence of our ongoing partnerships with designers in a wide variety of fields. We are continually delighted with the results. We hope you will be too.

Nadja Swarovski Member of the Executive Board

Stay with Armani.

Now Open

armanihotels.com

CONTR IB UTOR S

Celebrating SwarovSki ElEmEntS VOL.4

Salt SHOW MEDIA +44 20 3222 0101 Ground Floor, 1-2 Ravey Street, London EC2A 4QP info@showmedia.net www.showmedia.net

Andy Barter

Mitchell Feinberg

Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni

Beau Grealy

Photographer

Writer

Photographer

Born in Wiltshire, England, Andy Barter works from his studio in Clerkenwell, London. Alongside his personal work, Andy shoots for magazines such as Wallpaper*, Vogue and Elle. He also works for commercial clients such as Dunhill, Harrods and Blackberry. Andy lives in north London with his partner and three children.

An American who divides his time between Paris and New York, Mitchell Feinberg has been taking luxury still life photography for more than 15 years. He has built a large and prestigious base of clientele, shooting major campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Bulgari and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as editorial content for Numéro, The New York Times Style Magazine, L’Ofﬁciel Hommes, National Geographic and Vogue.

Based in Paris, Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni is a British journalist and writer. She writes for the International Herald Tribune, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler and Elle Decor. Her biography of Sam Spiegel, the Academy Award-winning producer, was published in both the UK and the US.

Australian-born photographer Beau Grealy started taking pictures as a teenager following in the footsteps of his photographer father. Now residing in Brooklyn, Beau’s close-cropped portraits and atmospheric fashion and beauty images draw inspiration from everything around him. Beau has contributed to many publications and advertising campaigns including Topman, Vogue, i-D, V, Interview, Man About Town and Quest.

Editor-in-Chief Peter Howarth Creative Director Ian Pendleton Managing Editor Abby Rawlinson Art Director Dominic Bell Designer Pete Avery Picture Editor Juliette Hedoin Chief Copy Editor Chris Madigan Copy Editors Sarah Evans, Ming Liu, Tanya Jackson, Rupert Mellor Editorial Director Joanne Glasbey

SWArOvSkI CryStAl BuSINESS Member of the Executive Board Nadja Swarovski Fashion Communications Director Pascale Montaner Designer and Press relations Director Saskia Sissons SWArOvSkI ElEMENtS vice President Global Marketing Christoph Kargruber Director of Branding and Communications Andreas Brakonier Senior Communications Manager Vera Klotz Salt is published in Chinese, English and Japanese. Translation by Etymax; www.etymax.com

Simon de Burton

Nick Compton

Daniela Agnelli

Nick Smith

Writer

Fashion Editor

Writer

Simon de Burton is a freelance journalist and author who specialises in writing about cars, motorcycles, watches and the luxury lifestyle. His work appears in publications around the world, including the Financial Times ‘How To Spend It’ magazine, GQ, Architectural Digest and the award-winning supercar magazine EVO. He lives on Dartmoor, Devon, with his family and a pair of springer spaniels.

Nick Compton is features director of international design magazine Wallpaper*. He has written on business and lifestyle trends as well as design, photography, ﬁlm, fashion and architecture for magazines such as Details, i-D, The Observer Magazine and The Independent on Sunday Magazine.

Daniela Agnelli is the fashion director of ST Fashion and Telegraph Magazine. She grew up in Milan, Italy, and had a love of all things fashion from a early age. She moved to London 14 years ago and worked for publications in the UK and US, including Marie Claire, InStyle and Harper’s Bazaar. She is dedicated to developing new projects and ideas for herself and the Telegraph, where she has worked for the past ﬁve years.

Nick Smith is a writer and photographer as well as a former editor of Geographical magazine and a fellow of The Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society. Nick contributes to The Daily Telegraph, and his latest book, Travels in the World of Books, was published earlier this year.

Colour reproduction by FMG; www.groupfmg.com Printing by Gerin Mehrdruck; www.gerin.co.at Salt is published on behalf of Swarovski AG, Droeschistraße 15, 9495 Triesen, Principality of Liechtenstein by Show Media. © 2011 Swarovski AG. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

SwarovSki SToriES from around ThE globE STarTing wiTh gliTTEring galaS, award ShowS and fabulouS EvEnTS

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9 6

PLANET PHOTOS

award TimE The second half of 2011 was truly a star-studded period for Swarovski with a whole host of launch events, awards ceremonies and celebrations on the agenda. Highlights included the 14th Moët British Independent Film Awards, where Swarovski was proud to provide the coveted trophies. In November, a host of famous names attended the 20th Annual BAFTA Los Angeles LA Britannia Awards, among them Robert Downey Jr and Helena Bonham Carter. Highlights in December included the launch of ‘A Crystal Christmas inspired by Swarovski at Harrods’ at the iconic store in London’s Knightsbridge. Meanwhile, in New York

Swarovski Elements and Gaia&Gino unveiled ‘The Goddess Adorned’, an auction of limited-edition vases designed by Harry Allen and transformed by a host of designers and celebrities. Swarovski also proudly supported the ﬁrst ‘Arts for Human Rights’ fundraising gala to beneﬁt the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation. Held at international art company Phillips de Pury, the memorable event was attended by artists, designers, architects and actors including Vivienne Westwood, Tracey Emin, Ron Arad, John Pawson, Zaha Hadid, Marc Quinn, and Michelle Dockery from the smash-hit ITV drama downton abbey.

STARS COME OUT 1. Nadja Swarovski and Bianca Jagger at the ‘Arts for Human Rights’ gala 2. Beyoncé sparkled in Ralph & Russo couture adorned with Swarovski Elements on her ﬁrst TV special 3. Helena Bonham Carter at the 20th Annual BAFTA Los Angeles LA Britannia Awards 4. Robert Downey Jr. at the 20th Annual BAFTA Los Angeles LA Britannia Awards 5. Desiree Gruber, Kyle MacLachlan and Nadja Swarovski

at Design Miami 6. Actors Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson at the Swarovski after party for the BFI London Film Festival Awards Ceremony 7. Actress Olivia Grant at the unveiling of ‘A Crystal Christmas inspired by Swarovski at Harrods’ 8. Gaye Cevikel and Irmak Tasindi at the Gaia&Gino ‘The Goddess Adorned’ auction 9. Christian Lacroix and Nadja Swarovski at the Opéra National de

Paris at the Palais Garnier. 10. Director and writer Edgar Wright and Best British Newcomer Candese Reid at the BFI London Film Festival Awards Ceremony. 11. Isaac Manevitz and Tinsley Mortimer at the Gaia&Gino ‘The Goddess Adorned’ auction 12. Best Actor winner for Shame Michael Fassbender with actresses Imelda Staunton and Olivia Williams at the 14th Moët British Independent Film Awards

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Crystals Come to life on staGe and a dr amatiC new men’s ColleCtion

Clockwise from right: a Christian Lacroix-designed costume for La Source; Jennifer Lopez at the Summertime Ball 2011 in London; Marmèn’s ‘Trust Me’ cuff; ‘Oscar’ bracelet by Laura B

DECADENCE IN DEsIgN Established in 2004 by Dubai-based designer, Furne One, Amato Couture gained instant critical acclaim for its opulent, innovative fashion designs and hotly anticipated annual fashion shows. Keen to collaborate with one of the most desirable new talents in the fashion world, Swarovski commissioned Amato to create a one-of-a-kind wedding gown for their collector’s item book, Unbridaled, in 2006. Amato has since been inspired to use Swarovski Elements, producing show-stopping designs such as the Swarovski-encrusted gold couture dress modeled by Jennifer Lopez at the Summertime Ball 2011 in London.

For an exclusive interview with Christian Lacroix, scan this QR code

ON POINTE The highly anticipated revival of La Source opened at the Opéra National de Paris at the Palais Garnier, and Swarovski collaborated with designer Christian Lacroix on the ballet’s stunning costumes. A cast of nymphs, elves and other ethereal beings was an exciting proposition for Swarovski, and some truly spectacular costumes were created with almost two million crystals incorporated into Lacroix’s designs. Swarovski is no stranger to ballet collaborations, having worked with English National Ballet, New York City Ballet and the Rambert Dance Company. ‘Swarovski has this incredible tradition of crystal which has its roots in the past,’ Lacroix said, ‘but they are always looking to innovate... Swarovski and La Source: what beautiful chemistry!’

MALE ATTRACTION Four cutting-edge designers have collaborated on the new Swarovski CRYSTALLizED™ men’s jewelry collection – which includes cufflinks, pendants, rings and bracelets – and is inspired by and features Swarovski Elements. Lauded by Harper’s Bazaar and Japanese Vogue as the accessories designer of the moment, Anton Heunis’s dynamic rough-hewn shapes are found throughout his collection. For a sleeker aesthetic there is ian Flaherty, whose urban dash cufflinks find beauty in a geometric and monochrome design. Laura B has an impressive resume, having worked with Armani, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana before launching her own line, and exclusive to Swarovski CRYSTALLizED™ are her tribalinspired bracelets. Marmèn’s edgy and chic contemporary designs complete the fantastic four – making this elegant collection perfect for a fashion-conscious man ready to make a statement.

TO BE ONE OF A KIND lONDON - 32, BruTON sTrEET w1 BrIONI.COM

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the cr e am of young de sign talent and natur e-inspir ed chaton shape s

BRIGHT SPARKS Some of the world’s best new designers toasted the close of this year’s International Talent Support competition with the ITS#TEN fashion and awards show in Trieste, Italy. The contest supports young talent, and the participation of Swarovski Elements, which has long collaborated with both world-class designers and international fashion and design schools, underlines these goals still further. 2011’s event was specially notable, as Swarovski Elements, the main sponsor of the new area ITS#JEWELRY, founded the Swarovski Elements Jewelry Award, whose two inaugural winners won €10,000 and a six-month internship at Swarovski’s headquarters in Austria.

NATURE’S dESIGN The London Design Festival is a key cultural date, and in 2011 ﬁve pieces by artist Arik Levy for Swarovski Crystal Palace were chosen to feature in the Natural History Museum’s exhibition Designing Life, as part of the international showcase. First launched in 2009 at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, ‘Regeneration: Osmosis’ consists of three monumental Chaton Superstructures made from aluminium tubes, and two large marble Floor Jewels, and they were installed in the museum’s courtyard to stunning effect. ‘Swarovski is above all about technology,’ says multimedia artist Levy, ‘the crystal is the sparkling and poetic result of the company’s heritage, innovation and skill.’ Designing Life let ‘Regeneration: Osmosis’ demonstrate the beauty and technology of Swarovski Elements to an even wider audience.

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br illiance of batman, student bursar ie s and an iconic linger ie show

SUPERHERO ANTICS The drama of Gotham City was transported to London’s O2 arena this year, as the Batman Live stage production ﬂew in. And to create something specatacular, costume designer Jack Galloway knew just what to do. ‘I immediately knew the costumes had to be the dazzling centerpiece,’ explained Galloway. ‘And when you want sparkle, only one name comes to mind – Swarovski. Nothing even comes close to the sparkle of Swarovski Elements, especially on stage.’ Over 170,000 Swarovski Elements and 120 meters of crystal fabric illuminate 27 stage costumes, including the iconic Cat Skull.

SECRET PASSION A show-stopping highlight of 2011’s spectacular Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was a creation entitled Passion Matador, bedecked with approximately 55,000 dazzling Swarovski Elements and weighing more than eight kilos. Taking three months to fashion, the masterpiece was one of six one-of-a-kind creations by designer Jenny Manik Mercian. Mercian has collaborated with Swarovski on superb bejeweled items for the iconic lingerie show since 2005. ‘The pieces you make are only as good as the materials they’re made with,’ said Collection Designer Todd Thomas. ‘Therefore, the collaboration with Swarovski and the use of their luxurious and innovative Swarovski Elements make for some of the strongest and most dramatic pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of creating.’

To see a ﬁlm of the making of the pieces, scan this QR code

SwAROvSKI SCHOlARS ‘We are always excited to see how each designer explores the creative possibility of crystal in jewelry and fashion,’ said Nadja Swarovski at the launch of Swarovski’s new scholarship programme with Central Saint Martins. Fashion student Scarlett Tull and jewelry design student Stephanie Bila have been selected as the ﬁrst to be awarded the Swarovski Scholarships, by a panel including Nadja Swarovski and course leaders from the college. The three-year programme, which endows two ﬁnal-year students with a bursary for the year, marks a decade of collaboration between the luxury crystal brand and the London college, whose alumni include Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane.

From top: Catwoman in Batman Live; Swarovski adds passion for Victoria’s Secret; Swarovski’s ﬁrst two scholars. Opposite, from top: Swarovski Elements Jewelry Award’s winning design; Arik Levy’s creations

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roman TrEasUrEs Two unique collaborations at Altaroma, Rome’s fashion week, showcase Swarovski’s passion for innovation and excellence in design WORDS Chris Mugan

Join Italians on their evening passeggiata and you soon realize this fashionconscious nation is not only justly proud of its couture heritage, but also passionate about cutting-edge trends. These two characteristics come together twice a year at Rome’s Fashion Week, Altaroma, when Italy’s historic maisons meet the latest global developments in creativity and production. The Eternal City has a long history of high-end craftsmanship, a world away from today’s fast-moving trends. The organizers of Altaroma seek to inject the best of that heritage – the exclusivity and high standards – with newfound energy. As well as the usual round of appointments and runway shows, Altaroma devises one-off events in unique locations that draw together design, art and fashion. Naturally, Swarovski Elements wanted to contribute to such a vibrant event and for the July 2011 edition was involved in two forwardthinking projects, which reflected its desire to support both technological breakthroughs and creative talent. First, Swarovski Elements brought the film KM3D-1 to Altaroma for only its second public showing. This piece was a landmark for the company – the first time its crystals had been brought to life on film in three dimensions. Swarovski has long played an inspirational role in movie-making, but still wants to help set industry standards for high-tech innovation. Created by artist Baillie Walsh and featuring Kate Moss, this short work sees the filmmaker reunited with the supermodel for the first time since Walsh made a holographic film of Moss that was famously screened at the close of Alexander McQueen’s autumn/winter 2006 show. Devised by AnOther Magazine and its creative director Jerry Stafford, KM3D-1 portrays Moss as a goddess, inspired by those in Indian mythology, who shatters her image in an explosion of hundreds of tiny crystals. The two-minute film was shot using state-of-the-art cameras called Phantoms, specially built for the project to capture the scene in super-slow motion, at 1,000 frames per second. The sight of Moss near motionless is captivating even before the crystals appear to hurtle out of the screen – so real you might think you could reach out and touch them. Swarovski worked closely with AnOther Magazine’s team to select varieties perfect for this groundbreaking technique, amplifying the viewer’s experience. KM3D-1 was first presented as an immersive installation for two days at the renowned London gallery Haunch Of Venison during London Fashion Week in September 2010. Fittingly for a film depicting a goddess, its second showing was at the site of the ancient Temple of Hadrian, whose remains now provide the façade for Rome’s stock exchange. Watch out for further showings in the future. The second project Swarovski contributed to was a contemporary interpretation of couture fashion that brought together avant-garde ideas and sartorial tradition. Limited/Unlimited is Altaroma’s showcase for specially selected designers to express their creativity through exclusive, limited-edition pieces, whether garments, accessories or footwear. The theme for its third edition was Ceremony – a subject that inspired everything from virginal whites to mournful blacks. It was curated by Silvia Venturini Fendi, granddaughter of the iconic label’s founders and its current head of accessories. This mix of craft and innovation comes together in a concept Altaroma calls ‘neocouture’, which chimes with Swarovski Elements’ aspirations for the fashion industry. Organizers devised Limited/Unlimited to promote cuttingedge creativity among designers, by challenging them to push boundaries and

express avant-garde ideas. Swarovski Elements shares the same goal of seeking out the new and exciting in fashion, so was delighted to have the opportunity to add its support. When the project f irst began, Fendi and Altaroma selected just 12 designers. By last year Limited/Unlimited was featuring the differing outlooks and tastes of 42 entrants, all displaying their skills and imagination at the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana over two days in July. Among them was bespoke milliner Justin Smith of J Smith Esquire, who presented his ﬁrst collection in 2007. Also present were Corto Moltedo – the luxury goods brand founded by Gabrielecorto Moltedo – and the American shoe designer Nicole Brundage. Swarosvki Elements gave the designers advice and consultations on how best to employ crystals in their creations and access to the widest variety of shapes, colors and sizes. In the end, it was impossible to pick favorites from the results – each piece told its own story, highlighting the aims of Limited / Un l imited. R at her t ha n a competition, it is a platform for novel, even challenging, ideas. The same idea applies to Swarovski Elements – designers develop their own relationships with this beguiling material. Every relationship is different, but each special in their own way. Chris Mugan writes about culture for The Guardian, Observer and Independent

Opposite page, top: A bejewelled Kate Moss in KM3D-1. Below: Altaroma audiences queue for the screening and watch the ﬁlm in 3D glasses. This page, from

top: Designs by S Giardina and F Puglisi from this year’s Limited/ Unlimited that used Swarovski Elements. Below: The venue, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana

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The ďŹ lm portrays Kate Moss as a goddess, inspired by those of Indian mythology, who shatters her image in an explosion of hundreds of crystals

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Rose in bloom

Kerin Rose’s bespoke eyewear designs have been worn by the likes of Katy Perry and Rihanna – and the future is bright wORDS Lauren Milligan

CW Upfronts; Kerin Rose posing for styling brand Sebastian Professional; Rihanna at Fashion’s Night Out wearing a custom pair of Barracuda sunglasses

New York-born and -based designer Kerin Rose – whose A-Morir (meaning ‘till death’) eyewear label has been worn by fashion-savvy musicians including Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj – is a busy girl. Despite personally hand-making every one of the 500 or so pairs of glasses she last year sold in high-end boutiques worldwide – plus the nearly 100 unique projects or commissions from stars including Grace Jones, the Black Eyed Peas and Ke$ha – Rose is philosophical about the business’s projected growth. ‘I would love to have a team working with me, people who I could teach to make the pieces, but for now it’s all me,’ she told us from her New York atelier, a dedicated apartment studio space in what once was her dining room. ‘In the long term, I’d love to add a ready-to-wear collection to sit alongside my couture pieces, produced by a team I would oversee. That would mean we could create pieces that were less ﬂamboyant than my commissioned pieces. Some people love them but say, “it’s a little too much for me” – so I could do a line with just crystal accents, for example. But at the moment I want to focus on making a name for myself in eyewear. I just want to be the best at what I do, right now.’ Born and raised in New York, Rose’s appeal to the music world is perhaps no surprise considering her background. After studying classical music, playing piano and singing competitively as a youngster, Rose headed to New York University for an Honors Degree in Pop Culture History, a course she describes as ‘very nerdy’ despite its glamoroussounding title. Now, every piece she makes is named after a composer, singer or bandmember, and she uses the naming process to educate her consumers about music – passing on the ‘absolutely inextricable’ link and ‘co-dependence’ between fashion and music, which she learned from her studies.

conversation,’ she said. ‘I love that Will.i.am could be wearing a piece named after a Judas Priest band member, and that makes people think about listening to something they haven’t before. Fashion is one form of self-expression and music is another. My ideal customer would wear my glasses to the opera, and then to a punk rock show.’ And that brings us to A-Morir’s most famous and, it would seem, most perfect customer: the always surprising, never dull, queen of the opera-to-punk-rock concept, Lady Gaga. ‘I’ve been very fortunate to work with her,’ Rose said. ‘She and her team really challenge me to do things I can’t do for other people. Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry have been my three biggest clients for commissions and it’s great to work with such different and unique people who all understand the theatrical. Katy is more showgirl, so the pieces we create for her reﬂect that, while Rihanna is more obviously sexy. It’s great to have that mix.’ Indeed the creator of such envelope-pushing shapes has a unique style of her own, too, and as of summer 2012, Rose will be the new face of styling brand Sebastian Professional, joining the likes of DJ Harley-Viera Newton and fashion icon Cory Kennedy, who have both been selected for their ‘fearless’ personalities. And the materials that Rose uses for her designs, all of which are sourced in New York, also sets her apart. ‘Badass great quality’ is how she sums up her USP, and collaborating with Swarovski has helped the young designer maintain that standard. ‘It means I have access to a huge range of materials and Swarovski Elements,’ she said. ‘I showcase crystal in a different way, and recently my designs were exhibited at the Swarovski Elements platform at Accessorie Circuit in New York.’ The current and upcoming trends in eyewear look back to decades past, with labels including Miu Miu and Ralph Lauren taking a trip down memory lane: ‘We were really excited about the beautiful vintage eyewear from the winter collections,’ Rachel Duffy, accessories buying manager at Selfridges, told us. ‘For spring/summer we saw a big nod to the Forties, Fifties and Sixties on the catwalks and for eyewear and accessories, making vintage a key trend taking us right into summer.’ So are Rose’s creations so unique that they bear no relation to what is going on elsewhere in the eyewear world? ‘There’s deﬁnitely a general zeitgeist – something in the air for designers that means there is often a common thread to what we do,’ she said. ‘I don’t really look at the catwalk or what other designers are doing, but it’s reassuring to know other people are on the same wavelength. My latest collection references shapes and details from the Nineties, the Seventies and the Twenties, but generally speaking, what I do is pretty independent. It has to be: other eyewear companies, with ready-to-wear production, operate on a totally different schedule.’ That is, until Rose launches her own ready-to-wear collection, which we hope, for us, will be sooner rather than later. For more information, please visit a-morir.com

‘I like to name my pieces after musicians who are of ten not in the current

Lauren Milligan writes for vogue.co.uk

PORTRAIT OF KERIN ROSE BY EmIR ERAlP COuRTESY OF SEBASTIAN PROFESSIONAl; GETTY ImAGES; WIREImAGE

This page, from top: Lux, Dekker and Santana designs. Opposite, clockwise from left: Bootsy and Mars designs; Katy Perry wears Dekker sunglasses at the

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fashion is one form of self-expression; music is another. My ideal customer would wear my glasses to the opera, then to a punk rock showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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mEssagE from la Last Christmas, Los Angeles’ world-famous shopping destination Rodeo Drive was lit up by a sparkling installation WORDS Sarah Deeks

Clockwise from left: Swarovski’s ‘Transmission’ installation; Hollywood actress Jessica Alba unveils the installations;

Rodeo Drive. These three short blocks in Beverly Hills, California, add up to one of the most famous luxury shopping destinations in the world. Last Christmas, Swarovski Elements partnered with The City of Beverly Hills to transform the street into a dazzling light experience. Three state-of-the-art, custom-made, interactive Swarovski Elements installations lined the street’s center median, inspired by methods of information transmission – from DNA to Morse code, from text messaging to Twitter. Communication was at the heart of the collaboration, as each innovative sculpture housed an electronic screen, and by simply using a hashtag, shoppers could send their own Christmas messages which then became part of the installations. ‘We are very excited by our “Let it sparkle” partnership with Swarovski Elements,’ said Beverley Hills City mayor Barry Brucker. ‘Their creative team is phenomenal. They have integrated the theme into the decor and holiday events in original and exciting ways. The holidays are always special, but this year with Swarovski, shopping in Beverly Hills will be a magical experience.’

Actress Jessica Alba unveiled the installations as darkness fell and Rodeo Drive dazzled with crystal and light. ‘I am honored to be a part of this,’ she said. ‘What makes this evening most special is that Swarovski’s concept store Swarovski CRySTALLIzED™ is lending a helping hand to a charity that is very dear to me.’ Alba is a patron of Baby2Baby, a charity helping families in need with essential baby gear and clothing in the greater Los Angeles area. She continued, ‘I am so proud to be here and hope we are able to raise money for those who need it most this holiday season.’ Against Swarovski’s spectacular background, the boutiques of Rodeo Drive including La Perla and Escada joined in the celebrations by showcasing their exclusive products made with Swarovski Elements. Anne Fontaine and Barbara Bui were among the stores who ‘crystallized’ their windows, and Roberto Cavalli and Margherita Missoni were the ﬁrst of many designers to tweet messages on to the installations. Who would have thought this glamorous shopping destination could sparkle any brighter?

Jessica Alba with fellow screen star Jennifer Hudson; feather gown by Bebe; black shoe by Swarovski collaborator Stuart Weitzman

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JOY OF GIVING

Swarovski loves to contribute creativity and celebration to a whole spectrum of charitable causes wORDS Josh Sims

(from left) granddaughter Assisi Jackson, daughter Jade Jagger and granddaughter Amba Jackson at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation auction in New York where the chairs were unveiled

When, earlier this year, Elizabeth Hurley appeared in New York surrounded by versions of Arne Jacobsen’s famed ‘Swan’ chair, it wasn’t because she had decided to retire from the glamour business to move into the more secure one of soft furnishings. Among the chairs were two, lavishly reimagined by DB Kim of PYR and London fashion designer Holly Fulton – both onetime designers for Swarovski – and put up for auction in aid of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Upholstery, 2,700 crystals and ﬂash-happy paparazzi made a perhaps unlikely combination, but there was method in this madness, at least from Swarovski’s standpoint. Once upon a time, a company produced and sold a product and that was about the end of its concerns. But, thanks to the access to information and comment provided by the internet, combined with a greater consideration as to how to spend their money, increasingly savvy consumers are taking a more forensic look at the brands they wish to support. As more progressive brands realize they have a role beyond the merely commercial – as part of society at large – so corporate responsibility has moved center-stage. How a company behaves and uses its power and proﬁts is now as much what it sells as anything else. Hence, while the Pink Swan sale was ‘a wonderful creative project’, as Member of the Executive Board Nadja Swarovski noted, what was more important was that ‘it will make a tangible difference to the lives of women affected by breast cancer.’ Swarovski is, of course, not alone in upping the ante on such charitable work over recent years. But it can make a claim both to its fair share and to a long-term commitment: back in 2006, for example, the company transformed London’s Royal Albert Hall into a literally glittering affair – the tables were lit by the Glitterbox lanterns designed by Georg Baldele as part of the Swarovski Crystal Palace collection for the Dream Auction in aid of the NSPCC. The interim years have seen similar contributions made to a diverse range of other charities, among them Unicef, Women for Women Making a Difference

and Swarovski’s own WaterSchool, through an equally varied range of events and performances: Swarovski has supplied crystals for the sets and costumes that have featured in several productions by the English National Ballet but, more importantly as far as good causes are concerned, has also provided items for its fundraising gala auctions. Earlier this year, Swarovski supported the Artists for Women for Women International initiative at London’s Gagosian Gallery, in which a number of contemporary artists, including Bridget Riley and Richard Serra, donated specially commissioned artworks for auction. As well as the money raised, the publicity generated by such high-profile involvement raised awareness of Women for Women’s work, as well as social issues in the art world. The art world was also the backdrop this autumn when, during London’s Frieze week, the company supported Arts for Human Rights, the first Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation gala. Its auction raised more than £700,000, with £25,000 of that coming from the auction of a Swarovski ‘Blossom’ chandelier by Tord Boontje. One key award given during the evening – the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation Award, given for the first time to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to human rights or environmental issues – was also supplied by Swarovski, fashioned from a hefty 3.7kg piece of precision-cut crystal to a design by the artist Marc Quinn. It was a suitably heavyweight award for a more figuratively heavyweight accolade: one of the Swarovski/Quinn awards went, in absentia, to the artist Ai Weiwei, in recognition of his fight for free speech and democracy in China; the other was awarded to a less well-known individual, Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, chief of the Gamebey Clan of the Surei People of Rondônia in Brazil, who has done much to defend the clan’s ancestral lands in the Amazon rainforest from rapacious commercial interests. The worlds of both recipients are, clearly, a long way from Swarovski’s usual territory of craft, jewelry and fashion. As Nadja Swarovski stressed at the time, ‘the opportunity to help raise crucial awareness to help defend human dignity, liberty and freedom of expression was a privilege. Artists play an important role in exposing injustice and defending the vulnerable.’ Josh Sims is a style writer for Esquire, Wallpaper* and The Rake

Thanks largely to access to information, increasingly savvy consumers are taking a more forensic look at the brands they wish to support

NICK HARVEY

Opposite: DB Kim’s (top & bottom) and Holly Fulton’s (middle) sparkling reinventions of Arne Jacobsen’s ‘Swan’ chair. This page, from top: Nadja Swarovski (left) with Elizabeth Hurley; Bianca Jagger (second from left) with

To watch footage from the Bianca Jagger Foundation gala, scan this QR code

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RodaRte’s ItalIan-InspIR ed collectIon and spaR k lIng ev ents In new yoR k and mIlan

From top: One of 10 unique Rodarte pieces for Pitti W; Swarovski and New York department store Henri Bendel teamed up for Fashion’s Night Out; la Rinascente department store and Vogue Bambini hosted an event for children’s wear

PERFECT TEN Designer duo Rodarte debuted a 10-piece couture collection at this year’s Pitti W, the womenswear trade fair held in Florence, Italy. The breathtaking gowns were suspended in mid-air and illuminated by neon light constructions in a site-speciﬁc installation held in a disused building in the heart of the city. Inspired by Italian artworks such as Fra Angelico’s frescoes at the convent of San Marco, each intricate garment took hundreds of hours to create by hand, and were ﬁnished with over 30,000 sparkling Swarovski Elements.

liTTlE gEMS Big CiTy STylE Fashion’s Night Out returned to the Big Apple for a third year running in September, and Swarovski teamed up with iconic store Henri Bendel to create an exclusive evening of glamour. An opulent Swarovski Crystal Palace chandelier – Vincent Van Duysen’s ‘Cascade’ – stood 14ft tall in the atrium, creating a grand entrance as guests arrived. An exhibition of eight costumes featuring Swarovski Elements from Phantom of the Opera and Nine added to the experience, which also included crystallized beauty makeovers by Frédéric Fekkai, and limited edition FNO shirts embellished with Swarovski Elements in black diamond and fuchsia.

Italy’s Vogue Bambini partnered with Swarovski Elements this September to host a sparkling back-to-school event at department store la Rinascente in Milan’s Piazza Duomo. Little ones were kept busy with a photoshoot on the children’s wear ﬂoor, where an ‘enchanted world’ set was created for the day. Parents were free to indulge in some retail therapy, too, as Bonpoint, Hogan Junior, Il Gufo and many other labels showcased their captivating, crystal-inspired designs.

TOD’S BOUTIQUES: TEL. 020.74932237 - 020.72351321

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UndisCovErEd gEms The winners of a UK-wide hunt for unsigned models discuss their newfound success and shooting with Helena Christensen

FRESH FACES Reece Sanders, 19, and Freya McHugh, 21, were selected for a shoot by Helena Christensen

SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ joined a model search across Britain last July and August to ﬁnd the new faces of 2012. In partnership with the exciting new talent scouting agency Unsigned, they conducted the ultimate ‘street casting’ to scout out young, undiscovered models and give their careers a ﬁrm foothold in the industry.

The lucky winners, Freya McHugh, 21, and Reece Sanders, 19, spoke to Salt about the scouting process and being shot by a supermodel.

The tour visited 17 UK cities before culminating in London on 2 September with a spectacular in-store casting event at the SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ Café.

Freya: I was shopping with my cousin Sinéad in the Arndale center in Manchester and I was approached about the SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ model search. I was at first surprised and a little embarrassed but also very ﬂattered to be asked.

Supermodel Helena Christensen headed the judging panel and photographed the winners for the SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ campaign. She said: ‘I have been approached to do so many reality TV shows, model searches and design platforms, but I’ve always said no. I hate the fact that people feel judged in a public way. Sometimes it is more about the entertainment value than it is about the discovery.’

How were you scouted, and how did you feel when that happened?

Reece: I had just left a tattoo parlour in Nottingham and I was walking across the market square when Cesar [Perin] ran up to me. I recognised him as the scout who found [model] Alexander Beck and was pretty amazed!

How was it to shoot with Helena Christensen? Freya: Incredible! And so very surreal. Having never done any modeling before the shoot, it was great that Helena, as a respected model and photographer, gave me lots of direction and made me feel really at ease. She was so lovely and it was a pleasure to have worked with her. Reece: I loved shooting with Helena! She was so supportive and so nice. Also, as she is my celebrity crush, it was even better! Fantastic woman! Couldn’t think of one bad word to say about her.

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Fashion inspir ations in par is and dubai and a bedazzled bicycle

From top: models sparkle at Mugler’s spring/summer 2012 show; Ben Wilson’s Crystal Lowrider Bicycle; the ‘Sense of Two’ show in Dubai

lighting up the sCreen Mugler’s breathlessly awaited spring/summer 2012 collection is the subject of a short ﬁlm produced by Swarovski and co-directed by the fashion brand’s creative director Nicola Formichetti. Going behind the scenes at the Mugler show at Paris Fashion Week, the ﬁlm explores Formichetti’s inspiration and vision in bringing the collection to life with crystals. ‘The collection revolves around ideas of the anatomical and concepts of the esoteric,’ he says. ‘The idea that we had was to create different textures, and with the use of Swarovski Elements, we were able to explore and experiment with new ways of presenting garments and textures.’

To watch backstage footage of the Mugler show, scan this QR code

eastern promise

Crystal CyCle In celebration of the role that craft plays in our lives, the Power of Making exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum featured acclaimed industrial designer Ben Wilson’s stunning Crystal Lowrider Bicycle. Custom made for Swarovski, the bicycle is encrusted with 110,000 Swarovski Elements. The frame, handlebars and pedals are all adorned with crystal cupchain, and the wheels feature 140 crystal-covered spokes. The glamorous Crystal Lowrider Bicycle was one of the highlights of the V&A exhibition, which showcased over 100 ﬁnely crafted objects.

NICK JELL COPYRIGHT

Swarovski Elements brought a new design experience to the Middle East last November with the ‘Sense of Two’ show. The event showcased 11 designers from the region, who were challenged to create two pieces of haute couture, incorporating Swarovski Elements, to represent contrasting sides of their inner selves. These avant-garde designs were exhibited side-by-side on the runway in a dazzling fashion show at the Armani Hotel, Dubai. The event also featured exhibition areas highlighting how Swarovski Elements can be used to stunning effect on various items, from interiors and jewelry to clothing and accessories.

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AUTO EXOTIC

A high-ﬂying background in car design underpins Vicki von Holzhausen’s stunning collection of red carpet-ready handbags wORDS Simon de Burton

DESIGN-DRIVEN Below: Vicki von Holzhausen, suitably at home behind the wheel. Opposite page: The ‘Fury’ liquid crystal clutch in, from top, ﬂame, gilt and black

Any aﬁcionado of Walt Disney’s movie Peter Pan will know it is wise to ‘never smile at a crocodile’, but followers of fashion cannot help but fall in love with the latest creation from luxury handbag designer Vicki von Holzhausen.

In 2009, however, von Holzhausen decided to realize a long-standing ambition to establish her own fashion label. ‘I wanted to create a collection that combined luxury with an artisan approach and old-world qualities with innovation,’ she says. ‘I spent many months looking for the right people to work with until I eventually found an innovative leather craft workshop close to my studio in Malibu.’

The ‘Fury’ clutch is made from the skin of a caiman and hand-sewn with up to 70 Swarovski Elements that shimmer and sparkle like water ﬂowing over the reptile’s armored skin. But while it might appear nothing more than a luxurious and exotic bejeweled accessory, this red carpet-ready statement bag is actually brilliantly designed and chimes with the designer’s creative ethos: function is just as vital as form. 38-year-old von Holzhausen’s practical approach stems partly from an earlier phase in her career, when she worked for more than a decade in the traditionally male-dominated ﬁeld of automotive design.

As unlikely as it may sound, von Holzhausen has adapted her automobile design skills to the creation of her handbags, and conceives each model using three-dimensional computer visualization. ‘I lay out the different views rather like an architect designing a house,’ she explains. ‘The main feature of my bags is that they have a minimalist look but are, in fact, highly utilitarian and functional. You might get a bag within a bag, or a bag with hidden functions, or one that looks like a handbag but is actually a “global traveler” bag. Working with Swarovski on the “Fury” clutch has been an amazing experience. Swarovski people simply love design and the process of creating something innovative. And, naturally, if they’re going to co-brand, the product they choose to partner with must be original and of exceptionally high quality. I feel quite honored to be involved.’ Although they have been available for less than two years, von Holzhausen’s bags have already been embraced by the high-end fashion community, which has lauded everything from the clever, transformable iPhone cases to the range-topping, $2,500 alligator and washed lambskin handbags – and, of course, the ‘Fury’ clutch, which has made several red carpet appearances. But no matter how immersed von Holzhausen becomes in the world of fashion, it is unlikely she will forget her automotive roots – not least because her husband, Franz, is the design director of cutting-edge electric car maker Tesla.

Von Holzhausen had the good fortune to be raised in Pasadena, California, home to the Arts Center College of Design, which is famous for producing many top car designers. ‘I started at the Arts Center as a teenager, studying figure drawing, but then I discovered it was possible to learn about industrial design, which proved to be something that appealed to my problem-solving nature,’ she explains. ‘Industrial design covered everything from furniture to computers to household appliances. But the automotive side interested me most because it encompassed an entire world. A car is an environment in which people spend so much of their time that it’s vitally important they enjoy their surroundings.’

Simon de Burton writes for The Daily Telegraph, GQ and Financial Times

She ﬁnished her training in 1996, after which she worked in Europe for Audi before moving to Mercedes-Benz, creating show cars and advanced concept designs. Eventually returning to California, she took a job with General Motors’ Advanced Design Department, where she helped develop several highly acclaimed vehicles, including the niche-market Saturn Sky Roadster, a driver-orientated sports car.

‘I wanted to create a collection that combined luxury with an artisan approach and old-world qualities with innovation’

Gerry McGovern, head of design at Land Rover and Range Rover, is appreciative of her crossover skills. ‘I completely understand how Vicki has managed to transfer her automotive design experience to fashion,’ he says. ‘Car interiors have come a long way in terms of quality and innovation, in both mainstream and luxury sectors – they’ve almost become extensions of our homes. The materials being used are far more interesting and varied, and the female inﬂuence is being felt more strongly all the time. Women’s expectations of a car have become very high and it has become more and more acceptable to acknowledge fashion in an interior. It should be all about a sense of occasion, about being uplifted and special – all qualities that apply equally to a haute couture bag.’

Smallz & raSkind/contour

W WW . L A P E R L A. C O M

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TREND TALK

Flashing ﬂesh, clashing prints and mesmerising metallics are all high on the SS12 fashion agenda. Salt breaks it down wORDS Sarah Deeks

01. Sea siren Make like a mermaid in shimmering fabrics and pearlescent tones. Movement is key, so choose ﬂuid, draping shapes that allow you to sashay with style.

Chanel, spring/summer 2012

02. Dare to bare Flash a taut and toned midriff this spring with an on-trend crop top. Wear in loose silk or body-con cotton with high-waisted bottoms for a sophisticated look. Dolce & Gabbana, spring/summer 2012

03. Printworks Prints are big and bold for the new season, so prepare to be brave. Wear yours head to toe or clashing for a high-fashion ﬁnish. Lanvin, spring/summer 2012

04. Candy colors Cute, nostalgic party frocks in good-enough-to-eat candy colors were big news on the catwalks for spring 2012. Look for A-line shapes and frills in powder pinks and baby blues. Viktor & Rolf, spring/summer 2012

05. Laced up Lace got a futuristic makeover on this season’s runways, with precision laser-cutting techniques creating beautiful delicate detailing.

JASON LLOYD EVANS

Louis Vuitton, spring/summer 2012

06. Razzle dazzle It’s time to shine. Whether sparkling in silver or gleaming in gold, make sure you sprinkle some stardust on your wardrobe this season.

Giles, spring/summer 2012

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GRAND DISPLAYS

A debut collaboration with Harrods at Christmas saw Swarovski create a set of unforgettable holiday windows and work with more than 70 brands on a series of irresistible one-off pieces WORDS Emma O’Kelly

By the time celebrity chefs had started popping up on TV late last year to share the secret of the perfect roast turkey, my doormat was heaving with charity gift catalogs and my Christmas palpitations had begun. All that cooking! All that shopping! Oh, to hop on a plane and escape the long, cold nights. Then I thought of the Harrods Christmas windows that my mother always took me to, and lo! My inner Grinch was gone. In recent years, I remember the James Bond windows, to mark the launch of Quantum of Solace in 2008, the ruby-slipper boudoir that was central to the Wizard of Oz theme, and the magical Peter Pan and the Lost Boys display. The latest display was Narnia meets 21st-century Doctor Zhivago, courtesy of Swarovski, which filled the store’s 24 windows with its ‘Crystal Christmas’. Mannequins with dreadlocks channeled Tilda Swinton’s White Witch and struck ballet poses in opulent rooms where pre-Russian Revolution furniture was teamed with fur rugs, feathers, silverware, and chandeliers. There was crystal everywhere: giant shards of it on which mannequins languished, thousands of beads sewn on to dresses, and hundreds of strands of the crystal curtains Swarovski designed for the Oscars. Passers-by stopped to photograph a carousel of feather-clad dancing girls, while commuters waiting for a bus gazed at the £230,000 Ralph & Russo couture gown, bedecked with 152,000 Swarovski Elements. With its fishtail silhouette and dramatic train, the ‘Winter Floral’ dress was the installation’s pièce de résistance. Ralph & Russo’s creative director Tamara Ralph drew inspiration from Twenties Hollywood and the dress oozed vintage glamour, but she is no stranger to the modern-day red carpet, having designed bespoke frocks for the likes of Angelina Jolie, Eva Longoria, and Penélope Cruz. She and partner Michael Russo have used Swarovski Elements on their gowns since they started out in 2007 and, in 2010, Harrods was the first store in the world to stock their creations, so the collaboration was an obvious one. ‘Many of our gowns incorporate Swarovski Elements and their variety is endless,’ Ralph said. ‘Each stone and color provides a different effect, and the type of crystal we use depends on the design and look we’re after.’ All Ralph & Russo gowns are made the old-school, haute-couture way. Each one begins as a sketch and is draped, cut and pinned around the client’s body, then stitched and embellished by hand in the duo’s London atelier. Ralph said: ‘“Winter Floral”

took hundreds of hours to complete, and 25 couturiers were needed to hand-bead and embellish the cascade of crystal.’ In another window, in what was, remarkably, a ﬁrst for Swarovski, a popup jewelry store featured the autumn/ winter 2011 collection, several limitededition pieces created exclusively for Harrods, and Argentinian jeweller Rodrigo Otazu’s collection for Atelier Swarovski. Dotted around the store were archive pieces from the Runway Rocks catwalk jewelry collection. Among them was the ‘Bird’s Nest Headdress’, designed in 2006 by Shaun Leane, Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen, which featured eggs made of blue topaz and smoky quartz, and the ‘Goddess’ crown by Farah Khan that Beyoncé wore for the shoot for her latest album, 4. Swarovski’s glittery presence was felt on every ﬂoor: in menswear, crystals were embroidered on to socks by Falke, men’s suits and slippers by Billionaire Italian Couture, and sewn into Thomas Pink shirt cuffs. Cards, wrapping paper, lingerie, shoes and perfume bottles were all sprinkled with Swarovski. If you fancied a crystal-encrusted Mini there was one by the food hall. How about sparkly bed sheets by Frette or glittery cushions by Fendi Casa? Or a jewelcovered Kinesis training machine by Technogym? It was all there. Swarovski collaborated with an astonishing 70 brands, from Lancôme to Estée Lauder, Ladurée to La Perla, to name a few, to produce one-off and limited-edition pieces. Unsurprisingly, the iconic Harrods tote bag was also Swarovski-ed. Marios Schwab and Erdem each created one for a silent charity auction (minimum bid: £500). When I passed by, the bidding box was nearly full. As store image director Mark Briggs said: ‘Working with Swarovski on Crystal Christmas was the perfect inspiration for us to deliver a truly spectacular set of displays.’ Emma O’Kelly is editor-at-large at Wallpaper* magazine

SEASON SPARKLE Above Ralph & Russo’s ‘Winter Floral’ couture gown. Swarovski collaborations, facing page, clockwise from top short white dress, Azzoro; high heels, Salvatore Ferragamo at Kurt Geiger; classic gift box, Godiva; holder

for La Prairie skin caviar luxe cream; women’s wax cotton biker jacket, Barbour; macaroon box, Ladurée; rings, Atelier Swarovski by Rodrigo Otazu; vase, Prouna; creme de corps, Kiehl’s. Center Champagne trufﬂe box, Charbonnel et Walker

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all seeing

Fredrikson Stallard’s piercing and dramatic lighting design for Swarovski Crystal Palace is more than meets the eye wORDS Michael Prodger

The eye is an object inescapably rich in symbolism. Among other things it stands for the window to the soul, the door to perception and, as it appears on every dollar bill, an image of God’s all-seeing omniscience. The eye acts simultaneously as both the physical and the metaphysical means of seeing; and it expresses love and hate, clarity and befuddlement. The diameter of the human eye is a mere 24mm, but its depths are fathomless. It is no coincidence that, from Disney ﬁlms to manga comics, the eyes of the characters are shown oversized: as the visionary artist William Blake put it, ‘As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.’ Despite all this, in art, the eye has rarely been treated as a subject in its own right. Ways of seeing, yes; perspective, yes; color perception, yes; even optical anomalies, yes. But the eye itself? Hardly ever. Perhaps that is why it appears as such a fascinating subject for the Swedish-British design duo Fredrikson Stallard – they come to it without cultural baggage and can, in a literal sense, see it afresh. Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard are not product designers in any traditional sense. Their work straddles the design-art divide and, although they produce objects that are nominally chandeliers or benches or tables, what they really make is sculpture. Over the past decade, they have been honored with the Red Dot Design Award and the Furniture Design Fellowship and have had pieces bought by the V&A in London and New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. They have also had a long partnership with Swarovski Crystal Palace (SCP). SCP is Swarovski’s experimental project in which many of the world’s leading designer-makers – such as Ron Arad and Zaha Hadid – have collaborated with the company and used its crystals as a key material in pieces that expand the possibilities of lighting, design and architecture. Now in its 10th year, the project has since expanded into the art world, and for the ﬁrst time will be present at Design Miami/Art Basel. For this globally important show, SCP’s natural choice was Fredrikson Stallard.

James Harris

This is the ﬁfth collaboration between the two. It started in 2007 when Fredrikson Stallard designed the exploding Pandora chandelier, and continued to encompass the new chandeliers they created for the Savoy Grill in 2010. What they have come up with for Design Miami/Art Basel is something new again. ‘Iris’ is a suite of four separate circular pieces in metal and crystal that imitate both the human eye and the large-scale directional lighting used in hospitals and photographers’ studios. Each semi-circular object is 1.5m wide and ﬁlled with 600 hand-cut Swarovski Elements. The outer ‘dish’ and ‘pupil’ are

made of metal that has been treated with various different finishes, from gold to Corten (weathered steel). One of these eyes tilts on a huge tripod as if it had been taken from a crystal-encrusted filming stage. Beneath the crystals in each is a light source that brings the whole thing to life. The geometric layout differs – in some they are arranged in straight rays of crystals of increasing size; in others, the rays are curved, mimicking the Fibonacci patterns found in the center of sunflowers and other plants. Because of the way the crystals are laid out, each piece is almost a pixel, refracting light in a different way, so just as every human eye is like no other, nor are these. The way the diffracted light interacts with the sheen of gold or the matte patina of lead gives them further liquidity, and plays games with different levels of sparkle. The more you look, the more you see. Eyes are designed to absorb light; however, the pieces comprising ‘Iris’ generate it so that object and viewer lock in a bizarre who-blinks-first staring match. The design duo hopes this interaction will give the spectator a glimpse into psychological realms, ‘a reality where all things are deeper, darker and altogether more fantastic’. It is the sort of magic that is practised by stage hypnotists who can distor t perception by instructing their volunteer to ‘look into my eyes’. Such transitions depend, of course, on the susceptibility of the viewer, but even the most unromantic will admit that, irrespective of their emotional potency, these are objects of great beauty and craft. They might find, too, that, as is often said of portraits, these huge, sparkling, disembodied eyes follow you around the room. Michael Prodger is the art critic for Standpoint magazine

DOUBLE VISION Top Patrik Fredrikson (left) and Ian Stallard with their ‘Iris’. Above To watch an interview with Frederikson Stallard and Nadja Swarovski, scan this QR code

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light work

Pioneering interior design company Candy & Candy’s long relationship with Swarovski continues with a wonderful collaboration at One Hyde Park WORDS James Medd

beautiful and unique chandeliers, one of which contains a bespoke-cut crystal which was specially produced for exclusive use in One Hyde Park.’ This one-of-a-kind creation is housed in the Formal Reception and takes an abstract form composed of unique bespoke-cut crystal components in hundreds of strands. For the Entrance Hall, the design is a classical rectangular crystal light feature that telescopes from ceiling to ﬂoor, while the dining room is graced by a semi-spherical lattice of crystals, a modern take on Art Deco.

One Hyde Park is perhaps the world’s most prestigious address. In the heart of London’s K n i g hts b r i d g e, i t c o m b i n e s c u t ti n g- e d g e architecture by Rogers Stirk Harbour with unrivaled views of Hyde Park to one side and Europe’s most famous luxury shopping district on the other. Built to the highest specifications, it has also been ﬁnished to the very highest degree of diligence and quality by Candy & Candy, the pioneering interiordesign company.

CLEAR VISION One Hyde Park is a superb showcase for one of many inspired collaborations between Swarovski and Candy & Candy

In short, it’s precisely the kind of venue you would expect to ﬁnd Swarovski, so it’s no surprise that the two companies are collaborating to create three new chandeliers for one of the building’s famed Penthouses. ‘One Hyde Park is one of the most iconic property-development projects in the UK and we are excited to be part of it,’ says Nadja Swarovski, Member of the Executive Board, Swarovski Crystal Business. ‘Candy & Candy’s design team have incorporated Swarovski Elements into three

For Nicholas Candy, co-founder and CEO of Candy & Candy, the decision to work with Swarovski was a simple one. ‘As a luxury brand itself, Swarovski is all about making a unique, glamorous and spectacular statement,’ he says, ‘and there is no other brand or manufacturer able to do this in the same way.’ The relationship dates back 10 years to Monaco’s La Belle Epoque property, refurbished in grand style by Candy & Candy with two Swarovski Elements chandeliers taking pride of place. ‘Swarovski Elements were the perfect way to instantly convey glamour and luxury,’ says Nicholas Candy. ‘We used over 23,000 in a custom-made chandelier in the Grand Entrance and another sevenmetre high floor-to-ceiling chandelier was created for the main staircase – one of only two of its kind in the world.’ It’s easy to see why the two work so well together. ‘Candy & Candy are pioneers in bespoke design and sumptuous interiors and Swarovski’s innovative lighting products sit well within these environments,’ says Nadja. ‘We share an appreciation of elegance, sophistication and cutting-edge design.’ Nicholas agrees. ‘At Candy & Candy, we don’t have a speciﬁc type of interior suitable for a high-net-worth individual,’ he explains, ‘we design fully bespoke interiors of any style for any client. Our designers work hard to push the boundaries of design, and that’s something Swarovski understands and is able to achieve.’

www.canali.it

126-127 New Bond Street, Tel. 0207 2903 500 london.bondst.shop@canali.it

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norTHErn brigHTs Discovering a mesmerizing effect on crystals led to the collaboration with Christian Dior on a collection inspired by the Aurora Borealis WORDS Maria Doulton

Smack bang in the middle of the Fifties, while the world was fascinated by jet travel, space exploration and hairspray, Manfred Swarovski was tinkering away at the Tyrolean headquarters of the crystal company founded and named by his predecessors who made a business out of their clever ways with cutting crystals. In Wattens, Austria, Swarovski was working on tests for coating the surface of crystals. The result, whether intended or not, brought a mesmerizing effect similar to nature’s greatest spectacle, the Northern Lights. ‘Even on initial examination, my father recognized that he was holding a spectacular innovation in his hands,’ says his son Helmut Swarovski, who worked on the project with his father. ‘He immediately sent the Swarovski Elements to Liechtenstein-based Balzers, the first company in the world to produce coating machines, in order to investigate the possibilities of serial production. The unbelievable happened! The crystals transformed by means of coating, and shimmered and changed from a fascinating green to blue, and then violet and then to a magical red.’ Realizing he had a winner in his hands, Swarovski showed remarkable commercial and marketing savvy. Rather than add them to the house’s growing ranks of products, he thought that these crystals, which played with light much like an opal, had to be treated differently, and he had ambitious plans for them. He started by naming them after the awe-inspiring phenomena, the Aurora Borealis. Swarovski then prepared for a trip to Paris to visit one of the biggest names of the decade: Christian Dior, the man who brought glamour to post-war Europe. Dior’s opulent New Look of nipped-in waists, extravagant flounces of fabric and structured jackets shunned the scrimping and ‘make do and mend’ mode of the war years. As Dior was busy with his chic creations, Swarovski turned up in Paris with the perfect accompaniment: a suitcase full of enticing crystals of the highest quality. Dior saw the potential in the Aurora Borealis crystals and he went on to create a range of costume jewelry to complement his couture offerings. In fact these jewels are now considered to be his most iconic costume jewelry designs. So taken with these crystals was Dior that even some of his evening gowns were embroidered with them. Like all great designs, Dior’s Aurora Borealis jewels lure our subconscious into conjuring up rich references, and they elicit an emotional reaction as would, say, a whiff of perfume or a distant tune. In the case of these gems, splendidly bedizened maharajahs or magnificent Tudor monarchs come to mind. Large crystals cut like old-mine diamonds, surrounded by robust gold settings, are swagged in rows, suggesting power and splendor: a message not lost on the most influential women of the time who were photographed adorned with clusters of such shimmering color on their lapels, necks and wrists – signed Dior and masterminded by Swarovski. Maria Doulton edits specialist website thejewelleryeditor.com

COUTURE STARS As with Christian Dior, designers such as Jeanne Lanvin and Roberto Capucci featured Swarovski Elements

PArtners in shine Swarovski has teamed up with top designers using Swarovski Elements to create dazzling new looks for spring/summer 2012 PHOTOGRAPHY Beau Grealy STYLING Kate Sebbah

Mugler White asymmetric dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Mugler

J.W. Anderson Multi-paneled dress, made with Swarovski Elements, J.W. Anderson; shoes, Manolo Blahnik for Antonio Berardi; gold-plated ‘Camden’ bracelet with jet crystals, Atelier Swarovski by Juan Carlos Obando; all other jewelry, stylist’s own

Mary Katrantzou Chiffon and silk ‘Iron Lung’ dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Mary Katrantzou; shoes, Manolo Blahnik for Antonio Berardi; pyramid-shaped ‘Giza’ bracelet in Crystal Sahara, Atelier Swarovski by Zaldy; all other jewelry, stylist’s own

Viktor & rolf Blue silk dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Viktor & Rolf; pyramid-shaped ‘Giza’ bracelet in Crystal Sahara, Atelier Swarovski by Zaldy; all other jewelry, stylist’s own

RodaRte Purple draped satin dress, embroidered with Georgette and Swarovski Elements, Rodarte; pyramid-shaped ‘Giza’ bracelet in Crystal Sahara, Atelier Swarovski by Zaldy; all other jewelry, stylist’s own

Jason Wu Hand-embroidered peplum dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Jason Wu; jewelry, stylistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own.

craig lawrence hand-knitted rose-gold dress, made with swarovski Elements, Craig Lawrence; jewelry, stylistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own

Fashion Coordinator: Pop Kampol hair: shin arima MaKE-UP: ralph siciliano PhotoGraPhErâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant: Greg Lewis ModEL: alyona at Marilyn Models

divine and material focus In celebration of the 300th anniversary of the completion of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Swarovski Crystal Palace teamed up with the architect John Pawson to create a unique installation. ‘Perspectives’ invites visitors to see the cathedral’s interior in an entirely new light WORDS Nick Compton PhOtOgRaPhy Gilbert McCarragher

The architect John Pawson knows how to handle ecclesiastical architecture and ascetic spaces. When he emerged on the architectural scene in the early Eighties, he seemed heaven-sent, promoting calm and order after the clutter and discord of post-modernism – an architectural movement that made some sense on paper but little if any in bricks and mortar. An Eton-educated Yorkshireman, Pawson did not start formal architecture training (which he never completed) until he was almost 30. However, by then, he already had a clear idea of what he wanted to do anyway. He had been traveling and teaching in Japan, arriving intent on becoming a Buddhist monk, but abandoning that idea after half a day of polishing floors in a monastery, and drifting into the circle of the designer and architect Shiro Kuramata. And when he finally came to create spaces, whether a monastery in Bohemia, a Calvin Klein store on Madison Avenue or a house in Tokyo, they were organized around the principle of having as much ‘nothing’ going on as possible. They were temples to high-end emptiness, the slow movement of light and shadow, elegant balance, the best materials, perfect proportion and pure white, sometimes grey, planes. These were spaces that not only offered little in the way of distraction, but sought to pitch you toward your personal deity, be it the Buddha or the god of tight-fitting trunks. Pawson became the favorite architect for those who liked their spaces luxuriously vacant. And, as much as it might leave Prince Charles palpitating, his architecture has come to represent the contemporary ideal for sacred, or at least spiritual, places. Last year was the 300th anniversary of the completion of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. As part of London Design Week, Swarovski Crystal Palace was asked to mark the anniversary by creating a unique installation – a piece

NEW REFLECTION Previous page The detail of St Paul’s Geometric Staircase seen afresh. This page, from left A sketch of the tower and the two lenses above and below the staircase; the 40cm meniscus at the foot of the staircase is the largest lens Swarovski has ever produced; a spherical convex mirror was then hung 23m above it; John Pawson with his design. Above To watch footage of the the installation of this artwork in St Paul’s, scan the QR code

that would at once celebrate and provide a fresh take on Wren’s masterpiece. Pawson seemed the natural, if not pre-ordained, collaborator on the project. The result, ‘Perspectives’, installed last September and in situ until January, represents perhaps a new high point of Swarovski’s series of one-off design pieces. Now in its 10th year, the Swarovski Crystal Palace program began with a simple mission: to reinvent the chandelier. But it quickly grew in ambition and scale, pulling in the cream of the world’s designers and architects, including Tom Dixon, Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid, Arik Levy, Yves Behar and Ross Lovegrove, to create startling experiments in glass, crystal, technology and light. These pieces wowed audiences at major design fairs and became a real showcase for innovation. Pawson’s piece is perhaps the simplest and the most effective. But then his mission was different: to create a piece that responded to the remarkable things around it.

As he suggests, the only way to approach this commission was – excuse the pun – to focus. ‘St Paul’s is one of the most recognizable buildings in the country,’ he says. ‘Inevitably, it’s the grand architectural moves that everyone knows – the west elevation, the nave and the dome. The cathedral is an immensely complex work.’ But, while St Paul’s is about extraordinary baroque spectacle, Pawson is very much not. So he headed to a quiet, but quietly dramatic, part of the cathedral. ‘I was given the chance to turn the focus on a less familiar element, the Geometric Staircase, which is a detail, but also a complete architectural moment in its own right,’ says Pawson. The staircase is a remarkable cantilevered helix spiraling upwards through a stone chamber and only the second example of the form in the country – the

ﬁrst was by Inigo Jones, after an idea by Palladio. It was designed originally to give the cathedral ’s dean a private walkway to his library. Pawson’s idea – and a respectful nod to Wren’s fascination with science – was to turn the staircase into a giant, if impossibly elegant, optical device. ‘This is about offering a spatial experience based around a single, sharply honed perspective. The form this experience takes is shaped by Wren’s own interest in creating scientiﬁc instruments out of buildings.’ For Swarovski, Pawson’s project was a real technical stretch, using the largest lens Swarovski has ever produced. Actually, it measures only 40cm. But producing a perfect lens of this size is no mean feat – it takes three weeks just to cool after production. This meniscus – in lay terms, a lens that is concave on one side and convex on the other – was sat at the foot of the spiral staircase on an even larger mirrored-steel hemisphere, another remarkable creation, produced by craftsmen in Cantù in northern Italy. A spherical convex mirror was then hung 23m above it in the tower’s cupola. Visitors who stood around it at the bottom of the staircase could then enjoy an astonishing composite double-take of the tower’s 88 steps. The installation allowed them to see both up the tower and down at the same time. For Pawson, always intent on pushing away distractions to leave something essential, the device also offered a way of editing the view of the tower, producing radical crops and focusing in on details. For some of the people who get to enjoy being in and around St Paul’s every day, the Swarovski/Pawson collaboration is as much about the divine as it is the material. The Reverend Canon Mark Oakley, treasurer of St Paul’s, is in charge of the cathedral’s devotional arts program. ‘The meditative meniscus enriches our understanding of Wren’s work,’ he enthuses. ‘It alerts us to the fact that transformations often occur when we become more visually literate.’

Visitors who stood around this lens at the bottom of the staircase could then enjoy an astonishing composite double-take of the tower’s 88 steps

As Oakley points out, Pawson’s piece is part of a long history of artistic patronage for the cathedral. But what marks it out is its generosity. ‘This is not a work of art that is asking you to look at itself. It’s not a show-off piece. It’s saying, don’t look at me, look at this. Look at this staircase, this beautiful geometry, this work of art. John Pawson invites us to observe the Geometric Staircase with a deepened focus. Like the spiritual life itself, here we are invited to look within to see out with greater clarity and wonder.’

Nick Compton is the features director of Wallpaper* magazine

rocket man The man behind Elton Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sparkling stage costumes is Savile Row tailor Richard James. The designer follows in the footsteps of Gianni Versace and Yohji Yamamoto, and it has been quite a show from start to ďŹ nish

There are few more prodigious shoppers than Sir Elton John. After all, his purchasing power is almost macroeconomic in scale and he indulges himself regularly. And it was through a shopping trip to Mayfair that Sir Elton met Richard James, the man credited with having reinvented Savile Row when he first opened his shop there back in 1992. ‘It was about 16 years ago,’ explains James, ‘and David Furnish came into the shop, bought some clothes and must have recommended that Elton come in. So a few days later he arrived and was very sweet. He also bought a lot of things – as he does. Indeed, by chance Patrick Cox was in the shop at the same time and Elton had heard that he had just customized a series of Velocifero scooters in gold, so he immediately ordered one for David. Elton then phoned me up the next day and asked if I would like to come to his house in Windsor for lunch. I was terrified but had a great time and we have been friends ever since.’ Of course for someone like James, having Elton John as a friend can be very helpful. Indeed, he recalls the time when the bright green signature Richard James bags (these days they are white) containing the star’s purchases stretched the entire length of the Savile Row shop. Then there was another time when Elton called him from the car, ‘to say he was coming in with Gianni Versace,’ he remembers. ‘He arrived with David, Versace and Versace’s boyfriend, Antonio D’Amico. We do four sizes in the shop – 38, 40, 42 and 44 – and they were each one of these sizes so they bought everything!’ But despite this very fruitful relationship, it was only in 2011 that Sir Elton and James would actually work on a project together – and that project was the stage outfits for Sir Elton’s Las Vegas spectacular, The Million Dollar Piano. ‘I think it came about after Prince William and Kate’s royal wedding,’ explains James. ‘We had dressed Elton in his morning suit for that and he looked slightly different and garnered some very nice comments. We had given him a lemon waistcoat – very traditional – and had brought him some black-and-white ties but when my assistant arrived at the fitting in Windsor, he was wearing a satin lilac tie and Elton liked it so much he took it off him! And he looked great. ‘A week after the wedding he called me up and asked me if I would do his stage clothes for Vegas. I was gobsmacked. I know how big that is. I have known him since Versace was doing his stage clothes. Then it was Yohji Yamamoto. And now it’s me. That’s pretty good company to be in.’ James had worked with other musicians on tour in the past, including the Eurythmics and Oasis. ‘But that was with great clothes, rather than costumes,’ he admits. So he and Jo Levin, the fashion director of British GQ and another old friend of Sir Elton’s, decided that the costume should be based on the morning suit – this was particularly suitable as Levin once famously declared that Elton John was a ‘modern-day Mozart’. One of John’s professional quirks, however, is that once he has his team on board he does not want to see anything – not the set, the lighting or the costumes – until two days before the show. So the first people James had to speak to were the lighting engineers. ‘The only rule they had was that it should be sparkly,’ he says, ‘so we decided to go rococo in colors of bottle green, burgundy and midnight blue.’ Next stop was Swarovski to see what they could come up with. ‘They were thrilled,’ says James. ‘They had never done

to see what the crystals would look like in action, James persuaded John’s office to find him a professional studio. they got him the royal opera house

such a big project for menswear before and Nadja Swarovski became personally involved. So much so I persuaded Swarovski to be a sponsor of the show.

pride of vegas Previous page The star on stage in one of James’s many creations TrUe specTacle This page, clockwise from far left The standout piece is a crystal-encrusted cloak John wears for his homage to liberace; John’s show costume collection is one of swarovski’s biggest menswear projects to date; James in his studio; bottle green, burgundy and midnight blue were the show’s main color themes. Above To watch an exclusive interview with richard James, scan this Qr code

‘The cr ystals themselves come on a sheet and you simply iron them on. They are amazing.’ Obviously John had to b e a b l e to m ove d u r i n g h i s performance so the Swarovski Elements were most heavily encrusted on the shoulders, and then fewer further down the body. ‘But we put crystals on the panel under the vent of the jacket so that the audience would have a flash when Elton flicked the tails up to sit down,’ laughs James. James still did not know, however, what the crystals would actually look like on stage, so he managed to persuade John’s office to find him a professional studio where he could see them in action. ‘In fact, they got me the Royal

Opera House,’ he says. ‘We were given 15 minutes on the stage with a big white spotlight to test the effect. When Elton found out he called me up to say “How camp!”’ The next problem was to get the clothes out to Las Vegas. ‘I was terrified about this,’ says James. ‘A few years previously we had made a £2,500 pair of white gold and baroque pearl cufflinks for a customer, and had sent them by courier to San Francisco. For a piece like this, the pearl is glued in but the freezing temperatures in the aircraft’s hold had affected it so the pearls simply fell out. I didn’t want this to happen to the crystals.’ So it was arranged to fly everything in the pressurized section of the hold, where temperatures are much higher. And so far, not a single crystal has dropped off. The most spectacular piece is a metallic gold cloak so densely smothered in Swarovski Elements that you can’t see the cloth underneath. It stretches about 10ft along the floor – and is too heavy for John to take off by himself, so in the show, he has to rely on two cellists who are also on stage performing with him. ‘It was designed for the finale – ‘The Circle of Life’ from The Lion King – but Elton loved it so much he wanted to wear it for his entrance as a homage to Liberace. He played Vegas. Elvis played Vegas. And now it’s Elton.’

Robert Johnston is the associate editor of GQ

THIS PAGE: Cuff, SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ by Jayde by Melissa Kandiyoti. OPPOSITE: Crescent pendant, ATELIER SWAROVSKI by Konstantin Kakanias

succulent pieces Several leading designers have incorporated Swarovski Elements into their work to create sumptuous jewelry for spring/summer 2012 PHOTOGRAPHY Mitch Feinberg STYLING Molly Findlay

OppOsite: Laurel necklace, Atelier swarovski by philip Crangi. this pAge: hopi bracelet, AteLier swArOvski by eric Daman

THIS PAGE: Elden pendant, ATElIEr SwArovSkI by Juan Carlos obando. oPPoSITE: Necklace, SwArovSkI CrySTAllIzEd™ by Jayde by Melissa kandiyoti

OppOsite: triangular ring; shadow ring; and square ring, all Atelier swArOvski by Zaldy. tHis pAGe: long Bolster necklace, Atelier swArOvski by Christopher kane

MARY, QUEEN OF ROCKS Not long ago she was sleeping on a bed under her desk dreaming of crystals and prints. But today Mary Katrantzou is the toast of London fashion

WORDS Sarah Mower

‘You can see the moment it came on, in the video. Everybody in the front row turns to the left in their seats and leans right out to see.’ Mary Katrantzou is giggling about the reaction to the finale dress in her spring/summer show: a 15-kilo construct of crystal made to look like crushed tin cans and flowers. ‘It took forever to make – a tornado or swirl of pink cans. I wanted to have one piece which used crystals embellished to their full excess.’ She remembers, boggling at the flashback, ordering ‘two huge crates’ of sparkling Swarovski Elements for her team to work into the piece which, for her, epitomized the visual message of the collection – a collision between the crushed car metal sculpture of the artist John Chamberlain, and fields of tulips and daisies. Through the internet, the sculptor John Chamberlain saw her work. ‘He wrote out of the blue and said he liked it, and could we meet next time I’m in New York,’ Katrantzou enthuses. ‘He’s a major, senior contemporary artist. I am a huge fan, and I’d no idea if he’d even approve. It’s just amazing.’ She seems as happy about this as the considerable fashion plaudits she received. But then this 28-year-old Greek has been garnering great reviews since she set up her label, on a prayer and a few simple printed trompe l’oeil shift dresses, in 2008, right in the middle of the last financial crisis. ‘I was just out of Central Saint Martins. Banks were crashing. I didn’t even know if buyers would be at

all interested. So I was very cautious and just had this one tiny rail of shift dresses – which the British Fashion Council let me take to Paris with them. But, immediately, they sold.’ With spring/summer 2012, the number of stockists who placed orders for Katrantzou’s new collection reached 160 – which has to set some kind of a record for a young designer. At the British Fashion Council’s showroom in the Marais in Paris, she was mobbed by buyers from America, China, Singapore, Korea and Europe. Then came miles of Katrantzou editorial, as her clothes for spring/summer and from the incredible hit autumn/ winter ‘objets d’art’ collection, were being worn by Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Alexa Chung, Solange Knowles and swathes of American partygoers. ‘Usually, we don’t know what’s coming out [in the press] because people are buying themselves,’ she says, still sounding stunned at the scale and spontaneity of her success. So Mary Katrantzou might well and truly be said to have ‘emerged’ – an all-round creative brainiac and preternatually brilliant businesswoman who has shot from nowhere in the space of three years. In the past six months she’s traveled the world, and picked up the ‘Emerging Talent – Womenswear’ award at the British Fashion Awards in December in London. ‘When I ﬁrst came to London, I thought, oh, nobody will ever be interested in me. I thought what I do, coming from print, wouldn’t be press-friendly, even,’ she says, with characteristic modesty. She is not just a darling of fashion editors, though. Even her most extreme dresses are selling too, targeted by avid private collectors and sought by the art establishment. The most complex ‘Jewel Tree’ dress of the ‘objets d’art’ collection (on the cover of the last issue of Salt), hand-embroidered in cross-hatched 3-D ﬂowers and studded with vast crystals, was sold in 18 editions – a number that could rival orders taken by a Paris couture house. Except in this case all the work is being done by a team of fast-learning graduates and interns at Mary’s studio in Islington, north London.

JASON LLOYD EVANS

The way she has built up her technique with Swarovski Elements shines a revealing side-light on her intellectual capabilities, creative curiosity, and sheer ability to learn at speed. ‘Swarovski has been with me from the very first show I did, which were dresses with trompe l’oeil perfume bottles on the front with heat-fix crystal applications. But I was so new to it, I didn’t know how to use the materials in any other way than classic and flat. I loved the way it glimmers – it’s really pretty. But it took me two or three seasons to get into what I could do, and Swarovski have been brilliant, showing me their archive of how people have used crystal before, so it opens my mind to what can be done, how to go further than, or deviate from, something done before. And I’ve discovered how to heighten and decorate what I do in whole new ways.’ Hold the skirt of one of her embroidered ‘Aquarium’ dresses in your hand, and you see how far she’s come – the violet and fuchsia embroidery undulates like a coral-reef underwater. Mind-blowing. Considering she was working out of a rent-free office the size of a cupboard at the Centre for Fashion Enterprise in London’s East End (and sleeping on an airbed under her desk) while she was making her

PRINTS CHARMING Opposite, from left: Katrantzou on the catwalk, AW10, AW11, SS11, SS12; above, SS11, SS12; below, Mary Katrantzou at work To see a ﬁlm of the making of Mary Katrantzou’s tin can dress, scan this QR code

breakthrough collection last summer, Katrantzou has arguably defied expectations. Print-trained designers often struggle to cut clothes as well as ready-to-wear designers, but she has defied that norm, too. ‘I think about it as making a second skin for the body,’ she says, speaking like the architecture student she once was at Rhode Island School of Design, before transferring to do an MA in fashion at Central Saint Martins in London. ‘And it helps to be a woman,’ she adds. ‘You think about where things can be placed to be optically flattering.’ Now her ‘bowl’-shaped skirts have been copied in many other designer collections and the daring and originality of her work is setting the pace in print. Of all the designers who have tried digital print, she is the one who has become its artistic genius – a talent she exerts at her computer, at night, ‘painting’ in pixels, long after everyone at her office has gone home. Sarah Mower is a contributing editor to US Vogue, and is the British Fashion Council’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent

FROM MARiLyN MONROE AND JAMES DEAN iN AMERiCAN BLUE JEANS TO THE LATEST WASHES AND TREATMENTS FROM JAPAN, DENiM HAS COME A LONG WAy, SAyS DESiGNER SCOTT MORRISON

I kind of fell into denim design as a career. That is to say my path wasn’t very pragmatic. I always wore jeans and T-shirts as a kid in California, but, at the age of 11, I started playing golf and enjoyed everything about the game except the clothes. For the next 15 years, golf clothing was something I despised wearing and I went through college with the idea of starting a clothing company just to right those wrongs. But eventually I stopped playing golf and my interest in the clothing business turned to denim – more specifically, jeans. I always liked design – architecture, furniture, and graphic design in particular – and during my college years I interned for a few different clothing companies in Seattle. It was during those years that brands like Diesel and Replay had a big influence on me. But I really fell in love with denim when I stepped into my first factory and laundry, sometime around 1997. There I discovered that, for me, the process itself was and is the inspiration. Denim’s history is fascinating, and I have an appreciation for workwear and the role of denim and jeans in the US. During the Fifties and Sixties, denim crossed over into fashion thanks to Hollywood. James Dean, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Steve

McQueen, Paul Newman and Robert Redford played a signiﬁcant role in making jeans both cool and accepted, outside the working cowboy genre. Denim was as American as apple pie for years, until, towards the end of last century, other nations added their input.

One big trend recently has been the premiumization of denim. This had happened before of course, in the era of jeans by Calvin Klein, Gloria vanderbilt and Guess, in the Seventies and Eighties, but there was a difference with the premium jeans era of the late Nineties and early Noughties, in that jeans had become acceptable in almost any situation. You could wear them to restaurants, nightclubs, essentially anywhere. In that 20-year stretch, jeans not only became expensive, but trendy, thus paving the way for broader interest and acceptability. Another interesting development during that period was the advancement of washing techniques. The use of resins, tinting, pigment sprays and ovens gave designers the tools to create more interest on the product itself, which also helped broaden its appeal.

rex features

Each country semingly brought its own approach to the denim industry and that ‘make it your way’ mentality, which has always been synonymous with denim and jeans, helped propel the industry as a whole. In short, Americans invented denim and made it acceptable for the masses. The Italians made it cool and chic in the Eighties and Nineties, while the Japanese started everyone down the road of making beautiful denim again. The Japanese, in particular, greatly appreciate Americana and there is a collectability to vintage and deadstock Levi’s products. A strong ‘replica movement’ also came from Japan, and the idea of trying to replicate turn-of-the-century denim qualities and construction pushed the industry to make better products and stress quality over quantity.

BLuE wAvE Previous page Marilyn Monroe wears denim in the early Sixties. Opposite page, from top James Dean; Steve McQueen. This page, from top Scott Morrison’s 3x1 store in New York; the designer at work

Jeans are so universal today, made and produced in hundreds of countries, that they’re very much for everyone, everywhere, in every walk of life. Denim was a natural fit for me, as I could identify with the associated lifestyle and the thought of wearing a suit every day seemed next to impossible. My role in the story began when I launched Paper Denim & Cloth in 1999 and then Earnest Sewn in 2004. Paper Denim was a huge commercial success, but Earnest Sewn represented a step forward for me personally, as it was an opportunity to bring a full-fledged brand concept to life, not just make a great jean. Earnest Sewn paid homage to denim’s yesteryear, and helped launch a renewed interest in ‘heritage’ brands and design aesthetics. As a collector of denim, I’ve always been partial to Levi’s and really appreciated those first Levi’s Red concept jeans. During my many trips to Japan, I have purchased more than my fair share of early Evisu, Denime and Fullcount jeans. More recently I’ve looked to brands like 45rpm and Kapital. The rest of my collection is a random mix from my own labels, a selection of my favorite jeans that I’ve designed throughout the years. From a trend standpoint, I think the current direction is newness. Customers already have six or seven pairs of jeans in their closet and brands today are trying to find things to get customers excited and engaged again. In the women’s market, there’s a lot of interest in printed denims and novelty fabrics. Fabric and treatment or wash are always important, as is fit – probably most important of all – and there is also a trend for decoration these days. People enjoy being unique and putting their own stamp on things. And that’s why I’ve launched 3x1. The idea of inviting people into the process was a logical next step for me conceptually, and from a brand-building point of view I think this is the ultimate denim experience. Any time that you, the consumer, have the opportunity to be involved in the process from beginning to end, a relationship is created with the product and the brand that is truly special. 3x1’s head pattern-maker and I work with the customer to create a completely tailor-made concept. The pattern is then digitized and kept on file so that any subsequent orders can be taken over the phone from anywhere in the world. Best of all, every pair is made right in our atelier, behind glass, where you can see every step of the process. In the future, I think customization will play an important role, especially since consumers are always keen to discover new things and make them their own. It’s getting harder and harder to find something truly unique, with most brands selling globally and the opportunities there are these days to reach a customer anywhere in the world via e-commerce. So at 3x1 we’re not only focused on fabric and treatment, garment construction and sourcing really unique denims, but also, crucially, on ways to make your jeans individual. Any way to further customize or add an extra element of uniqueness is a positive, and the 3x1 customer is paying a premium for that opportunity. Swarovski Elements, for example, could be just the type of thing that makes all the difference!

there is a trend for decoration. people enjoy being unique and putting their stamp on things

Is there any fabric more versatile than denim? It can be made in myriad hues with countless ﬁnishes. Even better, it provides the perfect backdrop to ﬁne embellishment, whatever the occasion PHOTOGRAPHY Billie Scheepers sTYlinG Mary-anne Kearney

FASHION ASSISTANT: CLAUDIA BAHAMONDE

cloth purposE

chain reaction Opposite page Vintage printed silk blouse by céline at Vintage Modes at Grays; jeans by rossodisera; vintage gold links necklace, stylist’s own

lace of Grace This page, clockwise from above right ‘Kelly’ blouse by felder felder at Browns focus; jeans with black lace by Vigoss Jeans; (on left arm) large leather cuff, atelier Swarovski by Philip crangi; black and gold stud bracelet, stylists’s own; (on right arm) braid bracelet and small leather

cuff, both atelier Swarovski by Philip crangi; clutch bag by ted rossi. Jacket by camouf lage couture. cotton-mix cropped jacket, and silk ruff led blouse, both by Viktor & rolf at ricci Burns; jeans by lafei nier; thin silver leather belt by theory

Girls on film Take one supergroup, ﬁve supermodels, two leading designers and an acclaimed director and music producer, then throw in thousands of Swarovski Elements, and the results can’t help but be dazzling WORDS Simon Mills

Upstairs in the lobby, the paint is still barely dry on the Savoy Hotel’s recent £220m renovation. The atmosphere is polite, understated, upholstered and genteel. This is carefully choreographed, expensively revived five-star luxury, and a subtle aroma of squeaky new shoe leather, neatly laundered staff and freshly polished marble pervades as visiting out-of-towners scuttle off for their pre-theater dinners. If they only knew what was happening on the floor below. Wander along the Savoy’s labyrinthine corridors, descend a couple of f lights towards the ballroom and suddenly it’s the fabulous and unapologetically excessive Nineties all over again: five supermodels, Duran Duran, Dolce & Gabbana, hairspray, crimping tongs, guy-liner, skinny trousers and cheek-sucking. Fashion rocking a room positively rude with glamour and beauty, libidos and egos. Helena Christensen – sultry, gypsyish, Danish dynamite – is having her hair done. Naomi Campbell, dressed in a fluffy white towelling robe, sits in the corner sharing a room-service dinner and an intimate chat with Eva Herzigova. Yasmin Le Bon, still sensational at 46, legs

impossibly long, iron-straight auburn hair dip-dyed blonde at the ends, is lying on the floor, writhing provocatively while Nick Rhodes films her for a Duran Duran home movie. Cindy Crawford, meanwhile, somehow still manages to smoulder with utterly devastating effect while playing Scrabble on her iPad. I’m a fairly decent hand at Scrabble too, so I approach her. ‘Want to play?’ I ask, tentatively. ‘With you?’ she replies. ‘Think you are good enough to take me on?’ If only, Cindy. If only. T his supermodel summit has been masterminded by the combined efforts of Duran Duran, director Jonas Åkerlund (remember his amazing ‘Video Phone’ clip for Lady Gaga and Beyoncé?) and Swarovski Elements in order to shoot the band’s new ‘Girl Panic!’ video. The delicious concept is that models replace the group, miming, throwing shapes with their guitars and even giving fake interviews to the music press. It’s all very confusing. ‘I’m Roger,’ says Helena to camera. ‘And I play drums in one of the coolest bands in the world.’ The actual band members, meanwhile, have walk-on parts as bit players as bellhops, chauffeurs and journalists. The Dolce & Gabbana boys have f lown in to do the styling. ‘One of the things that has proved to be an enduring bond for everyone in the band is that we’ve always worshipped beautiful girls,’ says Nick Rhodes as he introduces the new line-up: Helena on drums, Naomi doing lead vocals, Eva on keyboards, Cindy slapping John Taylor’s bass and Yasmin on lead guitar. Unbelievably, despite being the real singer’s wife of more than 20 years, this is the first time Yasmin Le Bon has ever been asked to be in a Duran Duran video. ‘I was never allowed before,’ she tells me. ‘Simon wouldn’t let me. There was a rule that wives and girlfriends didn’t appear in videos, which was fine, but the thing was, I wasn’t allowed to be in any other bands’ videos either.’ It quick ly becomes evident that this flawlessly beautiful and stellar assemblage, just like Versace’s legendary 1991 catwalk show, Vogue’s iconic January 1990 cover and George Michael’s ‘Freedom ’90’ video before it, is turning out to be is a veritable fashion moment – a billion-dollar money shot, a heady glamour overload. And Nick Rhodes is loving every minute of it. ‘We’ve

been involved in some pretty elaborate projects before,’ he says. ‘Our recent live direct collaboration with David Lynch comes to mind, for instance. But trying to get five supermodels in the same place to perform one of our songs has been like working on an intricate military maneuver.’ But a sheer joy as well. ‘All that stuff about models being infamously badly behaved, demandingly diva-ish and difficult just hasn’t been a factor. They’ve all been super-professional, easy-going and enthusiastic. What is really nice is that none of the girls did it for the money. All of them got involved because they wanted to.’ I follow Simon Le Bon into the ballroom – a huge space, wedding-cake white, with a circular stage at its center. The drum kit is white, the keyboard is white, even the Marshall amps are rendered in white. A vast and shimmering Swarovsk i Cr ysta l Cur tain ser ves as a backdrop, while a team of technicians unwrap ‘Dead or Alive’ skulls made by Fabien Baron for Swarovski Crystal Palace and, tweezers in hand, busy themselves applying 700 crystals to Naomi’s microphone. ‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ says Simon, trying out the mic for size. ‘It makes you feel like King Microphone when you’re holding it.’ The band members have also taken a liking to the bespoke, crystalstudded guitar straps that have been made for the video and tell me that they intend to use them on their next world tour. Nick is thrilled by the synergy of fashion, sparkle, models and rock ’n’ roll. ‘Our original manifesto was always to collaborate with fashion, art, photography, design and architecture,’ he says, rather grandly. ‘I guess I’ve always thought of Duran Duran as a kind of ongoing art project.’ There is something about the Mark Ronson-produced ‘Girl Panic!’, with its skittish drum intro, disco bass, choppy guitars, swirling Roland synth top lines and the fact that it has the word ‘girl’ in the title that seems to have classic Duran Duran written all over it – it’s a return to form and a fitting way to end what Nick Rhodes believes is one of the band’s best years ever. Certainly, the group is in remarkable condition – now in its 33rd year, its members are mostly over 50, yet heroically hirsute, slim and dapper, and striving tirelessly for relevance, fashionability and modernity. But tonight is not their night – suddenly, it’s girlie showtime. The opening chords of ‘Girl Panic!’ boom from the sound system. Jonas Åkerlund’s camera, mounted on a circular track, sweeps past on a fast panning shot. Naomi, adorned with jewelry from Atelier Swarovski, takes the crystal-studded microphone and mimes the lyrics ‘I came by invitation to general Chelsea mayhem’, word- and Le Bon-shimmy perfect, apparently born to be a frontman. Nick Rhodes, watching on a monitor, can’t stop smiling. ‘This feels right,’ he says. ‘Sparkle and models. It’s what this band is all about.’

‘one of the things that has proved to be an enduring bond for everyone in the band is that we’ve always worshipped beautiful girls’

ROCK ROYALTY Above To watch the making of this amazing video, scan the QR code Left to right, from top John Taylor and Cindy Crawford, who wears guitar strap customized with Swarovski Elements; Naomi Campbell holds a Swarovski-encrusted microphone and wears Crystal Evolution ring by Belly R. made with Swarovski Elements, available at SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™; Helena Christensen with Simon Le Bon; the supermodels play members of Duran Duran; Yasmin Le Bon; Nick Rhodes and Eva Herzigova, who wears ring by Michael Kaplan for Atelier Swarovski and, worn as a necklace, bracelet by Ted Rossi made with Swarovski Elements, available at SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™; Helena Christensen as Roger Taylor; Nick Rhodes pushes Helena Christensen on a luggage cart; Stefano Gabbana with Naomi Campbell; Yasmin Le Bon appears in her ﬁrst Duran Duran video; director Jonas Åkerlund with John Taylor; Eva Herzigova

SUITE DREAMS On a spring morning, Swarovski Elements catch the light, giving sparkling accents to beautiful Studio 54-inspired couture PHOTOGRAPHY Adam Whitehead FASHION Daniela Agnelli

This page Khaki cut-out dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Mugler

This page Ivy lace dress, with Swarovski Elements, Erdem Opposite Embellished silk jacket, made with Swarovski Elements, Prada; high-waisted shorts, Jason Wu; bra, Eres; shoes, Prada

This page Leather tunic, made with Swarovski Elements, Balmain; shoes, CĂŠline Opposite Silk one-shoulder dress, made with Swarovski Elements, Dolce & Gabbana

Multi-colored bodysuit, made with Swarovski Elements, Dolce & Gabbana

Opposite White T-shirt and laser-cut leather skirt, made with Swarovski Elements, both Giles; shoes, Lanvin; necklace, vintage This page Rose-gold metallic yarn jumper; high-waisted briefs, made with Swarovski Elements; and lace-stitched skirt with box pleats, all Craig Lawrence

FaShion aSSiSTanT: Tara Greville MakE Up: kirstin piggot at Jed Root haiR: Tracie Cant at premier ModEL: Jessica hart at Select

Blended BeAuty This page: through the power of two colors harnessed in a single crystal, Crystal Blend creates two different worlds of imagination and contrast tones for fascinating, dynamic optical effects: while Burgundy-Blue Zircon Blend glows with the exotic tones of a Mediterranean sunset, Fern Green-topaz Blend evokes the meditative tranquility of a secluded woodland at dusk silver lininG Available in over 80 colors and effects, the new complex XiliOn rose Hotfix strengthens swarovski’s trusted position as an innovation leader. this new mirror made of real silver is unique in the Hotfix market and creates a warmer and brighter look with intensified and livelier colors

world romance Swarovski Elements takes to the globe this spring, inspired by the high seas, ancient cultures, and even the future, with designs that embrace elegance and innovation PHOTOGRAPHY Andy Barter STYLING Annette Masterman

pretty in pink Opposite perfect for ethnic-style jewelry and organic, vintage-inspired looks, rose peach highlights all things feminine. the soft peach to pink tone evokes cherry blossoms in spring and english roses in late summer to create a sense of something bold, yet subtly romantic and always elegant old with the new This page the double-edged effect of Crystal luminous Green increases the vibrancy of a design and lends a warm glow to cold colors. the shimmering green to violet shade is inspired by fantasy, sci-ďŹ and modern technology, and is the perfect impulse for fashion-forward, but also vintage, serene, and romance-inspired looks

international waters the wave Family is the conďŹ dent merger of two design worlds: three-dimensional, graphic and multifaceted, yet still organic and conscious of the shapes that Mother nature creates. Consisting of the wave Flat Back, the wave Bead and the wave Pendant, the wave family evokes the motion of the ocean for aquatic or maritime looks

check mates This page the chessboard Family is a highly functional product family of matching cuts in a chessboard pattern and comprises snap Fastener, Decorative Button, Jeans Button and Rivets. this new family is perfect for adding a touch of class to accessories and it also gives textiles a glamorous twist: perfect for unisex, sport and denim looks gloBetRotteR Opposite this very versatile new product features a perfect combination of a crystal Pearl covered with sparkling crystal mesh. It has a reďŹ ned shimmer, yet is an understated shape reminiscent of colorful fashion decades such as the seventies. the crystal mesh Ball is superb for creating opulent and sparkling, high-end looks

button with a twist This page a crystalline take on the classic wooden dufflecoat button, this Crystal button lends a glamorous, romantic twist to classic designs. Ethnic, unisex, utilitarian and functional, thanks to its large holes, the Dufflecoat Crystal button can also be threaded with thick and unconventional materials tribal tonEs Opposite a take on the playful colors within the diverse world of ethnic design, Crystal Pearls Gemcolors perfectly reflect genuine ivory, turquoise, Jade, Coral, and lapis. they illustrate the tales of our diverse cultures, from the colorful ornamentation of the Cherokee to the powerful, untamed beauty of african culture; and from the holy symbolism of tibetan artifacts to the magnificent adornments of ancient Egypt

PhotograPhy Katya de Grunwald SEt DESIgN Georgia Lacey

SIMPLE PLEASURES We live in a world on fast forward. Every day brings a quickening of pace, another demand, a looming deadline. And in the wake of this we find ourselves looking to simpler pleasures, a stripping away of the extraneous in order to celebrate life organically – and the trend themes for spring/ summer 2013 hone in on the zeitgeist. Authenticity, craftsmanship and heritage are at the heart of the movement, as the design world reflects the need to embody the past, while also looking ahead to the future. These new trends reflect the celebration of life and what is most important: the simple joys of being that do not cost a thing

ClaSSIC EMBRACING TOGETHERNESS Nothing is hidden in this design aesthetic, which is deﬁned by a focus on quality, artistry and thoughtful detailing. Strong, clean lines and a neutral palette are the cornerstones of this new classicism, and imperfections only add to its beauty. Crystal adds subtle sparkle to well-worn materials and imparts deﬁnition to discreet designs.

Crystal

Crystal Ivory Pearl

White Opal

Crystal Silver Shade

Black Diamond

Crystal Luminous Green

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PROGRESSIVE JOURNEY TO THE MOON Futuristic and imaginative, this Trend embodies our thirst for adventure and exploration. Sci-ďŹ meets magic and mystery as designers look to outer space and beyond for inspiration, with crystal capturing the light in geometric, space-age designs, scattered randomly to create a cosmic effect.

Crystal Moonlight

Crystal Volcano

Crystal Comet Crystal Argent Light Luminous Green

Crystal Bermuda Blue

Crystal Dark Lapis Pearl

Aluminium side table; large light; silver vases; black chair, all chaplins.co.uk. Brionvega Radiofonografo, conranshop.co.uk

Dresses hanging, Ekaterina Kukhareva. Platform shoes with ﬂowers, David Longshaw. Crystal-encrusted peep-toe shoes, Jimmy Choo. Rug, knotsrugs.co.uk

ROMANTIC BLOWING KISSES Life is too short to be serious – especially when it comes to romance. Creating an enchanted world allows us to explore other sides of ourselves, to daydream, tell stories and leave reality behind for a moment. Crystal is used playfully to create ﬂirtatious designs, while black and white pavé crystals add a touch of classic sophistication.

Crystal Ivory Pearl

Crystal Pink Coral Pearl

Rose Peach

Padparadscha

Crystal Red Coral Pearl

Jet

GLAMOUR A FEELING OF FREEDOM Glamour is reinvented for 2013, as we celebrate all that is hedonistic, daring and desirable. Different cultures and experiences come together to serve as inspiration, colors clash and materials mix to create a look that is new and unexpected. Crystals appear in bright, dazzling hues, woven into designs and creating riotous patterns.

Crystal Red Coral Pearl

Crystal Lapis Pearl

Light Smoked Topaz

Light Topaz

Crystal Jade Pearl

Rose Peach

Photographerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assistant Samuel J Bland Fashion stylist Dani Hides

SKETCH LOOKS Fashion designer Giles Deacon responds to next season’s Swarovski Elements’ trends and innovations In each issue of Salt we bring you pages that showcase the latest developments in Swarovski Elements. These are presented through the use of innovative and evocative photography, and feature the latest cuts, colors and designs of crystal to be developed by the artisans and technicians at Swarovski. The idea behind this is that these pages should serve as inspiration for creative minds. For this issue, we decided to ask long-time Swarovski collaborator, Giles Deacon, to show us what ideas these pages stimulated, and after some discussion about what form his response could take – collages, words, swatches, photographs – he opted to send us some sketches in his own distinctive, elegant style. You are therefore the ﬁrst to see the designs on the left. They may stay as they are, as conceptual works-inprogress. Or they may make it through into his next collection. Either way, we would like to thank Giles for his time and for allowing us this privileged glimpse into the workings of his talented mind.

SHINING THROUGH Patrick Goossens is the guardian of a proud, Paris-born tradition of creating couture’s dazzling ﬁnishing touches WORDS Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni PhOtOgRaPhy James Merrell

For more than 60 years, Goossens has been a legendary name in the costume jewelry world. Hailed for its contribution to fashion, it has won a reputation for superbly sophisticated, exquisitely crafted pieces that use intricate chiseled metalwork, Swarovski Elements, brightly colored resin, polished wood and raw lumps of rock crystal, Goossens’ signature stone. The fabled company was founded in 1950 by Robert Goossens. Often described as a visionary due to his avant-garde ideas and methods, Goossens boasted the conﬁdence of an artisan who possessed taste and knew every single angle of his business. It helped, too, that he was the son of a Paris-based metal foundry worker.

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At his father’s knee, Goossens gleaned all the rules of handling gold, silver and bronze, then furthered and refined his knowledge as an apprentice at Maison Bauer – known for its strong links to Cartier – and Lefebvre, another stellar French jeweler and silversmith. In 1948, Goossens changed direction when Max Boinet introduced him to the fashion world. Now a largely forgotten ﬁgure, Boinet designed on a seasonal basis for haute-couture luminaries such as Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Pierre Balmain and Elsa Schiaparelli. In many ways, it was this association that allowed Goossens to cut his teeth and learn from his mistakes, in preparation for a deﬁning professional relationship with Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel that began in 1953.

MASTER CASTER Opposite page Patrick Goossens with a necklace for Alexandre Vauthier This page Goossens brooch made for Thierry Mugler

Chanel had a discerning passion for jewels and, with Goossens, created styles inspired by the Renaissance, Byzantine and Baroque periods. She called Goossens a ‘marvelous artist’, and for her he dreamed up eyecatching necklaces featuring fake rubies and emeralds, hammered gold bangles and crystal crosses. ‘Thanks to Chanel, my father transformed the reputation of costume jewelry,’ says Patrick Goossens, the pioneer’s son. ‘Prior to his Chanel collaboration, costume jewelry merely copied and faked real pieces. But his work for Chanel had both outstanding artistic merit and designs that stood out on their own.’ Goossens Snr quickly caught the eye of other greats such as Cristóbal Balenciaga. ‘He made one-offs for the Spanish designer’s clients such as necklaces with six rows of pearls,’ says Patrick. Still, few creators impressed Goossens like Chanel. Such was his dedication that when the couturière died in 1971, the jeweler went into retirement. Goossens decided to reopen his atelier in 1974, and the renaissance that followed led to the opening of a boutique on Paris’s prestigious avenue George V and commissions from new fashion icons such as Yves Saint Laurent, Sonia Rykiel and Marc Bohan, then at Dior. It also saw him working alongside his son.

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‘THANKS TO COCO CHANEL, MY FATHER, RObERT GOOSSENS, TRANSFORMED THE REPUTATION OF COSTUME JEWELRY. HIS WORK HAD bOTH OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC MERIT AND DESIGNS THAT STOOD OUT’

SHAPE AND TACK Opposite page, top left Necklace for Balenciaga Top right The workbench Below A pyramid brooch being made for Balenciaga PIECES OF WEIGHT This page, left Prototype manchette for Alexandre Vauthier Right Bracelet created for Balenciaga and pink brooch made for Sonia Rykiel

But for Patrick, now 54, his initiation was already well established. Immersed in his father’s world, Patrick recalls from his childhood all the sachets of Swarovski Elements meticulously laid out in the atelier, as well as learning to solder metal at the age of 10. ‘After school, I would drop by and watch what my father was doing.’ Nevertheless, the master jeweler was also a stern taskmaster. ‘I often accompanied him on deliveries,’ Patrick says, ‘and once we were at Chanel’s rue Cambon building when Coco suddenly appeared.’ Rather than introducing his son to the style icon, ‘he hid me in the house models’ changing room’. In his early twenties when his father’s business hit its stride a second time, Patrick was well suited to a fashion landscape that had expanded to include Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier. The ﬂashy Eighties became a golden period for Goossens. ‘At the time, we had 60 people in the atelier,’ Patrick says. Problems, however, loomed within a few years. ‘We did sensational runway pieces, such as corsets for Mugler which took 700 hours to create and were entirely embroidered in Swarovski Elements. But we sold little else.’ Respected for its craftsmanship, Goossens retained clients such as Dior’s John Galliano and Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquière, but business became quite tough until Chanel bought the brand in 2005.

Indeed, with the idea of preserving French savoir faire, Chanel was buying up artisan companies such as the embroiderer Lesage and milliner Maison Michel. And being chosen as the sixth member of the luxurious stable often referred to as Métiers d’Art gave Goossens new life. ‘And it was a natural transition for the business to be divided into two,’ says Patrick. ‘I would handle the fashion side and my elder sister Martine would be in charge of the boutique and include homeware designs in her creativity.’ Nowadays, Goossens’ workshops are located in St Denis, in north Paris. Whereas the downstairs workshop is home to machinery for casting and well-worn benches where Martine’s stunning interiors pieces take shape, upstairs is Patrick’s domain. More intimate in ambience, it consists of a series of offices and a main atelier where several women sit at walled-off desks – noticeable for their individual bright lighting and hammock-like leather pouches that hang above the women’s laps to catch anything that falls – either carving or polishing pieces that have been delivered from the foundry. Next door, Patrick holds court. His office is divided into spaces for future deliveries – two trays of bronze rings and bracelets are about to be sent off to the designer Tom Ford – and a black table covered with Goossens prototypes that he is particularly pleased with. ‘Look at this cuff that we made for the designer Andrew Gn,’ he says. It is a tour de force, using pink and fuchsia Swarovski Elements, and has been seen gracing the wrists of certain well-heeled international socialites. Patrick then picks up a matt gold necklace created for Alexandre Vauthier whose crystal-clad couture designs are worn by Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Daphne Guinness. ‘Considering Alexandre was trained by Mugler and Gaultier, I was expecting him to order something extravagant,’ he says. ‘However, his pieces were more classic, beautiful and infinitely wearable, and that remains very true to Goossens’ philosophy, which is all about pleasing our female customer.’ Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni writes for British Vogue, Glamour, Elle Decor and is based in Paris

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ABOVE: Hand-knitted rose-gold dress, made with Swarovski Elements by Craig Lawrence

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BELOW: The new Crystal Mesh Balls from Swarovski Elements, made from Crystal Pearls covered in Crystal Mesh

Cry stal Univer se

Crystal tWisters Underwater icicles dispensing super-cooled brine to the seabed are killing all that stand in their way. This isn’t science ﬁction, it’s an ice crystal phenomenon called the brinicle WORDS Nick Smith

LETHAL LADDERS Salt-dense sea water sinks to the seabed, freezing into beautiful but deadly twisted pillars of ice

In the world’s coldest and most remote regions, just a few metres below the Arctic sea ice and the coastal pack that surrounds Antarctica, something very strange is happening. Hollow tubes of ice are descending to the seabed, taking with them seawater so super-cooled that it wipes out life on the sea floor. These deadly ‘brinicles’ have only been known to modern science for a few decades and until recently, when the BBC’s Frozen Planet TV film crew got to work, they had never been filmed. The word brinicle is a combination of ‘brine’ and ‘icicle.’ And while this provides vital clues as to what the phenomenon is, it doesn’t tell the whole story, or explain the mystery of why the ice appears to sink. ‘Freezing seawater doesn’t make ice like the stuff in your freezer,’ says Dr Mark Brandon, polar oceanographer at the Open University. ‘Instead of a solid dense lump, it is more like a seawater-soaked sponge with a tiny network of brine channels.’

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Brandon explains that in the polar regions, the air temperature above the sea ice can be as low as -20 degrees Centigrade, which is considerably colder than the water below it. The normal freezing point of seawater is -1.9 degrees, depending on its salinity. As ‘heat’ flows from the warmer sea up towards the cold air, new ice forms on the underneath of the existing layer. And here’s where it gets complicated. Brandon says that the salt in the newly formed ice is concentrated and pushed into the brine channels. ‘And because it’s very cold and salty, it’s denser than the water beneath.’ What all this means is that the salt-dense brine literally drips off the bottom of the ice and falls through the water. And as this happens it freezes the warmer fresh seawater it comes in contact with. This forms a fragile tube of ice around the descending plume of salt water, and a brinicle is formed. Doug Allan is one of the cameramen on Frozen Planet and he has seen brinicles in action. He takes up the story. ‘What happens next is that the super-cooled water drops flow down through the hollow tube and pour out of the bottom like limejuice.’ If the conditions are right, says Allan, this tube will eventually meet the sea floor to form a pillar, in the same way that stalactites in a cave can. When this reaches the seabed, the ‘juice’ flows out horizontally, making a river of frozen ice that traps creatures such as starfish. David Attenborough puts

it in more apocalyptic terms. He says that as the ice ‘touches the sea floor, it kills whatever living thing it contacts by encasing it in a tomb of ice.’ Doug Allan says that while brinicles aren’t rare, they’re difficult to film because you never know where they will form. And he thinks that the recent Frozen Planet series is the first time they’ve been caught on f ilm using time -lapse photography. ‘You can go underwater in the morning and there will be none. And you could come back later that day to find plenty.’ The problem is, according to Allan, that brinicles can disappear as quickly as they arrive, detached from the surface ice by a strong current, or an inquisitive leopard seal. And if one of those bumps into your cameras, the time-consuming process of shooting a brinicle has to start all over again. Nick Smith is a contributing editor on The Explorers Journal and is a former editor of Geographical

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