T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine by T Emirates

Women’s Fashion March - April, 2014

T Emirates : The New York Times Style Magazine

THE WOMAN ZUHAIR MURAD FROM RUBBLE TO RICHES Phoebe Philo’s Prophetic Fashion

Women’s Fashion March - April 2014

on Designing Glamorous Gowns

The Story of A. Lange Söhne

AED 20

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PAOLO ROVERSI

Women’s Fashion March - April, 2014

Comme des Garçons dress, AED 7,915, shoes, AED 2,479, and shoe cover, AED 1,634.

Page 89

Features 76

Phoebe Philo’s Prophetic Fashion

The designer’s quiet, understated clothes for Céline are redefining the notion of power dressing. Here, what her designs mean to the women who wear them. Photographs by Karim Sadli. Styled by Joe McKenna. By Whitney Vargas. 84 Fashion's Purest Visionary

Rei Kawakubo brings Dover Street Market to New York, and with it, her blood, original retail strategy, in which her Comme des Garçons lines are sold alongside the work of other designers and artists. By Suzy Menkes. Photographs by Paolo Roversi.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

ON THE COVER: Phoebe Philo in a Céline top and her own earrings. Photographed by Karim Sadli. Styled by Joe McKenna. Hair by Paul Hanlon. Makeup by Hannah Murray.

In Praise of Hands Exhibition

Design Days Dubai / March 17 - 21 Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard Downtown Dubai

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Table of Contents

19 Sign of the Times

Instagram has created a new kind of voyeurism — in which you can look into the carefully curated windows of the rich, famous and stylish — and a new kind of lifestyle envy. 22 The Moment

This season there’s a homespun hippie vibe to urban dressing. 28 This and That

Eyelids get the gold treatment; the lowly Teva is ready for its close-up; and more. 32 By the Numbers

The flash and folly of New York Fashion Week. 33 Take Two

Elaine Stritch and Chloë Sevigny consider perfumed oils and rap music while snacking on smoked fish.

Lookout Emirates 42 Le Carré Hermès

For decades the Hermès scarf has been one of the fashion world’s most iconic accessories. Rebecca Anne Proctor meets with Bali Barret, the brand’s creative director of silks, to discuss this highly versatile item, its history and the increasing collaboration with contemporary artists. Page 42

45 Reviving Heritage

No jewelry had been produced by Fabergé since the Russian Revolution, until Katharina Flohr came on board in 2009 as the brand’s creative and managing director. Rebecca Anne Proctor speaks with Flohr about reinventing Fabergé, and the importance of color. 52 In Pursuit of Perfection

A passion for gemstones and a dedication to craftsmanship and creativity has made Graff Diamonds what it is today. T Emirates speaks with founder Laurence Graff about the brand’s heritage and the recreation of its acclaimed 1970 “Hair & Jewel” piece.

Quality 55 In Fashion

Pleats go street when paired with boxy tops and sporty accessories. 62 Profile in Style

Snapshots from the private life of the artful designer Maria Cornejo. 66 Off the Runway

Metallics, normally reserved for evening, step into the daylight in unexpectedly easy ways.

Quality Emirates 59 On The Red Carpet

He’s one of only a few Middle Eastern fashion designers to form part of the elite circle that shows biannually at Haute Couture Week in Paris, yet Zuhair Murad’s glamorous eveningwear has become popular worldwide for its craftsmanship and mesmerizing elegance. Polly Sweet meets with the designer to discuss his creative impulse, dressing celebrities and his constant quest for satisfaction. Left: Valentino cape, AED 42,570; (212) 7726969. Christian Wijnants dress, AED 3,342; barneys.com. Proenza Schouler shoes, AED 4,389; (212) 420-7300. Top: "Brides de Gala Arashi" 90 scarf in silks twill

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FROM TOP: IMAGE COURTESY OF HERMÈS, © STUDIO DES FLEURS, ©ALFREDO PIOLA; ANNEMARIEKE VAN DRIMMELEN.

Lookout

Table of Contents

Arena 69 Listen Up

The soulful songstress Kelela is bridging the gap between cool-kid dance music and old-school R&B.

Arena Emirates

Page 69

71 A Universalist Approach

Top: the singer Kelela in a Louise Goldin dress, AED 5,693; louisegoldin.com. Below: Image of the exterior of Jean Nouvel's design for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. ALL PRICES ARE INDICATIVE

Page 71

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FROM TOP: TIERNEY GEARON; ABU DHABI TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT COMPANY.

For several years Abu Dhabi has been striving to position itself as a world hub for art and culture. Rebecca Anne Proctor reports on the UAE capitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artistic expansion and its desire to promote a universalist approach to art appreciation.

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On Liya: Céline coat, AED 11,753, and top, price on request; (212) 535-3703.

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Chief Executive Sandeep Sehgal Associate Publisher Ravi Raman

EDITORIAL Consulting Editor Rebecca Anne Proctor Correspondents Mia Fothergill Fox Cordelia Ditton Gwenda Hughes-Art Richard Thompson-Travel

ART

MARKETING AND SALES

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KARIM SADLI

Editor, T International Editions George Gustines

www.fashionforward.ae PHOTOGRAPHY BY TEJAL PATNI

GAIL ALBERT HALABAN, ‘‘OUT MY WINDOW, FLATIRON, CAKES AND BALLOONS,’’ 2009, COURTESY OF EDWYNN HOUK GALLERY.

VIEW FINDER Pre-Instagram, this was the main way New Yorkers spied on the lives of their neighbors. The artist Gail Albert Halaban shot this from a nearby apartment window.

Sign of the Times

Where the Grass Looks Greener Instagram has created a new kind of voyeurism — in which you can look into the carefully curated windows of the rich, famous and stylish — and a new kind of lifestyle envy. BY SARAH NICOLE PRICKETT

‘‘THE DEPARTMENT STORE is the last promenade for the flâneur,’’

wrote Walter Benjamin, the German critic, whose impossible project — ‘‘The Arcades Project,’’ more precisely — documented street life in Paris after the Industrial Revolution. He wrote of gleaming wants, windows gazing back at him, shoppers and wanderers alike becoming reflections of their desires. ‘‘The crowd,’’ he wrote, ‘‘is the veil through which the familiar city beckons to the flâneur as phantasmagoria — as a landscape, now as a room. Both become elements of the department store, which makes use of flâneurie itself to sell goods.’’ This flâneuring took place when Paris was the capital of the 19th century. Its arcades — high iron-and-glass arches sheltering

individual blocks lined with shops — numbered over 300 (under 30, now). Manhattan, capital of the 20th, replaced arcades with department stores and made spectator art of window displays. What is the new Paris, the new Manhattan, the arcade in the age of digital reproduction? It is Instagram: the app built to make you covet your neighbor’s life. Only now your own personal Joneses are hundreds of miles away in L.A., or on the Greek island of Patmos, or in Milan. Doesn’t matter — all it takes is two clicks for today’s flâneurs, renamed ‘‘followers,’’ to float onto Margherita Missoni’s balcony. That is, a small and square and semipermanent display of Margherita Missoni’s balcony that makes you wonder if an antique rocking

March–April, 2014

Lookout

Sign of the Times

Belongings being so easily conflated with belonging, Instagram induces a longing to be on a scene, the scene, the next one, a better one.

WISH YOU WERE HERE Clockwise from top left: Instagram images of Claridge’s, London, by Jessica Diehl; a private home in Gloustershire by Amanda Brooks; a Parisian composition by Laura Bailey; a Manhattan selfportrait by Stephanie LaCava; spectators’ shoes at the Giambattista Valli show in Paris by Lisa Marie Fernandez; and a pool in Puglia, Italy, by Rafael de Cárdenas.

horse isn’t the outdoor seating solution you’ve been waiting for, although you do not have a balcony, or even a patio, and cannot in fact remember the last time you were outdoors. If Twitter is the street, Facebook the suburban-sprawl mall, and Pinterest some kind of mail-order catalog, Instagram is the manywindowed splendor of a younger Bergdorf’s, showing all we possess or wish for, under squares of filtered glass, each photographic pane backlit 24/7. Each pane is, or intimates, an entire landscape or room. Follow enough of the international lifestyle-setters, and you’ll see: women’s fashion, men’s fashion, home or apartment décor, beautiful food, art, color-coordinated books and magazines. Of course, the tags for these old categories are updated: #birthdaylove for a manybraceleted hand holding a pink Nat Sherman; #nodiets for an aerial view of Ibérico ham on a plate. All elements must be carefully staged to look happenstance. Only the crassest Instagrammer snaps a new pair of shoes in a box, or plainly on a floor. The cannier, cinematic one will instead make a display of the shoes, arranging her feet on a shabby-chic desk next to a Grolsch bottle of daisies atop a stack of French translations. The writer Stephanie LaCava snaps her snakeskin Pradas opposite Audrey Gelman’s funny bunny slippers at Paris Fashion Week. A few cobblestoned streets away, the swimwear designer Lisa Marie Fernandez shows off her white Manolo Blahniks next to her friend’s yellow pair of Gianvito Rossis. Such Instagrams are mimetic: the contents, the casually rarefied setting, the off-kilter composition. What each says is not ‘‘this is a good shoe’’ or ‘‘these shoes look good on me,’’ but ‘‘these shoes look good in my life,’’ which is what Benjamin meant when he said goods are sold by flâneurie.

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What feels new with Instagram is the mode of photography that feels most akin to the window display. Rafael de Cárdenas, the architect, shows off Biarritz by way of melons and Marlboros on a snowy white cloth. Jessica Diehl, Vanity Fair’s style and fashion director, snaps her stay in Claridge’s, the five-star hotel in London. The model-slash-writer Laura Bailey comes home from a trip with — she writes — ‘‘Paris in my bag’’: a strand of Chanel pearls, a Chanel stylo eyeliner, a black diamanté hairpin and a handwritten note, all displayed too well and too brightly to make anyone believe these items have ever seen the inside of a clutch. These are technically still lifes, but in spirit they are actually the new self-portraiture. It isn’t strange to say, or to hear, from an acquaintance run into on the street, ‘‘I recognized you’’ — not by your face or your body, but by your ‘‘style.’’ Meaning: a hand with carmine nails holding a copy of Anne Carson’s ‘‘Red Doc.’’ A pair of Illestevas resting on the edge of a Café Gitane plate, beneath it a new issue of The Journal. ‘‘The arrangement was the meaning,’’ Joan Didion writes in ‘‘Blue Nights.’’ The same is as true of objects as of words, and the small compositions of personal belongings so recognizable as ‘‘Instagram’’ are, simply, selfies without a face. Similar compositions can also represent others. One of my favorite recent Instagrams, by the Los Angeles artist David Kitz, is of bandages, Motrin and other supplies for an injury from CVS, all heaped together on a plain white bedspread; the tag is #anklesprain, the caption is ‘‘Got the best girl in the world,’’ and the heart melts. This is my kind of lifestyle envy. For the more aspirational, there is Amanda Brooks, the American socialite who now lives in Oxfordshire, England, with two kids and a million horses. In lieu of a family portrait, Brooks will Instagram four pairs of kayaking sandals on a dock. Instead of photographing her scads of friends, she ’grams a plate heaped high with packets of quince paste, which she has made to give as gifts. In the comments, a stranger asks her for the recipe. Belongings being so easily conflated with belonging, Instagram induces a longing to be on a scene, the scene, the next one, a better one. Some hours you can scroll without end as a long block of squares lights up in unison, every frame swinging open to a new angle on the same scene: the same Jay Z performance at Pace Gallery in Chelsea, the same Delfina Delettrez presentation in Paris, the same Ken Okiishi paint-balling robots at the Frieze Art Fair in London. ‘‘There it was,’’ says the kid in the Willa Cather story ‘‘Paul’s Case,’’ looking up at a wonderland of glowing panes, ‘‘what he wanted — tangibly before him, like the fairy world of a Christmas pantomime.’’ Close observers of Instagram may have noticed the recent rise of a conscious-or-not homage to Walter Benjamin, a snap of the modern flâneur: taken alone on the street, while looking through a store window — the most reflexive of surfaces — at oneself.

Lookout The Moment

Back to the Land There’s a handcrafted earthiness to urban dressing this season. PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANNEMARIEKE VAN DRIMMELEN STYLED BY JASON RIDER

An exotic scarf Denis Colomb scarf, AED 2,369; Santa Fe Dry Goods, (505) 983-8142. Derek Lam scarf (worn underneath), AED 1,799; (212) 493-4454. Dries Van Noten vest, AED 4,279; barneys.com. Chloé top, AED 4,022; (212) 717-8220.

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An organic neckline Altuzarra in collaboration with Giles & Brother necklace, price on request; altuzarra.com. Donna Karan New York top, AED 4,757; donnakaran.com. Organic by John Patrick slip, AED 441; organicbyjohnpatrick.com. The Row skirt, AED 60,607; Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;NA, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 011-966-11-419-9966.

Marchâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;April, 2014

Lookout

The Moment

A makeshift belt Etro coat, AED 5,969; (212)â&#x20AC;&#x2030;317-9096. Orciani belt, AED 642; saksfifthavenue.com.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

A stacked wrist From top: Alexander McQueen bracelets, from AED 1,084; (212) 645-1797. Proenza Schouler bracelet, AED 1,818; (212) 585-3200. Chloé bracelet, AED 1,837. Michael Kors dress, AED 5,491 and sweater (tied around torso), AED 4,389; michaelkors.com. Dries Van Noten top (worn underneath), AED 1,396; A’maree’s, (949) 642-4423.

March–April, 2014

The Moment

MODEL: MAJA SALAMON/NEXT. HAIR BY SHIN ARIMA USING REDKEN FOR FRANK REPS. MAKEUP BY ASAMI TAGUCHI USING CHANEL BEAUTÉ FOR FRANK REPS. MANICURE BY RIEKO OKUSA FOR CHANEL. STYLIST’S ASSISTANT: ALEX TUDELA.

Lookout

A tapestry carryall Dries Van Noten bag, AED 10,726; A’maree’s. Hermès jacket, AED 15,887, and pants, AED 8,448; hermes.com. Trademark shoes, AED 826; trade-mark.com.

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@designdaysdubai

GALLERIES AARC (Algiers), Art Factum Gallery (Beirut), Authentique Art & Design (Dubai), Carpenters Workshop Gallery (London/Paris), Carwan Gallery (Beirut), Clear Edition & Gallery (Tokyo), Coalesce Design Studio (Karachi), +Coletivo Amor de Madre (Sao Paulo), Crafts Council (London), _Croft (Seoul), Erastudio Apartment Design Gallery (Milan), The Fabrick Lab (Hong Kong/ China), FN Designs (Dubai), Galerie Judy Straten (Horst), Galerie Yves Gastou (Paris), Hybrid Art Management (Budapest), Industry Gallery (Washington DC/Los Angeles), J+A Gallery (Dubai), La Galerie Nationale (Dubai), Nakkash Gallery (Dubai), Naqsh Design House (Amman), Sabrina Landini Creations (Pietrasanta), ShowMe Design & Art Gallery (Braga), Southern Guild (Wilderness), Stilwerk Limited Edition Design Gallery (Hamburg), Tashkeel (Dubai), VCUQatar (Doha), Victor Hunt Designart Dealer (Brussels), Wiener Silber Manufactur (Vienna) DISCOVER Gallery S. Bensimon (Paris), Galerie Gosserez (Paris), NextLevel Galerie (Paris), Ymer&Malta (Paris) BESPOKE DESIGN Bin么me (Saint Pierre le Mo没tier), Iwan Maktabi (Lebanon), Shamsa Alabbar (UAE), Squad Design (Lebanon) SPECIAL INSTALLATIONS Tom Price, Michael Anastassiades, Elaine Ng Yan Ling, ECAL, Giles Miller, Fatema bint Mohammed bin Zayed Initiative, Guillaume Cr茅doz and Nareg Karaoghlanian

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This and That A Cultural Compendium

FACE TIME

Golden Eyes

From a faint sheen to a strong metallic, fashion’s top makeup artists got glowing this season. Here’s how to lay on the shine. ILLUSTRATIONS BY KONSTANTIN KAKANIAS

Diane Kendal lined the eye socket with a black liner, filling in the lid with a camel shadow and finishing with a thin layer of glitter. Lancôme Color Design Eye Brightening All–in– One 5 Shadow & Liner Palette in Bronze Amour, AED 184; lancome–usa.com.

Clockwise from right: Brick Pastel dhurrie, starting from about AED 2,571; Oyyo’s founders, Lina Zedig and Marcus Ahren; vegetable–dyed Bastian dhurrie, starting from AED 6,502.

Pat McGrath applied a copper shadow to the perimeter of the eye, flaring it out at the corners. Estée Lauder Pure Color Stay–on Shadow Paint in Cosmic, AED 88; esteelauder.com.

Peter Philips dusted the lid with a shimmery shadow, adding sparkle by gluing short threads of fine metallic cord to lashes. For a more practical look, Yves Saint Laurent Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils Shocking in Bronze Black (#3), AED 110; yslbeautyus.com. 28

To create a futuristic effect, McGrath coated the upper and lower lids — as well as the brow — with a strong application of gold shadow. Diorshow Fusion Mono in Météore (#661), AED 110; dior.com.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

Lina Zedig and Marcus Ahren, the founders of the Stockholm– based design studio Oyyo, have introduced a line of cotton dhurries that stands apart from the ubiquitous stripes and chevrons of flat–weave designs. With their soft pastels and spare patterns, these rugs have a definite Nordic accent, recalling the textiles of the Swedish designer Marta Maas–Fjetterstrom, but a closer look reveals more diverse influences — everything from the Bauhaus textiles of Gunta Stölzl to the tree markings of itinerant laborers in the 1940s. oyyo.se — TOM DELAVAN

DAVID MAGNUSSON (3)

Magic Carpets

ON THE VERGE

A Star Is Born

JACQUEMUS: BERTRAND LE PLUARD (3). SANDALS, FROM LEFT: MARKO METZINGER (2); MARNI; BALENCIAGA; MARKO METZINGER (2).

The French fashion designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is storming Paris with his superclean designs and rowdy runway shows.

IT’S UNCOMPLICATED Clockwise from top center: Simon Porte Jacquemus; two looks from the minimalist designer’s spring collection.

Simon Porte Jacquemus freely admits that he’s no couturier — the French women’s wear designer lasted just two months at fashion school. In 2010, after quitting a creative director’s assistant job in similar haste, he launched his own line out of his apartment, often sketching ideas while riding the Métro. Yet since debuting his first collection in the spring of 2013, the clothes have stood out. Now, some of Paris’s coolest girls are wearing the 25–year–old’s clothes, including the model Caroline de Maigret, the stylist Ursina Gysi and the fashion blogger Jeanne Damas, and he’s

selling at many of the world’s most sought–after stores, such as Dover Street Market and Opening Ceremony. His subversive fashion–week happenings have also been reinvigorating the Paris scene. Last fall’s presentation was staged at a public swimming pool, where plastic foot– bags were dispensed so that editors wouldn’t sully their shoes. His rave– like spring 2014 show drew what felt like a flash mob to a basement video arcade on the Boulevard des Italiens. Spring’s curvilinear shapes were inspired by the space–age architecture

of La Grande–Motte, the midcentury beach resort near Jacquemus’s childhood home in the South of France. His crisp, age–old fabrics — unwashed twill, mosquito netting — feel new amid the current vogue for digital prints and high–tech textures. ‘‘In the craziness of fashion, a strong look is something that’s not just simple, but ultrasimple,’’ he says. ‘‘Simple is a white T–shirt and blue jeans. Ultrasimple is something without details, a girl in an all–white cotton look. To me, that’s powerful.’’ jacquemus.com — EVIANA HARTMAN

FASHION MEMO

2 4

3 1

From Runyon to the Runway

Fashion has already appropriated the Birkenstock and the Bermuda short. Now the maligned Teva feels the love. 1. Teva sandals, AED 147; teva.com. 2. Prada sandals, price on request; prada.com. 3. Marni sandals, AED 3,049; (212) 343-3912. 4. Balenciaga sandals, AED 2,847; neimanmarcus.com. 5. Agyness Deyn for Dr. Martens sandals, AED 588; drmartens.com. 6. Marc Jacobs sandals, AED 11,398; (212) 343-1490.

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March–April, 2014

Lookout

This and That 4 THE FIND 6

Studio Services After achieving success on the West Coast as one half of the furniture design duo Meier/Ferrer, Charlie Ferrer has branched out on his own and opened a meticulously curated Manhattan showroom that also doubles as his one–bedroom apartment. The 32–year–old has pooled pieces by a number of behind–the– scenes talents, like the sought–after industrial designer Billy Cotton and the lighting expert Kacper Dolatowski, both of whose work had only been available to decorators seeking custom commissions. The handmade designs Ferrer displays, in a range of materials from brass to oak to plaster, feel classic yet current. ‘‘I don’t like to call it a showroom, which feels static,’’ Ferrer says. ‘‘It’s really more of a studio, an active place where artists refine, resolve and share their ideas.’’ ferrer.co

A CLEAN, WELL–LIGHTED PLACE (1) Kacper Dolatowski’s plaster torchiere lamp, AED 20,203. (2) Billy Cotton’s parchment console, AED 69,056. (3) Matthias Merkel Hess’s glazed ceramic ‘‘White Bucket, Small,’’ AED 2,204. (4) Jed Ochmanek’s concrete artwork, AED 7,713. (5) Maren Kloppmann’s black–and–white porcelain vessel, AED 15,427. (6) Robert Stilin’s brass sconce, AED 11,019. (7) Cotton’s Elements table, AED 142,520, and (8) Cotton’s Antwerp cabinet, AED 102,849, exclusively through Ferrer.

— SARA RUFFIN COSTELLO

FERRER: JOSHUA M C HUGH (3). ILLUSTRATIONS BY KONSTANTIN KAKANIAS.

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Tying the Knot Spring’s runway proved — surprise, surprise — that there’s more than one way to wear a sweater.

Knotted loose and low around the hips, a graphic knit becomes a butt–flattering train.

Worn backwards around the waist, this nonchalant bad–girl look is the sartorial equivalent of smoking in the bathroom.

Preppy or Maasai? Either way, an asymmetrically tied knit serves up a fresh twist on the tennis ensemble.

The Houdini of fashion, a sweater cinched high on the waist creates the illusion of a slimmer figure and longer legs.

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Men's Fashion November - December, 2013

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SHEER FORCE LADY BIKERS DUBAI FANTASY JOURNEY

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ON THE ROAD WITH THE UAE’S

Men’s Fashion Fall 2013

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Women’s Fashion September - October, 2013

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Women’s Fashion September - October, 2013

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The Contradictory Rooney Mara Victoria Beckham’s Extreme Ambition & Meet The UAE’s Fashion Royalty Dubai’s Most Stylish Women Talk Fashion

Travel May - June, 2013

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Lookout By the Numbers

Temporary Insanity

Approximate number of runway shows and presentations

For eight days in February and then again in September, more than 100,000 characters descend on New York City for the women’s fashion shows. Traffic grinds to a halt. Requests on Uber, the luxury car–service app, spike 40 percent. It’s harder to get a seat at certain restaurants, like Carbone or NoMad, than it is a front–row perch at Marc Jacobs. And there are enough crazed street–style peacocks clomping around and #NYFW selfies getting snapped to make the whole scene feel like some endless Kardashian nightmare. But it’s also serious business. The shows bring in an estimated $860 million for the city, more than the projected earnings of the U.S. Open, the New York City Marathon or the Super Bowl. Not bad for an event that began in 1941, when the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union invited 30 journalists to attend a few designers’ showrooms. Here, a brief look into the harrowing and often hysterical week that kicks off every new fashion season. — ALEX HAWGOOD

ONE square foot

25 years

The breakdown of models present on the fall 2013 runway (according to research conducted by jezebel.com)

AVERAGE LENGTH OF A SHOW

Amount of time people spent watching the spring 2014 shows on the Internet

$1 million

Amount of space per photographer in the pit during a show

83% White 9% Asian 6% Black 2% Latina

minutes

$100,000 — Beyoncé $60,000 — Julianne Moore $2,000 — Iggy Azalea Approximate celebrity front-row payment

Cost of renting a tent at Lincoln Center

$60,000 (seats 1,100)

NUMBER OF SPRING 2014 SHOWS WALKED BY JOSEPHINE LE TUTOUR, NYFW’S BUSIEST MODEL

2,100

Number of registered journalists

International Fashion Week hashtag impacts on Instagram:

641,935 – #nyfw 292,658 – #pfw 187,296 – #mfw 32

Zelda Kaplan

NEW YORK SOCIALITE AND NIGHTLIFE HABITUÉ WHO DIED AT NYFW IN 2012 AT THE AGE OF 95, AFTER COLLAPSING IN HER FRONT–ROW SEAT

‘‘When I’m sitting with Anna, I’m really sitting with Anna / Ain’t a metaphor punchline, I’m really sitting with Anna / Front row at Oscar de la Renta, posture.’’

Nicki Minaj, from her song ‘‘Come on a Cone.’’

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: NICHOLAS ROBERTS/AFP IMAGEFORUM; MARK RALSTON/AFP IMAGEFORUM; MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP IMAGEFORUM; ANDREW COWIE/AFP IMAGEFORUM; JOE KLAMAR/AFP IMAGEFORUM; ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP IMAGEFORUM.

Amount Marc Jacobs has spent on a runway show

Take Two

A dual review of what’s new. Chloë Sevigny

Elaine Stritch

Oscar–nominated actress and perennial downtown It Girl who will next be seen in March playing a detective on the A&E crime drama ‘‘Those Who Kill.’’

Emmy– and Tony award–winning performer whose cabaret at the Carlyle Hotel, where she once lived, is a New York legend. The documentary ‘‘Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me’’ will be released by Sundance Selects this month.

FROM TOP: SEVIGNY: AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY; STRITCH: AFP PHOTO/SAUL LOEB; COURTESY OF MAD DECENT; COURTESY PHAIDON PRESS; COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN DIOR PARFUMS; COURTESY ALEXANDER MCQUEEN; JUAN C. LOPEZ ESPANTALEON/ZABAR’S AND COMPANY INC.

I’d never heard his music. I was actually kind of surprised that it had this old–school feel to it. I haven’t bought a hip–hop record since the first Wu–Tang. I’m not so into the ‘‘bitches and hos’’ of modern party rap.

Music The rapper Riff Raff’s forthcoming album, ‘‘Neon Icon‘‘ (maddecent.com).

Cindy is one of my favorite artists, and most of her greatest hits are in here. I’ve always found it fascinating how styled her photos are, but you see her in person and she doesn’t seem like a Marina Abramovic, who’s always in head–to–toe Givenchy.

The oils remind me of the ones I buy from the guys selling patchouli on St. Mark’s. I couldn’t see how these were so much nicer. Still, I’ve found myself wearing them every day.

Book ’’Cindy Sherman,‘‘ a primer on the New York photographer (AED 84; phaidon.com).

Fragrance Christian Dior’s Les Élixirs Précieux oils, meant to be paired with a perfume from the house’s La Collection Privée (AED 1,102; Bergdorf Goodman, 800-558-1855).

It’s definitely exotic. Right now, I’m really into bows. I saw a girl the other night with a big one on, and she told me she got it at Forever 21. I’ve tried to never step foot in that store, but this might be my breaking point.

Helmet Alexander McQueen’s gold cloche (AED 26,354; 212-645-1797).

Breakfast Being an actress, a dozen bagels doesn’t really work for me. But I tried all of the fish, and I’ve got to say, it was comparable to the smoked salmon I’d get at the Ritz in Paris.

Zabar’s Smoked Fish Kit, which includes three types of salmon, 12 bagels and cream cheese (AED 642; zabars.com).

I just caught up with Elton John’s music, so I’m not ready for this. Elton is not just my favorite artist, but also my favorite human being of all time. A lot of it has to do with the fact that he adores me, honestly.

It’s a marvelous book, don’t you think? Cindy Sherman is terrific. She’s a really spooky woman. I personally love Picasso, but it’s impossible to have the real thing, and not the 189th reproduction.

I love this because it’s fresh and light, and it doesn’t smack you. I went to this dinner party once, and a woman’s fragrance was so heavy that three guys went home, and we hadn’t even gotten to the main course.

I’ve got enough problems in my head without that helmet hanging on me. Hair is a woman’s crowning glory, and I’m not covering mine up with anything unless it’s a beautiful hat with a few curls coming out the side.

The fish, the bagels and the gorgeous cream cheese with onion chopped through it — oh, it was divine! You know, when you’re not looking I’m Jewish. I’d just call up Zabar’s and tell them to charge it to the Carlyle.

ALL PRICES ARE INDICATIVE

March–April, 2014

Lookout Emirates

The Luxe List

From Oud perfume to exclusive crocodile bags, here is our selection of this season’s luxury items.

Cartier’s Odyssey Serving once again as one of the main sponsors of Art Dubai, this year Cartier and the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain will put on an exhibition consisting of an imaginative display of the Maison’s renowned L’Odyssée de Cartier collection. This is inspired by cultural elements from around the world with a special focus on traditional designs from the Far East, Africa and China. In addition, the exhibition will feature “Maman Isek Mabo Bendele”, a work by African artist Bodys Isek Kingelez, created in 2000 after his first exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in 1995. The piece takes the form of a colorful installation made from cardboard and fragile materials featuring various skyscrapers in an imaginary urban space. The exhibition is unique for the Maison in that it juxtaposes stunning pieces of jewelry from the L’Odysée de Cartier collection alongside a work of contemporary art that exudes the geometric lines and movement of the modern world. Art Dubai takes place from March 19 to 22 in Madinat Jumeirah. For more information visit www.artdubai.ae

Slim Teller of Time During the recent Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), Piaget launched the Altiplano 38–mm 900P, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. The timepiece merges the hand–wound caliber with the case elements and is designed as a single entity in order to obtain its record–breaking slenderness at 3.65 millimeters. This sophisticated watch combines the Maison’s technological prowess with its cutting–edge artistry — elements that have made it one of the most popular names in watchmaking over the past century. Available at the Piaget Boutique in The Dubai Mall. Price available upon request.

Driving Shoes One of the highlights of Lacoste’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection are the stunning Riviera-inspired soft leather Concours driving shoes. Exuding comfort and flexibility, these women’s shoes are made with soft suede upper leather and the classic driving shoe sole. Available at the Lacoste boutique in The Dubai Mall. Price available upon request.

Loewe Anagram Belt Elegant and chic, Loewe’s anagram belt comes in chocolate brown colored ostrich leather. The belt is three centimeters wide and is fastened by a golden buckle in the shape of Loewe’s iconic logo. Perfect for daytime errands or a casual evening out, this staple accessory item makes for a fine centerpiece to circle around trousers. Available at the Loewe boutique in The Dubai Mall. Price available upon request.

Cruciani’s Crocodile Bag Italian brand Cruciani has launched a set of crocodile–skin shoulder bags created exclusively for the Middle East. They incorporate ostrich, Saffiano leather and crocodile skin that are beautifully crafted into elegant bags in three sizes as well as small clutches and wallets. The shoulder bag features gold–plated brass, a detail that gives the accessories an extra touch of elegance. The bags are available in brown, forest green, orange, red, china blue, baby pink, fuchsia, purple, anthracite, beige, cream and black. Available at the Cruciani boutique in The Dubai Mall. Prices available upon request.

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Oud Assoluto

Lost Walls by eL Seed This month will see the launch of French/Tunisian calligraffiti artist eL Seed’s first book. The hardcover volume documents his four–week road trip around Tunisia last summer during which he painted 24 walls in total. eL Seed hopes that the book will show the world another side of Tunisia at a time when negative reactions to the revolution have drawn the public away from Tunisia’s rich heritage. His elegant tome has been produced with the support of renowned art collector and philanthropist Jeffrey Deitch, who will be present in Dubai for the book’s pre–launch during an art talk discussing the future of calligraffiti as an art form. The book will pre–launch exclusively in Dubai on March 21 during Art Dubai before its international launch in April.

The Couture Bag

Captivating mystery is conveyed through the dark, brooding Oud Assoluto fragrance recently launched by Valentino. Notes of orange blossom meet cardamom, Bulgarian rose and leather blended with saffron, vanilla and dried oud wood to merge into an enchanting spiced Italian–influenced Arabian oud fragrance. The black– and–gold bottle denotes the richness and glamour of the fragrance within. The fragrance is available at Sephora and Faces, AED 550.

Pucci Kaftans Presenting the brand’s timeless kaleidoscope of colorful prints and cutting–edge designs, for Emilio Pucci’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection Creative Director Peter Dundas has concocted a range of vibrantly–patterned kaftans perfect for a day at the beach. These elgenat ankle–length accoutrements combine exotic Masai–style prints with sheer silk and cotton to give an oriental feel to traditional beachwear. Available at the Emilio Pucci boutique ins The Dubai Mall and The Galleria on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi. Prices available upon request.

This highly–embellished and ornate bag offers an imaginative variation on the iconic Tod’s Sella Bag. Taking its inspiration from a dressage saddle, it is fashioned from a strip of fine leather and elegantly curved, like a saddle, as well as reflecting the beautiful line of the back of a thoroughbred. Other elements that take their inspiration from horse riding are found in the bag’s metal details, which reference bridles with their joints and brass rings. The highly intricate detailing of this tote makes it a work of superb couture creation. Available at the Tod’s Boutique at Mall of the Emirates and BurJuman, AED 51,190.

Spring Sandals Ideal for the sophisticated and culturally–vibrant woman who is constantly on the run from one destination to the next, Santoni’s double buckle sandal in crocodile is hand–colored and polished in tones of jeans blue. Part of the brand’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection, these high–heeled sandals reflect a timeless style ideal for a refined getaway. Available at Rodeo Drive Boutiques, AED 5,845.

March–April, 2014

Lookout Emirates

In Praise of Hands INTELLIGENT AND SENSITIVE, the human hand is a limb of action. It is used to express emotions and perform practical everyday functions, and it is a creator of beauty. In his 1934 essay In Praise of Hands French art historian Henri Focillon wrote: “Art is made with hands — they are a means of action, but first and foremost an organ of knowledge.” As the luxury sponsor and partner of Design Days Dubai for the third consecutive year, Van Cleef & Arpels will present an exhibition on the art of high jewelry that pays homage to the expert hands of the Maison’s master craftsmen: les Mains d’Or™ (“the Golden Hands”). In tandem with a book of the same name by Franco Cologni, the In Praise of Hands exhibition will pay tribute to the artistry that goes into creating a piece of high jewelry by explaining each of the distinct skills needed through evocative black-and-white photographs by Francesco Cito. Celebrated will be the skilled hands that have dedicated countless hours of their ancestral expertise to transforming ordinary objects into the Maison’s precious high jewelry creations. The craftsmanship of the Maison will also be highlighted during the exhibition by a display of spectacular high jewelry creations reflecting Van Cleef & Arpels’ creativity and excellence in

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jewelry design. It will also unveil the finer points of the “Mystery Setting,” one of the Maison’s emblematic techniques. During the opening hours of the exhibition the Maison will hold Experience the Art of Mock-up Making, a series of 30 minute sessions on the art of mockup making, the first three-dimensional interpretation of a jewel. As Focillon so clearly noted, hands are creators of beauty. With a few gestures the magnificence of a high jewelry creation is established, and all through the skill of the human hand. The exhibition in Dubai cites one of the meditations of philosopher François Cheng: “Beauty exists without its necessity appearing, at first glance, in any obvious way. It is here, ubiquitous, persistent and pervasive, while giving the impression of being superfluous — that is its mystery. And this, to our eyes, is the greatest mystery.” And so In Praise of Hands will endeavor to celebrate not only the superb art of craftsmanship involved in Van Cleef & Arpels’ magnificent creations, but also the gift of humanity that allows us, as Cheng implies, to appreciate the mystery of beauty in our everyday lives. In Praise of Hands will take place from March 17-21 at The Venue on Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashed Boulevard in Downtown Dubai.

Diamond bracelet, 1925, P.Gries.

IMAGES COURTESY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANCESCO CITO.

“Art is made with hands — they are a means of action, but first and foremost an organ of knowledge.”

Van Cleef & Arpels’ master craftsmen at work.

March–April, 2014

Event Promotion

AFTER TWO SUCCESSFUL RUNS in previous years,

Design Days Dubai This month sees the third edition of Design Days Dubai, the Middle East’s first contemporary design fair. Preview the impressive line–up of international and regional participants and finds out what’s in store for lovers of art and design. BY REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR

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Design Days Dubai (DDD) returns for its third showing. The fair, which was inaugurated in 2012, was founded upon the vision of supporting the UAE’s burgeoning art scene with a special platform for limited–edition furniture and objects created by Middle Eastern and international designers. It has since set the course for a more mature design scene in the Middle East, a vision that Director Cyril Zammit has been working towards since the fair’s inception. “The public is increasingly receptive to contemporary art,” he says. In evidence he cites the success of Art Dubai over the past several years, with the annual art fair bringing in around 20,000 visitors each year. There is also the growing presence of art galleries within Dubai as well as Christie’s biannual sales, both of which have encouraged the collecting and appreciation of works of art among the UAE’s cosmopolitan community. “All of these facts point to a demand for cutting–edge designs. The Middle East is now ready,” Zammit asserts. “What’s more is that a design object has a functional purpose that an artwork doesn’t always have.” Thus the commercial and aesthetic properties of design make the sector all the more appealing a contributor to the UAE’s growth as a leading hub for creativity. Organized with the support of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and d3, Dubai Design District, this year’s fair boasts DDD’s biggest program yet. This includes a

Event Promotion

IMAGES COURTESY DESIGN DAYS DUBAI

SPECTATOR AMUSEMENT Above, clockwise from left: "A Million Times" by Humans Since 1982 at Victor Hunt Designart Dealer; Galerie Diane de Polignac; Galerie Sofie Lachaert; Rick Owens, Michele Lamy and Mohammed Sultan Al Habtoor.

varied selection of talks, panels and workshops with design experts and industry leaders as well as an impressive line–up of 34 galleries from 20 countries. “On hand will be one of the most diverse selections of designers ever, with participants from across the world, including from Algeria, Pakistan and Jordan,” says Zammit. “We are pushing the boundaries to ensure that we get more and more countries involved.” The fair will take place during Dubai’s Art Week, from March 17—21 in Downtown Dubai at The Venue. Design Display. This year the emphasis will be on collectible contemporary design as well as a selection of 20th–century modern works. Some of the world’s most respected names will be there, including Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Southern Guild, Croft, Victor Hunt and Industry Gallery, alongside regional names such as FN Designs, Nakkash Gallery and La Galerie Nationale. “My desire was to reflect the city’s diversity,” says Zammit. Galleries from seven countries not previously represented — China, Pakistan, Portugal, Jordan, Japan, Austria and Hungary — will also be taking part, as will 10 galleries from elsewhere in the Middle East, in keeping with the fair’s mission to nurture contemporary design in the region. One of this year’s highlights is the presence of renowned Parisian gallery Yves Gastou, which rarely participates in art fairs. The gallery is making its Middle Eastern debut as part of Discover, a new section of the fair that will focus on a specific country each year. This year’s focus is on France, through a collaboration between DDD and the Institut Français that also showcases four emerging galleries: Galery S. Bensimon, NextLevel Galerie, Galerie Gosserez and Ymer&Malta. The section highlights the UAE’s desire to foster a creative exchange with countries around the globe. Of particular note is a series of pioneering installations made by five hand–picked established designers. The ideology and methodological make–up of these works goes beyond the conventional canon of design to enter into the realm of contemporary art. This includes “Climatology: Respired Wooden Skin” by Chinese designer Elaine Ng Yan Ling, an installation that gives viewers the chance to witness a “natural” installation reacting to its surroundings. “Dubai will serve as a symbolic place for my installation,” says Yan Ling. “The work is originally inspired by a plant called the resurrection plant that can only be found in the desert. The natural energy in Dubai will narrate its movement until it flourishes into a live dream garden in the desert.” Another stimulating installation is “Light Sculptures Castor and Pollux” by Giles Miller Studio, which utilizes texture and light to

create images of shadow and reflection. On entering the fair, visitors will encounter “The Obsessive Drafter,” a tech–art robotic arm installation manufactured by Guillaume Crédoz and Nareg Karaoghlanian. Made of 3D printed parts, the robot will be in full–on action drawing designs onto the entrance wall (and can also sketch a personal portrait of guests) in a creative salute to all that lies ahead. The sensory experience will be further heightened this year with the addition of three live performances that allow the audience to see design in motion, emphasizing the idea of the physical and ideological process of a design object. Paving the Way. Design Days Dubai is once again sponsored by a parade of eminent patrons including Van Cleef & Arpels, Emaar and Audi, all of which have been supporters since the event’s inception. This year’s exciting roster of events speaks volumes about Dubai’s vibrant energy. “Designers are taken by the entrepreneurship of the city,” says Zammit. “With over 200 nationalities living in Dubai, designers see Dubai as an opportunity whereby they can exhibit something completely fresh and new. There is a fantastic community spirit here and we can all benefit from the success.” Events such as Design Days Dubai emphasize the way design can be a powerful intellectual and aesthetic tool for this fast–developing region. But with the burgeoning creative sector expanding so rapidly, we wonder how long it can sustain this pace. Right now, though, we have no qualms, and couldn’t be more eager to see the outcome of this burst of creativity. For more information, visit www.designdaysdubai.ae

DESIGN OBJECTS Below, from top: "Droplet" by Ado Chale. Top in aluminium. Courtesy Galerie Yves Gastou; "Night Sky" by Wendell Castle; Stained ash with oil finish and light fittings. Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

March–April, 2014

Lookout Emirates

Basel Preview In the run–up to this year’s edition of Baselworld, a major international watch and jewelry event since 1917, we preview a few highlights for both men and women representing some of the industry’s most pivotal launches. They take the form of limited-edition timepieces, flying tourbillons and highly-embellished creations. BY REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR

The Faubourg Watch by Hèrmes

Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde SW

Available at Damas Les Exclusives in the Burj Al Arab and in

Super slim and elegant, the new Faubourg Watch by Hèrmes offers a sophisticated take on everyday femininity. This miniature timepiece, the smallest offered by La Montre Hèrmes, is just 15.5 millimeters in diameter and has a quartz movement. Parisian in style, it nonchalantly embraces the wearer’s wrist and is available in rose, white or yellow gold, either set or not set with diamonds. The Faubourg also boasts a white lacquered dial set with a diamond at 12 o’clock, and comes in a gold bracelet or leather or satin strap, depending on which model is chosen. At once intricate and charming, the Faubourg can be worn for all occasions.

This sporty interpretation of Jaquet Droz’s iconic Grande Seconde is identifiable by its two off-center dials that clearly describe a figure eight. In the 2014 version, the traditional rubber and metal strap of the Grande Seconde SW has been replaced by an alligator strap in a color that matches the watch’s slate-gray dial. Enhanced by a Côtes de Genève decoration, the hours and minutes dial is distinguished by its smaller size and Roman numeral hour markers, except for the 5, 6 and 7 which are displayed as Arabic numerals. In the new edition the hands of the dial are skeletonized in order to highlight the beauty of the dial’s design.

The Dubai Mall.

Available at the Hèrmes boutique in The Dubai Mall.

Available at the Rivoli boutique in The Dubai Mall.

The Butterfly Watch

The latest addition to Graff’s Butterfly Collection features a stunning arrangement of four pearshaped diamonds tracing the outline of an exquisite butterfly that rests on the piece’s 26-millimeter face. Set on a simple yet elegant black satin strap, the timepiece is available in two striking designs, with the butterfly motif positioned at 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively. The dial is either made of black onyx with one triangle or fully set with diamonds, and the case is white gold set with 41 diamonds. Limited to just 300 pieces, it is available in stunning gemstone versions using sapphires, rubies and emeralds.

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CHANEL J12 Flying Tourbillon

2014 Villeret Model by Blancpain

Breguet Classique “Grande Complication” Tourbillon Extra-Thin Automatic 5377

Since the first J12 Tourbillon was created in 2005, the J12 Collection has continued to explore the universe of grand complications in watchmaking with a new Flying Tourbillon caliber. The watch features a tourbillon carriage rendered in the form of a stunning star and gem-set. At once a magnificent high jewelry creation and a timepiece of exceptional technicality, this edition is presented in 18-carat white gold with brilliant- and baguette-cut diamonds. It is made in a limited edition of five pieces.

Named after the birthplace of the manufacture, the Villeret Collection by Blancpain has unveiled a new 44-millimeter self-winding three-hand watch with date display, featuring a remarkably understated Grand Feu enamel dial. It boasts a red gold round double-stepped case with slightly hollowed sage leaf-shaped hands. The dial is enlivened by a date display at 3 o’clock as well as a central second hand. The piece has a sapphire crystal case-back featuring Côtes de Genève on the movement bridges and a honeycomb pattern on the oscillating weight.

This super thin 44-millimeter automatic timepiece reveals a new model with a regal platinum façade. It is distinguished by an off-center tourbillon with a carriage in titanium. The movement of this 5377 boasts a balance spring in silicon as well as an escapement made of silicon and anti-magnetic steel. Such characteristics enable the new caliber 581DR to beat at a high frequency of 4Hz. The dial is decorated with four engine-turned patterns that reflect the heritage and values of centuries of watchmaking.

Available at the Chanel boutique in The Dubai Mall.

Available at the Blancpain boutique in The Dubai Mall.

Available at the Breguet boutique in The Dubai Mall.

Bulgari Octo White Dial

The Ferragamo Buckle

Dior VIII Grand Bal “Résille”

Launched in 2012, the Bulgari Octo reflects the ideal of elegance and power through an exceptional eight-sided case and complex round bezel. The brand has now introduced a new model in steel and rose gold with a white lacquered face. One of its main features is the shape of the case, which presents 110 handpolished and brushed facets. It also has an 18-carat pink gold crown with black ceramic plate and an off-white lacquered polished dial with hand-applied pink gold-plated indexes. It comes in a brown alligator strap with a stainless steel folding buckle.

The Ferragamo Buckle Collection is a new project that offers a modern reinterpretation of the concept of the buckle, highlighting its practical relevance as well as the aesthetic role it has played in Ferragamo’s footwear and accessories. Used heresed as a timepiece, it boasts a 37-millimeterdiameter case that comes in steel or gold IP and has a distinctive cloche shape. The dial comes in champagne, silver, dark brown or black and is enhanced by intricate guilloché finishing and diamond-embedded numbers on the flange. It is equipped with a Swiss-made quartz movement, and the case features the winding crown at 12 o'clock.

This steel and white ceramic model with pink sapphires is part of the Dior Grand Bal collection which continues the “bal” metaphor that was cherished by Monsieur Dior. The watch’s 33-millimeter case is made of white high-tech ceramic and stainless steel and a bears a bezel set with diamonds and decorated with a white mother-of-pearl ring, while the crown is set with a white ceramic insert. The case-back is an opalescent sapphire crystal. It has a bracelet in white high-tech ceramic that unfolds pyramidshaped links and is made in a limited edition of 88 pieces.

Available at the Bulgari boutique in The Dubai Mall.

Available at Salvatore Ferragamo in The Dubai Mall.

Available at the Dior boutique in The Dubai Mall. 41

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“Folklore d’Henri D’Origny” 140 giant scarf in plume twill.

CARRÉ HERMÈS

FOR DECADES THE HERMÈS SCARF HAS BEEN ONE OF THE FASHION WORLD’S MOST ICONIC ACCESSORIES. REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR MEETS WITH BALI BARRET, THE BRAND’S CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF SILKS, TO DISCUSS THIS HIGHLY VERSATILE ITEM, ITS HISTORY AND THE INCREASING COLLABORATION WITH CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS.

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IT WAS WORN BY THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND on a 1956 postage

IMAGES COURTESY OF HERMÈS, © STUDIO DES FLEURS, ©ALFREDO PIOLA.

stamp, famously used by Grace Kelly as an elegant sling to nurse her broken arm, employed by Sharon Stone in a light bondage scene in Basic Instinct and sported as a sophisticated headscarf by Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O. Over the past three-quarters of century the Hermès scarf has been put to multitudinous uses. For some it has become a fashion obsession, establishing itself over the years as something of a cult object — never going out of style, and now seemingly popular among a younger generation of women. But what is it about this simple accessory that has earned it such a devoted following? “Women of today wear Hermès scarves in various and eclectic ways depending on their style, age and culture, from classic and elegant to edgy and trendy,” says Bali Barret, who has been at the helm of Hermès Silk for nearly 10 years. Perhaps it is the scarf’s versatility, coupled with the craftsmanship of the Hermès brand, that has enabled it to stand the test of time. In the years following its founding in 1837, Hermès was known for its luxury saddles and harnesses. The maison began to introduce items for women in the early 20th century, first leather handbags in 1922, and then in 1929 its first women’s couture collection in Paris. In 1937 the company marked its centenary with the launch of the 36inch Hermès “carrés” or silk squares, named for their square shape (“carré” means “square” in French). The first scarf was based on a woodblock drawing by Robert Dumas, a member of the Hermès family. The early patterns thereafter took their inspiration from the world of horseback riding that the brand knew so well, and also from sources such as maps, nature and museum collections. An Artistic Passion. Now, nearly eighty years after the first carré was created, Barret reigns over its artistic production. In recent years the scarf has taken on a new aesthetic dimension, with some of the biggest personalities from the worlds of fashion and art

collaborating on designs for it, including acclaimed Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, conceptual artist Daniel Buren and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. It all began with Pierre-Alexis Dumas, the brand’s artistic director and great-grandson of the brand’s founder Emile Hermès. Dumas had the genius idea of marrying design and art in a fashion accessory. “It was Dumas’ intention and desire to create iconic collaborations,” explains Barret. “He has always had a passion for design and art. The purpose was to strike an encounter between an artist and the expertise of Hermès and transform it, while pushing the limits to innovate it in a way that makes what is seemingly impossible and beautiful, possible.” Examples of going beyond the boundaries of normal scarf design are found in the brand’s collaboration with Sugimoto. As part of the brand’s third edition of “Carré d’artiste”, where the French luxury house invites a visual artist to collaborate with it, the partnership utilized Sugimoto’s snapshots documenting the juxtaposition of colors that emerges when dawn’s light passes through an obelisk prism, by superimposing them onto Hermès scarves. The results were startling gradations of color akin to the meditative quality of a Rothko painting, captured within the beautiful silk of the house’s most renowned fashion accessory like wearable artworks. “Printing photography had never been done on an Hermès scarf,” says Barret. “We made it possible by working with our craftsmen in a new way, with a new technique and a new craft such as inkjet printing. Reinventing the Hermès scarf is the key to these collaborations.” The scarf designs are fundamental to Hermès. Each season the patterns and colors of the scarves are found throughout the brand’s accessories, housewares and ready-to-wear, creating what might appear to be an unconscious theme throughout Hermès’ universe of specialty merchandise. While a typical scarf will set you back around $410, large sizes can reach up to double that price, with special-edition scarves costing much more. But whatever the price, there is something magical about receiving an Hermès scarf. It comes accompanied by the brand’s dainty instruction booklet, found tucked inside the house’s signature orange package wrapped in a grosgrain ribbon — the booklet and box themselves rightfully collector’s items, and souvenirs of the initial encounter with this special fashion item. A Selective Process. A reported 2,000 Hermès scarf designs have now been made by around 150 artists from all over the world. However, not all of them have been produced. Those that have yet

March–April, 2014

Clockwise from top left: “Camails Kantha” 90 scarf in silk twill; Alex Dumas and Bali Barret at the Mouvement Feminin event on November 7, 2013 at the Ecole Militaire in Paris; “Kachinas” MaxiTwilly in silk twill; “Chefs Indians” 90 scarf in silk twill.

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to be manufactured rest within the confines of the office of Christine Duvigneau, Head of Hermès’ graphic design studio on Rue Saint Honorè, awaiting their final judgment. The process by which a scarf enters Duvigneau’s lair is one of much research and investigation. Barret is constantly out searching for new artistic talent with which she can fill the scarf’s four corners. She meets as many as 100 potential designers each year. The resulting work is a long-thought-out process between the artist, Barret, Duvigneau and Dumas. In total, the company has around 50 freelance artists designing scarves at any given time, and aims to produce 20 new designs each year. “It all begins with the artwork; without it, there is no Hermès scarf!” says Barret. “An Hermès scarf is an artwork printed onto the silk (versus a pattern). The tradition and the passion for drawing defines the scarf from the very beginning of its inception. It then takes more than two years to give birth to a scarf, from design to hand rolling.” The entire process seems mysterious; the decision on which designs will be picked and which will not is kept under lock and key. More collaborations are in the pipeline, but in Barret’s words “they are secret for now.” An Eternal Heirloom. What is so pivotal to the brand is the symbolism of Hermès scarves. They are long-lived and may be passed down from generation to generation as keepsakes and special heirlooms. They are also reprinted for many years in a variety of new colors and collaborations, ensuring their material longevity as timeless fashion items that remain popular regardless of age and culture. “What is exciting,” says Barret, “is that the younger generation has fallen madly in love again with Hermès scarves, wearing it very freely.” The timelessness of the Hermès scarf rests on the intricate balance between remembering the maison’s heritage and being bold enough to constantly reinvent it in the present. This is part of PierreAlexis Dumas’ dream: to renew the dialogue between art and craftsmanship. And since each scarf is unique it is difficult to find a favorite. As with any art object, it is ultimately what best reflects the wearer’s taste that becomes the prized possession. When asked which scarf she prefers, Barret replies, not surprisingly: “That is a hard question. Never ask a mother who is her favorite child.” And so it goes for each one of us who has grown to love the multitude of patterns and artists that have left their mark in this way on the history of 20th-century fashion. We look forward to seeing how its story will further unfold.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

ALL SCARVES ARE FROM HÉRMES SPRING/SUMMER 2014 COLLECTION.

EFFERVESCENT PATTERNS Hérmes scarves from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection. “Recontre Heureuse — Cheval Phoenix” 90 scarf in silk twill; “Brides de Gala Arashi” 90 scarf in silk twill; “Quadrige au Fil” 90 scarf in tussah natural silk; Quadri 90 scarf in silk twill; “Eperon d’Or” 140 giant scarf in cashmere in silk.

Katharina Flohr, Fabergé Creative and Managing Director.

WHEN VISITORS WALK through St. Petersburg’s

IMAGE COURTESY OF FABERGÉ.

Reviving Heritage

Hermitage Museum they become dazzled. The myriad artworks presented within the museum showcase some of art history’s greatest figures. Mesmerizing pieces by such masters as Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse and Titian grace the museum’s vast rooms and corridors. Here it is easy to enter into a time and place that no longer exist but are made up of remnants of past creations. This is what happens when one is confronted with the work of Peter Carl Fabergé, Russia’s late 19th/early 20th–century imperial jeweler. Fabergé’s creations are particularly poignant for their reference to a period that so greatly honored the marriage of an art object with a piece of jewelry. Aptly called “the artist jeweler,” he is best known for his ornate eggs that combine precious metals and gemstones. Sadly, Fabergé’s creations ceased to be made when his workshops were closed in the wake of the 1917 Russian Revolution and he was forced to flee to Switzerland. Now, nearly one hundred years later, Katharina Flohr, Fabergé’s new creative director, is resurrecting the brand’s heritage and Fabergé is making jewelry again. An Imperial Calling. The luxury industry is watching Flohr, who was one of the founding editors of Russian Vogue, as she goes back to Fabergé’s origins to resurrect what until recently was largely considered a stagnant brand. “It was crucial for me to look at the story of Peter Carl Fabergé,” she says. “I explored what was produced over the brand’s vast and extensive legacy and found inspiration for the brand’s current collections. I want to create pieces that Fabergé himself would be creating today.” It all began in 1846 in St. Petersburg, Russia, when Peter Carl Fabergé was born into an originally French family of jewelers. His father, Gustav Fabergé, opened a jewelry store in 1842 in a basement on the imperial capital’s fashionable Bolshaia Morskaia Street. He had been inspired by the dazzling collections of art he had seen housed in the Hermitage and, together with his brother, set out to create extraordinary collections of jewelry. Gustav’s son Carl grew up within this world of opulent jewelry and creative experimentation before delving into the craft himself. In 1882 he took over running his father’s store, and that same year received the prestigious title of Master Goldsmith. The creative momentum of the House of Fabergé was enhanced when in 1885 Tsar Alexander III commissioned it to create an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. The tsar

March–April, 2014

Clockwise from top left:The Romanov Necklace featuring Gemfields’ Zambian round, square-cut and pear-shaped emeralds and round and rose-cut white diamonds set in 18-carat white gold; Devotion Earrings featuring round white diamonds and Gemfields’ Zambian emeralds set in 18-carat white gold; spiral diamond and amethyst tassel pendant.

“There is always a surprise with Faberge,” says Flohr. “The jeweler had a very witty character, and this comes out in his creations.”

The first Fabergé boutique on 173 Bond Street in London.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

continued to commission Carl Fabergé to make a surprise Easter egg to give to the empress each year. “There is always a surprise with Fabergé,” says Flohr. “The jeweler had a very witty character, and this comes out in his creations.” By 1887, he was apparently given complete artistic freedom — the only stipulation was that they needed to contain an element of surprise. In total, Fabergé produced 54 eggs for the imperial court. Of these, only 42 have survived. These years also saw some of Fabergé’s most popular creations. They included miniature hardstone carvings of animals, people and flowers embellished with a variety of precious metals and gemstones. It is estimated that during the period that Carl Fabergé ran the business some 150,000 to 200,000 pieces were produced. The House of Fabergé also made a range of jewelry and other ornamental objects including gold and silver boxes, timepieces and photograph frames. The high point of this period was when Fabergé participated in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. Fabergé came to have the most illustrious clients in the world and became what Flohr calls “the jeweler du jour and the jeweler–gift maker du jour.” The aristocracy loved giving and receiving Fabergé creations. “There was a secret bond between the giver and the receiver of these special objects,” she says. “They became symbols of understanding between them.” Sadly, all this came to an awful and grinding halt in 1918 when the Bolsheviks nationalized the House of Fabergé and Carl’s magnificent creations were made no more. Even his last set of eggs, created in 1917 to give to the tsar, were never completed. Two of his sons, Agathon and Alexander, were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, while Fabergé himself escaped to Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon fleeing he became seriously ill and he died soon after, in 1920. “Everything was taken over and confiscated — it was the end of a world,” explains Flohr. The Art of Revival. The years that followed were bleak for Fabergé. The brand went through a succession of ownerships and the family lost even the right to the name. American investors saw the opportunity to build on the brand and in 1989 it was acquired by Unilever, where it was associated with perfumes and cosmetics for a generation. This period saw a shampoo commercial starring Heather Locklear and even a Fabergé Brut cologne that was promoted by footballers — not at all in line with the brand’s traditional association with

IMAGES COURTESY (ABOVE) FABERGÉ; IMAGE COURTESY (BELOW) THE FERSMAN MUSEUM.

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(FAR RIGHT) FABERGÉ’S THE ART OF COLOR CAMPAIGN: CAMILLA AKRANS; IMAGES COURTESY FABERGÉ.

exceptional art objects. But even during this dark time Fabergé antiques continued to do well at auction, a telling sign that the brand was still valued for the artistic feats it had achieved in imperial Russia. Light dawned again in 2007, when Pallinghurst Resources, an investment advisory firm based in London, bought the Fabergé brand along with its portfolio of trademarks with the aim of taking it back to its Russian roots. Flohr was recruited for the top post. “I was introduced to two members of the Fabergé family, Tatiana and Sarah,” says Flohr. “The objective was to see how the brand could move forward. I took a look at what was produced over its extensive legacy and found inspiration for Fabergé’s new collections.” The new director’s experience in Russia and in fashion has helped her with the post. “I always collected jewelry for my personal pleasure,” says Flohr, who has also completed a GIA (Gemological Institute of America) course. “Russian Vogue was a start–up project. It was about bringing Vogue to a new market, and Fabergé has in a way been a similar endeavor — a way to make the brand shine in the present without going too far off the market. We all love Fabergé and we are very passionate about its history and what it is now.” Flohr’s knowledge of fashion has certainly helped the brand reach new heights. In March 2012, she had Mario Testino shoot the brand’s ad campaign featuring Sarah Fabergé’s son Joshua, his cousin Melanie de Pouqueville and Flohr’s daughters Nina and Sophia. “It was the first time that the company decided to introduce Fabergé eggs and pendants, and I am happy to say that we sold almost all of the high jewelry eggs within the first 18 months,” she says. Other ways in which Flohr has invoked her sense of fashion to revive the brand include a brilliant Romanov necklace in the shape of a collar embedded with emeralds and diamonds. Flohr was inspired by the previous season’s obsession with collars, particularly those done by Marc Jacobs. “I thought, ‘everyone is doing collars, let’s do collars, too!’” she exclaims in wonderment. New collections that revive the brand’s past take the form of the much–loved Imperial Collection. These jewels revisit the splendor of the imperial Romanov court with the incorporation of vibrant colored gemstones, and have been handcrafted using emeralds, sapphires and

amethysts. The series comprises earrings, rings, cuffs, sautoirs and a necklace from which is suspended a delicate egg. “The rarer the jewelry piece, the more beautiful it is,” says Flohr. Such tastes reflect current trends in the market. “The customers are very savvy; they want to know the origin and provenance of a gemstone before they buy their jewelry,” she adds. Fabergé’s ability to offer the best colored gemstones was further enhanced when Gemfields, the world’s largest colored–gemstone producer, bought the brand in November 2012. The brand’s recent ‘The Art of Color’ advertising campaign reveals the jeweler’s latest artistic creations, all of which feature myriad colored gemstones. “We’ve made sure that each gemstone’s unique characteristics and beautiful color nuances remain central to Fabergé’s philosophy today,” Flohr assures us. Flohr’s revival efforts are paying off and the brand is once again popular on the market. Now there are even wait lists for certain egg pendants. But instead of limiting the brand’s outreach to Russia and the metropolises of the West such as New York, London and Paris, she’s expanding the brand in the East to places such as Hong Kong, Doha and the UAE. This past November the brand made a special Fabergé egg pendant in conjunction with the Coutts Polo at the Palace in Abu Dhabi, of which Fabergé was a sponsor. “What I love about the clients in the Middle East is that they have the most exceptional items and they have the buying power to commission special one–off pieces from us,” says Flohr enthusiastically. With stores on New York City’s Madison Avenue and in Geneva and London, as well as a special project with Harrods this Easter that will see a Fabergé salon and exhibition space set up in the London department store, there’s no denying the brand’s rapid expansion. Fabergé owes much of its current success to the well– judged move to restore it to its origins as a luxury jeweler. This decision has an important lesson for luxury brands today: one cannot go forward in the present without a sound remembrance of the past. The current challenge seems only to be finding a way to make Fabergé creations more quickly without sacrificing their level of craftsmanship. Fabergé is available in Dubai at Damas Les Exclusives in the Burj Al Arab and at The Dubai Mall. For more information, visit www.faberge.com

Clockwise from top: The Coutts Polo at the Palace at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi; Fabergé’s The Art of Color campaign; Fabergé Devotion Rings in spinal, emerald and sapphire.

March–April, 2014

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Time Quotient

From Rubble to Riches

A look at A. Lange & Söhne's difficult past and its present triumph. BY ARR REEM

regular patrons of the glittering annual Doha Jewelry and Watches Exhibition. But less familiar will be the story of a venerable firm founded in 1845, bombed to destruction in the Second World War, taken over by the communist authorities in 1948 and finally revived in 1990 — by the founder’s great-grandson. In 1945 A. Lange & Söhne was a century-old manufacturing firm in Saxony, east Germany, specializing in quality pocket watches with signature German silver three-quarter plates and intricate details such as minute repeaters and perpetual calendars. (Qatar, by comparison, had a population of just 25,000 and as yet no official schools — the oil production that brought wealth and modernity did not take off until after World War II.) On May 8, 1945, as the final hours of the war approached, the payloads from Russian fighter-bombers dropped on Glashütte, Lange’s hometown, destroying most of the hamlet, including the brand’s watchmaking facilities. “We had to dig the machines out of the rubble,” remembers 89-year-old Walter Lange, the great-grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who established the Glashütte watch industry in 1845. The firm’s operations restarted shortly afterwards, only to suffer another blow at the hands of the Soviet occupiers, who expropriated the firm in 1948. “The little that was left after the war was taken away. I myself helped pack machines into boxes to be shipped to Russia,” Lange recalls. The new regional authority seized the factory and all its assets, meaning the business that had been founded and operated by the Lange family since 1845 was now in the hands of the East German government. The Lange brand ceased to exist.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

IMAGES COURTESY A. LANGE & SÖHNE.

THE ATTRACTIONS OF HIGH-END MANUFACTURER A. Lange & Söhne’s classic timepieces will be familiar to

HIGH COMPLICATIONS Clockwise from left: Walter Lange revived the family's watchmaking legacy; the encasing; the perpetual movements of the watch; the precision of the watch-making trade; the Lange's building in Glashütte; the historic headquarters of A. Lange & Söhne in 1920.

The firm’s operations restarted shortly after a 1945 Russian bombing that destroyed its watchmaking facilities, only to suffer another blow at the hands of the Soviet occupiers, who expropriated the firm in 1948.

The company was merged in 1951 with several other institutions in the area to form a conglomerate that continued to make high-quality mechanical watches until the quartz revolution hit East Germany in the early 1980s. But “by then the family name was no longer used, and fortunately it had never been misused, for which I shall remain eternally grateful,” says Lange. The rebirth of A. Lange & Söhne is a story of bold opportunism. When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and the communist East German government collapsed, Lange saw some hope of reviving his family’s watchmaking legacy. He secured financial backing with the help of watch industry veteran Günther Blümlein, then returned to Glashütte, brought together a core group of watchmakers, some of whom still had boxes of vintage Lange movements and parts, and set about reestablishing the company. On December 7, 1990, 145 years to the day after his great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the original A. Lange & Söhne, Walter Lange registered the

resurrected brand. Not long after, he bought back his family’s buildings, including the original A. Lange & Söhne headquarters, where the company is once again based. “We were starting from nothing, and it was a real risk,” says Lange. “I didn’t know at all how it would turn out. In any case, I started something new, and Glashütte again became a center of fine watchmaking. “In 1994, when the first watches were ready, we invited 12 of the largest retailers from Germanspeaking markets, to present Lange watches of the new age. I was really tense about their reaction and wondering how they would react,” he shares. “When they started to applaud, it seemed as if a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.” Lange and the rest of the team around the world are committed to keeping the tradition alive and well. “Lange stands for something and people buy them because they are Lange watches,” he believes. Collectors are said to value the brand’s characteristic old-style movements — mechanical rather than quartz — including a plate in the shape of a three-quarters full moon invented by Ferdinand Lange in 1864 to add stability, and screwed gold sockets known as “chatons” that today serve only decorative purposes. A. Lange & Söhne watches are sold in Qatar through Al Majed Jewelry March–April, 2014

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Trend Report

Springtime Blues T Emirates had a Middle Eastexclusive preview of the Gap Spring/Summer 2014 Collection, straight from a special presentation in New York City. With a new creative director at the helm, and a bold direction, the collection throws up quite a few novel touches. BY PRIYANKA PRADHAN

BLUE BLOCKS: Gap Spring/ Summer 2014 collection takes on a sophisticated color palette, with emphasis on monochromes.

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

NEW YORK City’s busiest, most glamorous borough is surprisingly quiet in the mornings. The city’s wailing sirens disrupt the quiet every once in a while, while the crisp, cool air comes laden with the aroma of espresso and cream cheese bagels. On one such morning, I hurry along to the preview of Gap’s Spring/Summer 2014 Collection, heading towards Spring Studios on Varick Street in Manhattan’s artsy downtown district. As I step inside the gallery, I find it reflects a minimalist aesthetic, with warm, wooden interiors set against the backdrop of stark white walls and a high ceiling with wooden beams — an unusual setting for the young and vibrant all-American casualwear brand. But that was before I met Rebekka Bay. Expertly working the crowd and mingling with journalists, the new Global Head of Design and Creative Director of Gap was making her way across the studio towards me. I observed her as she took each guest through the collection personally, animated and passionate about the first Gap collection under her direction. Before being snapped up by Gap Inc. to fill the position left vacant by former Creative Director Patrick Robinson in 2011, Bay already had 17 years of experience in fashion retail under her belt. After founding in 2006 and leading the upscale casualwear brand COS owned by Swedish high-street retailer H&M, she moved on to Danish fashion house Bruuns Bazaar, where she served as Creative Director. Now back in Manhattan at the Gap Inc. headquarters, she aims to lead the brand’s portfolio with crystal-clear vision. “Part of my mission is to make sure that all the branches of Gap, baby, men’s and women’s, speak with one voice as a brand, and to make sure the brand is relevant in the era we live in. “Today, Gap is much more about a certain lifestyle; it is about how we evoke the connection and how we work that into iconic pieces; how much newness is added every season and how to speak one language across the brand with small tweaks and succours,” Bay says. The changes in the core aesthetic of the brand’s new collection are evident. Her Nordic sartorial sensibilities

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTSEY: GAP

have made their way into the collection with minimalist lines, a sophisticated color palette, emphasis on monochromes and trendy updates to classic Gap pieces. She adds: “There is this idea of working around that perfect little uniform with a shirt, shorts, or a little skirt or denims. In the Spring/Summer 2014 Collection we focus a lot on length, proportions and volumes.” For instance, the collection sees dip collars and turn-up cuffs in a playful tweak to denim jackets and casual shirts. Even the classic Gap indigos are getting made over, with new types of washes and experiments in dyeing with different colors. The statement Gap denim dress comes in a demure, classic version as well as a bolder, ‘90s-inspired wash in the new collection. Hemlines remain a bit conservative but one sees a lot of experiment in fabrics, shapes and even prints. This sleek new aesthetic also extends to menswear. Sweatshirts make a big statement in the collection, as do foliage and camouflage print. As models strut onto the ground-level ramp at the studio, the keen attention to detail is seen spilling over from womenswear to the men’s collection. Tony Kretten, Gap’s VP of men’s global design, says: “One of the influences at the conceptual stage was owning blue as a color. Ranging from the blue canvases of Yves Klein, the great French painter, to iterations of inks and slates — just a beautiful array of blues. The menswear collection is also about how do we take khaki and reinterpret it in a very modern way, to offer this beautiful blue with tons of whites and naturals.” Gap menswear is also focusing on collaborations with men’s lifestyle magazines, having just launched its second limited edition in association with GQ. Kretten indicates there are more such third-party collaborations lined up this year for Gap’s consumers — a move to assert the brand’s positioning and fresh creative stand. Kretten says, “Rebekka has brought it all together to bring together a common conceptual point for Gap. In the past the brand seemed schizophrenic — Gap baby would look like one brand, while menswear would look like another and womenswear yet another. Now, the color palettes and the vocabulary we use to speak to the customer have all started to come together.” Using this language, Gap is hoping to influence the “millennial generation,” the style-conscious and constantly “connected” consumers. With a modern take on the brand’s heritage, the creative direction aims to nudge Gap towards a more style-conscious, refined and globally relevant status. Little wonder, then, this elegant, upscale venue was chosen to complement the new collection. Even though the typical art studio champagne-and-caviar fare is replaced by hot coffee and spinach juice for the morning, the theme of Gap’s Spring/Summer 2014 remains unequivocally “sophisticated casual-chic”. The Gap Spring/Summer 2014 Collection will be available in February in stores throughout the Middle East.

March–April, 2014

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On Beauty

In Pursuit of Perfection A passion for gemstones and a dedication to craftsmanship and creativity has made Graff Diamonds what it is today. T Emirates speaks with founder Laurence Graff about the brand’s heritage and the recreation of its acclaimed 1970 “Hair & Jewel” piece. BY REBECCA ANNE PROCTOR

A LOVE FOR DIAMONDS has been the constant driving

Laurence Graff holds a selection of the world's most valuable gemstones.

force behind Laurence Graff’s magnificent creations. His jewelry brand, now over 50 years old, has produced some of the most startling fine jewelry in the world, catering to a host of eminent clients. Graff’s ever–growing empire now includes more than 40 boutiques around the world, with newly–launched stores in Seoul, Osaka, Fukuoka, Stellenbosch, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Zurich and a new store at Harrods in London, a pioneering manufacturing facility, and one of the world’s great art collections. The brand has made its reputation through the design and crafting of exceptional jewelry creations that have often pushed the boundaries of traditional jewelry for the sake of

T Emirates: The New York Times Style Magazine

realizing a beautiful object. While Laurence Graff is today one of the world’s leading diamantaires, his beginnings as a jeweler were not at all grand. At the age of 15 he began work as an apprentice in Schindler’s workshop in Hatton Garden, then London’s jewelry quarter and the heart of the UK diamond trade. The young Graff was in awe of diamonds. “I remember looking at them, studying them closely, to understand their purity and the way they had been cut,” he says. “It was an inherent feeling that has turned into a lifelong passion. I truly believe that working with diamonds was what I was born to do.” He was told in 1953 that he had no future in jewelry, but that didn’t stop him. “I come from a family of hard–working people and I was born with a will to succeed,” he says. His great ambition led him to found his first company at the tender age of 18. He began work alongside an experienced jeweler and, after they had worked together for some time, they founded a workshop and began to repair jewelry for big retail chains, offering a 24–hour service for rings, soldering half shanks and putting on new claws. During this time, Victorian jewelry was the rage, and Graff and his partner set about creating copies of popular jewelry items. The business grew. But Graff’s ambition to grow the company quickly led to temporary collapse. His business partner made the jewelry while Graff sold it, and in the beginning this formula worked well, until they ended up owing £3,000 to suppliers. Faced with bankruptcy, Graff assumed the debts and convinced the suppliers to grant him more credit. “I paid back every penny within six months,” he says. “These were my first steps in establishing Graff Diamonds.” Laurence Graff established Graff Diamonds in 1960, and two years later he opened his first two retail stores in London. It was a period when the jewelry business was workshop–based and traditionally wholesale, as well as highly conventional. Graff became known as a maverick in the field for his more daring approach to creating high jewelry pieces. He was keen to tap into an international clientele and hence began thinking of other avenues through which he could expand the business. In 1967 these ideas became a reality when he embarked on a series of journeys around the world, starting in Singapore, which not only catalyzed the brand’s international expansion, but also vividly illustrated his sense of creativity. “Hard work and passion are

incredibly important factors for success,” he says. Both of them have proven steadfast throughout his life. This period of exploration, coupled with Laurence Graff’s entrepreneurial prowess and dedication to beauty, resulted in one of the brand’s most celebrated creations: “Hair & Jewel.” Created in 1970, the piece consists of an arrangement of Graff jewels set within an impressive hairstyle, which was a risqué creation for its time. Graff teamed up with the renowned hairdresser Harold Leighton to create the magnificent “Hair & Jewel” coiffure. The style referenced the royal hair fashions of 18th–century Versailles, which were characterized by highly ornate decoration — a look that was very much at odds with the conventional hairstyles of the 1960s. The aim was to attract younger women to Graff Diamonds. “Until this time, images showing fine jewelry were typically modeled in a more conservative style,” says Graff. “This image broke the mold by using a younger model, and created the idea of diamonds as inspirational to a younger generation of women.” Now, more than 40 years since the piece was first made, the jewelry house has recreated it, incorporating a number of record–breaking jewels in celebration of Mr. Graff’s 60th anniversary of working in the jewelry industry. Valued at half a billion dollars, the recreation takes the original concept and features 22 individual jewelry pieces that have been cut and polished by Graff, including the Graff Sweethearts, a magnificent pair of earrings featuring 51.53–carat and 50.76–carat D color Flawless type IIA heart–shaped diamonds, as well as a selection of jewelry crafted from the 550–carat Letseng Star, the 14th–largest white rough diamond ever discovered. Among the other pieces showcased are an exceptionally rare 10.47–carat Fancy Vivid Blue internally flawless briolette diamond pendant, a stunning 52.73– carat Fancy Vivid Yellow emerald–cut diamond ring, a 6.51–carat Fancy Intense Pink internally flawless oval–cut diamond ring and other one–of–a– kind jewels designed and created at Graff’s headquarters in London. The recreation of “Hair & Jewel” was a team effort. The piece was shot by international photographer David Slijper and styled by renowned hairstylist Eamonn Hughes, who remodeled the original in its contemporary version. In addition, Anne–Eva Geffroy, Graff’s Design Director, created the design for the placement of the jewelry. While she envisioned a potential “mapping out” of the jewelry items beforehand, it wasn’t until the actual hairstyle was created that she could determine where each piece of jewelry was best placed. The result balanced the ˆ

IMAGES COURTESY GRAFF DIAMONS; FRANCOIS GRAFF: SHU TOMIOKA

Clockwise from top: Francois Graff, CEO Graff Diamonds; Laurence Graff holds the Graff constellation; the recreation of the ‘Hair & Jewel’ piece featuring 22 extremely rare and unique jewels with a value of half a billion dollars.

architectural shape of the hairstyle with the art of placing the jewelry items in the most suitable positions, in order to emphasize their aesthetic beauty while not taking away from the prominence of the magnificent hairstyle. A pivotal milestone in Graff Diamonds’ history, the recreation of “Hair & Jewel” is a statement of the brand’s very essence. “‘Hair & Jewel’ is a celebration of our expertise and success, as we continue to operate at the very pinnacle of the industry,” says Graff. The piece harkens back to Laurence Graff’s humble beginnings as a determined jeweler, his dedication to craftsmanship, gemstones and taking risks to achieve the result of a beautiful jewelry piece. It also restates Laurence Graff’s innate love for and loyalty to diamonds. “There has to be mystique in a jewel,” he says. “There needs to be something enthralling and beautiful about it to capture the imagination. At Graff we don’t follow trends; we do what we do, and that’s what makes a Graff piece so very special and sets us apart from our competition.” It would be hard to think of any competition for “Hair & Jewel” — it is a work of art entirely on its own, and serves as a resplendent image of Graff’s enduring legacy. Graff Diamonds is located in the Burj Al Arab and in The Dubai Mall. For more information, visit www. graffdiamonds.com

March–April, 2014

16 October — 31 October, 2013 www.businessweekme.com

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R VO REEV O LLU REV OLU REVOLUTION UTT TION ION IO N

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N OON I IION TT T U U REVOLUTION OOLLL REEVVO R EV R How the Arab Spring spawned a new wave of tech entrepreneurs

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Algeria…..…..…........DZD 215 Bahrain….......................BHD 1

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How an Indian family beat the odds to create one of the world’s most respected luxury hotel brands p40

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce on Dubai, Emirates and reinventing the world’s second-oldest airline

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Lebanon..............LBP 4000 Libya…........................LYD 3.5

Oman…….................…..OMR 1 Qatar……….................…QR 10

Saudi Arabia.........…SAR 10 Syria............................SYP 200

UAE...…....…..…........…AED 10 Yemen…..................YER 600

1 January — 15 January, 2014 www.businessweekme.com

UAE...…....…..…........…AED 10 Yemen…..................YER 600

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1 March — 15 March, 2014 | businessweekme.com

Algeria…..…..…........DZD 215 Bahrain….......................BHD 1

Egypt……............…......EGP 18 Iraq……...…..…...... IQD 3200

Jordan....….........….......JOD 2 Kuwait….......…......KWD 0.75

Lebanon..............LBP 4000 Libya…........................LYD 3.5

Oman…….................…..OMR 1 Qatar……….................…QR 10

Saudi Arabia.........…SAR 10 Syria............................SYP 200

UAE...…....…..…........…AED 10 Yemen…..................YER 600

16 November — 30 November, 2013 www.businessweekme.com

Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Iraq and the price of US national security

The economic reality of Saudi Arabia’s labour crackdown p36

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