fashionologie

Frida Giannini, Gucci CEO Patrizio di Marco Publicly Announce Their Romantic Involvement

fashionologie — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:35:20 PDT

>> Frida Giannini and Gucci CEO Patrizio di Marco have publicly announced that they've been a couple for over two years. Although many fashion brands are or have been run by couples - Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge - this marks the first time the couple is not the owners of the brand but rather its employees.

Giannini, 38, who became Gucci creative director in 2006, and di Marco, 49, who joined as CEO in January 2009, became romantically involved on a trip to China; both were divorced at the time. After their relationship changed, di Marco says he went to Rome to speak to François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of PPR, which owns Gucci; Giannini also spoke to Pinault, separately. Both say they were fully prepared to leave Gucci if required, but Pinault “was very supportive.”

Pinault says that he is not concerned if the relationship were to go south: “If something changed and one left, well, we would deal with that. . . . This is a family business – it was started by my father, and I know how that can feel and seem to the outside world, but I also know how much that makes you be strict with yourself. And I knew them, so I knew if anything this would make them more demanding with themselves.”

Linda Evangelista Demands $46,000 a Month in Child Support from Francois-Henri Pinault

fashionologie — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:50:33 PDT

>> As the Manhattan Family Court proceedings - which last month confirmed PPR CEO and chairman Francois-Henri Pinault as the father of Linda Evangelista's son - continue, Evangelista was back in front of a judge yesterday with a $46,000-a-month child support request.

According to Evangelista's lawyer, William Beslow, Pinault has not paid Evangelista anything since the birth of their four-year-old son, Augustin James: "He's just been sitting back, paying zero." On the other hand, Beslow pointed out, Pinault spends $50,000 a month on a $12 million Los Angeles estate - held in a trust in the name of his three-year-old daughter with wife Salma Hayek, Valentina.

The majority of the monthly sum Evangelista is requesting would cover 24-hour nannies and armed drivers, her lawyer noted, arguing that these are privileges due of any son of a single mom and an overseas billionaire.

During a deposition last Tuesday, Pinault's lawyer David Aaronson asked Evangelista why she needed a $175,000-a-year team of armed drivers who are former police detectives and an $80,000-a-year nanny. "She testified that she wants to have a 24-hour nanny because she does not want to be alone with the child," Aaronson told the judge yesterday. "Miss Evangelista, you should understand, has a worth of more than $8 million, and she earned, last year, $1.8 million."

The judge immediately did away with the $7,500 Evangelista was seeking for monthly "vacation" expenses, but seemed sympathetic to the security and nanny costs, noting that these expenditures may be prudent for a high-profile, high risk child. "These are the extraordinary expenses that may be a part of the child's life," the judge added. "And if there is a trial [in the support case] with a lot of publicity, there will probably be a need for two detectives to drive this kid around." He added that it was understandable Evangelista would want another adult - in the form of a nanny - to be on hand, given security concerns and the travel requirements of her occupation.

"How many hours a week do you work?" the judge asked Evangelista at one point.

"On days when I do not work, I am working on my image," Evangelista answered. "I have to hit the gym. I have beauty appointments. I have to work toward my next job and maintaining my image, just like an athlete. When I work, it can be a 16-hour day."

A decision - on what "would probably be the largest support order in the history of the Family Court," according to the judge - is expected next month, when the parties return to Family Court.

Report - Francois-Henri Pinault Is the Father of Linda Evangelista's Son

fashionologie — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:48:30 PDT

>> The mysterious paternity of Linda Evangelista's 4-year-old son, Augustin James, may finally be solved. And it seems the rumors that Francois-Henri Pinault is the father are right, despite denials from both Evangelista's agent back in 2007 and Pinault's rep in 2009.

Evangelista appeared at the Manhattan magistrate's court yesterday, the New York Post reports, in hopes of hashing out a child support agreement with Pinault. This marks her third or fourth trip to Family Court, with no agreement yet reached, making a Fall support trial likely, according to a court source.

Pinault didn't show yesterday, but that was due to a misunderstanding, his lawyer, David Aronson, said: "We had understood that it was to be a brief, telephone conference, to bring Magistrate Troy up to date on what the status was." Evangelista's lawyer, William Beslow, meanwhile, had no comment; neither did Evangelista.

Augustin James was conceived in early 2006, when Pinault was reportedly separated from then-girlfriend, now-wife Salma Hayek Pinault, who he had daughter Valentina with just short of a year after Evangelista's son was born.

Fashion Descends on Venice for the 2011 Biennale

fashionologie — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:16:29 PDT

>> Every two years, the fashion flock meets the art world in Venice for a series of parties and power buys. This year, Hogan, Prada, and Missoni have been among the Venice Biennale event hosts, bringing out guests like Anna Wintour (who was spotted yesterday riding around the city's Grand Canal), Dasha Zhukova, and Naomi Campbell. While some have already come and gone - Anna Wintour, Francois-Henri Pinault, and Salma Hayek Pinault were already spotted attending the French Open in Paris today - we've the fleeting moments of the last couple of days' festivities captured in our slideshow at left.

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Karolina Kurkova, Diane Kruger, Alexa Chung and More Hit the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet

fashionologie — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:31:41 PDT

>> Curious to see what the House of Dior puts out without a creative director at its head? The Fall 2011 Dior couture collection, which debuts in July, is being produced just that way - by the design studio alone - but a peek at what they're capable of came last night. Melanie Laurent debuted the Dior studio's first foray without a head designer - a couture gown inspired by an archival piece - for the Cannes Film Festival opening festivities. See that dress, plus Diane Kruger's slinky Calvin Klein Collection number, Rachel McAdams's peekaboo sheer Marchesa gown, and more from the first two days of Cannes in the slideshow.

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Si Newhouse on Ousting Anna Wintour From Vogue - "Never. I Hope She's Here 10 Years From Now"

fashionologie — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:27:14 PDT

>> Mario Testino photographed Anna Wintour for the April 2011 cover of WSJ. - likely at her request (he often shoots Vogue's covers). Because if there's one thing about Wintour, it's that she does things on her own terms.

Si Newhouse (chairman of Advance Publications, which owns Vogue) attests with an anecdote about a Fashion's Night Out meeting Wintour held in Paris, which had 30 international Vogue editors and publishers in attendance: "It was the first time anybody had gotten them all together. She didn't need my authority to do it - she has a remarkable ability to impose her will. If I had had reservations, she probably would have gone ahead anyway."

Marc Jacobs, too, confirms: "If I get a request for something I don't want to do, first I get an email, then a phone call from someone at Vogue, and now I don't even bother to say no - I know the next call is from her." And New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who Wintour has worked with on a number of initiatives - including Fashion's Night Out - says: "Behind all Anna's grace and poise is some pretty tough resolve. She's not a person you want to say no to."

Even the Costume Institute has bowed to Wintour's requests (she has raised a grand total of $75 million for the organization, after all). For last year's gala, she had a 30-foot hot-air balloon trucked in from South Dakota to float above the museum's Engelhard Court. "When we first saw it, we go, 'Never! We can't have gas in the museum!' " says Met president Emily Rafferty. "Anna's changed our attitude - she's brought us to new levels of thinking of what we can do, but without ever losing sight that we're working in a museum context here."

Needless to say, Wintour's reach extends much further than fashion. Harvey Weinstein, who has known Wintour for 15 years (and more recently married Marchesa's Georgina Chapman), notes: "I'm a streak player, but Anna's there, good or bad. When I wasn't doing so well, Anna would throw a party and put me next to Bernard Arnault." Although he declined to be specific, Weinstein said that he had several business deals come out of that party. And Baz Luhrmann, who just recently cast Wintour favorite Carey Mulligan to star in his upcoming film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, says: "I always talk to Anna about what I'm up to, and I always listen to what she has to say."

Within fashion, too, Wintour is more than just an editor. As Francois-Henri Pinault, head of PPR, says: "She tackles things that are really much bigger than what any other editors take on." Because of Wintour, Pinault is currently discussing how to financially support young designers with the French government. But Wintour never straight-out asks him to do something: "She's much more subtle than that."

She's also something of a matchmaker - whether it's designer to brand (in the case of placing John Galliano at Christian Dior back in 1996; Bernard Arnault - chairman of LVMH, which owns Dior - says of Wintour: "She pointed us towards unexpected choices. I speak very openly to her, and this was quite audacious - it was not about picking the big names of the moment. It took her to see that there was a stylistic closeness between John and Dior. She was the discoverer.") or brand to financier (in the case of Bottega Veneta and Gucci Group or Michael Kors and Sportswear Holdings). "She does this very discreetly, but she's really a kind of consigliere to the entire fashion and retail industry," one former colleague who worked closely with Wintour says. Another former colleague, who attended several corporate matchmaking meetings with Wintour, adds: "I came to realize that she's really the McKinsey of fashion." As for Wintour's word on the matter? "We can suggest," she says, "but in the end, everybody makes up their own minds."

It sounds like Wintour isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Vogue is Conde Nast's most profitable publication, Si Newhouse confirms, adding that he has no successor in mind: "Never. I hope she's here 10 years from now, 20 years from now." Wintour, for her part, says: "With all the new media outlets out there, with all the noise, a voice of authority and calm like Vogue becomes more important than ever. The more eyes on fashion, the more opinions about fashion, the more exploration of fashion around the world, the better it is for Vogue. Vogue is like Nike or Coca-Cola - this huge global brand. I want to enhance it, I want to protect it, and I want it to be part of the conversation."

A few more quotables from the WSJ. profile:

Marc Jacobs on Wintour's cold reputation: "She gets such a bad rap. She stands by the people she believes in, and if you're not one of those people, perhaps you take a different view."

Wintour's take on her reputation: "I care deeply about my friends and my family and they know it, but work is work."

Wintour on cover choice regrets: "I'm not terribly proud of putting the Spice Girls on the cover."

Wintour on the John Galliano scandal: "This is all so tragic."

Wintour on being criticized for using the same people in Vogue: "I try to remain open to new people, but obviously there's a stronger element of trust with people you've known for a long time. I think we have a Vogue vocabulary, and there are certain people we like to have as the backbone of the magazine - Vogue's signposts. We try very hard to integrate the familiar signatures with people we feel are new and up-and-coming, but I would rather err on the side of being a little more familiar than being too . . . What's the right word? . . . Edgy."

WSJ. on Wintour's morning habits: "When I met Wintour in her big, artfully tidy office at Vogue, she had been up since 5 am - her normal waking hour. On most days she goes off to play tennis at 6, but lately she's been nursing a sore elbow and can't play. Which didn't mean no tennis."

Stefano Pilati Finds All the Yves Saint Laurent Rumors an "Infuriating Distraction"

fashionologie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:44:23 PST

>> Stefano Pilati has numerous times over the years been plagued with reports of his imminent demise at Yves Saint Laurent. But despite the house's denial of the latest round of rumors, he says, “You know, it affects me . . . I am a creative person, so I am very vulnerable by nature. When you have the idea for a collection, you are really happy, and when you don’t have the idea, you are upset and down and grumpy. That is your daily life. And that vulnerability . . . it can also be fragility.”

Pilati adds that he has at times wondered if the rumors might be true, and that they have been "an infuriating distraction because he thought that they were driven by jealous colleagues or those who were seeking to unseat him," the New York Times reports.

“I don’t let it go,” he says. “What is it about? I should be here, thinking about how beautiful my job is, and come to the office every day and work with colors and fabrics. But no, you have something that undermines you.”

Yves Saint Laurent just recently posted its first significant profit - of about $15 million - after almost a decade of stunning losses; PPR chairman Francois-Henri Pinault credited Pilati as having played a key role in the turnaround. Nonetheless, Pilati has questioned his place in fashion and whether the pressures are worth it: “I have worked and worked and worked hard again. I have been a monk here [at Yves Saint Laurent].”

But he's staying in the game for now - his contract with the house runs through March 2012, he says, but he will likely start discussing a new contract this Spring - he wants to stay with the brand.

Armani Denies Plans to Hire Stefano Pilati; PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault Praises the Designer

fashionologie — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:04:48 PST

>> Yesterday, Yves Saint Laurent took to Twitter to dispel rumors of Stefano Pilati's imminent exit, and when reached for comment Thursday, PPR CEO Francois-Henri Pinault also firmly denied any plans to discharge the designer. In fact, he credited Pilati with helping Saint Laurent back to profitability in 2010, and just last week praised Pilati at PPR's results presentation for Saint Laurent's current momentum, and teasing him good-naturedly about filling all the upcoming new YSL stores with merchandise. As for the rumors of Pilati heading to Armani after Giorgio Armani's retirement, a house spokesperson replied: "The rumors are untrue." [WWD, Vogue UK]

The Tom Ford Influence-Alberta Ferretti Employs Real Women as Models for Pitti Show; Erin Wasson Has a New Design Collaboration

fashionologie — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:26:02 PST

Alberta Ferretti took a page out of Tom Ford's book and had the likes of Camilla Belle, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Poppy Delevigne, Paz de la Huerta, and Marisa Berenson walk in place of models as part of her Florentine show to open Pitti Immagine Uomo last night, for which she created an exclusive 30-piece collection [Style.com, Fashionista]
The Costume Institute received a donation of $10 million from Jonathan and Lizzie Tisch to create a new gallery space; although this gift was the "tipping point" to start construction next year, fundraising for the project started several years ago and has been helped in large part by Anna Wintour and the Costume Institute Gala benefit [NY Times]
Gucci Group parent company PPR just created a new business unit dedicated to developing online retail. CEO François-Henri Pinault called e-commerce a "strategic priority," adding: “My goal [is] to increase our digital presence and accelerate our growth in online sales, which should reach 10 percent of Gucci Group and Puma’s consolidated revenues over the next few years” [WWD]
Bibhu Mohapatra, Pamela Love, Mandy Coon, The Lake & Stars, M. Patmos, and Study NY were all awarded $25,000 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation grants to put toward their upcoming New York Fashion Week shows [WWD]
Erin Wasson is designing a capsule collection for Zadig & Voltaire [ElleUK]
W's February 2011 cover features a first look at sweet-looking Rooney Mara's transformation into punky Lisbeth Salander for David Fincher's upcoming The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film [W]
Instead of pouting across the board as in seasons past, models have notably been captured smiling in both the Valentino and Chloe Spring 2011 ad campaigns [Garance Dore]
Jessica Stam's left arm is in a sling after she sprained and fractured it while snowboarding in Montana over the holidays [Modelinia]
Using the same technology that made the Death Star explode in Star Wars, Loewe blows up its Amazona bag over and over in a new brand video [Style File]

The 2011 Costume Institute Gala and Exhibit to Focus on Alexander McQueen

fashionologie — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:13:58 PST

>> Next year's Costume Institute Gala - on May 2, 2011 - has its theme: "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty." Anna Wintour, Stella McCartney, and Colin Firth are set to co-chair the event, with Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek as honorary chairs.

The accompanying exhibit will run at the museum May 4-July 31, 2011, and will cover McQueen's work from his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection in 1992 to his final runway presentation, which took place weeks after his death in February 2010. A hundred pieces from his 19-year career will be on view, drawn from the McQueen London archives, the Givenchy archive in Paris, and private collections, including Isabella Blow's wardrobe, which Daphne Guinness owns in its entirety.

Curator Andrew Bolton, who is spearheading the project, stressed that he doesn't want the exhibit to feel like a retrospective, so the focus is thematic rather than chronological, reflecting McQueen's fascination with the 19th-century Romantic movement. Among the themed galleries planned: “The Savage Mind,” “Romantic Gothic,” “Romantic Nationalism,” “Romantic Exoticism,” and “Romantic Primitivism.” There will also be a “Cabinet of Curiosities” gallery featuring McQueen's collaborations with Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane, and a separate screening room to display videos of McQueen's theatrical runway presentations.

Sam Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, who helped produce those dramatic shows, are serving as creative consultants to the exhibit, and the Alexander McQueen company is underwriting the whole thing with support from American Express and Conde Nast. “We felt it would be a great opportunity to show Lee’s work and his incredible contribution to the world of fashion and art,” Jonathan Akeroyd, president and CEO of Alexander McQueen, told WWD. “It felt like the right thing to do. Lee loved the museum. It will give us a great opportunity to show Lee’s work and the Alexander McQueen brand to a much broader community. It’s the greatest tribute and important for his legacy, but it’s also an exciting new chapter in the history of the brand.”