Fashion Scoops
New Approach
The International Woolmark Prize is going biannual this year, with the cash price for the winner going up 50 percent to 300,000 Australian dollars, or around $ 195,000.
Opening for application from Tuesday until
June 30, the fashion competition, which has been held annually since its relaunch in 2012, is being extended to a twoyear program from this edition with an enhanced focus on sustainability and innovation.
At the same time, the
Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation will be open to any brand within the fashion industry that has pushed the boundaries of merino wool innovation for the first time. Previously, the award only went to emerging fashion labels.
An advisory council of industry experts that includes Gabriela Hearst, Gabriella Karefa- Johnson, Sinéad Burke, Janet
Wang, Livia Firth and Sara Sozzani Maino will select the finalists alongside Woolmark.
John Roberts, managing director at Woolmark, which helps some 60,000 Australian wool- growers promote their products, said the change in the prize structure can better support young talent under the current challenging economic climate.
“To do this effectively, designers need more financial support, better access to sustainable materials and time to innovate with the latest technology. Our revised program aligns more closely with the evolving needs of the industry,” Roberts said.
Lagos Space Programme, a Nigeria- based label that seeks to challenge the image of African fashion with designs rooted in Yoruba tradition and queer identity, was named the winner of the 2023 International Woolmark Prize last May. The Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation went to Danish knitwear brand A. Roege Hove.
Previous winners of the International Woolmark Prize include Saul Nash, Matty Bovan, Richard Malone, Bode, Rahul Mishra, Edward Crutchley and Matthew Miller, as well as Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino Garavani. — TIANWEI ZHANG
Culture Club
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is hoping to attract visitors in town for the Paris Olympics to its landmark stores and cultural venues with a series of summer exhibitions themed around sports.
A premium partner of the Olympic Games, due to run from July 26 to Aug. 11, and the Paralympic Games, from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, the luxury conglomerate on Monday detailed its contribution to the Cultural Olympiad, a program of free side events bridging sports and culture.
Several of them will be clustered around the Samaritaine Paris department store and Louis
Vuitton’s neighboring LV Dream exhibition space, while others will take place at the Dior, Berluti and Guerlain stores or at the Fondation Louis Vuitton museum.
The French luxury group hopes to capitalize on strong interest in sports in the run- up to the Summer Games, as evidenced by a recent exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, titled “Fashion and Sport, From One Podium to the Other,” that drew almost 294,000 visitors between Sept. 20 and April 7, according to organizers.
For anyone worried about the logistics of visiting stores and museums during what has been billed as the biggest event organized in France, most of the exhibitions will remain on show for several months.
In conjunction with the Olympic flame passing through the Fondation Vuitton, the institution will showcase works from its collection alongside “Olympic Rings,” a loaned painting by Jean- Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, from May 7 to Sept. 9.
Samaritaine is set to host three free exhibitions between April 30 and Sept. 8 under the banner “Paris joins the game.”
“Global sporting legends” will present 100 iconic objects that belonged to sporting legends of the past century, while “Domestic Games, women take the lead” will present installations by Camille Menard, founder of Agnst Design, that highlight the role of sports in our daily lives and women’s role in international sporting competitions.
The department store, which created a sporting club for its employees in 1895, has also invited
Fisheye magazine to curate a display of photos of fencer Enzo Lefort, a Louis Vuitton and LVMH ambassador.
Archive documents, photos and objects highlighting Vuitton’s close ties with sports will be the focus of a room within the LV Dream exhibition highlighting the luxury brand’s past and contemporary artistic collaborations, set to run from June 18 to Dec. 31.
Meanwhile, a trunk to carry a pickleball game, imagined by the late
Virgil Abloh, former head of menswear at Vuitton, will feature in “La Malle Courrier,” a show at the Vuitton family home in the suburb of Asnières which opened on April 2 and is due to run until Dec. 31.
Dior will exhibit a series of photos featuring its sports ambassadors at the Galerie Dior exhibition space at its flagship on Avenue Montaigne, while Berluti, which is dressing Team France for the opening ceremonies of the Games, is teaming with artist Mathieu Forget for an exhibition combining movement, sports and fashion.
Guerlain, meanwhile, will be going for gold with “Extraordinary Gold,” a show featuring works by 16 artists at its flagship on the Avenue des ChampsElysées. — JOELLE DIDERICH
Sephora Strategy
Sephora has named Xia Ding, a former JD.com fashion executive, the newest managing director of Greater China, effective immediately.
Ding will be based in Shanghai and will report directly to Sephora’s Asia president, Alia Gogi.
Ding fills the spot left by Maggie Chan, who left the company in January. Gogi served as the interim managing director from January to April.
At Sephora, Ding will be responsible for the company’s “strategic vision, direction and growth” across mainland China and Hong Kong, where Sephora has 350 stores combined.
“I am confident that her [ Ding’s] skills set, knowledge of brick- andmortar retail, expertise in digital and e- commerce, as well as her proven track record in building and sustaining profitable business will take Sephora Greater China into its next phase of growth and success,” Gogi said of the appointment.
“I am thrilled to join Sephora at a time where the prestige beauty market in China is at the cusp of its next phase of growth,” Ding said. “Sephora’s allure lies in its powerful curation capabilities, strong culture anchored in purpose and diversity, equity and inclusion, and an incredible ability to offer beauty ►
enthusiasts an everevolving retail experience,” Ding added.
Ding is a familiar face in the local fashion scene, having served as the president of JD Fashion from 2017 to 2019. After JD.com, Ding spent five years at Nike as the vice president and general manager of e- commerce for Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Before JD.com, Ding spent several years at Nielsen in China as the president of retail service. Before that, she spent two decades at HanesBrands Inc., where she was heavily involved in corporate strategy and led its expansion into China.
Ding studied chemistry at Nanjing University before earning a master’s degree in business administration from Wake Forest University. — DENNI HU
Catch ‘ Em Young
It’s never too early to start a career as a Pokémon trainer.
The Japanese children’s entertainment property is teaming with Bonpoint to offer pajamas, T- shirts, sweaters and denim jackets featuring the rabbit- eared Pikachu character for newborns, toddlers and children up to age 14.
Retailing between 65 euros and 240 euros for a limited time, the line will launch on April 23 at a selection of Bonpoint stores globally and on the French label’s e- commerce site. It will also be sold on the Pokémon Center website, which sells the franchise’s branded
merchandise in the U. K., U. S. and Canada.
The collection with Bonpoint spans six styles, including baby pajamas with a front closure and hidden snap buttons at the inseam, a ribbed sleeping set comprising a longsleeve T- shirt and matching pants, a jersey sweater, two organic cotton T- shirt styles and an embroidered denim jacket. A cap and tote bag are included in the lineup.
Special editions of the French brand’s “clean” skin care for parents and children have also been dressed in stylized versions of the character, including a face cream, a body cream and a cleansing cream, as well as a set of four travel- sized face creams featuring different versions of Pikachu on the lid.
It is one of the first appearances of the Monpoké maternity, baby and toddler range on the European and North American markets, after
its 2019 launch in Japan. Characters revisited for this line, which ranges from apparel and plush toys to picture books and bedding, are depicted in softer tones and more rounded proportions.
Monpoké made an appearance in Uniqlo’s UT T- shirt range in Asia in 2020 and had a two-year pop- up in the Toys R Us store in the seaside town of Odaiba near Tokyo that ended in February.
Characters and items from the media franchise have also cropped up in luxury houses’ offerings, including the recent
Fendi x Frgmt x Pokémon collaboration, and at jeweler Tiffany & Co. as part of its hookup with artist Daniel Arsham.
Bonpoint has been burnishing its fashion credentials through collaborations with buzzy womenswear label Khaite or tapping Vanessa Seward for a womenswear capsule set to bow for fall 2024.
Toasting Tradition
No christening of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli boat would be complete without the viral moment provided by Miuccia Prada.
On Saturday in Cagliari, Italy, the designer and wife of Patrizio Bertelli, president of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, struck the boat’s bow with a bottle of Cantine Ferrari’s Maximum Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine to christen the AC75 foiling monohull — as is the tradition. The boat is set to compete in the 37th edition of the America’s Cup sailing race, taking place between Aug. 22 and Oct. 27 in Barcelona.
Prada donned a red coat with a contrasting dusty pink shirt, black pants and mary jane flats, and videos of her godmother duties were on a roll on social media over the weekend.
Decked in a metallic “Metal K”- colored livery the AC75 — the race- ready version of a prototype unveiled two years ago — glistened under the sun at the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli dock in the Sardinian town.
It marks the 10th “Luna Rossa” America’s Cup hull unveiled 25 years after the first boat in 1999.
Built at the Persico Marine shipyard in Nembro, Italy, the sailboat, made of pre- preg carbon fiber, required 70,000 hours of work by 35 boat builders.
It is equipped with a
25.6- meter mast with a soft wing comprising two twin mainsails and a headsail made of carbon and Dyneema.
In addition to Prada and Bertelli, the christening was attended by Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice president of Pirelli, the co-title sponsor of the team; Max Sirena, the longtime skipper and team director of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, and Agostino Randazzo, president of the Sicilian Sailing Circle represented by Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
In tandem with the ceremony, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli revealed that Oakley is joining the team as its new technical performance partner.
“The boat we launched today is the 10th America’s Cup hull that we christen ‘ Luna Rossa.’ This name, that has marked important milestones in my life, has also become an iconic name in sailing worldwide. It is a beautiful and radical boat that represents a step forward in terms of design and technology, born from an incredible collective effort,” Bertelli said.
“In these 25 years I have accomplished a goal that I had set for myself a long time ago: to create a team of extraordinary technicians and sailors capable of shaping the future of sport in our country and leaving a legacy for future generations. Now, with this new Luna Rossa, I also hope to achieve my sporting ambition, to win the America’s Cup,” he said.
The upcoming America’s Cup will mark Luna Rossa’s seventh challenge, but sixth race, as the team in 2015 withdrew from the competition over disagreements with the overturning of rules unanimously adopted throughout the previous year by the Oracle Team of the U. S., which was owned by Larry Ellison, and which lost the America’s Cup to the New Zealand team.
The Prada boat will represent Italy and the Sicilian Sailing Circle at the oldest trophy in the history of sports and the most prestigious in the sailing world, often referred to as the Formula 1 of the sea.
Louis Vuitton is again the title partner of the event and is once again organizing the Louis
Vuitton Cup.
Five challengers in the Louis Vuitton Cup regattas — Ineos Britannia, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Luna
Rossa Prada Pirelli, NYYC American Magic and Orient Express Racing — will battle it out on the water to win the right to face off against defender Emirates Team New Zealand for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Barcelona
The Luna Rossa team was established in 1997 by Bertelli with the original name of “Prada Challenge for the America’s Cup 2000.” The team won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000, with a record of 38 victories over 49 races. It also competed in 2003 and in 2007, when it reached the Louis Vuitton Cup final.