The Smiths
It's the season of the
Smiths at Paul Smith, with British actor Matt Smith fronting the brand's fall 2023 and spring 2024 campaigns.
In one of the shots, the brand's founder, Paul Smith, is joined by the actor, both wearing black tailoring and posing candidly.
In the solo shots, Matt is wearing a black suit and tie with a crisp white shirt, sitting on a white stool; meanwhile in an up- close photograph, he's weaning one of the brand's knitwear pieces in its signature stripes.
“I'm beyond excited to be working with Matt for the next two seasons — he's the perfect fit for Paul Smith. He's also one of those people who really embodies effortlessness, both in terms of his on-screen characters and his off-screen sense of style. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that he looks excellent in a suit,” said Paul Smith in a statement.
The “House of the Dragon” star made an appearance at the Paul Smith show in June when the Paris men's spring 2024 shows were taking place.
“Paul Smith has provided classic, inventive and colorful tailoring for years. At its heart is the brilliant legend that is Paul Smith himself. To work with him and get to know him personally has been a complete honor,” said the actor.
“He continues to push boundaries in life and art making Paul Smith a consistently iconic British brand. Not to mention utterly stylish,” he added.
In June, the designer noted the success of his suits. He said “of course the suit is still vital, and very relevant; we sell a lot of them. In fact, we sold 20 in our shop on Saturday."
For a virtual K- pop artist, Apoki has scored some major artistic talent for her sixth single — artwork created by famed illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.
The just- released “Hold On” is the pastel- loving character's sixth single and the first geared for Japanese- speaking fans, many of whom are among her 5 million- plus social media followers.
With a career that dates back to the ' 60s, Amano is internationally known for his art, illustration and character design for such video game series as Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, Gatchaman, and Casshern among many others. He created the three- dimensional Candy
Girls specifically for this music video.
Working with Amano registered with Apoki, whose manager said via a Sony Music Solutions spokesperson, “Every artist on Earth loves his work and our desire connected us. It is such an honor to work with him.”
She has also scored support from the
Japanese confectionary and ice cream company Lotte, which makes Watermelonbar ice pops that look like slim slices of rosy watermelon, meant to appeal to the culture of cuteness in Japan. The seedless pops are popular in Japan and South Korea.
The ice-pop maker got a freebie with the collaboration by not having to pay Apoki for the placement of Watermelonbar imagery in the new video, according to a Sony Music Solutions spokeswoman. However, discussions about influencer deals are underway for this fall's release of her first album, titled "Space," she said. Apoki has previously acted as an influencer for Casio's G-Shock and Charles & Keith.
Amano is industrious as ever. In honor of the
10th anniversary of the game The Last of Us, the acclaimed artist has joined forces with Naughty Dog and video game art merchants Cook & Becker to create select art pieces and posters. Pre- orders for the limited- edition artwork are being accepted until Sept. 5. Amano also recently announced that he has dreamt up the cover art for the musician Yoshiki's new album, "Requiem."
Knowing that Japan is among the leading “mega markets of virtual artists in the world,” Apoki has dreamt of singing “an original Japanese original song since her debut,” the spokeswoman said.