Vuitton on the Harbor, Iconix’s Hoodrich Deal, Cameron Silver Hits the Beach

HARBOR LIGHTS: After the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, Pharrell Williams will land in another spectacular location for his second runway show as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton.

The French luxury brand said on Monday that its men’s pre-fall collection will be unveiled against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, on a section of Avenue of the Stars belonging to K11 Musea, the luxury lifestyle complex founded by entrepreneur Adrian Cheng’s New World Development. 

Known as K11 Victoria Dockside, it borders the Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront and is part of an area known as the Art and Design district of the city. The show, scheduled for Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. local time, will be livestreamed locally on digital billboards and globally via the house’s social channels.

It marks the first time the pre-collection will be showcased in a physical runway show. Williams showed his debut collection in Paris in June, with a mega-event that was attended by Beyoncé, Rihanna and Zendaya.

The Avenue of Stars promenade is a key tourist attraction, featuring more than 100 handprints of icons and legends of East Asian cinema.

Vuitton’s links to Hong Kong date back more than four decades: Its first store there opened at The Peninsula hotel in 1979 and it now has seven boutiques.

The world’s biggest luxury brand has also staged major exhibitions, including “Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation” in 2009, for which artist Richard Prince wrapped the Hong Kong Museum of Art with enlarged replicas of pulp-fiction novel covers, and the “Time Capsule” exhibit in 2017.

Underscoring its global impact, the upcoming show is supported by K11 Musea as well as local authorities: the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau; Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and Hong Kong Tourism Board. — JOELLE DIDERICH

HOODRICH INVESTMENT: Iconix International, formerly Iconix Brand Group Inc., on Monday said it will acquire the majority ownership of the Birmingham- and Watford-based streetwear brand Hoodrich, with brand founder Jay Williams remaining a minority shareholder.

Since 2014 Hoodrich has grown to become a leading player in the streetwear sector with more than 1,000 points of sale across 24 countries. Last year, with its collaboration with the hit Netflix series “Top Boy,” Hoodrich reached a wider audience beyond the British high street scene.

With the support of Iconix International, the brand is looking to accelerate its global expansion. The aim is to use its close partnership with Batra Group, which will assume business operations, and JD Sports as a key global retail partner.

In the near future the brand will continue to expand in the U.S. across all 50 states, as well as enter the Middle East and Latin America with JD Sports and local partners. At the same time, it will be working with retailers on deepening the women’s collection and accessories to complement the men’s lineup.

The brand is gearing up to celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. Expect more cultural collaborations like it did with “Top Boy.” Several cross-pollinations with other brands owned by Iconix International are under discussion as well.

“I’m really excited about the future of Hoodrich and can’t wait to grow the brand internationally. I think this is the perfect partnership for Hoodrich and I’m looking forward to working alongside Iconix and Batra, who will be a major support system for the global growth of the brand,” Williams said of the acquisition.

Bob Galvin, chief executive officer at Iconix International, believes that Hoodrich is “extremely well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for lifestyle streetwear with an authentic brand story.”

“We are committed to bringing this high-quality brand to an even bigger global audience and to expand on Williams’ commendable journey so that Hoodrich continues to be not just something, but something great,” he added.

Iconix is a brand management company that owns, licenses, and markets consumer brands like Umbro, Pony, Ocean Pacific and Lee Cooper in its portfolio. It was taken private by Lancer Capital in 2021. — TIANWEI ZHANG

SILVER ON THE BEACH: Vintage expert Cameron Silver is bringing even more chic to the beach.

From Dec. 8 to 10 he’s bringing a Decades pop-up to The Georgian hotel, the recently refurbished oceanfront Art Deco gem that’s helped put Santa Monica back on the map for stylish lodging, dining and debauchery.

The retail collaboration will see The Georgian showcase 100 years of fashion, with a curated collection of vintage, pre-loved and contemporary pieces in its Gallery33 space, which has exhibited old Hollywood photography and paintings by Sharon Stone, among others.

“I have been to Santa Monica more since The Georgian opened than maybe in the last decade,” said Silver, a Los Angeles native whose Decades boutique has been an arbiter of vintage based in West Hollywood since 1997. “It gives you permission to dress up. And it reminds me of so many of the projects I’m doing at resorts in Palm Beach or Sarasota where you do get dressed up and you’re in a beach-y environment. This is exactly what the hotel is about. Every wall is is filled with great Hollywood history and glamour.”

For West Side clients of Decades “who might not always make it past the 405 freeway,” as Silver said, labels such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana and YSL will be selected for The Georgian scene, in addition to pieces from female-founded sustainable contemporary brands such as L.A.-based ReWeave and New York-based Angel Chang. The doors will be open for shopping from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

There will be a wide price range represented, too. “Regardless of where you are, I want everyone to get a little piece of Decades. It’s really nice when it’s an expensive piece, but the most important thing is that we get people excited about fashion history and give them a little understanding about sustainability and archival fashion,” he said.

Silver has been hosting Decades pop-up shops around the country, many in secondary markets such as Aspen, Naples and Sarasota, Fla. He’s done events at several Auberge properties and partnered with luxury brands, too.

“Big brands realize that the vintage will attract a client that they can then upsell to the modern luxury collection,” he said. “They are also realizing you don’t have to put on a huge show and spend a tremendous amount of money to have a successful partnership in a city that might be underserved, and test the waters to determine if it’s a place where you may want to open an actual brick-and-mortar.” — BOOTH MOORE

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM…: Daniel Lee, Burberry’s chief creative officer, has called on the help of all his friends hailing from the worlds of music, film, sports and fashion for Burberry’s spring 2024 campaign.

The photographs were shot by Tyrone Lebon featuring Arsenal soccer player Bukayo Saka; rock band Blur member Damon Albarn; actor Jessie Buckley; South Korean actor Jun Ji-Hyun; singer-songwriter King Krule; principal of The Royal Ballet Matthew Ball; musician Neneh Cherry; actor Rachel Weisz; professional boxer Ramla Ali; Tottenham Hotspur soccer player Son Heung-Min, and musicians Slew and Tems.

The campaigns take place at different locations across London and also include models Amelie Steele, He Cong, Iris Law, Jourdan Dunn, Naomi Janumala, Rakim Janneh and Stevie Sims.

Key items worn and carried by the subjects include Lee’s bags for Burberry such as the Knight and peg bag; a duck print top and skirt; yellow tartan car coat, and head-to-toe floral prints.

“Ultimately we want to design things that people want to wear. There can be a few moments of British eccentricity in the collections, but I see Burberry as quite grounded. Classicism has to be the foundation,” the designer said during a preview in September.

Lee staged his spring 2024 show under a vast checkered tent in London’s Highbury Fields with green park benches drawing on Burberry’s sporty, performance heritage, as well as its Britishness, which has been a consistent motif since the designer joined the brand last year.

Last week, Burberry celebrated King Charles III’s 75th birthday with four limited-edition illustrated scarves featuring Highgrove gardens, the private residence of the monarch. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED

MILIAN IN PARIS: Singer, actress and new Parisienne Christina Milian turned on the holiday lights on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré to ring in the Christmas season.

The stage was set for the grand ceremony just in front of the Miu Miu, Prada and Gucci boutiques. The street is home to several luxury stores — and turns out it’s close to Milian’s home as well.

She recently moved from Los Angeles to Paris over the summer with her husband, French pop singer Matt Pokora, and three children.

The move to the world’s fashion capital has changed her style.

“It’s way different than it is in the U.S.,” she said, noting that Los Angeles style offers up a lot of workout gear. “I look forward to taking the kids to school. Everyone dresses up no matter what age, and it’s very inspiring. It makes me want to actually want to dress up.”

She was wearing a festive green tweed suit and camel coat with a faux-fur trim for the event. It was from French brand Maje, which has been her favorite local style discovery, she said.

Earlier this year, Milian shot the Netflix Christmas movie “Meet Me Next Christmas,” but due to delays from the Hollywood strikes it won’t hit screens until next holiday season.

She also produced the film, which was a new experience for her.

“I could easily be the rom-com girl forever. I know that comes easy for me,” she said. “But there’s something that feels really good to not only be the person in front of the camera, but to get behind the scenes and have people actually interested in knowing your opinion, and building the character [and] developing the script from the ground up. It makes a world of difference.”

The experience of producing “Meet Me Next Christmas” along with the indie film “Body Language,” which she also worked on pre-strike, has shifted her perspective on the industry.

“It got me excited for the future, not only producing but now I’d love to direct as well. I’ve started thinking about my next goals,” she said. She plans to enroll in directing courses while she is living in France, as well as try her hand at script writing.

“If I can write songs, I think I can write a good script,” she said.

She’s eager to get back to work now that the simultaneous actors’ and writers’ strikes are over. In the interim, she’s been enjoying the downtime. “It’s been nice to be able to focus on what life would be like this way, especially with getting them [her children] off to school” and settling in to life in France, she said.

With her busy shooting schedules and her husband’s musical tours, they had been bopping between Paris and L.A. for a few years. “It was really so that our family can be together,” she said of settling down. “We’re an adventurous family so we don’t mind changing things up and trying new things.”

Part of that is working on her language skills. “I’m kind of over the sporadic learning and decided to really focus on it. Mentally, it’s just like a diet,” she joked. Duolingo is part of her day-to-day, plus lessons with a teacher.

As for being the first celebrity guest to turn on the lights on behalf of the Comité du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, it was a milestone welcome for Milian.

“I feel like I’m planting my seeds here,” she said. Milian was accompanied by her daughter, who gave her styling tips on the way to the stage. She sang snippets of her favorite Christmas song, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas.”

Is there a holiday album in her future? “I would love to. I think that could be one of my next moves,” she said. “I was the girl that at 13 still wanted to believe that Santa was real.”

This year is full of firsts for the organizing Comité du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. It’s the first time the committee has had a celebrity representative, as well as the first time raffle tickets will be available online.

There are 40 luxury lots up for grabs, including items from Chanel, Chopard, Dior and Roger Vivier, products from beauty brand Carita, as well as experiences from La Reserve and the Mandarin Oriental hotels.

All proceeds go to Les Rois du Monde charity, which supports children in hospitals and orphanages by providing entertainment, games, taking them to events or sporting games with cultural and fun days. — RHONDA RICHFORD

TALKING FILM: “I am not a woman filmmaker. I am a filmmaker,” Patty Jenkins told the room at Fouquet’s in TriBeCa on Thursday evening. The director was deep in conversation with actor Zazie Beetz as part of a Through Her Lens Conversation on the importance of empowering women in film, as part of the women filmmaker empowering program sponsored by Tribeca and Chanel.

Their 45-minute long conversation ranged from their own entry into the industry and their breakouts, from Jenkins’ award-winning turn writing and directing “Monster” to Beetz starring in “Atlanta,” to current trends in filmmaking (Jenkins thinks that the downturn of Marvel movies is only temporary) and the value of art in our lives.

“How many times do you hear someone [say] ‘this song saved my life’ or ‘this film saved my life,’ or ‘completely changed my perspective.’ And obviously there’s value in all things, there’s value in the medical field, there’s value in whatever. But I sometimes feel like art isn’t given its due,” Beetz said. “Art is our soul. And what gives us the ability, I think, to interact and to have empathy and to communicate that empathy. And that’s why I think filmmaking is such a powerful medium. And if we’re going to be putting so many resources into it, then let’s do something with it.”

Jenkins, meanwhile, touched on how hard it was to have her ideas heard after the success of her first film “Monster,” while she saw her men counterparts with similar experience being trusted and given chances.

“You let these guys make nobody, you roll the dice on these guys to make all kinds of stuff and you’re like, ‘he’s an artist. I don’t know.’ Never was I given that, that was not extended to me,” she said. “And sadly, it’s still a problem.”

After the talk, guests including Tommy Dorfman and Havana Liu Rose were welcomed upstairs for cocktails and to continue the conversation. The Chanel and Tribeca partnership, which includes the Through Her Lens program and the Artist’s Dinner during the festival, will be a decade strong next year and has helped launch the careers of filmmakers like AV Rockwell and Numa Perrier. 

 “Women’s voices are incredibly important but it’s also showing the model for all kinds of diverse voices,” Jenkins said after the talk about what drew her to participate. “We need to find pathways for diverse stories to make it.”

“In general I’m just passionate about women and women’s stories,” Beetz said. “I think women in film have been such a battle to be respected as serious artists and serious filmmakers.” — LEIGH NORDSTROM

MARINE NOTE: The scent of sea spray greets visitors to the newly reopened Musée National de la Marine, or National Marine Museum, in Paris. That is thanks to a fragrance created by DSM-Firmenich master perfumer Nathalie Lorson.

For the museum situated on Place de la Concorde, which reopened Friday after five years of renovation, Lorson developed the scent in collaboration with experiential marketing agency Studio Magique. It is called Sillage de Mer, or Sea Wake.

The scent is integrated into the museum as a sea-inspired sensory element.

“An ode to the force of the ocean, it represents an idea of the open sea’s infinity, of the sea in motion, evoking a sea breeze, the iodine-laden sea spray and mineral notes,” the museum said in a statement.

The fragrance is composed of notes coming from algae from France mixed with synthetic notes, some of which stem from green chemistry, made with 20 percent upcycled ingredients.

Sillage de Mer, along with a ceramic object that can be scented, is available for purchase at the museum gift shop. — JENNIFER WEIL

PEN TO PAPER: Letters shape history — and people’s political and personal lives.

In 1527, King Henry VIII put ink to paper to write his future second wife, Anne Boleyn, telling her that he had “written with the hand of him who wishes he were yours.”

Letters now have a place in museums and estate houses, as well as on stage.

On Thursday evening in London, Letters Live, the literary event that brings together celebrities and critically acclaimed writers to read letters to a live audience, celebrated its 10th anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall with a helping hand from Montblanc, the German luxury goods brand dedicated to writing instruments, as well as timepieces, leather goods, accessories, fragrances and eyewear.

A jam-packed audience at the concert hall listened, laughed, cried and clapped as letters were read aloud by Benedict Cumberbatch, Gillian Anderson, Olivia Colman, Minnie Driver, Stephen Fry, Will Sharpe and Woody Harrelson.

“It was only natural for Montblanc to unite with Letters Live, as both share an unwavering devotion to the written word and the influence it wields on individuals and communities. Montblanc’s very inception was rooted in a visionary concept — to transform the way people connect through the art of writing, and we are thrilled to extend this incredible legacy through our partnership, opening fresh avenues for people to rediscover the magic of words,” said Vincent Montalescot, chief marketing officer at Montblanc.

Cumberbatch, a coproducer of Letters Live, kicked off the evening with a letter by playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw to The Times of London from 1905.

Shaw wrote about of his evening at the Royal Opera House to watch a performance of “Don Giovanni,” which was disturbed by a woman wearing a “large white bird, which looked exactly if someone had killed it by stamping on the beast, and then nailed it to the lady’s temple.”

“I wore the costume imposed on me by the regulations of the house. I fully recognize the advantage of those regulations. Evening dress is cheap, simple, durable, prevents rivalry and extravagance on the part of male leaders of fashion,” he wrote.

Other famous letters in the lineup included Jackie Morris’ note to the BBC; one from Nina Simone to Andy Stroud, and Anaïs Nin’s message to The Collector, an anonymous collector that would pay a dollar a page for the erotic stories of Nin, Henry Miller and their group of friends.

Tom Odell, Angelique Kidjo, The Spirituals Choir and Kae Tempest performed musical and spoken-word numbers in between the letter readings. — H.M.

UNIVERSITY PRIZE: University of the Arts London, the university that includes Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion in its portfolio, has been awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for higher and further education with a focus on the university’s drive for environmental and social sustainability.

The award is handed out every two years to universities and colleges across the U.K.

“Challenging fashion’s status quo is at the heart of the work we do at Centre for Sustainable Fashion. It is fantastic to be recognized for the important work that every person involved in the center is doing to create a fashion system that places Earth and equity at its heart,” said professor Dilys Williams, director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion and chair of UAL Social Purpose Advisory Group.

“Our guiding principle is to transform fashion from a sector where profit is gained through extraction and exploitation to one where wealth is recognized in environmental, social, cultural and economic terms,” she added.

The university’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion is based in Stratford, where research takes place. The center has worked with the likes of Alexander McQueen and Gucci.

The Queen’s Anniversary Prize also shed light on UAL’s Portal Centre for Social Impact, which has a program called Making for Change that tackles community engagement and social impact initiatives.

“By bridging the gap between academia and the fashion sector through our teaching, research and industry partnerships, we have demonstrated a long track record of using creative education as a tool for positive social and environmental impact, showing that caring for others and the planet is at the core of who we are,” said Polly Mackenzie, chief social purpose officer of UAL. — H.M.

COUNTING TENS: Following the successful launch of an American edition, London-based independent fashion publication 10 Magazine is expanding into Asia with a Japanese edition launching next September.

Saori Masuda, former fashion director at Vogue Japan, will lead 10 Japan as editor in chief. Its content will be distributed across a global, multichannel network. The 10 Japan print version will be biannual, publishing in September and March, mirroring the publishing schedule of other editions of 10. 10 Men Japan and 10+ Japan will follow at a later date.

More details of the 10 Japan editorial team will be announced in the coming months.

Sophia Neophitou, global editor in chief of 10 Magazine, said the third global edition of 10, which comes after Australia and the U.S., represents “a dream of launching in one of my favorite countries in the world, whose culture has always been such a source of inspiration.”

“The dream of having Masuda is everything I could have hoped for and more. After working with her on Vogue Japan during my time there in 2009, I have always admired her wealth of experience, as well as her work ethic, creativity and drive,” added Neophitou.

Masuda said she is “excited about this new adventure with Sophia and her team.

“Since I was a child I have lived in between the Japanese, Italian and French cultures. That lifetime of experience has shaped my approach to fashion. As a new member of the 10 Magazine family, I would like to bring my experience of multicultural life and my borderless cultural mindset to 10 Magazine Japan. I believe that this is something I can contribute to the future of a new Japanese outlook,” she added.

Masuda started her fashion career as a public relations executive for brands including Givenchy and Bottega Veneta. In 2005, she joined Vogue Japan as executive fashion editor and later was promoted to fashion director at the publication.

Neophitou founded 10 Magazine 24 years ago, and it remains a profitable publication. In recent interviews, Neophitou has hinted there could be further franchises, in France and Italy in particular. — T.Z.

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