Above, from top: Gizem Emre for L’Oréal Paris. Tania Dawson in a bikini by Shek. Hilde Osland models Lounge Intimates.

We don’t often hear of regional spokeswomen for some of the global brands, but we happened upon German actress Gizem Emre’s announcement that she is a L’Oréal Paris ambassador, a brand that she says has been with her since childhood. In her campaign, she appears in the ‘Worth It Club’, alongside Lena Lademann, Caroline Daur and Lou Beyer, and together they want to ‘show how important it is to inspire, motivate and support other women.’
   Emre, 25, plays Dana in the long-running police drama Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei.
   Meanwhile, it pays to have friends with followers: Shekinah delos Santos’s bikini brand, Bikinis by Shek, was able to call on Miss Universe New Zealand 2016 Tania Dawson to help model one of her designs, and promote it on Instagram (@tpdgurl). Delos Santos’s bikinis are made by hand, and are sustainable—find out more at shek.com.au.
   The pair met through the Miss Universe New Zealand pageant and have a shared Pinoy heritage.
   In a similar vein, singer Hilde Osland, currently 28 weeks pregnant, continues to model on her Instagram to her 3·7 million followers, with Lounge Intimates being the lucky party with its Willow design, in time for Valentine’s Day. The company promises ‘huge surprises’ with the annual event on its Instagram, @loungeintimates.

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Italian interior and product designer Andrea Gramaccia has created a wonderful, occidental take on the Japanese geta, the traditional footwear which has the form of a flip-flop but a wooden base.
   Gramaccia was contacted by the Japanese company Mizutori to create geta. Cleverly, he based the concept around a circle and cutting it in half, and it’s from the two halves that the shapes are worked up to become geta.
   If you look at the inner part, it’s a straight line where the cut was, while the rest was designed for ergonomics, stability and æsthetics.
   You can learn more about Andrea Gramaccia at andreagramacciadesign.com.

Ruby has come back from the summer break with a new collection, on sale January 15. Called Motion, it is intended to finish the summer season. According to creative director Deanna Didovich, ‘If there is one thing that is constant in life, it’s change. I wanted to celebrate this with Motion. Often, I think we can become so fixated on life’s nuances; we forget how special it is just to be existing. How lucky we are to be able to experience change and grow from it.’

It’s not just HRH Prince Charles talking about a reset after the events of 2020, it’s the theme of the winter men’s collection from Ermenegildo Zegna, under artistic director Alessandro Sartori. Zegna refers directly to the ‘(re)set’ (including the parentheses), acknowledging that in places where COVID continues to spread, there’s been a blending of the public and the private, the personal space and the public space, and the indoors and outdoors, ‘as lounging, living and working collide often in one single activity.’
   In a release, Sartori says, ‘We all are experiencing a new reality concerned with new needs, which lead us to previously unseen lifestyles and attitudes. It is precisely at a time like this, when everything is under discussion, that we, at Zegna, have decided to (Re)set. We have looked at our roots to (re)interpret our style codes and (re)tailor the modern man. Outdoor and indoor come together and a new way of dressing takes hold, where comfort and style blend to create a new æsthetic.’

H&M

London-based Irish designer Simone Rocha is the next collaborator with H&M, with a collection launching March 11, comprising clothing for women, men and children—the first time Rocha has completed a collection for the entire family. Each category includes a full wardrobe. Also under the Simone Rocha × H&M banner are jewellery and pearl-embellished footwear.
   As with previous designers, the collection makes references to previous work, especially Rocha’s mixed heritage of Hong Kong and Ireland, but with new twists.
   H&M says in a release, ‘We see glimmers of Tudor courtiers, wild florals, portraits and photographs, dolls and trinkets. There is tartan, beading, florals, pinks, reds, and bespoke fabrications, developed in-house, exclusively for this collaboration.’
   The launch date coincides with Rocha’s 10th anniversary.
   ‘I am so thrilled to be working with H&M on this very special collection,’ she says. ‘It truly is a celebration of the signatures of my brand, and the influences that have shaped me. As a designer, and as a customer, I’ve been such a fan of the H&M collaboration concept. Margiela, Alber Elbaz, Comme des Garçons—it’s such an amazing list of alumni to be a part of.’
   Rocha says she is pleased that she can offer her designs to a wider audience, and for those who may have missed a piece the first time.
   Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative adviser for Hennes & Mauritz, adds, ‘Simone Rocha has been on the H&M wish list for some time. This collaboration offers a new audience the chance to own a very special piece of design history. All of us at H&M have been so inspired to work with a female designer who spends so much time thinking about contemporary femininity, and womanhood, and who is so committed to excellence in craft and design, from the process of developing special fabrications, to pushing silhouettes, shapes and embellishments. Every garment within this collection is unique, special and the result of years of work and meticulous research.’
   Daisy Edgar-Jones, Adwon and Jesewa Aboah, Robbie Spencer, and Tess McMillan appear in the campaign.

H&M

Xavi Gordo

Luna Novias, one of the brands of the Rosa Clará company, has shown its 2021 collection of bridal fashion.
   Aimed at those who want classic styles with a younger bent, the 2021 line features a mermaid silhouette, including in chiffon, combined with floral lace bodies and trails with sheer sections. Lace is inlaid at the waist, the sides, the sleeves and the back.
   There are also lace mermaid dresses with corset-style bodies, lace inlays, beaded straps and feathered details on the sleeves, for those who prefer something more conventional. There is also a mermaid dress with a full tulle skirt and see-through-look lace body and open back.
   Luna Novias also offers the princess style for 2021, with a tulle skirt and crêpe body; voluminous skirts with crinolines; and plain and Mikado styles with drop sleeves, irregular ties and a cut-out neckline.
   Xavi Gordo photographed the campaign in Barcelona.

Xavi Gordo

Claude Iverné/Creative Commons 3·0

Top: Pierre Cardin’s official portrait in 1992. Above: The cover of the book accompanying Pierre Cardin’s 60th anniversary retrospectives in 2010.

Legendary fashion designer Pierre Cardin died December 29 aged 98, according to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, of which he had been a member since 1992.
   Born Pietro Costante Cardin in Treviso, Italy to a working-class family, he would find himself in France in his youth. His parents, along with their 11 children, headed to St Etienne, France, and he became a tailor’s apprentice as a teenager.
   Although fascinated by architecture, he stuck with the clothing trade, joining Paquin, the couturier, in Paris in 1944. At Paquin, he helped cut and sew the costumes and designed masks for Jean Cocteau’s film La Belle et la Bête along with Christian Berard. He also apprenticed with Elsa Schiaparelli.
   Cocteau introduced him to Christian Dior, where he was appointed the head cutter for coats and suits for the designer’s New Look collection, which appeared in February 1947. Branching out on his own, with the new company located at 10 rue Richepanse, Cardin began designing masks and costumes for the theatre, and attracted a clientèle that included Rita Hayworth and Eva Perón. The commissions allowed him to take over the rest of the premises.
   In 1951, André Oliver joined the firm and became Cardin’s friend and right hand, and who created the haute couture with him.
   By 1953, Cardin, now at premises on the rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, showed his first proper collection, and in 1954, he eschewed the feminine form and tradition by showing the “bubble” dress.
   He became a member of the Chambre Syndicale but left soon after, finding its rules cumbersome, and in 1959 he showed his first prêt-à-porter show at Printemps. This expanded his brand’s reach, but at the time it was unprecedented: couturiers did not take themselves downmarket. The same year, Cardin travelled to Japan and recognized the potential of Asia.
   The following year, he showed his first men’s collection, Cylindre, and established a men’s prêt-à-porter and accessories’ department. Eventually, supporters included Gregory Peck and the Beatles, who wore Cardin’s collarless suits.
   Cardin understood the relationship between haute couture and prêt-à-porter all too well, arguably before many others: the former would grab the headlines and could act as a loss leader, while the latter was where money could be made thanks to economies of scale. By 1963 he had launched a women’s prêt-à-porter department. The same year he met actress Jeanne Moreau when he was commissioned to design the costumes for her film La baie des anges. The two had a relationship for some five years, which additionally helped Cardin’s profile. However, Cardin identified as gay and Oliver was, with the exception of this period, his partner in life as well as in his work, until Oliver’s death in 1993.
   In the ’60s, Cardin, along with André Courrèges and Paco Rabanne, created what were regarded as futuristic, space-age designs, inspired by the decade’s forays into the space by the Soviet Union and the US. He even developed a synthetic fabric, Cardine, which Lauren Bacall wore. Another celebrity connection was the menswear for Patrick Macnee’s John Steed in the British TV series The Avengers.
   In 1970, Cardin took over the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, turning it into the Espace Pierre Cardin, which celebrated the arts. Cardin was impressed by Jean Paul Gaultier’s sketches and gave the 17-year-old his break into the industry. During this decade, his business expanded massively to some 100,000 outlets.
   From a business perspective, he was known for licensing his brand name to a wide variety of products, many outside fashion (inter alia, cigarettes, frying pans and soaps), and claimed to have been involved in their creation. With a mistrust of bankers and lawyers, Cardin did the licensing deals himself. In 1972, Cardin launched his first men’s fragrance, Pour Monsieur.
   While still firm in the grips of communism, Cardin showed in mainland China in the late 1970s, believing the country would eventually open up and become a major economic force. In 1981 he opened a boutique in Russia, then still part of the Soviet Union. Cardin was one of the designers who showed power suits in the 1980s.
   Cardin spent his wealth on properties as well as purchasing Maxim’s restaurant in 1981, which he also grew, with additional branches, and here, too, he licensed the name beyond its original scope. Also in 1981, he launched a women’s fragrance, Choc. In 1983, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour and decorated as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
   In 1991, Cardin held a fashion show in Moskva’s Red Square to an live audience of 200,000, the first time such an event took place in Russia. He was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honour and became an honorary UNESCO ambassador; in 1997 he was promoted again to Commander of the Legion of Honour. By 2001, no longer doing regular collections, he bought the Marquis de Sade’s castle, Lacoste, in Provence.
   He remained active well into his 90s, with even Lady Gaga donning Pierre Cardin at one stage. He continued to mentor younger designers and visit his Paris office.

It is an empirical fact in most countries that immigrants contribute positively to the economies of their host countries and to job creation, and IMM, a footwear brand produced by immigrants using sustainable methods, seeks to build on that.
   Using surplus materials, including high-quality leathers, from luxury brands, IMM’s ‘home shoes’ are made by immigrants in Spain, while designed by immigrants in Paris.
   The company trains its staff and aims to give them hope. It believes everyone has the right to a home.
   Co-founder Joanne Tsai said, ‘Our motto is simple, the more shoes we sell and the larger we grow, the more positive impact we create for immigrants.’
   IMM’s other co-founder, Belén H. Sánchez, added, ‘With multiple crises that lead millions of people losing their homes, finding alternative ways to help is the core of our brand.
   ‘We start by nurturing and offering jobs to skilled immigrants. The goal is that through economic empowerment, they can rebuild their homes, improve their lives, and contribute to the economic growth in their host countries.’