Ruby is showing its new collection, dubbed Champ, with its first items going on retail sale on May 14 both on- and offline.
   The collection represents both a change in season as well as change in how we do things: ‘Champ is about taking responsibility, knowing your force and driving change for a world we all belong in,’ reads the company’s introduction.
   Warm and colourful knitwear and suitings stand out for winter, with shades of chocolate, meadow, vermilion, pink and pistachio marle. We’re drawn to the turtlenecks, the long sleeves of the Boby sweater, the looseness of the Champ sweater, the Steffi jacket, and the Lucille swing coat, among others. Looseness and volume give this winter a flowing, comfortable vibe. Find out more at rubynz.com, or check out Ruby’s Instagram at @rubytakessnaps.

This summer there will be no better place than Zürich to view over 140 works of art by Gerhard Richter, widely considered to be one of Germany’s most important contemporary visual artists. Many works have not been seen in public for decades. An exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich focuses on a genre central to his oeuvre: landscape, with over 80 paintings as well as drawings, prints, photo collages, overpainted photographs and artist’s books. This is one of Europe’s must-see shows for 2021.
   Baur au Lac, one of our favourite hotels in the world, has crafted an Artful Vibes by Gerhard Richter package, celebrating Richter’s exhibition, but it is available only until July 25, 2021. The exceptional package includes one night in a junior suite with breakfast, admission to the exhibition, private transfer to and from Kunsthaus Zürich in Baur au Lac’s Bentley Flying Spur, a SFr. 100 food and beverage voucher redeemable at one of the hotel’s three restaurants, welcome amenity, and complimentary minibar. Package price starts at SFr. 1,140 per night. A private tour of the exhibition can be added for a supplement of SFr. 220.
   Baur au Lac, with its 119 rooms and remarkable suites, lives in a dreamlike landscaped park in a beautifully maintained heritage building located on the edge of Lake Zürich. It’s one of the most legendary and historic five-star hotels in the world, and home to the two-Michelin-starred Pavillon restaurant. A stay taken in tandem with the Richter show would be a brilliant reintroduction to next world of luxury travel. Highly recommended.—Stanley Moss, Travel Editor

Chanel Watches

Australian actress Margot Robbie is the new face of Chanel’s J12 watch campaign.
   Robbie, who has been associated with Chanel since March 2018, appeared earlier this week at the Oscars in a custom mermaid dress inspired by look 47 in Chanel’s autumn–winter 2019–20 haute couture collection. The dress took 205 hours of work. She also donned Chanel fine jewellery.
   Since 2018, she has helmed numerous Chanel campaigns and was photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for Coco Neige in July 2018. She also modelled for the Gabrielle Chanel Essence fragrance.
   As the new face of the J12 watch, Robbie joins, inter alia, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Ali McGraw, Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose Depp, and Keira Knightley. The new campaign features a total of nine ‘iconic women’, according to Chanel.
   Robbie said in a release, ‘It’s a dream to represent such a timeless and iconic brand. The history of the Chanel woman is so exciting and the brand has remained such a power feminine standard of style. I’m thrilled to be part of the Chanel family and continue their celebration of women and fashion.’
   After a career in television in Australia, including the soap Neighbours, Robbie came to worldwide attention in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film, The Wolf of Wall Street, opposite Leonardo di Caprio. She also starred in, and produced, I, Tonya, playing Tonya Harding, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She also received a nomination for best supporting actress in another real-life-based drama, Bombshell. Her most recent appearance at the Oscars was for producing the Carey Mulligan starrer Promising Young Woman, which was nominated for five Academy Awards. It took home the best original screenplay gong, for first-time winner Emerald Fennell.

Artist Linda Gair—sister of make-up artist Joanne, whose work appears regularly in Lucire—is having an exhibition, Homage, from April 29 at the Railway Street Gallery, at 8 Railway Street, Newmarket, Auckland, New Zealand.
   Gair herself has been an art teacher and educator since she turned 50, but has been a lifelong artist. Her works in this latest exhibition are tributes to artists we all know and love—Kahlo, Matisse, Picasso, Rivera, McCahon, Louise Henderson—appearing on a collected piece of plywood, or a bowling ball, or some other found item. These are not replicas, but a postmodern commentary on art and masterpieces, bringing them into three dimensions complete with distortions.
   The official opening takes place on Saturday, May 1, from 12 to 3 p.m., while Gair herself will give a talk on May 8 at 1 p.m., with insights into a number of the pieces and the artists she chose to pay homage to. The exhibition runs till the 18th. The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Above: Alber Elbaz as photographed by Lucire Paris editor Lola Saab.

Moroccan-born French designer Alber Elbaz has died at age 59, according to Richemont, which partnered with him on his latest venture, AZ Factory. It is believed Elbaz died from COVID-19, which he had had for three weeks, and had been in an induced coma.
   Elbaz was behind the rejuvenation of Lanvin and helmed the label’s artistic direction from 2001 to 2015.
   Richemont founder and chairman Johann Rupert said in a statement, ‘It was with shock and enormous sadness that I heard of Alber’s sudden passing. Alber had a richly deserved reputation as one of the industry’s brightest and most beloved figures. I was always taken by his intelligence, sensitivity, generosity and unbridled creativity. He was a man of exceptional warmth and talent, and his singular vision, sense of beauty and empathy leave an indelible impression.
   ‘It was a great privilege watching Alber in his last endeavour as he worked to realize his dream of “smart fashion that cares”. His inclusive vision of fashion made women feel beautiful and comfortable by blending traditional craftsmanship with technology—highly innovative projects which sought to redefine the industry.’
   Speaking with him in 2011, Elbaz displayed a sense of humour and a wonderful insight into his work at Lanvin.
   ‘For each woman there are ten different women … even in men there consists ten different men … and that is what this collection is about. It is not only about one person with one type of haircut with one look, but these are different occasions and different personalities. [The different designs represent] individuals and very personal [looks],’ he told Lucire’s Paris editor Lola Cristall.
   On the menswear side, Elbaz explained the approach he took: ‘When we began at first, the image was of a man who was very specifically created being emotional and poetic, and then we advanced [creating] man as more linear, a little more edgy and a little cooler … Then we wanted to go back to our roots: the essentials of where we started. Finally, we realized that it is not one outfit for one man but it is clothing for different men … here we wanted to show the different façades of a man.’
   Elbaz was born in Casablanca, and moved to Israel when he was 10. He studied fashion in Israel after his military service, and went to New York in 1985. There he worked for Geoffrey Beene, before moving to Paris and heading the design at Guy Laroche. Elbaz took over for Yves Saint Laurent at the appointment of Pierre Bergé at the end of the 1990s, until Gucci took over the label. He briefly worked for Krizia before joining Lanvin in 2001.
   Despite bringing the brand back from irrelevance, he fell out with Lanvin’s owner Wang Shaw-Lan and CEO Michele Hubain in 2015 and was ousted from the label, which caused him great distress. After some smaller projects, Elbaz launched AZ Factory with Richemont last January.

F.-G. Grandin/MNHN; top photo by Agnès Iatzoura/MNHN

Lancôme has partnered with the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) with the aim of preserving endangered plant species, in a new conservation project.
   In a statement, its global brand president Françoise Lehmann said, ‘We are proud to participate in the conservation of endangered plant species like the Rose of France (Rosa gallica), as part of a global partnership with the National Museum of Natural History, whose international influence is recognized. The museum is a leading organization when it comes to research and expertise in the field of biodiversity protection and we are proud to take part in this important mission which meets France’s commitments for the Convention on Biological Diversity.
   ‘Protecting biodiversity is major component of Lancôme’s sustainability programme [dubbed Caring Together for a Happier Tomorrow]. The brand is already spearheading this mission in Grasse and Valensole, in the south of France, where we are growing roses and other plant species in an organic and sustainable way across 25 acres of land.’
   The project is being implemented by the museum’s Conservatoire botanique national du Bassin parisien (the CBNBP, or the National Botanical Conservatory of the Paris Basin), which sees the reintroduction of endangered plant species. Seeds had been collected and banked earlier in the CBNBP’s regions and will be planted in experimental gardens.
   Among those species is Rosa gallica, which ties in with Lancôme’s own symbol, as well as Arnica montana, campanula cervicaria, inula hirta, ranunculus hederaceus and viscaria vulgaris.