Discover the world’s most coveted masterpieces. From fine horology and high jewelry to luxury beauty and bespoke fashion, we curate the artifacts of modern desire.
Cloth-based ties are now passe, says Hex Tie, infusing life into the old fashioned “basic tie’ with a few eclectic designs, unveiled right in time for NYFW. Headquartered in New York City, Hex Tie’s edgy designs are inspired by the high-beat enthusiasm and vivacity of the city. The new Honeycomb Emirates Tie is a special … Read more
Evian and New York-based fashion designer Alexander Wang unveiled the 2016 evian Limited Edition bottle with Wang’s
signature bar code logo on two contrasting bottles.
Since 2008, evian mineral water has worked with some of the world’s most prestigious designers to create a limited edition bottle. Diane von Furstenberg, Paul Smith, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Elie Saab and KENZO brought areinterpretation of evian’s spirit through art and design.
Alexander Wang applies the barcode logo in different ways and throughout different collections and seasons. Inspired by the unique purity of evian water, Wang put it into new context on its iconic glass bottle.
“In my approach to design, I have always had an un-precious outlook, focusing on the pieces that people wear every day, then tweaking them and elevating them to give a distinct point of view,” said Wang. “even water is something that is truly ‘every day’ yet precious by design. We used linear and strong graphics to give the brand’s iconic bottle our sensibility, and to create a new take on it.”
“The architectural and minimalistic approach Alexander Wang brings to his creations really caught our attention,” said Olga Osminkina-Jones, Vice President of Marketing for Danone Waters of America. “His creations are iconic yet extremely inclusive and relevant today, pure interpretation of the modern audience values. The black and white color contrast, that Alexander Wang chose, makes a statement about evian purity in a very contemporary way.”
The 2016 evian x Alexander Wang Limited Edition bottle will be available in 75cl glass bottles at evian.com and retailers worldwide beginning November 2015.
Fashion has embraced technology but it still loves a pencil. And a posh notebook, a sharpie and embossed notecards. Inspired by Tom Ford and her school filofax, Jess Cartner-Morley on her stationery obsession
Pearl Oud by Kilian. You’ll have to travel to Doha to get one. Kilian perfume house celebrated the new KILIAN Boutique in DOHA, Qatar (1 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, The Pearl – Doha – Qatar) with an exclusive fragrance created by Perfumer Christian Provenzano. The 40sq meter luxury niche perfume boutique features all KILIAN iconic fragrance … Read more
“Apple and Hermès make very different products, but they reflect the deep appreciation of quality design.” Apple introduced Apple Watch Hermès, a new collection of Apple Watch in stainless steel with finely crafted leather bands in distinctive styles from Hermès, including the Single Tour, Double Tour and Cuff. “Apple and Hermès make very different products, … Read more
At first glance, it’s all chiffon and glamour: Kate Moss in a huge hooped skirt, photographed by Mario Testino in 2008; David Hockney posing with a sequin-clad Maudie James in 1968, as captured by Cecil Beaton; Anne Gunning, swathed in pink in Jaipur in the 50s, looking away from Norman Parkinson’s lens.
But the National Portrait Gallery’s major spring exhibition, celebrating 100 years of British Vogue, will argue that it is much more than a style magazine.
“As well as the fashion bible it has now become, it is a cultural record of the times,” said current editor Alexandra Shulman at a launch event for Vogue 100, A Century of Style, on Monday. The exhibition, opening on 11 February next year, will launch the magazine’s centenary celebrations, which also include a behind-the-scenes BBC2 documentary.
A preview of the exhibition
British Vogue first hit newsstands in 1916 and – as with many desirable fashion brands – the ability to leverage this illustrious heritage has been key to the magazine’s success.
The exhibition will highlight British Vogue’s work with “the greatest photographers in modern history”, said curator Robin Muir, including Edward Steichen, Helmut Newton, Man Ray and Irving Penn, and will include portraits of Marlene Dietrich, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon and Fred Astaire.
The show will also incorporate moments of recent fashion history, such as the 1990 Peter Lindbergh cover – featuring Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford – widely regarded as defining the supermodel era, and the notorious 1993 Corinne Day shoot that helped introduce Kate Moss, and so-called “heroin chic”.
Photograph by Cecil Beaton titled The Second Age of Beauty is Glamour.Photograph: Cecil Beaton/Conde Nast Publications
Tellingly, as printed magazines fight to underline their relevance in the digital age, Vogue 100 will begin in the present day, with a room devoted to digital fashion film. Visitors will then “travel back in time to the 90s, with Herb Ritts and Corinne Day; to the 80s with Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh; to the 70s with Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin,” said Muir.
Finally, they will reach “the year zero and the quieter, beautiful, more meditative vintage masterworks of photographers such as Steichen and Man Ray,” he said.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said that the show would represent “a panoramic image of the last century”.
That view is, however, undeniably well-heeled and overwhelmingly white. Questioned about a lack of racial diversity, Shulman said: “[British Vogue] has been a reflection of our culture for 100 years and it has been predominantly white culture. I think we just have to accept that. Though there certainly are a number of non-white people in the exhibition.”
As Britain became a more multicultural society, that shift was reflected in the photography, Cullinan said.
“Something we should be very proud of, and which I have included in the exhibition, is that British Vogue was the first mainstream magazine to have a black cover model, Donyale Luna, shot by David Bailey in 1966,” said Muir.
David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger and Maudie James appear in the major exhibition celebrating 100 years of British Vogue.Photograph: Conde Nast Publications
“It’s not all rarefied clouds of pink chiffon,” said Muir, adding that unexpected exhibits would include “extraordinarily graphic depiction of war” taken during the 1940s by Lee Miller.
“Those are not the sort of images anyone ever expected to be commissioned by a magazine like Vogue – but Vogue did have its own war photographer,” he said. “Real life intrudes – particularly at the magazine’s start, during the first world war, and during the second world war and the 1960s, when you can see class barriers being broken down in its pages.”
Muir added that Vogue was as much about creating magic and fantasy as it was about reflecting reality. “Cecil Beaton once said, ‘when I die I want to go to Vogue’ – and without wishing to dismiss the competition, saying ‘when I die I want to go to Marie Claire’ does not have the same kind of resonance.”
