by The Pucci Experience: Although practically synonymous with beach holidays, Emilio Pucci has roots in the mountains too – a fact the Florentine house will bring to life in St. Moritz this winter.
A “fashion experience” is planned for Dec. 8-10 at the glamorous Swiss ski destination, WWD has learned.
“The main idea is to emphasize the position of Pucci for winter,” said artistic director Camille Miceli, who unveiled his first designs for the famous Italian brand in April in Capri, the jet-set island where founder Emilio Pucci opened his first store in 1951.
Pucci, who died in 1992, was known for his athletic prowess and was a member of the Italian Olympic ski team in 1932. In fact, he was “discovered” as a designer while skiing and by chance met fashion photographer Toni Frissell, who asked to photograph his ski outfit. As the legend goes, when she discovered that he had personally designed the collection, she asked him to create some women’s skiwear, which was later featured in Harper’s Bazaar, and a career was born.
He began designing skiwear from jersey fabrics in 1947 and opened his house in 1949, which quickly became known for colorful, graphic motifs.
Miceli is still shaping the program for St. Moritz, but is sure to conjure up plenty of Instagrammable moments like she did at Capri, where models tossed towels and did synchronized leg lifts, and guests partook in yoga classes, lunches and dance parties.
A seasoned creative who was creative director of accessories at Louis Vuitton before joining Pucci last September, Miceli said she prefers to “show things in a different way and surprise people. We are a resort and lifestyle brand: We show the clothes in a context.”
Pucci also unveils collections on a see-now, buy-now calendar, with deliveries timed as monthly drops. The company, controlled by French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, recently launched as a resort-focused label, with Miceli characterizing her clothes as easy to wear, easy to pack and versatile enough to take a woman from “morning to night”. .
She said the collection to be unveiled in St. Moritz will include party dresses and gift items, given that it is timed for the holidays, along with ski and resort elements.
Miceli noted that St. Moritz, while in Switzerland, has a strong Italian flavor, given its proximity to Milan, Como and Bergamo. — Miles Socha
These wool gabardine suits by Emilio Pucci were featured in WWD September 15, 1960.
The Fairchild Archive
London look: Kering-owned British luxury label Alexander McQueen continues to showcase outside the fashion week system, and it will turn to London this fall to unveil its spring 2023 collection.
The Alexander McQueen spring 2023 collection will be shown after Paris Fashion Week on October 11, following the brand’s mushroom-inspired autumn 2022 collection shown in New York in March.
This will be the second time the brand has staged a runway show in London since the COVID-19 pandemic. The brand showcased its Spring 2022 collection on the roof of an East London car park last October.
Sarah Burton, the brand’s creative director, said at the time The decision to show in London was a result of that coming together.
Before the pandemic, the brand usually showed during Paris Fashion Week.
“We listened to the rhythm of our own studio and how we’ve been working as a team, it made sense to do it here, to be here and to do the show at this time,” she said.
The brand has also experimented with video and print publications about new products and collection launches.
Alexander McQueen tapped award-winning visual artist Sophie Muller for a short film that brings pieces from the brand’s Spring 2022 collection to life when pieces from the collection hit stores earlier this year.
For the pre-fall 2022 season, the brand released a 160-page zine documenting the creative process of 12 artists invited by Burton to express their working practice, each inspired by a look from the women’s collection.
The company has also made progress in the area of sustainability. Last year, it became the first luxury brand to partner with Vestiaire Collective on the platform’s brand-approved program, which allows McQueen customers to sell their clothes to Vestiaire in exchange for credit notes to be used in McQueen stores.
The company has also donated deadstock fabrics to universities and organizations, as well as working with stylists who encourage customers to wear old season pieces. In 2020, Harry Styles wore a McQueen deadstock fabric look created by a student at the University of Westminster.
Last year the brand threw its weight behind A Team Arts Education, a youth organization in East London working to help young people enter the arts and create pathways to design careers. Over the coming year, Alexander McQueen said it will financially support A Team Arts Education, further expanding the existing workshops and classes it started as part of a pilot program last year. — Tianwei Zhang
Naturally beautiful: British fashion label Mother of Pearl, worn by celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow and Saoirse Ronan, is launching a sustainable summer capsule, ‘Naturally Beautiful’, featuring some of the brand’s signature styles made with the wood-based and biodegradable fiber brand Tencel.
The launch of the collection coincides with Tencel’s 30th anniversary.
The collection is accompanied by a series of photographs taken by Mary McCartney and is inspired by her book “The White Horse”, which captured the beauty of her white stallion Alejandro. In the shoot, the models wore pieces from the capsule and posed with some of the latest shire horses for Hampton Court.
As part of the anniversary, a series of prints of these images in three different sizes, from £195 to £395, will be available to buy in a limited edition of 100 on the Mother of Pearl website.
Mary McCartney captures Mother of Pearl sustainable capsule with Tencel.
Courtesy
Amy Powney, creative director of Mother of Pearl, and brand ambassador for Tencel, said “McCartney’s book ‘The White Horse’ has been an inspiration to me and I wanted to capture that same intimate and spontaneous essence in a campaign.”
She added that for every copy sold, 100 per cent of the proceeds will be used to raise money for McCartney’s chosen charity Mind, which provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, as well as their equine project ‘Real Horse Power.”
McCartney, who was chosen to photograph Queen Elizabeth II in 2015, said Powney and Mother of Pearl are leading the way in “combining stunning aesthetics in design with real attention and sustainability.”
“She’s taking on this challenge and, in my opinion, she’s a pioneer that others should look to for inspiration,” McCartney said of Powney. – TZ
