FLIGHT PATHS: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has sold its private jet, and its chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault will now rent one when necessary.
The French luxury titan made the disclosure Monday in an interview broadcast on Radio Classique, saying “now no one will know where I go.” He and his son Antoine Arnault, head of communications and image at LVMH, had been convened to talk about the fifth edition of the Journées Particulières, the massive event that attracted more than 200,000 visitors to ateliers in 57 of LVMH’s luxury maisons.
Journalist Guillaume Durand brought up the subject of LVMH’s private plane, which became a hot topic over the summer in France when Twitter accounts sprung up tracking Arnault’s every takeoff and landing, critical of the carbon footprint. Some politicians seized on what they perceived as negative public sentiment and threatened to tax or ban private jets, which many large corporations use as a business tool.
Antoine Arnault noted that such tracking accounts were a concern in the face of the group’s competitors: “It’s a question of confidentiality and security.” He noted the group uses high-speed trains where possible, but airplanes are a necessity to reach certain locales.
Radio Classique is among LVMH’s media holdings. — MILES SOCHA
ANOTHER AMIRI: Amiri, the L.A.-based luxury brand, continues its retail roll-out. The company has opened a new location in Atlanta, which spans 4,000 square feet.
Located in the Phipps Plaza luxury shopping mall, the shop features both men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections, alongside the new kid’s wear line, and the brand’s accessories. The store will also sell the new Rizzoli-published book, “Amiri Wes Lang,” which documents the brand’s fall/winter 2022 collection, illuminated by Lang’s artwork.
The store, which opened Oct. 14, marks the company’s fifth U.S. unit and seventh worldwide. The company has U.S. locations on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Miami’s Design District, Las Vegas, and New York and international boutiques in Shanghai and Tokyo.
“2022 has been an amazing year of growth for the house. We are excited to open in Atlanta, our seventh store globally. Atlanta plays a significant role in the emergence of artistic talent,” Mike Amiri , chief executive officer and creative director, told WWD.
“We are looking forward to opening Amiri Dubai in December as our third international door, and we will open an Amiri Chicago in January 2023,” added Amiri.
The Atlanta store was designed by Amiri, in partnership with Paris design studio Nocod and architectural design firm Two One Two Design. Designed with an open feeling, the store features materials such as natural oak, precious marble and stainless steel, contrasted by warm, soft lounge spaces. The shop is decorated with California flora and modernist furniture, chosen by Amiri in collaboration with interior designer Katherine Waronker, including the brand’s signature M.A. [Mike Amiri] studio chair, cast in a mint tone exclusive to the Atlanta boutique. — LISA LOCKWOOD
CONNECTION POPS UP: Peruvian Connection has put up a pop-up shop on Madison Avenue to showcase the capsule collection created with former editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar Glenda Bailey.
“The collaboration has been an amazing experience for our brand,” said Annie Hurlbut Zander, founder of the 45-year-old Andean textile-inspired fashion brand. “The shearlings, the alpaca wrap coat and the lofty, oversize sweaters are selling. The knit hats and leg warmers are also hot.”
So what’s next for the 74-piece collection, which is also sold on pcxgb.com and in the brand’s seven stores? “Nothing is happening as soon as next season,” Zander said. “Discussions are ongoing and Glenda continues to work with Peruvian Connection.”
The pop-up opened Thursday night on Madison between 80th and 81st Streets with a crowd including Demi Moore, a friend of Bailey’s who sported a luxe look from the collection; Scottish actor Alan Cumming, a friend of Moore’s; Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins; former editor of InStyle, Laura Brown, and writer and fashion blogger Leandra Medine Cohen. It’s expected to stay open through December.
The capsule collection, ranging from $88 to $1,450 offers Alpaca knits, shearling coats and modern silhouettes spanning across tops, pullovers, dresses and trousers. The majority of the collection was developed in small batch production with the Tonganoxie, Kansas-based Peruvian Connection’s partners in Peru. — DAVID MOIN
ASPEN VIBE: Lafayette 148 has launched the Aspen 148 collection, which weaves the house codes of luxurious materials and versatility with Aspen’s cold-weather style.
The 40-piece collection features down-filled ski-inspired jackets, quilted nylon skirts, mohair-cashmere crystalline intarsia knitwear, statement ponchos, shearling coats and balaclavas, as well as hats, boots and mittens.
The collection, introduced Monday, is designed to take the customer from the ski chalet to the summit and back again.
Retail prices range from $198 for swimwear to $8,998 for outerwear. The capsule features a cashmere mohair wool hand-knit Fair Isle poncho for $1,498, and a silk mohair raglan blouson sleeve sweater for $1,998. Aspen 148 also offeers a shearling and quilted down collarless vest for $1,998, a wool cashmere snowflake crewneck sweater for $1,298, a long hair shearling reversible double-breasted overcoat for $8,998, and brushed leather and learning lace-up lug sole boots for $898.
The capsule is being sold on lafayette148ny.com, as well as Lafayette 148’s two stores stores in New York (Greene Street and Madison Avenue), and stores in Manhasset, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; McLean, Virginia, and Toronto.
“Aspen’s rich contemporary arts program and alpine lifestyle makes it an annual congregation for so many of our community over the holiday season,” said creative director Emily Smith. “The capsule collection is an homage to that community, and the women who live and vacation there, a sartorial celebration of winter escapism, whoever you are, whatever you’re doing.”
The capsule is part of the resort 2023 collection. — L.L.
COLVILLE IN TEXAS: Designers Lucinda Chambers and Molly Malloy touched down in Texas on Wednesday, bringing their craftsy Colville collection to the luxury retailer ByGeorge in Austin.
To mark the cocktail party celebration the designers enlisted artisans to create discs similar to the ones used to make their cylinder bags, had them shipped to Austin and assembled into a hanging large-scale installation in the store. University of Texas art students were also invited to contribute to the installation — and attend the event.
“Giving the students the chance to meet Lucinda and Molly, having that kind of opportunity in Austin is so special,” said ByGeorge fashion director Laurel Pantin, who joined the store last year bringing editorial experience from InStyle, Glamour and Lucky magazines, among others. “We feel there is a lack in retail of that Barneys sensibility and sense of discovery and community that stands for something. In Austin we believe there’s a chance to create that.
“We brought on Colville for spring 2022, and we love the sustainability aspect. A lot of brands we work with are sustainable in some form…and then the female-led component we found compelling, and the clothes themselves,” added Pantin, who grew up in Austin.
“The creative collaboration with ByGeorge has been incredible from the start,” said Malloy, a Marni veteran who established Colville in 2018 with Chambers, former British Vogue fashion director. Designing in Milan, the two work with women’s social projects from Dakar to Colombia to Morocco, repurposing and reconditioning clothes and home accessories with a colorful, artisan-created spirit.
“The customers seemed super intelligent, really willing to try a new-to-them brand. And the response has been completely overwhelming. They’ve responded to the color, the cuts, the prints,” said Chambers, who was in Austin for the first time.
Creating a fashion community is a natural progression for the store, which has been in business since 1979, said ByGeorge president Molly Nutter, a former buyer for Barneys New York.
“Katy Colmo, who built the store into what it is now, this was also her mission. So when I stepped into the role it was a dream because it was going back to my roots at Barneys and picking up where they left off,” said Nutter, recalling Opening Ceremony, Bird and other fashion institutions with community and mission that have sadly closed.
“We’re finding people who come to Austin and visit ByGeorge if they haven’t heard of it, they are so happy to walk in because they don’t have that in their city anymore. So we’re suddenly a local store for people who live outside our city as well,” she said.
The store, which stocks Bottega Veneta, Dries Van Noten, Maria Cornejo, Jacquemus, Khaite, Plan C, Sakai and The Row, among others, will continue to plan designer events in the coming months, both in Austin and its newly opened New Orleans location, which recently hosted Christopher John Rogers and local art and fashion students.
“It’s how can we incorporate this next generation of talent and the people whose minds will be inspired,” said Nutter, adding that the store’s upward trajectory is yet another sign of the rising cultural currency of Austin, where South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Music Festival and Formula One have been pumping money into the economy. — BOOTH MOORE
