GUCCI CHANGES: Gucci is planning a restructuring of its organization, making three new appointments within its existing executive ranks.
According to market sources, effective Sept. 1, Robert Triefus, executive vice president, brand and client engagement, will assume the new role of senior executive vice president, corporate and brand strategy.
Triefus joined Gucci in 2008 from the Giorgio Armani Group, where he held the role of executive vice president of worldwide communications. Prior to Armani, where he was employed for nine years, his résumé included stints at Calvin Klein. Sources say Triefus may be eyeing taking on a role as a strategic consultant for Gucci in a few years.
Also starting Sept. 1, Susan Chokachi, president and chief executive officer of Gucci Americas, will assume Triefus’ role as executive vice president, chief brand and client officer, and Federico Turconi, currently executive vice president and chief operating officer of Gucci Americas, will assume Chokachi’s role.
Gucci and parent company Kering are not new to promoting internal talents — seen most famously with Alessandro Michele, who joined Gucci’s design studio in 2002 and rose to the creative director role in 2015, succeeding Frida Giannini. Both Chokachi and Turconi are also longstanding executives, having been with the company for 24 years and 10 years, respectively.
Another significant C-suite change was made in April, when Gucci appointed Laurent Cathala president of Greater China fashion business, a new position that will further contribute to the company’s increased focus on the fashion segment, and was generally applauded by analysts and investors.
He is expected to be in place by the end of June, based in Shanghai and reporting directly to Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO. All the Greater China leadership team will report to Cathala. — LUISA ZARGANI
ACCESSORIES WINNERS: The Accessories Council will mark its 26th annual ACE Awards later this summer in New York City. The annual event, which marks excellence in accessories design, retail and influence, will take place on Aug. 1 at Cipriani 42nd Street.
In preparation, the council has revealed this year’s honorees, with the Global Style Icon award going to J Balvin; Brand Excellence award to Rimowa; Brand of the Year to Kurt Geiger London; Retailer of the Year to Moda Operandi; Breakthrough award for Victor Glemaud; Launch of the Year award to Veronica Beard; Legacy award for Vera Bradley; Influencer award for Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago, costume designers for HBO’s “And Just Like That”; the Visionary award to Hodinkee, and Retail Innovation award for LensCrafters.
“The excitement is brewing for the 2022 ACE Awards and the industry is looking forward to getting together to celebrate during August market week,” Accessories Council president and chief executive officer Karen Giberson said. “This year, our honorees represent an exciting and diverse mix of visionary leadership, style influencers and exciting brands. We have a few surprises in store for our guests and anticipate a full house.”
This year’s Hall of Fame honor will be given to Josie Natori, who said of the award: “I am so touched and honored to receive the Hall of Fame Award. What a great gift to celebrate our 45th anniversary!”
Tickets, and table buyouts are now on sale and sponsorship opportunities are still available. — MISTY WHITE SIDELL
HAILEY’S TURN: Tiffany & Co. has released its latest star-faced ad campaign, this one featuring Hailey Bieber.
The model and multihyphenate is featured in new promotional images for Tiffany’s T collection. It is the first Tiffany advertisement to feature Bieber since the model signed as an official brand ambassador in October 2021. Prior, she was seen in social media campaigns and wore Tiffany jewels to high-profile events.
Bieber was photographed in Los Angeles wearing Tiffany T designs from both new and preexisting collections, including diamond pendants, earrings and bangles.
“I have special memories of the women I admire wearing Tiffany & Co. jewelry…shooting the recent campaign was amazing. I love working with the Tiffany team. It’s always been a dream of mine to be associated with the brand and I’m so grateful to be the face of Tiffany T,” Bieber said of the campaign.
She is seen perched on classic midcentury chairs like Marcel Breuer’s Cesca canteliver design and Pierre Jeanneret’s caned classic chair, which bring the images further into the lifestyle and youth culture realms — something Tiffany’s new leadership has been intently focused on.
Both chair designs became collector’s items among young, fashion-conscious consumers during the pandemic, and Tiffany executive vice president for product and communication Alexandre Arnault even has the Jeanneret chairs in his executive headquarters suite.
“A modern-day style icon, Hailey Bieber embodies the powerful spirit of the T Collection. We are excited for her to star in our new T Collection campaign,” Arnault said of Bieber’s new feature.
While Tiffany’s classic T collection has seen different iterations over the decades, its newest product includes circle pendants, and hoop earrings — some with pavé diamonds — that retail between $3,500 and $6,800.
In a departure for the collection, a rose gold ear cuff will hit stores in September, while additional pendants in various gold finishes will be released in early 2023.
Bieber’s Tiffany campaign will run on Tiffany’s various platforms as well as through select digital and print partners beginning Monday. — M.W.S.
STARS OF PR-ADV: What do Jeff Goldblum and a teddy bear have in common? Apparently, at least a Prada advertising campaign.
In a predictable yet still buzzy move, the actor moved from closing the brand’s runway show last January to fronting the men’s fall 2022 images for the house, his black-and-white image juxtaposed to the one of a worn-out stuffed animal.
This made for one of the paradoxical combinations defining the campaign, which was photographed by David Sims and revealed on Friday.
Joining Goldblum, actors Damson Idris and Rami Malek were also portrayed in key sartorial looks of the Prada fall 2022 collection. They were put in a visual dialogue with a balloon with a spiderweb print on it and a lit up birthday candle, respectively.
According to press notes, the still-life images “capture objects infused with meaning for these actors, keys to uncovering hidden and private memories. Here, these actors play themselves — they expand the campaign to tell their own stories, express their personalities, recount their lives for the camera.”
While details on the link with the objects were not revealed, they could make for a good conversational point to bring up during press tours. In particular, Goldblum is busy promoting the “Jurassic World: Dominion” movie these days, each time sporting different Prada looks.
Oscar-, Emmy- and SAG-winning Malek is set to star in the upcoming period film “Amsterdam,” directed, produced and written by David O. Russell, joining an A-list cast including Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana and John David Washington, among others. While this movie is set to be released in the fall, Malek is filming “Oppenheimer,” directed by Christopher Nolan and seeing Cillian Murphy in the role of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, starring along with Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. and Florence Pugh.
A fast-rising talent praised for his transformative and emotionally complex portrayals in a number of award-winning films and dramas — including the FX series “Snowfall” — British Nigerian actor Idris has been recently said to play Rich Paul in an upcoming biopic on the NBA super agent. Idris also walked the Prada men’s fall 2022 show along with a pool of young actors that included Asa Butterfield, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Louis Partridge, Ashton Sanders, Tom Mercier, Jaden Michael and Filippo Scotti. — SANDRA SALIBIAN
A FRAGRANT METAVERSE: New ownership, new world.
Days after being acquired by Puig in May, Byredo has revealed plans to dive into the metaverse. The fragrance brand is collaborating with RTFKT on “Alphameta,” an initiative aimed at “building the scent of the metaverse,” Byredo said in a statement.
The project, in its early stages, is among the first from a fragrance brand in the space.
With the new terrain comes a new set of tools. The name comes from the creation of a new vocabulary in the metaverse, which includes 26 “elements,” of which limited quantities are produced and users can modify their avatar with. They will appear as wearable “auras,” Byredo said.
“I liked the idea of dissecting it down to raw materials. A single scent is incapable of representing this virtual world, so we formulated a lexicon of elements that collectors can combine at will to make something entirely unique,” said Ben Gorham, Byredo’s founder and creative director, in the statement.
Each of the elements represents different human emotions, including acuity, harmony, naivety and virtue. It follows a similar thread to Byredo’s makeup line, which intended to evoke a spectrum of emotions through color.
Byredo will also offer 2,000 customized scents, based on preferred elements by consumers. The collectors will then watch a virtual demonstration of how Byredo crafts its scents.
Gorham specializes in out-of-the-box collaborations, having previously teamed with Ikea, Travis Scott and makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench. It is that boundary-pushing spirit that attracted Puig, which acquired a majority stake in the brand in May.
“[Byredo] perfectly reinforces Puig’s purpose of empowering people’s self expression,” said Marc Puig, chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement at that time. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Other beauty brands that have played in the metaverse include Estée Lauder, Clinique, Charlotte Tilbury and others. — JAMES MANSO
HERMÈS DEBUT: “Hermès in the Making” is making its U.S. debut at the brand’s store at The Somerset Collection in Troy, Mich.
After a successful opening in Copenhagen in October 2021 followed by a visit to Turin, Italy, in May of this year, the traveling exhibition landed in the Detroit suburb where it will remain through June 15.
Hermès in the Making allows the public an up-close-and-personal peek at the artisans that create the products for the French luxury house. The in-store installation is inspired by a craftsman’s workbench and is broken down into four themes: preservation and transmission of know-how, respect for and quality of materials, a commitment to the long-term, and regional anchoring.
The exhibit is intended to show the engraving or printing techniques applied to the silk scarves, the saddle stitching used for a Kelly bag, the skill needed to repair a bag and how a Chaine d’ancre diamond bracelet is made.
In addition to watching real-life artisans at work, the exhibition also invites the public to attend workshops focused on dexterity or musical composition using round knives. They will also be able to watch the films from “Footsteps Across the World,” a documentary by Frederic Laffont that addresses Hermès’ sustainability efforts.
“I must say that this event has been enthusiastically welcomed everywhere,” said Guillaume de Seynes, executive vice president of the manufacturing division and equity investments for Hermès. “On one hand, I believe there is the pleasure of discovery, of taking a look behind the scenes of the creation of the Hermès objects for the first time; on the other hand, there is the human side: even if these are encounters between strangers, visitors and Hermès craftsmen establish a very strong bond. There is not only an exchange of knowledge, but also of emotions.”
The exhibition will travel to Singapore in September, return to Stateside to Austin, Texas, in October, and then hit Kyoto, Japan, in November. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
