Creed’s Miami Installation, Billie Eilish Parties With Cyklar, Chanel v. Schiaparelli
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FRAGRANT INSTALLATION: “I am almost in celebration mode. I am two installations away from celebration,” said Shawn Kolodny on Tuesday night, rounding the corner outside the Esmé Miami Beach Hotel toward his newly installed public sculpture. Inside the hotel, House of Creed was hosting a cocktail party to celebrate their collaboration with the Miami-based visual artist.
“I have a container ship filled with giant steel balls on the sea as we speak,” he added. “I’ve bit off a little more than I could chew this week. But it’s been awesome and fun and rewarding.”
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The sculpture, located at Española Way and Drexel Avenue in South Beach, is Kolodny’s first public art project.
“Because we did it with Creed, it has a whole olfactory component,” said Kolodny, leaning over the large reflective sculpture, composed of metal spheres of various sizes. “Hidden inside the sculpture, there’s a scent machine,” he added, peering toward a nozzle embedded within the work. “Give it a sec. It literally wafts up.” On cue, the sculpture misted Creed’s latest fragrance, Carmina, into the air.
As part of his collaboration with Creed, Kolodny also designed all of the brand’s holiday window displays for its global boutiques.
“Imagine designing 28 different sculptures for 28 very specific locations, that have to be designed in a way that they can actually be put together without me being there,” he enthused. “It was the most amazing learning experience I’ve ever had. I’d never done a project of that magnitude before. And this is the crescendo,” he added, motioning to his outdoor sculpture. “The whole project from beginning to end has been a blast.”
While Kolodny has more work on the horizon — and a shipment at sea — he was also looking forward to checking out what his art peers have been up to.
“Tomorrow I’m gonna go walk Basel and actually go see some art and absorb and see what’s out there. I’m always inspired and enthralled by what people make and the vision people have and how people execute,” he said, enroute to rejoin his Creed celebration. “I’ve done the party stuff; I know what that’s gonna be. At this point in my existence, the smaller, more intimate things — and seeing what people are creating — is my favorite part.” — KRISTEN TAUER
CLAUDIA’S CROWD: Claudia Sulewski — the 27-year-old YouTuber — threw a cocktail party for her new beauty brand, Cyklar, in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
Billie Eilish and brother Finneas — Sulewski’s longtime boyfriend — were among the guests, as were Kaia Gerber and Julia Garner with husband Mark Foster of Foster the People. Sisters Sydney and Devon Lee Carlson of Wildflower Cases also came out in support, joined by actors Ava Capri, Odessa A’zion and Allie Evans.
Sulewski has been making YouTube videos since she was 13, focused on lifestyle content. With nearly 2.5 million subscribers on the platform and 2 million on Instagram, she’s been teasing Cyklar to viewers in recent years. She launched the brand in October, unveiling a genderless body care company with a message of sustainability. It’s produced in a glass jar that is recyclable with an aluminum cap and liner made of BPA-free, postconsumer recycled material. The packaging can be rewashed, refilled and reused; Sulewski is partnering with On Repeat, a U.K. company helping beauty brands reduce waste, using compostable materials for refills. The product is vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free and silicone-free.
It was a festive mood inside the party, with the holidays just weeks away. Held inside the Solawave house — a residence of the face wand company — in West Hollywood, the home was adorned in holiday décor, with twinkling lights and Christmas trees. Cyklar packages hung in the branches like ornaments.
Other guests included Addison Rae, Avrey Ovard, Sophia Ziskin, Travis Jackson, Dean DiCriscio, Victoria Villarroel, Drew MacDonald, Carter Gregory, Rebecca Black, Ella Snyder, Tyra Booker and Lexie Lombard. — RYMA CHIKHOUNE
COCO VERSUS ELSA: Sculptor Robyn Neild has immortalized Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli’s feud in her latest exhibition held at the Gray M.C.A gallery, casting 40 of the designers’ seminal looks in bronze.
Titled “The Italian and The Milliner,” Chanel and Schiaparelli’s respective derisive nicknames for each other, the exhibition explores how each designer liberated women’s fashion.
On until Sunday, the retrospective chronicles the respective houses’ design evolutions, from 1926 to present, in a series of bronze sculptures.
“Chanel’s commitment to fluid lines, often generously embellished, showcases the brand’s commitment to craftsmanship. On the garment different techniques would be used to disguise certain parts of the figure and enhance other areas and I want to try and capture some of these fine textural qualities in my bronze castings,” said Neild.
“Schiaparelli’s dramatic vision uses the body as a motif to create exaggerated silhouettes featuring sculptural and architectural elements, making use of trompe-l’oeil and giving garments unconventional twists that provide an exciting provocation to my sculptural work,” she added.
Ashley Gray, director of the Gray M.C.A and the exhibition’s curator, described the intricate process, otherwise known as the lost wax technique, as a delicate one.
“Once perfected, the figure is encased in plaster and placed in a furnace to burn away the wax creation, leaving a hollow silhouette into which molten bronze fills every fine niche,” he said.
Neild, who received a degree in fashion design from London’s Middlesex University and began her career as a fashion illustrator for magazines including Vogue and Glamour, was able to draw on her background to create the pieces. — VIOLET GOLDSTONE
PETA’S WINNERS: PETA has revealed the winners of its annual PETA Fashion Awards, recognizing brands the animal rights activist group felt made a tangible effort to reduce animal cruelty and improve sustainability in 2023.
“Our fashion awards are a celebration of designers and brands making progress for animals — and we hope they inspire other companies to make changes, too,” said PETA’s vice president of corporate projects, Yvonne Taylor.
There was one brand that didn’t fare so well: Woolmark was awarded Villain of the Year “for its greenwashing and misleading promotion of wool,” PETA claimed in a statement.
Only a few days after holding its fall 2024 runway show in Los Angeles, Balenciaga was awarded the best luxury product for the brand’s usage of Lunaform, a sustainable material that is plastic and animal-free, used to make its maxi bathrobe coat from summer 2024.
It’s more good news for the brand, whose chief executive officer recently spoke to WWD about how the label has navigated back to the limelight after being mired in controversy at the end of 2022 over an advertising campaign that critics claimed promoted the exploitation of children.
Isabel Marant took home the prize of best luxury moment for its ban on using fur, angora and exotic skins. Gucci won the best vegan bag prize for its Demetra Horsebit 1955, which was endorsed by Billie Eilish, who appeared in the bag’s promotional campaign in October.
Ganni was named trendsetter of the year for crafting a jacket made from bacteria, created in collaboration with biomaterial manufacturer Polybion as well as for its work with plant leather manufacturer Ohoskin. Both were a part of Ganni’s Fabrics of the Future initiative, which is dedicated to pioneering environmentally friendly materials.
Citing Ryan Gosling wearing a pair of vegan boots from Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather, PETA gave the best movie moment to “Barbie,” while the best high-street fashion moment went to French fashion group SMCP for banning down and other feathers.
Other winners include MoEa, which won best vegan shoes for its sneakers made from plant leather; Bananatex received innovation of the year for its polyester alternative derived from bananas; Blue District’s bamboo ostrich feathers were named best vegan feathers, and the best menswear award went to Christian MacLeod. — V.G.
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