Kering Honors Carmen Jaquier, Nili Lotan’s L.A. Night, Prada’s New Hamptons Look
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JAQUIER HONORED: Kering will award this year’s Women in Motion Emerging Talent prize to “Thunder” director Carmen Jaquier.
“I am very grateful to receive this award, especially from a visionary and inspiring director like Ninja Thyberg. Thanks to Women in Motion, I have a feeling of sorority, which touches me and gives me hope in this desire I have for reflection, rebellion and transmission. I have special feelings for all the people — technicians, producers, screenwriters, actresses and actors — who fiercely committed themselves to my side for my first feature film, ‘Thunder,'” she said.
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The Swiss director was chosen by last year’s honoree, Swedish director Thyberg. It is a Kering tradition for the Emerging Talent Award to be selected by her predecessor.
“’Thunder’ is an incredibly beautiful, life-affirming and innovative film that challenges conventional ideas of sexuality, God, pain and redemption. Carmen Jaquier is 100 percent loyal to her female protagonist and this film has a truly female gaze. It is a great honor to pass on this award to her,” said Thyberg about choosing to pass the honor on to Jaquier.
Jaquier will take to the stage with Michelle Yeoh, this year’s honoree for the Women in Motion Award, and she will receive a 50,000 euro grant earmarked for her next film project.
Jaquier graduated from École Cantonale d’Art in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she studied photography before moving into film. Her student film “Le Tombeau des Filles” won a prize for emerging talent in the Locarno Film Festival. She has directed several short films since then to wide acclaim and other awards.
Her first feature film, “Thunder,” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and took home the best director award at the Marrakech Film Festival. The story centers on a teen who returns to her village from a convent after learning of her sister’s mysterious death, and the tumult around the reunion with her childhood friends.
Kering is an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival. Its Women in Motion program was founded in 2015 and has grown to a series of talks focusing on female filmmakers, actresses and film executives that takes place during the festival.
The gala awards dinner will be held at Cannes’ Musée de la Castre overlooking the view of the Mediterranean on May 21. Kering chairman and chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault will present both awards alongside Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Frémaux. — RHONDA RICHFORD
NILI’S NIGHT: “Welcome to the City of Angels,” Karla Welch told Nili Lotan.
Welch was tapped to cohost Nili Lotan’s dinner at Gigi’s in Los Angeles on Thursday night alongside the brand founder.
“Nili and I met six or seven years ago, maybe eight,” explained Welch. “We were on a panel together talking about the modern woman’s wardrobe. I basically sat there and was so in awe of Nili. I called my husband after, and I was like, ‘I met the coolest woman in the world.’”
The Israeli-born designer, who founded the namesake New York-based label in 2003, was in town to celebrate the brand’s 20th anniversary, as well as open her first West Coast store on the same block — buzzy Sycamore Avenue. Located at 927 North Sycamore Avenue, the 1,242-square-foot boutique carries women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, handbags and small leather goods. The shop was designed in collaboration with Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis of Objects of Common Interest (who previously worked on the brand’s Palm Beach and Meatpacking locations) to create a “minimal, serene and introspective” space.
For Lotan, opening in L.A. — her second-largest market after New York — was “a longtime vision come true.” She shared her excitement with the crowd, which included Welch’s celebrity clients like Olivia Wilde, as well as Michelle Monaghan, Adwoa Aboah, Zoe Lister-Jones, Stephen Galloway, Luke Gilford, Whitney Port, Clara McGregor, Nick Wooster, Nikolai Haas and Djuna Bel.
From the start Lotan’s aim has been to create timeless pieces for today’s woman (and now man), focused on tailored suiting, silk dresses, denim and accessories like calfskin belts and bags. Working in earth tones, with rich pops of color, the well-crafted collections are full of easy-to-wear staples.
Moving to New York in 1980, after graduating from the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Tel Aviv, Lotan led design teams at Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne and Nautica before branching out on her own. Her first launch was a six-piece capsule with three pants — including the bestselling Cropped Military Pant — two jackets and a skirt.
Welch said learning about Lotan’s design process was “just eye opening,” referencing Lotan’s DNA of providing luxury and functionality of an everyday uniform.
“You can see it around the room,” Welch said of guests, all wearing Nili Lotan.
Cocktail hour had extended by then, and the bunch was ready to sit for the meal — starting off with shellfish towers, steak tartares and gem salads, paired with wine and vodka martinis.
“Now let’s eat!” exclaimed Lotan. — RYMA CHIKHOUNE
NEW LOOK: Prada is all set for summer.
Prada has reopened its East Hampton, New York, store at 2 Newtown Lane with a new design. The shop opened for the season on Friday.
The store’s decor, designed by the Prada team, features an ivory and vivid blue striped carpet and walls with the same motif. A white neon sign illuminates the surfaces, providing a new interpretation of the iconic Prada triangle logo, while large wood wall etageres and tables exhibit and highlight the merchandise.
The store originally opened last July, the first time the Italian luxury brand had opened a store in the Hamptons. The original design featured ivory and green stripes and a green neon sign, interpreting the Prada logo. — LISA LOCKWOOD
FIRST SUN: Massimo Alba has partnered with Garrett Leight California Optical, or GLCO, for its first eyewear collaboration ever.
In sync with the understated luxury and casual elegance of the independent fashion brand launched by the namesake designer in 2006, the capsule collection hinges on a single, sober style crafted in acetate and defined by a double bridge.
Inspired by a classic 1970s frame owned by Alba himself, the sunglass design is offered in the three colorways Brera, Sole and Luce, indicating shades in black, green and burnt red, respectively. An optical version will also be available exclusively at GLCO’s units.
Each piece is embellished with a small golden clover engraved on the temple, in addition to the GLCO trademark, as well as the names of the two companies and the Made in America lettering.
Styles come with a cleaning cloth that mirrors one of the Italian brand’s most iconic handkerchiefs and reads: “To have someone understand your mind is a different kind of intimacy.” In the words of the designer himself, the handkerchief “is a sentimental, forgotten accessory used to dry your brow, tears, hands, and, for those who wear glasses like me, to clean the lenses.”
Retailing for 505 euros each, the Massimo Alba x GLCO styles will officially launch on Thursday at both companies’ physical stores and e-commerce platforms.
While Massimo Alba has six stores throughout Italy, GLCO — which was founded in Venice Beach in 2010 — has seven flagships across San Francisco; Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York; Austin, Texas, and Toronto, in addition to two locations in Los Angeles. The GLCO eyewear collections are also distributed in more than 25 countries at selected optical shops, department stores and fashion boutiques. — SANDRA SALIBIAN
DALLAS WINNERS: Perseverance was the evening’s theme at the 27th annual Rising Star Awards presented by Fashion Group International of Dallas on Wednesday evening at Galleria Dallas.
All five winners, who were selected through a poll of the chapter’s members, faced the added stress of starting their businesses shortly before or during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a challenge, but here we are — we made it through,” said Elizabeth Hooper, whose abstract brass jewelry plated in silver and gold won the Accessories award. “Being an entrepreneur is hard, but if you love it, it’s definitely worth it.”
Tajikistan native Munisa Khuramova clinched the Fashion Design prize for Munelle de Vie, her brand of bias-cut dresses and separates made of silk charmeuse and other natural textiles.
“I’m from a country where basic human rights are denied,” she said, adding that fashion “helps women connect with our higher selves.”
The prize for Retail went to Stephen Swetish as the creator of M.K.T., which displays rotating groups of Texas fashion, accessories, home furnishings and food items in 6,000 square feet at West Village in Dallas.
Makeup artist Tina Adams-Mason of About Face Pros won the Beauty category and Dexter James won the inaugural Fashion Styling award.
“This is truly a celebration of local talent,” said Nerissa Von Helpenstill, regional director of FGI Dallas and director of sales experience of Neiman Marcus at NorthPark Center.
FGI Dallas plans to honor Christian Siriano, Nina Garcia and others at its Night of Stars gala on Nov. 10. Proceeds benefit scholarships for fashion design and merchandising students. — HOLLY HABER
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