Marina Rinaldi and Sara Battaglia Collab, Naomi Osasa Enters Fortnite and More
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FLAWLESS JOY: Marina Rinaldi for the first time teamed with Sara Battaglia for the creation of a capsule collection, which will hit stores in September and was unveiled during Milan Fashion Week.
A graduate of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Battaglia is known for her range of handbags and for Marina Rinaldi she designed a circular bag with pleated sides, one of her distinctive design features.
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The collection is called Absolutely Flawless for Marina Rinaldi as Battaglia explained that she was inspired by the 2004 George Michael song “Flawless (Go to the City),” whose video featured a diverse cast in terms of ethnicity, age and body shape, introducing the theme of inclusiveness and diversity dear to the designer and to the brand. “Also, I wanted the collection to express joy,” she said. “You can see life in pink with these pair of sunglasses with a thick white frame and contrasting pink lenses.”
The collection included bold designs and strong colors, seen in a bright yellow belted puffer coat embellished with a large frill. She added faux fur to a skirt from the hips down and paired a multicolored knit sweater embellished with extra-long fringes and decorative knots with high-waisted denim palazzo pants. “I always say rainbow is my favorite color,” she said with a smile.
Battaglia offered another strong message with a floor-length tunic jazzed up by abstract maxi prints in black and white or pink and white. “It’s as if a dancing hand would just add brush strokes to the fabric. It conveys a sense of freedom and joy,” she said.
“I’ve always played with proportions and I like to contrast them using unexpected materials,” Battaglia said. “The purpose of my work is to continue to celebrate the femininity and beauty of women. What in the past would’ve been considered flaws, I now highlight as strengths and qualities that should no longer be hidden but accentuated. I find anything too perfect boring.”
Last year, Marina Rinaldi, which has long been promoting body positivity and is part of the Max Mara Group, tapped Marco de Vincenzo to design two capsule collections. Previously, the brand worked with a range of designers, including Tsumori Chisato, Stella Jean, Fausto Puglisi, Roksanda Ilincic and Antonio Berardi.
The message of inclusivity and women’s empowerment have always been central to Marina Rinaldi’s strategy, through collaborations on collections and communications campaigns over the years with the likes of Patricia Arquette and Ashley Graham. Precious Lee has been fronting ad campaigns for the brand, including for Sara Battaglia’s capsule. — Luisa Zargani
GAME PLAY: Naomi Osaka has entered Fortnite.
The tennis phenom and highest paid female athlete in the world is the newest addition to battle royale game Fortnite, as part of their Icon Series. Last year, Epic Games added LeBron James to Fortnite through the same series.
Osaka joins the game with two new outfits — the Naomi Osaka and Dark Priestess outfits — inspired by her heritage and designed with help from her sister, Mari. Gamers can apply the outfits on their in-game characters beginning March 3 at 7 p.m. EST.
“I’ve been playing Fortnite for a long time — when I saw LeBron had joined the Icon Series, it made me want to join the Fortnite family, too. It’s really amazing to be able to connect with so many people around the world,” Osaka said in a statement.
Epic Games celebrated the new outfits on Monday with a mural in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. On March 1, the tennis star will team with Twitch streamer Berleezy to give a first look at the outfits in action and on March 2 gamers can compete in the Naomi Osaka Cup for a chance to unlock both outfits, as well as the Royale Racket and Portalforger Paddle Pickaxes and a spray before the official launch on the March 3.
“The ‘Icon Series’ is the ultimate celebration of the most dynamic figures in culture for Fortnite’s audience of millions, and there’s no one more perfect than Naomi Osaka to join the Series as the first female athlete,” added Nate Nanzer, global vice president of partnerships, Epic Games in a statement. “Just as Fortnite is more than a game, Naomi is so much more than an athlete.”
Epic Games joins a long list of partnerships for Osaka, including Louis Vuitton, Nike, Levi’s, Shiseido and recent addition Victoria’s Secret as part of their VS Collective that highlights women through collaborations, partnerships and campaigns.
The game developer prior to this launch teamed with Moncler to launch their Alyx collaboration in Fortnite and debuted physical and digital collections with Balenciaga. — Obi Anyanwu
FREE SPIRIT: Free People has revealed Brittany O’Grady as its first celebrity ambassador.
The actress will represent the brand through multiple campaigns, event appearances and more. Free People decided to partner with O’Grady due to her ability to embrace the label’s ethos of being a true creative spirit.
“I’m so excited to be Free People’s first celebrity ambassador,” O’Grady told WWD. “We started working together last year for their fall campaign and I felt an instant connection with the wonderful people behind the scenes and what the brand stands for. I felt genuinely free and true to myself, which made the partnership a dream come true.”
The ambassadorship seems a great fit for O’Grady, who recalls seeing the vibrant window displays at Free People in the malls when she was younger.
“I felt from a young age, if there was a way to express my individuality and style, this is it,” she said. “To have this connection unfold is truly surreal for me because I have truly loved the brand from a young age discovering my self-expression.”
After playing Paula in the HBO hit show “The White Lotus,” which received numerous accolades, the actress became more involved in the fashion world, attending events and fashion shows for Dior, Coach and Chanel, among others.
Stepping into the ambassadorship, in which she hopes to “inspire others to feel empowered and comfortable enough to embody their personal expressions,” O’Grady hopes to be more involved in the fashion world.
“I’m starting to realize it can become a lifestyle or an art form or creative expression,” O’Grady said. “I would love to continue working with fashion that aligns with me on an honest and genuine level. I would love for it to feel like my inner soul is coming out while wearing the clothing.”
In their partnership, the 25-year-old also hopes to be more involved in the brand’s nonprofit work. This spring, Free People is working alongside the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental nonprofit that works to protect and preserve the earth’s oceans and beaches.
Reflecting on her time working on “The White Lotus,” which also starred Sydney Sweeney, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy and Murray Bartlett, among others, O’Grady was surprised at the overall reception of the show.
“When it came out, I was truly shocked by the amount of buzz around the show. It has opened so many doors,” she said. “It was a truly unique experience and I have a true and unique bond now with the cast, crew and creators of the show.
“I am looking forward to tackling different characters that speak to people,” she continued. “I hope to create and portray characters that are like therapy for an audience.” — Conchita Widjojo
PAIR ROWING: LeSportsac and Rowing Blazers have joined forces to create a new paradigm in brand collaborations.
Arc En Ciel is a new collection designed by LeSportsac’s in-house team using specific references provided by Rowing Blazers’ chief executive officer and creative director Jack Carlson. He will help oversee creative of the long-term partnership, and has kicked things off with a collection inspired by vintage tennis bag shapes that launch today on LeSportsac’s website priced from $55 for a coin purse to $250 for a weekender.
LeSportsac chief operating officer Thomas Becker, who started at the label in 2019, said he was eager to bring fresh spin to the LeSportsac name and felt inspired by the brand’s heyday era in the early Aughts when it collaborated with Gwen Stefani.
“We have been doing partnerships since the ’90s. We did a collaboration with Gwen Stefani and essentially launched the L.A.M.B. brand. LeSportsac has a long history of collaboration and what’s different about the nature of our work with Jack is that it’s a long-term relationship,” Becker said.
When Becker was the CEO at Thom Browne between 2007 and 2009, he helped negotiate the designer’s relationship with Moncler that resulted in the Gamme Bleu line. The executive said this experience was formative in his handling of partnerships for LeSportsac.
“I learned the nature of just collaboration versus a relationship and bringing another talent and team into the building. That’s something we are doing here with Jack and his team — it gives us more time and space to be creative. Because our brand has done so many traditional collaborations, it was time to be distinct and get a lot more vulnerable and creative with a longer horizon,” he added. New Arc En Ciel collections are meant to come out twice annually.
Carlson, who met Becker at a WWD-run summit, said he was “super excited when Tom reached out to us because Lesportsac is a brand I’ve always loved and been fascinated with. We are selective of who we work with and who we partner with and this is different from a normal collaboration — it’s a different type of opportunity. What I thought was exciting is that it’s a different kind of challenge to come up with the branding and creative direction for a whole new [product] line.”
The first collection, drawing from original LeSportsac styles, incorporates Carlson’s appreciation for nostalgia and color. Color-blocked in retro colorways or stripes and typeface, the collection plays to the designer’s aesthetic obsessions. “Being playful with color is one of the things I wanted to do. Rowing Blazers never shies away from color so we dug into some of the archival images and mood boards to come up with a palette that felt very unique,” he said. — Misty White Sidell
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