Pusha T Talks Pharrell, Yurman’s New Face, Luar Teams With Mejuri
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TALKING PHARRELL: Thom Browne’s front row at Tuesday evening’s show was easily the most star-studded — and coolest — crowd we’ve seen so far this week.
Queen Latifah, Erykah Badu, Pusha T, Lil Nas X, Whoopi Goldberg, Penn Badgley, Jesse Williams, David Harbour, Rebecca Hall and more attended the show, held at The Shed for the second season in a row.
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The big fashion news of the day, Pharrell Williams’ appointment as creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, struck home with Pusha T, who is close with Williams.
“I think it’s great. It’s great for the culture, it’s great for hip-hop, it’s great for fashion. It’s gonna be great for the world,” he said when asked for his thoughts. “He’s an innovator, he’s creative, a true creative. He’s creative directed many lives that I know. And it’s time for him to show the world.”
Pusha T had chosen a shorts suit for the evening which “fit my personality more today” and accessorized with a Thom Browne classic, a Hector bag.
“I had to have Hector with me, in loving memory of my dog Re Up Gang CJ,” Pusha T said.
The rest of his Valentine’s Day plans were transit related, as he was about to fly back home to Virginia and spend the holiday with his son.
Down the row, Goldberg said she was spending Valentine’s Day babysitting her 8-year-old great-granddaughter. But first, Thom Browne.
“I love that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks, and I love that he thinks everybody has a shot to wear his clothes. I love him for that,” she said.
“The very first time [I wore his clothes] it came from a spring collection, and I looked like a grape. I looked fabulous. It was this wonderful round thing that I had on and it made me happy,” she said. “And people were like ‘what are you wearing?’ and I was like ‘I’m wearing happiness baby.’” — LEIGH NORDSTROM
YURMAN’S NEW FACE: David Yurman is adding another major celebrity to its roster of brand ambassadors.
The luxury jewelry brand revealed Wednesday it has tapped Grammy-nominated musician Shawn Mendes as its newest brand ambassador. Mendes is kicking off his appointment by featuring in David Yurman’s spring 2023 campaign, titled “Nature’s Artistry,” which “celebrates nature as a constant source of inspiration,” according to the brand.
“Clothing is a form of self-expression, but something about jewelry feels like one step deeper into the skin,” Mendes said. “I can really understand a person by the jewelry they’re wearing. When people are wearing similar jewelry to me, I find that we end up connecting personality-wise. Jewelry is unique in that it’s very intertwined with personality.”
Mendes appears in the campaign alongside Oscar-nominated actress Scarlett Johansson, who was named a David Yurman ambassador in February 2022. The actress’ first David Yurman campaign, called “Come Closer,” also featured actor Henry Golding.
On modeling in the spring 2023 campaign, Johansson said: “It’s always what I envisioned the David Yurman woman to be: someone whose jewelry is very much a part of her everyday life and feels lived in. I mostly embody that spirit because I do everything in my David Yurman jewelry, like make meatballs and do dishes.”
The David Yurman campaign is Mendes’ latest project in the fashion world. Last year, Mendes appeared as the face of Tommy Hilfiger’s “Play It Forward” collaboration, modeling in the designer’s summer 2022 campaign. — LAYLA ILCHI
LUAR’S NEW JEWELS: One surprise for Wednesday night’s highly anticipated Luar show is being revealed. Designer Raul Lopez has collaborated with Mejuri on jewelry for his fall collection.
Three designs have been produced — one of which will be seen at Wednesday night’s runway show. A pair of “convertible hoops,” that come with a circular charm suspended ($275) will be part of Luar’s styling this evening. The circular charm is detachable and can be switched out for a miniature charm replica of Luar’s “It” Ana bag ($98). The convertible hoops are made of sterling silver plated with 18-karat gold vermeil and the Ana bag charm is made of solid 14-karat gold with a white topaz stone in the middle.
The collaboration, appropriately, includes a special-edition Ana bag with a gilded detail. Instead of the style’s typical leather crossbody strap, the $275 Luar and Mejuri Ana bag comes with a gold-tone chain strap. The bag itself is white leather.
The Luar and Mejuri collaboration will go on sale on March 20 — available in Mejuri stores, as well as Mejuri’s and Luar’s own e-commerce sites.
This is Mejuri’s first high-fashion collaboration, giving the direct-to-consumer jeweler access to a new consumer. The project also gives Luar access to large-scale jewelry manufacturing.
Mejuri cofounder and chief executive officer Noura Sakkijha said of the collaboration: “Mejuri was built on the premise of redefining luxury for the everyday, for everyone. My team and I find the next generation of creatives in the industry incredibly exciting and I am delighted to partner with Raul and his brand Luar on this collection. He is part of the zeitgeist of cultural shape-shifters who align with our values in disrupting the status quo.”
Lopez added in a statement: “I’m so proud of the Luar and Mejuri collaboration the process was synergistic and highlights the theme of ‘heirloom’ that has come to be synonymous with Luar. I’m looking forward to sharing this with our community.” — MISTY WHITE SIDELL
FOR UKRAINE: Nearly a year on from the invasion of Ukraine, photographer Mark Abegg is launching “Models for Ukraine,” a multimedia portrait project aimed at keeping the conflict in people’s consciousness while raising funds for charity.
Swiss British fashion PR-turned-photographer Abegg turned his lens on Ukrainian models for a raw series of black-and-white shots that debuted at Paris’ Oddity gallery and event space Wednesday night.
Abegg worked with casting director Maxime Valentini, who reached out to Paris-based agencies to bring in Ukrainian models, with shoots taking place in December and January. Benjamin Grillon art-directed the unvarnished shots, which feature the models bare-faced and in plain white shirts.
Those posing include Nana Abramova, Naty Chabanenko, Polly Domashych, Sasha Krivosheya and Vika Reza, among others.
The gallery event featured clips of the models speaking about their emotions and personal experiences during the war, while a tabloid-style newspaper filled with the photos was on offer.
All proceeds from the prints and paper sale will go to Ukrainian organization Women’s March, which operates shelters and assists women and children displaced by the war.
Abegg’s friendship with model Pasha Harulia and her husband Dmytro Novichenko inspired him to embark on the project. Harulia helped guide him as they worked to create a project that would not only keep Ukraine in focus, but also help people draw connections between the current economic crises in Europe and the global consequences of the localized war.
“What I was trying to do is just to create awareness that there are Ukrainian people around us that are suffering and that we are suffering ourselves because of this, maybe it’s not directly affecting us because it’s not our families, or we don’t see it from day to day, but it is happening,” he said. Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis that are causing hardship around the world are an indirect result of the war, he noted.
The project aims to remind people that even if the war might be out of sight, it’s just a three-hour flight from Paris.
“We can actually do something about it, and alleviate some of that suffering and pain,” he added of donating funds to Women’s March, which directly helps families on the ground.
Abegg also called on fashion companies to do more, particularly donate items including blankets and coats to help people get through the winter.
Eighteen images were available Wednesday night, with others available upon request. As for the timing of the event falling outside of fashion week, he added: “I wanted to do it as soon as possible because they need help now, not tomorrow, not next month.”
The style is a departure from Abegg’s cinematic fashion photography, with the portraits raw and unflinching. Abegg shot on film and all prints are handmade on silver gelatin using traditional darkroom techniques.
“It’s an old-fashioned way of doing things. I wanted it to be very real and not faked,” he said, noting that there is no retouching. “I wanted it to be imperfect to actually see the beauty of who they are.” — RHONDA RICHFORD
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