Rihanna, Natalie Portman Bond at Dior; Kim Kardashian and Balenciaga Make It Official
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FANGIRL FRENZY: The dresses might have been showstoppers, but it was Rihanna that stopped traffic for miles once word got out that the singer would appear at the Dior show.
She arrived quietly in a side door to pose for pics in the garden of the Musée Rodin, then greeted fellow attendees Glenn Close and Natalie Portman.
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It made for a frenzied front row with other celebs jostled by photographers as she leaned in for a hug with Dior chief executive officer Delphine Arnault.
Portman arrived in a minidress and some teetering heels, and had a fangirl moment over Rihanna. It went both ways.
“You are one of the hottest b—hes in Hollywood forever,” Rihanna told Portman. “I don’t get excited about anybody.”
“Excuse me? I’m gonna faint. I’m gonna black out,” said Portman, taking in the praise. “I love you, you’re so amazing.”
The duo asked for a photo together to immortalize the moment.
Elizabeth Debicki’s royal role as Princess Diana in “The Crown” is swiftly behind her, though that sartorial vibe is staying with her into her next era. She stars in the upcoming “MaXXXine,” the final film of Ti West’s horror trilogy alongside Mia Goth and Michelle Monaghan.
While she wouldn’t say much about the film, she said it was fun to switch gears to a different genre. “It was heavenly. I made it straight after finishing the last season of ‘The Crown’ and I just really quickly made something else, and it was really good medicine for my acting brain,” she said.
Still, the costumes draw from the same ‘80s era.
“The fashion is incredible. And my character has some iconic outfits if I say so myself. There’s a lot of leather and a lot of shoulder pads,” she said. But it doesn’t carry over to her day-to-day style. At the Dior show she was in a casual look, with a crisp white shirt baring one shoulder.
“No shoulder pads for me, I don’t need them,” she said. Debicki made an appearance at the Golden Globes and will be heading back to Los Angeles for the Screen Actors’ Guild awards Feb. 24. Her red carpet look will be once again designed by Dior. “We are nearly there, it’s quite close.”
Anya Taylor-Joy was twirling in a red dress, braving the winter chill without a jacket. “I’m really looking forward to spring so this is my little way of pushing it along,” she said.
The actress next stars in “The Gorge” alongside Miles Teller. She wanted to remain mum on any specifics about the project, but said that filming it was “a dream.”
“I love working with Miles — he’s like a big brother to me,” she said. It’s not coming out until around Christmas time, she said. “I have a lot of time to think about the red carpet,” she joked.
The cast of “The New Look” about Christian Dior, starring Juliette Binoche, Ben Mendelsohn and Close, posed for a cast photo backstage.
Kristin Scott Thomas’ son Joseph Olivennes also has a role in the film as André Palasse. “I’m very proud of him,” she said of him following in her thespian footsteps. “But I don’t give him advice — I’m not sure he’d take it.” — RHONDA RICHFORD
FAMILIAR FACE: Long associated with Balenciaga, Kim Kardashian is now an official brand ambassador.
The Paris-based fashion house made the announcement on the first day of couture week in the French capital, though it only parades a high-fashion collection once a year during the July period.
Kardashian has attended Balenciaga ready-to-wear shows wound up in logo packing tape; walked its couture runway in 2022; attended the Met Gala in New York with the brand’s creative director Demna — both of them masked in black jersey — and costarred in several advertising campaigns.
“For several years now, Balenciaga’s designs have been a part of my many looks — and some of my most iconic fashion moments,” Kardashian said in a statement. “This historic fashion house embraces modernity, craftsmanship and takes an innovative approach to design under Demna.
“For me, this longstanding relationship is built on mutual trust and a commitment to doing what’s right. I’m excited about this next chapter for the brand and to become their ambassador,” she added.
Owned by French group Kering, Balenciaga has been signing up brand ambassadors at a steady pace in recent months, adding Nicole Kidman and Michelle Yeoh to a stable that includes French actress Isabelle Huppert and Thai star PP Krit Amnuaydechkorn.
For her part, Kardashian has been recently making headlines with her own brands, disclosing plans to bring back color cosmetics and introduce Skkn by Kim Makeup on Friday. — MILES SOCHA
EXTENDED STAY: The first U.K. exhibition dedicated to the French fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel at the Victoria & Albert museum is getting an extension.
“Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto” will now run until March 10 instead of Feb. 25 after selling out within three days of opening.
Tickets for the extended viewing go on sale from Wednesday.
“The V&A has a long history of staging many of the world’s most successful fashion exhibitions — and since opening, ‘Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto’ has placed itself firmly within that canon,” said Daniel Slater, director of exhibitions at the V&A.
The exhibition charts six decades of Chanel’s career, from the opening of her first millinery boutique in Paris in 1910 to her final show in 1971.
The showcase is divided into 10 sections, starting with “Towards a New Elegance,” which traces Chanel’s beginning in millinery and quick expansion into clothing.
Based upon an exhibition of the same name organized by the Palais Galliera in Paris in 2020, the exhibition has been reimagined for the V&A. It features rarely seen pieces from the London museum’s collection alongside looks from Palais Galliera and the Patrimoine de Chanel, the heritage collections of the fashion house in Paris.
The exhibition will travel to Shanghai this summer as it continues its international tour. It is billed as the first retrospective devoted to the work of the legendary designer in China.
Shanghai will be the fourth stop in the exhibition’s global tour, after its first international debut at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, in 2021. It then traveled to the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo in 2022 before moving to the V&A. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED
CREATING SPACE: Alicia Keys has dropped her latest collection with Athleta for spring.
“I love what we create, I love the collections we make,” the singer-songwriter said. “The collections have totally evolved. The very first one was so, kind of, colorful and bright. And each one became more unique.”
The clothes are meant to be easy to wear, leaving space for thought and movement, she added. “You want to be grounded, and you want to feel like you are able to think and feel and be. And that’s the goal. So, the clothes really support your movement mentally, physically, emotionally. And they really make you look great in an effortless way.”
The latest release features a $69 bra and matching $199 leggings, a $179 wide-leg bodysuit, a sweatshirt and sweatpants set for $129 each, a $229 sweater and $279 sweater dress. Available in sizes 00 to 3X on athleta.com, Keys helps codesign the goods.
“Now, as we fast forward to today, it’s been the capsule that’s about the new year, about new energy,” Keys continued. “It’s the most subdued collection that we’ve ever done. But it feels quite intentional.”
Any New Year’s resolutions?
“We like to call them intentions as opposed to resolutions,” she said. “I think resolutions feels a little bit heavy, a little bit resolute. It’s very, like, finite. And I think that intentions also are fluid and you can start to think about what’s good for you, what you need in your world. My new year’s intention, I’m big on affirmations. And one of the affirmations that I’m living with is I surround myself with things that are good for me. You know when something feels good for you. And you know when it doesn’t feel good for you. So really just holding on to that is really special. And more pragmatically, I’m working on being on time better. Gotta work on my time. You know what I mean? I’m always about seven minutes late…I’m working on it.”
The partnership with Athleta, a division of Gap Inc., began in January 2022, with the first collection launched on International Women’s Day in March of that year. As part of the collaboration, Keys joined Athleta’s grant program “Power of She Fund” as a mentor and adviser, with a mission of empowering women and girls through nonprofit organizations.
In music, Keys is currently working on new projects, including the musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” which is heading to Broadway in the spring. Loosely based on her life, she composed the music with a mix of her familiar hits and some new tunes.
“It’s been 13 years in the making,” Keys said. “It’s a New York story in New York in the ’90s around a 17-year-old girl named Ali. It’s incredible. I can’t wait for everybody to see that, like seriously. There’s new music as part of ‘Hell’s Kitchen.’ And there’s beautiful arrangements of the songs that you love in just unexpected ways, which is super fun.”
There’s also more music coming with a potential new album, which would make it her 10th to date. “I’m going to start to work on the next body of work over these next couple of months,” she said. “And I’m excited to really just take all of the essences and energies and continue to explore where music takes me in its most truthful form.”
She’s looking forward to another unveiling, too: “Giants: Art From the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” at the Brooklyn Museum. Opening Feb. 10, the show will present her and her husband’s personal collection of works by the likes of artists Gordon Parks, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Lorna Simpson.
“We’re going to be exhibiting in the Great Hall, which is outrageous,” Keys said. — RYMA CHIKHOUNE
POP UP: Hilary MacMillan, the Toronto-based contemporary womenswear designer, will open its first New York City pop-up during New York Fashion Week, to mark the launch of an expanded trench capsule collection.
Capping off the company’s 10th anniversary, the 15-piece capsule includes a variety of fabrics such as denim, plaid, cotton, vegan leathers and patent rain materials. Prices range from $200 to $245.
“Our trenchcoats have been such an important pillar of the brand’s product range since we first introduced them in 2021,” said Hilary MacMillan, the founder and designer of the brand. “To continue our 10th anniversary celebrations, bringing the trenchcoats to the first in real life shopping experience in New York City felt like a natural fit for the brand’s future growth and direction.”
Launching exclusively at the brand’s immersive 1,250-square-foot pop-up at 242 Elizabeth Street in NoLIta in Manhattan, the shop will feature the trench capsule as well as other notable Canadian brands such as L’Intervalle, from Feb. 9 to 11.
The shop is designed with floor-to-ceiling imagery and blown-out patterns throughout. Each of the trenches is named to give the store and each subsequent trench a personality through styling efforts in person, MacMillan said.
Through an exclusive partnership with 11 Honore, now a part of Dia & Co., the Hilary MacMillan trench collection will also be available online to U.S. consumers as of Feb. 9. It will launch globally on Hilary MacMillan’s e-commerce site on Feb. 12 at noon EST.
“Our continued dedication to offering size-diverse contemporary ready-to-wear pieces to our audience remains steadfast in our decision to partner with 11 Honore — one of the leading size inclusive online e-commerce platforms in the U.S. To us, power is in community, and these coats have the ability to bring together personalities and communities from around the world through their unique style, texture and size offering, something we’re so deeply proud of,” MacMillan said.
MacMillan’s brand assortment features ready-to-wear and outerwear from sizes XS to 4X, home, lounge and accessories. — LISA LOCKWOOD
BETWEEN WORLDS: Adrian Cheng‘s flagship high-end retail complex K11 Musea plans to team up with Peter Yee, Oakley’s former vice president of design, on an exhibition spotlighting 25 years of his designs at Oakley during the upcoming Art Basel Hong Kong.
With his quarter-century career at Oakley, the American-Singaporean designer played a key role in shaping Oakley’s Zero collection, Eye Jacket, and Over the Top eyewear, and created more than 110 design patents for the outdoor brand. In 2021, Yee launched Peter Yee Design, a design consulting practice.
Empowered by the 3D-based phygital platform Spin.Fashion, the exhibition, which will run from March 28 to April 28, will leverage web3 technologies, showing never-before-seen sketches, prototypes, and limited-edition eyewear and watches from the golden age of Oakley.
Lor Albrighi, founder and co-chief executive officer of Spin.Fashion, said Yee’s exhibition will be “a rare opportunity to shine the light on a true cultural treasure with global resonance across generations.”
Every item will be digitized with a digital twin paired with an NFC chip and authenticated on the blockchain with immersive augmented reality and virtual reality experiences on the Apple Vision Pro.
At the pop-up inside K11 Musea, visitors will be able to tap the NFC chips from the physical archive pieces with their phones to project the items in AR with an audio guide, and to virtually try on the pieces via an AR Mirror.
Visitors will also be able to immerse themselves in a holistic experience with a guided, mixed-reality interactive tour in the Apple Vision Pro. —TIANWEI ZHANG
GOLF GIG: Rhone is serious about getting its brand embraced by women.
The 10-year-old company founded by brothers Ned and Ben Checketts as a men’s activewear brand will launch womenswear in May. And in anticipation of that expansion, Rhone has signed a deal to become the exclusive official on-course apparel partner of the LPGA Tour and Epson Tour as well as the official staff uniform provider for both.
“LPGA and its players are an inspiration, and it is an honor to have Rhone aligned with the organization as we enter a new chapter of our brand with our women’s offering,” said Ned Checketts, chief executive officer.
As part of the deal, Rhone will provide uniforms for LPGA Tour and Epson Tour staff beginning this spring.
“The LPGA and Rhone are united by a common passion and a shared commitment to innovation and excellence,” says Emma Crepeau, chief growth officer for Rhone. “Together, we combine our missions to inspire performance, empower individuals to reach their full potential, and to instill life skills within communities. Fueled by our collective support in the pursuit of progress, we look forward to working together to assist talent in developing and achieving success.”
In addition to dressing the players and staff, the partnership will include fan expo displays at four LPGA Tour events; involvement with the LPGA USGA Girls Golf program which works to empower young girls through the sport of golf, and direct support of LPGA’s athlete development program. In addition, after the Rhone women’s line launches, the company will also work to identify professional female golfers to serve as brand ambassadors.
“Rhone’s commitment to versatile and quality performance products aligns seamlessly with the needs of our staff, who work tirelessly every day to ensure the world’s best golfers can reach their peak performance,” said LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “But this partnership is about so much more than just uniforms — it’s helping enhance athlete performance and empowerment across the women’s game. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead because Rhone shares our values and, together, we’re deeply committed to elevating, inspiring and advancing girls and women on and off the golf course.”
Rhone, which was founded in 2014, received an investment in 2017 from L Catterton, a partnership between Catterton Partners, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Groupe Arnault. But last summer, L Catterton cashed out and the brand closed a series D round of financing through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) fund, with management and a select group of investors — including former NFL players Tim Tebow and Steve Young — buying back L Catterton’s minority stake. Half of the funds came from seven owners of professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS and EPL, the company said. In addition to Tebow and Young, other investors included Blackstone executive David Blitzer, former hedge fund manager Gabe Plotkin and Larry Miller Group. Prior investors have included Justin Tuck and Troy Aikman. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
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