A Reseller for Vintage Alaïa, Gucci Restaurant Receives Michelin Star – WWD

COMING AROUND AGAIN: Paris, France-based luxury resale site Resee is partnering with Alaïa to sell some of the French fashion house’s most sought-after vintage creations, including items sourced from the archives by creative director Pieter Mulier.

The selection is available exclusively at Alaïa’s Petite Boutique on Rue de Moussy and on Resee.com. It will be updated periodically, and clients can bring their pre-owned Alaïa pieces to the store to be included in the vintage assortment being offered there and online.

“Through this partnership, Alaïa and Resee will deepen their joint commitment to circularity in luxury fashion and their shared essential mission: to offer pieces that have a unique story, while contributing positively to the environment,” the brands said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Among the items on sale are a “Tati” dress from spring 1991; a range of leopard and butterfly print pieces from fall 1991, and a leather zip dress from 1986.

“Since our inception nearly 10 years ago, archival Alaïa has been a top performer for us on Resee and also a passion for us to source,” said Sofia Bernardin, cofounder of Resee.

“We could not be more thrilled to be official partners of the brand, to be able to provide our customers rich experiences and a direct line to the house. We are honored to celebrate the distinguished legacy of Mr. Alaïa, alongside the vision of Mr. Mulier,” she added.

Myriam Serrano, chief executive officer of Alaïa, said the long-term initiative reflected the house’s commitment to circularity and fashion that stands the test time, thanks to high levels of craftmanship and couture know-how.

“Alaïa’s creations have always been conceived and regarded as timeless pieces — more than just clothes, they are designs that one can keep for a lifetime and pass on for generations,” the executive said.

Since founder Azzedine Alaïa passed away in 2017, the house has dabbled with vintage re-editions, often prototypes from his vast archives that were never commercialized. In 2020, it launched a wardrobe of Alaïa’s most emblematic designs, spanning from 1981 to 2017, called The Editions.

The partnership with Resee comes as the specialist site gears up for expansion. Buoyed by strong global demand for vintage and secondhand high-end goods in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Resee expects sales to double this year versus 2021, Bernardin told WWD in September. — Joelle Diderich

STARRY COURSE: Gucci has secured one more win in the fashion hospitality game that is increasingly heating up.

After Florence, Italy, and Beverly Hills, California, the Gucci Osteria in Tokyo, Japan, has also turned into a one-Michelin-star culinary destination. The restaurant, which opened last year on the fourth level of the Gucci Namiki building in Ginza, has been acknowledged in the 2023 edition of the renowned Michelin Guide Tokyo.

Under the leadership of head chef Antonio Iacoviello, Gucci Osteria Tokyo explores a contemporary cuisine bringing together Italian gastronomic traditions with local Japanese ingredients and techniques. A traveler and explorer himself, Iacoviello inventively reimagined dishes combining both cultures, as seen for example in the evocative “The Parmigiana that wants to become a Ramen” and “Babà in Okinawa” delicacies.

The menu also includes signature Gucci Osteria dishes, such as the Emilia burger and the tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano cream.

Iacoviello’s approach is his unique interpretation of the philosophy of Gucci Osteria, a format conceived and curated by star chef Massimo Bottura, who is also a childhood friend of Gucci president and chief executive officer Marco Bizzarri.

“Since I arrived in Japan, I have never missed an opportunity to travel, explore and taste, trying to combine new experiences and new products with my Italian memory,” said Iacoviello, who defined the acknowledgement “a dream come true.” He additionally thanked Bottura for entrusting him with the project and credited his team for the “courage, patience and sacrifice.”

The fine-dining experience offered by Iacoviello is enhanced by the sophisticated interiors of the restaurant, which evoke the design of the seminal Gucci Osteria in Florence. Key elements marking the space include its hand-painted wood flooring, vibrant green wood paneling and plush, peacock blue velvet chairs.

Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura launched at the Gucci Garden in Florence in 2018, followed by the outposts in Beverly Hills and Tokyo in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Earlier this year, the format also debuted in Seoul, South Korea, on the top floor of the Gucci Gaok flagship located in the typically bustling — though it recently faced tragedy with a deadly stampede — Itaewon district. — Sandra Salibian

RUFF LIFE: If you have a designer pet with attitude, Balenciaga has the dog bowl for you.

In stainless steel and ringed with big, threatening spikes, the dish is part of a new Balenciaga Objects line dropping on Nov. 21, just in time for holiday gifting.

You can feel creative director Demna’s wry humor in the airplane neck pillow with a black hood attached, and the Balenciaga coasters, branded to resemble a famous Belgian pilsner-style lager.

The Paris-based house is to showcase dozens of products, most of them for the home, in a campaign called Balenciaga Gift Shop. These range from a kooky bench composed of dozens of printed towels strapped together like a bundle of newspapers to wine and Champagne glasses bearing beer-like Balenciaga logos.

Several of the objects, including doormats, bathmats, a teapot and tableware, carry Balenciaga Hotel & Resorts artwork. The dishes are made by Ginori 1735, which, like Balenciaga, is owned by French fashion group Kering.

Scores of luxury brands have entered the booming pet accessories business recently, with Balenciaga offering a harness, collar and a yellow leash resembling a tailor’s measuring tape. A plush pink dog bed with a matching blanket brings to mind Bruiser Woods from the “Legally Blonde” films.

Soap, lunch boxes, vases, pillows, sippie cups and a gold-plated Triple S sneaker sculpture round out the eclectic range.

According to the house, select Balenciaga stores will offer a custom gift-wrapping service for these gifting items featuring silver ribbons and pearlescent packaging. — Miles Socha

Christine’s Campaign: MCM has tapped Christine Quinn as the new face of its holiday campaign. The campaign features a larger-than-life advent calendar that features the brand’s luxury lineup of products.

The campaign was brought to life by director Maya Margolina and showcases MCM’s products including a small Berlin crossbody in a range of colors, an MCM fragrance-shaped novelty crossbody bag, a holiday-edition MCM eau de parfum and an après-ski capsule including an allover cubic monogram jacquard-knit shimmer top and matching leggings.

Htat LIn Htut was director of photography, and the campaign was styled by Billy Lobos.

The campaign has a digital and out-of-home component, including the Mr. C. Beverly Hills Hotel, bus shelters in targeted neighborhoods in New York City, and large impact screens at the terminals at JFK and LAX airports. The advent calendar drops digitally, and each day on MCM’s e-commerce site, a new product/category will drop. This will be amplified across brand channels. MCM has also assembled a global group of digital creators to bring the product to life across their feeds as well, and the campaign will be part of the in-store experience.

“We are thrilled to have Christine as our muse for this festive campaign where our goal of presenting an over-the-top advent calendar that displays our iconic MCM offerings were met by Christine’s playful attitude and energy,” said Dirk Schönberg, MCM global brand officer.

“It is a dream come true to be the face of the MCM holiday campaign,” added Quinn. “As a longtime fan of their iconic logo totes, luggage and clothing, MCM has always been a staple in my wardrobe. I am so honored to work with such an incredible creative and professional fashion house — from start to finish — and can’t wait for the campaign to come out.”

Quinn, a fashion and beauty executive and author, starred in Netflix’s hit reality series, “Selling Sunset,” is the author of “How to Be a Boss Bitch,” and appears in the new Marc Jacobs campaign. She hosted the red carpet at the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards in Partnership with Amazon Fashion last week. — Lisa Lockwood

Ghost Flower: To perfumer Beckielou Brown, founder of clean scent brand Altra, the smell of poetry starts with a single white lily.

Brown has collaborated with photographer and poet Suzannah Pettigrew on the launch of her new fragrance Ghost Flower with accompanying imagery and poetry.

The pair met 20 years ago working at a nightclub called Kabaret’s Prophecy in London.

“I have seen her creative practice develop from her early work to what she is creating today, and have loved her work since the beginning. When Altra was in its early stages, I knew we wanted to work with different creatives and artists to bring a multi sensory aspect and collaborative energy to what we were creating,” Brown said. “Her work for the collaboration came as her response to the scent itself, and the conversations around the inspiration I had when creating it. We wanted it to come from her own experience with Ghost Flower, rather than a fixed brief.”

Altra has been a work in progress for seven years, beginning in Los Angeles, California, where Brown lived for seven years. 

“Initially it was a personal exploration, a creative outlet — a way for me to recreate memories and experiment with translating emotions and feelings into this fascinating intangible medium. At that time, I wasn’t planning to create a perfume brand, but increasingly all I wanted to do was channel my creativity into this area. Initially I was working with a mixed medium pallet of naturals as well as synthetic molecules,” Brown added.

Toying with the complexity of natural scents, she soon realized there were so few scents with solely natural materials.

To capture the essence of Ghost Flower, Brown enlisted Pettigrew, who has been writing poetry as a world building practice. She’s just released her debut poetry and photography book “A Sphinx Looking for a Poet.”

“I wanted to draw focus on sensuality, both the thrill and the fallout. Often it’s how I remember, through erotic markers of the past,” Pettigrew explained about the process of producing a special piece of work for the scent, she took ideas from the white lily’s burnt orange pollen. 

Brown, who is both spiritual and superstitious, unveiled her brand on Feb. 22 at 11:11 a.m. with the help of her business partner and best friend, Bridget Plant. 

They had initially planned to launch in 2020 right before the pandemic hit. The pause in time gave them new areas to approach, such as digital scent scapes by working with artist George Jasper Stone just as brands were getting increasingly into digital outputs and entering the metaverse.

“We wanted to create a scent and brand experience that was conceptual and exciting, but made with meticulously sourced natural ingredients and produced and packaged with minimal impact on our environment,” said Brown, who has avoided greenwashing language and empty promises within the brand.

She’s fixated on breaking down what sustainable means and has instead drummed up “Profuture,”  a commitment to mindful production at every stage.

Altra houses four other fragrances: “Altra Skin,” “Stone Cold Heart,” “Dualist” and “Jasmin XXX.” The liquid contour bottles are refillable with black packaging inspired by Brutalist houses. Prices start from 138 pounds.

The perfume is direct to consumer with a solo stockist in Los Angeles boutique Just One Eye.

Brown said she wants to continue collaborating with different creatives as she readies a new scent for next year. — Hikmat Mohammed

Board Seat: Ralph Lauren Corp. said Wednesday it has elected Wei Zhang, most recently senior adviser and prior president of Alibaba Pictures Group, to the company’s board of directors.

With the election of Zhang, Lauren’s board is now comprised of 13 directors.

“One of the many strengths of our company is the people who make up our teams, including the members of our board,” said Ralph Lauren, executive chairman and chief creative officer. “I look forward to learning from Wei, who shares a passion for storytelling, innovation and entrepreneurialism — each representing core values for our brand.”

Zhang, who was with Alibaba Group from 2008 until this year, most recently was senior adviser and president of Alibaba Pictures Group. She previously held posts within Alibaba Group as senior vice president across investment and acquisition, corporate strategy and also led Alibaba’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.

“I’ve always admired Ralph Lauren’s purpose that inspires people to dream and live the life they want to live. I look forward to joining their esteemed board of directors, supporting the iconic brand to deliver on their ‘Next Great Chapter: Accelerate’ strategy.”

Before joining Alibaba, Zhang held posts at News Corp China, CNBC China, consulting firm Bain & Co. and General Electric.

“Wei’s blend of experience and knowledge in international operations — in particular Asia, business development, media and digital transformation, make her a timely and relevant addition to the Ralph Lauren board of directors. We look forward to benefiting from her perspective as we continue on our journey to becoming the leading luxury lifestyle company and execute on our ‘Next Great Chapter: Accelerate’ strategy,” said Patrice Louvet, president and chief executive officer of Ralph Lauren Corp.

Ralph Lauren logged $6.2 billion in revenues last year. As reported, over the next three years, Lauren plans revenue to show a compounded annual growth rate in the mid- to high-single digits with operating profit growth exceeding the top-line expansion in constant currency by 2025. — L.L.