Breitling’s New Ambassador, Central Saint Martins Meets Dr. Martens – WWD

LAWRENCE TIME: Breitling is looking to the sports world for its latest brand ambassador.

The Swiss luxury watch brand has tapped Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence as its new brand ambassador and face of the brand.

“I am excited to become an ambassador and align with an elite global brand like Breitling,” Lawrence said in a statement. “I am looking forward to joining the Breitling Squad and am thrilled to be a part of this world-renowned brand.”

Lawrence joins a lengthy list of celebrities and prominent figures, called the Breitling Squad, who also work with Breitling. He joins the likes of Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, Adam Driver, Misty Copeland, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kelly Slater as part of the squad. Theron and Copeland were tapped for the Breitling squad in 2020 when the brand introduced its first range of women’s watches.

“Trevor Lawrence is at the top of his game,” said Breitling chief executive officer, Georges Kern, in a statement. “He is also a great leader for his team and in his personal life. Trevor embodies what it means to be a Breitling Squad Member with his confidence and style.”

Lawrence entered the NFL in 2021 as the first overall draft pick. During his college football career, he earned achievements like the College Football Playoff National Champion and Most Valuable Player, the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up.

The Breitling ambassadorship is Lawrence’s first partnership in the fashion space. — LAYLA ILCHI

SAME NAME, DIFFERENT SPELLING: Martens, meet Martins. 

British footwear brand Dr. Martens is opening its “All Access Summer” campaign to the students of renowned fashion school Central Saint Martins.

The collaboration is to showcase the diverse range of design talent at the school, which counts many household names as graduates, including Phoebe Philo, Kim Jones, Alexander McQueen and many more.

The five chosen students have been picked out by the fashion program’s course director Fabio Piras and Dr. Martens creative director Darren McKoy. The brand donated money to the course and provided each student with a financial bursary to help execute their ideas.

The brief, set by McKoy, was to translate the theme of “All Access Summer” to each student’s taste with a rebellious element incorporated into it to represent the brand, which became a staple among youth subcultures in ’70s Britain.

“Creativity and community are core values of Dr. Martens, which is why there is such a natural synergy between the brand and the incredibly talented students of CSM. We are so proud to partner with this powerhouse of originality and imagination shining a light on designers who have traveled from around the world to hone their craft in London,” McKoy said in a statement.

The end product will be debuted on 1 Granary, a platform created by CSM students in 2012 to help spotlight the university’s talent.

“My role as course director is to shape students to be critical and resilient, whilst believing in their creativity and talent. That’s why we’re here, to continue learning and building the students’ portfolios, experience and inspiration, and long may it continue,” Piras said.

The students participating in the project include Francesca Lake from Kingston, Jamaica, whose work focuses on amplifying Caribbean stories; menswear designer Xuesong Yang from Inner Mongolia, China, the Oroqen Autonomous Banner, which is home to many nomadic people, and inspires Yang’s work; Jad Jreissati’s practice forges the relationship between fashion and aspiration; Northern Irish designer Lauren Patchett uses strictly deadstock to practice her colorful art, and Texan designer Jude Hinojosa, who takes takes preexisting traditionally male garments to mold it into something emotional. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED

FAIRCLOTH’S NEW ROLE: In an effort to amplify the growth of its U.S. operations, Purple has named  Donna Faircloth as director of North American operations, a new post.

Faircloth, who is based in New York, reports to Fergus Lawlor, president and chief executive officer of Purple. She will work closely with the practice leaders for fashion, beauty and lifestyle, and will oversee and direct activities across all functional departments with responsibility for enhancing operational effectiveness, performance and service excellence.

Most recently, Faircloth worked as vice president, global marketing and communications for Lafayette 148 New York and earlier was senior vice president, global marketing and communications at John Varvatos Enterprises. Before that, she was director of communications for the Council of Fashion Designers of America, North American vice president of public relations for Yves Saint Laurent Groupe and North American director of advertising and public relations for Dolce & Gabbana.

“Donna’s fluency in the luxury sector and expertise in managing international business operations will be critical as we continue to build our U.S. business and team. Her tactical savvy and hands-on, results-driven approach will help position us for further success,” said Lawlor, who is based in London.

“The American market has always been important for our clients, which is why we invested in a U.S. presence nearly 10 years ago. After COVID[-19] and the resulting repatriation of Chinese business, we expect that the importance of the U.S. market will only continue to grow in the future for our fashion, beauty and luxury lifestyle clients. Making these critical investments in the U.S. market makes sense for us as we aim to help clients capitalize on opportunities and create effective communication strategies that deliver maximum impact.”

Faircloth added, “I’m thrilled to be joining Purple — a company I have greatly admired and worked collaboratively with throughout my career. It’s a great time to join the company as it continues to grow within the U.S. and in the international arena. I look forward to working with their talented team that lead both creatively and strategically.”

Fortifying Purple’s U.S. operations is part of the company’s larger international expansion strategy following its acquisition by Together Group in February, 2022. Purple, along with King & Partners, Noë & Associates, Construct and Hot Pot China, joined Together Group to form a global, luxury lifestyle group offering full-service solutions for clients in the fashion, beauty, luxury and lifestyle sectors.

Founded 24 years ago, Purple has offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, Miami and Hong Kong. — LISA LOCKWOOD

MASK UP: Dior has partnered exclusively with French innovation lighting company Lucibel to use and commercialize LED mask technology.

Designer Olivier Lapidus worked with Lucibel to create the beauty mask. He had for many years focused on innovative textiles, especially light-related fabrics. In 1999, Lapidus sent down a fashion runway what he billed to be the first “luminous dress,” created with a specially woven jacquard and optical fiber technology.

Lapidus’ creations have been used in the scientific field, too, to help treat babies with jaundice, for instance.

He was contacted by Frédéric Granotier, founder and president of Lucibel, about a possible collaboration. The designer was shown the hardware of Lucibel’s existing beauty mask for semiprofessional use and the creams to be used with it to help fight facial wrinkles.

A brainstorm ensued, and Lapidus became knowledgeable about LED technology. Eighteen months later, Lucibel’s pro product became the over-the-counter OVE beauty mask, created with women and men in mind. It got two patents, new ergonomy and uses photobiomudulation technology.

LED photobiomodulation, a specialty of Lucibel over the past eight years, employs a cold red light to stimulate and regenerate cells The quantity of the light emitted differs on each square centimeter of a face for the most efficiency.

“Because the body is made up of living cells that have a vital need for exposure to light, the mask acts first of all as a natural energy source to balance the metabolism, restore harmony and sooth the mind,” said Dior in a statement. “Young skin sees an instant effect on quality and imperfections (reduced pore diameter, rebalanced sebum levels and a luminous complexion). More mature skin sees an antiaging action that is strengthened over time (smoothed wrinkles, elasticity and volume density).”

Dior claims that from the first session and in just 12 minutes, effects on skin quality are immediate, and that after a month, with two sessions per week, skin is healthier, its texture is smoothed, the complexion is even and radiance is increased by 10 times.

“By three months of use at the same rate, collagen and elastin production is stimulated for smoother, visibly firmer skin and redefined contours,” said Dior.

The mask is billed to be 20-times more powerful than any formerly on the market.

It was previewed at the Dior Cheval Spa Blanc Paris, and will soon be in all Dior spas. A more portable iteration for at-home use, with a price tag of 3,150 euros, is to be available in Dior boutiques and on dior.com starting January.

The OVE mask can be used during a spa treatment, or as a course of eight, 16 or 24 sessions at 85 euros for 20 minutes.

As part of a spa treatment, there’s a Dior micro peeling with the mask LED light, followed by a deep tissue massage sequence. That goes for 280 euros an hour. — JENNIFER WEIL