Jacquemus Heads South, Amyris Brands Sold, Saks Celebrates in L.A. – WWD

SOUTHERN COMFORT: After bucking expectations with a show at the Palace of Versailles, Simon Porte Jacquemus is getting ready to pack his bags for another trip to more familiar territory: the South of France.

The designer will stage his next show on Jan. 29 at the Fondation Maeght in the village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the brand said on Monday. 

Established by Marguerite and Aimé Maeght in 1964, the private foundation — designed by Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert — houses works of art by the likes of Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miró.

“The collection is named ‘Les Sculptures’ in homage to Giacometti’s work,” Jacquemus said in a statement shared exclusively with WWD. The Fondation Maeght previously hosted Louis Vuitton’s cruise 2019 show.

In keeping with its recent tradition of showing outside the official calendar, Jacquemus is staging its display after the end of the Paris men’s shows, which run from Jan. 16 to 21, and Paris Couture Week, scheduled for Jan. 22 to 25.

Jacquemus has amplified its reach on social media thanks to cinematic runway displays in spectacular locations including a lavender field and a salt mine, often in the South of France. This will mark the designer’s first winter show in his native Provence.

The show on the Grand Canal at Versailles in June was part of a brand elevation strategy that includes plans for an international retail rollout, but Jacquemus remains closely associated with a Mediterranean aesthetic and accessible products such as 100-euro bucket hats and 670-euro Chiquito handbags. 

In addition to opening a flagship on Avenue Montaigne and summer pop-ups in Portofino and Como, Italy, and Saint-Tropez, the company is scouting for permanent locations in the U.S. and the Middle East, with plans to open several stores overseas by 2026, its chief executive officer Bastien Daguzan told WWD in June.

Jacquemus posted gross revenues of 212 million euros in 2022 versus 102 million euros in 2021, he reported. Daguzan declined to provide a forecast for 2023, but previously said the company has a medium-term ambition of reaching 500 million euros in revenues by 2025. — JOELLE DIDERICH

HIGHEST BIDS WIN: Four of bankrupt Amyris’ beauty brands have been sold at auction to the highest bidders.

According to court documents, skin care brand Biossance has been sold to online beauty retailer THG Beauty, formerly known as The Hut Group, for $20 million. THG owns online retailers including Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, and brands such as Perricone MD and Espa.

Centered around Amyris’ star ingredient, squalane, Biossance has long been considered the best brand on its roster and the most likely to find a buyer.

Elsewhere, Scent Theory Products paid $600,000 for 4U by Tia, launched in partnership with Tia Mowry to fulfill the needs of those with 2A through 4C hair textures by providing a streamlined assortment of need-based products. 

Dr. Reddy’s Labs paid $3 million for Menolabs,  a women’s health and technology company that provides probiotics for women in perimenopause, menopause and midlife.

And HRB Brands paid $1.75 million for clean baby care brand Pipette.

Amyris, a onetime biotech darling that sought to change the beauty industry with innovative and sustainable ingredients and later moved into the celebrity brand world, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Delaware Court in August.

As of yet there has been no word on some of its other brands for sale, including Naomi Watts’ menopausal beauty brand Stripes, color cosmetics line Rose Inc. with model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and hair care brand JVN with “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness.

In October, Francisco Costa, the former Calvin Klein designer, bid to pay $350,000 for his brand Costa Brazil. Prior to this, Amyris revealed that it would be shuttering the brand.

During the same month, Onda Beauty cofounder Larissa Thomson won an online auction for the Tribeca lease, the company name, website and products in store. Onda was founded by Thomson, Watts and Sarah Bryden-Brown, but later acquired by Amyris. — KATHRYN HOPKINS

L.A. CHRISTMAS: It wasn’t a Dior Carousel of Dreams on Fifth Avenue, but it was a celebration nonetheless.

On Thursday night, Saks Fifth Avenue chief executive officer Marc Metrick hosted celebrities, clients, influencers and designers for a holiday dinner at hot spot Funke in L.A.

Wearing a Dior suit (bought at full price, he laughed), Metrick was beaming about the new Beverly Hills store due to open in the old Barneys New York location on Feb. 8.

“This is such an important market for Saks….I’m so grateful to be here with you guys. One of the other reasons I am here is to check in on a little project we’re working on,” he said, toasting the crowd. “I was there today, it’s going to be unbelievable,” he added of the women’s store relocating from its current location to a new home at 9570 Wilshire Boulevard, with an expanded space dedicated to personal shopping and styling.

The night started with signature Saks cocktails on the rooftop where fashion plate Mary Martin, dressed in a Jason Wu coat, and husband Dave Martin caught up with Metrick and recapped their trip to Formula 1 in Las Vegas. Jonathan Simkhai, who is busy looking for a new design headquarters, having outgrown his La Cienega Boulevard space, chatted holiday plans, which involve staying close to home.

Guests brought it in the glam department — Kiernan Shipka in a strapless pink Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress and Stephanie Hsu in a Thom Browne corseted tuxedo look. Dinner was served in a private room at the new Evan Funke Italian restaurant, where Erin and Sara Foster, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Kathy Hilton and Tina Craig enjoyed focaccia, pizza and pasta while wondering where the year had gone since the last Saks holiday dinner at Caviar Kaspia. — BOOTH MOORE

A CENTURY OF SEX: Maude is exploring 100 years of history at the new Museum of Sex. 

The Museum of Sex opened its second location in Miami on Friday. The flagship opened in New York City in 2002. 

Maude founder Éva Goicochea and creative director and actress Dakota Johnson have curated an exhibit called “Modern Sex: 100 Years of Design and Decency,” which opened at the museum this past weekend. The collection, which includes more than 500 artifacts, explores restrictions around sexual wellness dating back to the 1920s. The exhibit is organized by decade.

“It’s a bit of a twilight zone to think of how far we’ve come and yet not at all,” Goicochea said. “It is full circle. In the 1920s, they had to code a lot of their language.” 

Since Maude’s inception, Goicochea has also faced restrictions.

“We can’t advertise devices. If we try they have to be with this silly language,” she said. “We’re still so restricted, obviously, in different ways in new technology and new media, but same thing.”

Although Goicochea and Johnson had been mulling over this concept for awhile, it wasn’t always going to be an exhibit. 

“Dakota and I had originally talked about this as a [coffee table] book,” Goicochea said. “We basically put together this big document saying we wanted to explore what this has looked like over the past 100 years.” 

Goicochea and Johnson brought the proposal to the Museum of Sex about two years ago and began working on the project from there. However, the team noted the coffee table concept might come to fruition one day, as well. 

While walking through the exhibit, which was cosponsored by Maude, Durex and KY, guests will explore media, advertisements and products from each decade — think books, iterations of devices, vintage Playboy magazines and more.

“Something happens when you see physical objects that represent what happened historically,” Johnson said. “I hope that people walk away considering what their opinion about their own sexual wellness is and that of others, how it’s evolved in the world or how it’s not evolved, and how it’s still represented the same ways as it has been in the last 100 years.” 

One key artifact in the exhibit is the 1976 “The Hite Report,” a book by reporter Shere Hite that explores findings around women’s sexuality from thousands of survey respondents. In tandem with the exhibit, a documentary titled “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” was recently released. (Johnson is an executive producer and the narrator of the film.)

“The documentary is about Shere Hite and how she was basically completely blotted out of history and totally silenced when she was presenting quantifiable data about female sexuality and female orgasm,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of amazing that these two things coincided to exist simultaneously.”

Goicochea and Johnson also chose to highlight gender inequity across the category and decades in the exhibit.

“Now, 100 years later, you can advertise erectile dysfunction pills, but you can’t advertise a vibrator used by a woman. It’s pretty maddening,” Goicochea said. “My hope is that when people view this and then when it does become a coffee table book, people will realize how much we have to do and it is up to us culturally as consumers and people to to demand change.”

The exhibit will be on display at the Museum of Sex in Miami through summer 2024. — EMILY BURNS

MARKING TEN: With its 10th anniversary coming up in 2024, Lisa Yang, the Stockholm-based cashmere brand, is partnering with Bergdorf Goodman on an in-store installation opening Monday. The New York pop-up is the first and will be followed by a roll-out in key European cities in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

Featuring brushed stainless steel, cherry wood and rice paper, the installation is designed to emulate the brand’s showroom at company headquarters in Stockholm and draws on founder Lisa Yang’s Chinese heritage combined with a Scandinavian aesthetic. The Bergdorf’s pop-up will be open until Jan. 3 and will showcase an exclusive eight-piece capsule collection, specifically designed by Bergdorf’s, as well as key pieces from the spring 2024 collection. The in-store launch will be supported by digital and social content on Bergdorf’s channels.

“We are delighted to be in New York and begin our 10-year celebrations in America at the prestigious Bergdorf Goodman, a longtime partner of Lisa Yang’s. The U.S. market is very important to us as a brand and we look forward to showcasing our exclusive capsule and installation, engaging with both our existing customers and potential new customers in store,” said Lisa Yang, who founded the company with Samuel Stenberg.

Over the past three years, Lisa Yang has seen sales increase by more than 900 percent, driven by both wholesale growth, with partners such as Mytheresa, Net-a-porter and Matches, and its own e-commerce. The U.S. is Yang’s fastest-growing market, followed by Germany and Switzerland.

Yang has a planned rollout with key European stockists including Lodenfrey in Germany, Bon Genie in Switzerland and NK Stockholm, which is about to be confirmed.

Designed in Stockholm and produced in Inner Mongolia, Yang launched her namesake brand in 2014. The company’s GOTS-certified collection offers a complete ready-to-wear cashmere wardrobe for women and men, as well as homeware.

Yang’s retail prices start at $130 for a cashmere plain knit arm warmers and go up to $1,815 for a seven-gauge double-faced cashmere coat in ready-to-wear and $2,820 for a double-faced cashmere blanket. — LISA LOCKWOOD

NEW HOME: Signorvino is bringing Italian food and wine excellence to the French capital.

Controlled by the Calzedonia Group, the wine label crossed national borders to open in Paris on Friday. The new store is located in Place Saint Michel, a few steps from the Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The 7,560-square-foot Signorvino space covers three floors and features an outdoor area as well. The location seats 160 guests and is part of the “Journey Across Flavours” project started by the brand in 2023 at the wine trade show Vinitaly. 

The first store outside of Italy debuted in Prague, Czech Republic, on Nov. 9, at the Westfield Chodov shopping center. 

In both cities, the menu pays tribute to Italy’s traditions with a gastronomic offering based on cutting boards, cured meats, focaccias for aperitifs, to name a few, adding Italian specialities like lasagna alla Bolognese or beef tartare for lunch and dinner. The cellar has more than 2,000 wines and Champagne.

“In Paris, we’ll offer a diverse selection of Champagne without deviating from our concept. As for the wine and food offering, we’ll keep relying on our suppliers, as we believe that the uniqueness and authenticity of Italian cuisine are key factors for success,” said Federico Veronesi, owner of Signorvino with his family. 

The project was conceived as a journey in which to capture the stories and flavors of Italian viticulture. “Viaggio nel gusto” is Signorvino’s manifesto, a concept that “allows us to express our enthusiasm in exploring Italy’s incredible gastronomic heritage,” Veronesi remarked.

Calzedonia Group, founded by chairman Sandro Veronesi, controls also the Calzedonia, Intimissimi and Tezenis labels as well as knitwear brand Falconeri, bridal line Atelier Emé. In September last year, it bought an 80 percent stake in the Antonio Marras brand. — ANDREA ONATE

SKIING IN: DKNY Tech will introduce its first ski capsule, a mash-up of performance skiwear, downtown street style and sport accessories.

The 30-piece skiwear collection spans outerwear styles made with recycled fill, body-contoured ski suits and flared ski pants backed with fleece and treated with a water-repellant finish, and warm, insulating merino wool sweaters featuring graphic stripes.

The print features a futuristic mountain scene inspired by the Northern Lights that appears across outerwear and leggings. The collection’s color scheme includes neon green, ultra-violet, powder pink and glacial blues, along with the classic DKNY scheme of black and white.

Prices range from $48 to $399.

The collection is rounded out with snow boots in bold colors, oversized ski masks and eyewear.

The limited-edition DKNY Tech ski capsule will be available globally on DKNY.com and in domestic, international and department stores Monday.

DKNY Tech’s virtual shop on Zepeto, the interactive social platform, will feature six items, including the ski jacket, sleek black snowsuit, season’s ski sweater with snow pants, as well as gradient gray sunglasses and white snow boots. — L.L.

FIT PRIZE WINNERS: The winners of FIT’s second annual Pete Prize for Entrepreneurs are FIT grads Habin Lee, Technical Design ’23, and Mary Addison Davis, Fashion Design ’23. Their business is called Ranea: Courage to Move, which manufactures and sells athleticwear that facilitates proper muscle movements and reduces stress for chronic injuries for men and women.

Chosen from among 96 applications, Lee and Davis will receive $30,000, along with office space for one year and marketing, legal, financial, creative and operational guidance on how to build and launch an innovative company. They received their award at a breakfast at Spring Place in New York on Thursday.

“What’s really important for Ranea is to promote and to remember the joy of having an active lifestyle without getting injured,” said Lee.

By incorporating compression garment technology in its designs, Ranea aims to stabilize major core muscle areas to prevent injuries. “I started developing the idea when I was suffering from sciatica earlier this year,” said Lee. “I was hoping that there were garments that could give me enough stabilization to move, yet would not limit my movements like braces. [Kinesiology tape] was a good temporary solution, but it was too irritating to my skin and very disposable. Ranea started out of my desperation for comfort and function.”

Lee and David plan to use the $30,000 to build a strong foundation for the company, starting with solid garment prototypes.

The Pete Prize is inspired by Peter G. Scotese, chairman emeritus of the FIT board of trustees and an entrepreneur. Seed funding was provided by Edwin Goodman, former chair of the FIT board of trustees, and a partner of Activate Venture Partners, and was matched by Laurence C. Leeds Jr., of L Leeds Holding LLC and a member of the FIT Foundation, along with Jay Baker, former president of Kohl’s Department Stores, former FIT trustee and former chair of the FIT Foundation.

The Pete Prize is administered by the FIT DTech Lab as a jury-picked merit award competition, which recognizes excellence in the development of ideas that are envisioned through execution-focused business plans that demonstrate innovative, design-oriented thinking. — L.L.