Kering Honors Davis, Etro’s Suite, Cohen Tries Retail – WWD

HONORING DAVIS: Actress, producer and activist Viola Davis is set to add a new gong to her superlative track record: Kering’s Women in Motion award.

The luxury group has named Davis this year’s recipient ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, where she will be presented with the award on May 22 during a dinner co-chaired by Kering chairman François-Henri Pinault and festival executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux.

Davis, who holds the “triple crown of acting” as recipient of two Tony Awards, an Oscar and an Emmy, has been calling for greater inclusion in the film industry, gender equality and combatting the effects of poverty.

When she received the Emmy award for her leading role in “How to Get Away With Murder,” which she was the first African American to win, she noted “the one thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity…you cannot win an Emmy for roles that simply aren’t there.”

After being named a spokeswoman for L’Oréal’s Age Perfect campaign, she told WWD that seeing Cicely Tyson on-screen as a child had “made me believe that I could dream, that I could be someone” and that giving “that gift to another girl of color — to any girl, of course, but to any girl of color, absolutely” was part of her legacy.

Currently on-screen as Michelle Obama in the Showtime series “The First Lady,” she has also released a memoir called “Finding Me,” which she wrote over the COVID-19 lockdown.

Previous recipients of Kering’s Women in Motion award, which honors female filmmakers every year, include Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Gong Li and Salma Hayek.

Since its inception in 2015 at the Cannes Film Festival, the Women in Motion program has been highlighting the contribution of women to culture and the arts, spanning cinema and photography as well as literature, animation and design. It has since supported 13 creatives through grants awarded to young talents in cinema and photography. — LILY TEMPLETON

ALL ETRO EVERYTHING: The five-star luxury Punta Tragara Hotel, on the picturesque island of Capri, will be hosting the Pegaso Etro suite — fully furnished by the Italian fashion and interiors brand Etro Home Interiors, and is available to book now.

Perched on the island rocks overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the Punta Tragara Hotel was designed by renowned Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

This is not the first time that Etro has worked with the hospitality industry. In September 2020, the Italian luxury brand personalized the Four Season’s garden in Milan. In 2019, it partnered with Bice, one of Milan’s most famous restaurants, customizing the entire location with the brand’s textile collection for one week, and that same year, Etro decorated the Nammos Beach Club in Mykonos.

The terrace of the Pegaso Etro Suite at the Punta Tragara Hotel is in one of the building’s top floors overlooking Capri’s signature Faraglioni, the Marina Piccola, and the silhouette of the Amalfi Coast. The bedroom is completely furnished with Etro’s paisley motifs and is dominated by the fashion house’s Bombay Bed, whose headboard is adorned with studs, and the Tree of Life wallpaper.

The opulence of the bed is juxtaposed against the Kolkata line drawer and the bar cabinet in neutral tones, upholstered with the Deosai design.

Two Amina armchairs in grey tones and the Jaipur sofa, a hand-tufted wool and bamboo silk rug with Etro’s floral pattern and the Chagall and Kyoto lamps complete the room. The materials used include carbalho wood, brushed bronze and Irish green marble in pastel shades.

Even the terrace was taken over by Etro, with a patio that includes two couches with the brand’s paisley motifs in gray and burgundy and sunbeds. — ALICE MONORCHIO

JUMPING INTO RETAIL: Jonathan Cohen is testing out life as a retailer, opening his namesake brand’s first standalone pop-up store at 833 Madison Ave. The bi-level 1,700-square-foot store offers pieces from the spring/summer collection, first delivery of the fall/winter 2022 collection and exclusive one-of-a-kind pieces from The Studio, including the return of men’s shirting.

In addition, an assortment of merchandise from friends of the brand is being featured in the store and available for purchase including Aera shoes, SUD Aromas of The Cote D’Azur candles, Seven Cedars homeware, a selection of Dempsey & Carroll stationery, as well as a variety of Assouline books.

The  shop, which is open seven days a week, will remain open through June 14.

The  interior of the store features furniture from Sabai Furniture and Fernando Mastrangelo, whose side tables and one-of-a-kind chair sits juxtaposed to a Studio Djivan Schapria Lahar Mirror. A Flux de Tulipes dining table anchors the space, while six collaborative artworks with the artist adorn the walls.

Cohen, who grew up in San Diego, launched his namesake brand in 2011 with his co-founder and chief executive officer Sarah Leff, whom he met at the Parsons School of Design. Cohen is  known for his use of prints and textures, with sustainability wearing through all the elements. In 2018, he was a runner-up for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.

Cohen’s pandemic pivot involved the launch of Our Flower Shop, offering digital floral arrangements with his own hand-drawn bouquets that could be sent virtually. He also introduced The Studio, an evolution of the Jonathan Cohen brand expanding design offerings through upcycled products. Using fabric remnants from past collection, Cohen creates one-of-a-kind new styles of ready-to-wear and accessories. — LISA LOCKWOOD

ART TRUNKS: French luxury swimwear brand Vilebrequin and contemporary art Swiss publishing house JRP Editions are pooling their resources for a museum-ready swimwear collection.

“Bringing art to the beach has always been the dream,” said Roland Herlory, chief executive officer of Vilebrequin, which is part of the G-III Apparel Group. “This long-term collaboration with JRP Editions will push our artistry to new places over the coming seasons.”

That includes the original Saint-Tropez trunk, men’s and women’s swimsuits, tops and accessories, like bags, hats, beach towels and even custom-print ping-pong sets. There are 25 pieces in total, that come in various hues such as purple hot rod flames, rainbow-color happy faces, sea turtles, graffiti-like splashes of paint and shades of sky blue, while exploring such themes and topics as elitism, feminism, fetishized luxury, randomness, gender-identity and artists of color.

“Our swimsuit fabrics are an entirely new terrain for artists,” Herlory explained. “We do not consider what we do art; we’re more focused on reproducing artists’ work as closely as possible to the original in the most honest and respectful manner. With the know-how of Vilebrequin studio and ateliers, we are capable of delivering printing techniques that reproduce an original artwork’s unique color and contrast as faithfully as possible.”

John Armleder, one of the artists featured in the collaboration, added: “There is no essential difference between a painting, a print or a swimsuit. What changes fundamentally here is the context and the distribution modes of the object. The forms and compositions can thus migrate freely from one support to the other.”

Additional artists include Kenny Scharf, Sylvie Fleury, and Racquel Chevremont and Mickalene Thomas, also known professionally as “Deux Femmes Noires.” The collaboration was curated in partnership with JRP Editions founder Lionel Bovier, who also serves as director of MAMCO, a contemporary art museum in Geneva, and Arnaud Hubert, chief executive officer of JRP Editions.

“We wanted to curate a collection that would allow us to explore as many voices and designs as possible,” Bovier said. “This meant bringing together artists with radically different approaches, but who share an interest in how their work can migrate from the canvas or walls to textile. They are united by a common thread: the power of their work, the clarity of their artistic language and the integrity with which Vilebrequin handled their projects.”

The limited-edition collection launched May 3, just in time for warm weather and summer travels, on vilebrequin.com and JRP-editions.com, as well as select global Vilebrequin stores. The collection, though now out as the world reopens, was actually conceptualized during the pandemic when people were still just dreaming of far-flung getaways. A second drop, the “Faces in Places” print by artist Kenny Scharf will come out June 21, followed by a second capsule later this year and a third in early 2023. Sizes range from XS to 3XL in men’s and XS to XL in women’s, with prices ranging from $105 to $315.

Vilebrequin was founded by Fred Prysquel in Saint-Tropez in 1971 as a men’s swimwear business. In 2012, G-lll Apparel Group purchased the brand. The following year, women’s swimwear was added to the mix. — KELLIE ELL