Tremaine Emory Talks Racism, Dior’s Garden Stars, Ralph’s Exec Pay – WWD

SPEAKING OUT: Tremaine Emory, the recently named creative director of Supreme, spoke about the barriers he faced at a Paris conference Saturday evening, where he and artist and writer Kandis Williams were the opening speakers at the three-day Kaleidoscope Manifesto festival.

“On my appointment at Supreme, people were so joyous about it,” said the Denim Tears designer, who has consulted over the years for brands and creatives including Stüssy, Kanye West, Asics and Marc Jacobs. “I’ve been doing this work for a long time; why do I mean more to you now than prior to Supreme?” he questioned.

“I’ve been doing advocacy, I’ve been making art, I’ve been doing talks….All I’ve been through, all I’ve fought for, it needed Supreme for you all to say what I’m doing is worthwhile and that Tremaine’s a great creative? Wasn’t I great the day before I was creative director of Supreme?” he said.

“I have to do all this stuff for a perfect storm to happen for me to get this position. Whereas if you look at maybe how Tom Ford became creative director of Gucci back in the ’90s, I don’t know if he had to do all that….The route I’ve taken to get where I’m at, I’ve had to do extraordinary things.”

To a packed audience that had attendees sitting on every spare corner of carpet in the basement conference space, Emory and Williams also addressed the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “I’m more appalled at the surprise, than it being overturned, that’s not surprising to me,” Emory said. “It seems par for the course for the patriarchal system.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about these power vacuums within ourselves, because I think the real fight and the real surprise is this issue of why we’re still so shocked or surprised,” Williams said.

“We are people still surprised at horrors that happen to women, people of color, basically everyone but the white male that runs the patriarchal system of the world. Why, in 2022, are we still surprised by these things?” continued Emory. “Since the Industrial Revolution, women have been s–tted on, for lack of a better word. Why are people ‘I can’t believe this.’ This is every day, for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.”

Open to the public through Tuesday and free to attend (for events, reservation is mandatory), the event at the Espace Niemeyer, the headquarters of France’s Communist Party, is hosted by Kaleidoscope Magazine and resale platform Goat. It is designed like a real-life manifestation of the magazine founded a decade ago by Alessio Ascari. — ALEX WYNNE

GARDEN PATH: Walking into the tent that housed this season’s Dior show was like a breath of fresh air — with a seascape set and 19,000 plants in the small space, there was the distinct scent of spring.

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel chilled out with David and Cruz Beckham in the front row to take in Kim Jones latest men’s collection. After the show, the idyll was broken as guests tried to take photos and pose for pics while trampling through the (temporary) field.

 

“It was beautiful, as always, but this is madness,” exclaimed Naomi Campbell as she tried to make her way backstage. The model grabbed Nigerian rapper Wizkid by the hand to lead him through the crowd.

Some guests decamped to the Dior store on Avenue Montaigne for an intimate cocktail in the upstairs garden of the flagship before being seated in the old apartment on the premises. German actress Emilia Schüle, who plays Marie Antoinette in the upcoming CanalPlus drama, said she has a special connection with Dior. She worked with the house on some special dresses, and spent time at the designer’s home in the south of France. “That was amazing because you get a sense of what a true artist he is, with the furniture and the design of the rooms. It’s a fairy tale,” she said of the home in Grasse.

The cocktail was at the golden hour, and Miss Fame caught the light as she posed for pics next to the upper floor’s expansive window.

Fashion plays an important role in the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star’s expression. “I feel it allows me to have a little bit of a golden armor,” she said. She loves a strong shoulder and nipped waist, but never down-gears from her glam. “My fashion identity has allowed me to access spaces that maybe historically I would have seen it as a child and thought, ‘How can I access that?’ Fashion allows me to tell stories and I believe that is part of our identity.”

Dior milliner Stephen Jones said this season’s double decker hats came together in a simple moment of inspiration. First he turned Bloomsbury Group painter Duncan Grant’s signature straw hat into a felt version, then played around with Dior designer Jones’ own baseball cap one afternoon during a fitting.

“But we’ve already done a baseball cap at Dior. So he said, ‘Put one on top of the other,’ and I said ‘That’s the look.’ It wasn’t some great anguished thing; it was in a way quite a simple trajectory,” he said.

Walking into the afternoon’s set, which was decorated with a replica of Dior’s childhood home in Granville, France, Jones was taken aback. He has an exhibit at the house’s museum. “I spent all spring there [preparing], so to see a miniature version of the house was like, ‘I’m home,’” he said.

Japanese actor Ryusei Yokohama was attending his first Paris Fashion Week and finding it “a little overwhelming,” he said. “The set was so beautiful, and the looks were not just fashionable and stylish, but playful.”

The “Your Eyes Tell” star said it makes him want to do additional projects with the house. Is there a capsule collection in his future? “No, no, no,” he laughed. “Just wearing.”

Afropop singer Rema just dropped his debut album in March. “I feel like the music is doing its job, it’s doing what it needs to do, it’s traveling,” he said of breaking Spotify records. “I just want to be part of, not only my journey, I don’t want just to tell my story, I also want to help people tell their stories.”

Ruger, another Afropop singer from Nigeria who just dropped his album a week ago, explained the inspiration for his song “Dior.”

“I just put out true music, and I wear a lot of Dior, I wear Dior Sauvage [fragrance] — it’s just Dior, Dior, Dior for everything,” he said. “It represents elegance and simplicity and at the same time it’s bold, very bold.”  — RHONDA RICHFORD AND JOELLE DIDERICH

RALPH LAUREN PAY: Ralph Lauren Corp. pushed through the pandemic, continuing to elevate its brand and court younger consumers — and senior executives saw top-dollar pay days last year in the process.

“This year, our teams around the world delivered strong results that exceeded our expectations with growth across every brand, channel, category and region — demonstrating their agility and strength amid an environment that remained challenging,” said executive chairman and chief creative officer Ralph Lauren and chief executive officer Patrice Louvet in a joint letter to shareholders filed with regulatory authorities.

Sales bounced back from the worst of the pandemic, increasing 41 percent to $6.2 billion for the year ended April 2.

For his efforts, Lauren saw his compensation rise 45.6 percent to $24.9 million. That included $12 million in incentive pay and a salary of $1.8 million. His package also included stock awards that were valued at $11 million, although the full value of share-based compensation will ultimately rely on the company’s Wall Street performance.

Louvet’s package increased 53.8 percent to $18.6 million, including $7.9 million in incentive pay.

The five executives named in the fashion company’s proxy statement logged total compensation of $68.9 million — an increase of 48.1 percent from a year ago.

That top tier included Howard Smith, who was chief commercial officer, but resigned at the end of the year after an investigation found he had “violated the company’s code of business conduct and ethics and other policies.”

The nature of the exact violations was never revealed, beyond the vague reassurance from the firm that they were “unrelated to the company’s financial reporting and business performance.”

A source told WWD when the departure was revealed that the violations were not related to either sex or money, but instead reflected multiple incidents of “misjudgment.”

Still, Smith, a 19-year veteran of the company, was allowed to walk away with a significant pay package.

His compensation rose 28.2 percent last year to $12.3 million, including incentive pay of $3.2 million. — EVAN CLARK

NEW FIELD: Farm Rio is setting down permanent roots in Los Angeles.

The Brazilian contemporary brand known for tropical print puffers and resort-ready dresses and swimwear is setting up its thatched-roof shop near the ocean, on Venice’s Abbott Kinney Boulevard.

The 1,900-square-foot store opens Monday at 1326 Abbott Kinney.

“We’re so excited to be back in this incredible city (following our 2019 pop-up also in the neighborhood) and to welcome in existing customers and new ones,” said Fabio Barreto, chief executive officer of Farm Rio. “Venice Beach has the same energy as our hometown, Rio, so this new store really feels like our home away from home. This opening also marks an important step in our global expansions efforts, following locations in SoHo (New York), Miami and Paris in the last few years.”

Farm Rio began in 1997 at a marketplace in Rio de Janeiro, founded by Katia Barros and Marcello Bastos.

In 2019, Farm Rio opened its first U.S. brick-and-mortar stores on Prince Street in Manhattan’s SoHo and in the Aventura Mall in Miami. The brand also sells at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, where it launched footwear in April as part of an exclusive partnership.

Through escapist Instagram marketing, collaborations with Levi’s and others, and an influencer gifting plan that cultivated a Hollywood fanbase including Sarah Jessica Parker, Busy Phillips and Kerry Washington, the brand was able to grow sales during the pandemic.

Operated under the publicly traded Grupo de Moda Soma, Brazil’s biggest fashion group encompassing seven brands, Farm Rio accounts for 40 percent of overall revenue. — BOOTH MOORE

LOVE FROM PARIS: Alexandre Mattiussi wrote a love letter to the neighborhood of Montmartre, where he staged his latest Ami Paris fashion show on the steps of the Sacré Coeur cathedral with an expansive view of the city below. The designer played up the location by having Audrey Tautou, “Amelie” in the flesh, open the show.

It was a star-studded runway with Cara Delevingne, Karen Elson and Kristen McMenamy among the models to walk, while Naomi Campbell and Carla Bruni sat front row.

Noah Beck, the All-American TikTok star who has become Paris Fashion Week’s poster boy, wore a shirt shirt scribbled with black and red hearts, just after his “Je t’aime Paris” video dropped.

“I’m all in,” he joked of dressing to go with the day’s love theme. How he became associated with the French Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode is a mystery. “They just kinda rang me up. I guess just being here and coming to these events and meeting the right people and having fun. It was very organic, obviously,” he said of the video. He was also wearing Ami in the video, which he shot on his phone.

“I knew how to say ‘je t’aime’ but that’s as far as my vocabulary goes right now, but I’m here a lot so I think I will start brushing up on it,” he added.

Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley, who just collaborated on a capsule collection of knitwear for the brand, was in awe of the venue and the view. “I am so excited and seeing everyone turn up, I mean it’s people watching heaven. What a way to see Paris,” he said as he gazed over the city.

“This is next level,” added his husband, Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. “I do enjoy [fashion shows] because it’s about making the fantasy into reality and don’t we all need a little more fantasy right now.”

Xavier Dolan introduced himself to Italian singer-songwriter Mahmood, whom he said he recognized from following on Instagram. The “Matthias and Maxime” director admitted that he is good with remembering faces, but is not so strong in the remembering names department.

His upcoming CanalPlus TV series has finished shooting and is in the editing room, a process that has become all-encompassing and “feels overwhelming” at times. But he took a night off to take in the Ami show, though he doesn’t look to models for casting. “It’s a wonderful way to connect with actors and actresses because they are invited, but I don’t have that consideration in mind. I think fashion is an art form that I really admire and it really inspires me in a different way,” he said.

Guests were taken to the afterparty by tourist train to a local high school, where Anderson .Paak was set to DJ. Walking out to screaming crowds, .Paak enthusiastically hammed it up and posed for pics. “I enjoy it, I kinda like it,” he said as he was mobbed by kids. Flashing his megawatt smile, he added: “I used to bag groceries, so there are worse things.” — R.R.

RIVIERA BOUND: On a global expansion kick this year, Caviar Kaspia is to open in Saint-Tropez, France, on July 1. The permanent, but seasonal, restaurant will be operated by the Annie Famose Group and located on the first floor of the Tour du Portalet in the port area.

Previously, the home of Kinugawa for the past three years, the space has been renovated in “Art Deco Tropézienne” style, according to Kaspia, describing it as a “glamorous boudoir overlooking the Mediterranean.” It is to open from 7 p.m., offering cocktails on the terrace including the new Oyster Independent, composed of vodka, oyster leaf, sea foam and a garnish of caviar. A DJ is to accompany diners late into the night.

As with all Kaspia locations, expect turquoise tablecloths and napkins, minaret-shaped ashtrays — and that famous caviar-topped potato on the menu.

The fashion crowd’s favorite Parisian restaurant, located on Place de la Madeleine since 1952, is marking its 95th anniversary this year.

Caviar Kaspia Group, headed by chief executive officer Ramon Mac-Crohon, recently opened locations in São Paulo and Dubai — and coming soon are Los Angeles, New York City and London.

Annie Famose, formerly an alpine ski champion, operates more than 30 restaurants with her two children, David and Sarah Bremond, in a range of jet-set locations including Saint-Tropez, Megève, Courchevel , Saint-Barthélemy, Biarritz and Avoriaz.

Caviar Kaspia was founded by Arcady Fixon, a Russian refugee fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution, who ultimately became a French citizen. Out of nostalgia for the Motherland of his youth, he decorated his eatery in pre-Revolutionary style, decorated with artifacts he collected over the years, including a crystal seal once belonging to Tsar Nicolas II. — MILES SOCHA

 

COOL FOR SCHOOL: Sunday’s Kenzo show, held at a sprawling French high school, had celebrities including Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Cruz Beckham on stadium-style seating in a vast gymnasium.

Ansel Elgort showed up in a sharp suit and sunglasses. “I was out until 5 a.m. last night so I’m a bad school kid, and have school this morning,” he joked.

The actor and photographer was sporting a vintage Olympus camera around his neck that once belonged to his photographer father. “I see pictures all the time in real life so when I see it I want to take it and there’s a lot of good pictures around here. Like this guy over here looks cool, but he looked away,” he said, gesturing to the crowd. “You gotta kind of catch the moment and surprise people. It’s about the reflex.”

“Elvis” star Kelvin Harrison reminisced about his high school days. “I was definitely awkward — and I definitely did not look as cool as this senior class but I did have a good time, and I think that is the whole point,” he said of growing up in New Orleans.

He liked the vibe of the show that recalled school uniforms. “I think it’s an interpretation of the 1970s and going to school in what that feels like in your best fit.”

His fit for the day was a floral suit from the brand, which he chose for its hand-painted look. “It felt special. It felt like it had a story and was personal. It’s definitely a form of art in patterns and colors and shapes and stories,” he added.

Jaden Smith was also digging Kenzo creative director Nigo’s sophomore show. “I felt like I was inside of a different world, I felt like I was inside of a movie,” he said. “When artists really create things that are world building in that type of way, I feel like I can just appreciate it to another level because there are so many different layers of detail.”

Lil Dre, who started as a skateboarder and now models and makes music, said he hit up several shows and parties during the week. “That’s why I’m tired,” he said. “It feels like I’m young again — I am young — but it feels like the old days going to high school tired, but I really enjoyed being here. I just loved all the shows.” Kenzo was his last show of the week and he plans to go back to California to “skateboard, chill and get in my jacuzzi.”

“Umbrella Academy” star Justin Min was celebrating the release of the latest season, which dropped on Netflix on June 22. “It was a whirlwind shooting that during the height of the pandemic and I am very, very thankful that we finally get to release it to the world,” he said.

His called his very first time at Paris Fashion Week “insane but fun and exhilarating.”

“I’ve been to Paris a couple of times just doing dumb touristy stuff,” he said. Still, he is planning to go see the city’s Monet exhibit and “take a peek” at the Eiffel Tower while he is in town. “I mean you can’t not go to the touristy spots,” he joked. — R.R.