1. alentino is taking its couture show on
the road — and the label’s designers,
Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo
Piccioli, are in for a busy couple of
months as a result. The Paris-based
brand will travel to New York in
December to present the offering
as it opens its Fifth Avenue store,
before showing as usual in Paris
in January during Couture
Week.
Then, come July, the design-
ers will travel to Rome — their
home town and alma mater
— to host a couture show to
coincide with another flag-
ship store opening, in the an-
cient Italian city. The label
plans to return to Paris for the
couture shows in January 2016.
Fashion commentators — in-
cluding The New York Times’s
Vanessa Friedman — have inter-
preted the news as yet another
signal that the traditional cou-
ture show schedule, and all that goes
with it, is losing traction, and that
brands are focusing on putting them-
selves where the customers are.
“The choice is important because
the brand, led by the Valentino chief
executive Stefano Sassi, is one of the
mainstays of the ever-shrinking Paris
couture schedule,” Friedman notes.
“Its exquisite shows are among the
most highly anticipated of the week,
along with Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul
Gaultier and Armani Privé. Valenti-
no’s willingness to go its own way, even
if just for a season, would have to give
fellow fashionistas pause.”
With Dolce & Gabbana already show-
ing couture in Italy — the designers’
home market and inspiration for many
of their collections — and now Valen-
tino following suit, we may soon see
other brands take the couture show on
the road in pursuit of new business for
the age-old art.
ManishMishra
istening to the likes of Franca Sozzani, Alberta
Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli and Peter Dundas — who
discussed the future of fashion and challenges
faced by up and coming designers — was a nourish-
ing experience for a style junkie like me. Fran-
ca Sozzani, Vogue Italia, Editor-in-chief spoke about the
need for new blood in fashion. She said, “You need
to give room to young people as they have a differ-
ent vision. The new designers at Valentino have
kept the dna intact while making it young while
some, on the other hand, have made it their own
way. If a brand allows you to dream, you should
follow the brand. Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy is do-
ing Givenchy of the era we are living in. Hedi
Slimane at Saint Laurent is doing it in a modern
way.”
Designer Peter Dundas discussed the chal-
lenges he faced and the choices he made at
Emilio Pucci. “When you came on board at a
brand like Pucci there are disadvantages, peo-
ple have preconceived notions. Every house
should have women and women can’t be
forgotten in the process. I started hanging
out with the Pucci woman. She is beautiful
and I’m happy when she wears my clothes
and even when she changes something. I
introduced embroideries, patchwork,
spirit of the graphics — dip dyeing them,
making the prints large. I really make it a
point of not being slave to the archives,” he
shared.
Besides the fashion talks, the three-day cel-
ebration of fashion highlighted the talent of
international designers with an exclusive
fashion show at The Dubai Mall Fashion Cat-
walk. Alongside, The Dubai Mall also hosted
unique exhibitions from Italy as well as a
wide range of in-store events organised by
fashion retailers.
Theselectedbrands
Asudari Studio by Lamia Asudari from
Saudi Arabia, Christopher Esber from Aus-
tralia, J. JS Lee by Jackie JS Lee from South
Korea, Madiya Al Sharqi from the UAE,
Miuniku by Tina Sutradhar and Nikita
Sutradhar from India, No3 Design by Bushra
Badri and Amira Al Khaja from the UAE, Stella
Jean from Italy and Piccione Piccione by Salvatore
Piccione from Italy.
Spotlightonemergingdesigners
Anabela Chan from the UK, Astrid Sarkissian
from France, Augustin Teboul by Odély Teboul
and Annelie Augustin from France and Germany,
Faiza Bouguessa from France/Algeria, Charline
De Luca by Carlotta De Luca from Italy, Coliac by
Martina Grasselli from Italy, Dora Abodi from
Hungary, Endemage by Lubna and Nadia Al Zak-
wani from Oman, Eun-Jung Lee from South Ko-
rea, Heaven Tanudiredja from Indonesia, Hema
Kaul from India, Hooked | HKD by Farah Nasri
from Lebanon, i’Alave by Eva Lai from the USA,
Marius Janusauskas from Belgium, Mies Nobis
by Millicent Nobis from Australia, Omelya by Ko-
stya Omelya from Ukraine, Reem Al Kanhal from
Saudi Arabia, Sarah Angold Studio by Sarah An-
gold from the UK, Shamsa Alabbar from the UAE
and Steven Tai from Canada.
manish.mishra@dnaindia.net
Mumbai,
Thursday,November6,2014
epaper.dnaindia.com
after
5
new
focal
point
Vogue
Fashion
Dubai
Experience
(VFDE)
saw
emergence
ofnew
talentfrom
acrossthe
globeand
fashion
talksby
someof
themost
celebrated
names
CREME DE
LE CREME
FROM the
FASHION
INDUSTRY
Roberto Cavalli,
Alberta Ferretti,
Philipp Plein, Peter
Dundas, Ciara,
Elissa and Latifa
among others were
present
L
F
ormer Mrs India and designer Shilpa Reddy showcased her
fall line in Paris last week at the historic J-Autumn Fashion
Show by Jessica Minh Anh. Visually pushing the envelope,
Jessica had designed a two-tiered outdoor catwalk, which
was spread over 150 metres across the first floor of the symbolic
tower.
Shilpa was seen merging the East and West on a global
platform as her designs presented a bold statement with
clean structure, premium fabrics, and impeccable finishes.
Given the international visibility and the magnitude of the
platform, Shilpa Reddy chose the Malkha fabric as the base for
her designs. She endorsed it as a fashion fabric for sustainable
fashion as it combines thousands of years of Indian experience
of making cotton with modern engineering skills. Malkha is
made exclusively from Telangana and Andhra regions and is
engineered using plant-based dyes to produce beautiful fabrics
with no environmental pollution. The designer has ventured
into designing foot wear with Malkha combining embroideries in
collaboration with brand September from Hyderabad.
Atthe
Eiffel
I’m a
frustrated
child from the
seventies. I wear
white all the
time.
—Peter Dundas
at Vogue Fashion Dubai
Experience
High-endleisure!
A
fter partnering with greats like Yohji
Yamamoto, Raf Simons, Rick Owens,
and, more recently, Pharrell Williams,
you would think that Adidas has had its
fill of out-of-the-box collaborations. Not
so. Here’s a first look at Originals by Mary
Katrantzou, a Technicolour-printed offering
in stores November 15.
Track shoes worn by medal winners in the
1970s and 1980s were the starting points
for Katrantzou, who reworked Adidas’
iconic looks to wild effect — consider the
gold hardware on a hot pink, purple, and
green sneaker. But the fun doesn’t stop
there: Body-hugging zip-up dresses and
pullovers in neoprene and print mesh
feature abstract florals, stripes, and laces.
Chic
buzz
Quote
dujour
showcase at
the dubai mall
(From top to bottom) looks
by Stella Jean, Madiya Al
Sharqi, Asudari, Piccione
Piccione, (extreme left)
Miuniku by Tina and Nikita
Sutradhar
This yellow and
black blazer by
designer Vivek
Karunakaran spells
dapper!
OnAfterHrswishlist
FrancaSozzani,
Editor-in-chief,
VogueItalia,
RobertBooth,
CEO,Emaar
DubaiRealEs-
tatewithpartici-
patingdesigners
V
IsZaninileaving
Schiaparelli?
A
s if recent designer moves at the
top of houses including Carven,
and de la Renta weren’t enough,
there are rumours that Marco Zanini is
set to depart Schiaparelli. Sources close
to the label alleged this weekend that
the Italian is unhappy at the relaunched
couture label and has an eye on the door,
with one insider tellingWWD that the
brand “is not exactly his fit”.
Zanini presented his first “prêt-à-
couture” collection for the brand in
July to critical acclaim. Shown during
Paris Couture Week, the collection — as
the name suggests — is not couture
in the purest sense, being sold out of
Schiaparelli’s Place Vendôme salon like
ready-to-wear, but boasts couture-level
detailing, and in-store fittings that
resemble a couture service.
Philipp Plein
Valentino’scoutureroadtrip