“As a brand rooted in nostalgia, this collection reinvents the fits of the ’80s and ’90s for a new generation,” said Tim Kaeding, creative director and co-founder of Mother Denim. “For snacks in general we played with proportions and larger jeans. It’s more objective and it’s about how you want to wear it.” Established in 2010, Mother Denim stocks everything from denim and dresses to jumpsuits, shirts, skirts, shorts, jumpers, sweatshirts and t-shirts.
Retail prices for snacks range from $198 to $228. It is sold worldwide at stores such as Fwrd by Elyse Walker, Shopbop, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, LuisaViaRoma and Selfridges, and Motherdenim.com. — LISA LOCKWOOD
UPS SUPPORTS RISING TALENTS: UPS is en route to New York Fashion Week.
The shipping and logistics company makes its fashion debut this week as the official logistics partner of NYFW: The Shows, launching its first collection of apparel and merchandise to commemorate the milestone, in partnership with non-profit organization In the Blk, featuring three up-and-coming Black designers to be presented on February 13th.
The 14-piece collection was inspired by small and medium-sized businesses, which are at the heart of UPS’s Be Unstoppable initiative, a program designed to help business owners of smaller businesses compete more effectively against larger corporations. Pieces include clothing, backpacks, and wireless speakers, all ranging in price from $28 to $98.
The limited collection from UPS.
Christian Kodi
UPS hired photographer Christian Cody to shoot the collection and stylist Ugo Mozie to create the looks. Proceeds from this collection go to In the Blk, a non-profit dedicated to promoting emerging Black fashion brands. UPS will also donate $50,000 to support black entrepreneurs.
“NYFW is another example of how we can come together and show ourselves in a different way as customers perceive us,” said Kevin Warren, UPS chief marketing officer. “It’s not just about writing a check. We will rely on that.”
Warren said that small and medium-sized businesses, abbreviated as SMBs, represent the most profitable customer segment for UPS and the company’s strong performance in 2021 was driven by these smaller companies. But this segment has also been hardest hit by the pandemic, particularly black-owned businesses, which inspired UPS to launch an expansion of Be Unstoppable called Proudly Unstoppable, an initiative to support minority-owned businesses during the pandemic. The company raised $580,000 in grants for black and mixed-ownership businesses.
This collection furthers that cause. “I think there’s a synergy between being good and moving goods,” Warren said. “We had to update the middle model. This is a company that is very diverse.”
Prior to this partnership with NYFW: The Shows, UPS sponsored the “Be Unstoppable” initiative with tennis star and entrepreneur Serena Williams and reggaeton artist J Balvin, who used TikTok to promote Latin American-owned SMEs. The company also landed as the official shipping partner at ComplexCon, handling shipping for attendees and free ground shipping for VIP ticket holders.
“We found that a real shift in UPS brand relevance is to culturally meet consumers where they are,” Warren said. — OBI ANYANWU
SPROUSE’S NEW GIG: Versace has named Cole Sprouse the face of its latest eyewear campaign.
Sprouse, who plays “Jughead” in the super popular teen soup “Riverdale” on The CW Network, was photographed by Steven Klein and styled by Allega Versace, daughter of Donatella. Klein used a handheld camera to capture the actor’s and model’s dynamic movements during the shoot.
The Capsule eyewear collection features two styles of sunglass – a metal navigation goggle with adjustable nose pads and a wraparound metal mask frame, and a round optical frame, all in a variety of color combinations. All styles use a mix of the Italian house’s iconography, such as embossed Medusa details and engraved brand logos.
Cole Sprouse in the Versace Eyewear campaign.
decency
Sprouse rose to fame as a child actor – with his twin brother Dylan – for his role as Cody Martin on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and spin-off series The Suite Life on Deck. He has received three Teen Choice Awards for his role in Riverdale and starred in the 2019 hit teen drama Five Feet Apart. According to his IMDb page, the actor and model is in post-production for two films slated for 2022: Moonshot and Undercover.
The collection goes on sale on Tuesday and the campaign will be rolled out on Versace’s social channels. – THOMAS WALLER
META ESTATE: Philipp Plein made his move in the Metaverse.
Plein Group has bought a property in the Decentraland metaverse, a 3D virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain.
The Switzerland-based fashion company bought the property at a price of 510,000 Manas – Decentraland’s own cryptocurrency – which is approximately $1.4 million, as per the transaction date.
Dubbed Plein Plaza, the property is said to be in a prime location directly overlooking one of the Genesis Plazas, framed and accessible from two streets, and will include 65 Decentraland lots, equivalent to approximately 176,528 real-world square feet.
Philip Plein
Steven Klein/Courtesy of Philipp Plein
The transaction was carried out by the fashion group using the alias Bug$ Bunny with the support of Jason Rosenstein, founder and chief executive officer of NFT auction house and marketplace Portion, who will also be involved in the development of the property.
Digital visual artist Antoni Tudisco will also play a role in the creation of the Plein Plaza project, which will include retail, entertainment, an art museum, a hotel and luxury residences.
Plein said he was proud “to have seized this opportunity to own part of the Metaverse so early in the development and establishment of this new universe.”
“We are here to stay and to develop and share the creativity of all our brands – Philipp Plein, Plein Sport and Billionaire – also in this new dimension of human interaction, which I personally believe in very much,” he added.
The German designer was among the first to fully exploit the potential of the digital world and its tools. Last year, the company opened up to cryptocurrencies, accepting more than 20 different types of payment in both its brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce.
Last month, the Philipp Plein Fall 2022 presentation for men, held at the group’s new Milan headquarters, also featured sculptures of monsters, initially intended as pure NFT art and then transformed into physical objects that the designer will reveal next December who wants to exhibit Art Basel Miami. – SANDRA SALIBIAN
HEADGAMES: If you had to sum up your life in three points, what would they be?
Visitors to the 3537 cultural center in Paris will have the opportunity to sign their guest book after attending Past Bones Present Flesh Future Omen, an exhibition featuring works by artist-designers Flávio Juán Núñez and Laurent Tijou running until February 24 2019 runs 13.
Death masks on display at the 3537 cultural center in Paris.
Lucien Heritier
Spread across the upper and lower levels of 3537, the exhibition is the culmination of an artistic dialogue that began five years ago when Tijou, then head of jewelry design at Jean Paul Gaultier, approached furrier and leather specialist Núñez for pieces for haute couture . The two men shared a common love for the craft.
Guests are greeted on the first floor amid strobe lights and techno sounds by the leather and crystal “Death of Disco,” the first of many death mask sculpts on the show. Contrary to a photograph of an early collaboration between Núñez and Tijou, a dialogue between past and present begins.
“[These photographs] started as pieces that were part of Jean Paul [Gaultier’s] collection, so they had to undo it. We then wanted to transcribe them differently using the same techniques,” Tijou said.
Other death mask sculptures draw on Núñez’ family roots and the craft he learned. “My grandmother used to take and preserve likenesses of family members [their] Jewelry, that’s how the conversation with Laurent started,” he said.
“Death masks began with embalming rituals from different eras associated with craftsmanship,” he added, pointing to the complex coverings of Egyptian mummies or how conquered Mayans had their jewelry stripped from them.
Woven into the production of Núñez and Tijou is a commentary on materialism; trauma and healing; LGBTQ advocacy plus a healthy dose of their “twisted sense of humor,” as the duo put it.
Photographs from the Disrespectful Idols, Golem, and Om series hang on the walls. The latter was filmed in Malta and examines female archetypes from antiquity to the Renaissance. On the lower level, the Gisants installation – boxes with pictures and the bewildering sound of crackling fire – coexist with more death masks and small coffins.
A coffin in the courtyard serves as a memorial to members of the LGBTQ community who have “inverted… switched… rebelled… passed away,” according to the artists in a poem engraved on it.
They will be remembered further on February 12-13 when Núñez directs a story of transformation, rebirth and transcendence in Passing, a performance he co-wrote with dancer Corey Scott-Gilbert.
A book tracing older works from Núñez’s artistic research to the exhibition is available from Bookshop 1909 for 49 euros. It is the first publication issued by 3537. — LILY TEMPLETON
