Daphne Guiness Tied To Dubious Diamond Cartel
Daphne Guiness, the black-and-white-haired fashionista who’s blossomed from a blonde heiress to a couture-wearing gaunt goddess who gets dressed for the Met Ball in a shop window, has just launched an exhibition of her weird and wonderful couture collection at the Fashion Institute, New York.
So far, so gorgeous – but her choice of sponsor is raising more than a few eyebrows.
The main bulk of funding for the show comes from the billionaire diamond magnate Lev Leviev, whose activities in the diamond business have horrified human rights oganisations.
Guinness, a great friend of the late Alexander McQueen, personally thanked Lev in the programme for her show, which displays her considerable wardrobe and has some great design treasures, including a large amount of McQueen.
Unfortunately, her friend has employed mercenaries in Angola who have been accused of virtually every atrocity short of war crimes.
The scandal was revealed by Andalah New York, but neither Leviev nor Guiness have had any comment, and the exhibition looks to be one of FIT’s most popular of the holiday season.
Image: Daphne Guinness.
Lanvin Petite’s Chocolate Cake Competition
Ever wanted to dress your darling child in a replica of your Lanvin dress?
We haven’t either- but Lanvin is launching its Petites line for children with a competition we can all get behind: finding the best chocolate cake recipe in the world.
Entrants (who must be mother-daughter teams) can send their recipes to be judged by Lanvin’s chosen expert in all things chocolate.
And they’ve picked one of the best chocolatiers in the world for the task: the Executive Chef of the Ritz Escoffier Culinary School in Paris, Michael Roth.
The winners will be invited to a special Tea Party at the Ritz in Paris on December 4th – with children definitely deserving their own invitations – and the overall prize will possibly (though Lanvin is giving out no hints) include a mother-daughter shopping spree.
So if you’re Lanvin-mad and a culinary goddess – AND a yummy mummy – get your recipes in. However, the problem with the competition is, of course, that too much chocolate cake might mean you can’t fit into the Lanvin…
Image: Lanvin’s Chocolate Cake competition.
MyCatwalk Opens First Real Shop Offline
Online shopping is the wave of the future.
From Net-a-Porter to the fact that the Monday after Black Friday was Buy Online Day (did you purchase anything?), the fashion industry is celebrating entering the digital realm, with even the highest-end retailers selling their wares via the internet.
Now one of Australia’s best up-and-coming online stores has gone the opposite way.
MyCatwalk has opened its first real-life stores – four in one go – in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, for the shopper who just has to feel the material between their fingers before placing down their credit card.
However, these aren’t solely for bargain-hunters: they’re high-end boutiques with a range of international labels to make you want to faint, from devastatingly cool jeans line Acne to Olivier Theysken’s Theory line, the stuff of fashionista daydreams.
It’s no real surprise that the brainchild behind MyCatwalk was also involved in the Belinda boutique, one of Australia’s foremost importers of luxury chic and a must destination for the people who frequent Colette while in Paris.
However, the line promises to make some cheaper aspects available to us mortals as well.
Image: The MyCatwalk Clovelly Store.
The High Fashion Crime Wave Continues
Rescu. brought you the news of Marc Jacobs’ theft difficulty last week – with his entire Spring/Summer 2012 line stolen en route to Paris. (Apparently it may have been stolen to counterfeit the designs, and has not been returned.)
Now, as if he doesn’t have enough troubles, a major Louis Vuitton shipment – which is, of course, Jacobs’ other line – has been stolen by masked bandits.
The theft happened, yet again, in Paris, at the Charles De Gaulle airport, but it was a considerably nasty affair.
French police delicately said that the thieves ‘neutralised’ the guard for the $400,000 worth of goods and held five staff members hostage.
They made off with two whole trucks full of merchandise, and there are no details of their recovery or any leads.
Vuitton is a major world label, part of the LVMH luxury conglomerate, so fortunately $400,000 – which would be enough to cripple a lesser line – will hopefully be able to be written off without too much difficulty.
However, in a pressing economic time for luxury lines, the news could not be worse, and Marc Jacobs must be wondering what god he’s offended.
Image: Louis Vuitton.
