Plus Dior and Giorgio Armani take to the slopes and Mulberry teams up with Miffy
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Fendi Greets the Lunar New Year
Red, a symbol of joy and fortune, is the color of choice in Fendi’s new capsule marking the year of the rabbit on the Chinese lunar calendar. Drawing inspiration from Marc Jacobs’ reinterpretation of the house’s Roma logo for the Baguette bag’s recent anniversary, the collection includes ready-to-wear sweaters, skirts, scarves, hats and accessories incorporating Jacobs’ motif. A slew of bags from the Peekaboo to the ISeeU Petite and Baguette itself are awash in the Op art-inspired red-and-white pattern and there’s even a Nano bag in the shape of a bunny. Grayscale menswear including denim, sweats, belt bags, camera cases, wind breakers, and both the house’s Flow and Match sneakers get a similar graphic treatment and color palette. South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, 714-751-1111.
A Snow Day for Dior
Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s new DiorAlps capsule includes ski suits, down jackets, pants and all the requisite hats, gloves, boots, goggles and scarves necessary for blue bird days or steady flurries. Water-repellant fabrics in houndstooth, Mizza print, Dior Oblique and gold-tone quilted fabric embellished with the house’s etoile motif—reinterpreting Christian Dior’s lucky star—make up functional designs that are also eye-catching amid newly fallen flakes when the mountains are calling.
Mulberry Tap Dutch Bunny Miffy for a Joyous Escapade
The rabbit, symbol of the lunar New Year ahead, is played by the Dutch animated bunny Miffy in Mulberry’s limited-edition Lunar New Year offering. Adventurous Miffy hops across a series of accessories including keyrings, peers out of wallets, frolics across Bayswater bag straps and new tote designs, often seeming to play a jubilant game of hide-and-seek. True to form, Miffy’s world is a riot of bold hues including coral orange, cornflower blue and lawn green rendered in environmentally accredited carbon-neutral leather. An accompanying film finds Miffy in Shanghai, playfully pursued by two fans who follow her around town in a red car carrying pieces from the collaborative Mulberry x Miffy collection before finally meeting her as fireworks ignite above the city.
Prada Marks the New Year’s First New Moon
The feelings and emotions of past moments and memories of previous lunar New Year celebrations are evoked in Prada’s new social media project, Memories of Beauty, and the images of its capsule collection shot by Nick Yang. In honor of the calendar change, the house is launching a reworked Moon bag and a host of women’s ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories in addition to men’s velvet jackets and jeans, square bags and leather trainers. The Moon bag’s innovative new padded look makes for a soft silhouette, yet the bones of the early 2000s archival hobo design are still apparent. A squad of creatives with projects to watch for in the coming months include singer Cai Xukun, and actors Chun Xia, Du Juan and Bai Yufan who don the celebratory designs in Yang’s images.
Dior Men’s ERL Capsule Pops Up on Melrose
Kim Jones, Dior Men’s artistic director, tapped Eli Russell Linnetz of Venice-based ERL as guest designer of a capsule combining the house codes of both lines in a California Couture collection that’s arrived in Los Angeles at an ephemeral space on Melrose Avenue. Bucket hats, skate shoes, hoodies, Bermuda shorts and puffer jackets—pieces that debuted at the Windward Avenue show held beneath the iconic Venice sign—headline this exchange between Paris and L.A., and the collection’s slate of pastel hues nods to an earlier era of midcentury candy-colored convertibles and diners that dotted the region’s coastal cities. The ready-to-wear and accessories are housed amid vintage Chevys in bright shades of blue and an on-site cafe serving drinks and bites, open through February 12. 8175 Melrose Ave., L.A., 323-471-1540.
Armani’s Après-Ski Edit Also Includes Slope-Ready Gear
Giorgio Armani took to the alpine town of St. Moritz to show his latest Neve collection comprised of soft faux-fur outerwear and accessories and a host of sporty maxi-chevron quilted jackets, chunky knitwear and color-blocked boots with blues and greens—classic hues from the Armani lexicon—riffing on clear mountain skies and thickets of trees found in high-altitude terrain. Armani’s La Prima bag is also reimagined in a new shearling style, in black or azure, to complement a mountain wardrobe. For men there are puffer jackets, windbreakers, jumpsuits, gilets and coats also tapping into the same color palette in performance-ready nylon, cashmere and wool. A navy oversize backpack made from water-repellent recycled nylon also incorporates shearling details, as does a matching Ushanka hat.
Feature image: Maria Grazia Chiuri’s new DiorAlps capsule collection at a recent pop-up.
January 23, 2023.
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