Hermès Names 2022 Beauty Creative Director

Gregory Pyrpylis has been tapped by Hermès Beauty to be their new creative director. He will report to Agnès de Villers, president of Hermès Parfum and Beauté, and he will work under the brand’s artist director, Pierre-Alexis Dumas.

In 2020, Hermès expanded their beauty division beyond perfumes by adding cosmetics including lipstick, powders, and nail polish. The brand continues to prove its strength and perseverance, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. An Hermès store in Guangzhou took in 2.7 million dollars in one Saturday after China began reopening from the first round of lockdowns.

In Q3 of 2021, Hermès reported that revenue was up 31 percent. Last month, the company also announced they would join Euro Stoxx 50, one of Europe’s main equity benchmarks.

Kanye West Hires Homeless For Next Fashion Show

Kanye West hopes to support the homeless with his next Yeezy fashion show.

The rapper plans to enlist homeless people to model the clothing from his new collaboration with the Skid Row Fashion Week brand in an upcoming presentation, TMZ reported Thursday. The initiative would aim to provide jobs with the Skid Row company for homeless people in Los Angeles.

A representative for West, 44, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plan began when West met with Skid Row Fashion Week founder David Sabastian this month and agreed to work together on an upcoming clothing line, Sebastian told TMZ.

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Both men’s companies would also support the homeless population by donating proceeds from the fashion event, according to the report.

Rihanna Brings Sexiness to the Mall: Go Inside the First Savage X Fenty Retail Store

Rihanna has landed at the mall. Her Savage X Fenty brand of high-gloss, super-sexy lingerie and intimates is opening five stores in shopping malls across the United States this month, first in Las Vegas, and then Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Houston. “Our expectation is you won’t be able to walk past these stores and not go in, even if you’re not in the market for lingerie,” says Savage X Fenty’s co-president and chief marketing officer. Natalie Guzman. 

For those among us who would blindly follow Rihanna into the depths of hell, yes, you will definitely go into the Savage X Fenty retail store. But what the store design and technology aim to do is bring everyone into the Savage universe, even those not shopping for lingerie or—seemingly impossible in this day and age—those not under Rihanna’s spell. 

The first thing mall denizens will notice is the store’s radiating color palette. Unlike other intimates retailers that have cultivated a boudoir aesthetic, Savage X Fenty’s stores bring the adrenaline of its filmed runway shows into its bricks-and-mortar retail. Neon lights in fuchsia, emerald, and sapphire illuminate the space. The playlist will “definitely have the Savage vibe,” says chief merchant and co-president Christiane Pendarvis, “and there might be a little Rihanna in there,” she winks. Mannequins span a diverse range of body types, with some forms made from 3D scans of human Savage models. “We want to make sure whoever you are as a customer, you see yourself in our stores—and that’s not just the marketing and what we’re doing in terms of things like mannequins and imagery, but also the people that are there to help service and support you,” continues Pendarvis. “We frankly just don’t know how to operate in any other different way.”

The sexy inclusivity of Savage is expected by fans, but what might not be is the level of technology embedded in each physical store. “We’re not necessarily known as a technology brand, but we’re taking this opportunity to really merge physical and digital in a way that we just haven’t seen done in the mall, particularly not in this category where fit and comfort in your body and confidence is so important,” says Pendarvis. The company partnered with Fit:Match to launch Fit Xperience, a body scanning app powered by LiDAR with at least two devices in each store that allows customers to get a 3D scan of the body and product recommendations based on what might flatter them best.

“It’s not intended to a replace the expertise of an associate, but it it’s an amazing way to get a really accurate view of an individual's body and make personalized recommendations based on our assortment. We think this is going to be a game changer for us.”

In addition to the 3D scan technology, the fitting rooms in Savage X Fenty stores will have different vibe settings so shoppers can try out their looks in the right atmosphere. (Who understands dressing for one’s vibes more than Rihanna?) Hangers are made from compostable wheat byproducts and the entire store design, from its mannequin wall to its interactive spaces, is modular. “It’s inspired by the idea of a dollhouse,” says Guzman. “We wanted to be able to have this endless merchandising ability and to always be able to change the spaces so we can continue to deliver the best Savage experience.” The space also intends to be selfie-ready from any angle: “The entire store is highly Instagramable,” affirms Guzman. 

But don’t just take it from Rihanna’s business partners. The musician, icon, and entrepreneur—and, I would add, expert shopper—is certain that her fans will find her mark throughout the Savage space. “The store tells a story and is highly focused on a true experience. Every detail was curated carefully to immerse people in the brand and elevate the consumer experience, while being playful, welcoming and fun.” Rihanna says. “We wanted to be able to connect with our customers in real life and give them something they have never seen before. Creating the space took a lot of imagination, married with things I’ve always wanted to change about my own experiences as a customer myself, from mannequins to the Fit Xperience, to customer service. We are so happy with the outcome and now I can’t wait for people to see it.”

Forever André: Anna Wintour on Her Extraordinary Friend and Colleague

André Leon Talley and I first met in 1983. Grace Mirabella, the then editor of Vogue, had just hired me as the magazine’s creative director, while André was its fashion news director. He’d arrived at Vogue having been at the Costume Institute, Interview, and the Paris bureau of WWD, where he was the toast of the town.

We quickly became friends, in part because neither of us quite fit in with the no-nonsense and totally beige corporate atmosphere of the office: André had enough volubility to be onstage at the Metropolitan Opera, while I was just the weird Brit. Looking back, I really didn’t help my cause by having the eccentric Isabella Blow as my assistant, who took to cleaning her desk with generous spritzes of Chanel No. 5 at the end of each working day. André applauded—adored—the aristocratic insouciance of it all.

Yet that was only part of the story for André and me. Friendship with him meant being part of his erudite, gilded, and fiercely self-created existence; of being in the orbit of someone who had the incredible gift, one amplified by his immense charm, of always being able to joyfully turn the volume of life up—way, way up. I’d never met anyone who had so many friends known only by their first names: Paloma, Karl, Andy, Yves, Diane. And before long, André had joined their ranks.

André was also an intrinsic part of both my family life and my personal life. He’d stay weekends with us in Long Island; that’s where this portrait of him was taken. He was forever generous with his time, and he was always the most entertaining house guest, critic, and cheerleader. He could lift everyone up. His cameos in our family summer movies were classic. And André consulted on fittings for whatever my daughter, Bee, and I would wear to the Met any given year.

The night before the May 2016 gala, André emailed Bee and me with some thoughts on her hair for the night: “A soft loosely knotted back, and off the neck, clean off the neck. It can’t be messy. But it has to look like you just caught it in a one twist, like a soft figure 8 caught with [the] same color band as your hair. And you can still wear the little tiny band of diamonds. But never too tight, yet never messy, like you came off the tennis court.”

The day after André died, I started going through many, many years of his emails to me. While before this he used to communicate via violently colored faxes, email was a revelation to him, and his—always rendered in different colors and fonts—were brilliant, explosive, funny, opinionated, and exhilarating. People always say that tone is lost over text and email—not with André.

Those emails say so much about him. Here he is writing from Kanye West’s wedding to Kim Kardashian in Florence in 2014:

“I have never seen such organization, such imagination, and a sense of perfection. And such a diverse mix of people. Jaden Smith, 15 years old, went as an albino bat to the ceremony, it was beyond genius. An albino bat, go figure. And apparently he has his own clothing line. Kanye looked so handsome in Lanvin. And Alber Elbaz now really wears shoes, worn, beaten and coming apart, like Charlie Chaplin.”

Unsurprisingly, clothes—his, mine, and those seen in runway shows—made for some of André’s most incisive and hilarious commentary. One collection invoked his ire: “What was all that stuff, Amish uniforms on steroids. Pretentiously artistic! FASHION NUNS Meets The Handmaid’s Tale.” Another, from Marc Jacobs, a designer who André believed in so much, brought an opportunity to rave:

“What I really want to say is that Marc Jacobs as usual is the only great, great show in New York City. Why do we have to sit through a tsunami of crap just to get to him? We have to. It’s life. It was a master class of style, true style. A master class. I was knocked out by the beauty, the sheer brilliance and polish. People must be embraced, loved, and supported. No matter what it takes. I just send missives to Marc. I don’t even go backstage anymore. He prefers the words.”

André clearly had a way with words, but his actions also spoke volumes. Years ago, when my mother died unexpectedly, I had just made it to London, despite a ferocious snowstorm which had gripped New York, and my husband and children couldn’t join me for the funeral. I was so low, which André immediately realized. Being the force of nature that he was, absolutely nothing was going to stop him crossing the Atlantic to be there for me and for my family. Amidst a lifetime of memories of André, I will never forget his kindness, his chivalry, and his friendship.