CLING RING: According to Alaïa creative director Pieter Mulier, Gisele Bündchen incarnates the Alaïa woman like no one else: Hence, he cast the Brazilian model in the brand’s winter-spring 2024 campaign.
Photographer Tyrone Lebon captured her at Riverset studios in Miami, working with a “very small crew” as “Bündchen doesn’t need any artifice. She appears more radiant than ever. Her fascinating presence is enough,” according to the house.
The images broke Monday on Alaïa’s social channels, Bündchen’s famously athletic figure exalted in clinging looks made of leather, latex and knitwear.
“Gisele has something very unique about her, an aura which she seems to emanate. An absolute elegance. A very strong beauty,” Mulier enthused. “She is so powerful and graceful at the same time.
“To me, she is the Alaïa woman,” the Belgian designer continued. “And her connection to the house is so intimate. It was easy to make her embody the sensual vision of this new collection. Wearing Alaïa is natural for her.”
WWD called the collection “a sexed-up version of stern, 1940s glamour expressed with seamed leather, filmy latex, lacquered knitwear and plenty of flesh.”
Although she retired from the catwalk in 2015, Bündchen has roared back into the fashion spotlight over the past year, also appearing in campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Boss, Frame, IWC Schaffhausen and Brazilian brands Vivara and Arezzo, which make jewelry and shoes respectively.
Mulier — the longtime right hand of designer Raf Simons — assumed the creative helm of Alaïa three years ago and has been riffing on the late Tunisian couturier’s flair for a curve-enhancing and exotic brand of sexy. — MILES SOCHA
BACK AGAIN: Kendall Jenner will once again be featured in Calvin Klein‘s spring womenswear campaign.
Photographed by Mert Alas, longtime Calvin Klein brand ambassador Jenner is seen modeling the Calvin Klein relaxed trenchcoat, with a soft draping silhouette and fluid fabrication. The 28-year old also wears the structured stretch blazer and matching structured stretch wide-leg trousers and carries the line’s leather crossbody bag, a compact day-to-night leather style.
The seasonal campaign launches Tuesday on calvinklein.com with content rolling out on Calvin Klein’s social channels throughout the week. Her campaign images will also appear on out-of-home placements around the globe.
The campaign was styled by Emmanuelle Alt.
The project with Jenner follows Calvin Klein’s highly-successful underwear campaign starring Jeremy Allen White, also shot by Alas. Released on Jan. 4, that campaign generated $12.7 million in media impact value for the brand in less that 48 hours, according to Launchmetrics.
Jenner, who is also creative director of Fwrd and a global ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, was seen last fall in campaigns for such brands as Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta (pre-spring 2024), Fwrd, and the Gucci Valigeria travel line.
Jenner has been in the Calvin Klein ads since 2015. — LISA LOCKWOOD
FAMILY AFFAIR: Coach held its latest runway show on Monday afternoon, with a fresh set of VIPs stacked front row.
Kelsea Ballerini, Camila Mendes, Ariana Greenblatt, Tommy Dorfman, Storm Reid, Yasmin Finney and Jeremy O. Harris were all there, dressed in their Coach finest and posing both for selfies and professional snaps.
“It’s my favorite thing ever,” said “Barbie” breakout star Greenblatt, of getting dressed up for events. “My stylist Molly [Dickson] makes it fun every single time and I channel a new person for every event and it’s so exciting.”
For the Coach show, she opted for a black leather trench — and a fresh new haircut.
“I just cut five inches of my hair off before this. Like, an hour and a half ago,” she said. “I was like, ‘I just need a new look.’ And I’m debuting it at the Coach show.”
Greenblatt will next be heading to Paris for fashion week.
“I’m so excited. I love Paris and I love everyone there, so I’m so excited to go back,” she said.
Following her star-making role in “Barbie,” she’ll next be seen in “Borderlands” alongside Cate Blanchett, which comes out this summer.
“I filmed that movie so long ago, so it’s like my little baby and now it’s coming out. But I’m so excited and that cast is my favorite thing ever,” she said.
Greenblatt said she usually brings her brother with her as her date to fashion shows, but this time her aunt had tagged along, given she lives in New York.
“It’s a family affair, always,” she said. — LEIGH NORDSTROM
ASCOT STYLE: British fashion designer Daniel Fletcher is bringing his expertise to a new audience: the racegoers at this year’s Royal Ascot.
Fletcher has been named the first creative director in the event’s 313-year history, where he will be curating the annual look book and Millinery Collective for the 2024 season, two campaigns that promote fashion.
“Royal Ascot has such a rich history and is the perfect opportunity to get dressed up (something I have always loved doing), so I can’t wait to start creating looks which inspire racegoers to push their style boundaries and embrace their own creativity,” Fletcher told WWD, adding that he hopes to bring a “contemporary flair” to the races.
The event will take place from June 18 to 22, with tickets starting at 35 British pounds.
“Daniel’s expertise in tailoring and menswear will be pivotal to the 2024 campaign, with a focus on British heritage style with a modern twist. We cannot wait to work closely to create hero moments in the run-up to Royal Ascot in June and beyond,” said Alexandra Bertram, brand and creative lead at Ascot Racecourse.
Queen Anne founded the Royal Ascot races in 1711 and since then they have become a fixture for the British royal family to attend as a unit. The late monarch Queen Elizabeth II was an avid hippophile, while her daughters-in-law, the late Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson; and Catherine Middleton and Meghan Markle, the wives of Prince William and Prince Harry, have always captured the attention of the press for what they wear.
“Although there are long-standing dress codes to follow, there’s a real sense of creativity where people can experiment with styles they may not wear in their day-to-day lives,” said Fletcher, pointing out that the event didn’t allow jumpsuits until 2017 and navy morning suits were only permitted in the Royal Enclosure in 2021.
The Royal Enclosure requires all women to wear hats and, in most cases, skirts or dresses to the knee, while men must wear top hats and morning suits.
“The lines are more fluid than ever before and I look forward to bringing a contemporary take to some more traditional styles, as well as celebrating the accessibility of great tailoring for everyone and anyone,” he added.
The designer grew up in Chester, near the England-Wales border. The Royal Ascot was considered a pinnacle event for him.
Fletcher said that his favorite looks at the Royal Ascot have been from the ‘80s because of the pencil skirts, nipped-in-at-the-waist jackets and big hats.
“Jerry Hall wore a black and white ensemble in 1982 which I loved, it was very ‘Death Becomes Her’ and so of the time in terms of silhouette,” he said.
Fletcher left his post as menswear artistic director of Fiorucci in June 2023 to focus on his own brand. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED
BIGGER REACH: Noah is expanding its retail footprint.
The buzzy New York-based brand founded by Brendon Babenzien and his wife, Estelle Bailey-Babenzien in 2015, has taken the storefront next door to their SoHo flagship and will create a space dedicated to the brand’s tailored clothing and more elevated products this spring. The brand is using the space as a wholesale showroom.
Noah’s Mulberry Street store has already been expanded once. It was originally housed in a small space on the block but when the store next door became available, the Babenziens took the location and broke through the walls to allow for a larger shopping experience for customers. The store now spans around 1,500 square feet.
But Brendon Babenzien said there are no plans at this point to break through again. Instead, the 600-square-foot space will stand on its own.
“We want to create a different experience,” he said. “Sometimes this store can get pretty rambunctious and we want it to be quiet in there.”
He said Noah’s updated tailored clothing has become popular among his customers, but selling a $2,000 cashmere jacket next to a T-shirt may not be the best strategy, hence the new storefront. “We make suiting for people who don’t have to wear suits, but want to,” he said. For this fall, Noah is offering a Western-inspired suit in a Donegal fabric and a leather jacket filled with Cashball, a product created from leftover cashmere sweater production.
In addition to his New York City unit, Noah also operates a store in Amagansett in the Hamptons as well as a unit in the Sycamore district of Los Angeles. There are also two stores in Japan and another in Korea. Although the stores are successful, Babenzien said there are no immediate plans to add more units since he’s already busy juggling two significant design jobs. In addition to Noah, Babenzien, the former creative director for streetwear brand Supreme, has been the creative director for men’s at J. Crew since the spring of 2021. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
NEW ROLE: Lacoste has appointed Philippe Gautier as executive vice president global finance, the French sportswear company said Monday.
The executive will report to the company’s chief executive officer Thierry Guibert and succeeds Denis Lamoureux, who had been in the position since 2017 and is exiting the group.
Guibert, who also serves as the CEO of Lacoste’s parent MF Brands Group, highlighted Gautier’s “in-depth knowledge of the fashion and lifestyle sectors, his significant international experience and his strong skills in implementing major projects, particularly in supply chain and IT.”
A graduate of elite French business school HEC, Gautier was most recently chief finance and operations officer for Waldencast, the parent company of Milk Makeup and Obagi Skincare.
Prior to this, the executive was group chief financial officer of food tech conglomerate Selecta for two years and served for five years as group chief financial and operations officer of apparel group SMCP, where he played a major role in the internationalization of the group’s brands, particularly in China and the U.S.; oversaw the acquisition of menswear label De Fursac, and managed the initial public offering of the group on Euronext Paris.
Gautier also spent more than a decade at various positions in the Kering group, which he joined in 2003 as brand CFO and group treasurer of online fashion and home furnishing distributor Redcats. He later served as COO and CFO of Puma for five years and was lastly CFO of Sergio Rossi until 2015.
Lacoste, which celebrated its 90th anniversary last year, is back on the runway at Paris Fashion Week with the formal debut of creative director Pelagia Kolotouros at 4 p.m. on March 5. — LILY TEMPLETON
