CRYPTO MADNESS: Was it because his show was on the New York Stock Exchange, or simply because customers wanted to pay with him? Regardless of the reason, Balenciaga revealed that he now accepts payments in cryptocurrencies. Given its drop in value over the last 10 days, one could argue that the timing was not ideal, but starting with the US, the brand will now accept cryptocurrency in its flagship stores, including on Madison Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, as well as on balenciaga.com. Other regions and e-commerce will follow, the company said.
Balenciaga store on Bond Street
Tianwei Zhang/ World Water Day
The fashion house is still deciding which payment solution provider it will use, but it will accept currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to start with and other currencies will be added in due course.
As for volatile fluctuations in value and whether that’s a cause for concern, the company said in a statement that “Balenciaga is thinking long-term about cryptocurrencies, and fluctuations in currency value are nothing new.”
The Kering-owned brand joins Gucci and Tag Heuer in accepting cryptocurrencies. Gucci will accept 10 cryptocurrencies in key US stores starting in late May, which will then be rolled out across its entire store network over the summer.
Tag Heuer, owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said earlier this month that its customers would be able to pay at checkout in one of 12 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum, through a solution provided by BitPay. — WWD STAFF
THE CAUSES OF THE RICH: London’s Sunday Times has exposed some of Britain’s biggest philanthropists, including Selfridges’ former owners, the Weston family; David and Victoria Beckham; Cara Delevingne, Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek.
The newspaper published The Giving List as a sidebar to its annual Rich List, ranking donors by the percentage of total wealth they’ve given in the past year and to what causes.
Many donated to COVID-19 related charities in the wake of the pandemic, while the newspaper also noted that the 2022 list features more climate change activists than ever before.
In addition to COVID-19, the fashion world has focused on a variety of causes over the past 12 months, including health, education and Ukraine.
Lewis Hamilton, a past collaborator with Tommy Hilfiger and an investor in W Magazine, was ranked number five on The Giving List, donating £20m of his £300m fortune to youth charities, education and employment.
Cara Delevingne
Lexie Moreland/DMA
The Weston family, which sold Selfridges Group last year but still owns Fortnum & Mason, the parent company of Primark, Associated British Foods and Holt Renfrew in Canada, was ranked 24th. The family donated £182.5m to causes, education and support related to COVID-19. the arts.
The family’s net worth rose from £2.5bn to £13.5bn over the past year, making them the eighth-richest entry on the 2022 Rich List.
For the annual Rich List, The Sunday Times makes its own calculations of the minimum wealth of individuals and families based on information in the public domain.
It ranks the 250 richest people living and working in Britain (not necessarily British citizens) and also breaks down smaller lists, including the richest musicians and charity donors.
Number 35 on The Giving List was Delevingne, who is estimated to be worth £41m, and who donated £400,000 to environmental causes. Last year, she established her grassroots charity, Initiative Earth, which helps people regenerate their local ecosystems and communities.
Harry Styles, musician, fashionista and founder of new beauty brand Pleasing, was ranked 37th. He donated £800,000 of his £100m fortune to “various causes”, according to the newspaper.
David and Victoria Beckham were ranked 65th on The Giving List, giving a £1 million donation to Ukraine following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country earlier this year.
The Sunday Times estimated the Beckhams’ wealth at £425m, thanks in part to David’s recent deal with Authentic Brands Group.
The Beckhams did not make the top 250 rankings, although their wealth exceeds that of other celebrities, including Elton John, Sting, Mick Jagger, whose fortunes are less than 400 million pounds.
Tied for 92nd on the list of donations were Pinault and Hayek and diamond jewelry magnates Laurence and François Graff, father and son.
The Kering Group owner and his wife, the actress, have an estimated fortune of £7.13bn and have donated £5.5m to COVID-19 and other humanitarian causes.
Ranked 56th on the 2022 Rich List, the Graffs have an estimated wealth of £3bn and donated £2.6m to COVID-19, poverty relief and African health charities during the last year. — SAMANTHA CONTI
Billie Lourd and Bruce Bozzi
Tommaso Boddi/Courtesy of Getty Images for Women Spirits
OPTIMISM: Walking into her party, Billie Lourd and her stepdad Bruce Bozzi are matching, both in baby blue.
“It wasn’t intentional, but we’re in sync,” exclaimed Lourd, bubbly and smiling, wearing an Autumn Adeigbo gown. “Often happens”.
“It really wasn’t on purpose,” Bozzi chimed in, donning a custom ’70s-style suit. Saturday night”. It’s the brainchild of the family tailor, “Mario in Beverly Hills”).
“I walked in and was like, ‘Look what I’m wearing,'” she continued. “She says, ‘Look what I’m wearing.’ We live together.”
“A strange amount ends up happening,” Lourd said. “And we even matched the bottle and we didn’t mean to.”
The Mujen “Ai” bottle, ie Bozzi’s new Shochu company (“ai” means love in Japanese; “mujen” means infinity).
While Bozzi, former co-owner of The Palm and husband of CAA talent agent Bryan Lourd, and his business partner Sondra Baker began launching the distilled spirit (brewed in Japan for more than 500 years) in November, this was their official party. launch. and Lourd was chosen as hostess.
“I was so excited to introduce this because Bruce has been working so hard to create this amazing brand and I’ve wanted to support him as much as I can,” said the 29-year-old actress, Lourd’s daughter. and the late Carrie Fisher. “It has been so difficult with COVID-19. We haven’t been able to do events and be outside and do things like this. And when this opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it and was so excited. It is a true family brand for us. We are really doing it all together. A lot of my friends are here, and their friends.”
The guest list included Billie Lourd’s husband, Austen Rydell; emerging actors Nico Hiraga and Austin Crute; former freestyle skier and actor Gus Kenworthy; Jamie Schneider Mizrahi and Nico Mizrahi; Sony Pictures executive André Caraco; film producer Jon Berg and guitarist Tim Reynolds.
“In the end, Sondra Baker got me involved,” Bozzi explained of Mujen. “She was the visionary of this.”
The two first met in the ’90s at a gym in Los Angeles called Sports Connection. They were running on adjacent treadmills.
“Fun story, right?” said baker.
They reconnected years later, meeting in the same schoolyard when their kids were in first grade (Bozzi is the father of a preteen, Ava.)
Baker (who has a background in technology) discovered Shochu through her husband, and after learning that, when made with rice, the liqueur is sugar-free, carb-free, and gluten-free, she saw an opportunity for a “healthier” spirit.
“I told my husband, I want to start this business, and if I do, I want to do it with him,” Baker said of Bozzi. “He was involved before he knew he was involved.”
They visited distilleries in the Kumamoto region of Japan and landed in a 119-year-old family run place run by the founder’s great-granddaughter. They offer three bottles of Mujen: “Ai Lite”, made with 23 percent alcohol, the “Original”, with 35 percent (intended to be mixed in cocktails, which were enjoyed at the party — names like “Tokyo Lemonade” and “Rosé Spritz ”, created by mixologist Ash Miyasaki), and “X”, a brown-colored option, with 42 percent alcohol, aged for 10 years. Diane von Furstenberg is among the investors.
“She is a very dear friend of mine, a very old friend of mine,” Bozzi said. “She and [husband] barry [Diller] — I took him home for dinner, and she said, ‘This is amazing. How can I participate?’”
Mujen is currently available for purchase online in 45 states direct-to-consumer and is available at select locations in New York and Los Angeles, found in Los Angeles hot spots like Alexander Wilmot-owned Gigi’s, the venue of choice for the party: Jeff Klein’s The Tower Bar, San Vicente Bungalows private members club, as well as The Grove’s Monsieur Marcel and The Little Door on Third Street.
“Anderson’s never had it, and Andy loves Ai,” said Baker, recounting Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s live CNN “New Year’s Eve” entertaining and boozy show, where they are seen enjoying Mujen ( Cohen is a friend of Bozzi).
“We didn’t know they were going to have a four-hour Mujen commercial,” Baker joked. “Anderson has the greatest date in the history of mankind. He said: ‘he is like a beautiful mermaid who licks you from the sea of Odysseus’”.
Laughing, he added, “I’m going to make T-shirts out of it.” — RYMA CHIKHOUNE
NOT REALLY ROUGH: Instead of just launching its summer 2022 campaign online, Neiman Marcus decided to bring the summer camp vibes to life with an upstate retreat for a select group of editors and influencers, for a grown-up version of summer camp. summer.
Guests traveled to the new “It” Inness boutique hotel in Accord, New York for a two-night stay, all centered around the campaign’s “summer camp” theme. The itinerary began with dinner under the stars on Wednesday night, followed by drinks in the library and time around the campfire. Thursday saw camp activities such as dyeing, jewelry making, candle making and archery, and later that night Studio 189 founder Abrima Erwiah hosted dinner, followed by a campfire with s’mores. directed. by Giacomo Missoni and Silvia Torassa.
The campaign, “Neiman Marcus Summer Camp,” features more than 200 brands, including Santa, Acler, Oceanus, Rebecca Vallance, Mignonne Gavigan, Blue Sky Inn, Veronica Beard, Missoni, Zegna and Jacquemus. It was shot in the Redwood Forest of California and in Texas.
“We are all ready to go out, dress up, socialize with friends and family, and travel. Our customers’ desire for freedom and pure, unadulterated fun is at an all-time high, and they’re determined to make the most of this season,” says Daz McColl, chief marketing officer for Neiman Marcus. “The campaign concept evokes our borrowed memory structures of fun summer camp experiences rich in childhood nostalgia with a twist of fashion you’ve come to expect from Neiman Marcus.” —LEIGH NORDSTROM
Inside the Neiman Marcus Summer Camp campaign launch trip.
Mike Vitelli/BFA.com
Source: wwd.com