Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Tuesday, September 29, 2020

hen Swedish fashion brand said Lee, who only last year expanded next week. In a normal year, each livestream events from its ornate rooms, big brands have pushed to hold physi- Acne Studios last hosted a her kitchen through a crowdfunding event would have cost at least 30,000 site manager Valerie Taieb said. But cal events where possible in part to Wcatwalk show in Paris in campaign. to 40,000 euros. “We used to do four even small parties are getting complicat- support suppliers and other business- January, it ordered dozens of vegan- From yesterday, 85 brands will shows a day, our whole budget comes ed as coronavirus cases in France rise es. Designers also want to keep up friendly rice bowls from cafe owner and showcase womenswear looks during from these events,” Vienne told and restrictions on gatherings tighten. connections with professional buyers caterer Pearlyn Lee for models and Paris Fashion Week. Only 19 - among Reuters. “The fashion sector and the events and media. “There’s an energy and an crew to pick on backstage. Those them Chanel and LVMH owned industry have really been forgotten in this excitement, there’s music, the first types of orders have all but dried up Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton - are Film sets and photo shoots crisis,” Taieb said. Her team of around model to appear on the catwalk, since the pandemic forced most luxury pressing ahead with socially-distanced Still, he said he was optimistic rev- 20 have only returned to work part-time, applause at the end,” said Alexandre labels to cancel parties and presenta- front rows. Others are holding small enues would pick up again in the longer and are still relying on the state’s partial Mattiussi, creator of French brand AMI. tions. Even as some of the world’s presentations by appointment, or run, as brands try to reach shoppers vir- unemployment aid. “That doesn’t exist in a digital format.” biggest brands return to Paris yester- streaming videos. Fledgling designers tually. His company is producing a fash- At the shoot for La Metamorphose at AMI is planning to hold a show on Oct day, few are planning physical shows, cannot afford to hire big venues for tiny ion film, rather than a traditional show Hotel Le Marois, 25-year-old model 3, with fewer than 150 guests rather a blow for make-up artists, lighting spe- audiences or risk a last-minute cancel- with an audience, inside the 19th century Tiffany Fournier said some of her work than the usual 600 to 700. “It will be cialists, caterers and hundreds of other lation, said Stephane Vienne, from pro- Hotel Le Marois for Polish label La had dried up too, although she still like a very nice wedding,” Mattiussi businesses in fashion’s eco-system. duction and press firm Mephistopheles. Metamorphose. The palatial venue has does magazine and advertising cam- said. — AFP “Basically catering is gone for us. And None of Mephistopheles’ 14 most regu- also been reinventing itself, upgrading paigns. “I haven’t done a catwalk show I’m not sure when it’s coming back,” lar customers are staging full events its systems to lure companies wanting to since February,” Fournier said. Some

ace masks may have been the standout accessory at Milan fash- ion week, but designers who Fdefied the coronavirus pandemic to put on shows dispelled gloom with love letters to Italy and sunnier times. The week ended Sunday with Valentino, which had moved its catwalk from Paris this season as a show of support for an Italy devastated by the virus earlier this year. Here is a round-up of the top three Spring-Summer 2021 trends:

Italy my love Whether or not people will be permit- Former students of the Marangoni Fashion Institute, designer Nora Bourelly (right) poses with ted to travel to Italy next summer, they friends with her creations in a street outside Valentino’s Spring/Summer 2021 women’s and men’s can be transported there through their show, during the Milan Fashion Week on Sunday in Milan, during the COVID-19 pandemic caused wardrobes. Dolce&Gabbana paid hom- by the novel coronavirus. — AFP photos age to the designers’ beloved Sicily, with a patchwork collection evoking the gested walks on the beach before enjoy- in caftans and nightgowns, while Max island’s warmth and colours, while Etro ing chic aperitifs. Pucci instead headed Mara indulged slouchers with hooded was inspired by the picturesque Amalfi for the island of Capri, distilling the fash- sweatshirts. And Valentino provided the coast. “I started the collection during the ion house’s signature prints and ‘60s sil- cherry on the home-comfort cake with a lockdown,” designer Veronica Etro said houettes-including its famous Canzone surprise collaboration with Levi’s that before her show. “Like everyone else, I del Mare pattern-in pastel sheer silks and produced a coed model of the 517 boot was at home doing housework. And my organzas. Max Mara’s creative director cut jean. — AFP mother and I restored an old record play- Ian Griffiths thought not of seaside pleas- er and started listening to old Neapolitan ures but summer in Italy’s art cities and songs, and we were bewitched by the the Renaissance, with hexagonal motifs serenity, timelessness and elegance. mimicking the mosaic floors of the coun- “Then I started thinking about a trip I try’s cathedrals. made in 2019 to Ischia, Capri, Naples and Positano, and-maybe because we Retrospection, reinterpretation were feeling so patriotic then-I thought, The nationwide lockdown also okay, let’s do the collection on Italy,” she appears to have prompted Italy’s luxury said. brands to dust off their archives and rein- Silky caftans in sorbet colours, pat- terpret key pieces from the past. Versace terned bikini tops and straw hats sug- led the way, with Donatella Versace building on Gianni Versace’s “tresor de la mer” collection for Spring 1992, with its starfish, coral and seashell motifs. At Fendi, the collection was inspired by the finely embroidered household linen owned by designer Silvia Venturini Fendi’s family. Over at Marni, coats made from up-cycled pieces from previ- ous collections were then hand-painted with words that designer Francesco Risso collected from exchanges he had with friends and his team during lock- down. Dolce&Gabbana used remnants of fabric from previous seasons to lower the environmental impact of their show.

Lockdown lazing It was an oft-heard debate of lock- down: does not leaving the house mean you can stay in your pyjamas all day? Italy’s designers gave an out to those reluctant to suit up: Armani proposed silk Models present collections for Valentino’s Spring/Summer 2021 women’s and men’s collection sweatpants, while Fendi paired outfits Models wearing protective masks are pictured during the rehearsal prior Fendi’s Spring/Summer during the Milan Fashion Week on Sunday in Milan. with slippers. Etro encouraged lounging 2021 women’s and men collection during the Milan Fashion Week. — AFP photos

eorgian film “Beginning” dominat- apan’s government yesterday urged September, popular Japanese actress ed awards at Spain’s San people to seek help if they were Sei Ashina died in an apparent suicide, struggling to cope, following the and actor Haruma Miura is also thought GSebastian film festival, taking the Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili J death at the weekend of a popular to have taken his own life in July. Reality top Golden shell prize for best movie receives the “Concha de Plata” (Silver Shell) to while Dea Kulumbegashvili won best actress. The death of “Miss Sherlock” TV show star , 22, from the the best director award for the film “Dasatskisi star Yuko Takeuchi, 40, shocked the show “”, also director for her debut film. The Franco- / Begining” during the 68th San Sebastian Film Georgian production centres on a com- nation and follows other recent cases of apparently died in May following online Festival closing ceremony in the northern Japanese celebrities taking their lives, abuse, making international headlines. In munity of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian. — AFP remote rural Georgia, and tracks the with figures showing a recent rise in sui- August, Japan saw nearly 1,900 sui- growing psychological torment of its cides. Takeuchi was a household name cides, up 15.3 percent from a year earli- tition, fewer than usual. With Covid-19 in Japan and had given birth to her sec- er. In the first half of the year, there was leader’s wife-played by Ia Sukhitashvili cases rising again in Spain, a strict who picked up the best actress award- ond child in January. Chief Cabinet a drop in the number of suicides and in safety protocol was put in place requir- Secretary Katsunobu Kato did not men- 2019 the figure fell to a record low, which in the wake of an extremist attack on ing the use of face masks and limiting their place of worship. The movie, which tion a particular case, but noted some non-governmental groups attributed to screenings to 40 percent to 60 percent people were struggling to cope during increasing efforts on the issue.—AFP had been set to premiere at the Cannes of seating capacity. The festival was films festival earlier this year, which was the coronavirus crisis. “There has been originally intended to honor Spanish an uptick in the number of suicide cases called off due to the pandemic, also language films but has established won the best screenplay prize at an since July. We have to acknowledge the itself as one of the most important film fact that so many people are ending their awards ceremony late on Saturday. “I festivals in the world. It hosted the want to thank the jury for this fantastic, precious lives,” said Kato, who was world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s health minister until earlier this month. incredible day. It means a lot to me, it’s spy thriller “North by Northwest” in 1959 a great honour,” said Kulumbegashvili, He urged the public to use suicide- In this file photo Japanese actress and Woody Allen’s “Melinda and prevention hotlines and other services. 34, at the ceremony. Melinda” in 2004. — AFP Yuko Takeuchi poses for photogra- The 68th edition of the festival held in Takeuchi played the lead in the 2018 phers during the photocall for the film the northern Spanish seaside resort, the Hulu-HBO Asia series “Miss Sherlock”, “Creepy” in the Berlinale Special cate- biggest such event in the Spanish- and also had a minor part in the 1998 gory of the 66th Berlinale Film Festival speaking world, saw 13 films in compe- Japanese horror classic “Ring”. Earlier in in Berlin. — AFP