Dear Shaded Viewers,
I just got back from a super speed trip to New York, the reason for my trip was to witness the changes in the brand DESIGUAL. Daniel Perez, the Communication & Brand Manager, contacted me and was so passionate about the new direction for the brand that I could not resist a qick trip to NYC. I was greeted at the airport by Anthony, my chauffeur from Jamacia and he took me to the Eventi Hotel. Super busy hotel but my suite on the 20th floor was serenely quiet and I had the best view of NYC .. .just like I like it, from above. I'm rarely in NYC but this gave me the opportunity to see a few of my multi-talented friends.
First night I had dinner with Marc Happel, Director of Costumes at the New York City Ballet, and ASVOFF 8 jury member. He also gave the master class on dance and costume with Iris Van Herpen at ASVOFF 8, Jules aka Bijules, accessory designer to the stars and who has a short film coming out on her Monday on https://distinctdaily.com/ on how to be a success in business, Alessandro Simonetti, photographer, author and publisher of several books, one on Raymond Pettibon, Scott Campbell, and another in the works on very cool Jamaicans, multi-disiplinarians, Graham Tabor and Miguel Villalobos, founders of the accessory brand one-one undred and creators of a line of incredibly beautiful scarves, Miguel is also an illustrator, a photographer, a sculptor… Another sleepless night but with beautiful views of Manhattan.
In the morning I had a 10'o'clock meeting and then went to the Laura Poitras: Astro Noise show at the Whitney downtown with ASVOF contributor, Glenn Belverio and met Alex Bossi for lunch at the museum. Desigual had provided me with a driver so after lunch it was a leap into New York Fashion Week and the Desigual show. I had the good fortune to be sitting next to Luca Lanzoni who told me the brand Desigual was really appreciated in Italy. We both were impressed with the new more luxurious approach to fashion this season. As you most likely know Desigual is a print based brand. Entering and exiting I ran into a few friends from way back, Man Lai and J Alexander. Actually I was running into people in Paris at the airport lounge, first it was Etienne Russo who was off to NYC to produce Thom Browne, Moncler and I forget how many other shows. Just landing in NYC I ran into Ellen Von Unwerth, multiple time winner at ASVOFF, the new system of checking yourself in is efficient but for a first time user a bit confusing.
After the Desigual show, I still had Anthony, my driver, and I went to see my friend Eugene Hernandez, Deputy DIrector of Film Society of Lincoln Center, to talk about ASVOFF and our friend Vincent Gagliostro and his upcoming feature film. By now I was running out of energy and no sleep for the past two days…at any rate still trying to accomplish things I paid a short visit to Hatch Showroom to see the one-one hundred collection of jewels and beautiful embroidered scarves then it was off to a quiet dinner with Graham and Miguel. Then uber back to the Eventi Hotel, another sleepless night, jet lag…hence I enjoyed the beautiful view and my book Brando's Smile.
I was up at 4 am. Had an 8 am meeting with my friend Paco Blancas, a 9 am meeting with the brand manager, Daniel Perez to discuss the new direction of the brand Desigual. Then a meeting with Marcus Mam to discuss his new media platform, takeit.to. It is a spotify for creatives, a new horizontal media platform that could do away with making pdf's, keep all your projects in one easily accessible place and is focused only on creatives and made by creatives. You should listen to the short video interview that I just posted today. Also Jeremy Scott is going to live stream his show exclusively on takeit.to. Click on it, there is a tutorial, it is quite user friendly and it is free.
Then a quick hello to Man Lai and off with my driver to JFK. Olivier Rousteing, aka Balmain, was behind me entering the plane and noticed that even with my high platforms the overhead baggage storage was impossible for me to reach. I heard a voice behind me asking me if I needed help, he certainly is not height challenged…I thought that was quite sweet. We landed in Paris before sunrise and greeted by a black sky and rain. And so ended my whirlwind trip to NYC.
Later,
Diane
