LONDON UNIVERSE: Paul Mescal, George MacKay, Salma Hayek Pinault and Pierpaolo Piccioli all attended the opening of “Gucci Cosmos” at 180 Studios at 180 The Strand, where new creative director Sabato De Sarno and Jean-François Palus, interim president and chief executive officer of Gucci, greeted guests as they came in.
Guests had the opportunity to experience the exhibition through its entirety, which eventually led to the party room, dimmed in red light to match De Sarno’s signature color that he has quickly established at the brand.
![LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 10: George MacKay attends the Gucci Cosmos evening Vernissage at 180 The Strand on October 10, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Gucci Cosmos)](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
The XX’s Romy performed a DJ set that included her hit track “Love Her,” which was featured in De Sarno’s debut show at Milan Fashion Week last month. Femi Koleoso and Jayda G also took turns on the music podium.
Daisy Edgar Jones, Micheal Ward, Leah Williamson, Lila Moss and David Sims attended the exhibition-cum-show, where pasta and risotto were being passed around as two bars operated to serve Champagne and cocktails.
“Gucci Cosmos,” which made its debut in Shanghai in April, will be staying in London until Dec. 31 with a touched-up appearance and new concepts that take into consideration De Sarno’s vision.
![Gucci Cosmos in London](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
The exhibition has been a collaboration process between British artist Es Devlin and Italian fashion theorist and critic Maria Luisa Frisa, who has curated a selection of images, objects and illustrations that tell the story of the brand’s 102 years of craftsmanship within fashion and the wider culture.
The rooms inside “Gucci Cosmos” touch upon the key moments that have made the Italian brand a household name; revisits Gucci’s colorful archive with nuggets of nuances dotted around each corner and inside each drawer, and dives into what an Anglophile its founder Guccio Gucci was.
The London iteration includes two new rooms thought out by De Sarno with Devlin. — HIKMAT MOHAMMED
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: Fashion will meet fossils, skeletons and otherworldly artworks come Nov. 29 when the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris opens an exhibition devoted to Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen.
Titled “Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses,” the retrospective will feature about 100 haute couture creations alongside items usually found in natural history museums, or contemporary art galleries. It is scheduled to run through April 28.
Works by artists including Rogan Brownart, Wim Delvoye, Tim Walker, Matthew Harrison, Damien Jalet, Kohei Nawa and Casey Curran are to go on display, along with design pieces by Neri Oxman, Ren Ri, Ferruccio Laviani and Tomáš Libertíny.
![Wim Delvoye — Nautilus, 2017.](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
The exhibition is to unfurl around nine themes to express “the essence of her work, merging fashion, contemporary art, design and science,” according to the museum, which this week revealed fresh details and imagery about the upcoming show. Themes including water and the origins of life, skeletons, nature, the body and mythology.
Billed as an immersive journey engaging all the senses, the display is soundtracked by an original composition by artist Salvador Breed, and concludes with rooms dedicated to her atelier, videos of her runway shows and projections of her dresses akin to aurora borealis dancing across the sky.
Known for creations that use technologies from laser cutting and 3D printing to electromagnetic weaving, van Herpen has been the subject of solo shows at leading institutions including the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands in 2012, the Textile Museum of Sweden in 2014, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2015 and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in 2018. — MILES SOCHA
![Carla van de Puttelaar for Iris van Herpen](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
DEMSEY’S DOOR: “Behind the Blue Door,” a lavishly photographed book detailing the more-is-more maximalism of John Demsey’s New York City town house, officially goes on sale next Tuesday, and to celebrate, he threw open the aforementioned doors for a cocktail party Wednesday night.
Demsey, a former executive with the Estée Lauder Cos. who helped make MAC and Tom Ford global powerhouses, is known for his vast collections — of photography, clothing, knick-knacks, art, watches, accessories, even animals. (He shares the house with eight dogs and two cats, as well as his teenage daughter.)
The book, written by Demsey’s close friend Alina Cho and photographed by Douglas Friedman, takes an in-depth look at all five floors, chapter by chapter — from the kitchen, where every inch is covered with Fornasetti plates — to the third-floor closets where Demsey’s hundreds of shirts are housed, arrayed by color and stripe pattern, to the fifth floor’s homage to Andy Warhol’s Factory.
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Artist Ruan Hoffmann (Demsey exhibits scores of his plates across myriad floors), Moda Operandi’s Lauren Santo Domingo, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, and designers including June Ambrose, Francisco Costa and Dennis Basso were all expected to attend the event.
For Demsey, who was forced to retire from Lauder in 2022 after a controversial Instagram post, the book marks the opening of another new door, too. Earlier this year, he joined L Catterton as a senior adviser.
“Recently I have learned that doors sometimes close, but there is always another that opens,” he writes in the foreword of “Behind the Blue Door.” “Behind every door, every room, every object, there is another story, another world to be discovered.” — JENNY B. FINE
STELLA IN THE WILD: Time and time again, Stella McCartney proves animals are the star of her show.
Emblematic of the designer’s fall 2023 collection which proudly featured horses and models in unison, her brand’s latest partnership is with New York-based wild horse nonprofit Rewilding America Now.
Held Wednesday evening at Stella McCartney’s SoHo boutique, the event served as an educational moment and signal to broader conservation aims. The event featured a question-and-answer session with Rewilding America Now’s founder Manda Kalimian. The conversation platformed the importance of rewilding initiatives and the preservation of North America’s wild horses and lands.
To the memory of fashion historians, McCartney’s fall 2023 show took place at the Manège de l’École Militaire, depicting France’s historic riding school. Models and ponies moved gracefully under the watchful eye of horse whisperer and rescuer Jean-François Pignon.
Formerly the Cana Foundation, Rewilding America Now has a sizable project in the works and is seeking fashion’s collective force. The nonprofit set the goal to purchase more than 55 miles of land in Birch Creek, Idaho. Given the importance and the magnitude of this project, Kalimian said she and her team felt a rebrand was necessary to speak to the initiatives and the growth of the foundation.
![Model on the runway at Stella McCartney Fall 2023 Ready To Wear Fashion Show on March 6, 2023 at the Military School Carousel in Paris, France.](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
“This is the place that we are going to prove to the world that wild horses here in the United States are truly an integral component to the natural system, they are keystone species that are going to help us build grasslands to sequester carbon and be the leader in climate change initiatives,” she said.
Moreover, a portion of the proceeds generated from sales before, during and after the event will be donated to Rewilding America Now in support of the Birch Creek project, and more to come. This initial collaboration attempts to bridge cause-based commerce with conservation.
Michael Nathanson, managing director and chief executive officer of Rewilding America Now, offered more insight on fashion’s influence: “Fashion partnerships are a critical component to sharing the message of sustainability. People associate themselves with the style, the feeling and the look of the fashion and the designers they choose to wear. Aligning with designers like Stella McCartney that are really being sustainable with their manufacturing and their messaging helps bring people to a greater connection to themselves, feeling good about their choices, and that they are contributing and doing their part to help, opening up the opportunity to take the next steps to doing more.” — KALEY ROSHITSH
SPEAKING OF ANIMALS..: It’s a testament to her dedication that founder Emmanuelle Rienda has been able to keep Los Angeles’ Vegan Fashion Week going for five years, and through a pandemic.
On Monday night, she celebrated with a red carpet event and runway show at the California Market Center that highlighted Hollywood’s role in the animal rights conversation.
![Guillaume Larquemain and models walk the runway at Vegan Fashion Week held at California Market Center on October 9, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images)](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
The evening drew animal-loving guests including “Never Have I Ever” actress Richa Moorjani, “American Pie” star Tara Reid, up-and-comer Mychal-Bella Bowman, motivational speaker Jay Shetty, and Maggie Baird, the actress-activist mother of pop stars Billie Eilish and Finneas, who came dressed in a Vegan Tiger coat with a apple skin clutch by Guillaume Larquemain.
“I didn’t ever want to eat animals as a child, nor did my brother, and we grew up in Colorado. Our father was a hunter but we just didn’t want to eat it,” said Baird, who founded Support and Feed, a nonprofit dedicated to a global shift to an equitable, plant-based food system. “I’m honored we’ve been able to be a part of this changing world and getting people turned onto plant-based food. In the Billie world, we’ve been able to have vegan food on her tour and get arenas to have vegan food and get people aware of the connection of what they eat to climate change. We’ve known for decades, in 1981, I saw an infographic about McDonald’s hamburgers and the Amazon rainforest, I read ‘Diet for a New America’…But the amazing thing is now it’s a little more obvious and people are really listening and asking questions.”
Hollywood has been instrumental in getting the fashion industry to change some of its ways, especially to stop using fur.
![LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 09: Maggie Baird attends Vegan Fashion Week at California Market Center on October 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
“It’s always a thing, if you have some power do you work with a small brand, do you work with a big brand and there’s valid points in both. You can highlight a small brand but if you can get a big brand to change their policies and ways of making things, that has an major impact. That’s been an exciting thing to see,” Baird said.
“In the beginning, you’d say things and get pushback and eye rolls. Then people start to listen, and that’s been amazing to see these major designers change.”
When asked if she thought Eilish, a Gucci ambassador, had an influence on the brand’s decision to drop fur, Baird said, “100 percent and there’s more to come. And Oscar de la Renta was amazing. That was a call where we said, ‘fur — that’s a deal breaker,’ and they responded.”
Among the designs featured on the runway were apple skin cowboy boots by ethical and sustainable Netherlands shoe brand A Perfect Jane, Guillaume Larquemain’s Made in France, seed-shaped apple skin clutches, and sexy cutout evening suits and separates from Houston. — BOOTH MOORE
EVERYBODY LOVES MCDONALD’S: Fun fact of the day: one in eight Americans has worked at McDonald’s at some point in their lives. That translates into 42 million people, or 12.5 percent of the population.
That includes astronauts, teachers, playwrights, fitness instructors and fashion designers.
On Wednesday, the restaurant chain celebrated this fact with a special 1 in 8 homecoming celebration in New York for current and former crewmembers. That included Peloton instructor and author Cody Rigsby, Michelin-star chef Harold Villarosa, TV host, actress and entrepreneur Alejandra Espinoza, McDonald’s franchise owner Paul Hendel — who joined McDonald’s when he was 16 and now owns 31 restaurants — and designer Kendall Hurns.
Tariq Hassa, chief marketing and customer experience officer, said that although McDonald’s knew how many people got their start in their restaurants, the company had “never taken time to share it externally.”
But that’s about to change since the brand’s 1 in 8 initiative is being featured in its latest promotions. The content highlights real people from local restaurants and their stories and is being used in TV spots, on social media and for digital content.
One of McDonald’s alumni is Hurns, founder of the lifestyle brand Robotic Minds Concept. Hurns said he started working at a local restaurant as a summer job as a teen. “My mom told me, ‘You’ve got to buy your own stuff.’ My friends and I always went to McDonald’s and it was across the street from my house, so it was a very natural decision,” the Illinois native said.
![McDonalds 1 in 8 jacket.](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
Once he got older, he started making T-shirts for himself and his friends, which led to the creation of Robotic Minds Concepts, which has now developed a loyal following. “My last collection was with LeBron James,” Hurns said of last year’s capsule with the athlete’s Unknwn brand.
On Wednesday, Hurns showed the signature product for McDonald’s 1 in 8 promotion: a limited-edition Letterman jacket that was presented to crewmembers at the event and will be available for sale for $185 beginning Monday.
The jacket, made from Melton wool and with leather sleeves, features illustrations of Speedee, McDonald’s first mascot, intended to symbolize fast service, as well as McDonald’s Crew and Coast to Coast embellishments.
“I got to play with graphics and it was amazing,” he said, adding that “you don’t have to work at McDonald’s to wear it. It’s a cool accessory to have and I think we’ll be seeing it on the streets.” — JEAN E. PALMIERI
LUXURY TEAM: Luxury men’s e-tailer Mr Porter is teaming up with Los Angeles-based streetwear label Gallery Dept. on a 26-piece capsule collection that offers ready-to-wear and accessories.
The collection focuses on Gallery Dept.’s commitment to sustainability by utilizing upcycled garments and deadstock fabrics. Prices range from $250 to $4,200.
The collection is anchored by denim and leverages the streetwear label’s patchwork motif for many styles. Standout pieces include the G-patch denim jeans that are embellished with hand-embroidered details, as well as archival T-shirts that feature the brand’s “Art That Kills” slogan.
![Styles from the Mr Porter x Gallery Dept. collection](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
“We at Mr Porter pride ourselves on being a destination for discovery and bringing our customers the most in-demand and in-the-know brands, and Gallery Dept. is a great example of that,” said Mr Porter buying director Daniel Todd. “This capsule is a celebration of the long-standing relationship between our two brands and is the first time Gallery Dept. has worked with a retailer on this scale. Expanding beyond the must-have logo T-shirts, we really wanted this collection to showcase the breadth of Gallery’s offering, which is something you really get a sense of when you visit their Los Angeles store. Hopefully, styles like the rip-and-repair denim and patchwork painters will help to bring that sense of artisanal craft to a global audience.”
This is Mr Porter’s latest collaboration this year. In March, the retailer teamed with sustainable brand Arket on a 120-piece collection that benefited Planet Good Earth, a London-based environmental organization.
Last October, Mr Porter teamed with more than 40 American menswear brands, such as Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, Fear of God and others, for a 600-piece collection. — LAYLA ILCHI
CELEBRATING BALI: Potato Head, a boutique hotel recently listed as part of the World’s 50 Best Hotels, is launching a fashion collection embracing sustainability and Balinese culture and creative talent.
Available in-store at Desa Potato Head in Bali and online at escalier-store.com starting Thursday, the collection fuses Balinese craftsmanship and contemporary design aesthetics. It pays homage to the music, culture and eco-conscious production ethos that define the Bali experience.
![Some looks from the Potato Head collection.](https://wwd.com/wp-content/themes/vip/pmc-wwd-2021/assets/public/lazyload-fallback.gif)
Amplifying the mantra of “Good Times, Do Good,” the range includes key pieces such as Eco Vero shirts and sarongs, recyled nylon shorts, handwoven and hand-dyed beach pants, and handcrafted silver jewelry. The range uses recycled and environmentally friendly materials.
The latest product release follows in the footsteps of previous Potato Head collaborations with Stussy, Peggy Gou, Wacko Maria, Dover Street Market and Neighborhood.
The Potato Head merchandise retails between $52 and $135 and ranges in size from small to extra large.
Desa Potato Head’s property, set on Bali’s Petitenget Beach, includes Potato Head Beach Club, a 226-room hotel, multiple restaurants and spa facilities. — LISA LOCKWOOD