Image courtesy of adage.com
Last week Prada was involved in a racial slur when the brand manufactured and sold key chains with racially insensitive trinkets of brown monkeys with large lips. These “Otto Toto” key chains were a part of Prada’s “Pradamalia” collection. The key chains of monkeys in “blackface” were displayed in major displays in Prada stores.Because of the social, cultural, and political outcry against Prada’s “blackface” monkeys, Prada has apologized for the racially insensitive product. Prada issued an apology last Friday on Twitter that it would remove the “fantasy charms” of “imaginary creatures” from stores and displays, and also stated that the “blackface” monkeys were not “intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface.”
“The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface,” the post on Twitter continued. In the past Prada has been called out for its lack of diversity, particularly models of color, in their runway shows and campaigns.
Image courtesy of forbes.com
CFDA announces NYFW fall 2019 roster
The CFDA has released the preliminary calendar for the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) women’s and men’s shows for the fall 2019 season. NYFW, beginning with the men’s shows, runs from February 3 through February 13.
Tom Ford is returning to the men’s calendar this season, joined by NYFW: Men’s (NYFWM) first-timers South Africa’s Lukhanyo Mdingi, Los Angeles’ No Sesso and Keenkee, based in New York and South Korea. Todd Snyder, Robert Geller, Joseph Abboud, Linder, and N. Hoolywood are NYFW’s regulars that again will show in NYC for the fall 2019 season. And Pamella Roland, The Blonds, Nicole Miller, Rag and Bone, Phillip Lim, Jeremy Scott, Alice + Olivia, Sally LaPointe, Christian Siriano, Diane Von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, LaQuan Smith, Prabal Gurung, Michael Kors, Badgley Mischka, and others will show at NYFW: The Shows fall 2019 season.
That said; Ralph Lauren is returning to the NYFWS roster after showing for the last couple of seasons in Bedford, New York and in Central Park. Bibhu Mohapatra, Proenza Schouler also return to the roster this season. Absent for NYFW for the fall 2019 season will be Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, Rodarte, John Varvatos, DKNY, Monique Lhuillier, Escada, Victoria Beckham, and Public School, and others.
Image courtesy of pinterest.com
W magazine’s staffers jump ship
While W magazine looks for investment dollars and new owners, staffers continue to leave the publication. Earlier this year it was announced that Condè Nast would be looking for buyers for W, Golf, and Brides magazines. Condè Nast is looking to sell W magazine for $8 million.
WWD has reported that there are up to 15 “potential suitors” for the W magazine. While Condè Nast is fielding offers, W magazine’s staffers are deserting the ship. Jewelry editor Gabriella de Givenchy, executive digital director Sarah de Leon, senior market editor Sam Walker, and fashion director Rickie de Sole have all left W magazine.
Image courtesy of biowikis.com
Adios Oribe
Celebrity hairstylist Oribe Canales has passed away. After rising to fame as a top celebrity hairstylist Oribe Canales launched a line of styling products.
The Cuban-immigrant started his prestigious career after he moved to NYC and began working for legendary stylist Garren at his salon at the Plaza Hotel. Canales quickly was demand for editorial shoot and runways shows, working with famed photographers Richard Avedon, Stephen Meisel, and Annie Lieboovitz; makeup artists Francois Nars and Kevyn Aucoin, and fashion designers Gianni Versace and Marc Jacobs.
Canales opened his own salon on Manhattan’s Upper Westside in 1987 and launched his eponymous hairstyling products in 2008. Canales’s celebrity clients included Naomi Campbell, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson, Veronica Webb, Linda Evangelista, Meghan Markle, Cindy Crawford, and Christy Turlington.
Canales died from cardiac arrest in a Miami. He had been in NYC for cancer treatment. Oribe Canales was 62 years old.
—William S. Gooch
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