Poster announcing the Plaza Athénée opening in 2013 ©Plaza Athenée

Two iconic landmarks off the Champs-Elysées — one a luxury hotel for the world’s rich and famous, the other, a venue which has staged historic performances — fete their centennial anniversary this year with a slew of special events that will culminate in the release of 100 balloons over Paris.

Instantly recognizable by its 19th century facade, rows of balconies lined with baskets of lush, overflowing red geraniums and elegant canopies, the Hotel Plaza Athénée shares its birthday with the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées a few doors down, which has hosted thousands of operas, recitals and dancing troops for audiences over the last 100 years.

Both buildings have become landmarks on Avenue Montaigne, a posh strip of real estate lined with luxury boutiques like Christian Dior, Chanel, Max Mara, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Hermès, drawing some very well-heeled visitors in the world to the area.

In 2011, the hotel was also officially recognized by the French government as a ‘Palace’ hotel, a distinction bestowed by the country’s tourism ministry. Other Parisian hotels to boast the designation include the Meurice, the Bristol and the Park Hyatt Vendome.

Meanwhile, Plaza Athénée has also planned a grand fete April 20 when guests will gather in the Courtyard Garden, tuck into an anniversary cake and bear witness to the release of 100 balloons over the skies of Paris.

French chef titan Alain Ducasse, who helms the hotel restaurant, has likewise created a special dish for the establishment’s ‘Legacy’ menu that includes hot guinea-fowl pie and black truffle, while the Relais Plaza has created a dish of calf’s head with spicy tomato sauce and Macaire potatoes.

The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, meanwhile, will stage four different interpretations of Vaslav Nijinsky’s ballet “The Rite of Spring” beginning May 30, almost exactly 100 years to the day that the theater staged the same, inaugural — and controversial — performance in 1913.

Written by Russian composer Igor Stravinksy for the 1913 Paris season, the avant-garde nature of Nijinksy’s choreography and the accompanying music are said to have caused a near riot among conservative spectators.

Meanwhile, the hotel and theater are offering a special “Rite of Spring” centenary package that includes a single night’s stay in a junior, deluxe or superior suite; two tickets to one of six performances with a cocktail in a private lounge during the intermission; as well as a dinner for two at the Relais Plaza.

Prices for the junior suite deluxe are €2,900 and €3,365 for the superior suite.

Lifetime Collective Spring/Summer 2013 from Lifetime Collective on Vimeo.

Fashion goes sci-fi, a perfume ad from top indie filmmakers and Coco Rocha for Hunger are this week’s top fashion videos.

Lifetime
Canadian brand Lifetime Collective found an innovative way to show off their latest Spring/Summer 2013 collection, with a 5-minute sci-fi adventure shot on location in Thailand, and written and directed by Jesse Savath, Trevor Fleming and Nathan Drillo.

Starring Cody Rawlinson, indie photographer Aiya Feldman and Hunter Fleming, and featuring music by Brasstronaut and Plearn Promdan, the film plays around with time and space, while exploring some of the Asian destination’s most lavish backdrops.

Prada Candy L’Eau
We’re huge fans of cult indie filmmakers Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, so we were understandably excited when we first heard they would be teaming up to direct a commercial for Prada’s Candy L’Eau fragrance.

After a number of teasers, the final three-and-a-half minute version was revealed this week, starring Léa Seydoux as the titular Candy, and Peter Gadiot and Rodolphe Pauly as ‘Jules et Jim’ style love-rivals and best friends. As expected it’s a tongue-in-cheek Nouvelle Vague feast of fun.

Hunger TV
Coco Rocha was dressed up in Roberto Cavalli’s Spring 2013 collection for a new video for famed fashion photographer Rankin’s Hunger magazine. The Canadian model moves to a rock ‘n’ roll beat in this colorful two-minute short.

Famous art-house filmmakers Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have teamed up for a new Prada ad, creating a series of short films for the brand’s Candy L’Eau fragrance.

Starring French actress and model Léa Seydoux, the new 1-minute 17-second film, the first of three episodes, sees Candy win the hearts of two charming young Parisians, Julius and Jim.

Soundtracked by “L’idole,” a 1966 hit by French singer Jacques Dutronc, the film is suffused with a classic Nouvelle Vague vibe and sees the emergence of a love triangle inspired by François Truffaut’s “Jules et Jim.” All the while, Seydoux is dressed in the Italian brand’s Spring 2013 pieces, including a highly covetable floral handbag.

Prada had recently released a series of 13-second teasers that revealed the look and feel of the shorts. “Wes is extremely precise. The film is a comedy, but he doesn’t like you to play at comedy. You have to keep things very straight and very clean. It’s just the scene that is comic, not you,” Seydoux told the Telegraph.

Forty-three-year-old Anderson is best know for a string of indie-film hits, working with repeat collaborators Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. Co-director Roman Coppola is part of a cinematic dynasty: the son of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” director Francis Ford Coppola, and brother to Sofia Coppola, he is also the cousin of Nicholas Cage. Roman Coppola is an acclaimed music video director, having produced clips for bands including Phoenix, The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys.

Prada’s last ads for the Candy fragrance back in 2011 also starred Seydoux but were directed by famed French graphic designer, filmmaker and photographer Jean-Paul Goude.

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have directed a new short for Prada’s Candy L’Eau fragrance.

Starring 27-year-old French actress and model Léa Seydoux, Prada has released a teaser video from the latest campaign for the Prada Candy L’Eau perfume.

Seydoux starred in the last advert for the fragrance back in 2011, which was directed by famous French art director and photographer Jean-Paul Goude. “The Prada commercial was easy, because I could hide myself in the character,” Seydoux told Vogue at the time. “I had a very good relationship with the director, Jean Paul Goude. I knew he loved me. I could see it in his eyes,” added the confident young star.

In the new teaser, Seydoux’s character introduces herself to a pair of male characters as ‘Candy’ and is seen greedily stuffing her face with popcorn in the cinema, all while dressed in Prada’s floral-inspired spring-summer 2013 collection.

Anderson is well known for a string of indie-mainstream crossover hits including “The Royal Tenenbaums” and last year’s “Moonrise Kingdom” (also co-written by frequent collaborator Roman Coppola).

The full film is set to be unveiled next month, but get set for more teasers in the meantime.

Ankle strap Carven shoes with a lug sole ©AFP PHOTO/PIERRE VERDY

The lug-soled look kicked off at Milan Fashion Week with Prada’s collection, but several shows at Paris Fashion Week, which wrapped up this week, also rocked the trend.

Here’s how three designers employed the utility boot trend in their Fall-Winter 2013 shows.

Carven
At Carven, Guillaume Henry showed lug-soled boots in a few variations to match the industrial meets pretty-in-pink vibe of his collection. Delicate ankle strap shoes with a chunky sole were also matched by patent shoes with more of a hiking boot feel, and the colors matched the clothes, along with a marbled inverted zebra print. Another variation came with a contrasted upper of satin, bandaging the foot.
Video – www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kjg_NBasck

Stella McCartney
Stella’s models tottered on super-chunky platform heels with a lug sole. The shoes came in black, white and beige faux leather finishes in two models, one with a zip up the back, the other a slip-on.
Video – www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v9AisNh6pU

Miu Miu
Miuccia Prada’s lug-soled boots came either in all black or with a splash of color in the form of a bright faux-spats detail. Utility soles also appeared on thicker ankle strap heels worn with striped socks.
Video – www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJkdVnbzonQ

British model Cara Delevingne displays a creation as part of Fendi Fall-Winter 2013-2014 Womenswear collection on February 21, 2013 during the Women’s fashion week in Milan.
©AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS

Mohicans strutted down the Fendi catwalk at Italy’s fashion week on Thursday in a visually provocative show set to The Prodigy’s Fire Starter which left the snowy world of Milan far behind.

Fendi’s models emerged from behind a giant door which swung down at the start, kicking off a spectacle which played homage to furs and feathers.

Their hair done in French plaits, each sported a Mohican hairband in shades of electric blues and oranges — which matched the fluffy, fur-lined arms on their sunglasses, colourful fur cuff bands on wrists and soft, shaggy bags.

Black and white dominated the autumn-winter 2013 collection — from short snakeskin jackets to loose white trousers and skirts worn to the knee.

The two or three-tone outfits — such as dresses made of leather on one side and wool on the other, or tight dress silhouettes softened with a cape — came out in blocks of colours, predominately shocking pinks and rich wine purples.

Fendi director Karl Lagerfeld’s collection, which he baptised “Icons Unchained”, gave a fresh spin to the house’s previous feathered creations — though a black and blue skirt did bring to mind Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster.

Shoes were black high-heeled booties and lace-ups trimmed with white fur.

The German-born Lagerfeld, 79, who has his own fashion label and is also the creative director at Chanel, emerged after the show in his trademark sunglasses, ponytail hair and black leather gloves to a standing ovation.

Founded in 1925 in Rome, Fendi is now owned by French luxury giant LVMH.

The second day of fashion week was set to continue with hotly-awaited Prada.

A model displays a creation as part of Prada Fall-Winter 2013-2014 Womenswear collection on February 21, 2013 during the Women’s fashion week in Milan.
©AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE

Italian iconic fashion house Prada transformed 1950s American housewives into would-be Bond girls on Thursday, with a lethally seductive look which gave a powerful twist to the classic hourglass dress.

Checkered dresses in red and white or baby blue were the collection’s mainstay, pulled in at the waist by wide or slim gold or silver belts, but slit open at the bodice’s neckline, as if ripped by an amorous James Bond.

Sleeves to just below the elbow ended in large fur cuffs and every hemline on the catwalk was asymmetrical, sweeping around the body to show bare calves.

Day wear merged with night-time glamour, with exquisitely embroidered and glittering panels inserted into brown, grey or checkered hourglass dresses.

As well as little black numbers, there were dresses with vertical stripes in red and green and parcels of colour, such as wide red or blue skirt hems.

A brown fur jacket was paired with a red leather skirt and flat black shoes.

The setting was theatrical: The autumn-winter 2013 collection by the Milanese company, which started out in 1913 as a luggage maker for Italy’s kings, was held in a transformed former warehouse at Prada headquarters.

Video images projected onto the walls alongside the runway showed a mysterious woman, in silhouette, who lingered at the doorway of her house, running her hands through her hair and looking wistfully out down the road.

What she was planning to do if Bond did show is anyone’s guess: but there was a hint in some of Prada’s more revealing creations, such as a brown see-through number worn over black pants with a golden zip down to the crotch.

Greenpeace deemed that Prada, Hermès, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Alberta Ferretti and Trussardi failed completely as these brands “refused to even disclose information and did not make any commitments”.

According to Greenpeace, Prada, Hermès, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel are failing when it comes to eco-friendliness, impact on chemical pollution and tropical deforestation.

The environmental group assessed luxury Italian and French fashion houses according to three points linked to their supply chain: namely buying leather, pulp and paper (packaging) and water pollution.

The verdict: only Valentino passed the test, with an environmental policy that got a “good” rating. The Italian brand has committed to phasing out toxic chemicals from its manufacturing processes and implementing ‘zero deforestation’ policies for its products.

However, Greenpeace deemed that Prada, Hermès, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Alberta Ferretti and Trussardi failed completely as these brands “refused to even disclose information and did not make any commitments”.

Some fashion houses such as Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Versace are hanging in the balance as their environmental policies are still lacking, getting a “poor” ranking. And although Roberto Cavalli provided the information Greenpeace demanded, the brand’s score came into the “unsatisfactory” category.

Italian fashion label Prada has released a mysterious and stylish new film to accompany the Spring/Summer collection.

A new video released by Prada, sees the label’s Spring/Summer 2013 model stars including Eva Herzigova, Kirsten Owen, Raquel Zimmermann, and Sung Hee Kim fooling around in front of the camera, and embodying the characteristics of different flowers, for “one perfect petal storm.”

The aesthetic matches the scaled-back simplicity of the Steven Meisel print campaign. Playfully poetic narration is offset by some funny-faced character acting from the likes of Saskia de Brauw, who makes the most of her expressive features and gelled-down hair as she spins in a chair.

Fans of the label will be drawn in by the “Dahlia, Peony, Tiger Lily and the Tall Poppy”, these are “some of the mysterious flowers that bloom in Prada’s secret garden” according to the brand. The film mines this key theme from the collection, which appears as a motif (both print and enlarged appliqué) on clothes and accessories.

Sasha Pivovarova measures the length of her body with her thumb and Maartje Verhoef throws petals around in the 1:40 short, directed by DJA with photography provided by Meisel.

It’s the characters of the ten models which holds the key to the film’s charms: “each in possession of her own distinct identity, the women are witnesses to an unknown mystery. A chain reaction of events builds to a perfect storm,” explained Prada.

The UK has topped a ranking of countries with the highest affinity for luxury handbags, while labels including Coach, Louis Vuitton and Chanel top a compilation of the most searched luxury handbag brands globally.

This first digital analysis of the luxury handbag market, dubbed World Luxury Index Handbags, has been presented by Paris-based luxury executives’ online community Luxury Society and international company Digital Luxury Group, which designs digital communication strategies for luxury brands.

Based on the unbiased search inputs coming from global luxury consumers in major search engines, the report reveals Coach is the number one most searched luxury bag label internationally, followed by Louis Vuitton and Chanel, with Gucci and Longchamp rounding out the top five.

The report also looks at the number of handbag searches per 1,000 internet users, with the UK coming out on top with 422 searches per 1000 internet users — for the US it’s 315 and for France its 185.

Despite Coach coming out as the most searched internationally, in the UK Britain’s Mulberry ranks in first place, while in France Longchamp comes out on top.

When it comes to the most searched for iconic model, the Hermès Birkin comes in first place across all markets. In the US, UK and France, crocodile is the most searched for material, while color-wise Brits opt for tan and Americans prefer orange.

The Top 10 Most Searched Luxury Handbag Brands Globally:

1. Coach
2. Louis Vuitton
3. Chanel
4. Gucci
5. Longchamp
6. Prada
7. Hermes
8. Mulberry
9. Marc Jacobs
10. Michael Kors