January 2025 News Roundup
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Wicked,' Los Angeles, USA, November 9, 2024. Photo courtesy of Tinseltown / Shutterstock.
1.
At least a decade ago, I remember talking to colleagues in the industry about how big luxury brands were going to have to develop their own media divisions because of increasing content needs, whether for their own websites, social media or advertising purposes (brands such as Saint Laurent and Gucci have gone on to develop their own film divisions). But that doesn’t mean the more traditional route of working with a production to strategically place product within a film has gone by the wayside. This article discusses how film provides fashion names with increased brand awareness, while promoting their wares and ultimately their bottom line through strategic product placements, promotional tie-ups and designers moonlighting as costumers.
2.
Elizabeth Hawes was an American clothing designer whose career began in Paris “copy houses,” where she visited real couture maisons and made imitation patterns from memory, according to an FIT exhibition last year dedicated to the designer, author, and labor activist. In 1938, she wrote a critique on the fashion industry entitled “Fashion is Spinach,” in which she criticized its senseless and predatory practices, as well as its trend-driven rollercoaster. Hawes’ book and her perspective on the industry is just as relevant today as it was nearly 90 years ago, as she championed ‘slow fashion,’ workers’ rights and responsible production. You can read an excerpt from the book here.
3.
One of the topics I like to highlight in this section is independent and emerging designers, especially ones that may not be so well known. Wallpaper is one media outlet that frequently highlights these creators and their brands. This month they featured profiles of three amazing fine jewelry designers: Fernando Jorges who designs sinuous and sculptural pieces in Brazilian Red Louro wood embellished with brown diamonds; the bold shapes of Nada Ghazal that highlight her modern take on gold and pearls; and the organic, textured pieces by Kiki Karayiannis for her jewelry atelier, Vasiliki (of which I’ve long been a fan).
ChatGPT AI chatbot. Image courtesy of Adria Vidal / Shutterstock.
4.
This op ed was just too good not to include (thank you, Jacqui, for sending it to me). I’ve covered numerous times how artists and organizations across the creative industries oppose AI firms training their technology models utilizing copyrighted, unlicensed material. Well, in an interesting turn of events this past week (or maybe it’s just karma), a Chinese hedge fund may have made unauthorized use of OpenAI’s Chat GPT and other chatbot models to train its own cheaper AI, DeepSeek. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sounded completely tone-deaf complaining about another company “inappropriately” using its own models when he’s alleged to have built ChatGPT using unauthorized works – art, writing, music – first. Marina Hyde, a columnist at The Guardian, wrote a brilliant send up of the drama.
Jil Sander boutique, Dusseldorf, Germany. Photo courtesy of Tobias Arhelger / Shutterstock.
5.
Last month, I linked to a story about minimalist fashion icon Jil Sander releasing a self-named monograph; this month, I am following that up with an interview with the designer herself (a rarity). Sander, a much-missed design presence in the industry, is an inspiring figure for her clarity of vision and her ability to execute on it consistently, whether that’s a Ready-to-Wear collection, an advertising campaign or a boutique design. Read up on how Sander approached editing her book, her views on the fashion industry today and how she became such an effective brand builder.
6.
This month I’m allowing myself an extra post, because I would feel remiss if I did not discuss the absolute devastation that the California wildfires have wrecked across Los Angeles and its surrounds. It has been truly horrifying to see the thousands of people who have lost their homes and their livelihoods, and others who also lost their lives, particularly in the hard struck Altadena neighborhood that was nearly entirely wiped out. Amid all this devastation, part of LA’s rich architectural heritage has also been lost. This article details just some of the architectural gems that have gone up in flames over the last few weeks.
