FINDINGS
LANVIN TIME: Lanvin has launched its first watch since the Sixties.
“I met a collector who showed me old Lanvin ivory and ebony watches from his private collection,” said Gerald Asaria, managing director at Lanvin. “We decided to adapt the design for today.”
Lanvin replaced the original model’s ebony bezel with black ceramic and polished steel. The dials are white with silver hands and a black leather strap. The limited-edition series of 2,000 pieces — retailing for about $560 — is being manufactured by Royal Quartz in Switzerland, which also made the original models.
Distribution will be limited to Lanvin boutiques in France, Japan and the Middle East, as well as Royal Quartz’s boutiques on the Rue Royal and at Roissy airport in Paris.
BRITISH INVASION: Two London accessories designers — Anya Hindmarch and Bill Amberg — are about to cross the pond and open New York stores, both by the middle of this month.
Hindmarch’s tiny, 250-square-foot store, at 60th Street and Madison Avenue, will carry her main handbag and small leather goods collection as well as a selection from her new Blue Label diffusion line.
“We’ve been looking for 18 months for a site in New York, and I just decided to go for this one, even though it’s so small, it is just like a kiosk,” Hindmarch. “But we are focused on retail expansion, especially in the U.S.”
Hindmarch already has two stores in London, a flagship on Pont Street and another shop on Walton Street, and recently opened leased departments in Harvey Nichols and Harrods in London and a franchised store in the Landmark Tower in Hong Kong. She wholesales to such U.S. stores as Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Scoop and Bergdorf Goodman.
Amberg’s 700-square-foot store, at 230 Elizabeth Street, is in trendy NoLIta. Amberg has had a SoHo showroom for more than a year, displaying his women’s and men’s leather goods and his home furnishings. Wholesale prices range from about $40 to $195.
Amberg currently sells to U.S. stores including Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Saks, Fred Segal and Ultimo.
Besides handbags and small leather goods, Amberg also makes diaries, luggage and home items such as leather wastepaper baskets, bowls, furniture and leather flooring. Recent U.S. design commissions were a leather-covered staircase in Boston, a leather-lined elevator in New York and a leather boardroom table in Dallas.