YStyle Picks

The bling sting

MANILA, Philippines - In an instance of life imitating art, it’s been reported that on the same night that Sofia Coppola’s new film The Bling Ring premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, an alleged amount of $1 million worth of Chopard jewels were stolen from a hotel room. The Bling Ring, a film adaptation on the real life story of teenagers who stole millions of dollars worth of cash, jewelry, art and luxury goods from the homes of their favorite Hollywood stars, premiered to much fanfare at the festival, which is why news of the Chopard robbery spread like wildfire. “I was going to say that it was a publicity stunt,” Sofia joked after being asked if she had heard about the coincidence. Chopard, a long-time sponsor at Cannes, released a statement to the press: “There is currently a police investigation underway, so we can only let you know that the value of the pieces stolen is far lower than those in the figures circulating in the media. The jewels stolen are not part of the collection of jewels that are worn by actresses during the Cannes Film Festival.”

Hermes take over

Regardless of how you feel about the Birkin’s aesthetic appeal, Hermès stands as one of the only traditional, family-owned luxury companies in the world — and they would certainly like to keep it that way. This week, French newspaper Le Mode published a front page story entitled “LVMH’s very secret plan,” detailing the luxury conglomerate’s stealthy plan to acquire the French luxury house. The story was based on a 115-page report by AMF, a French marketing authority. According to WWD, LVMH began investing in Hermès back in 2001 through various subsidiaries under the code name “Mercure.” In 2007, the company continued investing in amounts low enough that it didn’t have to publicly disclose those investments. Last April, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault said, “We have no intention at all of increasing our stake to play a role in this company. We want instead to be friendly supporters of one of France’s finest companies.” However, as Hermès chairman Bertrand Puech told the French daily Le Figaro back in 2010, when Arnault shocked the industry by announcing that he had secretly acquired 17.1 percent of the company, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”

Riri vs. Topshop

Ornusa Cadness and Sanya Smith may have thought it was cool when their faces were printed on Topman shirts, but Rihanna doesn’t seem to think so. A week after her sophomore collection for UK high street brand River Island was released, reports surfaced that she is suing Topshop for $5 million for printing her image on one of its shirts without her consent. Apparently her team has been trying to resolve the issue for the past eight months with the retail giant, but with the release of her second collection with River Island, which also features apparel bearing images in her likeness, her legal team has been instructed to go ahead with the case. However, the case appears to be a lot more complicated than most would think. For one, the shirt was “provided to Topshop by a third-party supplier.” Also, since the company purchased the image from the photographer who took it, they are technically exempt from paying the artist licensing fees, in the UK at least. Third, unlike the US, in the UK “there is no right of personality,” so as long as the shirt is not sold outside of the UK, it looks like RiRi doesn’t have a case.

Moda falling out

A few days after Fast Company published the inspiring tale of how J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons rose to the top after more than a decade at the company and how her rapport with CEO Mickey Drexler has been crucial to their success comes the story of a less-than-inspiring fall-out between two company heads. Apparently Moda Operandi CEO and founding partner Ãslaug Magnúsdóttir has left the company after starting it with US Vogue contributing editor Lauren Santo Domingo back in 2010. So far, the company hasn’t released an official statement, but the New York Post was able to dig up a juicy bit of information from an undisclosed souce: “Lauren felt Aslaug wasn’t hip and cool enough.” Ouch. That hurts, especially since Business of Fashion, a website where Ãslaug is a columnist, called her the “driving force” behind the company and that while Lauren brought “important connections to the powerful magazine,” she “was not working at the company on a daily basis.” Considering the company just reached $36 million in a Series C round of additional funding, we hope they find somebody who can take over day-to-day operations, stat.

Sour goop-ing

Apparently even People magazine’s most beautiful woman in the world can have a bad time at a fancy party. A few days after the punk-themed Met Gala, Gwynnie was interviewed by two Australian radio DJs about the fete and she answered somewhere along the lines of “It sucked.” Well, that was harsh. “It seems like the best thing in the world. You think, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to be so glamorous and amazing, and you’re going to see all these famous people.’ And then you get there, and it’s so hot, and so crowded, and everyone’s pushing you,” Ms. Paltrow continued. Then she went on to knock on the theme that Anna Wintour’s team chose for this year, saying, “And everyone was dressed in punk ... and I feel that we’re all a bit old to be dressed punk, you know what I mean? I didn’t. I just went kind of normal...” While Goop’s candidness is refreshing, we’re pretty sure it’s poor form to complain about somebody else’s party in a public forum. How about this: Next year, don’t go. If you get invited again, that is.