Monkey Business

MANILA, Philippines – Happy Chinese New Year! This Spring Festival welcomes the bright red Year of the Monkey. People born under this sign are characterized as being quick-witted, somewhat irreverent, self-assured in their cleverness, and equipped with the right amount of mischief up their sleeves—all things that could describe the right kind of fashion moment.

For this Lunar New Year, we seek inspiration from Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer 2016 menswear show. Designer Kim Jones drew from a vast sea of references for this collection—American work wear juxtaposed with Japanese leathers and fabrications, kimono dressing laced up with street wear. A fiery red silk souvenir shirt this season gets the luxury treatment with an embroidered monkey for embellishment.

In our YStyle look of the week, we wish you luck and prosperity for the coming new year. To bring in good luck and to ward off bad energy, we’re channeling the kitsch and curiosity of this year’s spirit animal with this set of fashionable conversation starters — all either emblazoned in red or luxuriously dipped in gold.

Jewelry: Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton celebrates the Chinese New Year with this Vuittonite Monkey Pendant Necklace in finely worked metals. The monkey motif in gold is emblematic of the French house and its signature travel motifs. The perfect way to ring in prosperity and the wish of plentiful travels for the year ahead.

Beauty: Giorgio Armani Beauty

The Italian house of Giorgio Armani is set to ring in 2016’s Spring Festival with this limited-edition Year of the Monkey Face Palette. The luxury beauty brand features a makeup case decorated in the traditional lacquers of China on the packaging, with a stylized monkey imprinted on the compact illuminator inside. The powder features a natural sheer finish that goes with the bare face trend as seen on the runways.

Capsule Collection:Kenzo

#TeamCozy will never be this lucky. To celebrate the Year of the Monkey, French luxury label Kenzo is launching a capsule collection dedicated to the Lunar New Year. The collection is comprised of sweaters and shirts that feature their signatue Kenzo tiger, emblazoned in the Chinese lucky color ways of red and gold.

Baubles: Prada

The Italian house of Prada welcomes the Chinese New Year with a line of red hot accessories for a prosperous Spring Festival. The playful line will feature an array of signature Prada accessories of leather bags, patent-leather flats, kitten heels and small accessories in varying shades of China red and gold hardware. Our pick? The Prada primate key rings in plush fur, armored in space operatic metals.

Shoes: Elina Linardaki

If these Instagram-ready Elina Linardaki pom- pom shoes don’t get you noticed, I don’t know what will. These Lauren Santo Domingo-approved Penny Jane sandals (by way of a Moda Operandi trunk show) have been making the rounds in all the right fashionable circles. These gladiators are designed and produced in Athens, hand made from pure Greek leather. The straps around the ankles are hand-embroidered with semiprecious stones that range from coral to turquoise.

Earrings: Spring/summer 2016 Gucci

Nothing says vintage kitsch quite like Alessandro Michele’s agenda-setting turn for Gucci. Welcome the Spring Festival in these GG glass pearl earrings, cradled by gilded monkeys (wearing pearl necklaces themselves) in an aged gold finish.

Tech: Stella McCartney

What better way to ring in the New Year than having a pair of gold kissable lips? Stella McCartney is on the case with an iPhone 6 silicone cover in metallic bronze and silver color ways.

High Street: H&M

Swedish retail giant H&M celebrates the Year of the Monkey in different shades of red and gold. In a collection that ranges over 30 pieces in a strong New Year-appropriate palette, the campaign features Korean superstar Siwon Choi and supermodel Liu Wen. This could be your best bet for the most accessible prosperity that goes on retail. The collection will be available in nine different Asian countries, including the Philippines

Timepiece: Chopard

Chopard offers a timepiece that rings in the Lunar New Year with the expected amount of luxury, and just the right amount of kitsch. The watch features an Urushi lacquered dial, hand-crafted in Japan. The face depicts a red-coated monkey perched on a brand laden with fruit. To create this piece, Chopard worked with Yamada Helando, the official watch purveyor to the Japanese Imperial Family.

Clutch: Spring/summer 2016 Stella McCartney

For our YStyle look of the week, this eye-catching perspex clutch from Stella McCartney 2016 figures as the perfect conversation starter. The bag echoes the look of Stella’s spring/summer presentation—a collection of bold oranges and vivid blues reworked into knits and loose silhouettes. Pair this piece with a simple shift or day-time separates for that perfectly playful punch.