LA3C Lineup Revealed, Puig Announcement, Xuly B?t’s Big Year
LA3C LINEUP: The LA3C inaugural festival is going forward this December with a newly announced slate of performers.
The festival, which is hosted by Penske Media Corporation, said Thursday it will include performances by Free Nationals, Gerardo Ortiz, Fonseca, Marc Seguí, Shawn Wasabi, Monogem, Shea Diamond and Chicocurlyhead. The announcement comes after LA3C revealed the festival will be headlined by Megan Thee Stallion, Snoop Dogg, Maluma and Seventeen.
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“We are thrilled to share our full music lineup today,” said Juan Mora, chief executive officer of LA3C. “Our goals were to create a lineup that celebrates the range of musical genres Los Angeles offers including Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, K-Pop, Regional Mexican Music, EDM and more and for attendees to discover new artists while enjoying names they know and love.”
The festival has also partnered with HIN Events LLC to host a second stage that will feature performances by Mustard, AJ Hernz, ARIUS, Cam Girl, Freya Fox, Kill Bambi, Kim Lee, LOLO, Lucky Light, Madds, Meirlin, Peach and Vice.
LA3C will take place on Dec. 10 and 11 at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. The festival aims to “connect people and communities through the city’s most influential and inspiring music, food art,” according to PMC.
Tickets are available for purchase now on the festival’s web site. — WWD STAFF
PUIG APPOINTMENT: Family-owned Spanish beauty and fashion company Puig has named Eugenia de la Torriente as its chief communications officer, a newly created position that became effective Oct. 1.
De la Torriente is now responsible for the group’s internal and external communications, and reports to Marc Puig, Puig chairman and chief executive officer.
De la Torriente was formerly managing editor of El País, where she oversaw the arts, lifestyle and culture sections and supplements. Prior to that, she served as Vogue Spain and Harper Bazaar Spain’s editor in chief. De la Torriente penned “Puig, 100 Years of a Family Business,” which was published in 2014 by Assouline.
“Eugenia brings 24 years of experience in journalism, image creation, storytelling, strategy and communication, as well as high expertise managing teams and leading creative projects with a business focus on all kinds of platforms and channels,” Puig said in a statement Thursday.
“I am proud to become a member of a family project that has focused on creativity and responsibility for more than 100 years,” de la Torriente stated. “Puig is a story of passion and innovation and being part of this legacy is a very exciting professional challenge.”
How Puig’s corporate communications structure is specifically comprised now under de la Torriente could not immediately be learned. Puig had no comment.
Puig is a company with owned and licensed brands in the beauty and fashion industries. Its portfolio includes labels such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Carolina Herrera, Dries Van Noten, Byredo and L’Artisan Parfumeur. — JENNIFER WEIL
MARKING 30: “You always to fight to do things here in Paris,” said Lamine Badian Kouyaté ahead of the show marking the 30th anniversary of his label, Xuly B?t.
“Fashion has a lot to address,” the designer said after a guerrilla show that took place at a stone’s throw from Paris’ city hall and the Climate Academy, a structure the municipal leadership set up to educate, inform and encourage people on ecologically sound practices, housed in the former city hall of Paris 4th’s arrondissement.
Badian Kouyaté had intended to make a statement by showing there, given the brand’s “30-year legitimacy on alerting the corporation on the misdeeds of our industry.” Sustainable practices have been part and parcel of the Xuly B?t world, long before fashion became aware of its impact. But that did not pan out.
No matter: he decided he’d stage his show right on their front stoop, even if it meant keeping a lookout for police and guests milling around trying to look inconspicuous until the last moment. Police did come by several times, but their only action was to roll out some barricade tape to prevent overenthusiastic guests from spilling into oncoming traffic.
Plus guerrilla shows are his thing, ever since he famously put on his first 1992 debut just outside the Jean Paul Gaultier show, so that exiting guests could not miss it.
The final show of the spring 2023 season turned into a heartwarming moment that nothing could spoil, not even the Bluetooth boomboxes refusing to connect. The audience provided noise aplenty, with cheering, clapping and calling out of models’ names as they strutted their stuff.
Buses trundled past with their passengers snapping away at the models on the runway as much as any conventional front row. Some guests perched on green wheelie bins to get a better look and cheered from their high spot. “Wilde” said the neon sign in a street level window of the gallery serving as backstage — and the moment was.
Out came the full Xuly B?t playbook of bodysuits; smartly cut blazers; brightly colored pedal-pushers and leggings; pencil skirts worn by all genders, looking feminine and chic or handsome like kilts. All were layered without looking bulky, as evidenced by models dancing at various points during their passage.
The looks were sported by an eclectic group of friends old and new, including Xuly B?t chief executive officer Rodrigo Martinez; fashion collector Michelle Elie and her sons; the stylist Jenke Ahmed Tailly, who worked with Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian; French influencer-turned-designer Jeanne Damas, and even a server from a bar near their latest pop-up store, whispered one guest familiar with the brand.
“Lamine is love,” said a long-standing model who had already walked for Badian Kouyaté since the ’90s. A sentiment echoed by Damas, whose mother was an early Xuly B?t customer. “What I adore is his love of women [in his design]. When you walk on the Right Bank with him, he says hello to everyone, everyone comes to kiss him,” she said.
In lieu of a traditional finale, the cast came back out wearing all-white ensembles, some livened up with topstitching, the Xuly B?t “Funkin’ Fashion” stamp or various logos in red, preceding Badian Kouyaté, who emerged with his fist raised.
His label may be 30 this year, but Kouyaté has lost nothing of the counterculture stance that burst onto the Paris scene when he made his debut in 1992.
He cautioned the Climate Academy sages that “you can’t sit among yourselves, sipping your organic tea,” telling them to “ask the right questions.” He had just as much to say about how expensive it is to show a collection in Paris, remarking how independent or emerging designers were priced out.
“Xuly B?t means ‘opening the eyes’ [in the Wolof language] so open your eyes, nothing is neutral. We can all live together. Not just leave some on the sidelines,” he said, reeling of five-figure prices for oft-used Paris venues.
But when asked if he was angry, he said he wasn’t, explaining that he was speaking up out of love for future generations — on both topics. It brought to mind a Jimi Hendrix lyric he’d quoted in an earlier season: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” — LILY TEMPLETON
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