How a Designer
Woos Power
And Celebrity
Among the swarm of celebrities and well-wishers backstage at Giambattista Valli's runway show in Paris last week, it would have been easy to think Justo Artigas was just another flashy hanger-on.
Giambattista Valli at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
But Mr. Artigas, whose job is to make sure famous faces wear Mr. Valli's clothes, is one of the secret weapons behind Mr. Valli's quick rise in the fashion industry these days.
After just two-and-a-half years with his own line, Mr. Valli has developed a loyal following among power brokers and socialites on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the brand is still small (the company declined to give figures), it is showing up on movie stars like Sarah Jessica Parker at red-carpet events and getting a lot of publicity from retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue.
Justo Artigas helps Valli 'place the clothes.' Here, he poses with supermodel Iman.
Unlike most new designers, Mr. Valli has managed to cater to two constituencies that can often be incompatible: starlets and grandes dames. With the help of Mr. Artigas, he catches the attention of young, buzz-generating celebrities like Jessica Biel and the Olsen twins, who love his frothy, short party dresses. But his own high-society contacts, many of them forged in his earlier career at Emanuel Ungaro, help him appeal to powerful women, patricians like Lee Radziwill, the 74-year-old sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and professional women, who appreciate his elegant draping.
"I would love to dress [actress] Gena Rowlands," Mr. Valli said in a recent interview, casting his eyes heavenward.
Mr. Valli's gambit is to attract celebrities to wear his clothes, generating buzz, without alienating professional women and others who can afford to wear his clothes. Most new designers try to carve out narrow constituencies and then build on them. But he puts clothes in every collection that appeal to both types of client.
A model wears one of Valli's designs on the runway.
Mr. Valli, who left his post as artistic director at Ungaro in 2005, blends gently edgy design with careful couture techniques and fabrics. His spring collection last week included a black minimalist caftan and hot-pink frocks. The fall clothes, in stores now, range from elaborate party dresses to a classy black suit that could adorn any chairwoman of the board. Many of the fabrics are so thickly woven they might stand on their own, reminiscent of Balenciaga. For spring, Mr. Valli wrapped Swarovski crystals in tulle so they wouldn't glint crassly and draped models in huge, earthy baubles of rough turquoise. He said he was inspired by the Jordanian desert -- no doubt a tribute to Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, a client -- as well as by the light artists James Turrell and Dan Flavin.
Giambattista Valli isn't for the faint of pocketbook. Prices range from a $1,900 cocktail dress to a $4,200 giraffe print coat. The Giambattista Valli label is controlled by Italy's Gilmar Group, which also owns the Iceberg fashion-sportswear line. Mr. Valli also designs for Iceberg.
Thus far, the designer has drawn the patronage of stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks, in fact, has been advertising Giambattista Valli in full-page spreads alongside Dior in its direct-mail catalogs and in the September issue of Vogue.
The queen of Jordan wore his designs on several outings during a recent trip to New York, providing him with enough name-dropping fodder to last for months. And when the Italian socialite Margherita Missoni attended her 24th-birthday fête in Milan last February, she snubbed her family's own famously striped knit designs and wore instead a crimson couture-like creation from the latest season of Giambattista Valli.
Italian socialite Margherita Missoni in Giambattista Valli
Still, his recent success is due as much to who sits in the front row of his fashion shows as to what he creates. Ms. Radziwill was one of the most notable people attending his first show in 2005. By the following year, he managed to place celebrities Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham in the front row.
That's where Mr. Artigas, who was hired away from Dolce & Gabbana two-and-a-half years ago, comes in. "It's my job to place the clothes" with celebrities, said Mr. Artigas recently, wearing a shiny silver jacket with a Dolce & Gabbana cap atop his balding pate. "Now I'm saying 'no' more than I'm saying 'yes.' It took me five years to get to that point at Dolce & Gabbana." While it's common for big red-carpet designers -- like Dolce & Gabbana -- to have a celebrity wrangler like Mr. Artigas getting the clothes into places where they will be photographed, it is more rare for a small designer.
In turn, Mr. Artigas has his own secret weapons. One of them is Cristina Ehrlich, who is a Somebody in Hollywood fashion. Along with her partner Estee Stanley, Ms. Ehrlich's roster of high-powered clients includes Penelope Cruz, Demi Moore, Ms. Biel and the Olsen twins -- several of whom have been seen wearing Giambattista Valli.
At last week's show, Ms. Ehrlich brought along Jennifer Morrison, an actress best known for her role on the television show "House M.D.," and sat her in the front row. Decked out in a black Giambattista Valli dress with stiff couture ruffles running vertically down the front, Ms. Morrison was giddy afterwards, backstage. "I love this stuff!" she said, posing for any camera that came her way.
Ms. Ehrlich is so enamored of the Giambattista Valli clothes that she abandoned Ms. Morrison in her Paris hotel room last week and spent the days before the show helping Mr. Valli assemble runway outfits. "Bar none, he's what's going on," said Ms. Ehrlich.
Mr. Artigas's efforts sometimes go awry. When he went to ferry Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to the runway show last week, he arrived at their Paris hotel only to learn the twins had decided to skip the show for an unrelated photo opportunity. Nonetheless, Mr. Artigas says recent interest from celebrity stylists bodes well for Mr. Valli. This season, says Mr. Artigas, "there's going to be a lot of red carpet."
story and images from the wall street journal
Woos Power
And Celebrity
Among the swarm of celebrities and well-wishers backstage at Giambattista Valli's runway show in Paris last week, it would have been easy to think Justo Artigas was just another flashy hanger-on.
But Mr. Artigas, whose job is to make sure famous faces wear Mr. Valli's clothes, is one of the secret weapons behind Mr. Valli's quick rise in the fashion industry these days.
After just two-and-a-half years with his own line, Mr. Valli has developed a loyal following among power brokers and socialites on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the brand is still small (the company declined to give figures), it is showing up on movie stars like Sarah Jessica Parker at red-carpet events and getting a lot of publicity from retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue.
Unlike most new designers, Mr. Valli has managed to cater to two constituencies that can often be incompatible: starlets and grandes dames. With the help of Mr. Artigas, he catches the attention of young, buzz-generating celebrities like Jessica Biel and the Olsen twins, who love his frothy, short party dresses. But his own high-society contacts, many of them forged in his earlier career at Emanuel Ungaro, help him appeal to powerful women, patricians like Lee Radziwill, the 74-year-old sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and professional women, who appreciate his elegant draping.
"I would love to dress [actress] Gena Rowlands," Mr. Valli said in a recent interview, casting his eyes heavenward.
Mr. Valli's gambit is to attract celebrities to wear his clothes, generating buzz, without alienating professional women and others who can afford to wear his clothes. Most new designers try to carve out narrow constituencies and then build on them. But he puts clothes in every collection that appeal to both types of client.
Mr. Valli, who left his post as artistic director at Ungaro in 2005, blends gently edgy design with careful couture techniques and fabrics. His spring collection last week included a black minimalist caftan and hot-pink frocks. The fall clothes, in stores now, range from elaborate party dresses to a classy black suit that could adorn any chairwoman of the board. Many of the fabrics are so thickly woven they might stand on their own, reminiscent of Balenciaga. For spring, Mr. Valli wrapped Swarovski crystals in tulle so they wouldn't glint crassly and draped models in huge, earthy baubles of rough turquoise. He said he was inspired by the Jordanian desert -- no doubt a tribute to Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, a client -- as well as by the light artists James Turrell and Dan Flavin.
Giambattista Valli isn't for the faint of pocketbook. Prices range from a $1,900 cocktail dress to a $4,200 giraffe print coat. The Giambattista Valli label is controlled by Italy's Gilmar Group, which also owns the Iceberg fashion-sportswear line. Mr. Valli also designs for Iceberg.
Thus far, the designer has drawn the patronage of stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Saks, in fact, has been advertising Giambattista Valli in full-page spreads alongside Dior in its direct-mail catalogs and in the September issue of Vogue.
The queen of Jordan wore his designs on several outings during a recent trip to New York, providing him with enough name-dropping fodder to last for months. And when the Italian socialite Margherita Missoni attended her 24th-birthday fête in Milan last February, she snubbed her family's own famously striped knit designs and wore instead a crimson couture-like creation from the latest season of Giambattista Valli.
Still, his recent success is due as much to who sits in the front row of his fashion shows as to what he creates. Ms. Radziwill was one of the most notable people attending his first show in 2005. By the following year, he managed to place celebrities Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham in the front row.
That's where Mr. Artigas, who was hired away from Dolce & Gabbana two-and-a-half years ago, comes in. "It's my job to place the clothes" with celebrities, said Mr. Artigas recently, wearing a shiny silver jacket with a Dolce & Gabbana cap atop his balding pate. "Now I'm saying 'no' more than I'm saying 'yes.' It took me five years to get to that point at Dolce & Gabbana." While it's common for big red-carpet designers -- like Dolce & Gabbana -- to have a celebrity wrangler like Mr. Artigas getting the clothes into places where they will be photographed, it is more rare for a small designer.
In turn, Mr. Artigas has his own secret weapons. One of them is Cristina Ehrlich, who is a Somebody in Hollywood fashion. Along with her partner Estee Stanley, Ms. Ehrlich's roster of high-powered clients includes Penelope Cruz, Demi Moore, Ms. Biel and the Olsen twins -- several of whom have been seen wearing Giambattista Valli.
At last week's show, Ms. Ehrlich brought along Jennifer Morrison, an actress best known for her role on the television show "House M.D.," and sat her in the front row. Decked out in a black Giambattista Valli dress with stiff couture ruffles running vertically down the front, Ms. Morrison was giddy afterwards, backstage. "I love this stuff!" she said, posing for any camera that came her way.
Ms. Ehrlich is so enamored of the Giambattista Valli clothes that she abandoned Ms. Morrison in her Paris hotel room last week and spent the days before the show helping Mr. Valli assemble runway outfits. "Bar none, he's what's going on," said Ms. Ehrlich.
Mr. Artigas's efforts sometimes go awry. When he went to ferry Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to the runway show last week, he arrived at their Paris hotel only to learn the twins had decided to skip the show for an unrelated photo opportunity. Nonetheless, Mr. Artigas says recent interest from celebrity stylists bodes well for Mr. Valli. This season, says Mr. Artigas, "there's going to be a lot of red carpet."
story and images from the wall street journal
...i'm quite interested in him and his brand recently....i think he is a man with good taste...knowing excatly what's beauty....
