Luxury brands in Vietnam

 Ralph Lauren, Vincom Center A

 Dior, Vincom Center A

 Louis Vuitton, Vincom Center A

Finally I have a reason to visit Vietnam some day. My friend sent this photos of luxury boutiques in Ho Chi Minh City that make me curious about luxury business in this country. Louis Vuitton at the Opera View building might be the oldest brand that opens its door in this emerging country. Yet, nowadays it must face the competition with its LVMH brother brands or other groups'. A luxury shopping center called Vincom Center A is housing many fashion and jewelry brands, two of them are Dior and Ralph Lauren. The thing that makes me amaze about the Ralph Lauren boutique here is the availability of Ralph Lauren Collection gowns that I had seen on the runaway. We simply cannot ignore this city, or country, when talking about new wealth and luxury shopping heaven.

Raoul: Painter's (dirty) studio

 

Nowadays, the connection between the world of high fashion and the realm of art is getting more and more intimate with designers or fashion houses are making collaboration with painters or other artists, and releasing collection that is said as based on a work by someone. Raoul is doing this 'artistic' thing for its pre-Fall 2013 collection but not literally taking it on the collection. This Singapore brand takes us inside a painter's studio where sprays of paints, empty cans, and blank or used canvas and frames are everywhere. The situation here is not that minimalist and comfy thing as what you see in the art gallery, but more of dirty and messy one. However, this terrible background still provide the beautiful ambience for the collection itself.

Louis Vuitton x Eko Nugroho

I am not a fan of contemporary or modern arts that is now growing rapidly everywhere in the world since I am a fan of classic one. However, I am so surprised yet so proud to read the news about Louis Vuitton collaboration with Eko Nugroho, one of the young Indonesian artist. His works are deeply influenced by his Javanese cultural background and also affected with the contemporary street art, graffiti, and comics. Those influences can be seen in this Louis Vuitton Foulards D'Artistes scarf collection that now is being displayed at the window display of LV boutique in Plaza Indonesia.

For the visitors who want to know more about Eko Nugroho, I share an excellent biography about him by ARNDT Berlin http://www.arndtberlin.com/website/artist_8533

Kate Spade: Red carpet

Amid the month of rare window display update in Jakarta, Kate Spade gives a refreshing look for its window. There are three mannequins queuing in a red carpeted row. (Stickers of) photographers with their sparkling blitz lights become the background that make the window looks like a scene from a movie preview attended by movie stars.

Dior: Secret Garden 2

Earlier last month, Dior released the chapter 2 of its infamous Secret Garden short movie. After the bright and beautiful Galleries des Glaces of Versailles and its beautiful garden, the darker mood is now blanketing the video that is shot at Grand Trianon and the forest near this palace. The abstract story on the video is now can be found, or at least seen, at the Dior window displays. Geometric objects in the striking neon colors of pink, red, and orange catch the attention of all the passers-by. They are installed in the middle of the window that has hand painted imagery of a forest, or a garden, in dark green color. Unique, beautiful, edgy, and last but not least, unpredictable.