Celebrity Life

Baby it's cold outside! Read below how to choose your next cashmere piece, and some inspirations from my favourite ones.

The post The best cashmere! appeared first on Suite Life.

Luxury embodies refined excellence, rarity and enduring style. These are all pillars that uphold the Loro Piana brand. Its greatest pride comes from its heritage and renowned quality of their cashmere which spans six generations, earning its place at the top as the most revered name for the exquisite material.

The root of their success and popularity stems from the Loro Piana Method – encouraging local cashmere production in China by supporting the shepherds’ efforts while maintaining the brand’s ethical responsibility. From the finest raw materials to the most extensive production methods comes what we now know as the superlative standards of cashmere fabric.

To honour its continued prestige, Loro Piana partners with Academy Award-winning director, Luc Jacquet to present Cashmere – The Origin of a Secret, the first documentary in a trilogy of films celebrating Loro Piana’s renowned excellences: Cashmere, Vicuña and The Gift of Kings. The immersive installation transported guests to the most remote corners of the world where the rare fibres were sourced to experience the comprehensive process of production.

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Held at MIFA 1862 Art Centre in Shanghai, the premiere screening saw Loro Piana devotees such as film director Stephen Fung; actresses Li Bingbing, Jimin Han; supermodels Sui He and Ai Tominaga. Explore the event in the gallery and video below.

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Watch Cashmere - The Origin of a Secret here

The post Gallery: Cashmere – The Origin of a Secret Premiere in Shanghai appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Loro Piana's cashmere is the stuff of legends – soft as clouds, warm as a mother’s embrace and luxurious in a way that cannot be captured in words, only understood through personal experience.

It’s a material that’s created through care, consideration and The Loro Piana Method, a unique system of selective breeding centred in Inner Mongolia that allows the brand to access only the finest yarns. Loro Piana launched an animal production pilot project on genetic optimisation, enhancing the quality of fibres collected so they are finer and so that each animal is able to maintain a higher volume of down – allowing herdsmen to be able to reduce herds while sustaining cashmere production levels, restoring balance in the area’s greater ecosystem. While the aim is of course to achieve the highest quality of cashmere possible, the brand seeks to do so through sustainable practices that help us move towards greater social balance.

In order to share its story with the world, Loro Piana commissioned biologist and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Luc Jacquet to visit its site and create a series of documentary films showcasing the unique wonders of this production process. Jacquet’s previous credentials include the quietly moving March of the Penguins and its sequel, as well as Ice and the Sky, which covers the trials of the first scientist to posit the effects of global warming. Cashmere – The Origin of a Secret is the first of a trilogy, each film shedding light upon one of three different aspects in the world of Loro Piana, showcasing the extreme conditions and struggles that go into the quest for the finest cashmere.

In this first instalment, Jacquet travelled to Mongolia; in subsequent ones he will traverse New Zealand, Australia and South America. In the Alashan region, Jacquet meets the goat farmers of Inner Mongolia, learns of their daily strife, and how one of Earth’s harshest landscapes has taken a toll on their way of life – and the way in which an Italian luxury brand, with seemingly no connection to the land, has come to protect and preserve the fragile ecosystem that has since become integral to its production.

Jacquet unveils how, in seeking a commercial opportunity, Loro Piana found a cause to champion and a land to save, a terrifyingly beautiful landscape as harsh as it is heavenly, whose dry winters test the deepest resolve, whose summers scorch and whose soil provides little sustenance for its citizens.
The documentary premiered last month at the Shanghai arts centre MIFA 1862, with the full film accessible via Loro Piana’s website, as well as via private screenings around the world. To accompany the launch, from October 30 to November 14 Loro Piana is hosting an exciting pop-up, The Alchemy of Cashmere, at Pacific Place that allows guests to experience the wonder of its cashmere for themselves.

www.loropiana.com

The post The Story Behind Loro Piana’s Cashmere: Softly She Comes appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Cashmere for summer? Before you decide that I’ve gone utterly mad, let me explain. I’ve been crushing on Shanghai-based cashmere brand Crush for some time now. Founded by Taiwanese designer Vivian Chang in 2009, the cool, effortless, independent label has made a name for itself with timeless designs, beautiful fabrics and cross-generational appeal.

From feather-light tees and figure-hugging ribbed dresses to tank tops and formal-style jackets right the way to wintry chunky knits and fluffy teddy textures, Chang has made sure there’s plenty for every season -- and even the steamy summers.

“I started because I love cashmere, but I didn’t see any unique cashmere brands out there,” says Chang, who studied fashion design at FIT in Los Angeles. “In the beginning I had only that, but now I’ve incorporated some silk and cotton.”

Styles are minimal and clean, but easy to dress up with edgier, more trend-focussed pieces, such as a leather jacket, killer heels or flatforms. The texture and tactility is central to Crush.

[caption id="attachment_143743" align="alignnone" width="2362"] Crush variegated stripe rib knit t-shirt and skirt.[/caption]

“To start each collection, I visit all my suppliers and look at the new yarns they have,” Chang explains. “I combine different yarns to make my own yarn. I always start with fabric research.”

It’s this approach that defines the kinds of shapes and styles that the designer creates, while at the same time making sure it’s “all up to date”. Versatile separates mix and match well, and make for some of the most comfortable outfits I’ve ever worn. Very precise and clean, Crush keeps young through freshness of colour and modern style.

The brand has been a fixture at Lane Crawford for several seasons, a testament to how many fans it has year-round in this subtropical city.

“I’ve wanted to do this timeless style since I started,” Chang says. “My customers are very feminine and confident, and they travel a lot. My knits don’t get wrinkled so you can just throw them into your suitcase. It’s all hand-washing, so really travel-friendly.”

Chang’s focus on beautiful fabrics and timelessness puts her in a similar fashion vein to the folks at Loro Piana or Bruno Cucinelli, but obviously on a much smaller scale -- and more affordable. She’s now selling in almost 80 stores around the world, but doesn’t do much PR -- customers keep coming back for the quality, shape and form.

“When I first fell in love with cashmere it was with this type of chiffon-ish cashmere,” she says, showing me a well-draped, ivory- coloured top in her pristine showroom. “It’s so thin but still so warm, so you never have to look chunky in the winter -- just layer up. And for summer, it’s super light and comfy.”

The post Taiwanese Designer Vivian Chang Explains How to Stay Cool in Cashmere This Summer appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.