Fashion Association Honors Its Industry’s Rising Stars

When the professional association of fashion industry executives, Fashion Group International, holds an event, attendees get the inside scoop on the latest in fashion, home design, jewelry, and accessories.There was an abundance of such news to gather at the association’s Rising Stars luncheon yesterday at the Rainbow Room, which put the spotlight on emerging talent.The winner of the Rising Star award in the home and interior design category, Gilles-Fleur Boutry of Clodagh Design, just finished designing a gallery in Chelsea, AW Asia.A founder of Design Miami, interior designer Amy Lau, said she is considering working with a timeshare development in Manhattan. Ms. Lau said she is also working on bringing the fair to additional cities, including Shanghai.Fragrance entrepreneur Thibaud Perrin passed out samples of his Smiley fragrance. “This is happy therapy,” Mr. Perrin said of the perfume, which comes in packaging resembling a prescription bottle.The winner in the menswear category, Hisham Oumlil, a native of Casablanca, is seeking Moroccan guitarists to play at his fashion show on February 5.Meanwhile, clothing designer Joshua Hupper, of the brand Adept, is soon going to Tokyo to launch a menswear collection.The heir to the Maurice Villency furniture empire, Eric Villency, talked about a yet-to-be-named “green spin-off brand” launching in April. The brand will market a line of European-designed furniture manufactured to green standards in North Carolina. “We had to bring over a machine for the diamond drill bits,” Mr. Villency said.And what were people wearing? Purple was popular (modeled beautifully by shoe designer Holly Dunlap, who wore a purple blouse, and volunteer fund-raiser Gillian Miniter, who wore a lovely Gustavo Cadile dress). Black jewelry was prominent, too. Accessories designer Kara Ross wore a black cuff of her own design, which will be available in stores in a few weeks. Jewelry designer Christine Brandt wore an ebony and black garnet ring of her own design.Fashion commentator Robert Verdi wore a black Dior coat with a black Alexander McQueen suit. Dressing is so much a part of his occupation that his 5,000-square-foot office features an 800-square-foot closet containing most of his wardrobe. His next big project: hosting the web-based American Express Fashion Network launching at Fashion Week next week. “It’s going to offer streaming coverage in real time, so you can log in and watch from your office.”Not all the talk was business-related. Bazaar’s contributing fashion editor, Mary Alice Stephenson, dressed in Gucci and Lanvin, said she is considering a shorter haircut.Fashion Group International has 5,000 members nationwide. It was founded by and for women, in 1930, and only began admitting male members nine years ago. “It was an extremely elitist organization,” its president, Margaret Hayes, said. Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the founders, along with Elizabeth Arden and Carmel Snow.agordon@nysun.com

Fashion Association Honors Its Industry’s Rising Stars

Fashion Association Honors Its Industry’s Rising Stars

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