The MARGINALIST

“Nothing but Pure Spirit”

At the Pearl bar in Shanghai, the Crystal head vodka launched its super magnum bottle for this first time in China. The magnum bottle is so rare the that there can be only be one sold per day.

Forget about the ordinary saturated fashion flash sales, China digital saavy culture has even lead to market readiness of e-commerce wine flash sales.

Delivered in over 340 cities in China, Z9H.CN is a membership only online wine website that gives access to qualitative imported wines with very competitive and affordable   online prices in China.

After an insightful blind wine tasting workshop on Bordeaux comparing Chateaux Rollan de By with more renown “Branded” wines, the Grand Cru Classé, I was extremely surprised by the result and large price gap, although the Grand Cru that we tasted were of extremely high level, for price quality, I believe that Rollan de By over-achieved its value in the Médoc. I even bought several bottles of Rollan de By via Z9H myself where I was really satisfied with the service from selecting the product to the cash on payment delivery option, everything was extremely convenient and a huge time saver. This is definitely experiencing the true O2O solution from the onsite tasting and evaluation to the online purchase.

Z9H states that it’s premium selections are approved by the Best Sommelier in the World, Andreas Larsson and other wine Experts who are part of the Heritage Wine Club ( HWC). The club brings the best sommelier in the world in China and is dedicated to the wine aficionados who want to share their experiences over the blog.

All of Z9H’s products are imported with official certification and directly sourced from the wineries to ensure quality and conditions. During the wine workshop, I spoke with the young entrepreneur, Adrien Fabry, Founder of the platform, where he shares his experience and background to creating one of the first online wine flash sales platform.

1. How did you start your e-commerce wine company ( what are the opportunities that you saw)

1. I spent a gap year in 2007 as a student in Shanghai and fall in love with the city and the Chinese culture. As a French and through the connections that I built in Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy, I became a wine lover while raising funds for ecommerce company as an investment banker in Europe. After 5 years of intense work, I decided to quite my formal life in the banking industry to begin a new adventure. I naturally decided to come back to Shanghai and build an online brand for Chinese consumers for fine wine and share my passion and knowledge to a new market.

What are the main challenges in the Chinese Market ( i.e. the 50 RMB price positioning compared to 200 RMB, how do you create effective WOM online and offline to overcome the challenges for Chinese shoppers to trust Z9H)

I am a premium wine lover. I sell wine that requires a specific attention from the grape growing to the bottling. I focus on the quality more than the quantity. Such a marketing position is conflicting with the current environment of the online wine industry in China. As the market is totally immature, the knowledge about wine is very low. Online Chinese consumers tend to buy the cheapest wine possible (taking into account that some wines are overpriced here…). Hence I cannot directly compete with the other actors that targets volume. My strategy is to build a brand and build the trust of my new customers through many social media and offline activities.

Importance of Social Media for your platform? Social Media is very important for us to create the word of mouth and build a strong relation with the brand and the users. That is the reason why we have focused a lot of work and time to develop a mobile version compatible with WeChat. We need to build a community of strong wine lovers as quick as possible. WeChat is a good tool to improve that both via our customer service platform and official brand platform which includes a community wine blog for wine lovers.

Future projects or plans?

My future plan is to find a showroom (wine bar/wine shop) to highlight the wines we like the most and for people to come and taste our selections.

The New York-based JUMA brand recently opened it’s showroom in Shanghai  where the multi colored collection playfully shows a full set of its iconic scarves to its clutches, printed socks, jackets and other accessories.

Catering both to the B2C and B2B segment, Juma is showcased in some of the most prestigious hotels such as the 4 Seasons in Beijing as well as the hotel’s restaurants and its Hotel Spa providing  cool eclectic home deco as well as dressing up the staffs outfit creating be-spoke modern and sophisticated suits.

Globe trotters and founders of the JUMA brand, siblings, Jamil and Alia Juma, take their inspiration from their life experiences across the world which are embedded in their collection showcasing tribal and exotic signature prints and photographs. The line is a symbol of their upbringing in different continents and cities from North America to East Asia as well as their artistic surroundings of music, art, graphic design, photography and fashion.

This seasons collection sticks to its roots of patterns, distorted tribal prints,  as well as showcasing wool and silk unisex scarves, cool light cashmere cardigans, printed socks, and heavy wool / cotton blend hoodies and bomber jackets.

The JUMA collection is carried in coveted retailers such as Harvey Nichols Hong Kong, Ron Herman Los Angeles, and Another Edition Tokyo. The company will has also launched its first POS as the 4 Seasons in Beijing as well as found in China’s key leading chinese e-tailors.

“A custom jewelry project starts with a concept, a drawing or a picture and progresses in stages through the design and manufacturing process and culminates in a sparkling new fine jewelry creation.” says Lemay.

On a beautiful sunny afternoon, I visited the Canadian <Québec> master craftsman and jeweler, Yves Lemay’s, gorgeous Shanghainese  mansion located in the outskirts of the city center. Entering the villa, I was welcomed with a beautiful garden and an immensely large staircase leading to Lemay’s workshop / atelier where I discovered the magic behind each creation; a group of craftsman meticulously working away at each small minuscule diamond to finish and polish off the ring. 

For more than 5 years, Lemay’s team of skilled craftsman have been producing custom made jewelry that is inspired from the vibrant people and city of Shanghai.

Coming out from one of Canada’s most prestigious and trusted Jewellers, Maison Birks, and holding over a decade of expertise and strong ignited passion for Jewellery, Lemay has also been collaborating with international luxury brands such as Ferrari, Steffani Ricci, Cartier, Boucheron and more.

Lemay also showed a breif workshop on the art of engraving and steps, details and procedures to the creation of a custom-made piece as well as his lover for metals and armory proudly showcasing his silver engraved armour.

Designer Yves Lemay

Sunday Apéro at Lemay’s Having a sunny apéro of Monkey 47 gin tonic on Lemay’s terrace, he joyfully shares with me his expertise and passion for “Haute Joaillerie”, metal armery and his strong dedication for absolute perfection.

How did you start your passion in the world of Jewelry?

I started with a passion for armory where my dream was to create fine armory with   precious jewels and metals. I studied fine jewelry in Montreal and thereafter got hired at Birks in Montreal.

Whats your daily inspiration for your creations?

My inspiration comes from a constant research for perfection, weather its from a technical aspect or aesthetic aspect, the most important thing is that inspires me is a constant research for perfection, even in the way I’ve organized the studio , the garden and how I welcome my clients.

Can you explain your recent collaboration with Monkey 47?

I met Victor (GM of Monkey 47) in 2012 where I started to created the Monkey ring to create pins which grew in a long term relationship. Victor has also helped my sponsor major parties I’ve held here which have ended in a tremendous success.My inspiration for the creation of the Monkey ring comes from the bottles etiquette and its 47 key elements, specifically the pine cones. You can see on the lines of the pine cones on the boarder of the ring which I’ve represented from a-z on each side of the Monkey ring. I believe this is very distinctive element of the brand. 

How is your opinion on the Chinese market for Jewelry?

The market is definitely big in China, however the biggest challenge comes down to  a question of trust. It’s been 10 years that I’m in China pushing my brand where I’m getting positive WOM on the quality of my services and my products where my reputation has become quite solid in Shanghai. I hope that in the future I will receive more Chinese clients who recognize the quality and authenticity of my products.

Clients trust is important as well as getting to know them where creating custom made jewelry is highly based on the clients emotions, according to their tastes, personal feelings and wishes, I try to bring a dream intro reality through my work of arts to create a truly lasting memory that can transcend through time and generations.

A personal <Styling> question, if you needed to do an accessory for me, what type and style would you choose  ( this is not a trap question ;) )

One on one style lesson with Patrick Cox

The Italian lifestyle casual footwear brand, founded by Mario Moretti Polegatto, showcased its AW15/16 Presentation Preview at its showroom during MFW.

Today, the brand has over 60 patents registered worldwide and produces footwear, clothing and accessories focused on comfort and well being with a contemporary style.  This season, two different capsule collections were presented, one from the south Korean designer Yong Bae Seok which fused iconic military camouflage with tartan patterns creating a lively and young capsule and one from designer Patrick Cox who leaned towards a sports and metallic environment to create a fashionable but still functional style.

Patrick Cox, the British Canadian Fashion Designer noted for his Fashion label and use of unusual materials and mixture of modern avant-garde and traditional styles explains his inspiration for this season capsule with GEOX and what’s the significance of style for him.

Can you explain more in depth your AW15/16 capsule collection?

I’ve been at GEOX for almost 4 years now where I work with the capsule collections at GEOX still respecting the frameworks of the breathe technology while still have the element of bounce, comfort and modernity that comes to it, so no leather soles. This season, its very clean and simply, the pallets are black white and grey along with a small group of tan and chocolate brown.  You can see also some accents of metallic, specifically gold and less silver such as gold zips and python prints, exactly what I’m wearing today as well (laughter).  

Also, due to the sneaker trend this season where “everyone talking about sneakers and more sneakers”, I’m really excited that I got the opportunity this season to do sneakers that are much more competing with an active sports sneakers, think of 1980’s air Jordon’s with the geometry on the sole and the zig zags on the side, they are very much a basketball sneaker and for GEOX this is quite new direction as its quite fashion and quite young, the brand didn’t really do this type of direction before me.

What does style mean for you? Style is something for me very personal, it has nothing to do with fashion. Style is something you have personally, you adapt yourself and you decide what looks good on you and you continue with that style. Wow, you can be naked and have style!  Style is just something that’s innate; it’s your personal style, not about following trends.

Not just another ordinary gin. Founder of Monkey 47, Alexander Stein, partners up with master distiller, Christoph Keller, to release a “distilled and unfiltered gin that skillfully unites British traditions, the exoticness of India, and the purity of the Black Forest” creating an exquisite German dry gin.

Monkey 47 was meticulously produced from literally the inside out starting with the old traditional pharmaceutical glass bottle protecting the distortion of the aromas to the stamp inspired from the old Victorian colonial era showcasing subtle hints of the gin’s ingredients, and of course the Monkey.

101 Lesson on its secret ingredients to making the “Trendyiest Gin in the World” According to the worlds best 50 bars, Monkey 47 is ranked as the top trending brand across all spirits categories (2015) and is a favored drink amongst bar elites, connoisseurs and of course gin aficionados.  With 47 botanical ingredients that have been selected to create a special and unique mouth watery journey of flavors The Marginalist went deeper in discovering some of the essential elements to create the leading gin; -Botanical experience; Lingon berries, spruce tips, sloes and elderflower blossoms -Structured Aromas; Pure Molasses and fully ripened Juniper Berries from Tuscany -Spicy Notes; Cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, almond, ginger, cinnamon, licorice, and Acorus calamus -Floral Savors; lavender, jasmine, wild honeysuckle, and Mo-narda didyma (Scarlet Monarda) -Tangy Citrus; bitter orange, lemongrass, and other combinations of citrus fruits -The Black Forest; Chamomile, rose, hawthorn berries and fresh cranberries.

Going through the mastery distillery process to its “customized” maceration and distillation / steam extraction <creating 47% alcohol>, the gin undergoes 3 months of oxidization and uberly slow filtration to preserve the natural taste and aromas where no intense cooling  subsequent filtering process is forced in order to preserve the complex nature and quality of the gin. Cheers to an amazing gin!

The Iceberg FW2015 show was held at Via Palermo where  a strong collection of sweaters and  high waisted  bottom shapes were showcased. A mix of playful feminity and boldness was  presented which complimented the natural look of the models.  Intense colors, structured forms from the bottom and slightly oversized shapes from the top gave the silhouettes form and a type of coolness elegance. The sport influence also made the collection easy to wear while having a confident narrow and lean silhouette.

BACK STAGE BEAUTY PASS with Iceberg’s Beauty Director

Going backstage, we had the chance to interview the beauty director, Vionnette, who shares her inspiration for the beauty look of this season.

“ I believe that going back to a natural look is important. the collection is very cool  (easy to wear)and modern so I didn’t want to create something that meant too much of a beauty statement. The casting and choice of models was really amazing with personality where I didn’t want to hide this but put it on the spotlight.  I wanted to keep them real, so just emphasizing who they are and beautifying them ; I call it “cheating making up” making the best version of yourself where you cant tell its make up.  With MAC makeup, I did touch by touch, no heavy foundation as well as keeping their brows natural (not to change the face) keeping the girls the way they are.”

“ Style for me is real people with taste, to be yourself. Theres currently a big trend of  the French girl as she is herself, she’s real and keeps it cool. Today were looking for unique faces not perfect faces as we’ve tried to reach absolute perfection in the last three years and now were coming into something much more normal, balanced and real” says Vionnette.

Courtesy photos for Cavalli Press Office Big names who’s changed the fashion industry from Franca Sozzani, Anna Wintour, and bloggers such as Suzie Bubble, Chiara Ferragni, Bryan Boy and many others attended this season’s Roberto Cavailli RTW show in Milan.

Speaking with Eva Cavalli  ( Roberto Cavalli’s wife and business partner) , she shares her personal thoughts on the collection  “The inspiration was China actually, everything starting from roses and crystal heels to represent the strong women with nostalgia from the orient. Travelling, dreaming about something far away is always inspiring. For what concerns Style, I believe it’s always personal, you cannot buy it, it’s something you need to combine with your personality.” says Eva Cavalli

Eva Cavalli ( Wife and Partner of Roberto Cavalli)

Rocío Muñoz Morales, Spanish Actress/Mode ( Girlfriend of Raoul Bova Actor) Roberto Cavalli 2015/16 autumn winter series was inspired by Ancient China’s Dynasty through the lens and angle of Italian masters in design and craftsmanship.  Cavalli's interpretation of the classic Chinese elements combined with Italy’s  ( or Cavalli’s) flavor of wildness, boldness and sexiness through an ample mixture of zebra, leopard and tiger prints, put together a dynamic style which still resonated the Cavalli girl but with a softer and more poetic feel. We saw golden button embellished waist dresses, frilly cuffs, long coats and vests, creating a slender taller figure. Heel boots with gold metal representing the Ming Dynasty’s vase floral patterns as well as the Shanghai “like” inspired evening dresses, lacquered Chinese handmade silk printing, horsehair, metal sequins, and velvet embroidery created both a bold and romantic look to the collection.

Cavalli Model

Backstage

“The ZX FLUX is lightweight and comfortable to the feet. The diverse color combinations always bring surprises, and ZX FLUX is a such versatile silhouette for anyone out there who has the desire to style,” says Lucky Blue.

It was my pleasure to be appointed as this seasons brand ambassador for Adidas Originals new #ZFLUX collection. I met up with the American 16 year old Super Model Lucky Blue Smith who’s doing a roadshow tour for the brand in China. The model has really created a viral phenomenon in China where a line up of fans from  all over the country came to Adidas’s flagship store in Shanghai in the hope of having a glimpse of him.

For the event, I wore an Adidas rose red printed tracksuit from their new collection paired with floral printed tropical #ZFLUX shoes and Spektre Italian eyewear to give out a fresh stand out.

Chatting up with Lucky Blue about his hobbies and his favorite style and tastes, he talks about sports, girls and of course Shanghai’s food. ;)

What are your plans during your time in Shanghai?

Im gonna be here for a few more days and I hope to see the city of shanghai. I really like the culture, I think its really interesting and different, its fun to be here.

What’s your favorite sport?

My favorite sport is basket ball or American football.

Whats your favorite style on your free time?

I like classic black skinny jeans, black t-shirt. Adidas have these sick ZXFlux spring summer collection that I like having into my wardrobe during my spare time. I like something more casual and simple.

Are you interested in creating your own collection with Adidas originals in the future? Yeah absolutely, it would be really fun to do some nice shoes and a track shoes, I think that would be really cool.

What kind of food do you like in Shanghai given that you’ve only arrived in SH last night?

At lunch I had some really good dumplings, I think they were a spicy, so they were really and they have to be my favorite so far

How do you feel about the girls in Shanghai < especially your fans>?

The girls in shanghai and my fans are the sweetest and nicest girls in the whole world, they are very very sweet, I really like them a lot.

Venezia and the creations of RENE CAOVILLA

The Italian luxury footwear brand, Rene Caovilla, in its 8th decade of business, is going back to its origins, roots and heritage.

This season Rene Caovilla creates a venetian inspired design for its AW 15/16 collection. Golden profiles, transparency, soft velvet and precious stones create an homage to the enchanted city.

We saw sexy décolleté’s with very fine and subtle heels, gladiator glamour, Swarovski running shoes with lace “sporty chic”, biker look and boots with crystals and precious leathers. Speaking with Edoardo Caovilla COO of Rene Caovilla, he shares with us his inspiration for this collection and his opinion on Style.

Whats your inspiration for this seasons collection?

The inspiration for this collection A/W 15/16 was taken by the main colors that are represented in the venetian buildings. The goal has been to always connect venetian history and mix it with black, which is the colour of the night. As you can see, we mix black and gold very often and this has been really appreciated by our customers and our partners. Were proud of the current growth that were living and the growth that were having in many markets. The request from customers who are following us on SM such as twitter or instagram who are asking us “please arrive here, please send over much shoes etc.”, I this this is really important and it’s a consensus that’s coming over from the market.

What are your plans in China and APAC for the future?

In Asia there is a nice thing as there its almost sure that next year will be better than this year as there is no economic crisis which allows the customer to face the market and face fashion in the best way as their not afraid about anything. Fashion is something we create to trigger inspirations and dreams and you don’t need to be afraid when you face these types of things. Asia and US are economies of course that can and could stop growing, but normally for us they bounce back very fast, this is why these two parts of the world are our main markets.

What’s your favorite style of this Collection?

The best style of the collection, I really love the combat boots which is our DNA but this we created the DNA in a completely new structure, its something that was not possible some years ago. I also love the velvet runnings with diamonds, I think this is something really crazy!

Who’s the RENE CAOVILLA women for you?

She’s the pro active modern customer, all the young customers now a days <the young generation> wake up early and very active both in family and business and they arrive in the evening where they want to get sexy for themselves or maybe for their boyfriend or husband, or even for both of them (joking humorously)! And so this is the reason why we decided to develop something from the morning, like runnings, and wearing the combats for the evening and high heels for the night.

END ----

Growing Roots, Celebrating 15 years of FURLA Foundation

During this years Milan Fashion Week, Giovanna Furlanetto, president of Furla S.p.A and Furla Foundation shares with us her future exhibition, GROWING ROOTS – 15 Years of the Furla Art Award, curated by Chiara Bertola, Giacinto Di Pietrantonio and Yuko Hasegawa.

The exhibition is a major retrospective looking back over the past ten editions of the award through the work of its winners.

The Furla foundation supports emerging young artists to an international global landscape through contemporary art and fashion design in order to promote the Italian culture and its lifestyle in various artistic manners.

Can you give us an introduction of the Exhibition and its philanthropic objective?

We are here today because we are celebrating 15 years of the art award. In the current room that were presently in you can see 10 wooden tables in which an artist has drawn all the people that have been involved in the Furla award. In each piece of wood frame, there are more than 100 people who have participated in each of the Furla edition just to create one award; between creators, selectors, finalists, winners and jury as well as the institution. The prize was launched in 2000 with the goal of supporting young contemporary artists. Previously, in Italy there was nothing to help artists becoming more visible in producing some works as well as becoming visibly international. Hence we decided to launch this award, a fully philanthropic project which has been conceived from the model of the English Turner prize (an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50). Here we are, 15 years later, with 10 edition of the award, 10 winners, and 50 finalists. We’ve really been able to map a whole generation of contemporary Italian artists and building an exhibition hosted by the Palazzo Reale in Milan. You’ll see pieces of art from 10 of them (each one showcasing two to three of their works in this historical and wonderful environment).

The panel of jury is composed by one international important artist (president of jury) and five curators and/or directors of art gallery’s and museums, the jury is renovated each edition giving the opportunity to judge the Italian artists by people coming from every continent and from every city of the world.

Are you planning on having future events and or collaborations with the exhibition?

We trying to understand whats next because we want to update and move one, making the project become more international, maybe collaborating with other countries such as China, Japan or Russia that are becoming highly important for the company as well.

Who’s the Furla women for you?

The Furla women is a contemporary women, young in her 20-30’s, and in her career. By saying contemporary women, I mean a women who can balance her life between family and work and sometimes succeeds in doing everything, which is a lot of work, but I think women today have huge possibilities of combining their private life, family life and also professional life, I think there are a lot of extraordinary women out there.

What is the meaning of Style for you?

For me, style is a way of life, style is not only what you wear but its your brain, its your culture, its whatever you can bring into yourself that comes out in the way you are, so your attitude of mind and heart as well as your appearance often speak about you. I think what you are in the inside also shows on your appearance.

END

RTW Milan Fashion Week Simonetta Ravizza Exclusive Interview

Fresh Lines, luxury fur and a natural elegant look.

Simonetta’s modernity to give life to a new way of conceiving furs. "Everything changes so that nothing would change”.

Simonetta Ravizza’s FW15/16 collection gives us a fresh and youthful take on furs. A very light collection presenting different contrasting stories from Romance to the lifestyle ski leisure sports capsule collection were challenging to showcase all at once, however Ravizza did this in a very entertaining and harmonized way. Pure forms, technologies, color palettes and precious materials gave off a uber chic vibe to the show. Ravizza’s expertise and history in the fur business as well as the craftsmanship and “made in Italy” are the core strengths of the brand.

“I loved the show and the collection. I’m happy to receive jackets that will have fox and Chinchilla. It’s very soft and I feel so expensive! I think Style is something personal, everyone has different styles.” says Stasha Yatchouk , Simonetta Ravizza Model

Chatting with the designer back stage, she shares with me her inspiration for this seasons collection and her view on Style.

Whats your inspiration for the show and who is the Simonetta Ravizza Women?

“It’s a bohemian hippy chic women where the lines have expanded,  the jackets have become more masculine but still with a touch of feminity and sexiness; precious materials such as washed silk and paillette made the furs even more precious . I also used fur that are not necessarily precious but have lined some of them such as the bison.”

Whats the brand concept?

The mountain capsule collection of 8 pieces for the ski mountain were black and white pallets with technical fibers such as neoprene combined logically with a touch of fur. We collaborated with Momo Design for the helmuts < always with a touch of fur> making it Simonetta Ravizza.

Can you please explain your activities in China?

Were working very well in China as were working closely with multi brands who’ve helped us enter China, not only for fur but also for the RTW collection, so I really think China is the future

As you can see from my models from the runway, style for me is simplicity. Cleanliness, very chic , a very contemporary women”.

END Photos by Marco Laganà, photographer and italian footwear designer

MFW #DAY 1 OOTD: Layed Back in Colour

A Winter Wonderland Road trip 

After skiing in 2 meters of fresh powdery snow in Italy’s Dolomites (Madonna di Campiglio-one of Italy’s most iconic skiing areas) and relaxing in front of the fire drinking hot wine and listening to the snowflakes fall, I’m ready to head out tomorrow to the 1st day of MFW.