FashionClick   News²

This installment:

| Berardi: 1st Collection for Exté |
| Virginie Ledoyen Signs with L'Oréal |
| Adolfo Domínguez |
| Latin American and Caribbean Fashion Week |
| Joaquín Berao |

Antonio Berardi Presents His First Collection for Exté

Milan - Sicilian-born English designer, Antonio Berardi, showed here recently his first collection (autumn/winter 2000) for luxury prêt-à-porter firm Exté. Named Creative Director of the Italian house, after the agreement reached at the end of 1999 with the Ittierre group, his collection reflected a very feminine, modern, self-assured, strong and dominant woman.

For this, Berardi, who has centered on reinforcing the brand's stylistic identity, based his collection on a three-color palette: black, alabaster and mauve, which, to him, are synonymous with luxury. He presented flowing, sensual designs, alongside geometric ones in both their lines and cuts.

With only a four year history, Exté has achieved great success thanks to an aggressive communication campaign and a very efficient distribution policy. According to Loredana Nastro, the group's marketing director, "Present profits amount to 80 billion (with a B) Lire. With Berardi, we hope to fully expand the brand's potential, to accelerate its growth."

Launch of the Exté fragrance, as well as of its eyewear line, are scheduled for the end of the year 2000.

Images (from top to bottom) >
 Antonio Berardi and two designs from the autumn/winter 2000-2001 Exté collection.

Actress Virginie Ledoyen Signs With L’Oréal

New York - French actress Virginie Ledoyen, Leonardo DiCaprio's love interest in the movie "The Beach," has signed a contract with L’Oréal Paris to be the spokeswoman for their Plénitude skin care range of products. Chosen to represent the 18 to 30 year old generation of women, we will see Ledoyen on the small screen advertising a cream specially conceived for a young woman's skin.

FashionClick coincided with Virginie in New York at the fall 2000 Tommy Hilfiger show, just a few days before the US opening of "The Beach."

Following, the actress answers questions regarding her contract with L'Oréal:

I am 23 years old and I think that it's OK that girls from my generation be offered high-quality beauty products at an affordable price. Why should we have to wait until we are 40 to have access to these products?

On the other hand, I find that the step take by L'Oréal is a very courageous one, because the more you tell a young girl "here's a product for young people," the less she wants it. It was time that someone decided to make a true day cream for young complexions, which takes into consideration our needs. As for me, I hope to be able to create a real phenomenon of identification with the brand.

In France, I have done movies which were rather involved, where I have played the role of young women with current problems. I believe I project an image of a down-to-earth person, someone who reflects well the spirit, the attitude and the problems of today's young women.

I am French, I am an actress, I had never done advertising before, I have a dimension that a model who lives off of advertising contracts cannot offer. Maybe I have a somewhat refreshing image! I believe that L'Oréal was searching for an actress not that unknown internationally for a world-wide campaign. I am known in the United States, in Asia and I have worked with James Ivory, Leonardo DiCaprio...

I confess that such phrase seems to me to be quite impacting. Look at how everybody remembers it. It's a slogan that has gone beyond the brand, becoming a social phenomenon, and that inspires respect. The 'Because I'm Worth It' phrase has been known in the United States  for 15 years, and everybody knows it's L'Oréal. It comes to mean something like that it is important that we take care of ourselves, that each one of us is someone special who deserves the best. After all, who doesn't agree with this?

And, if the fact that known personalities say, "I’m Worth It", lets women the world over become conscious of this, my role is not bad at all.

For an actress, the challenge is not to keep on looking young no matter what, but in knowing how to age. When they ask me which actresses' steps I would like to follow, I always answer Anna Karina, Simone Signoret, Isabelle Huppert, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Hepburn. These are actresses that started off quite young. Ones who we have seen evolve, grow, and age intelligently, with courage, and who have accepted the effects of time on their faces. For me, they have gotten their most beautiful roles once having reached maturity. I am not afraid of the misdeeds of time, I await them with serenity.

Virginie in NY just
before Tommy Hilfiger's
autumn/winter 2000-2001
show.

Adolfo Domínguez: More Points of Sale

The international expansion of Spanish prêt-à-porter designer, Adolfo Domínguez continues. His spring/summer 2000 collection is already available at London's department store, Harrod's, as well as in his own stores on Regent Street and Covent Garden. it is also available in Paris' prestigious Galeries Lafayette, who have recently incorporated his men's collection.

Adolfo Domínguez, who shows every year in Paris, has 17 points of sale in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

A spokesperson from his press department in Madrid tells us that his future plans include extending his collection to six new French retail outlets in the cities of Orleans, Toulouse, Perpignan, Annecy and Paris along the year 2000.

2nd Edition of the Latin American and Caribbean Fashion Week

Miami Beach (April 6, 2000) – The second annual edition of the Latin American and Caribbean Fashion Week of the Americas has opened here today at the Level Theater and will continue until Saturday the 8th.

On this occasion, Dominican-born designer, Oscar de la Renta, will be its honorary guest and will receive the "Lifetime Achievement in Fashion" award. His fall 2000 collection will be the one to close the event.

More than 25 outstanding Latin American designers, including Rubén Campos (Chile), Victoria López Castro (Cuba), Durant & Diego (Venezuela), Robert Flores (Dominican Republic), Carlos Molina (Ecuador), Carlos Pinel (Colombia), Giovanni Scutaro (Venezuela) and Silvia Tcherassi (Colombia), have been chosen to participate in this edition.

Joaquín Berao: New Jewelry Collection

"Aínda" is the name of Spanish designer Joaquín Berao's new collection. His new creations are done in white, yellow and mauve gold and include diamonds. A very beautiful collection of earrings and necklaces, rings and pendants, that the designer defines as "timeless," with asymmetric geometries or sinuous curvatures without unnecessary ornaments.

The designs can be found in Joaquín Berao's own stores in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, San Sebastián and Milan, as well as in several points of sale in Japan and England.