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This installment:

 The Glitter and Glamour of
Mariah Carey's New York Triplex

José Enrique Oña Selfa:
New Creative Director
 of Women's Prêt-à-Porter at Loewe

| Mariah Carey | Loewe |

Mariah      
Carey >

New York (USA) - As part of an exercise, Mariah Carey's drama coach once asked her to think back to a place in time where she really felt safe. Carey thought and thought and came up empty. Not only had she grown up poor, but her Long Island neighbors also ridiculed her because her mother was white and her father was black. "I couldn't think back to a place that didn't give me a feeling of shakiness or some negative memory," she said.

Now a decade later, it is hard to imagine the world's most popular female vocalist feeling shaky in the glamorous surroundings of her Manhattan triplex designed by Mario Buatta, which is featured in the November 2001 issue of Architectural Digest. "I wanted to create a background for Mariah's own glamour," says the well-known American interior decorator. "She exudes glamour... and sex appeal, too." And he has designed an apartment that is glamorous throughout.

The entrance hall boasts apricot lacquered walls, bronze-inlaid limestone flooring, doors gilded in silver leaf, and an Art Deco table with a carved and gilded base. The heart of her new apartment is a long room divided into three separate spaces, a living area, a dining area and an intimate, after-dinner conversation area. Carey's bath is pure luxury. Thirty-two feet long, longer than most Park Avenue living rooms, it is a place to relax and linger, with a huge sunken tub, a flat-screen television and a chaise lounge covered in light pink fabric. The luxury doesn't end there... from her bath (of which there are more than ten in the apartment) she can walk to her clothes room, where outfits are arranged by color and type, and more closely resembles a floor of Bergdorf Goodman than a closet. From there it is onto the shoe room which hold hundreds of pairs of the singer's favorites... more, she admits, than she will ever wear.

With her demanding travel schedule it was sometimes hard for Buatta to get her to focus on the project, but when he did, there was an instant connection. "She had a definite idea of what she wanted, and what things should look like," he says. "Most clients don't understand glitter," he added, "but Mariah does."  

Madrid (Spain) – In a press conference held on September 27^th at the Palacio de Miraflores - headquarters of Loewe in Madrid - the Spanish leather luxury goods house presented José Enrique Oña Selfa as the new Creative Director for its women's Prêt-à-Porter line. He is scheduled to substitute Narciso Rodríguez who will be leaving the house after its spring 2002 collection.

The descendant of Spanish immigrants to Belgium, Oña Selfa was born there. He studied design in Brussels at the Ecole Nationale Supèrieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre, receiving the highest honors. He later worked with important designers such as Olivier Theyskiens until he decided to launch his own line, "JE Oña Selfa", in February 2000. His designs can be now found at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, amongst others.

According to Ridgely Cinquegrana, President and CEO of Loewe, the selection process was long and complicated. Finally, Oña Selfa's versatile style proved to be the determining factor in his appointment. This quality, as Cinquegrana explained, "lets him combine the technique and discipline of the Northern European designers with the passion and sensuality of the South, in a harmonic equilibrium that perfectly fits Loewe's objectives."

Ron Frasch, President and CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, defines Oña Selfa as, "an innovative designer with an extraordinary talent," and believes that, "his imaginative designs will energize Loewe."

In conversation with Fashionclick.com, José Enrique admitted feeling proud of being in this project, "Loewe is really a milestone in my career. The fact that it's such an important house, where tradition and luxury prevail, makes it a great honor for me."

The shy, blue-eyed 26 year-old, thus, joins the select group of young designers currently creating for well-established fashion houses in their interest to incorporate new ideas into their collections. "I think that is precisely what Loewe was looking for when they chose me: a young person with a new point of view - perhaps a candid one - alongside a clear international focus that can contribute a fresh vision open to contemporary fashion."

José Enrique plans to continue living in Brussels in order to "stay away from the house's influence and near the international ones there." He intends to mix his designs with Spanish tradition and passion to develop the style of the 21st Century Loewe woman.

"Years ago, Loewe decided to entrust its women's collections to independent designers with the idea of creating a women label, but they never achieved continuity in their line. You cannot tell what the Loewe woman is, which is something you can clearly identify in the label's shawls, bags, accessories... but not in the clothes themselves," explains José Enrique. "They chose Narciso Rodríguez because it was the time of minimalism, and he did a good job. Now things have changed and they have called on me to incorporate precisely what they found in my collections: a mixture of tradition and modernity. It will be a challenge and I aim to do something good so whomever comes after me will have a hard time changing the Loewe woman."

José Enrique Oña Selfa's first collection for the Spanish LVMH-owned label will be the Autumn/Winter 2002-3 one, which is scheduled to be shown in Paris next March.  

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Images: 1 © 2001 Architectural Digest; 2 © 2001 Loewe.