Fashion News Alert: Kanye’s Collaboration, Diane Kruger’s Love Affair with Chanel, Uniqlo Opens Stores in Bangladesh, and Christian Lacroix’s Return

Diane Kruger’s love affair with Chanel extends beyond the red carpet as Karl Lagerfeld revealed that Kruger is the new face of Chanel’s Resynchronizing Collection, which includes the Le Jour de Chanel, La Nuit de Chanel and Le Weekend de Chanel creams. The German actress began her career as a fashion model and was chosen for Chanel’s Allure fragrance campaign in 1996 and the Paris-Biarritz bag advertising campaign, shot by Karl Lagerfeld in 2007.

Kruger is frequently on the red-carpet best dresses list and a favorite of celebrity photographers. “I admire personal style. I love someone being themselves. I want to look most like myself on the red carpet,” the actress revealed. Aptly, said, and Kruger’s personal has obviously rubbed off on one of the most influential fashion icons, Karl Lagerfeld!!

Kanye Gets Down with A.P.C.

Last month W Magazine put a little bug in our ears about Kanye West’s “new men’s capsule collection of jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies for a hip French brand, to be unveiled in July.” Well, all the rumors have  confirmed that Kanye has teamed up French hipster brand, A.P.C.

The Jean Touitou‒helmed brand revealed the collaboration on Instagram and their website with the no frills announcement, “A.P.C. KANYE CAPSULE COLLECTION, JULY 14. #apc #kanyewest,” with a pair of jeans labeled A.P.C. Kanye.  New baby and new collaboration, Kanye what’s next!!

Uniqlo Courts the Middle Class

Aimed at Bangladesh’s small but growing middle class, Uniqlo has opened two stores in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Japanese retailer, Fast Retailing Co., has teamed up with Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, founded by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, to tap into Bangladesh’s 30 million middle-income earners.

The Uniqlo stores will concentrate mostly on menswear in that Bangladeshi women prefer to wear traditional Muslim clothes. “We want to deliver innovative designs and fashion to the middle class customers here and have plans to open more stores across several cities that will create more jobs,” said Yukihiro Nitta, chief executive officer of the joint venture. Uniqlo plans to invest 4.6 million in Bangladesh.

Lacroix and Schiaparelli

As the Paris Couture shows wrapped up on last Thursday, one of the biggest returns to the Paris Couture stage was Christian Lacroix. In a tribute to fashion icon Elsa Schiaparelli, Lacroix’s 18-piece “Homage to Elsa” referenced and reinterpreted Schiaparelli’s love affair with circuses, fairgrounds, and military uniforms.

Since losing his own design house in 2009, Lacroix has been all but absent from the fashion industry. When asked if his current couture outing for Schiaparelli suggest a permanent return, Lacroix emphatically replied, “No. What has always excited me about fashion is theatre costumes. My childhood dream—I am achieving it now.”

—William S. Gooch