Neiman Marcus was founded in 1907 to bring the best of European fashion to the good people of Texas. It became one of the most important luxury stores in the United States. According to Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of NMG, 117 years later, the retailer “Reason to be “It's having relationships with the best brands and delighting by offering the best fashion to the American customer.” The Neiman Marcus Awards, established 86 years ago and revived in 2023, celebrate those bonds. The 2024 winners: Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative director of Dior's women's haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections for the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion; Daniel Roseberry, Creative Director of Schiaparelli, for the Neiman Marcus Award for Creative Impact in the Field of Fashion and Simón Porte Jacquemus, Founder and Creative Director of Jacquemus, for the Neiman Marcus Award for Innovation in the Field of Fashion—Reiterate retailer Tony's commitment to European fashion in the United States.
Held at The Ritz, Paris, and in a different format than last year's relaunched inaugural awards, von Raemdonck, along with Lana Todorovich, Director of Merchandising at Neiman Marcus, spoke with FashionNetwork.com ahead of the evening festivities that brought together The winners along with fashion industry leaders and luminaries such as Diego Della Valle, Sidney Toledano, Delphine Arnault, Rick Owens, Anh Duong and Guram Gvasalia will gather for a cocktail party, private dinner and awards ceremony.
“Each year, we honor people who, over the years, today and in the future, have made an impact on fashion. This industry never rests and we will see incredible things from these incredible winners in the years to come,” he said von Raemdonck, adding that choosing an equally stellar lineup for 2025 would be the group's next task.
Considering the store's place in fashion history (bringing prominent designers to America in the 1940s was certainly novel), this year's awards versus those in 2023, when Brunello Cucinelli, Jonathan Anderson and Amina Muddi were recognized, they were history that repeated itself, except for the trip from Dallas to Paris. Location swap, as Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli were previous winners.
Executives say this continues.
“Think of Christian Dior receiving the award for his New Look after the war, which was revolutionary at the time. Since taking the helm of Dior in 2016, Maria Grazia lives up to those iconic historical codes and brings her relevance to what is A new look for today's woman,” he stated, adding that Grazia Chiuri humbly shared the award with the artisans and employees of Dior.
Todorovich added that Dior's creative director opened the representation of women in fashion to a broader dialogue. “Their commitment to sharing this platform with creative women and emphasizing and supporting the advancement of women will live on. The goal is to create a better world for women everywhere; as an organization co-founded and led by women, we share these values of empowerment of women at Neiman Marcus and in the industry in general. Like Cucinelli, who won the award the previous year, Grazia Chiuri's impact goes beyond creating beautiful fashion.
According to NMG's CEO, Daniel Roseberry's recognition has everything to do with capturing the house's surreal connection in a wardrobe made for today.
“Daniel has unparalleled creativity and craftsmanship and perfectly understands the intersection of art and its link to the Schiaparelli house. He brings it to bear in a creative way focused on the heart of culture and takes the dormant house to new heights. Success is combining “art and haute couture and seeing the link from a surrealism exhibition two years ago in Paris. It's 100 percent connected to the creativity of art,” he said. If there was a prize for most favored event attire, it was also Schiaparelli, as many members of Neiman Marcus' leadership team and the team at its sister brand, Bergdorf Goodman, wore Roseberry's creations.
Simone Porte Jacquemus was the natural choice for the award for innovation that goes beyond innovative design. “Beyond that, there is innovative marketing, merchandising techniques and social media from this self-taught designer who created one of the most imaginative businesses with a single store,” von Raemdonck continued. The Jacquemus brand has a significant online business and is said to be worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Todorovich sums it up as each designer creating a once-in-a-generation moment, the first for creative expression and the other as an innovator leading the way to engage with the customer of the future. The winners are at the top of what they do in fashion and creativity and are accelerating quickly (I mean, last year was a big one for Jonathan Anderson) and working well with the awards show's new modus operandi that goes beyond the ceremony .
“We modernized our program to include what's behind it for an entire year; we take these designers and put the power and strength of our merchandising and marketing teams to accelerate their presence in the US with the most luxury clients. demanding,” he added.
The executive duo sees the event as more than just a tribute to designers, but as a fashion summit of sorts that allows for a rare gathering of some of the most dynamic people in the industry, both creatively and entrepreneurially (a spokesperson for the event He compared it to an elegant “business dinner.”)
“It is one of the rare events that brings together brands, powerful creatives and business leaders united in a cause to celebrate the industry. If you look at the awards, they are bigger than Neiman Marcus; they became fashion history. It has transcended the luxury business, and seeing them in one room solidifies and continues that story of uniting the industry,” said the Neiman Marcus CMO.
“We brought the brand partners together in a room in Paris for now and the power of being together because great things happen when you join creative forces. There may be collaborations or a relationship that is formed today,” added von Raemdonck.
Considering the second-time wins for Dior and Schiaparelli, which the NMG CEO said was purely coincidental, looking back may indicate future year's winners. An interesting observation was that of Rick Owens, who attended last year and was the only other star fashion designer in the event room.
“This shows the longevity of Neiman's relationships; if you think about some of the brands, we've been partners for 75, even 100 years,” Todorovich added.
Also announced at the awards ceremony was the retailer's plan to expand its programming with the Fashion Scholarship Fund, an organization known for supporting designers and the development of American fashion. It begs the question of how or if, given the shift in American designers and brands over the past 86 years, future versions of the revamped Neiman Marcus Awards will extend the honors to American-based creatives and fashion brands. .
Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
