Whilst Paris and Milan were abuzz with Menswear shows, Geneva played host to an unofficial ‘watch week’ with the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie and Geneva Time Exhibition
EVENTS
Geneva Watch Week: SIHH & GTE in 2011
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Credit: This is the featured image credit
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Whilst Paris and Milan were abuzz with Menswear shows, Geneva played host to an unofficial ‘watch week’ with the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie and Geneva Time Exhibition
Whilst Paris and Milan were abuzz with Menswear weeks, Geneva played host to an unofficial ‘watch week’ with the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie and Geneva Time Exhibition.
SIHH Opening Ceremony 2011, The Time TV
The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) has become the unmissable rendez-vous for the industry, gathering an impressive number of prestigious maisons and welcoming the most influential journalists and retailers since 1991. The private trade fair is strictly reserved for fine watchmaking professionals, who are personally invited by the exhibiting brands. Organised by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, this year the ceremony showcased nineteen timepiece brands, including IWC, Cartier, Baume & Mercier, Girard Perregaux, Jaeger LeCoultre, Parmigiani Fleurier & Richard Mille.
Following the exhibition was a feeling of general optimism from executives and numerous announcements of record sales in the industry, leading to many new recruitments in the sector in anticipation of an even stronger demand in Asia.
Inside the Geneva Time Exhibition, The Time TV
Still in it’s infancy, the Geneva Time Exhibition has quickly become the event to support and promote a new generation of innovative and independant watchmakers. Whilst boutique in size when compared to SIHH, the increasingly successful exhibition provides an opportunity for all watch industry professionals, private collectors and afficionados to discover the exceptional creativity of a wide collection of smaller brands.
Creative Strategist, Digital
Sophie Doran is currently Senior Creative Strategist, Digital at Karla Otto. Prior to this role, she was the Paris-based editor-in-chief of Luxury Society. Prior to joining Luxury Society, Sophie completed her MBA in Melbourne, Australia, with a focus on luxury brand dynamics and leadership, whilst simultaneously working in management roles for several luxury retailers.
