22 ° C
Profile

Tag: Montecarlo

Princess Charlene says she is now “calmer” after traumatic year

by: Cassandra Tanti
25/05/2022

Princess Charlene has spoken publicly for the first time since resuming official duties, telling Monaco Matin that she now feels “more calm” although still fragile after a year marked by illness. Appearing at the Monte-Carlo Fashion Awards, the mother of two said that she was “delighted” to be taking Princess Gabriella to her first official mother/daughter event.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday evening, Princess Charlene shared a special photo of Princess Gabriella sitting on her lap, with the caption: “I loved every moment preparing my Princess for her first official event.”

The occasion was the Monte-Carlo Fashion Awards, of which Princess Charlene is patron, and it marked a rare solo outing for the pair. Gabriella’s twin brother, Prince Jacques, is always by her side when they accompany their parents to official events.

And it is clear that the little princess follows in the fashionable footsteps of her mother.

The event was the third official showing by Princess Charlene since she resumed her public activities on 30th April. It was also the first time she has broken her silence on the difficult year that now appears to be behind her.

In an interview with Monaco Matin’s Cedric Verany, the Princess said that her return to Monaco after eight months in South Africa due to complications from a severe ear, throat and nose infection was challenging.

“When I returned to the Principality, I focused all my energy on my children, my husband and my health because they are my priority,” the Princess told Monaco Matin. “My state of health is still fragile and I don’t want to go too fast. The road has been long, difficult and so painful. Today I feel more calm.”

The princess said that she found it “regrettable” that certain media had spread rumours of a divorce with her husband Prince Albert, adding that “Albert was very supportive, we discussed these malicious articles together and he did everything to protect me and our children.”

The Princess revealed that she was thrilled to be attending her first official mother/daughter event at Monte-Carlo Fashion Week, and that the young princess behaves like most little girls when it comes to dress-up.

“Gabriella, like all little girls her age, loves princess dresses, doing her hair and even trying on my lipsticks,” she said. “Gabriella has her own style and I like to encourage that individuality. This mother/daughter fashion outing for the Monte-Carlo Fashion Awards delighted me and we went on stage together for the first time.”

The princess concluded by saying that she was excited to take part in this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, revealing that Prince Jacques will be doing the lap of honour with his father Prince Albert for the first time, and that it will be a “great source of pride” for her and her husband.

 

 

Karl Lagerfeld estate auctions fetch €22 million total

by: Stephanie Horsman
25/05/2022

The sale of iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s estate has made its way from Monaco to Paris and now Germany where auctions pulled in a grand total of €22.5 million for his collections.

Karl Lagerfeld was a legend in the fashion industry, reigning supreme as creative director at Chanel and Fendi as well as at his own namesake fashion house until his death at aged 85 in 2019.

The designer’s estates in Monaco and Paris went under the hammer in December 2021 and brought in a combined total of €18.2 million. This staggering figure was added to by the sales in his native Germany, where a Sotheby’s-run auction fetched €4.2 million, more than seven times the lowball estimate for the lots.

“This third instalment of the Karl Lagerfeld estate, like the first two sessions, has aroused the interest of collectors all over the world, particularly from Germany and the United States,” said Pierre Mothes, Vice-President of Sotheby’s France who had initiated the first of the triad of sales in Monaco. “The choice of Cologne had been decided as early as the launch of the project, as a tribute to the German roots of Karl Lagerfeld. The collection revealed his tastes as a decorator, aesthete and designer who collected in many categories, but also, which is rarer, the man he was.”

Known lovingly as “The Kaiser”, Lagerfeld’s collection included a set of German advertising posters he had gathered over three decades and which were installed in his residence in Louveciennes near Paris that fetched more than €660,000, close to double the high estimate. In Cologne, around 40 designs made by the couturier were snapped up for more than a million euros.

Sotheby’s will auction his graphic works in the summer, and again, it is expected to see record-busting sales.

SEE ALSO:

Video: Karl Lagerfeld estate auction

 

Photo of items at the Monaco auction by Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life

 

 

 

MonacoTech-backed Yachtneeds gets massive funding boost

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/05/2022

MonacoTech, the Principality’s start-up incubator, has announced that one of the companies they support, Yachtneeds, has just raised funds to the tune of €1.25 million, allowing for a major expansion of the business starting this summer.

Yachtneeds, a marketplace website aimed at the yachting industry and supported by MonacoTech, has just hit the next level. The company, founded by Tony Stout, was designed to help yachting crew, captains and owners find just about anything imaginable in “just a few clicks”.

The idea is that whatever is needed can be ordered from a list of thousands of yachting-specific local and international vendors and delivered directly to the boat in ports around the globe.

The financial windfall came from a private investor, who is a resident of the Principality, as well as the Monegasque Innovation, Impact and Acceleration Fund (F2IAM), supported by the Monegasque Government.

“To have an idea and to have others see and invest in what we are creating is extremely rewarding. This round of investment will have a significant impact on the future of our company to heavily accelerate our growth and facilitate in building a platform that is used by the global yachting community,” said Stout of the company’s new investors.

The company’s plans are to hit one million referenced products on its site, to expand to 15 franchises and be able to cater to clients in 1,100 ports around the globe. They also hope to double the number of employees from the current 10 to 20 in 2023.

The company’s cash injection will allow them to continue their ambitious international expansion, notably to more counties around the Mediterranean this summer, as well as in the United States, with an estimated launch in September of this year.

Labour of love restores Larvotto fountain to former glory

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/05/2022

A sculpture fashioned in a fountain and installed on the Larvotto Promenade in 1970 by artist Guy Lartigue is back in its rightful place after a three-year restoration lovingly undertaken by his son.

Back in 2019, in the midst of the renovation project that was revamping the Larvotto Promenade, an iconic piece of art disappeared. Now, three years later, it has been restored and reinstalled at its original location, at the end of the promenade.

The sculpture, created by artist Guy Lartigue, was commissioned in 1969 by Prince Rainier III as a tribute to Princess Grace. The resulting piece was a beautiful, eye-catching metallic sculpture with a circular basin nine metres in diameter, with columns 12 metres high, including a buffet 17 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 4 metres from above.

Fast-forward 50 years and the Larvotto beach frontage was up for a facelift. As the project started in earnest, the government contacted Lartigue’s son Brice, who took charge of restoring the piece.

It took two months to dismantle the fountain, with each piece being labelled and numbered in order to store them properly, giving Lartigue a chance to restore smaller pieces individually. He used painstaking care, airbrushing or descaling the pieces in baths with environmentally friendly products, such as alcohol vinegar.

Once the makeover was complete, it was time to put the pieces back together in its rightful place, reattaching it to the pumps that motor the fountain. The sculpture is now almost unrecognisable, with its beautiful aqua hues as opposed to the rusty brown that it had become.

The fountain was officially unveiled on Wednesday 18th May by Prince Albert II, alongside Minister of State Pierre Dartout, National Council President Stéphane Valeri and other officials.

The restoration was funded by L’Anse du Portier and Patrice Pastor.

 

 

Photo by Cassandra Tanti, Monaco Life

 

 

Monte-Carlo Fashion Week celebrates milestone

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/05/2022

As Monte-Carlo Fashion Week celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, the event has become a yardstick for the sustainable and ethical fashion industries, offering accolades to brands that have stood out for giving clients spectacular creations, and doing it in an environmentally friendly way.

Monte-Carlo Fashion Week (MCFW) is back to business as usual this year after two years of pandemic-imposed restrictions, featuring in-person catwalk shows, competitions, conferences, networking opportunities and a gala event all in the course of a few short days.

The MCFW, which has been going strong for a decade now, is running from 23rd to 27th May coinciding with the excitement of Grand Prix, but for fashion-lovers, cars will be the furthest thing from their minds as models strut their stuff on the catwalks showing off the latest in sustainable fashion.

“The spotlight will naturally be on the catwalks, which will host next season’s highly anticipated collections from local and international brands, guided by the red thread of an ethical, recognisable and highly conscious style,” say the organisers.

Pieces from Beach & Cashmere Monaco, owned by Federica Nardoni Spinetta, who is also the President and Founder of the Monegasque Fashion Chamber and of the MCFW, will be available to see at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo’s Salle Garnier. Other brands include Thalie Paris and its eco-sustainable bags, a collaboration between Marcos Marin’s optical art with Diana Mara, and Ramzen, the Italian brand created by the Saudi designer Abdul Al-Romaizan.

The highlight of Monte-Carlo Fashion Week will be the MCFW Fashion Awards ceremony at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 24th May, where various international figures in fashion will receive prizes. The winners will be chosen by a jury composed of Sara Sozzani Maino, Federica Nardoni Spinetta, Terrence Bray and Matteo Ward.

Other highlights of the week include the Amber Lounge show on Friday showcasing Pauline Ducruet’s brand Alter, Arloe Swimwear collections, Gina Frias’ elegant dresses, Dea Madre’s feminine pieces and local Monegasque brand Crisoni.

 

 

 

Prince’s Foundation launches new Forests and Communities Initiative

by: Stephanie Horsman
23/05/2022

The latest initiative supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation will help indigenous peoples and local communities save their forests from decimation and, in turn, help restore the planet.

The forests are the world’s lungs, offering a vast array of ecological services, not least of which is converting carbon dioxide to oxygen. They are home to an enormous number of plant and animal life and are essential in the fight against desertification, climate change and soil erosion, as well as being a kind of ground zero for fresh water supplies.

Despite all of this, the forests are being decimated at an unprecedented rate, with the last decade seeing exponential destruction and pressure. To help combat and hopefully eventually even reverse the damage, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, the International Ranger Federation, and Global Forest Coalition are joining forces to support the people who can make a difference on the ground to protect forest ecosystems, namely the indigenous peoples and local communities living in these areas.

On International Biodiversity Day, 22nd May, they launched the Forests and Communities Initiative (FCI), which has a mission “to support conservation of forest ecosystems through the action of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) and through the development of a supporting network of actors providing a multi-disciplinary set of expertise,” according to the organisation.

It is currently targeting five geographic regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, where they will carry out a variety of tasks. These include conservation-driven efforts, particularly in primary forests and zones with low anthropic activities, taking a holistic approach to preserve these natural ecosystems, working with and respecting the knowledge of the IPLCs and using their knowledge to full effect, practicing and promoting science and evidence-based methodologies to ensure effective implementation, and fostering open dialogues, information-sharing and best practices exchanges to advance understanding.

 

 

Photo source: Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation