Pradace?
Supporting those impacted by the LA fires
Hi everyone. It’s been a devastating week watching my hometown go up in flames from afar, so this week’s newsletter won’t sound as “fun” in tone as usual. I’ll also be sharing a list of resources and ways to donate to help those who have been displaced.
Thank you to everyone who has checked in with me this week. While my family lives in an evacuation zone, the fire nearby was relatively quickly contained, and my family and our home are safe. We are extremely lucky. Unfortunately, thousands can not say the same as they’ve lost everything, including their homes. Heartbreaking is an understatement.
The last apartment I lived in before I left LA was off Ocean Avenue nearby, and I spent so much of my time in LA in the Palisades - attending St Matt’s as a kid, going to the farmer’s market (and Erewhon), eating at Cafe Vida, or hiking Temescal Canyon alone on weekends. It’s a place where I have a lot of core memories - good and bad - nevertheless, it was a formative place. And Malibu, one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure of having access to, continues to be ravaged by the fires as I write this. It’s hard to pull myself away from my screens because I want to stay updated with the news and with friends and family. But it’s hard to be so far away from home where I can’t be helpful on the ground in supporting my people.
I’ve been reflecting on the dichotomy of hardships like this. On the optimistic side, I know the character of LA is highly resilient - we’ve been through earthquakes, annual fires, and riots. Even now, those who have been displaced are still helping others, despite their own losses. The ones that have been lucky in the fires have been quickly finding ways to help fire fighters, first responders, and victims by pooling resources.
On the dark side, there are looters who take advantage of these types of situations. There are mentally ill arsonists who see an opportunity to divert attention away from other criminal activity. There are also people on the internet who lack empathy and comment things like “well they’re rich, so they’ll just rebuild” (which doesn’t apply to everyone who’s been impacted). Overall, it feels dark, chaotic, and apocalyptic.
Anyways, if you have friends in LA or friends with family in LA, check up on them and offer support. Here’s how you can help:
Baby 2 Baby: Donating for supplies such as diapers, baby food and clothes, toys, etc for vulnerable children.
LA Food Bank: Providing food and non-food essential items
LA Fire Department Foundation: Providing equipment and supplies for firefighters
If you’re in LA and want to donate supplies, Loyola High School and Erewhon (all locations) are running a drive. Erewhon will be matching every contribution made and has launched an online campaign with Red Cross.
Mutual Aid LA Network is compiling this fantastic spreadsheet of resources for displaced people and their families. Infatuation LA also put together this list of restaurants that are offering support. Please share on social media and with anyone you know who is currently impacted.
Do you own a business that’s been impacted by the fires? Please reply to this email.
In today’s newsletter: Prada potentially acquiring Versace? Simple Mills acquired, Trip wellness drinks, Bemelmans Bar in Aspen, Nordstrom’s new medspa, a video of Aman NYC’s construction site, Gucci’s latest retail move
VISUALLY INTERESTING
THE STANZA’S DEAL SHEET
Prada has apparently hired Citi to explore an acquisition of Versace. Pradace kind of has a nice ring to it. After the Tapestry - Capri deal was blocked by the FTC in November, Capri has been exploring the sale of its brands with Barclays. Prada doesn’t have the best M&A track record, with the Bertelli family admitting that acquiring Jil Sander and Helmut Lang were “mistakes”. Versace caters to a completely different audience, though, and given its estimated value is between $1.75B - $2.19B ($1.03B revenue in fiscal year ending March 2024), there’s definitely “meat on the bone”. One thing Prada is really good at, and possibly the reason why they emerged as winners, is bifurcating their audience. They have certain accessories that cater to the average aspirational customer, like this crescent bag. It’s a nice bag that sells really well, but it’s not a “fashion bag”, like this east-west one that enthusiasts will know was inspired by their archives. The other side, is that they’ve nailed the “intellectual fashion” image to a tee. Anyone who’s a Prada enthusiast is seen as such, and that’s largely an extension of Miuccia’s personal brand. With the recent growth of Prada and Miu Miu, rumored expansion of Pasticceria Marchesi to NYC, and the uncertainty that looms the fashion industry, it’s definitely not the move to take on a big and very public turnaround.
Simple Mills, the better-for-you cracker brand, is being acquired by Flowers Foods for $795M. That category has become so crowded with all the typical Erewhon finds, and I wonder if we’ll be seeing these types of valuations for newer brands this year.
The Equity Studio invested in Trip, the London-based wellness drink brand that’s backed by German crypto psychedelics billionaire Christian Angermayer. I remember reading about Trip when it was founded - in 2019 - and thinking how the latency between LA and Europe for consumer trends is an opportunity on its own. We’re seeing it now with wellness clubs that are jumping on the train. My question has always been: is there enough demand in Europe? Wellness brands need to educate in order to gain traction. My theory on why it works so well in the US is that besides the sheer scalability potential, wellness trends originate from LA, and the visible KOL’s do the job of educating consumers well without having to be paid by brands. How many American (specifically LA or NYC based) people on social media do you follow that share their daily wellness routines?
THIS WEEK’S CURATION
A great hospitality x fashion activation: MyTheresa, the winning multi-brand e-tailer, is partnering with Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle NYC (owned by Rosewood Group) to bring a pop up Bemelmans Bar experience in Aspen. You can expect live music, drinks, and of course, curated shopping. Ski resorts like Aspen attract high spenders, and I think these winter activations will make more money than the beach club activations in summer, simply because we wear more clothes in the winter. Plus ski fashion continues to gain traction and it’s expensive!
Speaking of multi-brand retail, Nordstrom’s NYC flagship has partnered with medspa SkinSpirit to offer injectables and facials onsite. I just don’t know if walking around Nordstrom with a red and swollen face is the move, but the partnership technically makes sense on paper.
The final unit at Aman NYC has closed at $11,400 PSF ($66M), apparently the highest price per SF achieved in Manhattan. I toured Aman NYC when it was a construction site in 2021 and I remember they actually did not let me film this unit and Vlad Doronin’s penthouse. But here’s a video of the indoor pool under construction:
Should I share more of these? I feel like construction site tours can be boring to people who aren’t in real estate.
On the note of branded residences, Armani/Casa is doing its third residential project in the US - this time in Pompano Beach, South Florida (just north of Fort Lauderdale). See renderings here. The interiors look on brand, but the curved exteriors for these new developments feels tired already.
Last week I wrote about Hong Kong-based multi-family office placing a bid for Y/Project, which went into receivership in September. Well, that bid was for a measly $45K. Instead of accepting the low offer, the brand has decided to close down and donate archival looks to museums in honour of one of its late co-founders, Gilles Elalouf. The other co-founder, Yohan Serfaty, also passed away 3 years after the brand was founded in 2010, which is when Glenn Martens was appointed as CD. Y/Project was synonymous with Glenn Martens and represented a brand that was critically well received - several awards, positive fashion reviews, etc - but struggled to stay afloat financially. Unfortunately, these days it isn’t enough to be a cool brand, and it’s increasingly being proven out that it’s hard to make money with “cool” in fashion. The ability to sell is almost equally (if not more) important as the creative vision.
On the subject of Gucci’s comeback, the brand is rolling out a new retail concept called “Endless Narratives”. They’ve partnered with Italian artist Luca Pignatelli to feature his art in the store. The photos look great (I’ll have to go in person myself to the Montenapoleone store), but it has me wondering why the retail concept is being rolled out only now. While I was Christmas shopping, I did visit the store and felt like the merchandising and experience didn’t position the clothes in the best way possible. In hindsight, I think some of their marketing tactics to position the rebrand were perhaps not as viscerally impactful to non-Italians. For example, the word “ancora” can mean “still” or “again”, which just shows you how nuanced the Italian language is. Only those who speak the language can truly understand those nuances - English as a language is much more direct. And, most of their sales don’t come from Italy.
Gucci’s former senior VP of global communications, Ben Cercio, has been appointed as Givenchy’s new global comms director. He’s taking the place of Valerie Leberichel, who is ironically taking his old role at Gucci. Givenchy used to be great - remember the Nightingale tote? It was everywhere in the late ‘00’s. It’s a really tough time to pull off a rebrand, but maybe they’ll tap into their couture roots and produce something that transports people into the capital F fashion world they’re desperately craving.
remember those drives to Porta Via during the pandemic to pick up food? they were such highlights—escaping the suffocating monotony of quarantine, zipping down sunset with the top down, indulging in tiny glimpes of people watching at the village. looking back, i feel so fortunate to have been surrounded by the beauty of the westside during such a dark time.
the loss is immeasurable.
so glad to hear your family’s home ended up being OK and that the lafd was able to contain the sunset fire quickly 🤍🤍