L'OFFICIEL USA 29 - Fall

Luxury brand Mark Cross has a long and winding American-French history. Founded in Boston in 1845 by Henry W. Cross and named after his only son, the company began its life as a luxury leather-goods outfitter for the equestrian set. It was acquired in the late 1800s by an employee, Patrick Murphy, who moved the brand’s headquarters from Boston to New York City. Murphy’s son, Gerald, and his wife Sara—who together fully took over the company in 1934—relocated themselves and the brand itself to Paris in the 1920s, where they were quickly established as representatives of an effortless, indelibly American spirit. It is Gerald and Sara who serve as the sources of inspiration for the brand’s new creative director, Rebeca Mendoza, as she sets out to reintroduce the iconic American…

While trends move at lightning fast speeds and the TikTok generation causes makeup products to go viral in a flash, Peter Philips’ approach to beauty is rooted in timelessness. It’s apparent in his work on the Dior runways, where the Creative and Image Director of Dior Makeup has focused on stunning beauty looks that remain fresh season after season. Philips has led Dior’s makeup team for over eight years, staying aesthetically classic, but innovating when it comes to product formulations, where performance drives his creations—like with the latest Rouge Dior Forever Lipstick. Likewise, Dior Men Jewelry Designer Yoon Ahn—who also helms her own brand, Ambush—balances longevity and innovation in her own work, taking Dior’s house codes and remixing them for modern heirlooms. Storytelling is an important component for both creatives, who…

Nestled in the middle of the ever-hip Lower East Side enclave known as Dimes Square, a new bar is blending equal parts Parisian cocktail café with effortlessly cool twentysomethings and just the right amount of New York attitude. Le Dive is exactly what it sounds like: a somewhat French-inspired cafe and bar that’s drawing in everyone downtown. The space is unmistakably New York—something owner Jon Neidich knows how to do flawlessly in any form, as evidenced by his peer restaurants with Golden Age Hospitality, like The Nines and Deux Chats—but the indoor-outdoor dining room, lacquered cafe tables, and guests sitting streetside peering at cigarettes through sunglasses are reminiscent of Paris’ Marais district. “I’ve always been drawn to Parisian tabacs—they function as neighborhood cornerstones, where locals of all ages come together to…

Amanda Wall knows what you’re thinking. She’d think it, too, were the shoe on the other foot. “I have an art career because of Instagram; I can admit that’s why people saw my paintings for the first time,” says a monotone Wall, cracking into a La Croix while surrounded by pieces for her second solo exhibition at Almine Rech. “I know what [they] see; it is a hard transition to make.” The former beauty executive still operates in hesitance, struggling with the word “artist” despite a gallery roster appearance next to James Turrell, Richard Prince, Julian Schnabel, and Kenny Scharf. “It’s a big word, it’s a tiny word, and it has the entirety of art history behind it,” she shrugs. “I still get tripped up when people ask what I…

With its latest collection, Tiffany Lock, Tiffany & Co. features 18-karat yellow, rose, and white gold bracelets, and takes design cues from the brand’s functional padlocks of the early 20th century. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Tiffany’s once-utilitarian padlocks began to take on an ornamental quality, popping up on everything from necklaces to money clips. When looking at the archival pieces, one is transported back to a time of engraved makeup compacts and metal cigarette cases: an era in which utility was imbued with quality and sophistication. Despite the decades between them, a thread of elegant practicality connects these designs with today’s Tiffany Lock. “Tiffany Lock is an elegant interpretation of an archival functional design,” says Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany’s Executive Vice President of Product and Communication. “Defined by modern, clean lines and…