This week’s style news: Rado gets a redesign, Harrod’s celebrates Dior and Chanel launches the Cometes Collective

Retail

French toast

Harrods is giving its Christmas celebrations a French accent this year. From Nov. 10 until Jan. 3, the London institution is presenting the Fabulous World of Dior, a retail experience that sees each floor of the department store play host to an installation dedicated to the French maison in a celebration of the seven-decades-long relationship between the two. Visitors to the Knightsbridge store will discover two pop-up shops, a café and a Dior microvillage that plays with proportion to highlight Dior’s fashion, fragrance and beauty collections.

Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Rd., London, harrods.com.

Trending

Colour theory

“We need a little bit of optimism and we need to feel hope. Colours can really bring that to us,” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative adviser at H&M, of fashion’s current fascination with bold hues. For the latest biannual H&M Studio collection, its designers started developing its look by asking the question, “What would you pack on a trip to Mars?” The result is a rainbow of electric neons, blues and pinks in silhouettes that combine roomy volume with chic tailoring. “You want to look really good and put together in the tailoring but at the same time you want to be able to move,” says Johansson. Whether worn all over or mixed-and-matched, “there’s a lot of energy in colours and it puts you in a good mood.”

Business

Cosmetic connection

Chanel (chanel.com) has announced its new Cometes Collective, a group of emerging stars who have been tapped to share their diverse points of view during cosmetics product development. The first three talents to join the initiative are London-based Ammy Drammeh, who is of Spanish and Gambian heritage, Cécile Paravina, who studied design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and Valentina Li, a makeup artist who studied in Beijing and Paris. With their first collection set to make its debut in 2024, the three creatives have already begun working to expand the brand’s colour palette and reinterpret its visual language for a new era.

Obsession

Wool market

The Campaign for Wool is encouraging Canadians to explore the natural and sustainable benefits of the material when bundling up this season. Introduced in Canada by King Charles and the Queen Consort in 2014, the campaign connects woolgrowers, fashion and interior designers, retailers and manufacturers in an effort to support the local wool industry. This season, it’s teamed up with Holt Renfrew on a collection that includes knitwear by Line and a limited-edition wool blanket designed by Ojibwa artist Patrick Hunter. It has also partnered with the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, which is on now through Nov. 13 in Toronto, on a blue tartan merino lambswool scarf that celebrates the event’s centennial anniversary. It’s available through royalpaddock.org.

Investment buy

Back to the future

A timekeeping icon is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a refreshed look. Introduced at the Basel watch fair in 1962, the Rado DiaStar disrupted the industry as the world’s first scratch-proof watch. Made of a hard metal alloy, it embraced the forward-facing futurism aesthetic of the moment. To fete its latest milestone, Rado tapped the Zurich-based designer Alfredo Haberli to tweak the design. His goal was to give the signature features of the original DiaStar a contemporary form, a feat he accomplished by adapting the case and giving the faceted cut of the watch glass a hexagonal form. He also added two alternative straps as well as a leather case to protect the watch during travel.

Rado DiaStar Original 60-Year Anniversary Edition, $2,500 by special order at Chateau D’Ivoire in Montreal, European Boutique in Toronto and Gemoro in Edmonton (rado.com).