Tahitian chic, okay...but Tahitian missionary chic?
"When the French arrived to Tahiti," former Azzedine Alaia designer Sophie Theallet told Elle magazine (September 2005), "they found wonderful women - but totally nude, so they clothed them and tried to convert them." Inspired by the vintage pareos that she discovered and began re-working when vacationing with makeup mogul & pal Francois Nars at his private South Pacific hideaway on Motu Tane (neighbors with Bora Bora in French Polynesia), they both became "so enamored with the results" (breathless prose - and pic - courtesy of Elle), they decided to start a line named for the island. (photo: Patrick Demarchelier for Vogue.)
Look for Motu Tane to launch in October 2005 at Tomas Maier in Miami, Maxfield in Los Angeles, Blake in Chicago & possibly Jeffrey in New York - the collection will number over 90 pieces of cotton, linen, silk and chiffon. Rumor has it Nars is then planning to launch both home and fragrance lines, as well as possibly opening a store in Manhattan sometime this year.
This type of world domination is all well and good but myself, I'd settle for a "private South Pacific hideaway" any day of the week - and just hang there in a hammock with a book for, oh, the rest of eternity.
- Lesley
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