he 10-block stretch of Fifth Avenue between Rockefeller Centre and Central Park is the most expensive retail strip in the world, with average annual rents of about $1,500 (£750) a square foot. That kind of money focuses the mind, so while the rest of Manhattan rushed between the Super Tuesday polling booths and the Super Bowl victory parade for the Giants, attention at the opening of the Gucci flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 56th street remained on £2,000 handbags.
Tonight Gucci is celebrating the opening with a fundraising gala co-hosted by Madonna, to be held on the north lawn of the UN building. A live auction, compered by Chris Rock, aims to raise $2m which is to be divided between Raising Malawi, an organisation founded by Madonna to help Malawi's orphans, and Unicef. But the event has been hit by controversy after Fox News website said: "Raising Malawi is merely a front for Philip Berg's Kabbalah Centre of Los Angeles" and accused Madonna of having "conned" Gucci into raising money for Kabbalah under false pretexts. Madonna and Gucci deny the claims.
Gucci's most recent financial reports show a profit of €611.8m (£456.5m) in 2006, making it one of the most profitable brands in the luxury business. But Frida Giannini, its creative director, understands that what Gucci needs is the feelgood factor. "My job is not only to create a dress or a handbag, but to create a Gucci world, a world of beauty and style, and a world that has a strong sense of responsibility," she said yesterday.
On the catwalks yesterday, the controversy centred on hemlines: whether next season would see a triumph for the floorlength gowns of Halston and Jonathan Saunders, or for the short dresses of DKNY and Proenza Schouler.
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
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