Wempe Unveils The ‘Iron Walker’ Stainless Steel Sports Watch Collection

Among the biggest trends in timepieces are stainless steel watches with integrated bracelets. Wempe, the German retailer and manufacturer of luxury watches and jewels, entered this watchmaking category with a collection of 16 watches for men and women called “Iron Walker.”

What may be different for a luxury watch is the inspiration behind the product: Ironworkers. These are tradesmen whose primary job is to assemble the structural metal framework supports for new buildings. Today, these are highly trained and highly skilled professionals. However, during the early 20th century, these workers were as much daredevils as tradesmen, working with substandard equipment by current standards and with few safety precautions while dangling upwards of 1,000 feet in the air performing difficult tasks on narrow steel beams. Their most important and high-profile works are large bridges and skyscrapers that remain landmarks a century later. It is the latter that is the story behind the watches, says Kim-Eva Wempe, the fourth-generation CEO of the family owned firm, and Bernhard Stoll, CEO of the Wempe Watch Division.

“We were inspired by a story about the steel construction workers in the USA who operated without safety equipment as they assemble the skeleton of a skyscraper,” Stoll says. “That’s how we came up with the idea to create a watch using a precise stainless-steel case featuring integrated strap lugs.”

Kim-Eva Wempe adds, “By coincidence, our Wempe showroom in New York is located on Fifth Avenue in one of the first high-rises built with a steel skeleton.”

A 2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan In Estes Park, Colorado

There is an oft-repeated tale that when a fellow drives to Colorado via Nebraska, he’s stopped at the border and issued a Subaru or a Prius, a man-bun and a beard. (Ok, I’m the one who oft-repeats it.)

It’s a joke, but not really. In Boulder and the surrounding areas, there is nary a Rolls to be seen, nor a Bentley. The wealth in Boulder county is considerable but the folks aren’t flashy like that.

My test Cullinan therefore created two kinds of stir - the “What is that?” kind, and the freak-out when I drove past the occasional ballfield and the game would halt. Kids know what’s up.

Then there was the buddy who said “The front looks like you could grate cheese and the back looks like a Jeep.” A case of sour grapes, methinks. Or rancid Grey Poupon. I said “lol” in my head and glided away with a masked neighbor in the back seat who simply couldn’t believe how nice it was inside and outside. I couldn’t believe it either, and this was my 3rd Cullinan.

Undeterred by the peanut gallery, where did my main driving partner and I go? Why, to the supermarket, of course. But not the Safeway, King Sooper or Sprouts down the block. We had to go get milk in Estes Park, some 40 miles away.

COVID-19: These Fashion And Beauty Brands Are Mobilizing To Solve Shortages

While a few fashion and beauty brands have chosen to sell coronavirus-marketed products in response to the pandemic, others have begun to mobilize against growing shortages of vital supplies.

Rather than making clothes and beauty products, some of the world’s biggest brands have reworked their resources to manufacture face masks and hand sanitizers. And not for the everyday person’s non-essential use, but for the healthcare workers who need them most.

H&M and Zara (or rather, Inditex, its parent company) were among the first to shift their sizeable operations towards the manufacturing of medical supplies and Mango has pledged to distribute two million face masks throughout Spain’s hospitals.

LVMH—the multinational which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, Fendi, Givenchy, and more—is using its supply chain to source 40 million face masks from China and had promised a five million euro minimum spend to fund their first week of deliveries. The majority of which are expected to be sent across Spain, France and Italy, which have fast become COVID-19’s most-affected countries.

At the request of Tuscan authorities, Prada has begun production of 80,000 medical overalls and 110,000 face masks. Daily hospital deliveries are expected to begin on April 6 in Italy.

Meanwhile, French luxury conglomerate Kering has committed to sourcing three million Chinese face masks for its own country’s health service. Among its many high-end brands, Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent have been rallied to make masks while Kering’s largest, Gucci, has said it will manufacture and donate 1.1 million face masks and 55,000 medical overalls to the Italian authorities.

European textile manufacturer Miroglio Group, which makes fabrics for over 3,000 clients each year, has also retooled its firm in northwest Italy to produce washable cotton and elastane masks. 10,000 of which were delivered last week, with another 600,000 expected by middle of next week. The company plans to service Italy first, but hopes it can look further afield as production ramps up towards 100,000 face masks per day. 

Vestidos de Festa

The Female Gaze In Fashion Photography

Where are all the great women fashion photographers? Ahead of women’s history month in March, one exhibition is looking at two key figures of the female gaze in fashion. Opening March 5, the Staley Wise Gallery in New York features two trailblazing women who broke ground in fashion photography; 2 Women of Style is the name of this two-woman exhibit showcasing the works of Louise Dahl-Wolfe; who shot for Harper’s Bazaar in the 1930s, and Stephanie Pfriender Stylander; a New York photographer who shot Kate Moss in 1991, when she was just 17. Granted, there are countless women fashion photographers who changed the game, from Regina Lelang to Deborah Turbeville and more recently, Ellen von Unwerth. Here, Pfriender Stylander shares her personal history as a photographer, her triumphs, challenges and what she respects most about actors.

I never really thought about being a woman photographer, I always looked at myself as a photographer. My background was such that my mother during the 1940s and 1950s had a great career, got married in her 40s, and with her as my role model as well as her girlfriends that were always around I saw strong women, women that did what they wanted to do, choosing careers and travel. Funny stories that I do remember are when my team and I would arrive at an airport to meet the driver and the welcome sign would have my male assistants name as the photographer. When I look back especially now, there must have been prejudices and losses of jobs, but the flip side could be that subjects and situations may have seen a woman photographer as less threatening.

                                                                 

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