CRYPTO MADNESS: Was it because his show was on the New York Stock Exchange, or just customers wanting to pay with it? Whatever the reason, Balenciaga revealed that it now accepts cryptocurrency payments. Considering how much they’ve fallen in value over the last 10 days, you could say the timing wasn’t ideal, but starting with the US, the brand will now be accepting crypto at its flagship stores, including on Madison. Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, as well as on balenciaga.com. Other regions and e-commerce will follow, the company said.

The fashion house is still deciding which payment solution provider it will use, but it will accept currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to start with and more currencies will be added in due course.

Regarding volatile fluctuations in value and if this is of concern, the company said in a statement that “Balenciaga is thinking long-term about crypto, and fluctuations in the value of currencies are nothing new.”

The Kering-owned brand joins Tag Heuer in accepting crypto. Earlier this month, the LVMH-owned watch brand Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said its customers could pay at checkout in any of 12 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum through a solution provided by BitPay. . —WWD STAFF

THE CAUSES OF THE RICH: The Sunday Times of London unmasked some of Britain’s greatest philanthropists, including the former owners of Selfridges, the Weston family; David and Victoria Beckham; Cara Delevingne, Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek.

The newspaper published The Giving List alongside its annual Rich List, ranking donors by what percentage of overall wealth they gave in the past year, and to what causes.

Many have donated to COVID-19-related charities in the wake of the pandemic, while the newspaper also noted that the 2022 list includes more climate change activists than ever before.

In addition to COVID-19, the fashion world has focused on various causes over the past 12 months, including health, education and Ukraine.

Lewis Hamilton, who has worked with Tommy Hilfiger in the past and is an investor in W Magazine, ranked number five on The Giving List, donating £20m of his £300m fortune to charities charities for youth, education and employment.

The Weston family, which sold Selfridges Group last year but still owns Fortnum & Mason, the parent company of Primark, Associated British Foods and Holt Renfrew in Canada, came in at number 24. The family donated 182 £.5 million to COVID-19 causes, education and the arts.

The family’s net worth has risen by £2.5billion to £13.5billion over the past year, making them the eighth richest entry on the 2022 rich list.

For the annual Rich List, The Sunday Times makes its own calculations of the minimum wealth of individuals and families based on public domain information.

It ranks the 250 richest people living and working in Britain (not necessarily British citizens) and also splits smaller lists including the richest musicians and charity donors.

Number 35 on The Giving List was Delevingne, who is worth an estimated £41million, and who donated £400,000 to environmental causes. Last year, she set up her local charity, Initiative Earth, which helps people regenerate their local ecosystems and communities.

Harry Styles, musician, fashion lover and founder of new beauty brand Pleasing, was listed at number 37. He has donated £800,000 of his £100million fortune to ‘various causes’, according to the log.

David and Victoria Beckham were ranked at 65 on The Giving List, with a £1million donation to Ukraine following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country earlier this year.

The Beckhams’ wealth has been estimated at £425million by The Sunday Times, thanks in part to David’s recent deal with Authentic Brands Group.

The Beckhams do not feature in the top 250 of the ranking, although their wealth exceeds that of other celebrities including Elton John, Sting, Mick Jagger, whose fortune is less than 400 million pounds.

Tied for number 92 on the gift list are Pinault and Hayek and father and son diamond jewelry moguls Laurence and Francois Graff.

The Kering Group owner and his actress wife sit on an estimated £7.13billion fortune and have donated £5.5million to COVID-19 and other humanitarian causes.

The Graffs, who ranked 56th on the 2022 rich list, have an estimated wealth of £3bn and have donated £2.6m to COVID-19, poverty relief and charities African health organizations over the past year. — SAMANTHA CONTI

BY TRAIN: Entering their party, Billie Lourd and her stepdad Bruce Bozzi are matched – both in baby blue.

“It wasn’t intentional, but we’re in sync,” Lourd exclaimed, bubbly and smiling, in an Autumn Adeigbo dress. “It tends to happen.”

“It really wasn’t on purpose,” Bozzi said, dressed in a custom ’70s-style suit. the foreground of “Saturday Night Fever. It is a creation of the family tailor, “Mario in Beverly Hills”.)

“I walked in and was like, ‘Look at what I’m wearing,'” he continued. “She’s like, ‘Look what I am to carry.’ We live together.”

“It ends up happening in a weird way,” Lourd said. “And we even matched the bottle and didn’t want it.”

The Mujen “Ai” bottle, i.e. Bozzi’s new Shochu company (“ai” means love in Japanese; “mujen” means infinite).

As Bozzi – former co-owner of The Palm and husband of CAA talent agent Bryan Lourd – and his business partner Sondra Baker began rolling out the distilled spirit (made in Japan for over 500 years) in November, it was their official launch party, and Lourd was hired as a hostess.

“I was so excited to welcome this, because Bruce has worked so hard to create this amazing brand, and I wanted to support him as much as possible,” said the 29-year-old actress, daughter of Lourd. and the late Carrie Fisher. “It has been so difficult with COVID-19. We haven’t been able to do events and be outside and do things like that. And when this opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it and I was so excited. It’s a real family brand for us. We really do everything together. A group of my friends are here, and his friends.

The guest list included Billie Lourd’s husband, Austen Rydell; rising actors Nico Hiraga and Austin Crute; former freestyle skier and actor Gus Kenworthy; Jamie Schneider Mizrahi and Nico Mizrahi; Andre Caraco, director of Sony Pictures; film producer Jon Berg and guitarist Tim Reynolds.

“In the end, Sondra Baker brought me into this,” explained Bozzi de Mujen. “She was the visionary of this.”

The two first met in the 90s at a gym in Los Angeles called Sports Connection. They ran on adjacent treadmills.

“Fun story, isn’t it?” said Baker.

They reconnected years later, finding themselves in the same schoolyard when their kids were in first grade (Bozzi is a father to a pre-teen, Ava.)

Baker (who has a background in technology) discovered Shochu through her husband, and after learning that when made with rice the liqueur is free of sugar, carbs and gluten, she saw an opportunity for a “healthier” mind.

“I said to my husband, I want to start this business, and if I do, I want to do it with him,” Baker said of Bozzi. “He was involved before he even knew he was involved.”

They visited distilleries in the Kumamoto region of Japan, landing at a 119-year-old family site run by the founder’s great-granddaughter. They offer three Mujen bottles: “Ai Lite”, at 23% alcohol, the “Original”, at 35% (intended to be mixed in cocktails, which were enjoyed at the party – names like “Tokyo Lemonade and “Rosé Spritz,” created by mixologist Ash Miyasaki), and “X,” a brown-colored option, with 42% alcohol, aged for 10 years. Diane von Furstenberg is among the investors.

“She’s a very dear friend of mine, a very old friend of mine,” Bozzi said. “Her and [husband] barry [Diller] – I brought it home for dinner, and she was like, ‘It’s amazing. How can I be involved? »

Mujen can currently be purchased online in 45 states through consumer direct and available in select locations in New York and Los Angeles, found in LA hotspots like Gigi’s, owned by Alexander Wilmot – the go-to spot for the party – Jeff Klein’s The Tower Bar, San Vicente Bungalows members’ private club, as well as Monsieur Marcel at The Grove and The Little Door on Third Street.

“Anderson had never tasted it, and Andy loves the Ai,” Baker said, recounting Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s entertaining, booze-filled show live on CNN’s “New Year’s Eve,” where we sees them engage in Mujen (Cohen is a friend of Bozzi).

“We didn’t know they were going to run a four-hour commercial on Mujen,” Baker joked. “Anderson has the best quote in the history of mankind. He said, ‘It’s like a beautiful mermaid licking you from the sea of ​​Odysseus.’

Laughing, she added, “I’m going to make T-shirts out of it.” — RYMA CHIKHOUNE

NOT REALLY RAW: Rather than simply publishing its Summer 2022 campaign online, Neiman Marcus decided to bring the summer camp vibe to life with an upstate retreat for a select group of editors and influencers, for an adult version of summer camp.

Guests traveled to the new boutique hotel “It” Inness, in Accord, New York, for a two-night stay centered around the campaign’s “summer camp” theme. The itinerary started with dinner under the stars on Wednesday evening, followed by a drink in the library and some time around the campfire. On Thursday, camp activities like tie-dyeing, jewelry making, candle making and archery were practiced, and later in the evening, Studio 189 founder Abrima Erwiah organized a dinner, which was then followed by a campfire with s’mores. by Giacomo Missoni and Silvia Torassa.

The campaign, “Neiman Marcus Summer Camp”, features more than 200 brands, including Santa, Acler, Oceanus, Rebecca Vallance, Mignonne Gavigan, Blue Sky Inn, Veronica Beard, Missoni, Zegna and Jacquemus. It was filmed in Redwood Forest in California and Texas.

“We are all ready to go out, dress up, socialize with friends and family, and travel. Our customers’ desire for pure, unadulterated fun and freedom is at an all-time high, and they’re determined to make the most of this season,” said Neiman Marcus Marketing Director Daz McColl. “The concept of the campaign evokes our memory structures borrowed from fun summer camp experiences rich in childhood nostalgia with a touch of fashion you expect from Neiman Marcus.” —LEIGH NORDSTROM