Latest news with #VandA
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Story Behind Jackie Kennedy's Cartier Watch: A Royal Gift With ‘Traces and Clues of Her Life' Revealed
The V&A's latest fashion exhibit showcases the iconic, world-renowned jewelry brand Cartier, and among its dazzling display of diamonds is a timepiece steeped in history: the Cartier watch once owned by Jackie Kennedy. According to Sunita Kumar Nair, author of 'CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion,' this display is particularly meaningful: 'This is an incredible moment, for the general public to see a historical timepiece from the Kennedy legacy, particularly Jackie's,' Kumar Nair said. 'It wasn't included for public eyes until now, which is an excellent example of how she still remains an important part of our cultural legacy and how there are still parts of her life yet to be unravelled.' More from WWD Sarah Jessica Parker Embraces Dark Glamour in Custom Jenny Packham for 'And Just Like That' Season Three Paris Photo Call EXCLUSIVE: Birkenstock Reimagines Self Care 'From the Feet Up' With Pop-up Spa Experience in Los Angeles at The Grove Sarah Jessica Parker Goes Boho Chic in Paris, Kristin Davis Favors Florals in Rixo Dress and More Looks at the 'And Just Like That...' Season Three Premiere This storied accessory has journeyed through the ages. Its significance dates back to 1963, when President John F. Kennedy launched a fitness initiative, challenging the population to walk 50 miles, hoping to inspire Americans to become more active. Jackie's brother-in-law, Prince Stanislaw 'Stas' Radziwill, who was married to her sister, took part in the trek. Jackie intermittently joined the walk, offering support and encouragement along the way. In commemoration of the experience, Stas gave her the Cartier watch. The memory of that day was preserved with a heartfelt inscription engraved on the back: 'Stas to Jackie / 23 Feb. 63 / 2:05 AM to 9:35 PM,' in script. In a tragic turn of events, six months after this, President Kennedy was assassinated, leaving Jackie a widow. As reported by Nair, the next time the widow was seen in public, she was with her daughter Caroline skiing in Sun Valley, a glimpse of the watch face captured. 'She served the American people as first lady, and she respected the boundaries and messages that certain pieces of fashion and jewelry meant to the general public and her husband's presidency,' Kumar Nair explained, 'it felt like the watch was a signifier of her new life, a private citizen free to wear what she wanted, and a flag of her social status and life as a widow.' After that, the ex-first lady was rarely seen without it and it became a staple for her, making it a well-loved accessory. After her death in 1994, Sotheby's held a sale of her belongings, which did not include her watch. It wasn't until 2017 that Christie's announced a sale of the watch. An unidentified bidder won the accessory for $379,500, which was later revealed to be Kim Kardashian. The story now continues as the watch takes its new home at the V&A. 'Jackie was so private, and we are still left with traces and clues of her life. There is something to be said about keeping parts of your life private, particularly when you are serving a public life,' Kumar Nair noted. View Gallery Launch Gallery: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 1960s Style File From the Archives [PHOTOS] Best of WWD Model and Hip Hop Fashion Pioneer Kimora Lee Simmons' Runway Career Through the Years [PHOTOS] Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
I'm glad Robert Jenrick has joined my one-woman battle against fare-dodgers
A busy week for Robert Jenrick, who has been challenging fare evaders on the trains and Tubes this week, asking people why they appeared to have neglected to pay for their journey. I'm not surprised that the video clip of him confronting people who appeared to have forced their way through ticket barriers has been viewed more than 10m times. With his stunt – 'You're on camera, mate, you're bang to rights' – he's hit a nerve. He seemed to be in Stratford, east London, on the same day as I was; me visiting the V&A's new Storehouse museum, the shadow secretary of state for justice to discover why fare-dodging is costing Transport for London £130 million a year. If I'd known he was going to be going full vigilante, I'd have combined my visit to London's newest cultural jewel with a chance to join him in collaring the barrier-hoppers to ask why they were happy contributing to the recent 4.6 per cent rise in Tube fares. Because, like Jenrick, I don't mind calling out bad behaviour when I see it. On too many journeys on public transport, I see people – ok, men, it's always men – evading fares, barging through the barriers, or telling the bus driver that they don't have any money and are 'only going two stops'. When they're told to get off and they grudgingly open their Apple Pay, it feels like a minor victory for the whole of society. Last year, I was exiting the Tube at Victoria and felt someone press up behind me as I passed through the gate. They'd clearly done this so they didn't have to pay, and as we both cleared the gate, I asked them why they thought they were above paying for a ticket. The middle-aged man just said 'Don't want to', and walked off. When I told the gate staff what had happened, they said they weren't allowed to take any action and to leave any cases like this to revenue enforcement staff. But 'not my problem' seems to be the sum of it. Of course, I understand the risk of taking on people like this – in Jenrick's video, one evader claimed to be carrying a knife. But why do other passengers never think to politely address the people who are making their journeys more expensive? I've talked to people on buses who've evaded fares and reminded them that all the other passengers had paid, so why should they get a free ride? The response is either nothing, or an expletive. Frankly, I'm fed up with the sense of entitlement as well as the lack of action from officialdom. But I'm also furious that it falls to a 59-year-old woman to take on men who are breaking the law. I know I'm not the only woman who does this. I'm also not averse to asking people 'do they mind not listening to that without headphones?'. But please don't call us 'Karens'. We do it not to make people's lives a misery or for a sense of moral superiority, but because these fare-evaders don't seem to face much of a deterrent on any level. In the incidents I've witnessed on the railways, there isn't even a verbal rebuke from staff when passengers push through the gates, just a shrugging of the shoulders. Each train on the new Elizabeth Line, which cost almost £20bn to build, can carry 1,500 passengers – more in the rush hour crush, or after delays to the inexplicably unreliable service. By my calculations, that means, on average, eight people in your carriage won't have paid. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, says TfL is increasing its teams of investigators and investing in new technology to stamp out fraud: the wide-access gates at every station, which open more slowly and so are a prime target for tail-gaters, could be made more difficult to barge through. Live facial recognition cameras powered by artificial intelligence would revolutionise the ability to detect and catch criminals. All of this can't come soon enough. On my Tube journey home from Stratford, I spotted half a dozen TfL revenue officers around an exit gate checking to see who had paid and questioning those who hadn't. I was pleased to see this; it was safety in numbers for the team, but also a very visible sign that you can't just push your way through because you don't fancy paying. Perhaps if there were a few more subtle and consistent reminders on public transport, not just the occasional swarm of blue-uniformed officers, it could make evaders think twice. But at the moment, it's just middle-aged women and the odd shadow secretary of state.
The National
7 days ago
- The National
Domed ceilings, rugs and fibreglass heels: Inside the Middle East collections at London's V&A East Storehouse
Tunisian woollen rugs were among the first items from the Middle East collected by the organisers of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, which paved the way for the creation of the city's Victoria and Albert Museum. Today, as the landmark museum expands to the east of the capital, its collection boasts some of the rarest and most refined examples of Islamic art, as well as a range of contemporary design commissions from the Middle East. Among the major feats at the Storehouse, the V&A's new venue in the Olympic Park which opens on Saturday, is the reassembly of an Islamic domed ceiling from a lost 15th century palace in Torrijos, central Spain. The ornate wooden marquetry panels are believed to be from a dining room because of an Arabic inscription that reads 'we drink and have fun together'. For Storehouse curator Georgia Haseldine, the ceiling is an illustration of the collaboration between Christian and Islamic craftsmen of the time – a coexistence that was thwarted soon afterwards by the Spanish Inquisition. 'It was a moment when Islamic design was the high point of fashion across the Iberian Peninsula,' she told The National. 'Yet it is obviously tinged with sadness, because we are on the eve of that moment of the expulsions.' The ceiling is among 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives from the V&A's collections which have been made publicly available at the new venue in Stratford. Occupying four levels, the 16,000-square metre space takes over a large section of the former London 2012 Olympics media centre. A new V&A East museum will also open at a separate venue in the Olympic Park in 2026. The Storehouse's innovative approach makes the pieces normally confined to museum storage accessible to the public. Designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, a central atrium is surrounded by racks of open shelving. V&A deputy director Tim Reeve, who developed the concept for the Storehouse, described it as a 'backstage pass' to the museum. '[It is] transforming how people can access their national collections on a scale unimaginable until now. I hope our visitors enjoy finding their creative inspiration and immersing themselves in the full theatre and wonder of the V&A as a dynamic working museum.' Visitors can walk through the space, where items are curated according to themes rather than by region or time period, and they can also 'order' objects for viewings in the private study rooms. Tatreez Palestinian dresses, decorated with traditional tatreez embroidery, are displayed on the way to the viewing studio. 'It is so important for us to be collecting tatreez because it is so regionally specific, and they're also so popular," Haseldine said. "Loads of people in east London are wanting to come here and see Palestinian tatreez." Contemporary design items such as rubber and fibreglass shoes designed by Zaha Hadid, and a silverwear sculpture by Miriam Hanid, commissioned by the V&A, are also prominently displayed. A stone sculpture by Lebanese artist Najla El Zein is one of the earliest pieces the museum acquired after appointing its first contemporary Middle East curator, Salma Tuqan, in 2011. 'That appointment was really important for the V&A,' Haseldine said. Community is at the heart of the V&A East expansion and Haseldine worked with young women from the Museum's Youth Collective to curate some of the displays. The Storehouse is expected to make important contributions to the regeneration of the Olympic Park and its surrounding areas, which this year were ranked as the UK's best for social mobility. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "proud" to be supporting the project, which "marks a hugely significant moment in our work to create the most ambitious cultural development in decades, helping us to ensure London stays the creative capital of the world'. Four Yemeni funerary stones nod to the V&A's work preserving culture in conflict. The stelae were discovered in a Hackney antiques shop by a Yemeni student in 2010. The items had been looted and were being sold in London as Mexican icons. The items were then seized by the Metropolitan Police and identified by the V&A. They are on temporary display at the Storehouse and will eventually be returned to Yemen. 'It is really moving for the Yemeni community in London that we've been talking to about this, because they can come see these artefacts and be in their presence,' Haseldine said. A Yemeni artist has been invited to produce a work inspired by the stelae later this year. A key feature of the Storehouse will be Order an Object, which invites viewers to 'order' an item from the collection to view and handle it in one of the study rooms. More than 1,000 objects have already been ordered since the online platform launched this month, including by someone seeking inspiration for her wedding dress design. Senior Middle East curator Tim Stanley recommends ordering the Tunisian rug that appeared at the Great Exhibition in 1851. 'Tunisian textiles have an honoured place in the history of the V&A. The organisers of the museum were so impressed with the design qualities of the textiles from Tunisia and other parts of the Islamic world that they bought them in large numbers,' he told The National. Dr Stanley also recommends an engraved ivory tent pole fitting, which marks the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman sultan Selim I in 1517. The Sultan is named in the Mamluk-style decorations, and it is believed the pole was made for him in Cairo. Visitors can also order items from the V&A's extensive fashion collection, such as a 1954 pink taffeta evening dress by Balenciaga. Haseldine hopes the collection and outreach programme can be used to promote cultural heritage projects in the Middle East. One example is the 1883 plaster cast of a rosette from the Mamluk period in Cairo which was recently restored and stabilised. It is being studied by Omniya Abdel Barr, a Cairene conservation architect and housing activist whose research at the Storehouse aims to show how museum objects can be used to support heritage conservation policies in Cairo. 'A collection can become an activist's tool. The evidence that we hold within the V&A points to things that need to be taken into concern by city planners,' Haseldine said of Barr's research. 'It's so exciting that this thing that was recorded and brought back to the V&A in the 1980s as this amazing example for craftspeople here in London, now has a whole other meaning, where its significance is going back to Cairo,' she said.
Forbes
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Deafmetal Hearing Aid Jewelry Heads To The World's Most Famous Design Museum
Jewelry is not in my journalistic remit but when technology meets jewelry, my interest is piqued. Finnish jewelry designer Jenni Ahtiainen's work has been seen on both domestic and international stages. Now, the designer's permanent handprint will go down in the history books as Ahtiainen's Deafmetal hearing aid jewelry is heading to London's world-famous Victoria & Albert Museum which is holding a 'Design & Disability' exhibition. Natalie Kane, curator of the exhibition wanted Ahtiainen's hearing aid jewelry to be part of the fashion section because she saw Deafmetal as 'a great example of a jeweler's brand that was inspired by the designer's own work history and her own sudden deafness.' The exhibition will showcase the radical contributions of disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people and communities to design and contemporary culture, stretching from the 1940s to the present day. 'Everyone has a desire to leave something of themselves behind. Something meaningful… I managed to create something that's important enough that the prestigious V&A wants to showcase it to the world. This selection is a dream come true for me as a designer. I never would have thought that losing my hearing would end up being one of the best things that's ever happened to me - it led to my invention, and now also to this exhibition,' says Ahtiainen. Ahtiainen received her hearing aids in 2018 and instead of trying to hide them, she did the opposite and designed an innovation that allows hearing aid users to transform their devices into self-expressive pieces of jewelry. Ahtiainen went on to post a picture of her own tuned-up hearing aids on social media, and within hours the post went viral. Soon, Deafmetal became a full-time job for the designer. 'I just wanted to make my own devices look and feel like me, and in doing so, I merged clinical health technology with what I knew - the fashion industry… what I made by following my gut instincts turned out to be life-changing, and not only for me.' Hearing aid jewelry is not hearing aid jewelry without the aids. Deafmetals are compatible with any type of hearing device from any manufacturer. The designs for the V&A are combined with an Advanced Bionics cochlear implant and a ReSound hearing aid. In recent years, Deafmetal has been awarded several business and innovation awards, both nationally and internationally. As early as 2018, it won the New Product of the Year award at the biggest crafts fair in Europe. In 2019, the invention won silver at the global Creative Business Cup innovation competition, and in 2021, silver at the Castle Business Tournament. In 2022, VISA awarded Ahtiainen with the 'She's Next' Award for inspiring female entrepreneurs. There is often a stigma associated with hearing aids, which is why people are reluctant to admit to hearing problems – even to themselves. According to a survey conducted in the spring of 2025, Deafmetal improves the lifestyles of hearing aid users by offering fashionable jewelry pieces that transform hearing aids into accessories that match the user's personal taste and style, while keeping their hearing devices securely in place, safe from falling off or getting lost. Untreated hearing loss can lead to memory and cognitive decline and has even been linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The solution is not only empowering earlier but also more regular use of hearing devices. Over 90% of Deafmetal users consider styling and personalization important considerations for medical and assistive devices, and over 90% of these hearing device users feel more confident when wearing them with jewelry and embellishments. Over 50% of users report that they wear their hearing devices more regularly since they started wearing Deafmetals, that's according to a survey of 147 hearing device users conducted in April 2025 'Hearing aids help people with hearing loss cope with everyday life and work and participate in social situations. At the Finnish Hearing Association, we think it's important that Deafmetal hearing aid jewelry is seen as encouraging people to use hearing aids,' says Sanna Kaijanen, Executive Director of the Finnish Hearing Association. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Ahtiainen has a strong history in accessories and jewelry design. Neckwear pieces designed under her previous gTie brand are still seen yearly at the Finnish Independence Day Celebration at the President's hall, on numerous music and cultural influencers such as Michael Monroe, Ville Valo and most recently in 2024 "blues minister" Esa Kuloniemi. Ahtiainen's most famous international clients include Marilyn Manson, Bono and Snoop Dogg. The V&A's Design & Disability Exhibition opens in London on 7 June 2025. It includes a Deafmetal cochlear implant jewelry design. Deafmetal products are available worldwide via the Deafmetal Store.
