The UAE announced a public holiday for both government and private sector employees on January 1, 2025
uae4 hours ago
FASHION DESIGNER CHRISTIAN Audigier, who was born in France but gained fame and fortune in the United States with his tattoo-inspired, street-wise designs for the Ed Hardy and Von Dutch brands, died Friday. He was 57.
Audigier died at at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Laura Coverson said. Audigier had cancer, said his former publicist, Michele Elyzabeth, who first reported the death on her LATF style website.
Besides his colourful designs, the designer was known for his energetic promotion and for friendships with celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Madonna and the French singer Johnny Hallyday.
"My friend forever," Hallyday tweeted on Friday, in French. "I will miss you terribly. I love you."
Audigier was born in Avignon, France, and began working in fashion as early as age 14, Elyzabeth said.
He moved to New York as a young man, where he worked for a number of labels. But it was in Los Angeles where he achieved fame, first as a designer for Von Dutch, and then for the Ed Hardy brand, where Audigier's clothing played off the colourful designs of tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy.
"I believe people are going to go to street wear more than couture wear," Audigier said when presenting his Ed Hardy line at Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2008, where he displayed what he described as an homage to colour and '80s street style: sparkly, embroidered jeans, for example, and motifs of dragons, skulls and roses on bright backdrops.
Casual wear, the designer said then, could see a rise in a troubled economy. "You can wear this with all the clothes you have," Audigier said.
He had a reputation for high-profile hobnobbing and shrewd marketing, getting the likes of Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton to sport his trucker hats and other gear.
"I believe celebrities are the best driver for trends," Audigier told the Los Angeles Times in 2007. "The more they wear my stuff, the more it is going to be seen by the people."
In addition to Von Dutch and Ed Hardy, Audigier designed denim items for Levi's, Guess and a number of other clothing lines. However, he had not actively designed for several years. AP
The UAE announced a public holiday for both government and private sector employees on January 1, 2025
uae4 hours ago
'With the right initiatives, the ministry has the potential to transform the way families function and flourish in the UAE,' said one expert
uae4 hours ago
Sharjah International Book Fair, one of the events held in the Centre, recorded a turnout of 1.82 million visitors
uae11 hours ago
Liverpool are top with 39 points from 16 games, four points above second-placed Chelsea
football11 hours ago
The ICC is likely to announce a final tournament schedule later next week
sports12 hours ago
The consistent rise in population since 2021 has been fuelling the surge in rentals and property prices, pushing them above record highs of 2014 level
realty12 hours ago
Not all off-plan investments are created equal, and a polished brochure doesn’t guarantee profits
realty12 hours ago
In its latest report on the Gulf region, IMF also said GCC has been resilient to recent shocks and the economic outlook remains favourable
business12 hours ago