Hot Take: From Cher’s Malibu Mansion To Balenciaga’s Controversial New Bag, The Latest News In Style

Balenciaga has a controversial new bag

In luxury news, more intel has been revealed about the potato chip packets that appeared on the runway at Balenciaga's latest show at Paris Fashion Week, with close-up shots of the items in question appearing online. Clutched in models' hands in the apocalyptic show (and hard to see) it turns out these bags are actually made from leather, though treated to resemble a garden-variety chip bag, and reported to cost US$1500.

Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia is a designer well-versed in irony and meta-culture, and perhaps this piece can be traced back to early June, when Paper reported that he was carrying an empty plastic packet of Lays crisps around, like a bag, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts graduate show in Antwerp  images that went viral.

Now incarnated in leather with a price tag to match, it's the latest statement-making accessory from the brand to garner both criticism and fawning, the bag follows on the heels of its ultra-distressed sneakers, and will surely fuel the ongoing debates about the state of luxury now and its future, as will the brand's interesting move to launch its own resale.

Cher's mansion with climate-controlled wig room is on the market for US$85 million

Cher's Malibu mansion, which she purchased back in 1989 for a reported US$2.95 million, is now on the market for US$85 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Italian Renaissance-style estate is built upon 1.7 acres of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean and spans 13,200 square feet, with every room in the house boasting an ocean view.

In the 2002 book The Cher Scrapbook, it was revealed that the home has an in-built, climate-controlled wig room, where the singer keeps around 100 hair pieces. The seven-bedroom mansion is also said to include a meditation room and two closets as part of the primary suite, one of the closets doubling as a panic room. An infinity pool, tennis court, indoor gym and theatre, along with a guesthouse, are also part of the expansive estate.

The property, built entirely to the Grammy winner's specifications, is listed for sale at 28 times what she originally paid for it.

Who has Gucci teamed up with now?

Gucci is one brand that does collaborations particularly well  befitting creative director Alessandro Michele's famously eclectic influences  most recently working with Adidas (photographed for Viva) and before that, North Face.

Bridging the gap between luxury fashion and streetwear, the latest partnership sees it team up with zeitgeisty London-based skate brand Palace, announced via a surreal campaign, photographed by Max Siedentopf, playing on British urban streetscapes think floating newsagents.

The result is a very of-the-moment range: a mash-up of Britpop, Y2K and Italian style, it includes football jerseys and sweats, ringer tees, monogrammed bikini tops, a kilt and even a motorbike. Palace Gucci launches October 21 on Vault.gucci.com

These are the 10 top-selling fragrances for the Northern Hemisphere summer 2022

Sales of Dior Sauvage, the fragrance fronted by Johnny Depp since 2015, has ranked the top-selling fragrance in the US over their recent summer period. Sales of the scent soared following the actor's highly publicised defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard and the fragrance house announced in August that they have signed another multi-year deal with Depp to continue as the face of Sauvage.

According to market research company The NPD Group, the list of top-selling fragrances in the US are all existing favourites, rather than new releases, with spend on fragrance up 14 percent versus the summer period last year.

The top-selling fragrances for summer 2022 in the USA are:

Sofia Coppola is on the 'gram

The perennially cool Gen X-er and Hollywood scion has finally joined Instagram, proving not only is it better late than never, but that it’s possible to engage with social media while still maintaining your distinctive voice.

Sofia's first post was suitably on-brand some tastefully arranged ephemera of filmmaking and she seems to be using it to drip-feed inspiration for her latest project, a biopic about Priscilla Presley.

The director has already racked up 83.2 thousand followers, and she follows fellow cool people Anna Sui, Cindy Sherman, Rashida Jones and of course Kirsten Dunst.

And here’s why everyone’s talking about the negroni sbagliato with prosecco

The latest video to seize TikTok and the wider social media ecosystem, it's been impossible to avoid House of The Dragon actor Emma D'Arcy's sensual description of their favourite drink, a negroni sbagliato with prosecco.

A question from their interview by Olivia Cooke for HBO Max, the cocktail is a twist on a traditional negroni; for the sbagliato (which is Italian for mistake/broken/bungled) the gin is replaced in this case with prosecco, giving offering a lighter, fizzier incarnation of this classic drink.

The video has gone viral, likely because of Emma’s engaging and drip-fed delivery (and very dashing outfit a diagonally striped pink shirt and matching tie), Olivia’s evolving response, and both the audio and video being taken out of context to react to other subjects.

That aside, negroni sbagliato with prosecco is delicious. Well-timed for warmer weather in the southern hemisphere, it’s set to be the drink of summer. To make one of your own, head to the Viva Instagram.