Delvaux premieres Francesco Carrozzini’s New York Stories

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 6, 2019

The latest European brand to launch an unexpected image campaign in Manhattan is Delvaux, which celebrated its new short film New York Stories on Thursday evening.

Starring Courtney Love, Asia Chow, Nell Diamond and Chanel Iman, and shot by Francesco Carrozzini in black and white, the mini film smartly breaks new ground for the Belgian luxury marque.
 
Filmed at Manhattan locations from Central Park and the Guggenheim to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Delvaux’s coolly grand NYC flagship, the film features its cast musing on what the city represents – capturing the unique ability of the metropolis to inspire ambition and realize dreams.

The opening image even catches Central Park Tower, the 1,550-foot, $4 billion condominium that, when completed, will be the tallest residential building in the world. The City That Never Sleeps is The City That Never Ceases to Build.
 
“New York City is caramel, coffee and spilled whiskey… Mercury flying through the air. I think we’re like Greek gods with all this energy. This angry energy. This loving energy. This sexy energy. This communications energy,” intones Love, who exits a limo in a snowstorm to enter Delvaux’s flagship.

Above all, the moody images – dense traffic, autumn leaves, snowy meadows, soaring architecture, dark skylines, twisting pathways and steam – offer a great backdrop to Delvaux’s pricey handbags.
 
Carrozzini is the son of the late great Franca Sozzani and the son-in-law of Anna Wintour, who came to the premiere. The fact that he is very much a fashion princeling has provoked some envy, but this film shows him to be a photographer of gusto, wit and skill blessed with a flattering eye.
 
For the event, the Delvaux boutique was transformed into a cinema theatre for guests to discover his short film – which added a kickier touch to the brand’s tony bags. Post event, guests retired to the iconic Doubles Club, the basement supper club of the Sherry-Netherland hotel, where Delvaux Chairman and CEO Jean-Marc Loubier greeted Wintour, Hanne Gaby Odiele, Flaviana Matata, Lyn Slater, Zani Gugelmann, along with the film’s protagonists.
 
Founded in Brussels in 1829, Delvaux is the oldest fine leather luxury goods house in the world and the inventor of the modern handbag, having filed the first ever handbag patent in 1908. New York Stories made the marque look very now.