In The Wall Street Journal, Rory Satran discusses this summer’s luxury yacht fashions. She writes:
“When a client comes to the boat, they bring their closet,” said Captain Sandy Yawn, a superyacht captain who appeared on the reality show “Below Deck Mediterranean.” “They want to shine in front of their friends.”
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have been in prime entertaining mode this summer on Koru, their new $500 million superyacht. Sanchez has been flaunting some aggressively revealing looks to shine for friends including Oprah Winfrey. She and Bezos have been extensively photographed frolicking in swimsuits, showering and working out aboard their boat.
To her engagement party onboard this month, Sanchez wore a silver crop top and miniskirt from Annie’s Ibiza, the vacation-wear stalwart founded on the island in 2018 by Annie Doble. She favors body-baring resort looks from the kind of upscale port-town boutiques that cater to visitors arriving by boat.
Shopping at yacht destinations is a booming industry, with main drags in Monaco and Cannes currently undergoing major renovations to accommodate clients. Many of these towns have branches of luxury boutiques from Balenciaga to Chanel, as well as branded luxury beach-club pop-ups like Gucci’s in St. Tropez and Dior’s in Portofino. But for shoppers like Sanchez, the real draw is finding smaller boutiques that specialize in yacht-y looks from independent designers like Clio Peppiatt and Silvia Tcherassi.
“The yacht clients are very demanding,” said Valentina Arcucci, a buyer for high-end boutique Blu in Capri. She said that these shoppers, who often expect delivery by boat or shipping to their homes, have increasingly asked for vibrant colors and prints, and long dresses from brands such as Daniela Gregis and Mimi Liberté. She even made a video-call sale with a yacht this summer “due to the heat.”
Arcucci said that the yacht client “buys many pieces but is always in a hurry. You have to be quick in selling.” There’s always another boutique to hit, dinner to dress for and selfie to pose for.
Certain brands are being particularly boosted by the yachtissance. When Jeff Bezos wore a loud Casablanca silk shirt to his New Year’s party last year, he catapulted the witty French men’s and women’s brand to a wider audience overnight. Its founder, Charaf Tajer, said that he thinks there’s a newfound focus on the vacation lifestyle postpandemic.
Tajer, who noted that Kendall Jenner and P. Diddy have also worn patterned Casablanca shirts on yachts, said, “Our silk particularly is really fitting for the yacht life and the party life, because people can really just be themselves, and wear something that is lighter than a T-shirt. At the same time, it’s very dressed up and elegant.”
One limitation of yacht fashion is that shoes generally aren’t allowed onboard. Sofie Krunegård, the costume designer for “Triangle of Sadness,” said that when she was researching yacht style she noticed “Succession” got around that awkwardness by avoiding filming peoples’ feet on boats. She ultimately decided that having the characters be barefoot during the infamous captain’s dinner scene would be too weird—and sometimes exceptions are made for formal events.
Not everyone who wants to take part in yacht fashion has access to an actual yacht. Pertti Leppälä, a captain and yacht manager in Monaco, said that intruders were constantly posing in the gangways to his yachts, pretending they’re about to board. This way, he said, yacht or no yacht, “They can still make beautiful content.”
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