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That didn’t take long.
Diane von Furstenberg said Thursday that Nathan Jenden has been named chief design officer and vice president, creative. He returns to the brand where he worked for 10 years until 2011. In his role, he will oversee all design for the brand.
Jenden takes over duties formerly handled by Jonathan Saunders, who resigned his post as chief creative officer last month.
“It is with joy and pride that I look forward to welcoming Nathan back at DVF. Nathan is an extremely talented and technically skillful designer who also has a great gift at surrounding himself with young, emerging talent. He totally embraces the DVF woman and the brand enjoyed its greatest commercial success during his tenure,” von Furstenberg said.
Jenden will report to von Furstenberg and DVF’s board. His first collection will be for fall 2018, and will be shown in February.
Saunders had been in the role since May 2016 and was in charge of all product categories, store design, web site design, a new corporate brand identity and marketing including advertising campaigns. He stepped down from the brand days after von Furstenberg said she plans to sell a stake in her fashion company. She plans to hire Michel Dyens

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The Fashion Institute of Technology has named six new directors to the FIT Foundation. Each director will serve a three-year term.
They are Geoffrey Greenberg, cofounder and copresident of Just Play LLC, a toy company; Douglas Hand, a fashion lawyer and a founding member of the law firm Hand Baldachin & Amburgey LLP; Megan Salt, director of marketing and brand communications for Amazon Fashion; Robert Stock, who designs under the Robert Graham men’s wear label; Nadja Swarovski, head of corporate communication and design services for her family business, Swarovski, and Jerry Vittoria, president of Firmenich’s fine fragrances worldwide.

The Feldman Center at FIT. 
Courtesy shot

The FIT Foundation, a tax-exempt organization, serves as an advisory and fund-raising body to FIT. The foundation’s role is to build and secure long-term giving and directors provide philanthropic leadership by raising funds and educating others about charitable giving opportunities.
The six new directors bring the total number of directors to 25. The others are Jay Baker, Pamela Baxter, Joy Herfel Cronin, Diane D’Erasmo, Abbey Doneger, Morris Goldfarb, Jill Granoff, Sam Haddad, Jane Hertzman Hudis, Laurence. C. Leeds, Jr., Fern Mallis, Kevin Mansell, Athanasios (Tom) Nastos, Elizabeth Peck, Roberto Ramos, Bruce P. Rockowitz, Peter G. Scotese, Gary Sheinbaum and J.

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THE ITALIAN JOB: Venice’s Palazzo Ducale museum, or Doge’s Palace, was robbed on Wednesday morning, during visiting hours.
The theft took place during the last day of the “Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas: the Al Thani collection” exhibition, which opened back in September. Retracing five centuries of Indian jewelry art, the exhibit was showcased for the first time in Italy displaying nearly 300 pieces from the precious collection assembled by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family.
According to Italian media reports, two unidentified thieves stole a valuable brooch and a pair of earrings, forcing the glass display in which they were showcased. The duo blended in with the rest of the visitors and had about a minute to exit the venue after the robbery before the alarm went off. The space was then closed to permit further investigation, but the thieves were already on the go.
Italian authorities have started investigations, analyzing the images from the security cameras in the area, which show a person operating directly and putting the stolen jewelry in his pocket while another acted as the lookout, covering him.
The value of the robbery has not been quantified yet,

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PERFORMANCE: Andrea Crews founder Maroussia Rebecq is taking the concept of backstage access to new heights. The Paris-based designer, who launched her label in 2002 as an art project geared around upcycling vintage garments, plans to stage the preparations for her fall 2018 co-ed show as a performance, titled “How to Make a Great Fashion Show.”
From today through Jan. 17, Rebecq, along with the members of her collective, will hold castings and fittings, shoot the brand’s look book and hold the final hair and makeup tests in the Le Cœur gallery in Paris’ Marais district. The actual show will be held on Jan. 20 during Paris Men’s Collections, with the location yet to be confirmed.
“This period, from now through to the show, is a very intense period where we’re building the story of our collection. This year we wanted to make an event out of it,” said Rebecq. “It will also allow for some distance from what I do. Preparing for a show can be both a highly stressful and beautiful experience, and for me gathering everyone together in a performance will make it more of a joyful, playful event.”
The designer, who is 40 but sees herself “very much as a Millennial,”

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PARIS — Landing the top designer gig at a heritage fashion house may be the goal for many of the industries’ rising talents, but 21-year-old Canadian wunderkind Vejas Kruszewski has taken another tack by signing on as creative director of Pihakapi, a brand from Italian leather apparel producer Pellemoda.
A by-appointment presentation of the brand’s debut fall collection is set to take place during Paris men’s fashion week later this month.
Kruszewski, who has been working closely with Pellemoda for his own experimental label, Vejas, said accepting the role felt like “a natural progression, or at least a choice that made sense,” adding: “I liked that it was a little unconventional, the fact that a manufacturer wants to have its own brand….What I have always liked about making clothes is all of the processes related to the manufacturing, and they have the breadth of expertise because of the clients that they produce for.”
Founded in 1979, Pellemoda is said to produce leather apparel for brands including Dior, Coach, Céline, Balenciaga and Calvin Klein.
For now the self-taught designer is putting his brand — launched in 2015 at age 18 — on hold. The label counts around 30 wholesale clients including Browns and Harvey Nichols in

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