Of Course Telfar’s Wallets Sold Out Within Seconds, and Other News

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Of Course, Telfar’s Wallets Sold Out Within Seconds

A highly anticipated launch of wallets from Telfar, the New York–based fashion label with an avid cult following, sold out in less than five minutes. Creative director Babak Radboy said the wallets were made in 17 colors and were intended to be available for longer than the brand’s bags, which famously sell out quickly. Thousands of the leather wallets, which are priced at $144 and come in colors from black and bubblegum to seafoam green, were sold, and are now appearing on resale site StockX for prices upwards of $1,500. 

Telfar is known for its inclusivity and the loyal community supporting Liberian-American founder Telfar Clemens, who grew up in Lefrak City, Queens. When mass retailer Guess was accused of hawking copycats of Telfar’s signature tote, the social media backlash was swift. “We’re the only brand of our scale that’s Black-owned—like really Black-owned, no investors or entanglements—so our community is just us,” Radboy told WWD. And the community has much to look forward to this year: “Our big plans are for Telfar TV to launch original content and do with the clothes what we’ve done with accessories. Telfar is not a bag company.” —Ryan Waddoups

A top museum accreditor places the embattled Orlando Museum of Art on probation.

The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) has been placed on probation by accreditation group American Alliance of Museums (AAM), who didn’t immediately share a reason for the move. The museum was at the center of a scandal this past June, when the FBI seized 25 paintings attributed to the late Jean-Michel Basquiat from the premises in broad daylight following questions surrounding their authenticity. A series of swift shakeups at the museum followed, starting with former director Aaron De Groft, who was ousted by the board of trustees four days later. Several former trustees dismissed in April said an FBI subpoena was sent to OMA on July 27, 2021—almost seven months before the exhibition opened—which demanded “any and all” communications among the museum’s staff, board, and the owners of the paintings.

Plans are underway for a new guardhouse at the gate of Florida’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

The Secret Service has submitted a proposal for a new guardhouse to be built at the main gate of Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s Florida resort. The proposed guardhouse will be a 232-square-foot one-story pavilion located along the main entry drive. To respect the neighborhood’s vernacular, the guardhouse will feature copper-colored clay tile roofing and stucco walls, blending in with the backdrop of the estate’s other dwellings. The guardhouse will include security features such as armor, ballistic glass, and communication equipment in anticipation of potential coordinated attacks at the main gate. The National Trust for Historic Preservation greenlit the proposal, which is currently waiting for local approval. 

Nicolas Party will create a pastel mural at the Frick in response to a Carriera portrait. 

This summer, The Frick Collection will unveil a new pastel mural by Swiss-born artist Nicolas Party, created in response to Rosalba Carriera’s 18th-century painting Portrait of a Man in Pilgrim’s Costume. The mural will be the centerpiece of an upcoming diptych co-authored by Party and Xavier F. Salomon, the Frick’s deputy director and Peter Jay Sharp chief curator. “Party is the preeminent artist working in pastels today, making him the perfect candidate to respond to Carriera’s captivating portrait,” Salomon said in a statement. “Given his impressive history of similar works and his love for Old Master pastel artists like Rosalba, we’re eager to see what he creates.” Party’s mural will be executed in the Italian Galleries at the museum’s temporary home, Frick Madison, the former location of the Whitney Museum of American art and the Met Breuer. The installation includes Party’s mural and two new related works, also created by Party, which will be on view on the museum’s third floor until next winter.

Dior is developing a line of black 3D-printed shoes with a textural, lattice-like surface. 

Dior has developed a line of 3D printed shoes, including a Derby and a boot, under the direction of Dior menswear artistic director Kim Jones and head men’s footwear designer Thibo Denis. The shoes feature a black textural lattice-like surface reminiscent of the Adidas futurecraft 3D running shoe launched in 2015. To create the shoe, the team 3D scanned the house’s Carlo Derby shoe, applied a digital texture to its surface, and applied finishing touches before it emerged from a powder bed. According to the designers, the shoes are designed to be “visually solid, but ultra-lightweight when worn.”

More than 500 British museums launch a campaign to confront mass biodiversity loss. 

More than 500 museums from across the U.K. have launched an artist-led campaign, titled “The Wild Escape,” to highlight the country’s loss of biodiversity. One of the largest museum projects ever funded by Arts Council England, the project will include original contributions from such leading British artists as Mark Wallinger, Yinka Shonibare, Es Devlin, and FKA Twigs. The project aims to inspire primary school-age children to create artworks of their own, inspired by animals, insects, and plants they encounter in museums. The children’s artwork animals will be “brought to life in a newly imagined epic-scale artwork” by the immersive games studio PRELOADED that launches Earth Day (April 22). 

United States Artists has announced this year’s cohort of 45 socially minded Fellows.    

The arts funding organization United States Artists has awarded 45 creatives with unrestricted $50,000 fellowships for their significant contributions to the country’s creative landscape. Honorees include Ten Fwd creative director Alexis Hope, self-taught food designer Krystal C. Mack, and design justice firm Colloqate principal Bryan C Lee Jr, and fellow justice architect Deanna Van Buren. The annual fellowships, which span ten categories, provide recipients with financial freedom and access to business guidance to further their opportunities.

Today’s attractive distractions:

We’re finally getting a biopic about the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos origin story.

Here’s what happens when you try to outsource your scattered brain to AI.

Atlantis the Royal toasted its grand opening with none other than Beyoncé.

Japan wins the Pastry World Cup in France for the first time in 16 years.