Daily Front Row

2012 June 15

Diesel & Monster's Ultimate Playlist

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Stefano Rosso and Paz de la Huerta
PAUL BRUINOOGE/PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery

(NEW YORK) Last night the MePa was rumbling with the sounds of stilettos on cobblestones mixed with the thumping tunes blasting from the Diesel Noise Division and Monster VEKTR headphone launch at TOY in the Gansevoort Hotel. While a slew of chicsters clambered to get through the door, lucky guests like Penn Badgley and Paz de la Huerta held court with Diesel's Stefano Rosso in the upstairs VIP lounge while sipping glasses of champers between extravagant sushi nibbles.

Solange Knowles jumped into the DJ booth to throw down some beats using the sleek new headphones—along with fellow DJs Theophilus London and Brendan Fallis bringing the crowd to life—especially once the Belvedere cocktails kicked in (note: Belvie and soda was the combo for the evening). Your Daily was happily invited to the inner VIP sanctum to chat with Rosso and Monster's Noel Lee. "This is our first real venture, and we collaborated with the biggest and best lifestyle brand we could think of, " said Lee. "We found out that we have so many things in common because Renzo [Rosso] founded the same year we did, we're both entrepreneurs, and we're both family-owned businesses so the cultural fit was really family. And they said we have to get along as family first before we can do business."

The next step was pairing the Monster expertise in sound with Diesel's expertise in fashion (and, of course, its worldwide following). But with so many other offshoots these days for fashion brands, why head phones? "Music has always been a part of our lifestyle, so we supported music and musicians for the last 10 years," explained Rosso. "We started the new division [Diesel Noise Division] to not only support musicians but to give something to our consumers where they can play and listen to music. Headphones are a part of your lifestyle and your world."

But only the interior technological design was left up to the minds at Monster; they nodded to the fashion brand for the signature outer style. "We really wanted something that went against the rules, and that's why we decided to do a harsh and hardcore look, with square instead of round forms," Rosso added. "But on the inside, it's all soft, and the quality of the music around your ear is amazing."

So what's on the Italian heir's own playlist? "I have to be honest; I like to go back to the nineties to the original, golden years of hip hop, like Notorious BIG. That's the classics!" And apparently the nineties sentiment is wafting through the whole Diesel empire. When your Daily ran into Diesel USA's CEO Cristiano Quieti, he echoed the very same decade of nostalgic mood music. "Actually, I don't know if it's cool or not, but all the music I'm listening to now is from the nineties. I was listening to Nirvana last week. Incidentally, the last party we had with Ducati for the launch of our bike the music was all revival!" Add that to your trending, darlings!
TANGIE SILVA