Zouzou is the new opus in the Celine Haute Parfumerie collection initiated in 2019. It comes to join the eleven perfumes conceived by Hedi Slimane for the launch of the line. all of them are in keeping with the tradition of the "couturier parfumeur" and recapture the excellence of french haute parfumerie. the collection is comprised of twelve creations to date. With Zouzou finding its place in the day collection.
An ode to the evolution of fashion from the 20th century to the present day, GENDERQUAKE: Liberation, Appropriation, Rejection represents the progression of the fashion protagonist through time. The group exhibition is an amalgamation of fashion’s trending extremes, representing the strategic placement of garment on the body. The show assigns nuance to the body in form and the way clothing chooses to rest. The corporeal identity celebrates the dynamic nature of gender; its emphasis lies in the multiplicity of form and operation with the growing milieu. Light is strategically implemented here; coloration is obscured and distorted recurrently so that color takes preference over form and form takes precedence over color. We are led to examine the multidimensionality of attire in its own context. The augmentations of light are fleeting; the shift is gradual, but with each minute transposition one is delicately subdued into another reality, another dimension, to another way of seeing. We move linearly through time and metaphysically through light. GENDERQUAKE epitomizes fashion’s unique relationship to timelessness.
GENDERQUAKE is guest-curated by Stefano Tonchi with Marta Franceschini and presented as part of Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) deFINE ART 2024 through June 24.
All images courtesy of SCAD.
Balenciaga announces its Music Series collaboration with late award-winning American composer and arranger Angelo Badalamenti. An original playlist that was hand-selected by Badalamenti featuring a compilation of his own works will be available to stream or download at balenciaga.com/angelobadalamenti. Simultaneously, a series of limited-edition Balenciaga Music | AngeloBadalamenti merch will be available in selected stores and on balenciaga.com. The playlist, merchandise series, and campaign will also announce a partnership with Manhattan School of Music, the conservatory where Badalamenti received his bachelor’s and master’s degree, and composition department head Dr. Reiko Fueting. As an homage to Badalamenti that in turn teaches students about his impressive oeuvre, this partnership involves the creation of a dedicated master class that invites participants to compose inspired original works to continue the late composer’s legacy. The masterclass, sponsored by Balenciaga, will be offered gratis for students currently attending Manhattan School of Music.
From Japanese bondage art to traditional gift wrapping, XIMONLEE’s Autumn Winter 2024 collection takes eclectic inspirations and incorporates them into elegant day-to-day wear. As a general principal, the brand is committed to approaching its research by exploring disparate extremities in pursuit of a romantic wardrobe for all genders.
We can see a continuation of the brand’s signature leather coats and jackets with their chain-lock design and their oversized lapels with a handcrafted crease effect in the outerwear. The womenswear addresses drapery in ways that are at times classical and at others coquettish, wrapping the body like a present so as to gently play with notions of restraint. From lightweight maxi skirts and deconstructed gowns, to tops that are made for all occasions. After several seasons of exploring gender-neutral characteristics, the new collection marks the merging of masculine and feminine images within the brand’s discreet yet innovative aesthetic.
The maternal determination to provide a life of opportunity for her post-Communist kin is woven with care into every stitch of Pipen Colorena’s knitwear gowns and slippers. Her newest collection is a delicate transmogrification of her family’s lived experience of immigrating from Romania to London, a push and pull between the pride and struggle of embracing a new chapter while mourning all that’s left behind.
Colorena takes inspiration from the creative exercises her grandmother developed for her as a child while her mother was away at work. After drawing a row of women in dresses on the page, her grandmother would challenge the young designer-to-be to find inventive ways of coloring and elaborating on them based on the various women within their community. Harkening those early mental souvenirs, a coquettish play with the memory of their softness, kindness, and flamboyant nature gives shape and dimension to each and every piece.
There is also a heavy dose of Romanian cinema and art from the 1970s imbued in the gowns, giving them a very personal sense of romantic nostalgia. Finally, to complement the elegant construction of finely knitted fabric, there are moments of conspicuous unraveling—a candid omission of subjection to struggle, the hardship inherent in the process of immigration and assimilation. It is an ode to the fortitude of a mother and a future generation made stronger by the crucible of passion and hardship.
On November 20th, 2023, Balenciaga announced the next phase of Balenciaga Music, curated by artistic director Demna. The initiative aims to provide a comprehensive music experience through innovative formats. The project features Archive, an English group with a 28-year history in electronic, trip-hop, post- and progressive rock. Archive created an exclusive 8.5-minute track, "Patterns," and a 7-hour playlist for Balenciaga.
The unique aspect of "Patterns" is its exclusive availability through an NFC chip embedded in limited-edition Balenciaga Music | Archive merchandise. Buyers can unlock an original listening event by scanning the chip with a smartphone. The interactive garments, including T-shirts and hoodies displaying Archive's discography, will be sold in selected Balenciaga stores worldwide and online.
This collaboration represents a first for both Archive and Balenciaga, as Archive has never worked with a fashion brand, and Balenciaga has never premiered music through a product. Alongside the exclusive track, Archive curated a 7-hour playlist available on a new Balenciaga Music hub on balenciaga.com, linking to various streaming services.
Darius Keeler, a founding member of Archive, emphasized the alignment of values between Balenciaga and Archive, emphasizing individuality and innovation. The project expands Balenciaga Music by introducing entirely new music tailored to Balenciaga's audience, coupled with a technically advanced merch series for accessing the music.
On October 19, 2023, Balenciaga launched an in-depth look at the heritage of 10 - 12 Avenue George V, the House’s Paris birthplace. A short documentary details the history behind and continuing legacy of the iconic addresses with a 3D-scanned tour of their renovated interiors. These conjoined spaces were the only place Cristóbal Balenciaga created and showed his Paris collections, and where he lived and worked until the Couture House’s closure in 1968.
A renovation project was initiated to restore these rooms with respect to that era of austerity and elegance, as well as to accommodate a turning point in the history of the House by implementing modern technology and unprecedented access to the Balenciaga Couture experience. A newly installed official plaque on the outside of the building commemorates the House’s expansion and return to its original Paris headquarters.
The documentary shows Balenciaga Couture’s grand staircase, its sales office, the “cathedral-like” salons where models walked in silence, the preparation cabins, and the couturier’s office, all integral parts in the creation of collections then and now. “What is a legacy?” asks the narrator. “It’s a vision, of course, and it’s also a place.”
As bed bugs and celebrities took over Paris during Fashion Week, a different kind of sartorial presentation took place half a world away at the military-controlled Felipe Ángeles International Airport airport in Mexico City. Artist Victor Barragán’s eponymous label’s SS24 collection is a narco-capitalist fever dream and a nod to the semiotics of 21st-century free-trade realism. As the American far right decries an invented crisis at the US border, stirring up a terrifying imagination of unchecked terrorism and fentanyl gangs, and as Mexico devolves into violence as a result of mismanaged NAFTA trade agreements, Barragán’s SS24 collection is awash with camo, political sloganeering, and machine gun echoes of nationalist violence. Bullet slugs and scabbed-over Xs are carved into models' foreheads. Blood streaks, hypodermic needles, biohazard coolers, and rosaries accessorize traje de luces, or matador costumes, and military fatigues. Even the designer can be seen disguised as a cross between Charles Manson and a Marxist revolutionary being perp-walked on a jungle tarmac. This is not quiet luxury, this is a mass grave. Above, Barragán shares exclusive behind-the-scenes images.
cape jacket: vintage Comme des Garçons Couture
bodysuit and tights: Wolford
shoes and earrings: Gucci
full look: Gucci
glasses: Oliver Peoples x The Row
suit: vintage Philosophy di Lorenzo
earrings: vintage archive
blazer: vintage Givenchy
shirt: vintage Christian Dior
earring: Gucci
headpiece: vintage archive
dress: vintage Julia Clancey
earring: vintage archive
full look: Gucci
earrings: vintage archive
glasses: Oliver Peoples x The Row
dress: vintage Roksanda Ilincic
shirt: vintage Christian Dior
gloves: Dolce & Gabbana from Paumé Los Angeles
earring: vintage archive
necklace: vintage Chanel and vintage Xenia Bous from Paumé Los Angeles
full look: vintage Gucci
earrings: vintage archive
blazer: Givenchy from Paumé Los Angeles
shirt: Christian Dior from Paumé Los Angeles
pants: Victor & Rolf from Paumé Los Angeles
earrings: Gucci
necklace: Chanel from Paumé Los Angeles
headpiece: vintage archive
top and earrings: Heaven by Marc Jacobs
The question of original sin has no relevance in Lima-based artist Wynnie Mynerva’s Book of Genesis. For their inaugural American solo exhibition curated by Bernardo Mosqueira, the artist will be presenting The Original Riot, opening tomorrow (June 29) at the New Museum with a site-specific installation that constitutes the largest painting ever to be presented by the institution, as well as a sculptural element that was surgically removed from the artist’s own body. The readaptation of both mythology and anatomy is central to Mynerva’s quintessentially plastic life and practice; one that finds itself in a constant state of radical change. Painting and performance are a fluent oscillation of being as demonstrated in their 2021 exhibition Closing to Open at Ginsberg Gallery in Madrid when the artist had their vagina sutured three quarters of the way shut, allowing only for the flow of their bodily fluids to function as necessary. The corporeal roles of masculine and feminine are constantly being subverted and abstracted in works that bleed, scratch, beguile, and thrust their way through the patriarchal canon with an air of wanton ecstasy. The binary creation myth was recently addressed in Mynerva’s first UK solo exhibition Bone of My Bones Flesh of My Flesh at Gathering London earlier this year, introducing many for the first time to the role of Lilith in Judaic and Mesopotamian folklore as Adam’s first wife who was created from the same clay (equal in nature) as her husband. Her pitiable fate varies from one myth to the next, but the creation of a second wife (Eve) from his rib remains consistent. The artist’s decision to remove Adam’s body from their own for The Original Riot demonstrates the power to readapt our personal realities at will. It is a reflection of the agency that we unwittingly deny ourselves when we allow allegory to shape our internalized perspectives. The following interview was conducted in Spanish and is presented here in its original form, followed by its English translation. Read more.
For the Women Summer 23 La Collection de Saint-Tropez, CELINE presents a customized a vintage Mini Moke vehicle. the small summer beach convertible car originally designed for military purposes, which first appeared in 1964 and quickly became a symbol of freedom and pleasure in many seaside towns, especially in Saint-Tropez where the car was famously driven by French actress and myth Brigitte Bardot. For this special project, the car has been customized with a Triomphe wooden steering wheel, a Triomphe canvas hood, and a dashboard featuring tan leather elements, wicker seats, and spare wheel protection. a golden Triomphe signature appears on the wheels and gear shift. photographs by Hedi Slimane.
Based in Vietnam, twenty-four-year-old Duy Tran sculpts bodies with frilled dresses that are contrasted by sexy, see-through fabrics. Earlier this winter, the precocious designer invited us to explore his new Fancì collection in an extravagantly expansive hotel called The Rich Prada in Uluwatu, Bali.
Currently under renovation, the seemingly abandoned resort is well-frequented with each room boasting its own unique, thematic design. The stark contrast between luxurious materials and dirty construction sites offered a space for unbridled imagination. It was like being in an abandoned, life-sized Barbie house, teeming with dust and dirt years after its child had outgrown it.
belts by Arlette
tattoo by Mario Mellis
tank top by Celine Breton
skirt by Lucila Safdie
tights stylist own
hat by Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
jumpsuit by De Pino
belt & ballerinas stylist own
socks by Tytm8
brown cape by 100Morceaux
silver cape by Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
earring stylist own
earring by Roussey
hoodie by Sara Mikorey
brown cape by 100Morceaux
silver cape by Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
green & black dress by Cormio
earring by Tétier
belt by Arlette
tattoo by Mario Mellis
tights by Hglf
cape by 100Morceaux
dress by Meiloumi
tights stylist own
brown cape by 100Morceaux
silver cape by Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
green & black dress by Cormio
brown dress by Meiloumi
grey hoodie by 100Morceaux
purple body by Paula Mihovilovic Einfalt
pink top by Provincia Studio
black & white tights by Lewis Dussurget
bracelet by Zana Bayne
A dedicated pop-in has been installed at the boutique featuring a curated assortment of men’s and women’s ready-to-wear and accessories from the Giorgio Armani Spring/Summer 2023 collection. Since opening in 2012, Just One Eye has become a leader in global specialty retail thanks to the pioneering vision of founder, Paola Russo, who blurs the lines between fashion, art, design and wellness in a multi-sensory environment that balances creativity with commerce. The launch of Giorgio Armani for Just One Eye was celebrated with a private cocktail hosted by the brand and Paola Russo.
Hedi Slimane delves into today’s youth’s rediscovery of the 2000’s electro clash and electronic rock sounds and scenes, a movement appearing in major cities like Paris, London and New York. He pays tribute to New York’s cult proto-punk band Suicide formed in 1977 by Alan Vega and Martin Rev, a band who in 2023 still intrigues and inspires the emerging music scenes. Key to the collection, the tight black leather Celine pants, are paired in “double leather” with biker and racer jackets customized with studs or rhinestones. The Celine coats are worn oversized and are cut out of cashmere or english tweeds recreated on a traditional loom. The Celine suits are slightly raised, worn with cropped flared trousers. The embroideries are handmade in the Parisian couture ateliers. The giant leopard and tiger printed coats are made from shearling cashmere. The models wear “nightclubbing” perfume, part of the Celine haute parfumerie collection. The pieces that pay tribute to Le Palace iconic years are limited edition.
Neve wears full look by Mowalola.
shoes: stylist’s own
Kwadwo wears pants and jacket by Nadia Roberts.
skirt: Mowalola
shoes: Alyssa Marie Groeneveld
Kristie wears full look by Ethan Mullings.
shoes: Eva Lee
Em wears top and skirts by Alyssa Marie Groeneveld.
leggings: Diesel
boots: Brogan Smith
John wears dress by Eva Lee.
shoes: Sarah Inyoung Park
tracksuit: Diesel
heels: Brogan Smith
tights: Raquel de Carvalho
John wears tracksuit by Diesel.
Em wears jacket and shorts by Diesel.
bra: model’s own
bralette: Raquel de Carvalho
boots: Brogan Smith
Dehiry wears shirts by Pariahcorp.
pants: Alyssa Marie Groeneveld
full look: Balenciaga archives
coat: Barbour International
jacket: Brogger
dress: Jaded London
shoes: Louis Vuitton x Vestiaire Collective
full look: Ottolinger
top & dress: Preen by Thornton Bregazzi
skirt: Gucci archive
glasses: HBA x Gentle Monster
full look: Balenciaga archives
At Celine’s Women Winter 2023 collection presentation, we learned that Iggy Pop is still the second coming—even at seventy-five. And also, Hedi Slimane is one of the most important couturiers of our generation. He is fashion’s enigmatic zelig, always in the right place and always at the right time. Last night it was the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, an Art Deco landmark cladded in blue-green glazed architectural terra-cotta tiles on the corner of Wilshire and Western that was built in 1931 for vaudeville. The most Instagrammable moment in this shangri-la’s recent memory was an ode to a pre-Instagram era—the “Age of Indieness.” Celine’s runway show at the iconic theater, which was advertised with a blitzkrieg media buy across the city, on billboards and bus stops, opened with a larger than life Celine logo, decked out in disco lights that unfolded from the rafters, and a pulsating 20-minute original recomposition of the White Stripes’ iconic 2000 track, “Hello Operator.” After the finale, and a brief intermission, there were performances by The Strokes and Interpol—with an explosive opening act from Iggy Pop and some of his most iconic songs. He spit, he touched himself, his skin golden and wrinkled from Floridian rays and a lifetime of abusing his body on stage. The collection itself hit all of Slimane's familiar notes and silhouettes with variations on a theme: slim pants, tailored blazers, military jackets, glimmering gowns and hand-embroidery—his sartorial rebellion against the status quo, a love letter to rock n’ roll and the glamor of nightlife. If these notes sound familiar it is because Slimane is a fervent believer in repetition’s power to cement a designer’s modus operandi. In a recent conversation with Lizzy Goodman (author of Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001–2011), Slimane says, “...Repetition and consistency, quoting yourself, is key to creating the condition of the crystallization of a style and the longevity of it.” He continues, “The vocabulary may change with the time, but the syntax, the style, stays unchanged.” It may mystify some why Slimane continues to romanticize and harken back to this post-911 era of war and bloodshed in the Middle East and a burgeoning fiscal collapse. But a disillusioned pining for a confused golden age is not what Slimane is after—he is constantly searching for that clarion call for belonging. Last night at the Wiltern was proof-positive that music can be that call, and that musical movements of bygone eras were a result of this desire for communion. The question shouldn’t be why look back? The question should be why not look back. Fashion is constantly referencing itself. If done right, it can be timeless and beautiful—electrical even. Slimane quotes Carl Jung and his ideas around synchronicity for his timeliness—his collaborations with David Bowie, Mick Jagger and countless young, burgeoning musicians. His stark black and white images captured their regal visages with a crisp, eternal quality. Slimane tells Goodman, “I was surfing a wave without knowing where it would take me.” The wave eventually took him to Los Angeles at the height of Southern California’s indie scene, which grew around the time of the 2008 financial crisis. In 2016, a debilitating case of tinnitus forced him out of Los Angeles and to the more peaceful climes of Southern France. But with his most recent collection for Celine, Slimane is still blurring the line between the stage and real life, and he is still looking back, but never in anger. On the attitudes that defined the turn of the 21st century, Slimane says, “...Twenty years after, we can see it as a statement on disguise, a manifesto on the value of chaotic insouciance and stylish nonchalance.” He calls the amalgamation of fashion and live performance a “liturgical ritual.” At the Wiltern, all of this and his brilliance was on display.
