Balenciaga's Le City Bag Returns With a Nod to the Early Aughts

 
 

First launched in 2001, Le City has become synonymous with an era and a lifestyle known for its enigmatic maximalist yet practical approach. Over twenty years since its initial debut, Le City makes a comeback as a reconstituted icon.

To celebrate the launch, Balenciaga unveils a campaign of portraits shot by Mario Sorrenti that highlights the brand’s newly reintroduced early aughts design that featuring British fashion icon Kate Moss, Danish model Mona Tougaard, Chinese actress and singer Yang Chaoyue, and Korean singer Juyeon. The individuality of each talent is foregrounded against a grey background in striking still images and videos.

Scarlett Johansson Stars in New Prada Galleria Campaign Directed by Jonathan Glazer

Talent: Scarlett Johansson
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Creative Director: Ferdinando Verderi

An actor is ceaselessly reinventing, and reinvented, transcending their own selves to embody the myriad of characters they can become. Here, the magnetic draw of the movie star is harnessed as a means of connecting to character, to personality, and to that constant shifting of identity that emblematizes both film and fashion.

Captured in New York City by director Jonathan Glazer, the still and motion images showcase Johansson as an actor, honing her art — repeating phrases with different feeling and meaning, she showcases the infinite self-transformation that define an actor’s skill. Abstracted, unreal, it is film at its most cinematic. Yet, as Johansson exits the studio, we then leap from screen to reality — albeit a reality fictionalized, idealized for us. In a quintessentially Prada dichotomy, the intimacy that the act of performing is able to generate contrasts with a panoramic normality of everyday life. Cinéma vérité — Johansson, seemingly undirected, as her true self.

The instrument of Johansson’s everyday is the Prada Galleria handbag, seen here as a tool of life rather than a product, a part of an everyday wardrobe. As with Johansson its persona can transform; as with acting, it is a symbol of excellence in craft. Here, the Prada Galleria is showcased, in motion, as a fundamental facet of a woman’s reality.

Louis Vuitton's Spring 2024 Men's Capsule Collection Is A Fusion of Visions

 
 

creative direction by Tyler, the Creator and Pharrell Williams

Louis Vuitton’s iconic imagery is a staple in the fashion world, unique and identifiable amidst the ever-changing tides of trends. Despite this classic style that cements the brand’s singular voice, their ability to evolve and innovate that image is constant. The 2024 Men’s Capsule Collection displays this innovation while still staying true to the brand’s face by staging an instinctive union between the visual universes, combining the distinctive artistic voices of the Menswear Creative Director Pharrell Williams with long time friend of him and the brand, Tyler, the Creator. Fusing the signature preppy sophistication popularized by the artist with the elegant dandy dressing established by Pharrell Williams at the Maison, it evokes the brand’s common palette of earthy creams and browns, as well as muted yet still vibrant blues and greens to support the pops of bright color that bring the air of spring into this lineup. The emblem of the collection being a craggy monogram, hand-drawn by the artist himself. Throughout the collection you can feel the creative collaboration take place and see the marriage of these two’s strong visions come together.

 
 

Miu Miu's Fall/Winter 2024 Collection Traces Life From Girlhood to Womanhood

The Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2024 collection by Miuccia Prada draws inspiration from the span and scope of people’s lives, its shifting clothing types reflective of the development of character, both personal and universal to form a vocabulary of clothing, from childhood to adulthood.

Concurrent gestures express different moments in life — they coexist within single outfits, just as we each hold simultaneous memories of our own experience. Evocations of childhood are expressed with deliberately shrunken proportions, cropped sleeves, and round-toed shoes; archetypical clothing types that directly recall those worn in youth. Childhood is a moment of impulsive, natural rebellion, here reflected in the liberation of a dichotomous mixing of different codifications of dress, pajamas with outerwear, proper with improper, right with wrong. By contrast, adulthood is expressed through recognized signifiers of propriety and chic — gloves and handbags, brooches, tailoring, the little black dress. Like mnemonic devices, clothes can make us both think back, and project forwards.

Those components of duality and recollection find counterparts in materials and construction. Bonding and fusing meld together different fabrics and combine disparate garments, sweaters and cardigans in silk and cashmere, poplin skirts with knit, while shearling is treated to mimic precious fur. Silk dresses are creased and molded to cotton jersey sheaths, volumes reduced with the impression of the original garment remaining, a trace of its antecedent.

As the collection reconsiders characteristic signifiers of life through the vocabulary of clothing, so our literal vocabulary can be readdressed. Girlishness is a word we can revalue, from a pejorative gendered noun, anchored to age, to a universal idiom expressive of the strength of rebellion, a spirit of freedom and individuality, one attribute of a richer whole. Perceived as an inherent component of Miu Miu, it should be examined not as a lone trait but as a fundamental aspect of a wider temperament — a notion expressed through a cast of personalities who each embody this ever-shifting Miu Miu persona. They include Dara Allen, Ethel Cain, Guillaume Diop, Luther Ford, Angel Hazody, Kristin Scott Thoe, Qin Huilan, Little Simz, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Ángela Molina, who also features in Miu Miu Women’s Tales.

Contemporaneity allows divergent creative processes to arrive at paradoxically correlated results. The Palais d’Iéna is punctuated by video installations created by the Belgian-American artist Cécile B. Evans, art considered as a tool to enrich and expand conversation around people. Conceived independently of the collection, by chance the notions of the survival of memory in their art finds echo within the clothes. This is a shared language, one informed by the moment we all live within, a universal message nevertheless resonant with our unique experience.

Highlights from Acne Studios' Winter 24 Presentation

Inspired by industrial materials and the human form, Acne’s winter 24 collection features a blend of toughness and craftsmanship in leather and denim garments. It is staged against the backdrop of two large-scale sculptures made from recycled tires by Estonian artist Villu Jaanisoo. These sculptures, titled Chairs in Rubber (2001), represent a fusion of craftiness and industrial aesthetics.

“I consider myself a sculptor in the most traditional sense. What interests me about working with tires is the certain ‘inner resistance’ of this material: it requires a lot of physical as well as mental force to shape them; the resistance that exists in each tire makes the surface of the sculpture alive, almost baroque.

”For my artworks, I have often used recycled materials, such as used car tires or utilized fluorescent tubes. Environmental issues have been important in terms of employing these, but to me, what’s even more interesting is the trace that the former lives have left to the recycled things I use for making something new, also the idea of putting something familiar into a new context,” says the artist Villu Jaanisoo.

The collection embodies a fast and futuristic woman, reshaping Acne Studios' signature codes of denim and leather with a raw, mechanical twist. It juxtaposes elevated femininity with a tough attitude, subverting traditional archetypes of womenswear. Classic elements like fur (both faux and shearling), ladylike handbags, a timeless black dress, and leather are reimagined with a contemporary edge.

“I’ve always been drawn to leather and denim. It’s the spirit of Acne Studios. One of our first collections in the late ’90s was called ‘leather and denim;’ two things that belong together. This season, we’ve created a powerful leather and denim woman. I’ve always related to clothing through subcultural movements. Denim and leather can transcend genre and subcultures — from punk to S&M. When you want to feel tough you gravitate towards leather and denim; it’s like armour. It always feels right. An empowering safety zone,” says Jonny Johansson, creative director of Acne Studios.

Discover Celine's Womenswear Winter 24 'L'Arc de Triomphe' Collection & Celine Beauté

"La Collection de l'Arc de Triomphe" reflects back on the 1960s, the golden age of Celine, capturing the essence and spirit of the house through coordinated looks and authentic reweaved materials. Ready-to-wear pieces are combined with hand-embroidered couture items, while felt caps offer a ’60s reinterpretation of the classic Celine baseball cap.

Upon his arrival at Celine in 2018, Hedi Slimane reintroduced the "Triomphe" emblem, featuring it prominently on the Triomphe bag, which he designed on his first day. The Triomphe bag quickly became a new classic for the house, symbolizing its core essence and values.

“La collection de l’Arc de Triomphe” film marks the birth of Celine Beauté, the first cosmetics line in the house’s history. Models wear “La Peau Nue” rose naturel lipstick, one of the fifteen shades of the “Le Rouge Celine” collection that will be available in 2025. The Celine Beauté collection will launch this autumn with the first satin lipstick shade “Rouge Triomphe.”

model wearing black wool riding cap with triomphe logo, black sunglasses and black neoprene tank with black beaded collar

Ready When Worn: the Avant-Première of MM6 Maison Margiela AW24

For the Avant premiere of AW24, MM6 explores the liminal state of a silhouette morphing between urban cool and couture refinement. Looks hover in limbo. Elegance with wit, puns and double entendres. Clothes that aren’t ready-to-wear: they’re ready when worn, molding to the character of the wearer. Oblique references to Man Ray bring an undercurrent of bohemian elegance, evoking artists, celebrities, friends, lovers and other singular types who move through life like it’s a work of art. Characters inhabiting an uncannily parallel world, with unexpected textures, raw finishes and, of course, white paint.

The familiar skews obscure as staples and archival garments adopt new attitudes, blending minimalism with maximalism on vintage-leaning pieces and riffing on classic masculine codes of dress, with cleverly placed darts reconfiguring silhouettes and tailoring language extended to pieces considered outside the traditional tailoring realm.
Pockets come to the fore as functional, multiple, exaggerated emblems of utility, with asymmetrical placements creating critical distance from the usual technical sportswear tropes.

For night, a bedding theme plays out in Lycra bodysuits and dresses in an allover trompe l’oeil quilt print as well as on a pink t-shirt with a flocked Party Bear motif lifted from an old kids’ duvet. True to MM6 codes, humble materials become ornamental: the lining of a black dress is pulled out, twisted and looped around the neck to create intriguing yet elegant volumes. Waistbands are flipped to create couture-like tulip hem effects, and tops are slashed with zips, sexing up something quite mundane. Roughly hewn “replacement” panels on pants suggest customization as hard-loved, well-worn clothing, like sun-bleached ribbed knits and ultra-wrinkled stonewashed denim, take on a new personality. A white cotton shirt, biker jacket and trench coat are gutted and reconstructed with all the details flattened out, their open collars and cuffs sewn into place permanently.

As if lifted from a construction site, a bucket and a rubble sack join the MM6 accessories universe as a molded EVA bucket bag and a tote. Footwear additions include a cream version of the Anatomic clog, a vulcanized lace-up, the Stitch-Out Anatomic boot with a raised ridge detail on the toe and the Tube boot with an anatomic toe, cigarillo heel and wide shaft in suede. Throughout, a sleek monochromatic palette of black, white, camel, gray and chalk is enlivened with shades of green and jolts of pink.

The season also marks the launch of the first ready-to-wear collaboration with Salomon: a capsule of minimalist classics — a five-zip mackintosh, a five-pocket jean, a shell jacket with long body zips, a classic men’s tuck-in shirt — are made from bonded Gore-Tex, bringing an almost alien functionality to a cityscape. The complementary Seamless line blends influences from compression base layers worn by athletes to speed recovery and MM6 bodysuits on a compression top, leggings, arm warmers and a bodysuit. The Water Bottle bag, the Trailblazer.

Pocket Backpack and a cap complete the lineup. By focusing on simple gestures that transform everyday dressing, MM6 continues its exploration of clothing, form and wearability. Pieces spark an immediate connection and play on the duality of perception, slipping easily into a wardrobe purposefully prepared to let personality shine through.

model standing profile wearing long black knit turtleneck and baggy black parachute trousers with back bubbly tabi boots

Highlights From Balenciaga's Winter 24 Collection during Paris Fashion Week

Taking place at les Invalides, under a set of screens tracking a narrative timeline from morning to night over natural and electronic landscapes, the projected images shift from actual to artificial—or somewhere in between the two states. Editing, splicing, content sharing, scrolling: each element and more plays across the monitors.

The soundtrack is composed by BFRND and features high energy rhythms, hypnotic melodies and voices turned into synths. 

The 24/7, a limited-edition wraparound mask, has an aerodynamic single-mold design that seamlessly obscures the wearer’s face around the eyes and along its sides by enveloping it from every angle. Ergonomic hollows hold each ear—looping under instead of simply sitting atop. Each end of the mask tapers toward the back of the head, leaving an opening so it can easily be donned or removed. A Balenciaga logo is lasered onto the left side.

Another standout was the limited-edition eBay t-shirt, with only 200 produced. The garment can be found in classic Balenciaga gray with a distressed treatment and eBay’s multi-colored logo.

Balenciaga Announces Music Series Collaboration With The Late American Composer Angelo Badalamenti

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.

Prototypes' AW24 Lookbook Is Bringing It Back to Grassroots

 
 

photography by Raphael Bliss
styling by Betsy Johnson
hair by Charlie Le Mindu
makeup by Stephanie Kunz
casting by Conan Laurendot

The commercial use of sports uniforms as merchandise is perpetually being updated from one season to the next, which is why they lend themselves perfectly to a brand like Prototypes that is guided by the principles of upcycling and repurposing. Their newest collection goes beyond the age-old practice within the industry of cultural appropriation to the point of a complete aesthetic cannibalism, and instead serves as an homage to the communal role that local football clubs play within the social fabric of British culture. In this collection we see the groundskeeper, the kitman, the coach, and the youth — they are archetypes within the community that define each passing generation. Each club bears the DNA of its locality, passing down its individualized values of teamwork, physical fitness, stewardship within the field, and honor. For Prototypes Series 06, which was shot at a local club in England with collaborative partner Betsy Johnson, these values are encapsulated in a collection that breathes new sartorial life into that which might otherwise be discarded as old merch. As working class Brits currently bear witness to the gentrification of their most beloved sport, Prototypes is bringing it back to grassroots by sponsoring kits for the club’s new women’s team. 

 
 
 
 
 

Michaela Stark Presents "The Panty Show" in Collaboration with Charlotte Rutherford @ Fondazione Sozzani In Milan

 
 

Michaela Stark’s The Panty Show, hosted by Carla and Sara Sozzani, is a hyper feminine and playful, three-part artistic expression that comprises an exhibition, performance, and presentation of her panty collection.

Michaela’s process and practice is confessional and comes from her perspective that she shares with her generation. The Panty Show combines several aspects of her body of work. The show narrates the path she has taken from her early years experimenting with draping on her own body alone in her Paris apartment to how she gained liberation through fashion.

The conceptualization of Panty began as a heavily emotional journey. When her personal work and experimentation with reshaping her body began to get her noticed, this often led to appropriation of her body and her intimacy when collaborating with other artists.  

Artists Hans Baumer and John Kacere are the backdrop for the exhibition and performance at The Panty Show. Two male artists who overtly took the female form and its autonomy projecting their own ideas unto it. Stark reverses these outdated attitudes by reclaiming her voice as a female artist and by being the protagonist in her work. 

The set for the performance recreates her atelier, a dusty pink chaotic tableau vivant of ribbons and dried flowers. The audience and viewers are invited to join and share her experience. In the set, Michaela dresses her model, Yasmin El Yassini, who acts as her human doll. She dresses Yasmin in her body morphing corsetry, transforming her body completely, and then stages her almost lifeless body for photographs. 

For her second collaboration with Charlotte Rutherford, Stark remarks on the photographer’s ability to see the fantasy in everyone who steps in front of her camera and capture their unique energy as well as to foster an environment where everyone can act with agency over their body’s representation.

The final act of The Panty show showcases a series of lingerie-esque garments. Stark created ten sculptured dolls made out of tulle, using couture corsetry techniques and crinoline to give structure.

Her notebooks documenting her process are also on display, giving insight to her practice.

The Panty Show is on view through February 25 @ Fondazione Sozzani Vis Tazzoli 3, Milan

 
 

Read Bliss Foster's Notes on Spring 2024 Haute Couture Week in Paris


text by Bliss Foster

1. When we look at designers that are clearly a once-in-a-lifetime talent, we recognize them because they do far more than just make outstanding work — the difference between them and any other hardworking and apt fashion designer is that they have the confidence to go so far against the grain and know that they will be rewarded for it. And in John Galliano’s case this season, he leaned so far into his universe and embraced ideas whose execution would horrify most. But by marching to the beat of his own drum and embracing pubic wigs, John Galliano has enabled Maison Margiela to break through to the most mainstream attention through his portrayal of the most seedy and debaucherous Paris. The sheerest garments appeared muddied and tattered, distorting our perception of the body in a manner no different than the corsets in this show that were wrenched tight on the models. It takes a lot of work to make a gross bar the setting of something beautiful, but Galliano’s vision is so effective that he redeems this uniquely Parisian genre of hedonism: taking us from literal tatters to haute couture. It’s no surprise that the glass skin makeup, keyed by the legendary Pat McGrath, has managed to sell out every single product whose effect on the skin would even approximate what she created for the show. 

2. Simone Rocha’s stab at Jean Paul Gaultier couture was a large event for celebrities, which is a largely unexpected audience for the cult following of the coquette brand. But the standard JPG audience seemed thrilled - Simone’s clothing has that effect on people. Even if you’re not the kind of person that is inherently attracted to the overtly feminine, in the hands of Simone Rocha, bows become tears and frilly dresses can become a part of showcasing your cheerless attitude. Making exuberant clothing for people who can never be as spirited as their outfit implies is beautifully complex. The JPG cone bra is given a lift, turning into spiky rose thorns. Jean Paul’s tattoo exploration from Spring 1994 is reinterpreted into a sheer, organza pannier dress, trimmed with snakes, thorny branches, and roses. It’s not Rocha’s work without jewels and crystals, which created the structure of many tulle looks, but were notably present as eyeshadow and eyebrow adornment on the faces of many models. Likewise, it’s not a JPG show without the Marinière, whose stripes this season were piped with twisting bows made of navy satin ribbon. One of my favorite details were the sock-bun earrings, wrapped in hair. 

3. A poem accompanied Rahul Mishra’s couture show this season and, put succinctly, it was about appreciating the small things in life. The whole collection centered around this theme, further emphasized by the beautiful cards on the showgoers’ seats that listed the near extinction of many species of moth and butterfly. Couture has a radically different pace than the ready-to-wear calendar, and part of that includes a strange slowing down. When you have a chance to slow down, you can appreciate the incredibly intricate details that make Rahul Mishra’s haute couture such a compelling endeavor, while also digesting his discussion on biodiversity and the preservation of nature. The sheer circular shields carried by the models appear to invite us to look through the lens of a microscope and see the details of a dragonfly, a hive of bees, and the intricate patterns of a close-up honeycomb whose inspiration is spread across the entire collection. Honeycomb became crystal grids which were found on the most exciting looks in the collection.

4. The couture of Viktor and Rolf’s only raison d’etre is to bother purists who clutch their pearls about the beauty, grace, and exactitude of couture, and that is meant in the absolute best way possible. What makes V&R so special is their ability to communicate exactly what couture stands for in their luxurious, precise work, while thematically bucking every haute couture convention. The distinctive sound of scissors was turned into a walkable beat, while four looks traced the evolution of a gradual destruction and reconstruction via the very scissors the audience could hear loudly snapping away. Deconstruction itself is not easy to do well, thousands of designers try and fail at creating compelling designs through the use of deconstruction. Turning deconstruction into a sliding scale however is an entirely different goal. The in-between looks seem to capture the process of how they were created surprisingly well, but are also decorated with the motif of child-like scissor destruction, covered in the most lovely and professionally finished jagged holes.

5. Volume looks effortless when Gaurav Gupta does it, delicately swirling about the wearer, but this was a less voluminous show than usual for the brand. This season’s showing included evening jackets, trench coats and bronze bustiers, grounding this collection in a wearability that is not often seen in couture presentations. Gaurav’s devotees were dressed to the nines in his work, of course. It’s rare to see couture look so effortless and stunning on folks who aren’t walking a runway.

6. Miss Sohee’s couture radically modernizes the public’s expectation of what couture can look like. Yet, Sohee Park’s vision seems rooted in the most antiquated and vintage inspirations. Her collection was inspired by the old South Korean antiques she seems to adore, but it seems more than just inspiration. Each look appears to personify a particular and individual antique, and in this way, each look feels like a loveable, household object from Beauty and the Beast after they come to life. The cohesion in this collection is spectacularly strong while maintaining a large variety between the looks, almost as if the looks themselves are a perfectly curated shelf of objects. If Cristobal was alive today, it’s possible that some shapes in this collection would stir up some envy, most notably in the chartreuse-colored lamé gown.

7. Robert Wun’s fantasy horror show is sharp in all the right places. It’s a literal sharpness in the busts, peplums and some shoulders of these horror storybook characters. But more impressively, the execution of this collection left no detail unattended to, nothing was out of place. It’s not often you see such precision in just runway looks - usually that precision is much more expected, really demanded, in product. But being so up close to Robert Wun’s work reinforced a professionalism and an attention to detail that has left a lot to be desired from other couturiers. Every element was immovable and complete, a standard to only ever expect from the major luxury houses, and a standard that is often unfair to place onto emerging designers. But Robert Wun has been in business for 10 years, and he has experienced career highlights that emerging designers could only dream of. 

Read Bliss Foster's Notes on Paris Fashion Week Men's Fall 2024

 

Loewe photograph by Daniele Oberrauch / gorunway.com

 

Loewe continues to be a dominant force in Paris. Even when we can’t possibly fathom that the winning streak has lasted this long, Jonathan Anderson’s consistency remains a staple of the week. Though, this should not be mistaken for stagnation. Runway pieces were merged with their nearby garments, most notably: socks that grew into pants and a waistband with a kangaroo pocket as a roof. The show itself is not enough to understand how exciting these clothes are — both the shearlings and the leather could be described as buttery, the patterns remain radically inventive, and the volume of beading in this collection is truly something to behold. 

 

Kartik Research photograph by Vivek Vadoliya

 

This season was the season of parents. Designer Kartik Kumra presented his brand’s first collection in Paris in the enthusiastic presence of his parents. They proudly wore their favorite designs from his emerging label, Kartik Research — a label whose fabrics are famously created without the use of electricity and whose embellishments feature the skilled artisanship found in Kartik’s home country of India. At KidSuper, Colm Dillane’s parents can be seen as crucial members of the team, often credited by Colm for contributing to the presentations. This season, Mr. & Mrs. Dillane made room for other members of the tightly-packed front row by squeezing together. Colm’s father was ultimately squeezed off the bench and enjoyed the show seated in his wife’s lap, creating a quintessentially KidSuper moment: optimistic and motion-picture-like.

 

courtesy of Louis Vuitton

 

It is possible that Pharrell’s work is attempting to revive the American spirit in fashion, maybe even through the same romantic lens with which Ralph Lauren created an empire. But his Louis Vuitton attempts to mythologize the beauty of his home beyond the whitewashed notions that have dominated the idea of American-ness in the minds of those abroad. This season, the Dakota and Lakota tribes were foundational to the collection, both in their artistic contributions on clothing and bags, as well as their endorsement of Pharell’s Western Americana that introduced the rest of the world to the Native American and Black cowboys. Cowboys of color can be easily forgotten when the idea of the West is so aligned with Buffalo Bills and Butch Cassidys, but through Pharrell, I think Louis Vuitton is hoping to create a new and more inclusive empire.

photo by Luca Tombolini and Gaspar Ruiz Lindberg

photo by Christina Fragkou

photo by Luca Tombolini and Gaspar Ruiz Lindberg

This is the footwear segment of this article. Among any discussion of footwear in any recent season, you will find well-earned praise for the creations of Rushemy Botter & Lisi Herrebrugh. Historic standouts include a hybridized cleat and banker shoe stacked on top of each other, or a 3D printed Reebok sneaker inspired by murex shells. This season, Botter’s shoes move us back to hybridization; the result is 70% soccer cleat, but bred with a bouldering shoe to create a rounded heel. What’s exciting is that we’re finally getting some Botter concept shoes as product. It’s, of course, difficult to make a prototype into a sellable shoe. Just ask Rick Owens, who continued to tackle the “concept as product” dilemma in the most effective way of any working designer. With Rick, if your eyes see it on the runway, it will be sold as product. This promise becomes even more compelling when you consider the Rick Owens lamp helmets, personal fog machines and now, balloon shoes equipped with inflatable valve. These flotation shoes were a staple of the show, which took place in Rick’s Paris home with a scaled down audience. 

 

courtesy of Junya Watanabe

 

Pattern cutting is the primary contribution to the world for certain brands, Junya Watanabe immediately comes to mind. In this iteration of his absurdly complex patterns, the result is more visually subtle, yet some of the ideas executed in this show are so simple and brilliant that you wonder why it hasn’t been done before — notably a coat with sleeves takes the common gesture of wearing a coat as a cape, but doesn’t give you the option to use the sleeves at all. Outerwear fuses together top and bottom to create long coats. Despite how often the comparisons are drawn between the designers who used to be pattern cutters for Rei Kawakubo, I can’t help but think of how this idea would fit so well into Chitose Abe’s Sacai and her elaborate experimentation with hybridizing clothing. On the other hand, Sacai’s approach is much more detail oriented and uses more visual reference — a clear ode to pajamas becomes rugged outerwear at Sacai.

 

Dior photo by Brett Lloyd

 

Dior Men was a carousel this season, a literal carousel that spun the models around in a sort of lazy-susan (a mega-susan??) and then lifted the looks eight feet off the ground. The music was the “Dance of the Knights” from the ballet of Romeo and Juliet, a dance that features predominantly circular movements, so that seems to check out. Dior’s menswear offering centers around tailoring every season, and usually brings variety through styling details, with one noteworthy detail in particular. This season, that detail comes through women’s dress flats and mary-janes worn with colorful socks. Kim Jones continues to find bizarre deep-cut garments to include in unexpected ways: a belted safari jacket is a great example. 

 

Airei photo by Andrew Morales

 

Performance art and fashion have endured a rocky relationship — at times, performance art is a critical component of understanding a presentation, at other times, it is distracting at its absolute best. Thankfully, the emotionally intricate brand Airei reminded us this season that performance art is a deeply fitting cross section with conceptual fashion. Designer Drew Curry did not outsource the performance art — he meditated in an armchair for his presentation while attendees tried on the collection. By meditated, I mean he sat in an armchair for six hours staring at a video of his newborn son. Members of the press relations team at his showroom, Dover Street Market Paris, told me that he had originally intended to meditate for twelve hours but was limited in time by the venue he hosted the presentation in. But performance aside, this was undeniably Curry’s best collection since the inception of the brand. Materials at Airei have always been exciting and innovative, in the past he has used fish scraps from sushi restaurants for their leather and human hair mats as an insulating and absorbent textile. The yak wool coats this season feature one of the most beautiful and dimensional fabrics I have seen in my career. 

 

courtesy of Hermès

 

This was our first time attending Hermès — and it did not disappoint in the slightest. In fact, it was even better than I had ever anticipated. Ultra luxury houses have earned this reputation for being boring. Hermès bucks that assumption and presents a collection that appears minimal to the eye, yet features some of the most exciting pattern work I have seen this year. Details include cashmere linings that extend past the zipper, squishy deerskin coats, double-collared shirts, and a ponyhair sleeveless top that looked as good as it felt.

 

Winnie photo by Stanislas Motz-Neidhart

 

Winnie’s collection this season was a standout because its founder, Idris Balogun, is the most qualified newcomer to the Paris calendar. He cut his teeth on Saville Row and now brings that millimeter precision to the runway. This season, by focusing on ease, Balogun was able to deliver a consistent and confident drop-shoulder to many of his blazers and jackets. The casting and styling was exceptionally executed and authentic to the Beat Generation and ’50s inspiration that underpinned the show — a refreshing new source of inspiration for tailoring. 

Walter Van Bierendonck photo by Catwalk Pictures / Etienne Tordoir

Deceptive goofiness took everyone by surprise with Doublet and Walter Van Bierendonck; both brands that many folks often dismiss as lighthearted and silly. Walter delivered a poignant performance art piece more than a runway. Each of the models was given a speaker smaller than a golf ball and were told to walk slowly through a series of rooms reciting facts about themselves while a different song played from each model’s speaker. Walter’s ongoing anti-war theme feels more relevant with each passing season. Walter’s designs are not runway-only, it’s always wonderful to see a devoted customer proudly wearing the same piece in the wild. Doublet, the Japanese brand with the most playful shows in Paris, changed directions this season by delivering a parody of Balenciaga. Imitating Demna’s self-serious in-joke created a new move in fashion’s Irony Chess.

XIMONLEE's AW24 Collection Looks at Cloth As A Language in Wrapping

 
 


photography by Xie Wenhao
styling by DeSe Escobar
styling assistance by Rebecca Rendina
hair by Ushka Nochi Tela
beauty by DeSe Escobar
casting by Jose Maria

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. 

Yves Tumor for Acne Studios FW24 Menswear Collection

 
 

Acne Studios shot American musician Yves Tumor for their FW24 Menswear collection and they couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate muse. The artist constantly shifts, alters and plays with the boundaries of contemporary music, art, culture and aesthetic. “Yves felt just right for the collection, they are one of those people who are true to their art. When they are on stage, it’s incomparable, it’s hard to find real performances like that. It feels scary and lovely at the same time. They also embody the space age, cyber psychedelic vision and at the same time they are super rock. The way they pull a look together feels very in the spirit of the collection. On the shoot, it was brilliant, it felt completely different all the time, downtown/uptown, low-tech/high-tech, scary and cute, all at once. Yves has all these different sides, which to me, represents what a true rebel is: a person you want to be, who doesn’t give a shit but makes immaculate choices.” says Jonny Johansson, Creative Director, Acne Studios.

An ode to Denim culture: rebellious, sexy, and cool. The modern cyber biker. Menswear motorbike archetypes subverted with a kitsch cuteness. Neons clash with classic grunge details, mixing with psychedelic prints inspired by rave and club culture.

Contrasted proportions: low-waisted, high-waisted, skin-tight and oversized. Micro tank tops and cropped shearling jackets juxtaposed with maxi boots and ultra-baggy denim. The look is layered, worn with individuality and playful experimentation. There is a sporty ski element in the styling, straps hang off the body adding length and functionality. Denim silhouettes are updated: a round shape inspired by the early 2000s and a low-waist flared trumpet leg, meant to drag around the foot.

Fluffy faux fur hats with cat ears, mittens and scarves inspired by Kawaii street-style culture. Mohair hairy yarn is found in a new squared beanie shape and in mitts and scarves, adding a fuzzy element.

Extremes meet: micro-sized vs maxi-sized. Trompe l’oeil totes are covered with keychains and charms, whilst the Platt bag is updated with studs, heart charms and pink detailing. A new Musubi model with chain straps is introduced and the Multipocket is reinvented in pink with a foiled shiny finish. New monogram handbag and backpack in black nylon with buckles and metallic bows.

 
 

Nike Women Celebrates Style, Self-Expression and Movement for Her in Los Angeles

Nike Women’s Stud Country Event. Image by Simone Niamani Thompson.

Nike Women hosted a weekend imbued with innovative movement and style as an homage to the power that can be derived from community-focused experiences.

On Friday, December 8, Nike Women hosted an intimate dance class with Stud Country at The Paramour Estate. Guests were encouraged to hit the dance floor wearing pieces from Nike’s holiday 2023 collection, selected by stylist Keyla Marquez, paired with favorite pieces from their closet. Stud Country was born from the legacy of queer dance spaces and honors the rich history of LGBTQ cowboy culture.

The next day, on Saturday, December 9, Nike hosted a day-long immersive experience called Nike Style Studios Neuehouse West Hollywood. Hosted by world renowned talent such as Honey Balenciaga, Sienna Lalau, Storm DeBarge and Courtni Poe, guests participated in a range of unique workshops that inspire different forms of self-expression through style, dance, creativity, and community. 

Nike Women celebrated the power of community in Los Angeles with this special weekend of programming that honors a new era of democratized fashion, prioritizing style, self-expression and movement.

 

Stud Country Portraits by Carlos Eric Lopez.

 

Every Single Look From Balenciaga's First Runway Presentation in Los Angeles

On December 2nd, 2023, Balenciaga presented Fall 2024 in Los Angeles, CA – the first time the house has held a show in the city. The lineup, revealed on a palm tree-lined street and scored by BFRND with a custom track featuring multiple voiceovers, illustrates Demna’s interpretation of L.A.’s fashion codes through a cinematic, character-driven lens. Ideas apply to everyday activities like jogging, yoga and gym sessions, and then progress to Hollywood evening with step-and-repeat-ready, Cristóbal Balenciaga-inspired gowns.

In between, sections of updated grunge, upscaled daywear and signature tailoring take the spotlight. An activewear chapter opens. Items are straightforward: shorts, bra tops, leggings and sweatshirts are included. A jersey section follows. This portion nods to the American velour tracksuit trend and celebrity street style photographs of the aughts. New versions of the suit suggest low slung trousers – some low enough to reveal undergarments beneath – and cropped hooded jackets. Knee-high Alaska boots are added. Neo-grunge enters. Garments are oversized and layered. Highlight items include cut-up asymmetric trousers, a hand embroidered leopard-motif coat, outdoor hotel slippers and leather bags lined with nylon shopper totes. Upscaled daywear, outsize proportions and precise tailoring – many pieces with flattened square shoulders or styled as tweed sets – bridge informality and glamor. One hooded jacket has an integrated scarf, which can be used for paparazzi deterrence. Eveningwear closes. Shapes and silhouettes are highly defined, and many of the garments fuse past and present by referencing original designs made by Cristobal Balenciaga himself. Wrapped coat- dresses cut an angular, plush form, while tailored one-shoulder gowns impart a softer impression. The final look furthers the incognito element: a monumental white gown in heavy white satin with a structured face shield.

Accessories include a new croc-embossed Rodeo bag, named for the Beverly Hills street and home of Balenciaga’s 2 L.A. flagships, and essential carriers such as the knitted 24/7 tote and the Monaco tote. Eyewear includes evolved mask and batwing shapes, along with the new super flexible Malibu line with elastic temples and premium titanium construction. A new shoe – the 10XL Sneaker – is introduced. It amplifies a sense of exaggeration in proportion, which is a Balenciaga signature. 2 select colorways (yellow/white/blue and blue/gray/black) will be available in an exclusive release. A number of exclusive release items in addition to the 10XL Sneaker are available immediately following the show: leather and paper tote bags, jerseys, caps and aprons made in collaboration with Erewhon, the L.A.-based grocery store phenomenon; the new Le Cagole Tote XL; No Logo jersey pieces, and high jewellery realized in collaboration with Jacob & Co. The jewellery designs reflect a sentiment of American youth culture and imbue it with a Made in the USA opulence.

Balenciaga Music, Curated by Artistic Director Demna, Provides A Unique Sartorial and Auditory Experience

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.

A--Company Presents Antigone @ The Baryshnikov Arts Center


text by Abe Chabon
photography by Jenna Westra

For the debut of their Collection 9.5, A--Company, founded by designer Sara Lopez, partnered with the iconic jeweler LL, LLC and the groundbreaking director Daphné Dumons for a restaging of Anne Carson’s Antigone. The use of a play, and an ancient Greek tragedy at that, as the medium for a fashion show was unfamiliar to me, but for Lopez it felt right. Lopez told me that the combination of artistic mediums with fashion, jewelry, acting, set design, and directing was, “the culmination of many of my interests.” Lopez has long drawn inspiration for her collections from what she is reading, and for her, Antigone was the obvious choice. “I’ve been collecting translations of Antigone for years” she wrote me, “It’s a story that's embedded in our collective unconscious about individuals entangled in tragic dilemmas as conflicting moral codes clash. It reveals a humanity acutely aware of its destiny while grappling with a sense of powerlessness in the face of it. As one of the most performed plays, it’s a story that’s worthy of telling again and again.”  When she decided on Antigone, Lopez assembled a reference board of texts, as inspiration for both the clothes and the performance that would show them. In interpreting the ancient text she drew from writers and theorists such as “Judith Butler, Jack Halberstam, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Sarah Ahmed. In Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, José Esteban Muñoz says, “Queerness is not yet here. Queerness is an ideality. Put another way, we are not yet queer, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality.” It’s this potentiality that I’m interested in. Working with Anne Carson’s translation of Antigone in a Brechtian manner offered a way to think about how we can move towards this horizon that he speaks about in the here and now.” 

The show, performance, exhibition, may be best described as a “half-way dressed rehearsal.” The actors/models take centerstage on a raw set—black walls, a hanging suit represents the body of Polynices, a painted family tree—wearing hem-less suits, sleeveless coats, and dresses made of shirts. The clothing folds in on itself, layers both in and out and sleeves drape from backs and shoulders. The collection does not feel unfinished so much as unrestricted. With each article of clothing there is an implied process that does not begin and end with the clothes being made and bought, but continues on through how they are worn and how they move on the wearer's body. This uncensored process is mirrored in the performance itself. Models flub and retry their lines, read directly from script pages that they throw to the floor when finished. The director, Daphné Dumons, frequently took the stage herself, to instruct her actors and ask for suggestions. At one point a scene was retried three times before Dumons decided that it would be best to just move on.  Neither the set nor the performances ended at the foot of the audience chairs. The crowd was lit as fully as the actors who spoke and made direct appeals to us.

The intimacy Lopez sought to establish began before the official start of the show itself. As I filed in with the rest of the spectators, I felt encouraged to interact not only with other members of the audience but with the model/actors who were already on stage as we arrived, warming up with vocal exercises, getting their clothes and makeup adjusted. There was no backstage, nothing was hidden. Like the seams and stitches of the clothes, all was borne out for the audience to see and take in. 

Lopez told me that she wanted the performance and the clothing to be, “revealing, uncovering, and moving towards something.” An organic fluidity unusual in two media so often grounded in ideas of perfect lines or the perfect performance. “Many of the details of the collection arose from thinking about the psyches of the characters,” Lopez continued, “which of course, we all hold, so rather than being character-specific, the collection was designed as a whole that could be interchanged if needed.” Because of these values A–Company’s collaboration with LL, LLC felt natural. Lopez had admired the work both in terms of their approach to jewelry itself and to the process and understanding of art. Lopez said that they, “share a similar research-based approach to design with an idealism for form and a love of process.” Because of this, the two companies were able to collaborate both physically and intellectually, “While moving back and forth between ideas and shapes, we looked at the collection and considered the performance before creating the final edit. At times we considered the jewelry to be like a talisman for the characters, and ones a future wearer could also hold.”

For Lopez and A--Company, fashion design is not just about the production and selling of clothing, it is a process, a relationship between artist and inspiration, audience and ideology. And as Antigone will continue to be retold and restructured, Lopez will continue to create and re-create, think and rethink. 

Michelle Yeoh Named As New Balenciaga Brand Ambassador

 
 

Launching November 9th, 2023, Balenciaga’s Spring 24 campaign of photographs expands upon the collection’s digital presentation, showing scenes from a chic Parisian apartment.

Newly named Balenciaga ambassador Michelle Yeoh stars in the campaign, alongside brand ambassador PP Krit Amnuaydechkorn and friends of the House Malgosia Bela, Arthur Del Beato, Eva Herzigova, Soo Joo Park, and Khadim Sock. They wear looks from Spring 24 with the season's iconic bags: Le Cagole Sling, 24/7, Monaco, Crush, and Crush Sling.

Michelle Yeoh, whose career spans four decades, is credited with perfecting many genres of roles, from action heroine to dramatic lead. Since her start as an actress in the 1980s, Michelle has become ever more celebrated and influential in multiple domains. In 2023, she made several barrier-breaking achievements, including winning a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and an Oscar—making her the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress and the first to win in the leading acting category.