Sistaaz of the Castle Explores Transgender Sex Workers That Roam The Streets of Cape Town, South Africa

Photographer Jan Hoek and fashion designer Duran Lantink present Sistaaz of the Castle, a project about the style and fashion of transgender sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa. Together they created a series of photographs and a fashion collection around their fashionable appearances, and their ability to make the most exuberant creations of everything they find. The project will be shown during FashionWeek Amsterdam and an exhibition at Foam Photography Museum Amsterdam. The local sex workersโ€™ organization, S.W.E.A.T., gave Jan and Duran the opportunity to meet and collaborate with their transgender support group Sistaazhood. For this project, Jan and Duran zoom in on six girls from the community: Coco (25), Cleopatra (23) Sulaiga (30), Gabby (29) Flavinia (33) and Joan Collins (57). Most of the girls are homeless, living under a bridge beside the castle of Cape Town. Jan Hoek made photographs of them, their lives and their outfits. The documentary images serve as a lookbook for the collection of Duran Lantink. The designer was inspired by the creative ability of the girls to produce beautiful creations from found garments. He recognized a similarity to his own process, using different recycling methods and collage techniques. Along with the creations, the artists were interested in how the girls would like to look if they had unlimited possibilities. One of the girls would like to work in a luxurious Victorian brothel. The 57-year-old Joan Collins dreams of a wedding dress and a third wants to become Miss Africa. All these fantasies are translated into a dream-couture capsule collection by Duran, which is also photographed by Jan. In addition to the fashion show and exhibition, a printed publication (APE) will be published and distributed worldwide in March 2016. Eventually, Jan and Duran will return to South Africa to present the Sistaaz of the Castle project on its original site. Usually, transgender sex workers are presented as perpetrator or victim in the South African media. The girls of Sistaazhood expressed their wish to be seen positively in the news. The collection will be presented during FashionWeek Amsterdam at the Gashouder on January 16 at 7p.m.. The Foam exhibition will be on view until January 20.

Punk In Translation Private View @ The Horse Hospital in London

Japanese leather initiative Leather Japan has collaborated with avant-garde brand Blackmeans to create the exhibition Punk in Translation. Produced by Harris Elliott โ€“ co-creator of the widely acclaimed Return of the Rudeboy, Punk in Translation features work from Japanese documentary photographers Yusuke Yamatani, Tatsuo Suzuki and Naoya Matsumoto. Their images document the raw community of Japanese punks, following the underground music scene;; diversified sounds, โ€˜live housesโ€™, discreet characterless buildings, and Tokyoโ€™s loyal punk youth. Punk in Translation showcases the sceneโ€™s style and attitude in its rebellious form unique to Tokyoโ€™s surroundings, highlighting the radical Japanese interpretation of punk. The unmistakable style has been integrated with traditional Japanese festival culture, incorporating sensitivity towards detail, a natural characteristic of the Japanese. Held at The Horse Hospital, the exhibition highlights the lifestyle and culture of how the UK punk fashion and music scene has influenced, and informed a new breed of subculture. Punk In Translation will be on view until January 11, 2016 at The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, Bloomsbury, London. photographs by Flo Kohl

Exclusive Preview of Amรฉlie Pichard and Pamela Anderson's Vegan Footwear Collaboration For Opening Ceremony

Amรฉlie Pichard has teamed up with actress and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson for an exclusive footwear collection for Opening Ceremony. The collection is made out of completely vegan materials. The collection, which harken a 90s vision of 1970s fashion, will be available to purchase in January. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to PETA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Opening Tonight In New York: Patricia Field Brings Her Sartorial Genius to A Dover Street Market Holiday Gift Shop →

Patricia Field is best known to a certain generation of women as the coveted costume designer behind the looks of Carrie Bradshaw, but she means infinitely more to the convergence of fashion with downtown New Yorkโ€™s art world. Since the 1980s when she held exhibitions for the budding artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat at her East Village boutique, Field has been a champion of both New York grown artists and fashion designers. She has truly one of the most unique eyes in the world. โ€œI look for the same thing in art that I look for in fashion,โ€ says Field. โ€œItโ€™s chemical. I see it, I like it, and I go for it.โ€ Click here to read more. 

Johnson Hartig, Designer of the Cult Label Libertine, Celebrates The Release of His First Monograph at Maxfield Los Angeles

Libertine is an invitation into Johnson Hartigโ€™s world, as the designer shares images of his eccentric and whimsical fashion designs, inspirational references, and his captivatingly eclectic interiors. Johnson Hartig is the founder and designer for the innovative fashion brand Libertine, which is renowned for breathing electric life back into vintage couture pieces by cutting them up and adding ornate crystal embellishments, rich silk-screened graphics, and embroideries to create gorgeous one-of-a-kind garments. With an uncanny ability to combine unexpected colors, patterns, and textures, Hartig has created a style that is youthful and edgy yet undeniably glamorous and sophisticated. A hopeless traditionalist yet a rule breaker, Hartigโ€™s personal style was initially what inspired the brand, and this eclectic philosophy permeates all parts of his life. Early champions include Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, and Damien Hirst.You can purchase the book here. 

Big City Girl: Check Out Jump From Paper's 2015 Lookbook for the Traveler Collection Shot In New York

Internet-approved, Taipei-based sensation JumpFromPaper is back. This time with its relaunch of Traveler, a limited collection for the winter. Debuted in London back in 2013, JumpFromPaper's Traveler collection was an instant hit - The dark green backpack sold out in a mere 2 months. The new collection brings back the backpacks, but also new styles including handbags and wallets. Lookbook is modeled by Sahara Lin and shot by photographer Chien Wen Lin in New York. Click here to shop. 

Alber Elbaz, Lanvin Designer Who Became Unlikely Face of The Once Obscure Brand, Is Stepping Down

Announced today, Alber Elbaz โ€“ who became the unlikely face of the once obscure brand 14 years ago โ€“ is leaving Lanvin, a 126 year old brand started by Jeanne Lanvin who initially started making clothes for her daughter Marie-Blanche de Polignac. The clothes started gaining the attention and a heritage brand was born. Who's going to fill Elbaz's shoes? โ€“ Who knows, we're still speculating on who take Raf Simons' place after leaving Dior last week. Could it be Elbaz?  

Subculture Capital: Valerie Steele Dishes On The Fine Line Between Fashion and Reality, And Her New Book About Queen Of New York Nightlife Susanne Bartsch →

Fashion and nightlife are enmeshed in a seductive tango that relies on the notion of the pleasure. I often wonder if the pleasure of fashion is about dressing for yourself or for being seen? One could make the same argument about going out on the town. Indeed, there are many ways fashion and nightlife mirror one another. Each is an art as well as enterprise; each is mercurial; each can convey status and each sets and rejects trends, most typically from the ground up. Click here to read our conversation with Valerie Steele. 

Read Our Round-Up Review of Paris Fashion Week 2015 →

Again, I will have to touch upon what makes this particular round unique to the industry and important for fashion. But honesty, do I actually need to make an argument concerning Paris and its total domination of conceptual fashion? OK, hereโ€™s an argument for you: Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yammamoto, Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela, Junya Wattanabe, Olivier Rousteing, and need I continue? A lot happens at Paris: some bad, some good, and some utterly transcendent. Itโ€™s too much to write about really. Itโ€™s the longest of the fashion weeks and it can be easy to forget about incredible shows mere days after they happened. Today as I am baffled yet excited over the announcement of Demna Gvasalia of Vetements being named creative director to Balenciaga while former Balenciaga godhead Nicolas Ghesquiere continues to alter the fabric of what we know to be Louis Vuitton, I almost forgot that Rick Owens put on the funniest and most conceptual collection of the week. So another season is over, and the buying begins. See you at the menswear shows. Click here to read the full review. Text by Adam Lehrer. 

Read Autre's Favorites from Milan Fashion Week

Oh, Italy. The land of luxury behemoths. Young fashion people scoff at Milan, but Milan is planting itself once more at the forefront of conceptual fashion. Versace and Prada will always be doing their thing. Damir Doma decided to leave the herd of Paris and create his architectural garments in Italy. Arthur Arbesser is injecting youth and idea-driven fashion into the city revitalizing Iceberg and launching his own brand. And, less we forget, Alessandro Michele is the hottest designer in fashion at Gucci. It feels like people are ready for Italian fashion again, and they certainly want Gucci to be relevant again. Weโ€™ve had so many years of โ€œcoolโ€ and โ€œartyโ€ brands out of Paris and London that maybe the coolest thing to do right now is to pay heed to the luxury giants of Italy. Itโ€™s hip to be square, motherfuckers. Click here to read the full review.

We Love Gucci's Cruise 2016 Fashion Film Directed By Glen Luchford with An Incredible Joy Division Cover

Following a guest into a dance party in a villa outside Florence, the film directed by Glen Luchford captures the contemporary essence of Alessandro Michele's Cruise 2016 Collection for Gucci. Directed by Glen Luchford. Music, "She's Lost Control," performed by Alive She Died.

Read Our Round-Up Review of 2015 London Fashion Week →

London Fashion is Autre Fashion - if that makes any sense. Basically, the fashion coming out of London is on-brand with the message that we are trying to set forth at Autre: the contrast of high and low culture, freedom, expression, sexuality, and you know, being fucking weird. Itโ€™s been a pleasure to watch these young designers grow into their roles as international arbiters of taste. Itโ€™s not hard to imagine JW Andersonโ€™s brand growing into Yves Saint Laurent levels of label endurance while he simultaneously re-brands Loewe into an ultra desirable fashion label. Simone Rocha is bringing a romance back to fancy clothing that has been missing for some time. KTZ is still killing it. Burberry puts on a very fun show for a juggernaut mega money brand. And the best part is, there is always a new crop of Central Saint Martinโ€™s graduates looking to enter the fashion system and re-shape it in their visions. So, yeah we love London. Obviously we get excited about Paris, too, but there is such a youthful vitality going on in London fashion at the moment made all the more exciting by its defiance of the cityโ€™s astronomical living rates and housing costs. These designers express their creativity in any way they can or they starve trying. Literally. So, I (Adam Lehrer, fashion editor at Autre Magazine) teamed up with new fashion correspondent Julianna Vezzetti to discuss the SS 2016 London collections. Click here to read the full review.

Check Out The First Collection of the Persona Series Photographed by Natalie Yang

The designer of the Persona series wants to remain anonymous, but Autre was fortunate to get its hands on some photos of its first collection โ€“ photographed by Natalie Yang. PERSONA: Series 1 exists as part of a larger collection of series and iterations. Equal focus is placed on the piece, the presentation and the performance. Series 1 introduces the class photo. Pieces from each series will be sold in limited quantities in unconventional spaces. Click here to email for more info and click here to follow them on Instagram.