Eugene Rabkin is the founder of stylezeitgeist.com. He has contributed articles on fashion and culture to The Business of Fashion, Vogue Russia, Buro247, the Haaretz Daily Newspaper, and other publications. He has taught critical writing and fashion writing courses at Parsons the New School for Design.

Op-Ed: A Guide to Fashion’s Pseudo Events

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

Earlier this month the streetwear brand Aimé Leon Dore released a collaboration with the storied Italian coffee equipment manufacturer La Marzocco. Besides the usual merch, the star of the tie-up was a limited edition espresso machine. Here is how the collab unfolded. First, the drop was touted by the streetwear media, which duly noted that its centerpiece, the co-branded Linea Micra espresso machine, costs a whopping $11,660. The egregious markup of the device that retails for $4,200 became a talking point. Then the drop happened, with the machine quickly “selling out,” the fact that spurred further coverage and online conversation.

Unpacking Kering’s Earnings

Fashion

Today, Kering, the luxury conglomerate that owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta, among others, reported its first quarter earnings, and the picture of the luxury industry it paints is even more dire than many thought. Overall sales are down by 14%, Gucci’s sales for the first three months of 2025 are down by 25%, as Kering’s biggest brand flounders in the wake of a creative director reshuffling. At Yves Saint Laurent, its second biggest brand, sales are down 9%. Frustratingly, Kering does not break out Balenciaga’s earnings, as it lumps them into “Other Houses,” which include McQueen, Brioni, and a handful of jewelry brands they own. But Kering dropped a couple of hints in its earnings report.

Duran Lantink’s Appointment to Gaultier Proves That Contemporary Fashion Is a Simulation

Fashion

Today we woke up to the news that the up and coming designer Duran Lantink was appointed as the creative director of Jean Paul Gaultier. This completes his recent victory lap that began with sweeping a handful of fashion prizes, including the Andam award and the LVMH prize.

And while it is commendable that a young designer gets a crack at spearheading one of the most important brands in the history of contemporary fashion, it’s also worth taking a fresh look at what he actually makes. The artifacts that can be called garments in his oeuvre are pretty forgettable – there is no innovation there in terms of the silhouette, nor is there a strong discerning aesthetic statement. Lantink’s true strength lies in making outlandish, sculpted outfits that look good on Instagram. The look from his last collection that was shared the most was not a garment at all, but a sculpted male bust, worn on a female model. Things like this are designed to go viral in that look-at-this-silly-thing way. They are fashion as memes.

Trump, the Unwitting Sustainability Warrior

Fashion

Take a deep breath, and suspend your justified knee-jerk reaction at mentioning Trump before you read on, as I had to do in order to write this article.

There is much debate about the economic damage of Trump’s harsh tariff policies. Even though most tariffs have been suspended for 90 days, let’s go ahead with the scenario in which they go into effect. Many outcomes are still hazy, but one thing is clear, they will likely decrease consumption, especially in America. And in the world of overconsumption, isn’t that what so many of us who are concerned with sustainability want? The developed world, and the US especially, groans under the weight of cheap stuff that the current world economy, especially in Asia, overproduces, and that ends up in landfills. The cycle of planned obsolescence has sped up across the board, but especially in fashion, where we no longer talk about fast fashion from the likes of H&M, but about ultra-fast-fashion from the likes of the Chinese giant Shein.

What Karl Marx Can Teach Us About the Current State of Fashion

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

There’s something rotten in the state of fashion. The kingdom of dreams seems to no longer be capable of producing them. Instead it has swamped its subjects in the sea of overpriced premium mediocre stuff, causing fatigue and boredom. What does an umpteenth collab or a logoed tee mean today? Nothing.

But what does Marx’s theory have to do with fashion? It helps to unpack one of central concepts of Das Kapital, exchange value versus use value. Marx’s basic position is this: in the pre-capitalist economy, most things, including clothing, were produced by highly skilled artisans who were capable of crafting an object, let’s say a coat, from start to finish, and were also likely to sell the product of their labor directly; which means that they fully identified with their labor and were invested into everything they made. By nature of their production, they could not make very much, and many things they made was quite expensive, which in turn limited the consumer’s purchasing power. And so when the consumer did acquire an object, say the aforementioned coat, they would value it for its essential properties, such as protecting him from the elements, keeping him warm, and making him look presentable. Marx called this use value, the stuff that gave a coat its coatness, making that object real and concrete.

The StyleZeitgeist Guide to Paris: 2025 Edition

Features/Op-Ed, Travel

On some level writing a guide to Paris is an exercise in futility. What can one write about a city where you can get a good glass of wine and a decent meal in so many places – as long as you stay away from the touristy areas – and where there is no such thing as the best bakery, since you can only get bread that is either fine or excellent. Therefore, this guide to Paris is the guide to what I have gotten to know over the years of traveling to the City of Light.

I’ve been to Paris about fifty times, I’ve walked it back and forth, and I know I am not nearly close to discovering all the good things it has to offer and have not sufficiently explored all of its neighborhoods (for example, I rarely find myself in Montmartre, or in Charonne, and some day I’d like to eat my way through rue des Martyrs). I’ve not been to the 20th arrondissement, which is where the epicenter of hipsterdom has moved to. I have not yet been to the Catacombs (very ungoth of me), and I’ve never had any luck record shopping in Paris. So this guide is flawed and deeply personal, and I am all ears if you want to add to it.

The StyleZeitgeist Tokyo Guide: 2025 Edition

Culture, Travel

For the aesthetically inclined and designed conscious there is probably no better place on earth than Tokyo. And for science fiction fans it’s probably the closest thing to encountering another humanoid civilization – things are similar enough and foreign enough in Tokyo to make it all the more exciting, even though in the last couple of years the intractable march of globalization of culture has left an indelible stamp on the city. I’ve been to Tokyo three times and by now feel confident enough to write a guide of sorts. Because there is so much to do and see here, I decided that the best approach is to break it down by neighborhood rather than the list of places, because there are too many of them. Tokyo is vast – don’t even think about spending less than a week here. I’ll list the neighborhoods more or less in order of preference or proximity to each other. Aside from these recommendations, the best advice I can give you is to get lost in the wonderful maze of Tokyo’s streets – because the best spots are often in the back alleys off the main thoroughfares. You’ll need your GPS.

Dolce & Gabbana at Grand Palais, Paris

Culture, Fashion

When future historians will examine the list of crimes against humanity of our time, the work of Dolce & Gabbana will feature prominently, or, as they say in fashion, boldly. The current exhibition of the dismal duo’s oeuvre at Grand Palais in Paris drives this point home with such ferocious force as to make one’s eyes bleed from all the ludicrous pomposity on display. Mistitled Du Coeur a la Main, it should have been called The Kingdom of Kitsch, because that’s what Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have built, both at their brand and with this show at one of the world’s most venerable museums, whose stones are undoubtedly groaning with shame at having been burdened with so much bad taste.

PARIS MENS FALL / WINTER 2025 SHOWROOM REPORT

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

Last year I promised to lean into supporting smaller brands, and I have valiantly tried to visit as many showrooms as possible, so much so that I have not seen much of Paris this time. Each season I receive an avalanche of invitations, but I am just one person, so I am taking an opportunity to offer my apologies to those I was not able to visit. In general, many of the brands I’ve seen have stuck to their guns. This is fine, but it also does not provide much food for thought. Quite a few are struggling, but I hope that now that the so-called luxury is in tailspin, it’s their time to come in and offer a superior product at a better price. There is certainly a contingent of men and women ready for it. And I see it as my job to connect these brands with a new audience. So, here it is.