StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Paris Fashion Week SS24 with Philippe Pourhashemi
We are back with the journalist and critic Philippe Pourhashemi to discuss the recently finished Spring/Summer 2024 fashion season.
OP-ED: IS HAUTE COUTURE MODERN?
The haute couture week that just ended in Paris took place amidst the riots caused by police killing an Arab youth. In such a setting, showing ultra-expensive clothes to a bunch of ultra-rich women who descend on Paris twice a year for the haute couture week to throw money around felt a bit like the last ancien regime masked ball before the guillotines are rolled out. Only Celine displayed some sensitivity towards Paris, its people, and its own staff and canceled its show. For the rest, evidently, the show must go on.
Op-Ed: Is It Time to Separate Fashion and Luxury?
“Fashion brands are like toothpaste brands now,” the fashion journalist Lauren Sherman told me in a recent conversation on our podcast. I understood what she meant even before she launched into a car market analogy, that many brands today offer similar products, with the logo being the primary differentiator. What the luxury consumer has to decide today is not what garment to buy, but what brand to buy into, because their wares are increasingly interchangeable.
StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Is This the End of the Hype Era? with Philippe Pourhashemi
On this hot-take episode with Philippe Pourhashemi we discuss the recent firings of Ludovic de Saint Sernin from Ann Demeulemeester and Rhuigi Villasenor from Bally and their implications. We speak about hype versus talent, what makes the right fit between a creative director and a brand, the relationship between management and creative, brand building and reputational risk, and much more.
It’s Time to Put the Blame For Fast Fashion Where It Belongs: On the Consumer
Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant, seems to have popped out of nowhere. Seemingly overnight, during the pandemic, it became the darling of the young consumers who wanted to own inexpensive trendy clothes, a lot of them. Shein obliged, offering mind-bogglingly cheap stuff and a fairly fast delivery from China.
StyleZeitgeist Podcast: On Karl Lagerfeld with Amy Odell
We reconnect with the journalist Amy Odell to discuss the problematic legacy of Karl Lagerfeld, the late designer of Chanel, and the new exhibit devoted to his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. We try to answer one of the central questions of creativity – can you separate the art from the artist? – and dive into other aspects of Lagerfeld’s life and work.
Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty at the Met Museum
“Fashion does not belong in a museum,” Karl Lagerfeld told Andrew Bolton the first time they met. A fearless or an obnoxious statement, considering that Andrew Bolton is the most important fashion museum curator in the world. “Fearless” is what Bolton went for in his opening remarks at the press preview for the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “Fearsome” was another adjective Mr. Bolton used to describe Lagerfeld’s missives. Some observers may have stronger words for the late designer, who has been callous on record about feminists, people who are overweight, and victims of sexual assault. But the Met Museum is not in the business of criticism; it’s in the business of crowd-pleasing. Lagerfeld provides ample material. Besides Anna Wintour, who was in attendance but for the first time in my memory did not give a speech, he is the only fashion person who can claim to be a cultural mascot that transcends the narrow and insulated world of fashion. Ask an average person what Lagerfeld looks like and they will probably know.
StyleZeitgeist Podcast: All of Your Business with Lauren Sherman
Our guest is Lauren Sherman, former senior correspondent at the Business of Fashion, a top-notch reporter whose no-nonsense writing cuts through much of the industry noise. We discuss why fashion journalism used to be a much richer field, why honest reporting is beneficial to fashion, why it’s imperative for a brand to develop a core audience, why LVMH excels at retaining talent, why brick and mortar retail matters, and talk about her new and exciting role at Puck News.
StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Why Speaking Up Matters with James Scully
We speak with the casting director James Scully about his trajectory of working in fashion, from his days at the iconic New York boutique Charivari in the ‘80s to his days at Harper’s Bazaar and the changes he witnessed while being there, to becoming one of the best casting agents in the fashion industry; his whistle blowing on the rampant abuse of models and the changes it engendered. James’s is a brilliant story of working his way up in fashion through sheer love of it and his talent. It is also an important one because it provides a rare glimpse of what goes on under the hood of the fashion industry.
Katsuya Kamo at Omotesando Hills in Tokyo
Katsuya Kamo was a brilliant artist who created what he called “head sculptures” for runway shows for Junya Watanabe, Jun Takahashi’s Undercover, and Anrealage. He also occasionally worked with Chanel and Haider Ackermann. You have seen his iconic pieces that contributed to the overall image and runway awe of those brands even if you did not know Kamo’s name.