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Sebastian Meunier: To Be Myself

A little over two years ago Ann Demeulemeester announced her retirement from her signature label. After the initial shock subsided, the question of succession inevitably came up. That’s when Sebastian Meunier, a Parisian designer who has had a long tenure at Margiela before joining Ann Demeulemeester, stepped out of the shadows. Meunier spent two years at the label before Demeulemeester’s departure and has worked closely with her. But the big question remained; how could anyone fill the shoes of a designer whose style was so clear and who was so inextricably linked to her label? In other words, could there be Ann Demeulemeester without Ann Demeulemeester?

Instagrammable Fashion

Op-Ed: The Rise of Instagrammable Fashion

It’s no longer news that Instagram has become fashion’s most embraced Internet tool. It has created a myriad of self-made, self-promoting starlets, turbo-boosted the rise of street style photography, and has fashion executives biting their elbows trying to come up with ways to market and sell products on the app. But, perhaps most importantly, it has influenced fashion design itself.

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Work:Space – Geoffrey B. Small

Last month I got a chance to visit the studio of Geoffrey B. Small, the American-born designer who has been working in Cavarzere, in the Veneto region of Italy. Veneto is the heart of the Italian fashion industry with a storied tradition of clothes making. It used to be that you could not throw a stone without hitting a fabric manufacturer or a shirt-making factory. Globalization has killed all that by outsourcing much of the work to other countries in Europe and Asia.

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SHOP:CASE – SVMOSCOW

When SVMOSCOW came on our radar we were pleasantly surprised that a forward-looking store like this could exist in Moscow. Hidden away in a loft-like setting without a shop window in the middle of Russia’s capital, with sparse interior in earthy tones, the boutique breaks all the stereotypes of a gaudy, in-your-face “Russian style” that Westerners are accustomed to. SVMOSCOW carries a cutting-edge mix of brands like Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, and Yohji Yamamoto, among others. It was the first shop in Russia to buy Haider Ackermann and Vetements, and exclusively carry designers like Leon Emanuel Blanck and Goti.