Fall/Winter 2020 Paris Menswear Report – Part II
At the Sacai show Saturday I was thinking whether a designer who sticks to a formula will sooner or later tire her audience out.
Feature and Op-Ed articles
Fall/Winter 2020 Paris Menswear Report – Part I
Once again the fashion horde descended on Paris, the city of great beauty and inconvenience, to see what the best of menswear designers would offer.
Jil Sander, Telfar, and Random Identities at Pitti Uomo
As a reader of this magazine you may not be familiar with Pitti Uomo, the largest menswear trade show in the world that takes place in Florence twice a year, right before the Milan fashion week.
Daniel Miller on Mute Records and STUMM433
In 1978 in London the young musician by the name Daniel Miller recorded two songs, “T.V.O.D.” and “Warm Leatherette” under the moniker The Normal.
Fashion Week Notes, Women’s S/S 2020 – Part II
The trio of Saturday shows from the Comme des Garcons universe made me breathe a sigh of relief for the fact that there are no Japanese luxury fashion conglomerates who have to answer to their shareholders first and to fashion second (or say fifth).
Fashion Week Notes, Women’s S/S 2020 – Part 1
Paris, France – “Dries, now there is a real designer,” sighed my AirBnB landlord, after expressing his frustration about working for a major, and majorly uninspiring Parisian house. Indeed, he is and he proved it yet again with another sublime show. Each seat had a red rose on it with handwritten “DVN” X some other initials, which I only understood were that of Christian Lacroix, the legendary Parisian designer whose label has been defunct for some time and whom Van Noten brought on to collaborate for this collection. This was a “collab” in the Van Noten vein – a sign of mutual respect that did not stink of a money grab like many collaborations do. It was soulful, not cynical. And the clothes were sublime, with faint military influences on some pieces and with couture-like shapes on others that had Lacroix’s signature on them. Of course there were explosion of flowers, color, and couture-like embroidery. When Dries Van Noten brought Lacroix for the final bow it was a fashion moment fo sure. This was a longing for an idealized past of the kind I can get behind – bringing out people to refresh our collective fashion amnesia. Which made me think that we are not exactly forgetful – we do remember the greats… when we are reminded of their existence.
RICK OWENS ON HIS TWO NEW BOOKS AND OTHER THINGS
In a wide-ranging interview the designer talks to us about his two new books, his body of work, the role of irony and politics in it, his fanbase, and the current generation of fashion.
Ann Demeulemeester Is Ready To Bring Her World Into Your Home
“I believe that if you make something beautiful, sooner or later it has a way of presenting itself to the world.” The Belgian designer talks to us about her new houseware project.
Taking Fashion’s Temperature Through Stock Prices
It’s August, the lull before the storm of the fashion month that will start in early September in New York and will end in early October in Paris.
Op-Ed: How Barneys Lost Its Cool
Back in 2014, in an Op-Ed for the Business of Fashion, I rang the alarm about fashion stores losing their edge as tastemakers. I was mainly looking at Barneys, the iconic New York department store, as one that was losing its cache with the fashion-forward customer by becoming too commoditized. Fast-forward to 2019 and Barneys is now exploring bankruptcy. Theories abound as to what went wrong with the store, and there is not one single reason for Barneys possible demise – there is the crazy rent hike on its flagship, increased competition online, changing consumer tastes. But out of all commentators Lauren Sherman, of BoF nailed a big one, “Instead of owning cool, Barneys began chasing it.”