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.
Feature and Op-Ed articles
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.”
Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 20 – Part 3
Nothing in fashion is constant, but knowing that Chitose Abe at Sacai will present a great collection comes pretty close.
Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 20 – Part 2
Wednesday morning I stopped by the Visvim showroom, where Hiroki Nakamura presented his new collection.
Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 20 – Part I
The theme of the first two days in Paris was this – some great designers are sick of what’s going on in menswear these days
At Pitti Uomo Sterling Ruby Proves That Ideas Still Matter
Perhaps it is a sign of the times that it has taken an artist to tell the fashion world that ideas – as opposed to product – in fashion, particularly in menswear, still matter.
Camp: Notes on Fashion at the Met Museum
The new exhibit by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Camp: Notes on Fashion, is fraught on many levels, starting with a paradoxical nature of its theme. On the surface (no pun intended) Camp is not hard to spot because it’s so image-oriented. In reality the playfulness and irony inherent to Camp makes it elusive and intuitive. Like any sensibility or a matter of taste, Camp requires from its audience organic growth and (self)education. You can’t really stuff all of these things into a museum exhibit that is aimed at the general public – and the job of the Met is to cater to the general public. It’s especially hard to do because Camp is a fairly niche sensibility – there is something subcultural and underground in it. Camp takes pleasure in being stuck into people’s faces without them getting it. Really, it’s kind of the point.
Why Goth Culture Is Condemned to Be a Fashion Inspiration
During this past fashion show season one of the most talked about collections was the runway debut of Bottega Veneta under its new creative director, Daniel Lee.