STRANGE BEAUTY âď¸ #DACBE: This season, #DriesVanNoten spent the season thinking about how the restrictive, COVID-related conditions are affecting his team. âA lot of young people donât go out anymore, they donât see a lot of people. Touching each other, making love to each other⌠itâs changed. I think itâs a collection where you really feel what state weâre in, and what weâre longing for. That is the desire we wanted to explain: the frustration,â he mused. Shot by Casper Sejersen, Van Notenâs #AW22 film featured a bunch of models getting tactile in a big mansion in Paris. There were close-ups of three real-life couples kissing: two men, two women, and a man and a woman, who all embodied the designerâs genderless objective. More on the JOURNAL đ¤ #PFW #Paris #ParisFashionWeek #HenryKitcher #Tailoring #Genderless #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me, film stills from #DerekJarmanâs âGardenâ, music: âWatercolour Eyesâ by Lana Del Rey.
STROBE đ§ #DACBE: âI just went to Egypt, and they have those shapes, those beautiful shapes, and I thought if I did that as a Dan Flavin helmet, that would be so cool.â This is how #RickOwens summed up his out-of-this-world, ethereal #AW22 menswear collection. By combining the headwear profiles of Ancient Egypt with some adroitly applied Philips light bulbs, Owens created headpieces that doubled as lamps â âtheyâre all free-standing.â The on-and-off-again lighting meant that much of the detail was suppressed from the eye: what was left were elongated, hyper-masculine silhouettes with an alien twist. More on the JOURNAL đ˝ #Paris #PFW #ParisFashionWeek #AlienAbduction #AncientEgypt #MinimalArt #DACBECOLLECTIONS đĄ #collage by me.
VIRGILâS DREAMHOUSE âď¸ #DACBE: During his eight collection residency, #VirgilAbloh, who passed away in November 2021, turned the house of #LouisVuitton upside down and inside out. He made the exclusive inclusive. The #AW22 collection apparently marked the final segment of that arc, and in the set at least it appeared to come full circle. More on the JOURNAL đ #ParisFashionWeek #PFW #Paris #AngelsInTheSky #DreamHouse #Menswear #ManFashion #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me, music: âKiss of Lifeâ by Sade.
TRAVEL SOMEWHERE đ #DACBE: I have such a sweet spot for #Lemaire. Iâve said it plenty of times, and I will say it again: this is the brand that utterly satisfies me in the context of my personal, day-to-day style. #ChristopheLemaire and #SarahLinhTran just never disappoint me. For #AW22, the designers-slash-life-partners turned to the idea of âtraveling somewhereâ â something we all fantasize about in our harsh, pandemic reality. âDressing up is a little bit like traveling,â Christophe mused. âYou get dressed up, you go to someone, or you have a destination in mind.â More on the JOURNAL đ #Paris #ParisFashionWeek #PFW #SoftMinimalism #MarkRothko #DACBECOLLECTIONS 𪴠#collage by me, music: âThese Daysâ by Nico.
PARISIAN CROWD đ¤ #DACBE: This was one, big, star-studded #Ami collection. âWe have done two digital shows and now weâre back. Itâs a kind of resistance,â said #AlexandreMattiussi backstage at his #AW22 fashion show. The designer had the MĂŠtro on his mind: âItâs the only place today in a city where everybody is on top of each other. Thereâs an old lady, a guy coming out from a party, a guy who is on the way to work, kids, grandmothers, different vibes, different cultures. This is the only place where you donât have the choice of who you will be seated with,â he observed. âItâs a democratic thing. And Ami is about dressing everyone.â In the labelâs world, #IsabelleAdjani and Laetitia Casta commute too, and wear timeless clothes that draw heavily on the French wardrobe tropes. More on the JOURNAL đ #Paris #PFW #ParisFashionWeek #BenAttal #ParisianChic #Brassai #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me.
POETIC OUTERWEAR đ¤ #DACBE: #HedMaynerâs #AW22 collection exists in the space âbetween despair and ultimate hopeâ. The Israeli designer explained further: âBut I am thinking about the space between you and the garment, layered and protectedâŚyou are in a bubble.â Mayner speaks like a poet and he designs like one too, operating instinctively and emotionally, more interested with how a garment will feel on the skin, move about the body, and imprint on a life than how cool it looks or how hype-y it is. More on the JOURNAL đ #Paris #PFW #ParisFashionWeek #OuterWear #PufferJacket #Menswear #MansFashion #DACBECOLLECTIONS 𧥠#collage by me.
REFINEMENT đś #DACBE: #UmitBenan, one of the best #Milan-based menswear (and not only) designers, focuses on uncompromisingly manufactured and painstakingly designed ultra-luxe clothing. For the #AW22 offering, modelled by the always-chic #GiovanniDarioLaudicina, some of the finest pieces included a workwear-inspired essentials (mostly in double cashmere) and investment tailoring. âAt the end of day, I donât want to mess too much with design. The emphasis is on great stuff, stuff thatâs so great you want to come back and buy it againâ. More on the JOURNAL đš #MFW #MilanFashionWeek #Menswear #ManFashion #Tailoring #TimelessClassics #DACBECOLLECTIONS âď¸ #collage by me.
EMBRACE THE WEIRDNESS đ #DACBE: For #AW22, #JonathanAnderson embraces all things âweirdâ, and aesthetically navigates between the 1980s (sparkly party dresses) and the now trending, early 2010s âindie sleazeâ (metallic lycra jumpsuits). #JWAnderson is all about the âweirdâ. When Anderson detects weirdness, he is not repelled but stimulated: for him âoddâ and âbad tasteâ hold creative opportunity. More on the JOURNAL đ #Milan #MFW #MilanFashionWeek #WeirdCore #IndieSleaze #DACBECOLLECTIONS đˇ #collage by me, music: âWhich Wayâ by FKA Twigs and Dystopia.
IL NUOVO ABITO đ #DACBE: Menâs #MilanFashionWeek has officially started! And hereâs lesson number one: you just canât go wrong with #Zegna. I know it myself â Iâve got a couple of my dadâs clothes coming from the brand, and really, this brand is not just timeless, but its quality is indestructible. #AlessandroSartori, Zegnaâs creative director, embraces what the Italian brand stands for with every season, delivering absolutely desirable, refined and relevant investment pieces for a contemporary man. For #AW22, Sartori said he was presenting âil nuovo abitoâ: the new suit. Yet this collection represented something far bolder than that. More on the JOURNAL âď¸ #Milan #MFW #Menswear #ManFashion #Tailoring #WomenInLove #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ¨ #collage by me.
LESS IS (REALLY) MORE đ #DACBE: Itâs no secret that #VictoriaBeckhamâs brand had some rough time financially. Wisely, the company scaled-down to its main line, at the same time incorporating a lower price point and limiting the range of new products. Looking at Beckhamâs #PreFall2022 offering, this new approach has a positive effect on the designs. Less is really more. Weâve got great, business-ready tailoring, a fine balance of neutrals and neons (Victoria certainly understands that a wardrobe has to offer different attitudes, depending on the wearerâs ever-changing mood), and languid dresses that come with sexy zip details and erotic cut-outs. More on the JOURNAL đ #London #Tailoring #SoftMininalism #SoChic #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me.
UTILITARIAN ROMANTICISM đ #DACBE: In his second menswear collection, #ErdemMoralioglu goes for a laid-back, streetwear-ish approach â something you rarely see in his often dramatic womenâs offering. âUtilitarian romanticismâ is how the #London-based designer summed up his newest creative venture. He has a point: in a world where people wear couture-house joggers to dinner, and even #Erdem surrenders to sporty dress codes, streetwear is really just daywear. âItâs a boiled fleece hoodie with a tailored, nipped jogger,â he said of the collectionâs most informal look. Erdemâs menâs world has a relaxed, almost light-hearted quality about it - more on the JOURNAL 𪥠#LFW #Menswear #ManFashion #DomenicoGnoli #GoGreen #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me.
ULTRA-LADY đ #DACBE: There are those collections in fashion history that just get better with time. For a while now, Iâm absolutely obsessed with #LouisVuittonâs #AW10 â one of the best collections created by #MarcJacobs for the French maison. âAnd God Created Womanâ announced the program, bringing up thoughts of the era of the young Bardot, of fifties-sixties wasp waists, and circle skirts. At the time, #MadMen was on everyoneâs minds and TV screens (those were the pre-Netflix timesâŚ), and that same season, Miuccia Prada also went for the retro ultra-femininity. Jacobsâ collection was stark contrast casting-wise (lets not forget 2010 was peak time of the super-skinny-model standard) as the designer called on Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, Catherine McNeil, Karolina Kurkova, and finally Elle Macpherson, all women whose physical attributes have acted as a disqualification for fashion show participation for years. More on the JOURNAL đš #Paris #LadyLike #BarbaraPalvin #JuliaNobis #JessicaMiller #CircleSkirt #DACBECOLLECTIONS đ #collage by me, music: âVaya con diosâ by Kali Uchis.
Design & Culture by Ed 