Future Vintage. Ralph Lauren SS24

September 10, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s something so reassuring about a Ralph Lauren collection. It’s really good to see the designer back on the New York Fashion Week schedule, as he brings much-needed substance to the table. For spring-summer 2024, the all-time American designer looks back at his 2000s aesthetic (especially the gorgeous spring-summer 2003 collection which resonates so well with fashion in 2023) and delivers a line-up of what I call future vintage, clothes that will become heirlooms. The offering started with that most American of fabrics, denim, only Lauren treated it in the most elevated of ways; lined with chiffon and tulle and burnt out into devorés, it was then over-embroidered with sequins and beads. It doesn’t feel like an exaggeration to liken these pieces to couture, even if the silhouettes he was working with were straightforward jackets and cargo pants. From there, the show moved onto a series of black and gold looks and a chance to play with house codes like the RL logo, which was picked out on the torso of a clingy beaded black dress, and the military jacket, which got belted over silky pants and strappy heels. Christy Turlington’s show-closing gold lamé one-shoulder gown was a knockout. A glamorous, NYFW moment.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Remixing The Codes. Helmut Lang SS24

September 10, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Peter Do always had a Helmut Lang-like sensibility; I even hinted he could be a great choice for the brand exactly one year ago. Just like Lang did in the 1990s and early 2000s, Do creates at his eponymous label everyday uniforms for a hectic, urban life. He also has a similar take on minimalism, which he polished up under Phoebe Philo at Céline (who, by the way, often referenced Lang’s style-codes). Unexpectedly however, Do’s debut collection for the Fast Retailing-owned brand didn’t deliver. It was yet another remix of Helmut’s signatures, grit-free, nicely packed and smoothed up for a contemporary customer (who, if truly loves Helmut Lang, will simply buy the real deal on a resale platform). In Peter’s painfully straightforward spring-summer 2024, there were many references to the Austrian designer’s milestone moves. The yellow taxi cab print that appeared in many fabrications was a callback to Lang’s then-agenda setting move of advertising on the top of taxi cabs, a format once considered too pedestrian for high fashion by his designer peers. It eventually gave Do’s collaborator, the author Ocean Vuong, a theme for the poem that was printed on the concrete floor of the venue, calling back to the Jenny Holzer installation that was the centerpiece in the original Helmut Lang store at 80 Greene Street. There was also a take on Lang’s tailoring: the flat-front trousers, the androgynous, almost but not quite plain jackets, the crombie coats. The seat belt straps that criss cross the torso and pass through belt loops are straight out of the archive, a reference to the underground world of bondage clubs, but remove them and the suits will pass in the straight world. Helmut Lang’s style captured the essence of a specific time, it was an antidote for over-the-topness, a comfort-place for artists and people who were far-too-cool-for-fashion. Reviving the classics to death just makes no sense.

People Are Flowers. Rodarte SS24

September 8, 2023September 9, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

This New York Fashion Week needs some time to warm up. A swarm of publicity events that could have been an e-mail and a sea of uninspiring presentations feel like a false start. Kate and Laura Mulleavy‘s Rodarte collection – no runway this time – is an emphasis of all things this brand stands for. “We were thinking about clothing as gardens and flowers. The idea of people blooming, in a way, but also, how do we use the history of textures and color from Rodarte and celebrate that in a collection about gardens?” Flowers for spring aren’t ground-breaking, but the Mulleavy’s served a captivating take on the theme. The opening gown, with its bodice made from layers of purple and black lace and beaded embroidery at the bust, a sweeping voluminous skirt made from strips of organza in gradient shades of purple, and a matching capelet in the same organza ruffles, set the tone. The pack of the designers’ favourite actresses – from Milla Jovovich and her daughter Ever to The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri – elevated all that flower craze into something more sophisticated. The big standouts were the ruffle dresses that harked back to Rodarte’s first collection in 2006. The vertical ruffles were pieced together from different colors of silk organza, silk chiffon, silk charmeuse, and silk georgette and were decorated with fabric rosettes. Silk bias-cut slip dresses, sometimes with little sleeves, had a 1930s feel; but it was their color palette – bright iris, peony yellow, emerald green – that made them more readily identifiable as dresses of our current era. “Even if we’re referencing an era, I don’t think that the overall coming-together of a collection ever feels vintage,” Kate explained. “So even if it’s a vibe or a cut that you could align with a time period somehow by the color or the construction, it feels fresh.”

The American Classic. Ralph Lauren AW’2000

August 16, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

For some reason, every year, somewhere mid-August, I’m going through Ralph Lauren‘s 2000s collections. Maybe it’s the thought of September approaching; there’s an autumnal feel about Lauren’s runway collections. And they are very inspiring, styling-wise. In the autumn-winter 2000 fashion show, “there’s a new kind of glamour that’s polished, sleek and sexy,” said the designer about his offering of simple, elegant American classics. Suits played a key role for Lauren that season – black, fitted jackets and sharply detailed trousers and skirts were worn with casual cashmere crewnecks and ivory silk blouses. Fair Isle sweaters accompanied comfortable Donegal tweeds and steely leather pants. Striking crocodile car coats and broadtail trousers added a shot of opulence to the presentation, as did the evening dresses: there were body-conscious satin and jersey gowns, as well as Persian-motif embroidered gowns. Honestly, if I saw this collection during a 2023 New York Fashion Week, I would be very pleased.

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The Ranch. Phipps AW23

August 3, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Now that he’s decamped from Paris and relocated to the sunny Hollywood Hills in his home state of California, it’s safe to say that Spencer Phipps has entered his LA era. “I wanted to focus on the core essence of what Phipps represents and I think I can do it better in the US. It makes more sense for the brand from a marketing strategy, a business strategy, and also my own personal life.” To present the autumn-winter 2023 Phipps collection, he chose a quintessential Hollywood location, Big Sky Movie Ranch. If you’ve never heard of this sprawling landscape set deep in Ventura County, you’ve certainly seen it on TV and in the movies; it was used as a set for everything from Little House on the Prairie to Twin Peaks to, most recently, Babylon. If Phipps’s design story were a script, this would be that pivotal scene where the protagonist takes control of the narrative. Over the year that he’s been back, he’s refined the brand identity, drawing on inspiration from its rugged workwear roots; formally introduced denim and underwear, and built out his womenswear. There’s even talk of moving all production from Portugal to LA. He counts these as the progressive steps that align with a commitment to US-based manufacturing and sustainable practices.

Phipps’s work is grounded in reality; he extracts elements of American subcultures—western, grunge, punk – and reimagines them through a contemporary lens modeled on a diverse cast of characters including real cowboys, bikers, and one multi-hyphenate jiu jitsu black belt-magician-guitarist. The designer ties the brand divisions together through cohesive design and layered styling. For the new season, the influence of Richard Avedon’s American West series came across in blanket capes and chap jeans crafted from upcycled leather scraps and vintage denim, whereas grommets and d-rings spoke to the influence of the ’50s teens in Karlheinz Weinberger’s photography. Standout pieces from the new womenswear included long, straight, slouchy jeans and a deadstock pullover anorak paired with a camouflage midi skirt. On the men’s side, there were “butch florals” in the form of camouflage patterns and subtle hieroglyphs representative of the four archetypes of masculinity – the king, warrior, magician, and lover. “We’ve always been doing our own thing and will continue to do so,” he said. “Our voice stood out in the Paris landscape and I believe the same will happen here, but with a bigger community.”