Oh, Marc. Thank you for reminding us all about the absolute joy of fashion.
With his pre-NYFW, less is more-production show, the designer sparks bold, unashamed happiness. Bubbly silhouettes. Cropped proportions. Big sequins. Bigger than life ball-dresses and teenie-tiny cardigans. Lego colors. This is fashion that doesn’t take itself seriously – but is far from being non-sense. Inspired with legendary women, from Rei Kawakubo to Queen of Hearts, this is Marc Jacobs’ ode to courage, beauty and uncompromising hope in better tomorrow.
“With precious freedom we dream and imagine without limitation… not to escape from reality but to help navigate, understand, and confront it, exploring through curiosity, conviction, compassion, and love.”
Thank you.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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This season’s Rick Owens man is both goth and fit. He will show off his muscular torso while wearing a crop-top with padded, Nosferatu-sih shoulders. Tyron Dylan, Rick’s muse, looked like the yassified version of Count Orlock. The elongated, supernatural look was omnipresent in the autumn-winter 2025 collection. This time, the designer was interested in the idea of essentials. Cropped shearling sweaters and coats in black were cut up to the base of the rib cage, while double-face wool caftans in cream were cut down to the knee. Skimpy wide-leg shorts were (sometimes) made secure with thermal long johns of a type Owens only became an evangelical fan of after moving from California to Europe. “It’s about, How can I get rid of stuff and make the stuff that I really need as special as possible?’ And that is a good exercise when thinking about making clothes in the world the way it is today.” It was also a good exercise in showing clothes that, once acquired, you’d wish never to be parted from.
For the second season in a row, I had the unbelievably beautiful experience of seeing the Comme Des Garçons collection IRL, at the brand’s showroom near Place Vendome in Paris. It’s always quite a striking contrast: first you’ve got to cross all the bling-bling flagships, from Cartier to Van Cleef & Arpels, and then you suddenly immerse into the world of Comme. And if you’re lucky, Rei Kawakubo, the mastermind creative and founder of the brand, stands there, just behind the glass wall of her office, keeping her finger pretty much everything this company stands for. Really, not many 82-year old designers of her status are that present in their brands. Actually, not many designers of any age are THAT present in their brands.
Visiting the Comme Des Garçons showroom lets you truly understand Kawakubo’s clothes. Of course, attending the label’s fashion show is a dream, ranked high up in my wishlist of things to do. But at the showroom, you can see the garments upclose, feel their emotional deepness, and be struck by their extraordinary craftsmanship. Sharing the space with the designer herself adds a TRUE Benjamin-esque aura to it, too.
The autumn-winter 2025 collection from the menswear Homme Plus line had a loud, clear statement: “To hell with war”. Confronting the reality that young boys and men are being called up for army service, being sent to kill or be killed by countries across the world, can easily fall dumb-flat in case of fashion. But not when Kawakubo does it, so poignantly and movingly. And in any case, her position was straightforward: her young Comme soldiers are peaceniks. Their metal hats self-decorated with flowers or wrapped in fancy, vintage fabrics felt naive, but in a heart-warming, hopeful way. In their deconstructed field jackets and brass-buttoned army officer’s uniforms, they were “soldiers of love”, as Sade once sang.
Rebel and resist. For love, beauty and freedom. Rei, you’re a force.
Design & Culture by Ed 