Swan Lake. Magda Butrym SS24

June 26, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Magda Butrym’s elevated resort 2024 collection reflects the brand’s expanding vocabulary which is a clash of romanticism, femininity and assertiveness. Pure romance was conveyed in the pink column dresses with draped bustiers and shoulder-straps in rose-like shapes. Hot take on femininity can be seen in the gorgeous “revenge” LBD with v-neckline and the sheer knitted gown with hand-crotcheted inserts around the bust. Power-dressing – Butrym’s latest specialty that she keeps on refining – informed the oversized tailoring that took clues from masculine proportions, as well as in the all-leather separates (see the jacket with furry collar!). But the ultimate hero piece status belongs to the silver evening dress, wholesomely splashed with sequins and appliquéd with metallic florals. Magda Butrym wouldn’t be Magda Butrym without bold accessories with – you guessed it – flowers as the main characters. This time, the Polish designer mixes her signature blooms with XXL pearls, which appear on stiletto heels and in the Audrey Hepburn-approved chokers. As always, Butrym’s dream closet oozes with pure chic.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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What’s Hot (26.6.23)

June 26, 2023June 25, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Heart Beat. Marine Serre SS24

June 25, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Marine Serre‘s co-ed spring-summer 2024 line-up was pretty loaded with musicians: Teyana Taylor, Noah Cyrus, Miguel, Brooke Candy, and Sevdaliza all walked the show, turning the presentation into quite a star-studded affair. The latest offering was classic Serre, including patchwork graphic pieces, cutout dresses, full patterned outfits, and that signature crescent moon motif. As usual, all garments were made from upcycled, deadstock materials, making the French designer still one of the most uncompromisingly sustainability-forward name in fashion. The collection spoke to the label’s essence of marrying couture elements with sportswear feels, underscored by that familiar wild, haphazard energy that garnered its cult following. Titled “Heart Beat” (with the actual rhythm joining the show’s soundtrack), this fashion show bumped with charisma.

Men’s – Substance. Loewe SS24

June 25, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Substance” seemed to be keyword for Jonathan Anderson‘s spring-summer 2024 menswear collection for Loewe. The three Lynda Benglis fountains that the designer’s curatorial enthusiasm had brought together for the first time were the first clues. One was tall and looming, another an apparently kinetically charged wave mid-break, and the last low and spreading like an unpruned shrub. Splashes of water erupting from Beglis’ structures inhabited the runway space, making the Loewe show an art experience, not just a parade of clothes. But the clothes were equally transfixing as the liquid-like installations. The garments hewn by Anderson and his team for this collection defined the shape and aspect of the moving human substance within them. By pulling the waistband of his pants up so very high, Anderson said afterwards, he wanted to create a way of seeing this collection that was akin to viewing it from ground level with a fish-eye lens. Coating some looks with crystals that glinted in the skylight sunshine invited you to see another watery parallel with Anderson’s installed artworks. When not obscured by long coats, or three hypersized swatches (complete with hypersized pins) of what looked like chintzy vintage wall upholstery fabric, that looming silhouette was generally undisturbed yet variously expressed. Sparkly polo shirts, chunky knits, argyle sweaters, trench coat shirts, and bonded gray rib knits with rounded shoulders or two dimensional side-tabs were all cropped around the southern reaches of the wearer’s ribcage. Three leather jumpsuits near the end, one pastel pink, latter scarlet, the last black, combined the trouser shape with the upholstery facade into a hybridized silhouette. “It’s always about trying to find contradictions in men and women: like how do you blur all of that? I feel like something in this is very precise in that message, it’s very reduced, very luxe”, Anderson said.