Anthony Vaccarello served a collection that just couldn’t go wrong: 1980s-inspired tailoring and outerwear, checked. Bella Hadid in le smoking, checked. Pinches of Yves’ 1976 Ballets russes collection, checked. The Saint Laurent woman is a walking nostalgia. Especially, when she’s cosplaying Nan Kempner in brocade evening looks. It’s easy to fall in love with what Vaccarello does – he knows fashion theatrics, and certainly knows hot to sell big-time sensuality. But I always wonder if this good-looking time-machine (or irresistible time-trap) makes sense in our contemporary times?
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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Vaquera opened Paris Fashion Week with bonkers attitude – but one that is also commercially viable. “We’re still very punk in our roots,” said Bryn Taubensee, “but we’re asking ourselves, how can we also make it easy for people to understand and wear, and easy enough for us to survive?” Patric DiCaprio, the other half of Vaquera’s heart, put it more bluntly: “Shooting ourselves in the foot isn’t really where we see the future for our lives and this brand.” That’s why the spring-summer 2025 collection is all about Vaquera essentials – black bubble miniskirt with built-in bike shorts, bullet-bra tops and jersey tees with logos – with a provocateur twist. The XXL faux-fur coat is a joyous delight, just like the puffy ball-skirt in a kitschy, vintage-y chain print, styled with a monumental cloud-shaped. But there’s nothing whimsy about Vaquera, even their eveningwear as the New York-based duo styles it with over-sized rugby shirts and well-worn trainers.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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Chemena Kamali’s highly anticipated debut collection for Chloé has finally hit the stores, and damn, these clothes are hot. You know, sometimes you’ve got a brilliant fashion show or a look-book, but when you see the clothes separately, there’s just no spark. But in case of Kamali, she really did deliver. These pieces, which are the perfect balance of nomadic 1970s and boho 2000s, carry a sort of authentic patina that you get with vintage clothes that age well.
The designer’s first season at Chloé is her very personal ode to the maison. Kamali knows the history of the brand inside out, because she worked there as a Chloé-obsessed junior designer in the early 2000s under Phoebe Philo’s creative direction, and then again under Clare Waight Keller. She’s really at home here, and you can sense that in the way she so effortlessly revisits the Chloé vocabulary and codes. You have Gaby Aghion’s, the brand’s founder, carefree femininity; Karl Lagerfeld’s bourgeois chic he cultivated throughout three decades of designing at the brand; and the cool-girl spirit that Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, and Hannah McGibbon ignited in the aughts. But Chemena’s clothes and accessories also feel grounded in reality. The designer herself is a working mom, and she wants to make clothes that aren’t only feminine, but wearable. One might say that there’s nothing truly ground-breakingly innovative about the new Chloé. But then we live in post-post-modern world where nostalgia keeps on fueling current aesthetics. And Kamali orchestrates that nostalgia really well. Plus, I really love this brand, and I couldn’t stand what Gabriela Hearst was doing with it for the past few years. So seeing Chloé being Chloé again is just so pleasing.
The best of Chemena’s autumn-winter 2024 collection?
There’s this one Comme Des Garçons collection I just can’t stop thinking about. I might even say that spring-summer 2003 is my favorite Rei Kawakubo collection… ever. Of course I love and appreciate the garment-installations she’s presenting during Paris Fashion Weeks for over a decade, but I kind of miss that wearability she used to do so evocatively and sensually in the past. Back in 2003, the Japanese designer mused on decorating clothes without using any external embellishments. She wanted to achieve decoration that wasn’t superfluous – as if it was an organic part of the garment, not just sticking out from its surface. As a result, she extended the fabric of her cotton garments, tying and braiding the extra cloth to form bunchy plaits and rosettes. A bulky silhouette informed the collection: boleros, long skirts and tunics were all festooned with outcrops of chunky, tactile elements. But she also had “standard” clothes fused into the collection: very cool cargo pants with raw hems, t-shirts with the Filip Pagowski heart logo layered under “ripped” sheaths, and striking, beautifully tailored jackets with cascading lapels and open-backs. All that tangled up chic was also alive in the wigs by Julien D’Ys, which were stitched-up curls worn as crowns.
Lately I’m feeling very sentimental for the late Alber Elbaz‘s Lanvin. Maybe it’s also the anticipation for Peter Copping’s (hopeful) revival of the Parisian house. But I truly miss Elbaz and his incredible, unmatched approach to dress-making. The autumn-winter 2010 collection is one of my all-time favorite Alber for Lanvin moments. For day, it began with no-nonsense, clean silhouettes cut from matte stretch materials with a molded structure (see Magdalena Frąckowiak’s look!); dresses and coats were cut roomy in the shoulder, tapering to sensually clutch the hips. The eveningwear, consisting of simple jersey togas, was just so sublime. But with Elbaz, you always had minimalist ideas clashed with the joy of maximalism. The technical starkness of the collection was gradually steered away with the addition of chunky metal and rock-crystal jewelry, ostrich feather, sheer lace, and beaded spine-tracing zippers, building up to dynamic feats of diagonal pleating that crossed the torso in one direction and shot across the hips in the other. Dark, yet sensational glamour at its best.
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