Persist. Renaissance Renaissance SS24

November 13, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Renaissance Renaissance persists and thrives. Currently based between Paris and Beirut, Cynthia Merhej, the Lebanese designer, has recently come out the other side of a period of reviewing, revising, and refining. She has sought out suppliers and factories in Lebanon to assist her mother with production; reworked all her patterns and fine-tuned the fit of her existing garments; scrutinized her best-received designs to date and rejuvenated them. And she has found the time to develop shoes: sleek leather ballet slippers with sporty rubber soles, made at a family-owned factory in Lebanon, and embellished with silk bows she hand makes in her mother’s atelier. Merhej’s spring collection was beautifully put together, styled for the lookbook by Claudia Sinclair. “I wanted everything to be able to be layered over everything else,” the designer explained. “And I wanted to make everything really wearable, so that even our signature tulle skirts didn’t look too pouf-y and princessy, but could be worn every day, maybe even over jeans.” The highlights: neat little military-style, technical-twill blazers that segue into delicate tulle trims; a dove grey, bubble-hemmed mini dress in a sportswear taffeta that can be layered over knits or worn against the body; gathered tulle skirts, shirts and dresses that form a clever contrast with beautifully cut cotton shirts; layered cotton day-dresses with charming little bows and fastenings; cropped cardigans with slashed backs and trailing tulle ribbons embroidered with lines of poetry by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. “I just loved how they were able to talk about these very difficult subjects, sometimes violent, in a very soft, beautiful way.” For spring, Merhej had envisioned a protesting woman, walking on the street with white banners flying behind her. “I wanted to mix the idea of something that feels a bit more crisp and structured with a lot of softness, lightness and fragility,” she said. “I felt like I had to be a warrior, I had to keep going, and at the same time I felt inside like I was gonna crack!” She’s right to pour her vulnerability into her clothes.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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(Heart)Warming. Barrie AW23

October 29, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s nothing as (heart)warming as cashmere knitwear. Barrie, one of Scotland’s oldest knitwear manufacturer and since 2012 a Chanel Métiers d’Art house, elevates that credo like no other brand. Conceived by artistic director Augustin Dol-Maillot, Barrie collections bring together creativity, heritage and the most thorough attention to detail. For autumn-winter 2023, the brand looks at the painterly Scottish landscapes for inspiration, as scenic as the regional weather can be challenging. Classic earthy shades are clashed with bright tones and pops of colour (that red used in the knee-socks and bonnets!) and a hint of sparkle are the key elements of the current season. The warmth of colours and textures applied in the knits provide a wardrobe for both, a Parisienne with her well-worn vintage 2.55 handbag, and an avid mushroom hunter who just loves a stylish forest gear.

Mark your calendars, as Barrie is dropping its capsule collection co-designed with Sofia Coppola on the 2nd of November… I’ve seen its preview, it’s really something to add to your festive wish-list! Here’s Margaret Qualley teasing the collection:

Attitude. Celine SS24

October 22, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Some things don’t change, like Hedi Slimane‘s Celine. Not many designers keep on pushing their (very skinny) agenda so stubbornly. The spring-summer 2024 collection, presented off-schedule as a short film, showcases the Tomboy line-up at La Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. One of the city’s oldest cultural institutions, it serves as a library that houses the French royal collections since the end of the Middle Ages. But the Celine girls aren’t here to study – rather, they are on their way to another indie sleaze-coded party. Set to Too Much Love by LCD Soundsystem, the collection opens with a model reading a leatherbound book stamped with the gold Celine logo. Clad in a skinny black suit, the ensemble is a reminder of what Slimane does best – sharp androgynous tailoring. Then, a matching leopard print jacket and mini anchored segue to cutoffs and a leather jacket, both paired with tough boots are prime examples of this as is a pair of plaid boxers, worn with fuzzy-lined suede boots. It’s California by way of Paris, especially when you factor in the track suits and caps. The combination has proved to be irresistible to the brand’s clients (I know, I’m shocked too…). For evening, Slimane offers long dresses worn with blazers and knee high boots, as well as mini dresses in sparkly gold and liquid-y silver. It’s hard to seek any fashion novelty at Hedi’s Celine. This designer’s force of persuasion lies in attitude, styling, and his endless glorification – even fetishization – of youth.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. Duran Lantink SS24

October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Duran Lantink’s namesake label is built around radical sustainability, and in July he won the ANDAM Special Prize for it. But for his recent fashion show in Paris, the Dutch designer somehow managed to draw attention away from the now-expected deadstock-upcycled-repurposed talking points to make a new, confident statement. “At the moment I’m really experimenting, trying to find my handwriting,” he said backstage before the show. “I started with combining clothes and pieces, and now I am really thinking about shape.” For spring-summer 2024, he sent out pneumatic, bulbous silhouettes, from a curvaceous, artificially puffed-up sheath dress (a nod to Comme Des Garçons’ legendary “Lumps and Bumps” collection from 1997) to floating necklines, itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny “bubble jeans” bottoms, and tops resembling floating devices known in France as “frites”, though the show notes called them “tubular objects d’art.” A lifejacket was cleverly worked into a forest green bomber. A 19th century silk veil was paired with a traditional Dutch bonnet to become a sundress; a vintage macramé tablecloth got a similar treatment. Both were charming. Other hybrids included a cage dress made of a sliced black T-shirt, knit deadstock and a piece of a skirt worn over a white bubble top; an experiment in three-dimensionality, the designer explained. “Speedo-jeans” were another attempt at something new. Those starred the classic men’s swim briefs spliced with vintage jeans and hand-knitted leg warmers. Lantink’s focus is solidly on questioning our relationship to traditional clothing. The final number, a black hourglass cut-out dress with hook-like shoulders, was a case in point. Even before the designer revealed, post-show, that the Met Costume Institute, the V&A and the Stedelijk museum have all acquired his work for their permanent collections, this outing gave its audience plenty to think about.

Traces of Living. Miu Miu SS24

October 6, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Miu Miu is the Sofia Coppola of fashion. With this brand, Miuccia Prada tells stories of girls (on the verge of womanhood) trying to navigate the fascinating, particular world we live in. The spring-summer 2024 collection, which is the cherry on top of this never-ending fashion month, explores a rationale of beauty today, beauty, that echoes the complexity of our era. Miuccia has a solution: instead of rigid paradigms, there is a radical expansion, a rich plurality. Not beauty, but beauties, an embracing of unique characters, the joy of life. With that in mind, the designer re-established the Miu Miu silhouette that’s seen recent collections fly off the shelves: skimpy hemlines expressed in knickers (worn as daywear), shorts and tiny tennis skirts paired with oversized blazers, bombers and coats. Triangular tops styled with low-slung tailored trousers continued the 2000s vibe beloved by a new generation of shoppers.

The collection was underpinned by a decidedly preppy mood that riffed on an American idea of ease: crested jackets over polo shirts over shirts worn with Bermuda shorts. There’s that intriguing “realness” about the recent Miu Miu collections. This time, Prada imbued her garments and accessories with what she called “traces of living”: marks on leathers and suedes, and fabrics that faded as if they’d been washed too many times. She called the pre-worn sensibility an expression of “existing love” demonstrated by the repeated use of clothes. A similar sensibility was reflected in the “real” styling (done wih Lotta Volkova’s assistance) of the slightly dishevelled layering of dresses, jumpsuits, cardigans and T-shirts, which evolved the barely-got-out-bed look that characterised last season’s collection. As a brilliant nod to real life, the toes of flip-flop-wearing models were adorned wore neon-coloured plasters. That sense of realness was also embrace by a diverse cast. Singer Troye Sivan flew the flag for the Miu Miu boy, while the artist Petra Collins and the photographer Eddy Aldridge wore “misfit” eveningwear. The Sofia Coppola reference perfectly materialized in the appearance of Cailee Spaeny, the actress who stars as Priscilla Presley in the latest work of the director.

Collages by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram! By the way, did you know that I’ve started a newsletter called Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!