Femme-hood. Saint Laurent Pre-Fall 2024

July 3, 2024July 2, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

It sometimes seems Anthony Vaccarello is more YSL than Yves Saint Laurent ever was. The Belgian designer has formed an immensely razor-sharp image of the contemporary maison, smartly constructed out of Saint Laurent archives and refreshed with modern-day approach to glamour. For pre-fall 2024 – that is now hitting stores – there are plenty of great weathered leather coats, blousons, and belted utility jackets. There are also two absolutely to die for le smokings, particularly the one suit whose tux jacket was faced with lace. But there was also the body-revealing part, one that caused a stir in Vaccarello’s winter 2024 collection we’ve seen in early spring. It was built on sheer stocking dressing, with fake furs casually thrown over it all. The story is here too, emphasized by lingerie-esque pieces and styled with black lace hose with just about everything – such a classically, somewhat naughtily playful Parisian gesture. The boudoir vibe was played up with a slew of gorgeous screen siren satiny long dresses, sinuous little slip dresses, and a new iteration of the jumpsuit, conjured out of a skinny-strapped lace-edged camisole, all of which were variously worn with stacks of chunky bangles and pointy satin-y sculpted shoes. You better don’t mess up with that femme.

Shop my favorite pieces from the collection…

ED’s SELECTION:

SAINT LAURENT Satin-jersey Midi Skirt

SAINT LAURENT Lace-trimmed Ribbed Silk-jersey Mini Dress

SAINT LAURENT Faux Fur Scarf

SAINT LAURENT Lace-trimmed Ribbed Silk-jersey Tank Top

SAINT LAURENT Hall Satin Mules

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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What’s Hot (3.7.24)

July 3, 2024June 29, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Sonia Petroff Aries Twisted Cord Belt

Dries Van Noten Embellished Metallic Jacket

Joy, Period! Marc Jacobs AW24

July 2, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

This week started with a sensational Marc Jacobs fashion show in New York. The designer is in such a great creative place right now: he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, doesn’t engage in New York Fashion Week, and just creates at his own pace some of the finest work in his career. As he wrote in the latest collection’s powerful note, “we use fashion to embrace bold and courageous self-expression to articulate and showcase our inner selves, allowing us to freely explore and display our thoughts, desires, and identities in a deeper pursuit of joy, beauty and personal transformation“. This isn’t another press release talk; this absolutely and truthfully sums up not only Marc’s work and contribution to fashion, but himself.

The show lasted just six minutes. Jacobs fancies this short, sharp-shock format, starkly contrasting to his past, excessive outings that featured entire runway productions. This “less is more” approach really gives so much more – intensely more. On the runway, a mosaic of all-time American symbols, hyperbolised and exaggerated as if they were Claes Oldenburg sculptures: Marilyn Monroe in her iconic subway grate dress from “The Seven Year Itch“, Minnie Mouse in her red and white polka dots (they also felt very Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist Marc collaborated with at Louis Vuitton), and princess gowns out of a fairy tale. Hyper-pop and vivacious: a bold act of resistance towards all the socio-political disasters going on in the world – and especially, in the U.S.? Maybe. But maybe the designer wanted to rebelliously commit himself to pure joy. And then you had the yellow polka dot bikini, several sizes too big. The proportions in this collection were distorted to perfection. The miniskirts’ ultra-short lengths, and the arcing hemlines of knee-length skirts, especially when they were higher in front than in the back, made models look like giants. “The future remains unwritten,” the designer concluded in his note. And maybe that’s a good thing?

How about some of my beloved pieces from past Jacobs’ Runway collections?

ED’s SELECTION:

Marc Jacobs Bustier Linen Wool Strapless Mini Dress with Scarf

Marc Jacobs High-Neck Draped Sequin Mini Dress

Marc Jacobs Leather Engineered Draped Mini Skirt

Marc Jacobs Prince Of Wales Wool Cropped Blazer Jacket

Marc Jacobs High-Waist Lace Briefs

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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What’s Hot (2.7.24)

July 2, 2024June 29, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Alaia Open Fringe Leather Belt

Toteme Sleek Leather Wedge Pumps

Lighthearted Feeling. Rosie Assoulin Resort 2025

July 1, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

What I love about Rosie Assoulin is the fact she doesn’t follow trends and always does her own, distinct, joyful thing at her namesake brand. There’s just so much radiance and optimism in her clothes, and they also please with their day-to-night versatility. Her resort 2025 offering is “light and unserious, but with real construction, and subtle fabrics,” she said. “We are trying to still appeal to our luxury tastes, but with a more approachable, lighthearted feeling.” That ethos is encapsulated in the tangerine, floral-print column “Banana” dress affixed with two padded crescents at the neckline and hanging off the shoulder. Or in the entrance-making flamenco-inspired number with a vibrantly ruffled hem. It’s intriguing how Assoulin effortlessly matches (and clashes) gingham checks in canary-yellow and turquoise with florals in contrasting colours; not many designers would pull it off so gracefully. No wonder why: the New York-based designer is a colorist of the ranks of Dries Van Noten and Alber Elbaz. Her unique approach to garment-construction is phenomenally reflected in the beige, ruffled midi-skirt that opens the collection and in the same-colour peplum top with striped cuffs and collar; its hourglass shape resembles vintage jugs and vases that have a cameo throughout the lookbook. And this takes us to the theme of home that often inspires Rosie in her work. “The home is a very interesting place for me. Domestic life feels very rich: what are the things we’re surrounding ourselves with, wanting to surround ourselves with? It feels like a philosophy for us“, she summed up.