Personal. Bode SS23

December 28, 2022December 28, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

For spring-summer 2023, Emily Adams Bode Aujla continued to explore 29 Clinton Street – the apartment in the Lower East Side where she founded her brand. But whereas last season she had sought inspiration in the memories of the space, the things she collected, and the parties she threw, this time she focused on something more abstract: the feeling of home itself. “We really honed in on more of the concept of the interior, the feeling of comfort from the old apartment,” she said on a frigid morning in her studio in Brooklyn. “There’s a lot more knits, crochets, and pajamas.” Not actually meant to be worn while sleeping, the pajama sets have become something of a staple for the designer for a few seasons. “I have always made pajamas, but I feel like people really started gravitating towards them after the wedding collection,” she said. A set in cream came adorned with white piping cord embroidery detail, and was worn with a white and cream crochet vest over it. Other versions in lavender (worn with a purple striped crochet polo) and a white-on-black windowpane check (worn with Bode’s take on a souvenir shirt, emblazoned with a map print) showed the versatility of the idea. Another set in the form of a hunter green velvet track-style jacket and matching trousers had the same ease as pajamas, but was made for those who may need to actually dress up for work. It was worn with a shirt and tie underneath. Adams Bode Aujla’s knitwear was a standout this season, especially the floral intarsia cardigans with latticed edges, and the breezy open crochet navy polo with red and white stripes, and another crochet cardigan in orange with white crochet appliqué flowers. Many of these were inspired by pieces from the designer’s vintage archive, but remade with comfortable, breathable yarns, “so they won’t itch and won’t combust.” She embraced her love of novelty items with a sweater that read EVERYONE NEEDS SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN RIGHT NOW I BELIEVE I’LL HAVE ANOTHER BEER, alongside a variety of horse-themed items: a short-sleeve button-down shirt with red piping, and an intarsia knit sweater and pants set in royal blue with yellow stripes. It makes sense that she is indulging in all the things that are so close and personal to her; next season she will return to Paris to stage a show, her first one since 2020.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Undying Love. John Galliano AW95

December 27, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

The festive time lets you look back at some fashion history in a relaxed, pleasurable way. After all the food, gift unwrapping, Christmas table talks and re-watches of both “Home Alone” films, I indulged myself in the beauty of John Galliano archives. And one of his pre-establishment collections just felt so right in this moment. Galliano’s autumn-winter 1995 “Dolores” collection marks a pivotal moment. It was essentially his last as an indie designer. About four months after this presentation, Galliano was named the creative director of Givenchy; a year later he transferred to Christian Dior and his namesake brand was acquired by LVMH. The Dolores of the show title was the actor Dolores del Rio. The invitation to the presentation consisted of pages from the heroine’s “tortured correspondence from the Rose of Alhambra hotel to her lover, Jaime, aboard the ocean liner Berengaria, along with a lock of hair and a broken locket,” reported The New York Times. Arriving at the venue, guests were ushered onto a snow-covered rooftop set littered with scows and populated by burly sailors. One of them, the report continued, “with bare feet and red manicured toes leaned against a chimney reading a book called Killer in Drag.” Perhaps most exuberant were the flamenco dresses, which allowed Galliano, who was born in Gibraltar, to iterate on his own heritage. There were ruffled numbers cut on the bias in shades of lavender and fuchsia, and peinetas (hair combs) took the place of tiaras. The Catholic imagination was also at work. A model in a whisper-light dress of virginal white carried a rosary and was followed by a shipmate wearing an ersatz crown made of prayer cards. Wearing a silk fuchsia number with a tulle bolero, Kate Moss kissed Johnny Depp seating in the front row. Another real love story of this collection was that between a man and his scissors. Galliano romanced the cloth with a technical savoir faire that was awe-inspiring. The carnation dress worn by Carla Bruni was not only cut on the bias but seamless, thanks to the floral inserts. One of these dresses is in the collection of The Met’s Costume Institute, and the catalog description notes that Galliano used the carnation “as a symbol of undying love.” What more is there to say?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

May the Christmas Season bring happiness, joy and peace to you and your family!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki featuring Marc Jacobs AW22 collection.

Understated Luxury. Loro Piana SS23

December 18, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

For a long while, Loro Piana has been a fashion-insider favorite because it exists outside of fashion, its silhouettes are unchanging despite shifts in trends and its materials are always made at the highest levels. Understated luxury has always been the story for this Italian brand. But as the company makes efforts to grow, it’s adopting some of the industry’s ways. The spring 2023 collection was designed around the theme of an Italian grand tour, beginning in Piedmont and making stops in Tuscany and Portofino, before ending up in the Aeolian Islands, with clothes designed for each destination. Piedmont, Loro Piana’s home base, yielded cold-weather outerwear: a shearling bomber; a bouclé camel hair and silk poncho; an alpaca wool coat with a subtle stripe; and a mohair, cashmere, and technical fabric coat whose weightlessness has to be felt to be believed. As the tour progressed south with the season, the clothes became more summery. A navy and yellow anorak and a shirt with rope embroidery spelling out the house logo both said “seaside,” and linen dresses like a loosely belted smock and a striped linen and cotton caftan were direct tickets to August holidays in the country. A sorbet-striped caftan in silk was a bit loud by Loro Piana standards. Handbags are a main focus for the company. The large bale bag in a warm brown leather with white topstitching and a bucket in striped woven cotton with leather trim are two worthy investments. Loro Piana already stands apart from the sexiness and flash of the Italian fashion, but to this insider’s eye, the best of the collection were the house icons, the unchanging “winter voyager” and “horsey short” jacket, both in cashmere; the cotton and linen “traveler”; and a bomber in water-repellant microfiber. No theme, no concept, and just great.

And now here are my festive picks from the brand! Who wouldn’t want to find some timeless Loro under the Christmas tree…

Loro Piana Coarsehair Cashmere-jacquard Sweater

Loro Piana Cashmere Baseball Cap

Loro Piana Faux Shearling Slippers

Loro Piana Double-breasted Reversible Shearling and Leather Coat

Loro Piana Striped Cashmere Sweater

Loro Piana Sesia Medium Leather Tote

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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La Raphia. Jacquemus SS23

December 13, 2022December 13, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

In the middle of winter, Jacquemus transported our minds to hot, sun-drenched summer. That’s the effect of “La Raphia” – the spring-summer 2023 collection he presented yesterday in Paris. Under a straw-storm that rained from above, his humongous cartwheel sun hats came out, balanced over his tiny cutaway things, some with trails, others with slinkily bunchy drapes, and still more with bits and pieces suspended from skimpy lingerie straps and held on with criss-crossed shoelaces in the back. Beachy sarongs, tiny shorts and soft-psychedelia ’70s-ish prints were all over the place, too. It was a happily playful excursion around all of the youthful, sexily revealing, quirkily accessorised bases he’s been building for his brand since 2009. This one, he said, was inspired by “girls you imagine in Portofino and Capri, going around with their hats and earrings and polkadot pants.” But there was something dramatic, Pedro Almodóvar-esque about it as well. There were mad fringed raffia hats, poufs of straw decorating triangle-shouldered tailoring, and one whole shaggy coat that was a collaboration with Lesage, the French haute couture embroidery house. Clutched in hands were soft bags (a new contrast to the miniscule Jacquemus purses of fame). And amongst the shoes the pointy toes implanted with a circle and a square on each toe, his own signature invention. Simon Porte Jacquemus is famed for his love of creating environmental scenarios—and for projecting the imagery with which he’s gathered an adoring public around him. Friends and influencers turned up at Le Bourget already dressed in the collection that was on the runway; others were wearing pieces from the one he showed in June. Jacquemus is all about humorous exaggeration and French romance, combined with a down-to-earth instinct for reality. This collection, in the last gasp of 2022, showed all of that at his best.