The Greatest. Dries Van Noten SS25

June 23, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Who would have known a fashion heartbreak could hurt so badly? Yesterday, in anticipation of Dries Van Noten‘s last show ever, the fashion industry was going through a collective mourning. Today, it’s a collective hungover, and not the most uplifting one. The thought that spring-summer 2025 collection was the last Dries show by Dries, and that there won’t be a Dries moment every Paris Fashion Week is just way too much to handle. I can hardly imagine how will this brand operate without its founder, and please, whoever takes it over – don’t dare to remove “Dries” from the brand name. And I really hope it’s true that Van Noten will quietly advise the design team or the still unknown successor for the next couple of seasons. Still, I want to own every single piece from the Belgian designer’s final outing, his 120th one (he held his first ever Paris runway show back in 1991), as it’s absolutely, quintessentially DVN. The show was opened by Alain Gossuin, silver-fox model who walked Van Noten’s first show. The celebration of the designer’s maverick work was closed by a parade of his all-time favourite models – Małgosia Bela, Debra Shaw, Kirsten Owen – as well as new faces. This wasn’t a collection of literal “greatest hits”, but it had all ingredients that made Dries Van Noten a space for people who didn’t want fashion, but style. No dramatic gowns or somber eveningwear, but highly wearable garments for everyday life. Dries was really committed to innovation here, experimenting with unlikely fabrics like brushed wool fused to neoprene or a crinkled polyamide that he likened to glass. “I didn’t want to make old clothes, and things which are looking old,” he said backstage. “But you have the transparent tops which sometimes catch some memories, and that for me was important.” Then, the color palette. The transition across shiny ripe purples, that incredible pink silk overcoat, the apricot mohairs, and pistachio lurex… this was Dries in full bloom, and a reminder he’s the ultimate colorist in fashion. The runway laid out with silver foil was later on replaced with a huge disco-ball for the after-party. The designer didn’t want to make his good-bye a teary one (still, many tears were dropped, at the show and in front of screens), but rather joyous. He’s about to start a fresh phase of life, leaving fashion on his own terms. That’s what the greatest do!

Now we all need a Dries wardrobe fix.

ED’s SELECTION:

Dries Van Noten Oversized Double-breasted Denim Blazer

Dries Van Noten Wrap-effect Ruffled Floral-print Crepe Skirt

Dries Van Noten Embellished Silk Clutch

Dries Van Noten Checked Cotton Bralette

Dries Van Noten Ruffled Floral-print Silk-blend Chiffon Midi Dress

Dries Van Noten Padded Velvet Thong Platform Sandals

Dries Van Noten Curled Gold-tone Pearl Earrings

Collages by Edward Kanarecki.
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Men’s – Potent. Courrèges SS25

June 22, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s an incredibly potent, sensual energy about this latest Courrèges collection by Nicolas Di Felice. While the spring-summer 2025 menswear collection drew in part from a series of illustrations of a Courrèges summer 1970 collection of groovy cut-out tunics and banded detailing on short dresses, the contemporary designer is far from being a nostalgia-ist, pushing the brand into future, not futurism. “I really need to work the clothes on the body. Something might seem simple,” he went on to say, “but we really do fit everything; we work on them – the jackets, the skirts, the trenches, even the simplest pieces – from A to Z.” And it really shows this season, especially in the masterfully engineered bibbed tops (the front panels of fabric supported by a body of invisible mesh) worn with killer, kicky pants. Then, there’s all the scuba-inspired leatherwork that’s dangerously chic. Also, note the collars of Di Felice’s trenches in cotton and leather (just soooooo good) falling onto one shoulder and sleeve; the same detailing gets added to roomier, blouson versions cropped at the hips. And that 1970 collection of Andre Courrèges’ provides the motif of a looped band over the chest, which delivers a geometric flash of skin on tanks and dresses that work right across the gender spectrum.

Scoop some Courrèges from my shopping edit!

ED’s DISPATCH:

Courreges Open-back Coated Cotton-blend Mini Dress

Courreges Reedition Appliquéd Ribbed-knit Tank

Courreges Belted Coated Cotton-blend Midi Skirt

Courreges Hyperbole Off-the-shoulder Ribbed Stretch Cotton-jersey Maxi Dress

Courreges Cocoon Convertible Coated Cotton-blend Jacket

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Big Time Sensuality. Lemaire SS25

June 22, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Lemaire‘s spring-summer 2025 collection was galore of understated sensuality. Soft tailoring revisited in light, supple fabrics, workwear imagined in refined materials, loose-fitting cuts following fitted lines and slender attitudes that enrich the wardrobe with a new sense of seductiveness. Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran played with sexy straps: they transformed outerwear into nonchalantly gestured shoulder accessory; they were integrated with knitted mini-dresses in form of garters that held up matching thigh-highs. I love to see these cheeky moments the brand surprises its loyal fan-base with (remember the butt bags?). The designers indulged in more quirky, flirty details, like the beaded body jewelry adorning a fluid dress or a guy’s cowboy black shirt pierced with small rings.

Here are couple of great Lemaire pieces you can shop now…

ED’s SELECTION:

Lemaire Western Striped Cotton, Silk And Linen-blend Shirt

Lemaire Croissant Small Paneled Leather Shoulder Bag

Lemaire Oversized Layered Ribbed-knit And Washed Cotton-poplin Jacket

Lemaire Wool Midi Wrap Skirt

Lemaire Leather Sandals

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Men’s – Borderless. Undercover SS25

June 21, 2024June 21, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

So far, Undercover‘s Jun Takahashi has presented the best collection of this menswear season. I still can’t believe in its beauty, a delightful balance of refinement, fluidness and tactility. The designer was thinking about the concept of “borderlessness“. “There are many categories, many tribes. I wanted to make it borderless. Because to eliminate conflicts, you want borders to be eliminated – that’s the metaphor. And because I work in fashion, this is how I can express that.” Human unity at a moment of fracture – a theme that isn’t easy to capture through the medium of clothes, but Takahashi did just wonderfully. In the opening section the designer seemed to consider the artist’s uniform, showing a series of loose linen jackets and high-hemmed pants in sky-blue, pink, or off-white. Straps were suspended from the jacket skirts, and the elbows, vents, and other points of physical articulation were bordered by zippers or slits. Some of the garments were printed with images of clouds or smoke. The closing section featured prints of Takahashi’s painted art whose subjects included a looming sphere-headed, many-tentacled entity, and which the designer called “my creature.” On their heads, the models wore either wide-brimmed hats with fishnet veils or headpieces of golden nails or leaves above lace masks across their eyes. Most wore ornate beaded collars at their necks and intriguing little details including brightly colored painted buttons. Later on there was a phenomenal ragged-edged skirt in what looked like an old baroque brocade. Full-length robes and trailing, metal-flecked sari-esque trains and skirts came at the end. “He wanted to provide a men’s collection which also has elements that are feminine,” reported Takahashi’s translator: “because he thinks this border is getting less and less.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Art Of Edginess. The Row SS25

June 20, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are in their experimentation mode. No longer bound to uncompromising minimalism they’ve established and refined to razor-sharp perfection throughout the years, they are confidently letting not-that-easy-to-digest edginess to The Row‘s world. Or maybe the most stylish twins in the world are taking a look back at their culture-shifting style from the 2000s? @eljosecriales started that discourse by comparing spring-summer 2025’s grey melange sweater worn over a white ivory slip dress worn over washed blue pants to one of Mary-Kate’s red carpet looks from 2004 that similarly played with layers in a cool, spontaneous, boho manner. That’s the definition of “auto-referential“! Most of the new season offering feels like a very instinctual play with clothes and accessories, never matching or fitting “as it should“, but striking an intriguing balance. Phoebe Philo’s late years at Céline had a similar essence, but the Olsens aren’t copying the British designer as they used to back in the day – they’re doing their own, authentic thing. As they should – they are by now very mature designers, as The Row is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary (the twins started with a t-shirt). And their just-opened shop in Amagansett will certainly sell these plaid shirts, breezy dresses, denim shirts and future-vintage evening dresses like hot buns. Oh, to be awfully rich and buy The Row like daily apparel!