Twisted. Keisukeyoshida SS24

December 30, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

As we’re approaching 2023’s end, I wanted to spotlight one of the most intriguing emerging designers out there: Keisuke Yoshida. “I’ve had an image of this woman in my mind,” the Japanese designer said while explaining his new collection. “In my head, she’s wearing an outfit, and I can’t tell if it is a wedding dress or a mourning dress. But somehow, I know that she’s like a mother.” Last season, Yoshida’s imaginary maternal muse had been a strict, teacher-like figure with fabric clasped tight across her throat, but this time she’s come undone. Yoshida had engineered her transformation through feminine staples, using ivory silk blouses and soft, dusty pink tailoring that bared the chest, while lapels and collars were inverted or twisted so that they poked up in awkward directions, as though they’d been pulled on in a hurry. Old wedding dresses Yoshida had found in Tokyo were reworked into one-off corsets, lace gloves, and trousers, so that embellishments of pearls and sparkly lace glistered over hands or raced across the thigh, while broken ceramics served as earrings alongside seductive secretary specs. Best of all was a would-be office-appropriate pencil skirt, out of which peeked a silk camisole whose straps dangled upside down towards the ankles. Those theatrically spiky stilettos and wide-brim hats could well have evoked Irving Penn, or old photographs of Parisian couture from the 1950s, but what makes Yoshida’s work feel right for the moment are the strange quirks he sprinkles in to humanize everything, offsetting any old-world glamour or preconceived notions of feminine mystique to create something delicately twisted.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Girl Uninterrupted. Zimmermann SS24

December 27, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

I’ve never been a Zimmermann person, but since Lana Del Rey was wearing the brand’s dresses throughout her 2023 tour, I had to reinvestigate its ultra-girl charm. And I must say that I’m in love with Nicky Zimmermann‘s spring-summer 2024 offering. In a collection that contained three main and sometimes intermingling strands – sportily versatile knit pieces; volumized many-ruffled and guipure-edged georgette and charmeuse dresses; and slouchy but smart tailoring in denim and leather – you had a sense of breezy easiness. The pastel jersey looks resembled off-duty dancers’ attire, built for freedom of movement but not visually defined by technicality: a compelling alternative for the yoga-pant constituency. This sporty duality carried over into racerback white lace crops, which were used as formfitting eveningwear base layers over pretty, vaguely Sicilian baptism-gown butterfly-and-flower-pattern voile dresses edged with more cappuccino froths of lace. There was similar genre-blending in looks that placed spaghetti-strap, sometimes semi-sheer tiered mid-length backless dresses over appealingly generous, carrot-cut washed jeans, or light lace tops under textured tailoring. The dresses included a caped and draped robe in graduated dégradé patches of violet, orange, and pale yellow derived from abstract landscapes. Zimmermann said the often layered and backless flower-bomb gowns and shirtdresses had been purposefully given a washed, faded finish because “we want it to feel that the girls are walking and the flowers are just around them.” Sometimes garlanded with lace petals and handsome golden jewelry, including bunch-of-grapes earrings, these had a Dionysian freshness to them. As the viral TikTok sound sums up, “this is so Lana Del Rey vinyl“.

Need some Zimmermann wardrobe fix? Let me help!

ED’s SELECTION:

Grosgrain-trimmed Wool And Silk-blend Duchesse-satin Blazer

Gathered Silk And Wool-blend Mini Dress

Ruffled Tiered Gathered Floral-print Crepon Mini Dress

Asymmetric Floral-print Linen And Silk-blend Midi Dress

Large Leather And Macramé-trimmed Straw Tote

Crochet-trimmed Patchwork Paisley Linen Midi Dress

Pussy-bow Corded Lace-trimmed Striped Linen And Silk-blend Mini Dress

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Christmas Greetings!

December 24, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Merry Christmas, loves!

Let’s all take a moment for rest, and wish each other good health, global peace, and LOVE.

Seasonal greetings featuring Nadja Auermann in Vivienne Westwood autumn-winter 1994 (I miss the ultimate Dame so much). I love a good, old, kitsch-y Chrismas postcard!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Contemporary. Helmut Lang Pre-Fall 2024

December 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Peter Do’s second collection – pre-fall 2024 – for Helmut Lang proves that the designer might be really the right match for the brand. Helmut Lang, the label, has been struggling for years with finding it’s tune. No wonder why: it’s difficult to position a contemporary brand without its namesake founder at helm. Just look at what’s going on at Ann Demeulemeester. Do, however, always seemed to have a similar aesthetical sensitivity to Lang, and while his debut collection last September was bumpy, the newest collection offers a more developed glimpse at his vision for the New York-based brand. You can easily see these slinky, less-is-more clothes hanging on racks in stores and imagine customers being attracted to their essential cool. You can also see @brendahashtag wearing every single look. Worth mentioning are the paint-splattered pieces, an OG Helmut Lang specialty, all done by hand by an artist from LA. And the raw denim is cut with adaptable flap pockets, versatility being one of Do’s signatures. The tailoring, meanwhile, is made with an attention to detail that seems rare at these price points – see the inner waistband of the trousers for proof. Excess straps and oversize proportions might seem like too much at the first sight, but all the zippers you see have a function: the sleeves come off a leather biker jacket, and pants zip into shorts or go from straight-leg to flared. A two-in-one bomber puffer in black with white accents was another standout.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Handsome Femininity. Victoria Beckham Pre-Fall 2024

December 11, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

“I like to put a bit of myself into my collections,” says Victoria Beckham. For pre-fall 2024, the designer followed the threads of the semi-autobiographical mainline show she put on in Paris: ideas stemming from the weekend country-life she lives these days on the one hand, and from her ballet-mad girlhood on the other. The collection informed both, her knack for styling – as usual – and by her empathy for making clothes that are actually useful. The contemporary-dance influence flows through her series of long, fluid dresses. Some have cutout necklines with wired curliqued inserts. What’s newer, but also well-established by now, is Beckham’s reputation for tailoring. That’s the side she refers to as “handsome feminity” in this collection – meaning the look of British heritage tweeds and preppy peacoats, styled together with turtlenecks, shirts, and cropped flares, or casualized with cargo pants or various permutations of denim pieces. She has a well-judged way of making these templates interesting as well as simple to wear.