So I’m back in my Nicolas Ghesquière rabbit hole. Maybe it’s just the way Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Balenciaga is giving me no more hope, and as a coping mechanism I’m looking back at the brand’s age of greatness? Just like in the case of Ghesquière’s beautifully bizarre, acid-trippy autumn-winter 2007 collection I covered back in May (also, can someone explain to me how on earth it’s September?), three years earlier he did another masterpiece. READ MY FULL TEXT HERE.
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There comes a time every year when I tumble down the old Lanvin rabbit hole and find myself missing Alber Elbaz. Terribly. His untimely passing in 2021 still feels strangely impossible to believe. No one lasts forever, but a great legacy does (yes, Charli xcx’s new song featuring none other than David Cronenberg hit me right in the feelings).
I have countless favorite Alber Elbaz collections for Lanvin, but lately I keep returning to autumn–winter 2004. With Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista in the front row beneath a monumental chandelier, the show felt like an aristocratic family on the brink of bankruptcy, dressing for one last ball, one last soirée. Slightly antiqued crystal flower brooches were pinned onto day dresses, shredded chiffon roses tucked into buttonholes, and a grey fox fur was thrown nonchalantly over a heavenly white slip. A little black dress, cut just above the knee and exquisitely cinched at the waist, became an exercise in eveningwear virtuosity – the kind that made women around the world fall in love with Alber’s work. READ MY FULL TEXT HERE.
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Today, looking at a Dolce & Gabbana show hurts. The brand’s recent strategy to lure rich millenials through casting Instagram stars for their runway is, politely saying, ridiculous. Also, I don’t feel like writing much about Domenico and Stefano‘s pride in dressing America’s First Lady, or the latter’s drive for dramas and beefs on social media. But, even though it’s hard to believe it in 2017, Dolce & Gabbana used to do fashion. And really good fashion. Autumn-winter 2004 season is a great example of that. Inspired with Helmut Newton’s photographs and muses, the designer’s collection was about a hedonistic, ultra-chic, dramatic, yet powerful woman. Lots of sheerness, romantic lace, sassy fur, seductive satin – that was extremely Dee-Gee at the beginning of the millennium. The models – from Stella Tennant and Mariacarla Boscono to Nadja Auermann and Karen Elson – killed the audience with their walks.
