Collage

Turn On. Tom Ford AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

It’s a true rarity for a designer to turn on both the entire audience in the room and the thousands watching via livestream. Haider Ackermann has that high-voltage erotic sensibility which you just can’t fake. With his vision at Tom Ford, he can send people into a sensual trance, an awakening of sorts. But what he delivered yesterday at his third show for the house? It was seismic. Seismic sex.

The contemporary Tom Ford woman and man are ultimate séducteurs. One chilling glance is enough to drive you mad. And the razor-sharp lines of their elongated silhouettes work like an aphrodisiac, sending your love hormones into overdrive. Ackermann’s autumn–winter 2026 collection offers plenty of reasons to go feral – and perhaps even a little polygamous: slouchy trousers hanging low on women’s hips, held in place by a thin belt slipping out of its loops; a shrunken, see-through plastic trench paired with a babushka; dark-rinse denim, pre-faded and deeply creased; silk-scarf shirts unbuttoned down to the navel. All of it finished with kinky leather gloves.

We are witnessing a designer at the height of his powers. Enjoy the spicy, scorching ride.

ED’s SELECTION:


TOM FORD Patent-leather Pumps



TOM FORD Silver-tone And Plexiglas Bangle



TOM FORD Open-back Lace-trimmed Polka-dot Silk-crepe Maxi Dress



TOM FORD Asymmetric Crepe-jersey Gown



TOM FORD Wool, Mohair And Silk-blend Blazer

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Disarm The Status Quo. Matières Fécales AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

The devastatingly beautiful drama of Matières Fécales is exactly what the hyper–high-gloss Paris Fashion Week needs. Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj’s vision of the world is one of sinister, post-post-capitalist dystopia: blood-red-palmed opera gloves, dollar-bill masks, post-op bandages, and Mr. Monopoly eveningwear evoke a band of supervillains poised to take over the world. Or perhaps these were undercover agents sent to disturb and disarm the status quo?

Whatever the underlying concept, Matières Fécales is a brand that certainly shakes up the model-casting landscape in Paris. Models, artists and aristocrats of different ages and body shapes – many with striking, vivid faces that show signs of a lived life – walked the show, dressed to the nines in corseted jackets, full skirts, and torn ball gowns. Some looked visibly uncomfortable, but in a pleasure-sparking, fetishistic kind of way, and a few ankles seemed nearly sprained; but beauty is pain, after all.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Strategic. Saint Laurent AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

I found Anthony Vaccarello’s latest collection for Saint Laurent a tad underwhelming – though I understand precisely what he was aiming for. In recent seasons, Vaccarello has leaned into a form of statement dressing sublimated from the archives of Yves Saint Laurent: think of the ruffled, hyper–maxi dresses that now dominate editorials, sweeping, theatrical, and unapologetically grand.

This latest offering, however, feels like a strategic retreat. It delivers a highly predictable vision of the contemporary Saint Laurent woman: razor-sharp black tailoring in the vein of Helmut Newton’s power-charged imagery; diaphanous, ultra-sheer lace dresses; oversized fur coats thrown over. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

ED’s SELECTION:


SAINT LAURENT Grain De Poudre Wool And Silk-satin Blazer



SAINT LAURENT Leather Gloves



SAINT LAURENT Knitted Maxi Dress



SAINT LAURENT Gold-tone Agate Ring



SAINT LAURENT EYEWEAR Sl 902 Howl D-frame Acetate Sunglasses

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Emotional Restoration. Dior AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Just after World War II, Christian Dior introduced the Bar jacket as part of his Corolle line. It was sharply criticized for its extravagant use of fabric at a time of postwar austerity. Yet that “unreasonable whim” was not mere indulgence; it was an attempt to submerge collective grief beneath beauty and fantasy. It was, in its own way, an act of emotional restoration – no less valid for being escapist. After all, drowning out pain through aesthetic excess is a coping mechanism many of us recognize.

I found Jonathan Anderson’s sophomore womenswear ready-to-wear collection for Dior a poignant continuation of that impulse. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Fashion! Fun! F*ck! Vaquera AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Fun! F*ck! Fashion!

Vaquera’s Bryn Taubensee and Patric DiCaprio’s autumn-winter 2026 collection is a reckless, badass love letter to fashion history. The opening looks echoed Rudi Gernreich and his eternally scandalous 1964 monokini. From there, the designers turned their scruffy lens toward Balenciaga’s 2006 collection by Nicolas Ghesquiere, in which he reinterpreted the great Cristobal Balenciaga’s radical experiments with shape. (Interestingly, about a year ago another Paris-based designer, De Pino, referenced the same collection – proof of just how seismic Ghesquière’s work once was.)

Amid this wild clash of worlds and styles, the Vaquera duo slipped in 1950s-inspired satin sack dresses—cut with risqué slits, so not quite so prim after all – alongside baby-doll peplum tops. “Interview“’s Dara Allen was obsessed; expect to see the looks on Addison Rae soon.

I’m on the fence about whether this already idea-saturated collection really needed the leather squares and triangles that covered the models’ bodies near the finale. Taubensee and DiCaprio excel at tweaking what’s stereotypically “pretty” or “classic,” and these avant-garde, Pierre Cardin-esque experiments felt somewhat disconnected from the rest. Still, they bring a welcome sense of humor to Paris, which can at times feel overly petulant.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.