Gesture. Hed Mayner AW25

February 1, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

“The gesture allows the clothes to exist,” said Hed Mayner backstage at his autumn-winter 2025 fashion show a week ago. How true this sentence is. You can have the most finely made garment in the universe, but if it just hangs in the closet, does it even matter? Clothes need a person’s gesture to be alive. But some clothes work harder, and once they are given life, they in return transform the wearer’s body language.

Of all contemporary menswear designers, Mayner balances utility with beauty of clothes in the most supreme way. And his new season perfecto jackets, leather pants and fringed shawls not only make you want to wear them, but also gesticulate in them – a lot. The fit of his over-sized wool-felt coat is so graphic and bold it creates a real silhouette. Same can be said of the sharp, yet round-edged plaid tailoring and meaty-velvet culottes. I can totally confirm what I’m saying, as I had the utmost pleasure of trying some of these garments in the label’s showroom. They truly transform your stature, give confidence, but at the same time seamlessly convey this “don’t bother me” attitude, just like Yohji Yamamoto’s designs.

ED’s SELECTION:

Hed Mayner Oversized Hooded Bomber Jacket

Hed Mayner Oversized Terry Sweatpants

Hed Mayner Inverted-Lapel Oversized Sport Coat

Hed Mayner Large Inverted Pleat Pants

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Intensity of Living Today. Lemaire Aw25

February 1, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

In Paris, once you had to stand in a long line to enter a Christian Louboutin or Chanel boutique. Today, those stores are relatively empty, and the (even longer) lines are now shaping in front of Lemaire and Buly 1803 stores. That’s really telling about the contemporary customers. And honestly – they’ve got taste.

Lemaire, the product of Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran‘s highly-coherent creative dialogue, is a brand that although makes big numbers, still feels like a safe, intimate space for people who feel their best in soft minimalist sensibility. For the autumn-winter 2025 co-ed show, the duo delivered what they do best: chic layering, no-nonsense outerwear, witty accessories, and body-skimming silhouettes inspired by Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham’s post-rehearsal outfits. Tran said that the clothes sum up “the intensity of living nowadays.” Strokes of Almodovar-esque scarlet red made the offering feel exciting and livid. The Lemaire designers know what they’re doing.

ED’s SELECTION:

LEMAIRE Beaded Cord Keyring

LEMAIRE Printed Denim Jacket

LEMAIRE Twisted Belted High-rise Barrel-leg Jeans

LEMAIRE Mini Fortune Croissant Paneled Leather Shoulder Bag

LEMAIRE Wool And Cotton-blend Jersey Midi Skirt

LEMAIRE Wool Cardigan

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Séducteur. Saint Laurent AW25

January 29, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Yesterday in Paris, a flock of Saint Laurent séducteurs marched down a chandelier-ed runway. These men looked as if they teleported themselves from early 1980s to 2025. Anthony Vaccarello reimagines YSL menswear just the way he does in case of womenswear: via narratives and tropes connected to Yves’ life. A catalog of a 1983 YSL men’s collection which Robert Mapplethorpe photographed, with chiselled features sitting atop double breasted blazers, natty three-piece suits, and ties knotted with a firm hand, was the starting point. Mapplethorpe’s hardcore-leather-dom spirit was all over the wader boots and black trench coats. But another man in Saint Laurent’s life seemed to be omnipresent in this collecion: Helmut Newton and his vision of masculinity, often overlooked when compared to his women. Just look at the broad-shouldered suits that walked the runway, and then at the super-confident Parisians and cold-eyed Berliners captured by Newton for the pages of Vogue Paris.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Haute Refinement. Dior Men AW25

January 29, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Kim Jones‘ sensational Dior Men collection is exactly what happens when a designer is unburdened from another super-demanding job (meaning Fendi, the Roman brand where the British designer just couldn’t find his rhythm). This autumn-winter 2025 menswear collection was evidently thoroughly considered and planned, like an haute couture outing. The most stunning silhouette was either a trouser nor a skirt. It was a coat, worn backward, with the collar creating a kind of asymmetric cummerbund, the tucked-in sleeves forming “pockets,” and buttons running down the back. The silk-ribbon blindfold some of the models wore gave a pinch of extra-seduction. If only Dior womenswear was this good. Maybe when – as the rumor has it – Jonathan Anderson takes helm?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Romance of Grunge. Magda Butrym Pre-Fall 2025

January 23, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Introducing Magda Butrym’s pre-fall 2025 collection: a romantic, chic take on grunge.

Captured by Robin Galiegue and styled by Jacob K, the latest lookbook embodies real attitude and powerful sensuality – two elements that deeply inspire the Polish designer. The collection’s gritty, tough-at-heart energy is contrasted with touches of Slavic romanticism, a defining hallmark of the label.

The pre-fall 2025 collection thrives on contrasts, weaving together baby-doll silhouettes and porcelain-inspired florals with utilitarian aged leathers and charismatic, menswear-inspired silhouettes. It’s a dialogue between the refined and the rebellious, proper and raw. This is the spirit of grunge: the courage to clash unexpected style elements and finding utmost pleasure in playing with taste conventions.

The collection’s fearless essence was sparked by the documented style of grunge icons: PJ Harvey’s breezy vintage shifts, Courtney Love’s stage slip-dresses, Juliette Lewis’ broken-glamour and Kora’s unorthodox manner of dressing. Real women inspire Magda Butrym, so it was essential for the designer to convey authentic attitude – not just in the spontaneous layering of a masculine black leather vest over a delicate sage-green floral chiffon dress but also in the models’ dynamic, lively poses choreographed by Pat Boguławski in the lookbook.

Beneath the grunge-inspired layers, however, lies a space for unapologetic elegance – in its own way an act of rebellion in today’s fast-paced world. Statuesque refinement takes shape in a semi-sheer evening gown crafted from wire-structured silk, evoking the soft, sculptural beauty of a blossoming petal – or the calla lilies immortalized by Robert Mapplethorpe, the maverick artist celebrated for his erotically charged and groundbreaking work. Polka-dotted noble silks, ruched dresses, billow-y skirts, and the cascading drapes of earthy, mocha-toned eveningwear embody undone femininity – a grunge perspective compellingly reimagined by the designer.

Magda Butrym’s enduring fascination with Slavic heritage is vividly present in the pre-fall 2025 collection, manifested through unexpected handmade crochet details. A semi-sheer crochet skirt adorned with floral doilies surprises with mini-pannier padding. Lace embellishes the bustier and hemline of a floral slip dress and peeks out from beneath leather shorts, while the grunge-inspired bride-to-be wears a white crochet veil. The collection also revisits the headscarf – a quintessentially Slavic code. Reimagined in butter-soft leather, knitted mélange, or faded floral prints, the updated babushka look exudes sharp, feminine chic.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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