Men’s – Cowboys. Louis Vuitton AW24

January 17, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Two seasons might be two early to call, but as they say, first impression is the right one. Pharrell Williams’ direction at Louis Vuitton feels like watching a very self-satisfied kid play around with new, shiny toys. Or rather, as in case of the LVMH machine, huge resources. For his first fashion show for the brand, the musician decided to turn Paris into his sandpit. Why not make Pont Neuf (and eventually paralyze Parisian traffic for a day) a runway venue? Then, for his sophomore season, Pharrell picks a new theme: now he wants to play with cowboys! There’s no need for a further review of the autumn-winter 2024 outing at this point. The clothes – or rather overstyled outfits, some better, some worse – speak straightforwardly for themselves. Cowboys. Horses. So Ken.

I might have never been a number one fan of Virgil Abloh’s work for Louis Vuitton, but he had concepts and ideas, sometimes very risky and envelope-pushing ones, flipping this brand upside down. Pharrell is orchestrating (or at least is a face of it) a big, big marketing ploy, with no much consistency, coherence or sense. Will it turn out that well in the long run? Time will tell. I might never understand it. And I’m fine with that.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Men’s – In Search Of A Spark. Gucci AW24

January 13, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Sabato De Sarno‘s vision for Gucci is taking shape of a formula. His debut womenswear collection was a product-centric, straightforward parade of unoffensive clothes; the ad campaigns operate on blank backgrounds and offer no visual risks; and his first menswear collection for the brand is also moving in that generic, business-is-business direction. Except for one kinky, taken-out-of-the-Tom-Ford-book look where the model wore nothing but a pair of tailored pants, a tie-leash and a pair of leather gloves, this Gucci outing left you with no bold impression. Maybe because most of the looks were the same as in De Sarno’s September debut – like the opening over-sized coat, or the navy v-neck knit with embellished collar, or the color palette consisting of pops of cherry red? It’s actually quite surprising the designer has such confidence in these couple of looks that he’s already mirroring them. It’s probably to early to call, but De Sarno’s Gucci feels like mash-up of your favorite Italian brands: a bit Prada there, bit of Valentino here (where the designer worked before his Gucci appointment). The only signifiers that make it Gucci are the monogram logo, placed on belts and backpacks, and bag re-issues. Don’t get me wrong: those are really good clothes, there’s nothing wrong about all these timeless pea-coats and loafers. But I don’t think De Sarno is giving us enough reasons to be invested in his new Gucci. The designer gives big statements on “artisanship“, “Italianity“, “beauty“, even “good taste“. But as he says himself, “I don’t have a narrative for my collections at the moment”. That shows.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Men’s – Incense In The Air. John Alexander Skelton AW24

January 12, 2024January 17, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

In London, (the unofficial) Men’s Fashion Week couldn’t begin in a more astounding, ecclesiastically-euphoric way. At St. Bartholomew the Great, London’s oldest parish church, with air heavy with incense, John Alexander Skelton had his triumphant return to the runway. For autumn-winter 2024, the designer -took inspiration from the gothic aesthetic and intangible emotions that This Mortal Coil, an ’80s dream pop collective, elicited. “It’s my emotional response to the music“, he said. That took shape in romantic longline coats, tailored suiting, knitwear and shirting, with Skelton’s signature horn buttons dotted throughout, and sported by stately models clutching lit candles in hand. Regal, but chic; mystical, but not whimsy.

Inky blacks composed the majority of this season’s palette, a choice Skelton attributed to examining 15th-century portraiture in which wearing black was “generally thought of as a power symbol,” he explained. It was contrasted with a drop of blood-red ruby, which took the form of meaty velvets. While John Alexander Skelton is often inclined to spin a rich and theatrical yarn around his collections, the essence of his appeal lies in the clothes themselves – just hold one of his shirts or tailored trousers in your hands, and the extraordinary craftsmanship and timeless textiles look and feel just as arresting as any of his runway spectacles.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Artist At Home. S.S. Daley SS24

July 11, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The theme of artist at home has sprung dozens of stories where a visionary creates a vividly alive environment that becomes not only their studio, but a “total artwork” (Germans have a term for it: Gesamtkunstwerk). History of art – especially the British one – has plenty of examples of such romances between creatives and their surroundings. Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill. Sir John Soane’s home-turned-museum. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s Charleston, which became a bucolic residency spot for the Bloomsbury Group. For his spring-summer 2024 collection, Steven Stokey-Daley centres around the duality of ceremony and practice, following the life and home of an artist. Harry Styles’ favourite designer began his research by studying the lives of British painters Lucien Freud and David Hockney in their working environments, taking a look back at British public school dress while examining the shifts in sexual identity in the early 1900s. All that sounds distinctly S.S. Daley. The new season offering is a neat continuation of Steven’s style vocabulary: clean-cut suiting is paired with pleated shorts, blooming hydrangea embroideries decorate striped workwear sets, oversized wool knits are canvases for charming dachshund puppies (Hockney’s favorite breed, as well as mine!) and ducks. Some of the shirts come in still life fruit bowl print, which reminisces the ever-evolving European artistic tradition. Multi-pocketed, waterproof coats are nonchalantly splashed with paint (you just always splatter your favorite clothes while painting!), echoing the collection’s idea of merging the domestic intimacy with the sacred act of creating and expressing your own, untamed, highly-personal thing.

And here’s a bunch of my favourite S.S. Daley items you can shop right now:

S.S.Daley Navy ‘Bunny Boy’ Long Sleeve T-Shirt

S.S.Daley Off-White Tabard Vest

S.S.Daley Off-White Striped Shirt

S.S.Daley Red Tabard Vest

S.S.Daley Beige Large Tote

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Downdressed. Officine Générale SS24

June 24, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

When it comes to French style, nobody does it like Officine Générale‘s founder and designer, Pierre Mahéo. For spring-summer 2024, the designer “wanted it to be simple, but when it gets too simple, it’s boring, so you sort of need to trick it with styling.” He added: “I didn’t want undressed, I wanted downdressed.” Those sentiments underscored what the collection upheld: a languid fundamentality that wasn’t plain, but truly desirable. Mahéo made a strong case that purity in form can still come with a little flair and dazzle. The beautifully cast show opened with a black-and-white toned palette, and paired tailoring, foulards, and loose, almost pajama-esque shirting. Waistbands were elasticized; socks and garters were knee high – it clashed undone and done up nicely, but fell, impression-wise, on the simpler side of things, which was exactly Mahéo’s intention. The super chic designer also mentioned, in his show notes, that a “cold and rainy” winter in Paris led him to inject a bit of warmth into the mix. Enter ultraviolet and teal tones, tank tops and breezy shorts. Officine Générale is known for elevated essentials, yet this all felt truly summery – like Mahéo was exhaling, and finding a new stride of easygoing magic in the moment. Oui, oui, oui!