Margaret Qualley

“He met Margaret on a rooftop, she was wearin’ white,

And he was like, ‘I might be in trouble'”.

Of course, the moment I saw Margaret Qualley stepping out on the Chanel haute couture runway dressed in all-white, I had this Lana Del Rey song on my mind. Dedicated to Jack Antonoff, her friend and long-time collaborator, and his wife, Margaret, the song is an ode to hope and love, and finding answers for big questions in the right time. This Virginie Viard couture line-up, very unfairly hated by most of the critics, encapsulated that mood very well, and was yet another endeavor into a sort of unhinged femininity that isn’t exactly what the mass media keep on expecting from her Chanel. Largely inspired by ballet and the zsa zsa zsou feeling of falling in love, the collection ran from white to fondant pastels and back again. The connection to dance was flickering through the silhouette of a tweed twinset of sorts – a cropped jacket whose matching under-piece was shaped like a leotard. Other highlight: a nipped-waist, full-skirted black coat-dress puffed out on a stiff white ballerina tutu. Then, a pink chiffon dress with a shirred bodice and flyaway, textile-arty bows mixed up in its skirts. The Chanel woman is a girl at heart, but not definitely not because of a TikTok trend, but in a Sofia Coppola-kind-of-way. The finale, of course, was the Chanel bride. She had on a tiny silver-white tunic for a dress with poetic balloon chiffon sleeves and was trailing yards of white tulle as a train. Romantic, decorative, but grounded in a kind of contemporary reality. That’s Virginie Viard’s style all over.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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So here we go again – the official (I emphasize ‘official’, as we’ve already seen Jacquemus in Provance and Vetements in McDonald’s two months ago as the aperitif of the season) fashion month triathlon is upon us! Lets start with Rodarte, which is a brand that navigates between Los Angeles and New York. Kate and Laura Mulleavy took a tactic they tried out for the first time a few seasons ago. No fashion show, but a look-book feauturing women they love and are friends with. This season’s bold, 80s-heavy sequins, ruffles and polka-dots are worn by the always amazing Kristen Dunst (I hope you’re watching On Becoming a God in Central Florida that’s airing now), Yalitza Aparicio, the sisters from Haim band, Margaret Qualley, Rowan Blanchard, Kiernan Shipka and basically all the girls Rodarte dresses for different occasions. All these women have a certain spark that feels so close to Rodarte and its dreamy womanhood concept behind. But put the look-book’s cast apart, there’s nothing ground-breaking about the collection – it’s a signature Rodarte line-up filled with couture-ish gowns. This time, though, the aesthetic feels more like Fragonard’s The Swing remixed with Slim Aarons’ photographs of rich, suburbian families having their garden parties. Lady-like combined with cartoonish. No other brand would pull this off without looking ridiculous.