Mark Kean

“Devastatingly beautiful” is perhaps the only way to describe Ponte, Harry Pontefract’s brainchild that relentlessly pushes the boundaries of the body and proportion. His lookbooks – photographed by Mark Kean – read like portraits of characters: often oneiric, sometimes distant, at times even unsettling.

What makes Ponte one of the most exciting projects today – or, as Pontefract himself puts it, neither fashion nor art, but “its own kind of beast” – is the staggering range of techniques he employs, defying easy classification. His work exists somewhere between the orbits of haute couture and arte povera – painstaking yet brutal, innovative yet honest. One of the spring–summer 2026 suits, for instance, was colored in pencil for hours on end, then hand-burnished with a spoon to blend the layers into one another. Another look features a dress made of wire filaments – “finer than hair,” according to the designer – cut by a hairdresser and brushed with magnets. The “second-skin” bodysuits, composed of diamond-shaped pieces of hosiery, have an eerily chilling effect. I have goose-bumps.

There are also the striking, Sarah Lucas–like experiments: worm-like tubes wrapping the body, or a felted wool dress sculpted to resemble organs erupting from within. And then there’s the mini-dress that, upon closer inspection, is constructed from all kinds of debris – leftover textiles, wires, paper bags, even a tiny putto figurine poking out of its sleeve. It’s stunning – and devastating at the same time.

In an age oversaturated with collections, looks, and clothes, it’s increasingly rare for a brand to truly capture one’s attention. Ponte makes you not only surprised – even shocked! – but also encourages you to pause – and contemplate.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Row is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year – meaning that Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen are true industry veterans. And their brand is like wine – it does get better with age.

Spring-summer 2026 collection, photographed by Mark Kean (have you noticed the sudden Kean-ification of ad campaigns and editorials? He’s certainly got something of early Steven Meisel), is a fine study of what the Olsens were always interested in the first place: the basics. Don’t forget that The Row’s primary idea – and promise – was to create the most perfect t-shirt. There were a couple this season, as perfect as the ikebanas documented in the lookbook.

Other than crisp cotton shirting, lived-in tailoring, and startlingly monastic black evening dresses that could play a role in an Ingmar Bergman film, there was that one, chic accessory that was responsible for all the inventive styling: a bejeweled, rectangular brooch. Of course, it’s straight out of Miuccia Prada’s sciura playbook (the Olsens are known for referring – sometimes borderline imitating – designers like Martin Margiela or Yohji Yamamoto). A brooch can elevate any dress, fasten a cardigan like a scarf around your neck, or just be, on a jacket’s lapel. Now, since the Olsens have made their stance on this little tiny accessory, expect a lot of mini-essays about the art of wearing a brooch from Substack girls.

The designers, fully based in Paris for a couple of seasons now, know how to keep their loyal clients – and online admirers – in chokehold, in the most noiseless, elegant and sensual of ways.