Stranger By The Lake. Prada SS26

June 27, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Mini-lengths and hairy legs. Peggy Guggenheim-inspired hats. Wallpaper prints and oversized florals you can spot on sciuras’ dresses in the Italian buses. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ latest menswear collection feels like a vibe shift: instead of regality and sophistication, or a sharp take on the Prada uniform, a collection so straightforwardly joyful it’s nearly suspicious.

Nothing conceptual: more of an instinctual approach to summer dressing. Even fashion’s biggest brains need a season off, a mind-vacanza of sorts. “This has been the easiest collection I have ever done”, said Simons. Signora added: “Everything worked with everything.” There’s just something absolutely irresistible about a vintage-y t-shirt (with a seductive “Last Swim” print – the romantic thriller of “Stranger By The Lake” comes to my mind immediately), paired with cropped, aged leather jacket and tailored pants in colour-block shade. Or a simple, chic, all-white look. One of the boys looked both naïve and cool in a mini-length shirt-tunic, styled with a red raffia hat and a pair of flip-flops.

I can totally picture new Prada menswear on myself. All of it.

ED’s SELECTION:

Prada Men’s Re-Nylon Snap-Front Jacket

Prada Men’s Shuffle Leather Double-Monk Strap Mules

Prada Men’s Sartorial Linen Pants

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Lovers. Gabriela Hearst Resort 2026

June 9, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst makes no-nonsense clothes. Her work is often criticized for lucking “edge” – but then, somebody has to make proper, classic, always-good-looking clothes. And there actually is something edgy about her resort 2026 collection, starring Malgosia Bela, Leon Dame and Alex Olson, photographed by Zoë Ghertner. Some context: the designer is lately obsessed with Tarot, pulling a card each morning and writing down the results. The Lovers card in the Marseille deck gave this collection its radiant color palette: cobalt blue (take a look at the sumptuous cashmere poncho she did in this magnetic hue), with sprinkles of pastel-pink and bottle-green. It also gave her a template for this simple, but evocative lookbook. In the Marseille deck, there are three figures on the Lovers card rather than the usual pair: two women and a man. Hearst did some rearranging, and she’s got one woman and two men in these pictures. A power move. The garments, un-fussy and “un-styled”, are remarkably handsome: think M-65 field jackets, double-face cashmere coats and all-black eveningwear. Looking for edge? There’s the Americana-inspired cow print, a lovely springboard from the understated vibe Hearst’s clothes emanate with.

ED’s SELECTION:

Gabriela Hearst Girard Shirred Dress in Sapphire Aloe Linen

Gabriela Hearst Lacquered Tote Bag in Black & Ivory Patchwork Leather

Gabriela Hearst Lyla Knit Ponco in Dip Dye Bordeaux Multi Welfat Cashmere

Gabriela Hearst Amethyst Stalactite Necklace

Gabriela Hearst Harriet Raffia Mule

Gabriela Hearst Wyn Jacket in Recycled Denim Linen

Gabriela Hearst Fatima Crochet Skirt in Multi Cashmere

Retrospection. Balenciaga Resort 2026

June 5, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Demna is in a retrospective mood – as he should. The visual language that he has created throughout the decade of working at Balenciaga is probably the style that will be the most heavily analyzed by fashion historians when dissecting the fashion of 2010s and 2020s. It’s era-defining, whether you love it or hate it. Resort 2026 isn’t his final collection for the house – it’s the highly-anticipated haute couture line-up in July, where you can expect the least expected – and I’m glad he chose to look back at his biggest Balenciaga hits. From oversized duvet jackets and coats-worn-over-coats to super-mini tea-dresses and something’s-off-looking hoodies, this collection sums up Demna’s ready-to-wear for the maison in the most straightforward, clear way (with a Britney Spears cameo on the prints and the BFRND soundtrack, just to spice things up). In his subversive oeuvre, the designer has an affection for studying archetypes: think art curators, bikers, fetishists, politicians, soccer players. The “Exactitudes“, named after a series by photographer Ari Versluis and writer Ellie Uyttenbroek, who have also worked on this lookbook, inspired Demna’s approach to fashion up to this point. “Working on this collection felt like a homecoming after all these years, a very formidable experience of love for fashion and dressmaking,” Demna said. “It is the end of a wonderful era that I wanted to capture and celebrate by creating the Balenciaga ‘archetypes’ – the people, the silhouettes, the vibes, and the ideas that have all been fundamental in my work for this amazing house.” Come September, a radically new methodology is set to reanimate Gucci. Is Milan ready?

ED’s SELECTION:

Balenciaga Oversized Asymmetric Cotton-twill Trench Coat

Balenciaga Draped Plissé-crepe Midi Dress

Balenciaga Technoclog Rubber Mules

Balenciaga Bow-detailed Layered Lace-trimmed Satin And Jersey Top

Balenciaga Rodeo Large Leather Shoulder Bag

Balenciaga Lace-trimmed Wool Midi Skirt

Balenciaga Bat Cat-eye Acetate Sunglasses

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Royal Lightness. Loro Piana AW25

April 17, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Season after season, Loro Piana channels a style so mature, refined and understated, that one wonders whether the (largely anonymous) creative team behind it is pursuing some sort of perfection. It might actually be in reach of the Piedmont-based brand with the yarns and fibers they source, and the sumptuous cashmere apparel that ends up in their boutiques. Loro Piana isn’t doing fashion; rather, the label gives its clients elegant solutions. The autumn-winter 2025 collection has plenty of them, for both women and men, but this time around with a horseback sensibility – seen through an aristocrat’s lens. That prince – or princess – isn’t scared of getting their hands dirty while planting tulips or hunting truffles. Patterned intarsia knit sweaters, gaucho pants, rustic workwear jackets (well, the name does come across quite absurd noting Loro Piana’s clients largely non-worker status), thick flannel shirts, rubber boots ready for muddy walks… the list of essentials goes on and on. The womenswear is regal, but with laid-back moments (like the oversized tweed suit in ochre). The menswear vibrates with dandy-ish flamboyance, refreshingly queer-ish. It’s worth noting that this season the brand debuted a yarn-slash-fabric called “Royal Lightness“, a new blend of silk and cashmere. Reportedly, it feels otherworldly in touch.

ED’s SELECTION:

Loro Piana Happy Day Large Leather-trimmed Felt Tote

Loro Piana Cashmere Sweater

Loro Piana Silk-jersey Head Scarf

Loro Piana Elise Quilted Silk-cloqué Midi Skirt

Loro Piana Cropped Quilted Silk-cloqué Jacket

Loro Piana Francis Tasseled Leather Loafers

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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To Seduce. Tom Ford AW25

March 9, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Haider Ackermann’s debut collection for Tom Ford is a triumphant return to fashion this incredible designer has deserved for years (that memorable guest collection for Jean Paul Gaultier and the on-going collab with Canada Goose were proper warm-ups). The evening Ackermann presented his vision for the brand, a palpable energy was perceivable in Paris, especially in the vicinity of Place Vendôme.

Electrifying sensuality. Flirtatious elegance. Powerful sexuality. “To seduce” is how the designer summed up his collection of sublime, sublime tailoring, stinking-hot leathers and flou silhouettes. What made this collection stand out is the way Ackermann didn’t fall for any of the re-editions tropes – there were no in-your-face look-backs at Ford’s Gucci or Yves Saint Laurent days in sight – but he effortlessly stayed in Tom’s deeply sensual vocabulary, perfectly balancing it with his signature touch. The shirting is to die for, just like the silky robes and maxi-length numbers. The final look, a grey dress textured to look like alligator’s leather, was as easy to wear as a t-shirt (actually something many women used to say about Azzedine Alaïa’s dresses).

This is a seamless debut any designer dreams to have. There just wasn’t even one superfluous thing about it. And the casting was utterly hypnotizing, too. Ethan James Green and Saskia De Brauw in creamy cashmeres. Kristen McMenamy in an hourglass-shaped tuxedo. Silver foxes in razor-sharp tailoring and leather gloves. Chic heart-throbs – or maybe heart-breakers?

Oh, how we missed Haider for all these years since he departed from his namesake brand (good riddance, Anne Chapelle – read more about the way she sacked Ackermann and stole his name here). How lucky we’re he’s back for good. Fashion needed him – and some real, good sex.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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