New York

Fashion. Marc Jacobs SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

Oh, Marc. Thank you for reminding us all about the absolute joy of fashion.

With his pre-NYFW, less is more-production show, the designer sparks bold, unashamed happiness. Bubbly silhouettes. Cropped proportions. Big sequins. Bigger than life ball-dresses and teenie-tiny cardigans. Lego colors. This is fashion that doesn’t take itself seriously – but is far from being non-sense. Inspired with legendary women, from Rei Kawakubo to Queen of Hearts, this is Marc Jacobs’ ode to courage, beauty and uncompromising hope in better tomorrow.

“With precious freedom we dream and imagine without limitation… not to escape from reality but to help navigate, understand, and confront it, exploring through curiosity, conviction, compassion, and love.”

Thank you.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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NET-A-PORTER Limited

Icecream-hued Chic. Maryam Nassir Zadeh SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

For spring-summer 2025, Maryam Nassir Zadeh delivers her trademark (es)sense of cool. It’s one you just can’t fake; authenticity and realness have always been Maryam’s key codes, whether we’re talking about her label, her boutiques in New York and Paris, or her personal style that’s on so many brands’ moodboards. The experiments with clothes, textures and colors she conducts in her wardrobe are reflected and refined in her ready-to-wear collections. You can tell the designer is really into silky transparency this spring season, and she made it extra-intriguing (and extra-sensual) thanks to an idiosyncratic color palette pulled from “ice cream” hues like mango, guava, pistachio, and cherry (she posted a lot sorbets throughout the summer on her IG!). All that delight got brilliantly balanced with mannish, earthy brown tones. The juxtaposition of ultra-feminine slip-dresses and ruffled sheer skirts with more masculine elements like vintage-y leathers and flannel shirts (a mix & match delightfully orchestrated with the help of stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington) makes this collection feel even more appealing.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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En Boca Quedó. Luar SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

Luar is New York Fashion Week’s lifebelt. Just like Marc Jacobs did until 2020, now its Raul López who’s closing the week, and he does it with powerful bravado and vivacious attitude. His spring-summer 2025 fashion show – taking place outdoors at Rockefeller Plaza – was a brilliant finale moment after days of rather dull, plain-looking fashion shows and collections that said nothing. The designer had named the collection “En Boca Quedó,” a Dominican saying usually used when leaving a conversation that means “I’m leaving, but now you’ll speak of me“. “It can be a form of shade, but also very loving, in a funny haha shade way,” Raul explained. The dramatic silhouettes that walked the evening runway definitely voiced the “en boca quedó” spirit: taffeta pieces cut to hulking proportions that served as a kind of armor while completely revealing the body underneath; sumptuous, oversized leather jacket-dress with oversized curved sleeves and in leopard printed pony-hair; and the voluminous ball-like trench-coat that was a beautiful middle finger to the “quiet luxury” cliché. Madonna who sat in the front row loves Luar. You should love it, too.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Femininity, Dissected. Tory Burch SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

This season, Tory Burch dissects the contrasts of femininity. It can be lady-like and sweet. The other second it can turn into something more tough and sharp. Her spring-summer 2025 collection felt like a dynamic clash between these different notions. The most unexpected pieces were the skirts with malleable wire waistbands, which arced out, rather than gripped the midsection – surprising because the waist is rarely an area that women want to add volume to. Marc Jacobs orbits around a similar idea lately. In contrast, the narrow flecked wool pants with full breaks over chic peep toe pumps looked elegant with both shrunken quilted wool and silk jackets and traditional wrap jacket styles. The show closed with a trio of looks combining sleeveless “muscle” tees and softly draped and ruffled asymmetric jersey chiffon skirts that lived up to Burch’s “power and grace” concept.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Sacrum & Profanum. Colleen Allen SS25

| Design & Culture by Ed

Emerging brands like Colleen Allen keep New York Fashion Week’s heart beating. But lets note that Allen can be hardly called an emerging designer with an impressive portfolio of working at some of New York’s finest institutions: Raf Simons’s Calvin Klein and The Row. But these two aren’t defining her aesthetically, as Colleen has proved in her debut collection and also in her sophomore season. Spring-summer 2025 offering is all about a play with lightness and draping. You’ve got very sensual, sheer numbers, and then you’ve got stunning, velvet-y drapings that hug the body. Some of the pieces – like the ankle-length, white dress with turtleneck – have a pastoral, even clerical feel about them, but then then the ecclesiastical regality is twisted and subverted with sexy lace of hemlines and body-revealing slits of blouses and jackets. It’s also worth noting that Colleen has a brilliant sense of color: just look the the opening shade of tangerine. Retailers, here’s a brand to buy into.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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