Surfaces. Valentino Resort 2023

October 20, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Valentino‘s resort 2023 collection was conceived as a precursor to the spring 2023 outing which we’ve seen about two weeks ago. Stripped of the stagecraft of the show, it was representative of Pierpaolo Piccioli’s line of thought, both conceptual and visual – and it honestly felt more convincing. “Fashion shows are there to solidify the narration around your values and your identity,” Piccioli said. “Resort is the moment when fashion speaks its own language. There’s no storytelling here, just work on construction, cut, silhouettes, color. It’s just moda, fashion, in its purest self. Of course, for me, clothes are always about how real people inhabit them.” For Piccioli, there’s no moda without humanity. He named the collection “Surfaces“, emphasizing the visuals of an all-over, head-to-toe silhouette where textures and shapes were turned into a sort of minimal continuum. While Piccioli has been toying around with minimalism for quite some time as a way to highlight the individuality of the wearer – “you reduce the excess on the garment to spotlight the attention on the face,” he said – it’s actually a concept rooted in Valentino Garavani’s 1960s aesthetics, when lines were pure, volumes were close to the body, and decoration was kept to a minimum. Fluidity was an element of sensuality that didn’t detract from the purity of design. Resort was in conversation with those style fundamentals. At the spring show Piccioli indulged in fluidity and movement enhanced by an abundance of sequined shine, but here he kept the silhouette neat, slim, and very short. Trim contours and head-to-toe maximalist surfaces were in evidence, for example, in a black macramé lace slip dress paired with matching thigh-high legging-boots, or in a mini shift dress encrusted with white lace, which somehow stretched into matching stocking-boots edged with leather. A day-evening ensemble, comprised of a dramatic long drawstring circle gown in amethyst faille, cinched with a marigold sash and worn with an oversize double-breasted blazer in cinnamon taffeta, was contrasted by a pristine white cotton shirt with macramé details. It highlighted not only the designer’s eye for color – no PPPink, thanks god – but also the cool spirit of versatility, the mixing of codes, and the couture flair that he’s persistently after. Punk or bourgeois, timeless or not, it definitely sparks joy.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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New York. Fendi Resort 2023

September 10, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Fendi got the New York Fashion Week rolling with a bang. For over a month, the Italian brand has been communicating that it’s planning to hit the Big Apple for a big occasion: the Baguette’s 25th birthday. And what made the eternal it-bag so in-demand for the last two decades? Of course, Sex & The City, the most New York show of all the New York shows. “It was almost like a character,” Kim Jones said. “So I thought let’s do the show here, and let’s add in a few curveballs as we always do.” Sarah Jessica Parker, who sat front row with Kate Moss, Kim Kardashian and Lily Allen, approved the project as the IRL Carrie Bradshaw. She was definitely making a mind-list of her favourite looks for the second season of And Just Like That. That Jones is a prodigious collaborator has been well documented, but the match-ups he orchestrated for the celebratory resort 2023 collection were particularly inspired. Tiffany & Co. was brought in to provide the baguettes – as in diamond baguettes. The double-F logo on the Tiffany blue croc Baguette carried by Bella Hadid was pavéd in the precious stones, and the electric colour of her silk jumpsuit was 100% Tiffany blue.

Another quintessential New York addition: the Marc Jacobs collaboration. Jacobs’s section riffed on his recent collections with block letter intarsias spelling out FendiRoma rather than his own logo on everything from tracksuits and trucker jackets and matching jeans to an oversize terry robe. The faux fur XXL hats, which we’ve seen the last time on his autumn-winter 2012 runway, wowed the audience just like they did a decade ago. “I called Marc up and asked him if he wanted to design a collection for Fendi. I haven’t been involved at all,” Jones explained the collab. “We worked side by side during fittings. We were doing ours, he was doing his. I’m looking very much at 1997, and I think Marc’s is fresh and now.” Jones was after more of a feeling. “I was thinking about when I was first coming to New York and we would go out clubbing,” he said. Hence the irreverent, high/low mix of sequins and utility jackets, or a shearling sherpa and a mini. He meant what he said about utility. Even beanies and gaiters came with built-in Baguettes, as did many of the garments, those shearling sherpas most temptingly. Surprisingly, it all felt very early Sex & The City and Patricia Field style. For the kicker, Linda Evangelista, who is the current face of Fendi, glided out, resplendent in an opera cape, with a sterling silver Baguette bag in the crook of her arm. Jacobs, who joined Jones and Venturini Fendi for a bow, encouraged everyone to stand up – not that the crowd needed any convincing.

Collages by Edward Kanarecki.
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Groovy. The Elder Statesman Resort 2023

August 17, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s only one place in Paris where you can stand over a pool of koi and under a glittering disco ball. Dragons Elysées is a Chinese restaurant that delights in kitsch – and can hold, as a nighttime The Elder Statesman presentation proved, a surprising number of revelers. Even in the brand’s thick knits on a humid Parisian day, the guests didn’t have a lick of sweat beading. Just one way Bailey Hunter, the creative director, is innovating at the Los Angeles-based label. The other way is that she is bringing the vibes back to one of fashion’s vibiest brands. Throughout the pandemic, founder Greg Chait took immense pride in the way The Elder Statesman was innovating and bringing most of its operations in-house. A new yarn-spinning technique, he said during his Paris event, would take at least a week to understand. But for all the ways the label reimagines its lightweight wovens, its groovy patterned knits, and its hand-done embroidery, crocheting, and dyeing, the special sauce of TES is its mood. That radiated during this crowded Parisian show. Chait and Hunter should stick with the idea and bring their party-presentations to more locations around the globe.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Tensions. Khaite Resort 2023

August 13, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Khaite‘s resort 2023 collection, as Cate Holstein went on to explain, picks up where the “sharp, stealth New York woman” aesthetic of her autumn-winter runway left off. Let’s say there’s a whole lot of badassery happening, from the leather chokers that accent nearly every look on down to the blunt-toed boots. Leather outerwear is a foundational category at Khaite. Cropped motorcycle jackets mingle with oversized bombers, including one that opens the lookbook with heavy-duty studding at the shoulders. The tailoring, in leather and otherwise, takes its proportions from menswear. “We’re predominantly a feminine brand,” Holstein said, “but in order to bring out that femininity you have to have elements of men’s, otherwise it goes in a girly direction, which we try to steer clear from.” It’s not that there aren’t girly embellishments here. Sequins are another recurring motif, as seen on a shift dress with a mock turtleneck as easy-wearing as a t-shirt and on a slip dress that grazes the ankle. The most novel pieces however involved not surface treatments, but volume play. A yoke-waisted skirt that ballooned out to the knees and a plissé shirtdress with poet sleeves were surprise hits of sweetness amidst the collection’s stealth glamour.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Mix-And-Match Lady. Tory Burch Resort 2023

August 4, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

Tory Burch is going through a renaissance. Her latest collections are just so, so good. “You can only control so much in your life at the moment, and one of the things you can control is the way you dress and how you look. I think that’s an incredible creative outlet. Individual creative expression is what I’m really interested in right now.” A year ago, the experience of the pandemic led Tory Burch to Claire McCardell, a post-war designer celebrated for the chic functionality of her dresses. Fast forward to 2022, Burch is leaning into more eccentric and freer style, which is still in dialogue with McCardell’s design ethos. Resort 2023 is all about details: the plastic charms fringing the waistline of cropped jackets; the parachute lining peeking from underneath a-line skirts (it’s removable); the lurex fuzz of popover knits. These are the building blocks of the Tory Burch wardrobe, but they’re not square or boring. Quite the opposite. A sense of play permeates the season, whether it’s the raffia tassels that accent the baggy cargo pants she paired with a sleeveless tweed peplum top or the two-piece dress consisting of a little wrap shirt over a yoke-waist skirt with lots of volume (padding at the hips and hem give it shape). Most experimental are a pair of party looks whose tops and skirts are cut on the round with zig-zag edges trimmed in beads. In mismatched but complementary floral prints, these outfits put the emphasis on craft and quirk. Though it’s rooted in American sportswear, with its mix-and-match possibilities, the collection wears its utility lightly. It looks like a lot of fun.