Simply The Best. Maison Martin Margiela SS03

April 19, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

I don’t like naming favorites – but this might be it. The Maison Martin Margiela spring–summer 2003 collection has been living in my head for a while now. You already know I’m not really feeling what Glenn Martens is doing at the house right now (though I’ll always have a soft spot for the MM6 team). So instead, I’ve been going back – properly back – into Martin Margiela’s archives. Not the forced “Folders” narrative the brand is pushing, but the real thing. And honestly? I couldn’t be happier to have unearthed the full set of images from this collection.

Because this collection is a reminder – no, proof – of how much everyone owes him. From Hodakova to Vaquera, from Phoebe Philo to Marc Jacobs – they’re all, in some way, walking a path he cleared. He ran so the rest could even begin. READ THE FULL TEXT HERE.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Tangled Sensuality. Comme Des Garçons SS03

August 27, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s this one Comme Des Garçons collection I just can’t stop thinking about. I might even say that spring-summer 2003 is my favorite Rei Kawakubo collection… ever. Of course I love and appreciate the garment-installations she’s presenting during Paris Fashion Weeks for over a decade, but I kind of miss that wearability she used to do so evocatively and sensually in the past. Back in 2003, the Japanese designer mused on decorating clothes without using any external embellishments. She wanted to achieve decoration that wasn’t superfluous – as if it was an organic part of the garment, not just sticking out from its surface. As a result, she extended the fabric of her cotton garments, tying and braiding the extra cloth to form bunchy plaits and rosettes. A bulky silhouette informed the collection: boleros, long skirts and tunics were all festooned with outcrops of chunky, tactile elements. But she also had “standard” clothes fused into the collection: very cool cargo pants with raw hems, t-shirts with the Filip Pagowski heart logo layered under “ripped” sheaths, and striking, beautifully tailored jackets with cascading lapels and open-backs. All that tangled up chic was also alive in the wigs by Julien D’Ys, which were stitched-up curls worn as crowns.

Need some Comme in your autumn wardrobe?

ED’s SELECTION:

Comme des Garçons Gathered Pleated Wool Midi Dress

Comme des Garçons Gathered Faille Midi Skirt

Comme des Garçons Gabardine Blazer

Comme des Garçons Bow-detailed Cotton-jersey T-shirt

Comme Des Garçons Bow-detailed Pleated Satin Midi Dress

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Arcadia. Ralph Lauren SS03

April 4, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

As spring is approaching, I’ve got one collection on my mind: Ralph Lauren‘s spring-summer 2003 line-up. This one is like wine – it gets better with time. On the 20th of September in 2002, in the middle of New York Fashion Week, Lauren pitched an enormous muslin-draped tent, filled with white cushions, huge candles and twinkling crystal chandeliers – in the lush walled gardens of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Entering the building, the audience was met with trays of champagne, while the smell of tuberose and the strains of Erik Satie wafted through the evening air. If that wasn’t enough to induce a romantic swoon, the clothes would have done the trick. Lauren loves the womanly silhouette of the fin-de-siècle, with its nipped waist and curving hips. For spring he chose to highlight that silhouette with regal fabrics like damask, jacquard and silk moire, made into curvy jackets, bustiers and vests, and shown with creamy linen or silk trousers or light, pretty skirts. There were great leather pieces, gilded or printed with a wallpaper floral, and beautiful, skin-baring silk chiffon dresses. While Lauren makes no secret of his love for the past, that season he was resolutely modern: for evening, he showed a beaded top with a floor-length bustle skirt made from very distressed blue denim. This feels so good in 2022!