West End Girl. Abra SS26

November 2, 2025November 2, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Who the fuck is Madeline?” asks Lily Allen on her new album “West End Girl” – the result of sixteen days spent in the studio dissecting and analyzing her unhappy marriage to David Harbour. The album – released without promo or a meticulous marketing ploy – has unofficially claimed the title of AOTY, and Allen seems to be living her best life, dressed as the Madeline for Halloween.

Her latest work plays with different tropes: the busy housewife, the single mother, the other woman. Interestingly, I see a full-circle correlation with the heroine of Abraham Ortuño Pérez’s spring–summer 2026 collection. Abra – the brainchild of one of the industry’s most renowned footwear designers – has always been “for the girls.” The woman Ortuño Pérez envisions this season certainly has a past: a good girl gone bad for her own sanity’s sake.

The line-up features hyper-girly pink satin skirts, flirty mini dresses finished with rosettes, and princessy frou-frou gowns made from translucent materials – yet all that saccharine sweetness is grounded by the grittiness of fringed suede boots, tough leather bombers, and very good-looking cut chino shorts. If “West End Girl” were a fashion collection, it would be this one from Abra.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Devastatingly Beautiful. Ponte SS26

October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

“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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Stars Aligned. Rick Owens SS26

October 20, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Quite naturally, Rick Owens’s spring–summer 2026 collection – presented, as usual, in the courtyard of the Palais de Tokyo, just steps away from the Palais Galliera where his retrospective is now on – gave you chills and a sense of otherworldly euphoria, as if straight out of his Temple. The lineup of models, their eyes obscured by black contacts that covered not only the irises and pupils but also the whites, embodied all the hallmarks of the designer’s alien-esque uniform, honed over three decades: muted, bleached tones; 1930s-inflected silhouettes evoking Old Hollywood; sharply exaggerated shoulders; sculptural draping; and towering platforms that stretched the silhouette to near-impossible proportions. The spiky, fringed leather capes were the work of young London-based designer Straytukay, while the print – a rarity at an Owens show – appeared on the long dresses in the finale and was a reproduction of the designer’s own star chart, originally drawn for him by his father. Whatever the astral prophecy was, the stars truly did align.

ED’s SELECTION:

Rick Owens Athena Arrowhead One-shoulder Draped Crushed-velvet Gown

Rick Owens Cantilever 8 Hydra Leather Sandals

Rick Owens Padded Shell Bomber Jacket

Rick Owens Fog Layered Suede Mini Skirt

Rick Owens Tied Taco Kiss Leather Ankle Boots

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Eccentric Madame. Louis Vuitton SS26

October 20, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

The eccentric madame envisioned by Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton never ceases to confuse – and to intrigue. In the summer apartments of Anne d’Autriche at the Louvre, a parade of crystal-embellished silk vests, beaded fringe top-and-pants sets that evoked Impressionist landscapes, and historic-looking robes and capes made their royal entrance. One look – a pastel-blue cloak paired with a matching turban-like hat – gave big dumpling energy and made me smile. Then there were the genuinely lovely, extra-fluffy knitted pieces with tubular necks and balloon sleeves. At times, it’s hard to keep up with the cascade of ideas Ghesquière sends down his Louis Vuitton runway. But perhaps that’s precisely the charm.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Heatwave. Courrèges SS26

October 19, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Nicolas Di Felice’s spring–summer 2026 collection for Courrèges was a cool exercise in modern-day inventiveness and A-line chic. By inventiveness, I mean the collection’s spotlight-stealing face coverings – which, as it turns out, are functional UV blockers. The designer encountered this kind of accessory while traveling in Thailand. In his reinterpretation, the fabric is attached to peaked caps, draped elegantly across the face, and tucked into the waistband of an unmistakably Courrèges miniskirt. André would no doubt applaud the concept – and the brand’s clientele is more than ready for any heatwave.

Interestingly, in a summer season where many designers embraced layering and coverage (like Bottega Veneta’s Louise Trotter), Di Felice’s offering feels refreshingly wearable – something you’d actually want to put on when the weather turns stiflingly hot. The collection is global-warming-ready in other ways, too: think breezy slits on sand-colored maxi dresses and leather jackets with cut-out sleeves that, from afar, appeared to be melting.

The shape of a car windshield inspired rounded solar face shields, rising from the closing looks – dresses and tops that seemed to merge futurism with functionality. And while rising temperatures are nothing to celebrate, Courrèges’s creative director managed to approach the theme with wit and a distinctly desirable sense of style.