Men’s – Fill The Gap. Gucci AW23

January 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The menswear Milan Fashion Week started with the first Gucci show without Alessandro Michele’s creative direction. The designer’s abrupt exit in the end of 2022 left the brand in a confusing position. Michele’s Gucci definitely needed some rest – those last collections were just over-the-top, feeling more like a parade of costumes. Nevertheless, the designer created an inclusive wonderland with his vision for the Italian brand. And the studio-designed autumn-winter 2023 collection foreshadows the end of that colorful world that kept the industry dreaming for the last seven years. Skinny boys are in, bland indie-sleaziness is in, subtle (but very subtle) echoes of Tom Ford are in. The first look said it all: a white T-shirt with oversized chinos, From this beginning unfolded a collection that Gucci said in its notes was an act of improvisation, a freestyle “reflection of the individualities represented by the multifaceted creatives and craftsmen who inhabit the house of Gucci.” In other words, a collection that lacked overall coherence. After the opener we drifted into a section of volumized tailoring which was possibly purposefully banal. Suiting with detachable arms and legs, a rugby shirt worn above an unpicked trouser-like skirt, oversized vintage-design womenswear bags with Tom Ford era hardware and hilariously described “vintage-like” silk scarfs used ’90s-style to patch denim were more dynamic elements. We saw the occasional horse bit loafer, apparently distressed. Around halfway through, the collection began to come freighted with identity beyond the jackets featuring a 1953-issue logo boasting of outlets spanning “Florence-Rome-Milan-New York” (plus those near-ubiquitous pirate’s boots and sailor’s beanies). Volume was replaced by indie sleaze in a section epitomized by a look featuring black patent-sheened five-pocket pants, and a sheer scarlet shirt that strangely echoed the first ever look put out by Michele. The furry leopard bag and pink boots that accompanied it added a touch of hustler-ish glunge. Moto pieces, knitwear, and pastel sportswear were thrown in to evoke a purposefully peripatetic, thrown-together aesthetic. Thick socks worn over jeans is a thing to consider, though. Still, this isn’t a good moment in Gucci’s history.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Off To The Races. Rosie Assoulin AW23

January 13, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rosie Assoulin dropped her autumn-winter 2023 look-book yesterday, and it feels like a New Year vibe shift. Usually, you would see Assoulin’s gorgeous gowns and smart daywear in an equally chic surroundings, say, a charming New York park or on the streets of a Parisian arrondissement. This time, she took us to the racetracks of New Jersey’s RPM Raceway. Inspired by her childhood memories of Delia’s catalogues (the most literal interpretation is a two-piece blue halter and maxi skirt inspired by a tankini that Assoulin vividly remembers seeing) and her grandparents’ sportswear looks, the collection orbits between the 1990s cool (cargo pants, done the Rosie way), old-school racing chic (the finale statuesque silk gown feels very Tamara Lempicka in her green Bugatti) and a signature level of sophistication that blurs the line between day and evening style (the eye-candy sequinned coat is a great example). A stripe motif appears throughout the collection – on mini skirts and matching jackets, on a semi-transparent blue and black gown – and it reads as a hybrid between ’70s graphic design and motocross. But it’s the black maxi skirt with a champagne dinner jacket with a cropped cape that is the standout: pure elegance with a wink. Assoulin’s style is multi-faceted, and this collection delivers that with a twist.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To. Christopher John Rogers Pre-Fall 2023

January 7, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Christopher John Rogers, a designer for whom rainbow stripes are a defining signature, put together half a dozen looks for pre-fall 2023 devoid of color. The title he gave the collection, “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want to,” offers a hint about his new direction. Having captured the fashion world’s attention, Rogers seems to have set out to upend expectations. “What I’m after is autonomy, the ability to do what I want,” he said. “The idea of play is paramount.” Cue the plastic clown noses and the towering silk clown hats created in collaboration with the milliner Piers Atkinson. There’s even a Pierrot jumpsuit in the first grouping, with silk flowers in place of the characteristic pompons, though this isn’t so much a novelty as it is a callback. A pre-pandemic runway show closed with a different take on the look. In the end, this wasn’t the volta face that those first looks augured. It’s just as colorful as any other CJR lineup, just as extroverted, but there is a commitment to pushing at the limits of his well-known signatures. In the studio, Rogers pointed out the porthole cutout in a boxy knit top bordered with the rainbow stripes – “it takes a lot of work to get it to lay flat,” he explained. Also complex: the sweaters that hybridized two crewnecks into one, and a sweater dress with both long sleeves and arm slits. The playfulness has a purpose; those knits can be worn in multiple ways. And the experimentation is balanced by an easy-wearing sensibility. Rogers’s new suits are oversized and unstructured; cut from recycled polyester in zesty shades of grape and crawfish, they’re the fresh, modern flipside of the more formal tailoring on his June runway. Rogers doesn’t want to get boxed into any one category, but evening wear, inevitably, is his calling card. With award season ramping up, there’s bound to be some incoming calls for the tulip gown in floral printed faille and a harlequin embroidered black column with pouf sleeves, both of which nod with flair back to mid-century couture shapes.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Quiet, The Winter Harbor. Yohji Yamamoto AW98

January 6, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

You could say that Yohji Yamamoto‘s sublime autumn-winter 1998 lineup was about stretch. There were a lot of knits, both of the loving-hands-made-at-home variety and luxurious jerseys. Yamamoto explored the draping possibilities of the latter, but he also combined jerseys with more static woven materials. Post-show the designer told The Daily Telegraph that his idea was “to experiment with the ‘delayed’ reaction of certain fabrics contesting the movements of the body.” With the exception of the finale, bridal look, this was a relatively sporty show, even when it came to dressing for evening. To highlight that, Vogue photographed Angela Lindvall leaping through the Irish countryside in a knit ball skirt and ribbed turtleneck from the collection (obsessed). For the most part Yamamoto’s historicisms referenced the 20th century (the cargo-pocket peplums looked like a pre–World War II silhouette) rather than earlier periods. The caged finale gown, with its hyper-exaggerated 19th-century proportions, was the exception – and exceptional in every way. It was even accessorized with Doc Martens. Sally Brampton, reporting on the show for The Guardian in 1998, recounted that “the bride billowed down the catwalk in a cream skirt so huge that journalists in the front rows had to duck down below the skirt, only to discover a bamboo cage strapped around her waist with canes radiating out from it. Four men held up the vast My Fair Lady picture hat that floated like a snowdrift over her.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Simply Precious. Jil Sander Pre-Fall 2023

January 4, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Hello in 2023!

The mood Luke and Lucie Meier were after for Jil Sander‘s pre-fall 2023 was that of “couture mixed with a sportier feel. We like the attitude of elevated functionality, without compromising on interesting volumes and high-quality fabrics and execution.” A clear message indeed, one which they explored in their rainy spring show. The Meiers are inquisitive, soul-searching designers, and questioning their practice is part of the equation. Highlighting the ‘opposites attract’ tension intrinsic to their aesthetic, they asked, “how do you make things that feel very immediate, fresh-feeling, and modern but also have this inherent couture rigor of technique and shape?” The dynamic between precision and glamour, or utility and sensuality played out throughout the collection, with silhouettes alternating between the voluminous and airy, and the slender and close to the body. Classic couture volumes like the cape, the balloon dress, and the opera coat were given a sporty twist and a comforting feel of ease through the counterintuitive use of high-end fabrics. A cape dress was made in thick jersey; a poufy floral-printed and pleated-plastron minidress was cut from papery recycled polyester. At the opposite end of the spectrum, a slender silhouette conveyed a more athletic, agile language in long silk ribbed knit dresses with racerback tops. Remarkable examples of their obsession with the hand-feel of materials were in evidence throughout. A fringed backless top in hand-knitted open-stitch with geometric motifs looked rather striking, as did both a sinuous ivory slip dress with embroidered ajour details and an asymmetrical floral-patterned guipure skirt. On a similar note, four different fabrics were cut into petal-shaped feathers, and then applied decoratively over a miniskirt and a sleeveless top. The effect was both light and luxurious. “Precious in a simple way,” was how the designers’ summarized the allure of the collection.