Prada Delights in Milan

January 9, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

When in Milan, Prada, the word, the universe, takes a whole another dimension. It’s not just Miuccia Prada’s sophisticated, multi-faceted fashion, but also art. And sweets. Here you can choose between various Prada delights. Maybe the embellished red heels available at the label’s oldest flagship in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II? Or the delicious donuts filled with vanilla cream… or the pastel-pink marzipan cake from the brand-owned Marchesi 1824 patisserie on Via Monte Napoleone? Hard to resist any of that.

Prada / Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II 63-65

Marchesi 1824 / Via Monte Napoleon 9

All photos by Edward Kanarecki.

Men’s – Ritual. Charles Jeffrey Loverboy AW20

January 8, 2020January 9, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

While men’s London fashion week seems to get gradually less and less popular, there are still some labels that shine some hope for the once prospering event. “It was a modern-day Scottish sacrifice,” said Charles Jeffrey backstage of his Loverboy show for autumn-winter 2020 season. There was an installation of a hollowed-out tree hung with CDs and topped by a disco ball silhouetted against the dark on a platform at the end of his runway – a place for the ritual propitiation of the ancient, abused forces of nature. So it seemed, as his characters came and went, some dressed in costumes hung with horse brasses and sporting huge equine quiffs, others in Loverboy tartans, and still more in pannier dresses. Another sect looked like a cult of eco-paganists clinging together in their own dance of lament. But other than theatrics, this line-up was the most accomplished collection from the designer yet, clothes-wise. Jeffrey has traversed that stage of his career where he has presented symbolic statements and reached a point where his tailoring fits impressively (and sexily). His waisted, puff-shouldered jackets, flared asymmetric suits and tartan trousers beat with London’s old school spirit. Fantastic dresses (genderless!) and great coats. Even the “commercial” part of the collection – bold Loverboy merch – feels right.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Lanvin 130th Anniversary Capsule

December 28, 2019December 21, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Celebrating its 130th anniversary, Lanvin has created a series of limited edition pieces inspired by its archives. Bruno Sialelli, the promising creative director of the historic maison, has come up with a joyful and mischievous capsule collection to revisit the Parisian fashion house’s heritage. The eveningwear features modern reinterpretations of exceptional pieces from Jeanne Lanvin’s atelier, the footwear is inspired by the iconic and timeless Arpège fragrance bottle of the house, while the apparel is printed with the founder’s drawings. Wearing a blue dress with golden wings, the “Lanvin angel” represented the house during the World’s Fair in New York in 1939, when Jeanne Lanvin presided over. As for the “Mermaid”, the founder presented the multicolored cloak at the international Golden Gate exhibition held in San Francisco in 1939. This is exactly something that the brand missed for a while: celebration of its past.

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The 2010s: Phoebe Philo’s Céline.

December 22, 2019June 17, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Believe it or not – I can’t! – but we’re heading towards a new millenium. So, how do you choose the most important collections, designers and labels of the decade? The ones that made an actual impact in the 2010s? Well, it’s not an easy task. It all began in September 2009 with New York’s spring-summer 2010 shows and ended when the autumn-winter 2019 haute couture shows wrapped in Paris. Few thousands of shows, by the way. There will be 19 posts (that’s really the only possible minimum!) reminding about the best – and if not the best, then strongly influencing – moments in fashion.

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Phoebe Philo‘s Céline.

This one is no surprise to anyone who reads my journal for a longer while. Phoebe Philo’s contribution to 2010s fashion – through the medium of Céline – is exceptionally significant. Phoebe’s fashion wasn’t minimalist as many tend to sum up. It was eclectic. Intelligent. Feminist. Feminine. Intimate. Lasting. Beautiful. From all the photoshop-free Juergen Teller ad campaigns (feauturing Phoebe’s favourite women like Daria Werbowy and Joan Didion) and store interiors (they felt like home!) to the music playing during the fashion shows (Cymande’s “Dove“, Soul II Soul’s “Back To Life“, Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s “I’ll Be There For You / You’r All I Need to Get By”…) and the shockingly rare on-line shop absence for an established label like this, Philo’s Céline was the ultimate favourite of many people (including me) for different reasons. While Phoebe is still off the fashion horizon, just look at all the brands that turn to her collections for inspiration (or actually try to copy her…). Yes, yes, we’ve got Daniel Lee’s Bottega Veneta, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row, Christophe Lemaire and Sarah Linh Tran’s Lemaire. But I really, really, really hope that 2020 will see Phoebe Philo’s comeback. Dreams come true!

Collages by Edward Kanarecki. Photos by Juergen Teller and Tyrone Lebon.

The 2010s: Prada, Of Course!

December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 | Design & Culture by Ed

Prada, Prada, Prada!

Miuccia Prada is certainly one of the most influential fashion designers of our time. Her fashion isn’t just fashion: it’s an on-going dialogue between art, society, culture, and at times even politics. Her Prada woman and man jump from being decadently eccentric to modernly elegant; they can be vagabond, they can be sophisticated, they can be bold in their neon nylons and printed banana shirts (so Jeff Goldblum!). In her 2010s collections, Prada turned her talent to the reivention of a more conventional expression of beauty, striving to modernize embellishment, taking fabrication and surface detail to unprecedented heights, fusing plastic with precious silks, showing cable knit alongside cable knit prints and cable knit embroideries, imagining and then realizing her own spectacular brocades offset by humble cottons borrowed from menswear. Nearly each collection Prada presented in this decade is iconic – and can be recalled by coining separate themes or words (Madame Frankenstein, Japan, pin-up girl, film noir, Margot Tenenbaum, sailors, pastels, stripes, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant…the list goes on!). Noting other successes of Prada in the 2010s – like Fondazione Prada in Milan, re-opening the Linea Rossa line, the non-stop growth of Miu Miu’s allure – I really can’t wait to see how Miuccia shapes her 2020s…