Country Mod. Kenzo AW23

January 22, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s a year since Nigo‘s debut collection for Kenzo. In his third season for the brand, the designer began to bring himself more forcefully into the picture, which doesn’t mean there was no sight of Kenzo Takada’s spirit. Nigo went for a Beatles-inspired wake, developing a collection that was deeply rooted in mod culture but which also enveloped Kenzo’s and his own through that deeply impressive Japanese capacity to brilliantly editorialize clothes. English country couture and its mod unravelling played against Japanese tailoring, kimono inspired, above hakama-style traditional dress trousers. There was, Nigo conceded happily in a preview, a strong dose of post-Pirates Vivienne Westwood in the underlying instinct to remix through disruption. The stitched patterns were sourced, Nigo said through his translator, from the etching used on sashiko jackets traditionally used to practice Kendo. But it was all wrapped up with other factors; US workwear, UK punk, post-military (in an incredible khaki goldfish-embroidered kimono bomber look), contemporary workwear and more. The only criticism was that Nigo’s mastery of the feminine aspect seemed unsure: it was either menswear-sourced templates or frills and shirring: reductive.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Elevated Reality. Lemaire AW23

January 19, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Lemaire is a brand that emphasizes the understated, the slow, and the sensible. For autumn-winter 2023 fashion show, Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran shaped a charming, cinematic mise-en-scene featuring their friends and models wearing timeless layers. “We are always interested in showing our style in a situation that is not a conventional fashion show,” said Lemaire. “We are very much inspired by cinema, music, and people on the street – we are always trying to find a balance between reality and something elevated.” The first look, a female model in a typically swathing dark khaki coat, crossed in front of us – walking urgently – before disappearing into an elevator. Then, from both left and right, more models arrived, walking in couples, alone in contemplation, in chattering groups. One guy ran, halted, and ran again, as if in search of a pickpocket he’d only just realized had snatched his billfold. A woman all in gathered black – roomy pants, heeled boots, and a short trench with a large pouch-like bag tucked at her right hip – leaned against a pillar and waited. Soon enough a guy moved in to make conversation. The format effectively delivered the message that this was a collection that could function admirably in real-life. From the bird-whistle neck charms and the torch key chains, onto the Croissant bags and those body-hugging pouches, through to the pieces printed with instinctively psychedelic artwork by returning collaborator Noviadi Angkasapura, to the new-but-retro padded garments, there was a crowd of worn elements to watch and cherish. Especially enjoyable amid all the usual black and khaki were the meanders into richly dark green, unusual especially in menswear. As per, the fullness, the drape, and the silhouettes were exactingly crafted to transport you – just like the show format – to some imagined Paris between the 1960s and now where every citizen was the main character in their own impeccably costumed and multifaceted movie.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Buckle Up. Christopher Kane Pre-Fall 2023

January 15, 2023January 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

No one does “sex” and “sexy” like Chistopher Kane. His pre-fall 2023 is yet another reminder that the London-based designer owns this territory. The collection’s main character is a buckled strap. Broad, big, buckled straps are bound around the shoulders, necks, and hemlines of mini-shifts and coats. In one case they formed the entire upper body of a dress. Bondage and fetish might be the words we’d automatically reach for here, but not so fast. To Kane, the heavy-duty strapping, combined with reflective yellow, neon green, and orange fabric is more bound up with “uniforms, security, police women, and school lolly-pop ladies.” This season the designer indulged himself with circular cutouts, creating some of the most captivating eveningwear of the season. Circles roll through the naked waist of a long black column, and then wickedly expose two half-moons of flesh above a built-in bra. Kane points out that the collection will start dropping in April, so he’s also found room for “clothes to wear to weddings, cocktail parties, the things you need for summer.” There are little white dresses decorated with hand-drawn micro-flowers, patchworked from organic-shaped “blobs.” Flounced skirts in highlighter orange or lime have hems which can either be buttoned up in front, or left long. All-in-all, it’s a collection that covers a lot of bases, yet still looks inimitably Christopher Kane. By now, he’s accumulated a big playbook to draw on.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Teenage Madness. DsQuared2 AW23

January 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

I just love it when DsQuared2 goes naughty, sleazy, hot and unapologetically DsQuared2. While other brands are trying to desperately capture the Y2k style, Dean and Dan Caten don’t have tii force it – they simply have it in their blood. And with styling help of Haley Wollens, they delivered a great show on the first day of men’s Milan Fashion Week. “Teenage madness!” shrieked the Caten twins in unison backstage before the show. “We’re looking back to look forward, thinking of what we’ve done in the past, and the energy of the Dsquared2 rebels,” they said. “We’re celebrating what we were already pushing a long time ago – being yourself, being individual, and the freedom of feeling comfortable in your own skin. No judgment.” The Dsquared2 posse of teenagers flaunted a string of characters straight from the Catens’ dorm room years: the geek, the goth, the starlet, the emo, the femme, all in their own broken-up/put-back-together-again finery. The dorm room in question was actually meticulously reproduced as the catwalk’s backdrop, furnished with all the cool paraphernalia which has populated the teenage years of every generation, from X to Y to Z and everything in between. Describing the zillion combinations the twins were able to concoct would, in fact, be madness. To very partially summarize, Western fringed jackets, Canadian outerwear, crystal-studded destroyed denim, cowboy leather jockstraps, ultra-low slung cargos, exposed boxers, teddy bear bombers, lace panties and see-through camisoles were put into their fashion percolator, spit out and re-assembled into beautifully body-revealing crazy ensembles. “Playing with girl things, playing with boy things, nothing is hotter than a hot guy in girly panties!” they enthused. “So we kind of went there. Openness! Playfulness! Courage! And no judgment.”

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.