I knew I would end up being obsessed with the new Prada, co-designed by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. The nylon wrap-coats from the show (which we’ve all seen live-streamed from Milan back in September), with utilitarian, triangle-shaped pocket on the back, yet draped and cut in a lady-like, statuesque silhouette, are the definition of contemporary elegance and a sharp exercise in refinement.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
I’ve been following Marina Moscone‘s work since her first line-ups in 2018, but to be honest, pre-fall 2021 collection is the first time I’m truly convinced. There’s something spontaneous, truly artful, yet absolutely refined about it. Moscone has always liked the idea of a uniform, yet she doesn’t wear the same thing every day. It’s more about figuring out the foundation of her style so she can build upon it. For the designer herself that often starts with a shirtdress over trousers, or maybe a curvy suit with flat sandals, and she’ll experiment from there. Pre-fall found her thinking more literally, though, with familiar nods to school uniforms: pleated kilts, rugby shirts, shrunken blazers. The opening look was a twist on her signature overcoat, now spliced with box pleats at the hem (and styled with socks and loafers). Other tunics and blazers had plaid panels tacked to the hips, like trompe l’oeil skirts. What you can’t glean from the lookbook is that those collaged items were all cut from the same material: The olive wool tunic, for instance, was backed with the same emerald and yellow plaid that appears on its “skirt.” Moscone created those double-sided wools in spite of the fact that most people won’t notice their detail on an iPhone; more importantly, it’s the kind of refined touch her customer appreciates. Another detail will be more obvious: the patches and embroidered quotes on a blazer and a duvet-like “art coat” in ivory satin. There’s a bird of paradise flower, Moscone’s favorite South African bloom; an elephant, symbolizing wisdom and persistence; a honeysuckle rose flower, which Moscone’s grandmother used to call her; and two portraits of a little boy and girl, Moscone’s parents as kids. The coat is quilted over in places and has scribble-like printing and fringe, as if a child went crazy with a box of art supplies. Moscone hopes it will offer both comfort and uplift – a combination also found in her new crinkly tops and pajama pants, a welcome WFH update. Look forward to this collection once it hits the stores!
Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Hidenori Kumakiri creates shape-shifting garments at his Tokyo-slash-Paris-based label, Beautiful People. The former Comme des Garçons pattern-cutter makes classic clothes bordering with fantastical volumes, a mix of femininity and 1950s couture sensibility combined with the Japanese avant-garde. The brand presented the spring summer 2021 Side-C Vol.5 Motional collection, which explores today’s world, where we are stuck in our homes, and overwhelmed by emotions, with a striking film directed by Takahiro Igarashi. The collection sends message of optimism and rebirth, with the bustle-like shapes, and big and flowing volumes. “Side C, the transformative look at classics that focuses on the layers and the in-betweens of clothing, finds another dimension: a flowing, dynamic one. By creating an interconnecting system of pockets inside the garments, and filling them with small beads, movable silhouettes are created. The beads flow as the body moves, sits or stands, allowing for endless reconfigurations. A skirt turns into a couch, a dress into an armchair, only to revert back to what it was,” the press note says. The result is a look at the classics and the layers in between the clothing – a collection filled with an interconnecting system of pockets inside each look which allows them to be filled with small beads. With each movement, the shape and volume of each look changes into an endless array of silhouettes. And when topped off with pillow-like hats, there’s another nod to home and the familiar elements of our humble abode. Incredible.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Steven Meisel for British Vogue
Stella Tennant, the iconic British model famed for her statuesque beauty and inimitable personal style, has passed away at the age of 50. My heart broke when I discovered the news. Wisdom and beauty, royalty and true artist, game-changing rebel and forever elegant. While Tennant was first known for her signature tousled pixie haircut, androgynous features, and commanding six-foot-tall presence – as well as her longstanding creative relationships with fashion legends from Steven Meisel to Karl Lagerfeld – her passion for sculpture, environmental causes, revival of the heritage Holland & Holland brand and her home country of Scotland were what eventually became closest to her heart. The news of Tennant’s untimely death was confirmed earlier today in a statement released by her family – including her husband, the French photographer David Lasnet, and her four children, Marcel, Cecily, Jasmine, and Iris – who asked for their privacy to be respected.
From left: Valentino spring-summer 2020 couture, Vogue Italia cover by Steven Meisel, Juergen Teller.
Holland & Holland ad by Hawkesworth, Steven Meisel, Missoni ad.
Paolo Roversi.
Tennant was born in 1970 as the youngest of three to the Hon. Tobias Tennant and his wife Lady Emma—daughter of the current Duke of Devonshire and his wife Deborah, the youngest of the famous high-society Mitford sisters. Despite her aristocratic pedigree, Tennant’s upbringing was decidedly more down to earth; she grew up on a 1,500-acre sheep farm in the Scottish Borders. It was a region that remained close to her heart throughout her jet-setting modeling career and one she would eventually call home again upon purchasing a Berwickshire farmhouse in the early-aughts. Tennant displayed a natural creative instinct from a young age, attending the famous British boarding school Marlborough College before going on to complete a degree in sculpture at the Winchester College of Art. Her career as a model began when she caught the eye of fashion writer Plum Sykes, with whom she appeared in the now-iconic Steven Meisel shoot for British Vogue’s December 1993 issue, “Anglo-Saxon Attitude,” which captured a nascent London scene of well-heeled women whose eccentric take on style offered a British counterpart to the U.S. grunge movement. A famous anecdote saw Tennant show up to the shoot with a nose ring, much to the surprise of the Vogue editors – it was her refusal to remove it that endeared her to Meisel, who invited her to model for him the next day in a Paris shoot for Vogue Italia.
Chanel ad, with Karl Lagerfeld, Bruce Weber for Vogue Italia.
Self Service.
Juergen Teller for Purple, Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, Bruce Weber for Vogue.
Mark Borthwick, Tim Walker, Mark Borthwick.
Martin Parr for Sunday Times Style.
From there, Tennant was a regular muse of Meisel’s, shot by him most recently for the December 2018 cover of British Vogue. She also became a favorite of some of the most influential fashion photographers of the 1990s, including Mario Testino, David Sims, and Mark Borthwick, embodying the edgy, waifish insouciance that served as one of the defining features of fashion imagery throughout that decade. On the runways, Tennant made regular appearances for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, alongside the likes of Jean-Paul Gaultier and Versace. She also became a mainstay of Alexander McQueen’s runway spectacles, walking for some of his most iconic shows, including spring 1996’s “The Hunger” and spring 1997’s “La Poupée.” In 1998, after announcing her first pregnancy with her photographer boyfriend David Lasnet, Tennant retired from the industry. (The pair would marry later that year, with Tennant wearing a memorably minimalist Helmut Lang gown for their wedding in Scotland.) Shortly after the birth of her third child in 2002, Tennant made a return to modeling in a campaign for Burberry shot by Mario Testino that was partly credited with revitalizing the fortunes of the brand and returning it to its now global status as a fashion leader. Another career milestone came at the closing ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics, at which Tennant appeared with fellow British models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell (among others) during a tribute to the country’s fashion industry.
Juergen Teller for Marc Jacobs and Céline, Steven Meisel for British Vogue.
Martin Parr for Sunday Times Style, Versace ad by Bruce Weber, Bruce Weber.
British Vogue, Juergen Teller for Saint Laurent, Jamie Hawkesworth.
Paolo Roversi.
Tennant always maintained a lifelong interest in sculpture, establishing a studio at her home in Berwickshire, where she worked with her sister Issy on a luxury homewares brand named Tennant & Tennant. Over the past decade, Tennant also grew to be a vocal advocate for environmental causes, appearing in a number of campaigns for the nonprofit Global Cool raising awareness around climate change, and joining forces with Oxfam for Second Hand September. Already, tributes have begun pouring in from luminaries of the fashion world. But while the statement released by her family earlier today marks the end of an extraordinary career as one of fashion’s most beloved and iconic personalities, Tennant’s legacy as a groundbreaking figure in the history of British style, as well as a passionate supporter of causes close to her heart, will live on.
Willy Vanderperre for Document, Self Service, Mark Borthwick.
Tim Walker.
Versace ad.
REST IN PEACE, Queen. You will be missed.
Sophie Buhai is one of my favourite, contemporary labels specialising in jewellery. The L.A. talent is rewriting the rules of luxury with her handmade, softly sculptural, sterling silver and gold vermeil blings. Her spring-summer 2021 collections delivers all her signatures with some gorgeous updates. From freshwater pearls to sensual curves and bulbous shapes (think earrings resembling water droplets), those pieces are here to last forever. Find it alongside new statement ear and hand pieces, inspired by time spent in the garden, featuring metal renditions of the vines from the designer’s favourite spot. Those pieces – which are actual wearable art – make me think of Claude Lalanne’s delightful works (the artist especially known for her collaboration with Yves Saint Laurent – ‘Les Robes Lalanne’ and bodily adornments from the 1969 haute couture collection). In her signature, intricate electroplating process, objects like leaves, twigs, petals, berries and other organic materials are completely transformed into copper. But back to Buhai. The “Fantasy Collection” is now available for pre-order on her site. I recommend taking a look at it…
Photos courtesy of Sophie Buhai’s website.
Design & Culture by Ed 