Woman

Yoga in the Morning, Oscars in the Evening. Tom Ford AW20

| Design & Culture by Ed

Here we are again: the fashion month has started. But it actually kicked off in Los Angeles, not New York, for a brief Tom Ford moment. The Oscars night is this Sunday, so Ford just couldn’t split between the two coasts – dressing the actors is his domain. And he has always mentioned LA as the city that reasonates more with his brand’s identity than the Big Apple. Rene Zellweger, Miley Crus, John Hamm, Jennifer Lopez and Demi Moore all took a rest in the front row last evening, and saw what you can always expect from Tom: sublime eveningwear, for both men and women. Will any of these lace dresses hit the red carpet tomorrow? Big hopes for the crystalline numer with double velvet bows. While the after dark part was great (or actually properly classic), the ready-to-wear definitely didn’t impress this much. Backstage, Ford was speaking about the Los Angeles way of life, which surely is all about Chateau Marmont, yoga and palo santo, but I’m still not sure if jersey sweat-pants, sweat-skirts and sweat-tops (with merch-like logos…) aren’t too lazy for a fashion show (and it’s not 2014 outside!). The floor-sweeping tie-dye caftans styled with all that athleisure-wear didn’t help either.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Fluffy Clouds. Cecilie Bahnsen AW20

| Design & Culture by Ed

The music began, and once the lights came on, Cecilie Bahnsen‘s signature romance was illuminated. Of course there were all the beautiful, fluffy ball skirts and big sleeves, sculpted with delicate silk organza. Still, this season the Copenhagen-based designer slightly stepped away from her saccharine dreaminess. There was a fresh edge to Bahnsen’s new work, thanks to the mix of metallic materials and to more form-fitting, corseted silhouettes that added a sensual and bewitching quality to her designs. Crisp, fitted blazers were styled with cloudlike dresses and sheer A-line skirts, and Bahnsen also expanded into knitwear with ribbon- and ruffle-bedecked sweaters that could be worn as easily with jeans as they could be layered over one of her voluminous dresses. Outerwear was crucial to the collection. Bahnsen collaborated with British luxury heritage brand Mackintosh and showed minimal anoraks alongside cocooning quilted coats with floral embroidery. That’s a great lesson in layering. Bahnsen is one of the most skilled designers in the city and this season she really pushed herself and her talents to the next level.i

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Refined Classics. The Row Pre-Fall 2020

| Design & Culture by Ed

“We try to be thoughtful. It’s everything for every day. There aren’t really tricks,” said Mary-Kate Olsen during The Row‘s pre-fall 2020 presentation in Paris. She and her sister, Ashley, keep on impressing the industry with their sublime, refined, minimalist, yet soft take on everyday classics. There’s an American tradition behind this: The Row stands on the shoulders of what Donna Karan did for second-wave feminist aspirers to boardrooms in the 1980s, and what Calvin Klein contributed to New York minimalism in the 1990s. Add quality that will last for years and years to come, and here’s The Row that keeps on pushing envelope in terms of the luxurious simplicity. The pre-fall line-up is filled with well-cut peacoats and silk robes, as well as business-ready offering: perfect midi pencil skirt with a matching a shirt in the same fabric or fluid trousers and a double-breasted jacket in the creamiest shade of ecru. Delightful.

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

Shades of Elegance. Valentino Couture SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

From all the couture shows this season, I (of course) anticipated Pierpaolo Piccioli‘s line-up for Valentino the most. For spring-summer 2020, a very different facet of Piccioli’s imagination transpired. The designer challenged himself to stop the operatic volumes and begin his search for a new silhouette. This time, it was structured, linear, fishtailed, modular, yet still drenched in color and pattern by turns. Looking back at the previous, ecstatic collections he dreamed up for us, he decided it was time to step off the path. “I hate it when people talk about ‘storytelling.’ I am not a storyteller. I don’t have the feeling that Cristóbal Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Charles James, Mainbocher, whatever—I don’t feel they had stories of the season.” Trusting himself to free-association meant exploring form and emotion in ways that emphasized choice, variety, and the ingenious devices that only the Valentino craftspeople are able to realize. There were more trousers, more columns than before; an interest in constructing layers in ways which only the wearer will know about. Bubbles, bows and plenty of Valentino red recurred. There was a gorgeous color palette – purple, eau de nil, scarlet, pink, mint… and black (this one looked super refined in the eveningwear section). As usual, the best.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

A Lesson In Parisian Style. Bouchra Jarrar Couture SS20

| Design & Culture by Ed

So happy to see Bouchra Jarrar back at work on her name-sake label. After her traumatic time at Lanvin, one would wonder if she ever comes back to the industry. She did this couture season, quietly, yet with confidence. “I wanted to do fashion that resembles me,” Bouchra said moments before her intimate show. Staged in her own apartment, with a slender sheaf of wheat leaning against the wall and raw quartz crystals displayed under a glass dome on a marble mantel, the presentation of Edition n°1 brought together a dozen or so of her very recognizable signatures, primarily influenced by menswear. A backless gilet was ticked out with feathers and pearls. Ample trousers were grounded by a merch-style T-shirt. Feather Maasai-inspired bracelets reprised her sports stripes. Other standout pieces included a very pretty fringed bias-cut tweed top; a sublime khaki overcoat with silver buttons; a flawless perfecto with ribbed shoulders. The presentation was a lesson in Parisian style: take a white shirt, impeccably cut black trousers, and eclectic accessories (like a fringed Berber-weave scarf) and suddenly you’ve gone from standard to elevated chic. Jarrar called those Berber weaves “ethnic with a perfume of couture.” A Paris-based couture artisan with whom Jarrar has collaborated everywhere she has worked makes each one after Jarrar picks the yarn and the dyes. She chose a russet hue, for example, in tribute to her Moroccan roots. “These are my colors. They remind me of how my grandparents wore their shawls. They carry all the warmth of my origins,” she said. The loyal, couture-buying client base of Jarrar will be more than pleased.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.