Industry Veterans. The Row SS26

June 27, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Row is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year – meaning that Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen are true industry veterans. And their brand is like wine – it does get better with age.

Spring-summer 2026 collection, photographed by Mark Kean (have you noticed the sudden Kean-ification of ad campaigns and editorials? He’s certainly got something of early Steven Meisel), is a fine study of what the Olsens were always interested in the first place: the basics. Don’t forget that The Row’s primary idea – and promise – was to create the most perfect t-shirt. There were a couple this season, as perfect as the ikebanas documented in the lookbook.

Other than crisp cotton shirting, lived-in tailoring, and startlingly monastic black evening dresses that could play a role in an Ingmar Bergman film, there was that one, chic accessory that was responsible for all the inventive styling: a bejeweled, rectangular brooch. Of course, it’s straight out of Miuccia Prada’s sciura playbook (the Olsens are known for referring – sometimes borderline imitating – designers like Martin Margiela or Yohji Yamamoto). A brooch can elevate any dress, fasten a cardigan like a scarf around your neck, or just be, on a jacket’s lapel. Now, since the Olsens have made their stance on this little tiny accessory, expect a lot of mini-essays about the art of wearing a brooch from Substack girls.

The designers, fully based in Paris for a couple of seasons now, know how to keep their loyal clients – and online admirers – in chokehold, in the most noiseless, elegant and sensual of ways.

ED’s SELECTION:

The Row Lea Draped Silk-crepe Tunic

The Row Zalenka Cropped Cotton And Cashmere-blend Twill Straight-leg Pants

The Row Leather And Mesh Ankle Boots

The Row Maxi Classic Calf Hair Belt

The Row Frank Corduroy-trimmed Cotton-canvas Jacket

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Slipcovers. Marie Adam-Leenaerdt AW25

June 12, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt is a Demna’s Balenciaga alumni. As the former creative director of the maison is departing for Milan to lead Gucci, fans of the style so synonymous with that era can with no hesitance head to Adam-Leenaerdt’s eponymous label. Her contributions to Balenciaga, like tea-dresses, boxy envelope skirts and sharp tailoring, are now all under her name. But the designer isn’t stuck in one place – her work is continuously updated with innovative thinking about dressing. Her mathematically-precise, sophisticated autumn-winter 2025 collection, shown back in March during Paris Fashion Week, at first seemed like a Joseph Beuys tribute (coats, suits and dresses in felted gray wool, all somewhat oversized and kept in bold geometric shapes). When the models came back around again, they had added a top layer to the garments, sort of like slipcovers for furniture (hence the show’s location in a home furnishings gallery). A coat was enlivened with a leopard print shell, a Margiela-ist triangle skirt got an electric blue gloss, and a super-chic mini shift became a trompe l’oeil cardigan coat in the vein of Coco Chanel. Marie Adam-Leenaerdt champions clothes that aren’t only modern-looking, but are also intelligent.

ED’s SELECTION:

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Oversized Scarf-detailed Gathered Wool Cardigan

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Double-breasted Wool-twill Blazer

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Bow-embellished Leather Slippers

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Checked Wool Midi Skirt

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Lace-trimmed Satin Blouse

Marie Adam-Leenaerdt Gathered Cotton-jersey Midi Dress

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Madame Minimalism. Carven Pre-Fall 2025

June 11, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Carven‘s pre-fall 2025 collection, officially credited to the brand’s studio, is a good-looking transition moment between Louise Trotter’s work at the maison and the brand’s current creative director – and long-time collaborator of Trotter – Mark Thomas. The line-up, offering garments and accessories so wearable and easy-in-approach that it’s hard not to fall in love with their daily allure, is informed by blousy smock tops, wraparound apron shapes and a penchant for fabrics that appear structured to the eye yet soft around the body. One of the dresses with flannel on front and crushed lining in the back reminisces a 1950s couture dress with its strikingly simple, yet chic silhouette. Then you’ve got all the bubbly, t-shirt-inspired dresses and tops, minimal, timeless, versatile. The knits and cashmere shifts are pieces to be grateful for when you need to leave home looking pulled together. Carven became a go-to brand for less is more women who aren’t after The Row’s sophisticated oddness or Phoebe Philo’s contemporary strictness; the brand offers a warmer, cozier approach to minimalism. A madame minimalism.

ED’s SELECTION:

CARVEN Layered Cotton-gauze Gown

CARVEN Tie-detailed Cashmere Cardigan

CARVEN Organza Midi Skirt

CARVEN Louise Leather Clutch

CARVEN Oversized Satin-twill Jacket

CARVEN Wool-twill Mini Dress

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Lovers. Gabriela Hearst Resort 2026

June 9, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst makes no-nonsense clothes. Her work is often criticized for lucking “edge” – but then, somebody has to make proper, classic, always-good-looking clothes. And there actually is something edgy about her resort 2026 collection, starring Malgosia Bela, Leon Dame and Alex Olson, photographed by Zoë Ghertner. Some context: the designer is lately obsessed with Tarot, pulling a card each morning and writing down the results. The Lovers card in the Marseille deck gave this collection its radiant color palette: cobalt blue (take a look at the sumptuous cashmere poncho she did in this magnetic hue), with sprinkles of pastel-pink and bottle-green. It also gave her a template for this simple, but evocative lookbook. In the Marseille deck, there are three figures on the Lovers card rather than the usual pair: two women and a man. Hearst did some rearranging, and she’s got one woman and two men in these pictures. A power move. The garments, un-fussy and “un-styled”, are remarkably handsome: think M-65 field jackets, double-face cashmere coats and all-black eveningwear. Looking for edge? There’s the Americana-inspired cow print, a lovely springboard from the understated vibe Hearst’s clothes emanate with.

ED’s SELECTION:

Gabriela Hearst Girard Shirred Dress in Sapphire Aloe Linen

Gabriela Hearst Lacquered Tote Bag in Black & Ivory Patchwork Leather

Gabriela Hearst Lyla Knit Ponco in Dip Dye Bordeaux Multi Welfat Cashmere

Gabriela Hearst Amethyst Stalactite Necklace

Gabriela Hearst Harriet Raffia Mule

Gabriela Hearst Wyn Jacket in Recycled Denim Linen

Gabriela Hearst Fatima Crochet Skirt in Multi Cashmere

Retrospection. Balenciaga Resort 2026

June 5, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Demna is in a retrospective mood – as he should. The visual language that he has created throughout the decade of working at Balenciaga is probably the style that will be the most heavily analyzed by fashion historians when dissecting the fashion of 2010s and 2020s. It’s era-defining, whether you love it or hate it. Resort 2026 isn’t his final collection for the house – it’s the highly-anticipated haute couture line-up in July, where you can expect the least expected – and I’m glad he chose to look back at his biggest Balenciaga hits. From oversized duvet jackets and coats-worn-over-coats to super-mini tea-dresses and something’s-off-looking hoodies, this collection sums up Demna’s ready-to-wear for the maison in the most straightforward, clear way (with a Britney Spears cameo on the prints and the BFRND soundtrack, just to spice things up). In his subversive oeuvre, the designer has an affection for studying archetypes: think art curators, bikers, fetishists, politicians, soccer players. The “Exactitudes“, named after a series by photographer Ari Versluis and writer Ellie Uyttenbroek, who have also worked on this lookbook, inspired Demna’s approach to fashion up to this point. “Working on this collection felt like a homecoming after all these years, a very formidable experience of love for fashion and dressmaking,” Demna said. “It is the end of a wonderful era that I wanted to capture and celebrate by creating the Balenciaga ‘archetypes’ – the people, the silhouettes, the vibes, and the ideas that have all been fundamental in my work for this amazing house.” Come September, a radically new methodology is set to reanimate Gucci. Is Milan ready?