Conservative Turn. Gucci SS27

September 26, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

When Demna was announced as Gucci’s new creative director, the industry collectively assumed that a renaissance was coming. After all, this was the designer who had changed the way fashion looked over the past decade – turning hoodies into statements, oversize into a norm, and luxury itself into something to be questioned, parodied and reinvented.

Yet recreating that alchemy is not easy. In Milan, Demna presented his latest Gucci collection inside a replica of the brand’s flagship store, supposedly returning to the house’s roots. There were attempts at Tom Ford-era sex, echoes of Frida Giannini in the jet-set tailoring and equestrian moments, and none of Alessandro Michele’s warmth. What remained was something colder, more calculated – and strangely nostalgic for 2009, when fashion was very white and very thin. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

ED’s SELECTION:

Gucci Silk-satin Mini Skirt

Gucci Cropped Silk Jacket

Gucci Castello Patent-leather Sandals

Gucci Jackie 1961 Leather-trimmed Printed Coated-canvas Shoulder Bag

Gucci Silk-satin Blazer

Twenties. Alberta Ferretti SS27

September 26, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

Roaring Twenties in 2026? Groundbreaking. But in the case of Lorenzo Serafini’s latest Alberta Ferretti collection, this really is a deal-breaker. His collection was just so sincerely beautiful. Léon Bakst and the Ballets Russes were obviously on the moodboard, but in Serafini’s hands, the references didn’t end up looking Yves Saint Laurent, but purely Ferretti: romantic, with a hint of wanderlust, and completely unpretentious.

The breeziness of the low-waist gowns, the simple elegance of languid kimonos. Serafini wanted each of the clothes to weigh less than 20 grams, so that on the body everything floated and fluttered. I also loved how some of the looks felt very Romeo Gigli, the Italian designer at his 1980s heyday who himself looked to the 1920s for inspiration. The tie-dyed shawls, pleated trousers and satin cummerbunds evoked that particularly sweet era of Italian fashion.

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

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Architecture. Tod’s SS27

September 25, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

A year ago, I visited the Olivetti showroom in Venice, tucked discreetly beneath the colonnade of Saint Mark’s Square. Designed by Carlo Scarpa, the space stuns with the way it sustains a sense of harmony in possibly the busiest place in the Floating City. Modest in scale but rich in detail, like all of Scarpa’s architectural gems, it’s full of warmth within its overall 1950s minimalism.

Matteo Tamburini’s Tod’s is like Scarpa’s Olivetti – only the context is Milan and the local fashion industry, where other giants shout at the top of their lungs, but all you hear is some mumble jumble. Meanwhile, Tod’s delivers the most supple, butter-smooth and effortlessly chic take on reduction, where there’s no place for the superfluous, and functionality isn’t merely pragmatic, but beautiful.

A close-to-the-body fitted top with elegantly tucked sleeves, like napkins at your favourite restaurant; a leather dress that doesn’t look like a weight to carry, but like caramel dripping down the body; perforated bags and knits – a very Carlo detail, IYKYK – that simply feel breezy and light. Tamburini chooses subtlety over noise and serves a collection that is fully wearable – and somehow exists outside of any trend cycle. Like any great architecture.

ED’s SELECTION:

Tod’s Studded Suede-trimmed Glossed-leather Ballet Flats

Tod’s Tim Zaino Mini Leather-trimmed Suede Shoulder Bag

Tod’s Gommino Suede Loafers

Tod’s Bauletto Croc-effect Leather-trimmed Suede Mini Bag

Tod’s Glossed-leather Mules

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

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Budding Romance. Fendi SS27

September 24, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

It’s tempting to cross out Maria Grazia Chiuri’s attempts at Fendi, but I believe something is gradually germinating from this slowly budding romance. Her menswear is simply delightful – the way she throws a fur jacket over a pair of jeans emanates a sense of cool I haven’t seen at Fendi in years. It’s interesting to see how naturally she approaches menswear, almost as if it comes to her more effortlessly than womenswear. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

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Fatherland. Jil Sander SS27

September 23, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

I’ve got literal goosebumps thinking about how accurately Simone Bellotti‘s Jil Sander collection channels the world of Paweł Pawlikowski – the Oscar-winning Polish director behind “Ida“, “Cold War“, and especially “Fatherland”. Whether that was the designer’s conscious or unconscious impulse is an open question. But he certainly knows how to capture a very particular kind of German-ness – one that perfectly echoes Pawlikowski’s cinema and its historically complicated entanglement with Eastern Europe.

There is a certain sadness, brashness and sentimentality here that feels almost haunting. Małgosia Bela – who happens to be not only the original Jil Sander woman, but also the film director’s wife – appears in an hourglass-shaped skirt suit with a white shirt tucked in, creased and slightly undone. The hair is immaculate, the little black pumps perfectly prim. To understand what I mean, you simply have to watch one of the aforementioned films. It’s an unspoken visual connection, rather than a literal reference.

That same poignancy runs through the masculine trench coats, tweaked pencil skirts and tailoring with their somewhat peculiar, almost nun-like silhouettes. Even the little pop of colour feels loaded: a two-piece set in a postcard-like print, but all wrinkled, as if it were the abandoned promise of the West. This is a collection that makes you want to unpack generational trauma. Bellotti reminds us that contemporary fashion can be uneasy.