Her Gardens. Magda Butrym AW24

March 2, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Magda Butrym finds pleasure in experimenting and developing her language through exploration of themes close to her heart. She’s also a female designer with a unique design sensibility that joins this season’s growing discourse around the way women are designing for women. The autumn-winter 2024 collection is an unexpected journey: from the cult 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens” to a fascinating revisiting of Polish heritage. Let’s start in the East Hamptons property of the eccentric Bouvier family, where Little Edie’s singular style, characterized by shawls and veils, evolved and became fashion’s ever-self-updating inspiration. The latest collection revisits her iconic looks, like the maxi cardigan cocooning or the shearling coat reminiscent of the oversized fur she used to wear while running errands in her garden. A red, broad-shouldered blazer or double-breasted coat, highlighted with strips of shearling, contrasts with ribbed knits and matching pantyhose, creating a charismatic, off-kilter look. Residing in industrial surroundings, the two models starring in Butrym’s lookbook (shot by Vitali Gewich and styled by Jacob Kjeldgaard) are undeniably elegant, with a hint of madness, yet there is grace and lightness in their unparalleled styles.

With Magda Butrym’s universe, there’s always the return to her Polish roots. The appreciation of Polish cultural heritage is synonymous with the brand’s rose-budding ethos. The collection’s hero accessory – the headscarf – is a symbol of femininity rooted in Slavic tradition. Whether monochrome or adorned with blooming florals, the shawls embrace and safeguard the sacred essence of womanhood. Women are the custodians of ancient wisdom, myths, and legends, passing on entire mindsets to the next generations, nurturing and preserving their heritage and integrity. The headscarf as well evokes the image of Madonna, a maternal figure that stands as a timeless emblem of female empowerment. An enduring example of Polish cultural iconography depicting Saint Mary is the album cover of Maanam’s “Love is Wonderful”. Kora, the band’s iconic frontwoman, performs Miron Białoszewski’s 1956 poem “Carousel with Madonnas”, a vivid portrayal of girls and women having fun in an amusement park, resembling Madonnas painted by Renaissance masters. The urban setting of the autumn-winter 2024 lookbook – two women, two strong characters – can be read as a contemporary interpretation of female self-confidence and self-satisfaction conveyed in the track. The finale look of the collection further explores Slavic traditions and is somewhat an elusive mystery. A fringed, silk bolero jacket paired with a draped column dress and a bejeweled headscarf, all in pure white, a color representing absolute freedom and the possibility of new beginnings. What’s coming next for Magda Butrym? Watch this space.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Porterville. Rick Owens AW24

March 1, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Rick Owens‘ autumn-winter 2024 fashion show was womenswear continuation of the “Porterville” collection that the designer presented back in January. “Porterville” 2.0., shown again at the Place du Palais Bourbon location, was equally moving and breath-taking as the menswear version. “When I’m talking about Porterville” – his California hometown, whose name appeared in an Art Deco font marching across capes – “I’m talking about oppression and intolerance, and that’s a fact of life that’s never going to go away,” he said. “Part of my role in life is to counterbalance that with this cheerful perversity.” This Owens season seems to be one of starkest examples in fashion history where a designer is processing childhood trauma in such a powerful way. Hussein Chalayan and Demna did so too, but in response to being refugees of war-torn countries. “It’s not easy for a lot of designers to be so autobiographical,” said Owens. As one of Paris’s last independent designers standing, he has fewer voices in his ear and pure independence to do as he pleases. This was a collection through which Owens takes hold of his demons, in which his gothic instincts duked it out with his inclination for goddess-y silhouettes. Batwing shoulders scraped the earlobes, puffer vests swaddled torsos like protective shells, and leather-and-down boots that riffed on the inflatable rubber ones he put on his men’s runway evoked space costumes, as if his models might’ve just returned from a walk on the moon. The deep pink dress worn by Matières Fécales’s Hannah Rose Dalton looked like it had sprouted wings in back. Incredible.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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A High Moment. Dries Van Noten AW24

February 29, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Dries Van Noten‘s show was definitely a high moment of the rather “play-it-safe” first days of Paris Fashion Week, where many brands based their collections on vapid, blurry ideas and concepts. The Belgian designer titled his autumn-winter 2024 collection “The Woman Who Dares to Cut Her Own Fringe“. “This means for me audacity, but also considered… She is in one way really tender but also very strong.” This too: “it’s about style and not so much about fashion.” The Yves Saint Laurent quote – “fashion fades, style is eternal” – is forever relevant, and during fashion month you really see how neglected that wisdom is. Van Noten’s latest collection was pure style, because how else can you call a gray sweatshirt fabric with iridescent sequins, or lavender silk duchess worn with faded denim jeans?

The show started with a camel coat, double-breasted with a stand-up collar and rounded sleeves, but its neutral minimalism was more of an appetizer that prepared your taste buds for the next dishes. This was a collection of many colors, often in surprising pairings or trios, even better if Van Noten could add strange textures ranging from shaggy fur-like mohairs to tinselly metallics. “There is no process and there is especially not a system. The last thing that I want is a system because then it feels organized. These things need to happen in a very spontaneous way.” Emphasizing that sense of spontaneity, zip-up hoodies were worn with one sleeve off and wrapped around the neck like a scarf and button-downs were shown back-to-front, the collars popped under stretchy nylon shirts. The offbeat, irreverent mix was the thing, but he also made a point of saying, “every piece has to stand on its own. It’s important that it’s not just looking nice when it’s an outfit, every piece has to have its value.” See, there’s a big different between “style” and “styling“. Most shows we see today are pure styling, a combination of clothes that separately would mean nothing. With Van Noten’s clothes, you’re equipped to create style.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Construction. Marie Adam-Leenaerdt AW24

February 28, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Belgian designer Marie Adam-Leenaerdt is working her way through the building blocks of a woman’s wardrobe, and her third runway collection proves she has a capacity to do that. The show she put for autumn-winter 2024 is devoted to the skirt. Her idea was to test the skirt’s versatility and to explore its possibilities. There were a couple of midi skirts that she also showed as trapeze dresses, the waistband slipping asymmetrically off a bare shoulder; coats with collars that looked more like waistbands; and bags of all sizes designed with horizontal zips – remove the middle sections and guess what they look like? “Skirt skirt, dress skirt, coat skirt, bag skirt,” is how she put it on her press notes. Even the wedding dress finale was constructed simply, like a skirt with hoops that gave it its tenting volume. Adam-Leenaerdt used to work at Demna’s Balenciaga, and the designer is very assertive in making the codes she formed at the brand now her own. So no, these volumes, saturated color palettes, and cape-coats aren’t Balenciaga knock-offs. They originally were 100% Marie Adam-Leenaerdt.

Here are couple of absolutely amazing Marie Adam-Leenaerdt pieces you can shop now!

ED’s DISPATCH:

Self-Tie Silk Cape Blouse

Mange Debout Caped Midi Dress

Fitted-Back Oversized Button Down Shirt

Long Pinched Trench Coat

Reversible Wool Maxi Skirt Suit

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Sheer. Saint Laurent AW24

February 28, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

The Anthony Vaccarello method for Saint Laurent is about finding a distinct element from Yves’ vast archive, and blowing it up on the contemporary runway. In 1988, YSL had an obsession with billow-y, sheer fabrics that wrapped the female body, but at the same time left nothing much to imagination. Following this trope, Vaccarello presented an all-sheer collection yesterday in Paris. It did look like a statement. But there’s one burning question: with Saint Laurent’s huge platform and worldwide influence, wouldn’t it be great to cast at least a couple of models with curvier, fuller shapes? Wouldn’t that make a collection like this even more fiercer and, to some extent, grounded in reality? The transparency of all these silks seems to only embrace the thinness of Vaccarello’s models. Not even the fabulous powder puff marabou jackets that were casually draped over the arms helped conceal the Ozempic-ness of this collection.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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