Chic Commuter. Tod’s AW24

February 25, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

At Tod’s, a very promising debut by Matteo Tamburini. This is one of these Italian brands that struggle to find their path to ready-to-wear. Walter Chiapponi had some solid ideas, but it just didn’t click. Tamburini’s autumn-winter 2024 was an ambitious observation of Milan commuters’ style. His office-bound travelers were a runway fantasy, but there’s certainly something undeniably chic about how Milanese people dress day-to-day, and this Tod’s outing was a convincing reflection of that. The motifs that ran through this collection were the belts featuring gleaming hardware inspired by vintage Alfa Romeo grilles, and the house’s emblematic driving shoes that came with enlarged and more robust gommino traction on the soles. Some of these shoes arrived with extravagant leather fringing, a detail that was echoed further down the line in leather scarves. Just as the Tod’s shoes came with that finely-calibrated customization to take them beyond the norm, Tamburini applied strokes of subtle oddness – double-collared shirting, hyper-break pants, four layered wool and silk falling-off charcoal “twinsets,” pushed proportion leather-panel trenches, knits in stiff boiled cashmere – to almost every look. If you’re not still persuaded to step into a Tod’s store, then at least you might want to get inspired by some of these styling tips.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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No Hard Feelings. Tom Ford AW24

February 23, 2024February 22, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Peter Hawkings‘s sophomore collection for Tom Ford leaves you with a hard pressing question: what’s Tom Ford without Tom Ford? Unfortunately, the designer who used to work with the legend doesn’t reinterpret his legacy, but tries to mimic it, imitate it, in a very commercial, unreflective way. And that doesn’t work. The autumn-winter 2024 collection, presented in Milan, is bared of any emotions or feelings. What’s the point of all these proper, handsome peacoats and party dresses if there’s no charisma behind them? Some AI generator could do a far more creative piece of work. If Tom Ford, the brand, wants to thrive, it can’t move forward in such uninspired manner. Or else it will lag.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Romance With The Past. Prada AW24

February 22, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Prada o’clock is Milan Fashion Week’s prime-time. And with a collection like today’s outing, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons once again confirm that their dialogue is the ultimate creative powerhouse. The autumn-winter 2024 collection, presented on a glass runway elevated above terrarium of moss and streams, is an exploration of notions of beauty, of a contemporary world formed by memories. Romance with the past is a recurring theme in Miuccia’s work, and it seems that Raf is feeling more and more comfortable with playing around with the old-fashioned feminine decorum: prim cardigans, lace, bows. But in case of Prada, the old always feel new, revelatory and simply unexpected. Dresses were covered in layers of ribbons, but don’t you dare calling it “coquette“. These women, a bit bourgeoisie, a bit activists, in their knee-length boots and biker caps, aren’t here to lounge. The suiting and outerwear looked “normal” in the front, but in fact was absolutely revealing in the back. Prada and Simons really indulged themselves in the richness of textures and layers: we have feathers, crushed velvet, butter-smooth leathers, technical cotton, fur trims. Speaking of leather, these cropped perfectos – styled with apron-like skirts – felt so good. If “sexy” wasn’t really addressed so far in the creative duo’s work, then this collection delivers many levels and ideas of sexuality, from something kinky, even perverse, to classic Old Hollywood allure (think housecoats with sharp waists and the cold-shoulder moment of the finale dress kept in the most hypnotic shade of Victorian purple). A total YES.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Finding Ground. Burberry AW24

February 20, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Daniel Lee is finding his ground at Burberry. Well, it’s high-time: the sales don’t look good at the British brand, and the plans of making Burberry a high-class-luxury player seem to be too ambitious. But what Lee presented under the tent in Victoria Park yesterday was quite convincing. To the tune of Amy Winehouse’s biggest hits, London’s O.G. models – Agyness Deyn, Lily Donaldson, Karen Elson, Lily Cole, Nomi Campbell – marched in desirably-looking outerwear, no-nonsense knitwear and plaid flannels. Maya Wigram – Phoebe Philo’s daughter! – closed the show. This gesture felt like a blessing from the fellow London-based designer who schooled Lee at her Céline studio. The styling of the show was persuasive as well: maxi-skirts styled with short varsity jackets, slouchy shearling coats mixed with super-oversized pants, and of course, a range of revisited moleskin trenches in shades of earthy greens and browns. Echoes of Christopher Bailey-era Burberry were heard and seen all around. All this certainly felt good to watch, but will it actually lure the clients to invest in Burberry just as they did in the early 2010s? Time will tell.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Femme Vortex. Dilara Findikoglu AW24

February 20, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

“It’s about toxic masculinity – and being beyond it: I feel like tonight we are doing a mass ritual to end it. The collection is called Femme Vortex because I wanted to create a different reality, outside politics, borders, gender norms, any kind of systematic rules that have been created by hetero-patriarchal men. My previous collections were about fighting, about resistance. But I’m not fighting any more: I wanted to express divine feminine power somewhere beyond time, beyond reality, and beyond what is happening.” That’s the manifesto behind Dilara Findikoglu‘s autumn-winter 2024 show presented at a moody church in London. All 37 looks had a title, and were crafted to encapsulate the spirit of a Findikoglu-conceived character through costume. The models then inhabited them, accepting the possession of that spirit through the prism of their own individuality. Hari Nef, being “Female Territory“, wore a corporate suit, usurped and transformed. Its pinstripe wool and cotton shirting was deployed as a split skirt worn beneath corseting, latex opera gloves, and a BDSM bow headpiece. Other looks, including number three’s “Man License“, were accessorized with a tabloid newspaper whose splash headline ran: “OMG Dilara Is Doing a Satanic Orgy at a London Church.” Others, such as “Fragile Ego“, and the final two looks were made of stiffened fabric apparently mid-flutter (or wrenched) as if to appear frozen in time. We still have to see what’s cooking at Sean McGirr’s Alexander McQueen debut collection, but I feel like Dilara would do absolute wonders under Lee’s name.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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