Magnolia. Conner Ives AW23

February 18, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Remember the 1995 documentary Catwalk, which followed Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss through the fashion month? That film captured not only the quintessence of 1990s cool, but also an image of model-hood filled with friendship, fun and mutual support. Somehow, Conner Ives managed to convey that fleating feeling in his London Fashion Week collection – and it didn’t feel forced, which is the most amazing thing. While last season’s eclectic extravaganza proved Ives can do more than just the spliced T-shirt dresses that earned him a following while still a student at Central Saint Martins, the 26-year-old designer explained that he wanted to mature things with this collection. Titled Magnolia after Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling 1999 film charting the lives and loves of a disparate group of Angelenos, it contained all of the greatest hits of Ives’s collections thus far: slinky fringed skirts made from upcycled piano scarves; diaphanous Lilith Fair slip dresses with sheer ruffles; and yes, those vintage T-shirts, here transformed into a bias-cut camisole dress trimmed with black lace. To Ives’s point, there were a few more grown-up tricks in the mix too, including a handful of retro silk button-downs and tailored trousers, along with Ally McBeal-core minimalist tailoring in muted shades of green and gray. There was also fun to be had: not least in the dizzying soundtrack, which cycled relentlessly through everything from Lil Mama’s Lip Gloss to the opening theme of Psycho. And as with last season’s smorgasbord of winking references to everything from reality TV to film history, part of the thrill was engaging with Ives’s Guess Who?game of pop culture icons from across the decades. The second look was a Kate Moss-inspired “Glasto girl” trudging through the mud in a fur gilet and Hunter wellies, while other looks paid homage to the “shiny set” of New York society women who would descend on the Paris couture shows each season, such as C.Z. Guest and Nan Kempner. Most bonkers of all was the bridal look at the end: a tongue-in-cheek nod to a wedding dress from the Lindsay Lohan remake of The Parent Trap (as well as the highly questionable top hat-veil hybrid that remains seared onto the retinas of all who have seen it). “That was really something where I was like: This is so fucking ridiculous,” Ives added, with a grin. Ives may have a winning sense of humor, but between all those granola girls and Coyote Ugly bartenders and new-age mystics with agate pendants swinging over their jeans, there was a method in the madness. Notably, a series of looks that was plumbed from the depths of Ives’s encyclopedic knowledge of ’90s and ’00s fashion: the bulbous trapeze coats, horse-riding hats, and platform Mary Janes of Nicolas Ghesquière’s influential autumn 2006 collection for Balenciaga. “I remember being a 10-year-old kid looking at that collection, having stolen a magazine from my mom’s bathroom,” Ives said. The designer is, above all else, a true fashion fanboy and it translates palpably through the clothes. “I want to emphasize that same guttural feeling I felt when I was 10 years old looking at that magazine,” he said. “I’m aware of how schlocky that sounds, but it feels messy and human and real, and I think that’s more interesting than painting some pristine picture of what fashion should be like.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Breaking and Healing. Di Petsa AW23

February 18, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

London Fashion Week started with a moving memorial service for Vivienne Westwood. The spirit of the Dame is in the air, and it just makes you reflect on how the late designer pushed London to being the place for emerging designers with off-kilter style to start their careers and evolve. Like Dimitra Petsa, who with every season makes the fashion industry fall harder in love with her ethereal world. Inspired by her Greek heritage and its ancient mythologies, Di Petsa‘s designer looked to the story of Persephone for autumn-winter 2023. For those unfamiliar: she was the daughter of the goddess Demeter, who was abducted by Hades, and then later became the queen of the underworld. With the collection, titled Breaking and Healing, the designer wanted to honor the growth and transformation that Persephone has experienced. Petsa was on her A-game with her latest offering, whether it was her popular wet-look illusion dresses, which have been elevated in Lycra and silks in dark hues, or the placements of healing crystals like clear quartz – to encourage “tenderness, and letting go” – as decorative features on dress straps and headdresses. Elsewhere, paneled leather and velvet were sensuously placed like mosaics on mesh dresses, a new technique for the brand. In a continuation from last season, Petsa developed new twists on maternity styles, only this time, certain pieces were designed for those who want to be “pregnant with themselves,” via corseted hand-embroidered bumps. Knitted denim separates with frayed panels inserted vertically also stood out as a strong moment. For the finale, she showed a cut-out silk chiffon dress that featured corset boning wings, a silhouette that elevated (quite literally) her otherworldly sensibilities.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Lady Autumn. Altuzarra AW23

February 15, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Like Tory Burch, Joseph Altuzarra is having a great, creative streak for the last couple of seasons. His latest Altuzarra collection – especially its intro and outro – captures the feeling one loves about autumn. The warm colours of leaves in the park. Experimenting with layers of knits and outerwear. The first couple of looks, absolutely chic and beautiful, were about combining an evening coat (or soiree jacket) with a floor-sweeping, silk column skirt. All that covered in Altuzarra’s signature tie-dye. Somehow, the designer managed elevate the print from boho to lady-like. Then, we’ve got the knitwear, which was a gracious walk down the memory lane of Donna Karan’s dance-inspired, late 1990s style filled with flowing silhouettes and body-soothing forms. The over-sized beanies – a nod to this Yohji Yamamoto collection maybe – were a cool addition. There were some low points in this offering, like a set of serious-looking, dull evening dresses that gave nothing, but then Altuzarra served the dessert. Parka coats and bomber jackets in yellow and blue satin, fur-trimmed and embellished, styled again with maxi skirts. If you look back at the designers early collections, you remind yourself this was the look that made the brand so desirable in the first place. Good for Altuzarra to revisit that trick.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Little Price. Thom Browne AW23

February 15, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Thom Browne became the Chairman of CFDA, and his return home – to New York Fashion Week – felt like a promise of some sort of new, creative chapter. But his autumn-winter 2023 collection was a usual affair for the designer: theatrical gestures, cartoon-ish clothes that have more in common with costumes, and an exhausting reinterpretation of the tweed jacket. There was of course a background story for the context. “The Little Prince” was the reference point (Browne heavily resorts to literature lately). The attraction, the designer said backstage afterwards, was “how the story says that children actually see more than adults do. That was really the separation between the more strict tailoring and the more conceptual tailoring – that the kids actually saw things more interesting. Because I like to see things like that.” Browne uses his runways for story telling – “for me the shows are pure creativity, I don’t think about the business and commerce at all,” he said – and he stuck quite close to the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry novella. An aircraft pilot and a little prince stumbled around the downed plane, taking their time, the former in a quilted space suit trimmed in Browne’s signature red, white, and blue stripes, and the latter in a too-big jacket and gold knits that matched his hair. A group of models in intarsia’d silk dresses representing the six planets visited by the Little Prince prior to his meeting the pilot emerged next. They were followed by the “adults” Browne was talking about, in strict but supersized tailoring, who themselves were followed by “kids” in Comme Des Garçons-like deconstructed suits, shirts, and ties layered over precisely fitted sheaths. It was only at the end that Browne deviated from the script. The Little Prince goes missing or perhaps dies for his lost love, but the designer wanted a happy conclusion, and so Precious Lee assumed the form of an angel and rescued our hero from his melancholy.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Steamy Night. LaQuan Smith AW23

February 14, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

New York loves sexy fashion, and since Tom Ford is on and off the NYFW schedule, there’s a great need for sensual, stinking hot, evening glamour. LaQuan Smith does that so, so well. “This collection has a little bit more of an elevated sophistication,” the designer said. “The LaQuan Smith woman is growing, and she’s incorporating these sexy elements she finds here in all aspects of her life,” he added. Smith is growing, too. His cut has become more precise and intentional, as has his choice of materials. The star of the show was the tailoring. Smith said he didn’t want to take the suiting so seriously, “as we’ve seen classics from all the greats.” This was evidenced by the cleverness of the tuxedo-meets-little black dress of the first exit and the playful sharpness of the cropped jackets. Smith is known for dresses, but here he cut a solid range of trousers: some low-rise, others with hand-folded silk waistbands, but all razor-sharp and with the right fit – not too wide, not too slim, and just long enough to wear with a good pair of stilettos. As expected here, there were moments of sheerness, including mesh tops with scooped satin necklines and another with applied strips. Rounding out the lineup were bodysuits, evening dresses, and separates in stretch suede (the vertiginously low slung skirts include built-in panties, a considerate detail), a skirt and bra set in a crinkled metallic leather, and two LBDs in a patent black material. Smith also included menswear in this lineup, inspired by his recent creation of a custom ensemble for Lenny Kravitz’s CFDA Awards appearance. The looks were worthy companions to his womenswear, and the Kravitz influence was evident, particularly in the coat and monogrammed leather trousers worn by Alton Mason.