Thursday, July 25, 2019

The Biggest Parisienne Summer Trends

Summer isn't just about sundresses and bikinis (not all about them, at least). We tapped the top buyers from your favorite stores; Nordstrom, Net-A-Porter, and ModaOperandi, to weigh in on the hottest trends of the season. They talked about serious Venice vibes, a new way to wear your pearls, and a pant style we haven't seen in over a decade. Read on for their industry insight on the styles you should be paying attention to, ahead.

California Cool


We've waxed poetic about our obsession with tie dye, but the summer trend is leaning further into its West Coast roots. "We are loving a California cool vibe for the warmer months, including upbeat and casual trends such as Hawaiian shirts, bucket hats, racer back tank tops, and anything tie-dye," said Elizabeth von der Goltz, the global buying director of Net-A-Porter. She enjoyed the psychedelic moments seen on Chloe, R13, and Prada's runway, but don't sleep on beachside stalls and Etsy shops for an affordable option. Polish off the look with denim cut-offs and old-school sneakers like Vans to really capture the SoCal aesthetic. Stephanie Schafer, the senior fashion director of Nordstrom', is also dye-ing over the trend, but suggested a grown-up way to dip your toes in the look: "The beautiful print technique feels fresh in sophisticated silhouettes such as dresses and skirts." In other words, you don't have to go full-hippie to participate.

Souvenir Jewelry


She sells sea shells, and we're buying it all up in the form of jewelry and hair accessories. According to von der Goltz, the shell trend "seemed to be everywhere last summer, [but] has grown to include pearls and beads this season." It ties in to the aforementioned 'California Cool' trend, but with a wanderlust spin. Affectionately dubbed "souvenir jewelry" by her team, the trend also "includes anything with shells, pearls, coins, or stones. It’s an elevated take on the jewelry finds one would snag at a fabulous local shop on holiday" Schafer also chimed in, stating that “shell jewelry has transformed from beach basic to elevated elegance. Shell studs, charms, and pendants are the coveted accessory this summer.”

You don't have to invest your paycheck to partake in this, either. "A great way to buy into some of these summer trends is through hair accessories," von der Goltz suggested. "We’re seeing this category grow with each season and include everything from hairclips to headbands to headscarves." Her favorite accessory brands are Valet and Eliou, which contrast precious stones with color and whimsy. 

Summer It-Bags


When it comes to summer bags, our minds immediately think of straw totes. All the buyers we asked still approve of this seaside trend and don't see it waning anytime soon. Lisa Aiken, the fashion director of ModaOperandi, dissected why we love them. "They elicit a vacation mindset, even while using them in the city," she stated. "As a versatile summer staple, it is polished but not stuffy and can really tie together a look." But the style isn't limited to raffia, but all beachy keen textiles. “Craftwork is becoming a year-round trend in bags," says Schafer. "Straw, crochet, wovens and craft details are [all] trending."

If you're searching for a leather it-bag, Aiken is a big fan of Bottega Veneta's new pouch clutch. "Oversized or mini, it is the perfect piece to take you from day into night and become an essential in your handbag wardrobe. I’ve been wearing mine on repeat," she said. 

Modern Tea Dresses


This summer, trade in your fit and flare sundresses for a retro-inspired style. “The long and languid dress is the silhouette of summer," said Schafer. "Draping, wrapping, ties and knots achieve a soft, sophisticated look, while high-shine silks and satins create daytime opulence." Aiken calls these styles the modern tea dress, "​riffing off a shape from the forties." These styles show off a little ankle, but still retain a hint of flirtation. This sleeper trend is "super flattering and a great length [...] It is in line with a trend we are seeing— pieces with a vintage feel being reworked to [look] new." Find dresses that are midi-length and flow away from the body, like a dropped waist. Prints and colors are up to you, with styles ranging from saturated hues to antique florals.

Shield Sunglasses


Say goodbye to skinny sunnies. According to Schafer, big is back with an athletic twist this season. “Oversized shield sunglasses are trending this summer," she says, referring to sunglasses that look similar to what your dad wears while playing squash. "Think ‘90s sport with a futuristic take and the bigger, the better.” If you're feeling adventurous, go full dad mode in colorful Oakleys, or tone it down with geometric black shades.

Utility


"A utilitarian theme and dose of practicality is welcome for summer," said Aiken. These lightweight layers are ideal for hot days that need coverage from the dangerous rays. She suggests "linens, khaki, as well as the cargo pant and Bermuda shorts, [which] exemplify this trend." You heard it hear first: cargo pants are back. If separates aren't your thing, von der Goltz said "the boiler suit plays into this theme and is the ultimate one-step dressing option. It is so efficient, comfortable, cool and stylish."

Square Toe


According to both Scafer and Aiken, it's time to square up with square-toed shoes. "The clean, geometric shapes make the shoe style modern," said Aiken. "They beautifully toughen up a feminine dress." She touted Wandler's recently launched shoe brand as her new favorite. For Schafer, “minimal sandals are a must. Look for slender straps balanced with a block heel, or square toes for the newest take.”

The Row’s Summer Workwear Capsule Just Went To The Top Of Our Wish Lists

The Row requires little fanfare, but its latest capsule collection of summer workwear has real “proceed to purchase” credentials. Net-a-Porter called upon Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to create a “summer in the city” edit that would have a point of difference to everything else on the market and the luxury brand’s own offering. The result – a series of fresh, cornflower-blue separates – ticks off both objectives.

“We wanted to address the working woman’s needs during the summer season, when temperatures are high, but you still need to look pulled together for work,” Elizabeth von der Goltz, Net-a-Porter global buying director, tells Vogue. “The Row rarely partners on exclusive capsules and collaborations, so it feels really special that we were able to create such a beautiful collection that’s solely available to our customers.”

Special indeed – it’s rare that the Olsens stray from neutrals for their luxurious ready-to-wear. The six-piece edit, including a sky-coloured version of The Row’s crepe de chine silk Sante dress and Sibel knit, were selected for their popularity on the website already.


Of course, the Net-a-Porter shopper needs little convincing. In fact, von der Goltz’s team increased its buy of The Row by almost 40 per cent for 2019. “The customers predominantly love the design, from the minimal aesthetic to the clean-cut pieces and high-quality fabrics,” she explains of its enduring appeal. “Not forgetting the beautifully skilled tailoring and craftsmanship behind each piece, which creates an incredible fit.”

It’s love at first wear for those who fill their virtual baskets with The Row pieces to try. “The high quality and design-led pieces speak for themselves and are exactly what our customers want as part of their wardrobe, regardless of the price tags,” von de Goltz continues. “The Row can be worn again and again, because the garments surpass seasonal trends and will last a lifetime.” Shop the “summer in the city” line, which is priced from £625 to £2,880, at Net-a-porter.com.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Will Opening Runway Shows To The Public Be A Game Changer For Fashion Week?

Agreat fashion show is truly unforgettable. Months of preparation and anticipation culminate in a crescendo of theatricality and glamour that lasts just a few minutes but sets the tone for the new season and ignites the fashion mechanics of desire, imagery and aspiration. Fashion shows can elicit tears of joy (as seen at Valentino’s most recent couture spectacle) or ignite a wider cultural conversation about sex, gender and politics (Alexander McQueen’s shows always hit a cultural nerve). But for decades these shows have been reserved for industry professionals and VIPs, fiercely guarded by clipboard-wielding publicists and a phalanx of security guards. Until now, that is.

Last week the British Fashion Council announced that tickets for a selection of shows at London Fashion Week will go on sale to the public, with prices starting at £135 and going up to £245 for front row tickets. It’s the first of the “Big Four” fashion weeks to make the move. The participating designers are yet to be confirmed, but the tickets also include access to installations, panel discussions and the DiscoveryLAB, “an experiential space where fashion meets art, technology and music”. The news comes as brands are becoming ever more public-facing – whether it’s offering in-store experiences with designers, bespoke personalisation or speaking directly to customers via social media – and fashion exhibitions at museums are breaking records.

Fashion shows, however, still remain the most visceral experience of the medium. Over time, the purpose of them has evolved from vehicles for stores to place orders and press to orchestrate publicity to monolithic marketing spectacles, designed to communicate brand identity and showcase famous ambassadors. Celebrities now sit alongside influential editors, department store merchants, corporate sponsors, influencers and tech tycoons. The sets vary from nondescript white rooms and derelict factories to the far more extravagant: private beaches in Malibu, exotic palaces or the gilded Louis XV salons of Paris.


One thing is certain: despite them being live-streamed into the digital stratosphere and Instagrammed by every member of the audience, nothing quite compares to being there in person. Hence why there’s such a piqued interest in attending.

How have fashion shows evolved over the last decade?

In the last decade, fashion has morphed into an entertainment industry and as a result fashion shows are more akin to music concerts or sporting events than ever before. In 2016, Kanye West staged a fashion-meets-music Yeezy show at Madison Square Garden in New York, with over 20,000 people in the audience and 12,000 models. Tickets went on sale to the public and alongside his third Yeezy collection, West also debuted his new album.

In June 2018, West’s protégée Virgil Abloh invited thousands of art students to his debut Louis Vuitton menswear show. Prior to that, in 2016, he posted the invitation to his Off-White show on his Instagram account: “The address and time are here for all the kids to come,” he wrote. Except many of them were denied entry due to capacity limitations. Samuel Ross of A-Cold-Wall also opened up his show to the public, allowing them to register on the label’s website for tickets in the hope of welcoming young people who are usually shut out of the industry.

In May, a new fashion and art festival, Reference Berlin, held in an abandoned car park in the German capital, opened to the public. It brought together fashion names such as Martine Rose, Comme des Garçons, Alyx and Michel Gaubert with the likes of curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Big Love Records founder Haruka Hirata. Some 2,300 people attended after applying for admission-free accreditation. “It was a great opportunity to decontextualise what [fashion brands] do, and for them to come up with something that has a different space – to talk about a vision and experiment,” says Mumi Haiti, the founding CEO of Reference, who encouraged designers to collaborate with artists on installations, panel discussions, video projects and live experiences. “Everyone who dared to participate, the feedback was amazing,” adds Tim Neugebauer, the festival’s head of communications. “Taking away the privilege contributed to creative content because it had to be more creative to make people come back.”

What are the benefits of public-facing fashion shows?

It raises the question of what the benefits are of opening the floodgates. In Shanghai, emerging talent incubator Labelhood has staged two shows – one for consumers and one for industry insiders – since its inception in 2016. “To buy the clothes is not the priority,” says founder Tasha Liu, who describes the shows as for KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), as well as COLs (Customer Opinion Leaders). “The first priority is to create a community, the cool kids come and they love the fashion and they share their experience.” Labelhood uses the public-facing show, which is reserved for big spenders and non-industry influencers, to create a demand for its emerging designers, who often can’t compete with the monumental marketing budgets of bigger brands.

“Right now, there is a gap between the brand and the consumer,” adds Liu. “The original function of fashion shows was for placing orders, but now they are big marketing events. So you need to face the consumer. People want to be the first to see those products and the design, not just waiting for it for six months.”

In many cases, that kind of inclusivity doesn’t come cheap. The high ticket prices to London Fashion Week emphasise an exclusive rather than inclusive experience, appealing to those who want to be – and can afford to be – surrounded by industry insiders and celebrities. After all, if the shows were open to the public, there would be less demand (and less profit to be made) from the outsiders aspiring to be on the other side of the velvet rope. As long as exclusivity is a prerequisite to luxury (in some sense, it always will be due to the cost of the products), fashion will remain fortified in order to maintain that aura of magic and mystery, and so elicit aspiration and desire.

How has haute couture remained exclusive while inviting clients to shows?

That said, customers at shows is nothing new. In the world of haute couture, customers (or clients, as they’re referred to) are always invited to the shows and treated to lavish events in Paris. After all, they are the ones spending vast sums on the clothes and jewellery. Cruise shows, held in far-flung locations by the world’s biggest brands, are arguably the hottest ticket. Brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior and Chanel will often bring top clients, celebrities and VIP editors to exotic locales on branded private jets. These shows are more than just a fashion week highlight — they offer the chance for guests to experience a location through the eyes of the brand itself, from cherry-picked hotels and Instagrammable activities to a star-studded show and after-party in a picturesque setting.

The invitation comes at a price — of loyalty and a colossal amount of spending. In fact, many luxury brands have shifted the focus from VIPs to EIPs (Extremely Important People) with the 0.001 per cent taking precedent. No longer will a personal shopper and a glass of champagne in a spacious fitting room cut it. Jewellery house Boucheron offers its EIPs invite-only stays at its private apartment on Place Vendôme, which is serviced by a 24/7 butler from The Ritz next door. Net-a-Porter offers EIPs backstage access at fashion shows, and meet-and-greets with designers and their buyers. This summer, MatchesFashion is taking customers aboard a 1930s yacht as it sails the azure waters of Ischia.

“By making shows more open, the brands have an opportunity to connect with clients – and vice versa – creating a community of appreciation around the collections,” says Ian Grice, Harrods’s head of elite and personal shopping. At the couture shows earlier this month, the Knightsbridge department store arranged for its top customers to attend the shows of its top-selling fashion houses. It also has an invite-only Instagram account for its EIPs, which features the most expensive products and experiences to a core of its customers (again: exclusive inclusivity). The appeal of attending shows, Grice points out, is that they only happen once, making it the ultimate luxury experience akin to a movie premiere or a World Cup final. “The move to more clients at shows makes sense for all. It allows designers to create community around their brand and share an experience, and turns what was previously a one-way relationship into a partnership of sorts, igniting greater loyalty.”

Why is the inclusive vs exclusive balance key?

Inclusivity may be the buzzword on the fashion industry’s lips, but it also presents a paradox if it is reserved for those who seek exclusivity and are able to afford it. As more eyes are on fashion and the public becomes increasingly engaged with the industry’s marquee fashion weeks, the challenge is how to be two things at once: open enough to feel inclusive, closed enough to remain exclusive.

H&M Teams Up with Angel Chen on First China Designer Capsule

H&M is bringing its fashion designer collaboration initiatives to China, and designer Angel Chen has created a 45-piece capsule with the retailer’s design team. The collection is due to hit stores in September.

This marks the first time H&M has worked with a Chinese design talent in pursuit of generating buzz among the local fashion community, as well as tapping into the young, fashion-minded, affluent and well-traveled Chinese speaking consumer since the collection will not only be available in China both online and in stores but also in countries with dense Chinese populations, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Canada.

Magnus Olsson, country manager of H&M Greater China, said, “The fashion industry is undergoing a transformation, and consumers are constantly changing. We always aspire to create fashion that offers our local customers something new, delivering a good balance between fashion basics, current fashion and the very latest trends. Therefore, we are experimenting with various ways in different markets around the world to bring outstanding design and products to local consumers.

“Angel Chen is a pioneer Chinese designer brand with its colorful approach to fashion coupled with the brand’s core concept of fusion of Eastern and Western aesthetics,” Olsson said, adding that she “is one of the brightest young talents in China and we are very excited for this collaboration. We hope to arouse more public attention to the Chinese young designers’ creativity and influence within the Chinese as well as international fashion industries.”

The capsule is a summary of Chen’s greatest hits, as her designs are often worn by local artists and celebrities. She is also considered a celebrity designer in China. The brand has more than 60 stockists worldwide, including Lane Crawford, Luisa via Roma and Selfridges, and is planning to open its first store.


The Central Saint Martins-trained designer said the H&M collection is based on the spirit of Chinese martial arts, commonly known as Fung Fu. Elements such as a pine tree, bamboo, dragon and crane that have a strong association with Chinese culture decorate the colorful and easy-to-wear parka, hoodie and T-shirts, retailing from 59 renminbi to 1,490 renminbi, or $8.58 to $216.57.

“When I was designing the capsule, my priority was to reflect Chinese culture and my brand identity in a meaningful way, sell through became secondary,” Chen said. “I chose some iconic looks from my archive, and gave it an update in colorway, material and details. For example, we used 100 percent recycled nylon mesh fabric to construct my bodysuit, and that came out of a discussion I had with H&M on how to integrate sustainability into my brand.”

China is the fourth-largest market for H&M with 460 stores in Mainland China, as of June. The local market’s preferences have played a key role in making any business decisions since the retailer entered the Chinese market in 2007.

Olsson said “we have been curating a Chinese New Year collection specially designed for Greater China market for six consecutive years to showcase our commitment to the Greater China and also Asian markets. We have also launched Asia-inspired collections since 2016 and Asia exclusive lingerie since 2018 to cater to the local market.” He also added that H&M will launch & Other Stories on Alibaba’s Tmall in China this coming fall.

These Chairs Were Designed Using Recycled Clothing From Maison Margiela, Off-White, Raf Simons, and More

Upcycling has become a popular term of art in the fashion industry over the last year or so. Innovative designers like Marine Serre and Marni’s Francesco Risso, who make their garments using vintage scarves, deadstock fabric, or thrift store finds, have become darlings in the field. They, along with several more of their peers, are changing the way the industry sees its approach towards sustainability in the luxury sector, as well as taking the idea of repurposed fashion to the mainstream. Now, in honor of Earth Day, two more fashion entities are moving the needle further, this time with furniture. 

E-tailer LN-CC and designer DRx, otherwise known as Darren Romanelli, have come together to create a series of chairs upholstered entirely with garments from Martine Rose, Alyx, Vetements, Maison Margiela, Off-White, and Raf Simons. The collection includes a sofa and two chairs, each designed with patchwork and made in modern, spherical shapes. The three items mark an ongoing sustainability project between the store and DRx called RxCycle, with more specially designed, upcycled furniture to be produced and sold directly on the LN-CC site.


“For nearly 20 years now, my core approach to design has been to focus on upcycling vintage pieces in order to breathe new life into discarded or overlooked materials,” Romanelli explains of his work. “When LN-CC contacted me about this project, I immediately recognized the synergy between their initiatives and my passion for reinvention.” LN-CC selected the designer pieces, handed them to Romanelli, and let him craft the chairs freely. As Reece Crisp, head of buying and creative at LN-CC says: “Having begun discussions in August of last year, the timing couldn’t have been better. With Fall 2018 in full flow, the idea was to make a selection of our favorite pieces from a select number of brands and rework those goods into furniture, as opposed to putting them on sale.” 

Crisp is excited to continue building RxCycle and to propose new creative initiatives that will limit the amount of clothing the site puts on sale or ultimately has to throw away. (On average, in Europe and the United States, a family can throw away up to 30 kilograms of clothing each year.) For Romanelli, it’s a new way of challenging and pushing vision forward as a designer. “The true importance of working with deadstock and repurposing material is that it functions as an important first step towards sustainability,” he says. “The added benefit is that it inspires us to create something new and exciting from these materials that would be discarded. That’s the fun part.”

Guys in Skirts Is Only the Start—The Menswear Revolution Is Just Beginning

It’s fair to say the beginning of the 2010s was not menswear’s golden age: Drop-crotch pants were a thing, and the big conversation in the business was tragic. Its chief subject was the financial downturn of 2008 and 2009, which not only sparked a general malaise across the luxury industry but also created a category-specific problem for menswear specialists. All those subprime layoffs had wiped out the spending power of a considerable constituency of consumers and sparked the first wave of this decade’s ongoing agonizing about the future of the suit.

On the runways, though, we were seeing other much more scintillating flashes of wearable rhetoric—some of which would prefigure this about-to-pass decade’s transformation of menswear. The menswear season of Spring 2010 (which went unreviewed by Style.com!) was another era; we still had Alexander McQueen, Stefano Pilati was at YSL, Gianfranco Ferré showed, Kris Van Assche was doing loose (huh?) monochromatic suiting at Dior Homme, John Galliano was at John Galliano in his full creative pomp, Kim Jones was showing suits at Dunhill, and Frida Giannini’s Gucci was as lavishly conventional as Michele’s is now lavishly the opposite. And while there were certain fixed points that still remain—Giorgio Armani, Veronique Nichanian at Hermes, Yohji Yamamoto, Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Smith, Versace—the house whose progress between the show season of S10 and S20 that most encapsulates the alterations menswear as a whole has gone through is Louis Vuitton.

Vuitton’s first collection of the decade, designed by Paul Helbers under Marc Jacobs, was themed around New York bicycle couriers and used that conceit to slip in sportswear references—fanny packs, shorts over leggings (which Tisci was also pushing at Givenchy), lanyards—all preposterously worn with formal (albeit fluoro-heeled) shoes. That footwear deficit was met by the audience, which starred the Black Eyed Peas members wearing Kanye West’s now holy grail designed for LV sneakers. Fast forward to this season just passed at LV, and the sportswear-led cultural transition from the formal to the casual in luxury menswear (notably driven by Kim Jones during his time at LV) that Helbers’s show prefigured now seems complete in the hands of Virgil Abloh.

That is the wider arc of the decade—its broadest brush stroke—but there have been plenty of finer details too. There was the steady runway-led assimilation of elements formerly exclusively feminine into menswear, like the jewelry at Lanvin’s Spring 2010 collection (“when women wear pants, men can wear jewelry” Lucas Ossendrijver observed post-show), or Westwood’s and Givenchy’s recurring skirts, or the male lingerie at Donatella Versace’s Fall 2013 collection—all of which anticipated the rise of an end-of-decade rush of fully gender agnostic houses such as Gypsy Sport, Palomo Spain, and Art School.


The flip side of that feminization, meanwhile, was the emergence of clothes at Rick Owens and Craig Green that seemed purposefully and playfully burdened by symbolic representations of the traditionally masculine. The suit is the most conventional expression of the masculine in dress, and after an early-decade last gasp flourish of dandyism—driven by Pitti Uomo’s peacocks and Mr Porter’s first few years of pocket-square garnished obsession with all things gentlemanly—the familiar two-piecer now appears as on-the-wane as the busted flush of patriarchy-enabling conventional masculinity. For several years in Milan you might see hundreds of suits a day at the shows—at Ermenegildo Zegna, Brioni, Canali, often Etro, and more—but all of these houses have since pivoted to offer clothes for a much broader spectrum of humankind.

That shift reflects the wider diversification of apex menswear during the 2010s, which in turn reflects the wider diversification of the notion of manliness between 2010 and 2020. In short (or shorts) the landscape of masculine paradigms has shifted for the better: bad bankers, #MeToo, and Donald Trump have all combined to suck any credibility—and certainly all authenticity—out of Wolf of Wall Street–flavored Alpha Male tropes. They also provided a negative backdrop against which a new, generally liberal, and much more inclusive flavor of masculinity has permeated the sphere of menswear.

The season just passed—the first of a new decade—was packed with collections whose designers aimed to subvert and flip male archetypes. From Dries Van Noten to Prada to Pigalle, they worked to signal the male wearer as an object of desire instead of telegraphing the desires he is subject to. Menswear has become a much freer space over the course of the 2010s—a non-judgmental (call-out culture aside) meeting point and melting pot of cultures, aesthetics, and sexual orientations.

Because of that, much of the most innovative and compellingly experimental work in all of fashion is happening in menswear, and the size of the menswear market is increasing much more rapidly than that of womenswear. Which leads to the question: Have the 2010s set up the 2020s to be that golden age of menswear? It feels like, just maybe, they have.

Pierre Cardin’s ‘Future Fashion’ Exhibition To Open At The Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum’s Pierre Cardin retrospective explores the peaks and pinnacles of his 70-year career, but what the multimedia exhibition underscores time and again is the designer’s forward thinking.

With his 97th birthday behind him, Cardin will not be at Wednesday night’s opening party for “Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion,” as hoped. But the designer has been intrinsically involved with the planning of the exhibition, which features 19 sections — each with a well-measured mix of fashion, snapshots, videos, accessories, furniture and industrial design — set against Pop Art-ish and photographic backdrops. The show runs through Jan. 5 with leadership support provided by Chargeurs Philanthropies.

By today’s standards, “Twenty-First Century Unisex,” “Kinetic,” “Licensing,” “Democratization and Pluralization,” “New Material and The Visible Invisible,” and “A Future for Cinema” may seem like been-there-done-that. But what distinguishes Cardin from many of his contemporaries is how he raced to be the first, as indicated by the Eve Arnold-shot photo of the fashion show that Cardin staged at the Great Wall of China in 1979 — but was only recently revealed. In addition to China, Cardin was the first European designer to show in Russia and India. That sounds about right for a designer who once said, “I do not look backward but forward.”

Like many museums around the globe that are using fashion as the gateway to get patrons in the door, The Brooklyn Museum has upped its numbers thanks to shows dedicated to David Bowie, Frida Kahlo and others. A video clip from its 2014 Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition helped to set the Cardin one in motion. After learning that Gaultier worked for Cardin at one point, the curators started to look at Gaultier’s work through different eyes. That jogged such childhood memories of getting a Pierre Cardin gift set — perfume, soap-on-a-rope and that kind of thing — as well as images of broad-shouldered jackets from the Eighties. The Newport Restoration Foundation’s compact Cardin exhibition in 2017 was followed by one at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, which prompted Matthew Yokobosky, senior curator of fashion and material culture, to float the idea by the Brooklyn Museum’s Anne Pasternak and David Berliner. “PIERRE CARDIN YES!!!” was their e-mailed response, he said.


The curator’s favorites include the early Seventies Kinetic dresses (like the “Carwash”) that “move in ways we really haven’t seen before in fashion,” and the illuminated clothes, a concept first tested in 1968 by embroidering lights into a dress debuted by Cardin muse Maryse Gaspard. In the last gallery before the gift shop, a handful of light-infused dresses are shown opposite a monitor playing a 1963 episode of “The Jetsons” that references a “Pierre Martian” original.

Saturday’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing appears to be symbiotic, given all the Space Age-inspired fashion and memorabilia. Cardin was so enthralled that he visited NASA in 1969, and “you can see he absorbed the reality of that technology and the same thing happened later when he visited computer labs. The designer’s computer 1980 coat has fins on the back similar to ones he saw on a computer,” said Yokobosky, gesturing toward a colorful futuristic lamp as another iteration of the design.

“The clothes I prefer are the garments I invent for a lifestyle that does not yet exist, the world of tomorrow,” Cardin once said.

Gallery goers can also see color footage of Cardin’s 2008 Gobi Desert fashion show, his 2016 Yellow River Stone Forest fashion show and the 2018 Great Wall fashion show. There is a lot to be learned in the wall text, too, such as how Cardin showed his first men’s collection, the “Cylinder” line, on 250 college students in 1960 or his preference for narrating shows that could stretch beyond the 90-minute mark in the Seventies and Eighties. After one such occasion at the Met in 1980, Andy Warhol described in his diary piling into C.Z. Guest’s station wagon to attend. “It was the longest show in the world…I think he’s kept every dress that he’s ever made. I did like it because he’s kept so many dresses from 1950-1980,” Warhol wrote.


Tack on 40 more years and it’s clear that Yokobosky had an abundance of possibilities for the show. More often than not, epic is overused, but it is spot on in relation to Cardin’s multidimensional career. Over the course of his career, Cardin’s logo was stamped on more than 850 licenses. In 1969, his empire enabled him to acquire the historic Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in Paris, which has since been restored as Espace Cardin. In 1981, he bought famed bistro Maxim’s (where he once had been refused entry years before), the Palais Bulles (the Bubble House) in 1992 and later a castle in Lacoste, France, where he stages an annual music festival.

In addition to watches, clocks, radios, lighting and other categories, Cardin delved into furniture, cars and airplanes. He designed upholstery, taillights, strip detailing and other accents for the 1972 Javelin, and the interiors and exterior of the Atlantic Aviation’s Westwind 1124 (riffing on a 1967 coat design and a 1970 watch for the latter). More striking is one of Cardin’s most recent furniture designs — the Sunset Crescendo; imagine an orange sun resting on a bright blue wave.

Even more intriguing is the night sky-inspired gallery, which features a 28-foot Saturn-like ring around the room that appears to be illuminated for what is supposed to be an asteroid effect. Fifty minutes into Tuesday’s preview, the curator mentioned how he also designs his shows. The intergalactic asteroid effect required 1,400 pixels of multicolored lights that were individually programmed in blue, pink and white, and the walls are adorned with images of star fields from NASA. “He talked about how as a child, he liked to look up at the galaxy and thought, ‘That’s what evening dresses should look like,’” said Yokobosky of Cardin and gesturing toward a mint green-colored silk gown with synthetic lamé and Swarovski crystals that Naomi Campbell once wore to Buckingham Palace last year.

Traces of other VIPs can be seen in a 1967 clip of a Mia Farrow fitting and Cardin’s longtime collaborator and friend Jeanne Moreau’s 1963 trailer for “Bay of Angels.” The Cosmocorps vignette spotlights the collarless suit he designed for his Cylinder collection. Cardin also made one for The Beatles, who wore that look for a long time. “They had their own costume designer so Pierre wore the first one and the other person made the next 50 versions of it,” Yokobosky said. (French composer Jean-Michel Jarre’s music is piped through the galleries for the exhibition.)


A photograph of one of Cardin’s fans, Raquel Welch, in a black bodysuit, blue vinyl mini skirt and Plexiglass visor, graces the cover of the exhibition’s book and the film actress is expected at tonight’s opening. When the show opens to the public Saturday, ticketholders will also find a teaser for the upcoming documentary “House of Cardin,” which is expected to debut at the Venice Film Festival.

There are also such microcosms of American history as the red collared wool suit purchased by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1957 and worn three times before and during her White House years. “We have it documented that she wore it three times. The first time was to a Congressional hearing. Today we’re so obsessed that you only wear something once,” Yokobosky said. Near the encased ensemble, visitors can watch a 1957 video clip of her wearing the suit for a TV tour of her Georgetown townhouse for the show “Home.” That was also the look of choice for the Kennedys’ first official visit in 1961 to Canada, as evidenced by the Life magazine cover of her chatting with a Canadian Mountie.

Images of Hiroko Matsumoto, the model whom Cardin first met during a 1957 trip to Japan where he had been invited to teach 3-D design at Bunka Fukuso Gakuin to a class that included Hanae Mori and Kenzo Takada, are featured in one section. After writing her numerous invitations to come to Paris, she did in 1960 and later convinced to come work for him, is featured in various photos, backdrops and fashion show video clips. She is believed to have been the first Japanese model to walk on European runways. Nearby is a dog-eared, 20-page feature from a 1967 issue of Elle magazine that is Cardin’s personal copy. Other keepsakes include a black-and-white Bill Cunningham photo from the “Battle of Versailles,” the 1973 showdown between American designers and their French counterparts. The image centers on the spaceship Cardin designed for his models to step out of and onto the stage.

Decorative necklaces that doubled as functional halters, lenticular printed dresses reminiscent of holograms and 3-D molded dresses show the designer’s dexterity. With a cadre of models in tow, Cardin brought Space Age-inspired fashion on his trip to NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston in 1969, which featured the happening in its “Roundup” newsletter. Further proof of that outing is an oversize photo of Cardin wearing what he said was Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit, though there was some question that it may have belonged to Buzz Aldrin.


During a walk-through last week, Iman also gave her approval — more specifically for the designer’s recent couture eveningwear, Yokobosky said. Stopping in front of a 1990 Parabolic black velvet gown with pink and blue sequins that uses his signature lasso back on the front of the skirt, Yokobosky, said of Iman, “She came here and said, ‘This my dress.’ It was funny. She would assign a model to each dress. She would say, ‘That’s a Pat Cleveland dress.’”

One of the more consistent looks that is featured throughout the 170-item show is variation of a black bodysuits. While teaching a small group of students before a pre-Olympics fashion show in 1996 in Atlanta, Cardin told them, “’Thirty years ago when I was doing the black bodysuit, all the critics told me that it was ugly. Look at what everybody is wearing today,’” Yokobosky said.

Born in Italy, Cardin — one of 10 children — and his family fled Fascism for France. At 18, he left home and started training as a tailor. In the Forties, Cardin worked at Paquin and then Elsa Schiaparelli for a spell, before becoming Christian Dior’s first hire at his atelier. Venturing out on his own in 1950, Cardin understood construction, partially due to his adeptness at mathematics, geometry and artistry.

“His ability to think through the mathematics of construction is why he is able to absorb what was happening with the technology that he saw at NASA and the computer lab. A lot of people don’t necessarily have the skill set to be innovators,” Yokobosky said. “He’s 97 now. I was surprised how active his mind is. I can’t imagine what it was like in the 1960s and the 1970s. He has so many ideas — one after the other…During World War II, he worked for the Red Cross and he studied accounting. I said to him, ‘I think that came in very good use for you later on.’ And he told me, ‘Oh, it did.’”


Cardin grasped how a profitable licensing business would allow him to experiment with fashion, without being reliant on a bank. “He created a very open and free situation for himself. Then he bought Maxine’s, the Palais Bulles — and all these things,” Yokobosky said. “When we were having a photo taken together in Paris, I went to fix his shirt and tie a little bit. He said, ‘No, no, no. Open your shirt.’ Going home after that, I thought, ‘It’s about freedom. Be free and you’ll be more creative.”

As for making his show photo-friendly, Yokobosky said, “The accessibility of fashion, social media’s kaleidoscopic reach, consumers’ round-the-clock selfies and vanity as a virtue aren’t the only reasons that the art world is embracing fashion. Just as happenings and installation art became immersive, fashion became immersive through these big fashion shows and experiences that translated well into museum exhibitions. When you design the show, it’s not like it was 10 years ago. Every corner has to be an Instagram moment. So you have to think about that. It’s a different way of designing.”

Having forged through the decades without any outside financial investors, Cardin’s succession plan has not yet been revealed. “People internally and externally are thinking about, ‘What’s going to happen?’ I think it’s going to be a surprise. I’m sure that he has made some decisions,” Yokobosky said.

Chanel Brings Back Its Cult Surfboards For A Yacht Club That’s Instagram Catnip

To the C-side with Chanel! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the brand’s J12 watch, which was originally inspired by J-Class racing yachts, Chanel has created its own yacht club on Shelter Island. Naturally, there are customised Chanel umbrellas, drinks coolers, buoys, badminton and ping-pong sets, and surfboards to cater to all holidaymakers and social-media fiends. “The J12 Yacht Club reflects a modern-day interpretation of a yacht club, as only Chanel could imagine it,” according to the brand. Translation: it’s as Chanel as Chanel gets.

The French house has had a sideline in logo-ed sports gear, including skis and tennis racquets, for years. Remember the Baz Luhrmann-directed Chanel No. 5 campaign starring a wetsuit-clad Gisele Bündchen and a surfboard bearing interlocking Cs? The dichotomy of a brand celebrated for its elegance quite literally saying “surf’s up!” went viral during a time when Instagram wasn’t quite so prominent.


Fast forward from the 2014 ads to 2019 (with pit stops for coastal-inspired shows for Cruise 2018 and spring/summer 2019), and pictures of the J12 Yacht Club have been flooding our feeds. Camila Morrone and Poppy Delevingne arrived by Riva yachts laden with rosé for the opening night, which saw Billie Eilish – fashion’s current favourite music artist – perform.

Awaiting Chanel fans who manage to board the luxury ferries to the pop-up within the Sunset Beach complex run by real estate mogul André Balazs (the man behind Chiltern Firehouse and The Standard) is a boutique stacked with J12 watches. For those land-bound, there’s the hashtag #j12yachtclub to follow for an envy-inducing Chanel merch overload. Happy holidays!

Net-A-Porter’s Bridal Offering Just Got Better

New York label Les Rêveries, which translates to “the musings”, captured the fashion set’s attention via Net-a-Porter’s emerging talent platform, The Vanguard, when it launched last year. Sisters Wayne Lee and Ai Ly have come a long way since then. Upon Net-a-Porter’s encouragement, the siblings have expanded their line of romantic floral separates – each inspired by art, poetry, music and nature – to include bridal wear. The edit of jacquard, silk and Victorian lace wedding dresses are as dreamy as the slips and camisoles that kickstarted the brand.

“We wanted to make the perfect wedding gown, which is easy to wear, travel with, affordable, unconventional and also flirty and fun,” Wayne tells Vogueof the five-month-long process of nailing the offering. “This is hard to find in the retail market at the moment.”

The eight-piece line, which is priced from $775 (£622) to $2,435 (£1,953), was inspired by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress, as well as the duo’s usual ruminations. “It was so her,” smiles Wayne. “The Les Rêveries bride knows what she likes and she’s not afraid to try to new things – she’s bold, charismatic and free.”


Scanning Net-a-Porter’s virtual shelves doesn’t do the detail on the pieces justice. “One of my favourite dresses is the hand-corded lace gown with a silk charmeuse mini slip – it has a three-dimensional effect,” shares Wayne. The 100 per cent silk jacquard pieces are also custom fabrications with floral motifs sourced from far and wide but manufactured in the US.

Signing with Net-a-Porter has allowed the sister act to grow the 2018-born business under the guidance of the e-tail giant, and, according to global buying director Elizabeth von der Goltz, Les Rêveries has flourished. It was a no-brainer for her team to encourage the platform’s rising star to translate the label’s effortless silhouettes into an all-white capsule. “The collection includes options for the entire wedding party, from the cool girl bride to the bridesmaid and the guest,” she explains of the thought process. “The flutter sleeves and lace speak to our bohemian bride, while also providing a great option for summer occasion dressing.” Could it tick anymore boxes?

Versace Is Bringing Back Jennifer Lopez’s Iconic Dress In A Much More Wearable Form

Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Versace dress is being reincarnated in a different form. The jungle-printed silk-chiffon gown with its slashed-to-the-navel neckline has been given the trainer treatment via Concepts.

The contemporary fashion and streetwear brand has collaborated with the storied Italian fashion house on a pair of limited-edition Chain Reaction trainers printed with the tropical-leaf motif. Available in both men’s and women’s sizes at Cncpts.com, Jenny from the Block’s kicks cost $1,075 (around £860). Sneakers do cost a thing.

Lopez’s vibrant-yet-diaphanous Versace moment transcended the 2000 Grammy Awards to become one of the dresses of that decade. It was also the catalyst behind Google’s Google Images function. “People wanted more than just text,” former Google chief executive officer, Eric Schmidt, explained of the audience’s desire to see Lopez’s gown – the most popular term the search engine had ever seen – on screen. “We had no sure-fire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J-Lo wearing that dress. [So] Google Image Search was born.”


Donatella Versace is the first to recognise the gown as a defining moment in her tenure at the brand. “It was an unexpected success,” she told Canadian Press in 2008. “The [day after the Grammys] Jennifer was all over the place with people talking about her in that dress. It was one of those moments like Gianni had with Elizabeth Hurley and the safety-pin dress.”

Will Lopez wear the colour-pop trainers on the Hustlers promo tour? Watch this space for J-Lo X Versace 2.0.

Marques Almeida Step Outside The System With AW19 Concept Show

It takes a certain confidence to take your brand off-schedule, to show on a sunny mid-week afternoon when you're more likely to receive an out of office than a ticket request. But Marques'Almeida has always had that strong sense of self, making decisions based on what's right for their brand, rather than what fits the system.

Casting for today's autumn/winter 2019 show came courtesy of an open call that happened in June, as well as friends of the brand that have taken to its catwalk before. The result was a disctinctly young group of people who could have bunked off art school, jumped in the car that sat front and centre of the set, and headed off to the future decked in top-to-toe looks.

If they weren't clambering over the car, then the cast - whom it was often difficult to decipher from the stylised loyalists that had come to compile shopping lists - were lying languid in a cloud-like pile-up of mattresses or raving amongst a heavy layer of dry ice. This off-schedule opportunity proved a chance to flaunt how the clothes sit, move and flourish in situ.

The clothes themselves were distinctly Marques'Almeida. The frayed denim we've come to know and love of this husband-wife duo was there, this time in polite car coats and a top-to-toe look straight from the '00s.


While denim took a side seat, lime was an omnipresence. Often paired with a vivid lilac, this difficult colour palette was there to be revisited in pieces from padded jackets to slip dresses, the silhouette remaining fluid and oversized all the while. Menswear looks were introduced, but felt as nuanced with the womenswear to easily interchange across.

It wouldn't be a fashion show in 2019 if there wasn't a thought given to content creation. This time, it was less about the onlookers and more about those that were there to be seen, offering a new perspective of the show as their live imagery was broadcast across the warehouse spaces's blank white walls.

Stepping way from the "constrained" structure of fashion week, here, Marques' Almeida have proved that finding yourself when you moving away from the norm is nothing to be sniffed at.

Lady Gaga’s Latest All-Black Ensemble Is Vegan Leather

Lady Gaga loves an all-black ensemble as much as the rest of us. But, of late, the musician has worn the dark hue in one texture only: leather. Specifically, head-to-toe black leather. While attending the launch party of her newly created cosmetics line, Haus Laboratories, in West Hollywood on July 17, Gaga opted for a vegan leather Anouki autumn/winter 2019 dress with one multi-strand dangling diamond strap. Paired – once again – with her beloved 10-inch platform boots and fishnet tights, old-school Gaga casually dragged a shaggy black coat behind her.


It’s not the first time in the past few months that we’ve seen Gaga recall her Fame Monster days with her outfit choice. Earlier in July, she wore the same death-defying leather boots paired with an Alberta Ferretti autumn/winter 2019 gold pleated top underneath a black jumpsuit. In a similar vein, she left a hotel in New York dressed in a full leather look that consisted of a bandeau and a high-waisted, figure-hugging skirt with a metal buckle by Georgian designer Akà Prodiàshvili. To finish it off? Large shades and opera gloves, of course.

Back to her beauty line: Haus Laboratories has been a long time coming. In 2018, a trademark was filed for Haus Beauty, encompassing the rights to foundations, lipstick, eyeshadow, blusher, perfume, cleansers, toners, scrubs, moisturisers and more. As Gaga continues to share her beauty range with the world, we’ll wait to see which black outfit she styles next.

Love Is In The Air At Balenciaga, As Demna Gvasalia Plays On Paris’s Romantic Clichés For Latest Campaign

Demna Gvasalia fell in love with Paris by moving away from the city and starting to see it through the eyes of an outsider. His co-ed autumn/winter 2019 collection is his “modern vision of Parisian style”. “I started again to look at the codes of Balenciaga that are important to me, modernise them and bring them back,” Gvasalia told Voguefashion critic Anders Christian Madsen of the 109 looks. “There is no Balenciaga without Paris.”

The campaign is a continuation of the designer’s ode to the capital, and plays on its clichéd reputation for romance. The twist? The models in the postcard-worthy frames are couples, who were cast for their real-life chemistry.


Shot by wedding photographer Greg Finck, the campaign’s quintessentially Parisian flair and romantic overtones are undercut with Gvasalia’s typically Gvasalia aesthetic. The focus of the fashion is on outerwear, and the new ways the creative has found to shape-shift Balenciaga’s tailoring. “This house has such a long story, but my job is to modernise it and make it appealing to the customer we have today,” Gvasalia continued. “That was the exercise.”

As well as the “striking silhouettes [which] speak of a modern joie de vivre”, according to the press release, the Balenciaga shoppers are a focus. The iconography on the luxurious take on carrier bags emulates Parisian tourist kiosks, but really serves to highlight how shoppable Gvasalia’s streetwear still is. “[The collection] is for people who actually love fashion and go shopping. That’s what I do,” he surmised.

Wardrobe.NYC’s Cult Capsules Are Now Available To Buy As Individual Pieces

Until now, Christine Centenera and Josh Goot’s Wardrobe.NYCcapsule collections have only been sold in four- and eight-piece wardrobe sets through the brand’s website and New York concept store. Matchesfashion.com buying director Natalie Kingham, however, has persuaded the pair to sell their luxury everyday staples as individual pieces on the e-tail platform.

“The concept of Wardrobe.NYC, as a brand that was designed in capsules to build the perfect wardrobe, was something that we found incredibly innovative,” Kingham told Vogue. “We have been great admirers of how the brand has used content, experiential retail and word of mouth to build a loyal base as a direct-to-consumer business and are excited to be partnering as its first retailer.”

The Matchesfashion.com edit features Wardrobe.NYC’s 04 Denim line, which was launched in collaboration with Levi’s and already counts Gigi Hadid as a fan, and select items from the 01 Tailored, 02 Sport and 03 Street capsules. “There’s been a lot of interest in our individual pieces, and we’ve always designed each release to relate to the next,” says Centenera of the partnership, which will allow customers to mix and match looks for the first time. “Due to the classic, minimal design, our pieces work separately or together, and can be styled across releases.”


When Goot, an Australian designer, and Centenera, Vogue Australia’s fashion director and styling collaborator of Virgil Abloh, founded Wardrobe.NYC in 2017, their proposition was simple: To produce timeless micro collections that worked cohesively and could be worn season after season. Of course, the idea of capsules has been around for aeons, but no one had packaged it in such concise (and stylish) units. Think shirting, cotton basics, sharply-cut yet over-sized outerwear and easy, go-with-anything denim. With the fashion industry backing them, Wardrobe.NYC, and its anti-consumption tagline, cut through the noise during a time when sustainability was becoming a serious issue no longer swept under the carpet.

Signing to a major online sales platform that ships all over the globe is a “significant evolution” for the young business, says Goot. But Wardrobe.NYC will be aligned with part of its Innovators programme, which champions brands who have built their businesses around straight-to-customer models.

During a time when ubiquitous high-street dresses are going viral, reiterating the value of investment buys couldn’t be more important. Browse the collection, which is priced from £90-£1,500, at Matchesfashion.com now, and 5 Carlos Place until July 31st.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation Wants To Redesign The Denim Industry

In the sustainable fashion conversation, denim gets a pretty bad rap. It’s collectively considered one of the “worst offenders” as far as its environmental impact, mostly due to the water required to grow the cotton, the repeated wash cycles denim is often put through, the prevalence of Lycra and spandex in stretch jeans, and the hazardous chemicals required for trendy washes and finishes. Denim wasn’t always the bad guy, though: If you look back to its early days at the turn of the last century, denim was made to last. It was durable, 100 per cent cotton that only got that faded “lived-in” look once you’d actually lived in it. As denim evolved from hardy workwear to the foundation of our daily wardrobe, creating jeans got a lot more complex – and a lot less natural.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has introduced a set of guidelines that will help denim companies reduce their waste, eliminate pollution, and eventually implement “circular” manufacturing practices. “Jeans are one of the most iconic clothing items in the world,” says project manager Francois Souchet. “This was our chance to create a shared vision of what good [denim production] looks like, and to bring everyone together to achieve it.”

Billed as “The Jeans Redesign”, the plan was conceived by more than 40 denim experts from academia, brands, retailers, manufacturers, collectors, sorters, and non-governmental organisations. We’re highlighting a few of the most game-changing suggestions below. Some of them might surprise you.


1. Metal rivets should be removed entirely or reduced to a minimum

Did you know the rivets on your jeans don’t really serve a purpose? At least not anymore. Levi Strauss & Co first added rivets to denim work pants back in 1873 as a way to reinforce the pockets and corners, but today’s jeans are securely stitched; at this point, the rivets are just decorative. They’re also very difficult to remove, which is a problem if you’re trying to deconstruct a pair of jeans to repurpose or recycle the denim. Souchet and his team are calling on denim brands to stop using rivets, but he isn’t expecting an immediate response; most brands worry their customers would react poorly to the aesthetic change. “By [at least] limiting the number of rivets in a pair of jeans, you can increase the amount of fabric you can get back and use to make new clothes,” he offers.

2. Jeans should be free of hazardous chemicals and conventional electroplating. Stone finishing, potassium permanganate (PP), and sandblasting are prohibited

Even a true denim head likely doesn’t know what most of those terms mean. Electroplating, for instance, is the process of coating rivets, buttons, zippers, and other hardware with metal by means of an electric current. “The major environmental issues associated with that is the generation of hazardous wastes, which can contain heavy metals, and effluent disposal, as well as odour and noise,” Souchet explains.

For Potassium permanganate, an oxidising agent used to fade denim, the risk is marine pollution, while sandblasting can be dangerous to workers’ respiratory health. In the long run, those processes also reduce the durability and lifespan of denim. Longevity is the real crux of the foundation’s guidelines: The longer jeans can last, the lower their carbon footprint, and the more likely they are to be re-worn, repaired, or recycled.

3. Denim should include a minimum of 98 per cent cellulose-based fibres by weight in the total textile composition

One of the more complicated changes Souchet is advocating for is that denim manufacturers switch their materials to almost exclusively cellulose fibres, like cotton, hemp, Tencel, and lyocell. They should be sourced from organic or “regenerative” sources, too, where the land’s natural ecosystem is preserved. “To make sure jeans can be taken back [and reused] at the end of their use, the industry needs to ensure denim is made from at least 98 per cent plant-based fibres,” Souchet says. “Jeans that contain complex blends of natural and synthetic fibres of any kind cannot be effectively recycled.” He admits that “the availability of organic cotton is currently quite limited, but we’re also [suggesting the use of] cotton ‘in transition’ so companies can support the farmers who are moving [their practices] to organic and regenerative farming.”

It’s a lot to digest, but Souchet insists the guidelines were designed so that any brand can adopt them immediately. The foundation already has a long list of participants: Tommy Hilfiger, Reformation, H&M, Gap, Lee Jeans, Boyish Jeans, Outerknown, and many more. (The denim they produce under these guidelines will be accompanied by a special Jeans Redesign logo.) The big takeaway is that these brands will be able to share resources and work together towards goals, with the ultimate objective being a truly circular, closed-loop denim industry. “It starts by making sure jeans can be used longer, by setting minimum bars on durability,” Souchet says. “Once they cannot be used anymore, the jeans can be recycled, either mechanically or chemically, to make the next pair of jeans. The role of the logo is to ensure that, once the guidelines are applied at scale, sorters and recyclers can rapidly identify them to direct them towards the best end-of-use solution available.”

Souchet’s idea of a perfectly circular, regenerative denim industry is one where the “end-of-life” problem is a non-issue altogether. It could take a while to get there, but for now, brands can at least take a few steps in the right direction and use these clear, digestible “rules” as their guide.

As Zara Announces Its Latest Sustainability Goals, Three Of Its Design Team Weigh In On Going Slower & Creating Responsibly

On the morning of July 4, long before America had ignited a single firework in honour of Independence Day, Zara executives, including Pablo Isla, CEO of Inditex (Zara’s parent company), and Marta Ortega, daughter of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, and a member of the Zara women’s design team gathered together at the company’s Arteixo headquarters in Spain to set out their plans to deal with something far more incendiary: The environmental impact of fashion – and what the company is committed to doing to improve the situation. The goals they revealed that morning were announced on July 16 at the Inditex AGM.

"[We] are highly focused on making clothes in a responsible, sustainable way, that limits the impact on the environment and [which] challenges ourselves to continually work as hard as we can to improve how we manufacture," said Marta Ortega. "It’s something that we all feel really passionately about as individuals, as well as in a work capacity. [We are] always looking for ways in which we can do better: working on new technologies, new ways to work with recycled materials, and helping create new fabrics that our designers, as well as others in the industry, can work with in the future. It’s the right thing to do, both morally and commercially, and it's an approach that we’re absolutely committed to."

Even the most cursory glance at the recent news cycle shows how all of us are getting focused (and rightly so) on what we’re doing to the planet and the urgency for action: The bid last week by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, amongst others, to declare climate change an official emergency, despite the quite appalling denials to the contrary from the current administration; the 7,000 universities and colleges worldwide that echoed that push, declaring that we are, indeed, in a climate emergency; and the planned blockade in five UK cities by activist group Extinction Rebellion, who have already done the same in Paris in late June.

Zara’s future goals and targets were intended to build on what the company has done thus far, which has included the following ever since it signed the United Nations (UN) Global Compact in 2001: a series of five-year strategic environmental plans; aligning itself with the development and use of responsibly and sustainably produced fabrics; transforming its stores and facilities so they’re eco-efficient; recycling packaging and using green alternatives for its packing materials; an in-store recycling donation program; and launching its eco-conscious Join Life collection which, the execs revealed, will account for 20 per cent of Zara’s offerings by the end of 2019.


As for what has to be done next, the following were outlined as priorities. By 2020, a commitment to Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals for its supply chain, training all of its designers in the cruciality of circularity, and not using fibres from endangered forests. By 2023, ensuring the use of 100 per cent sustainable cellulosic fibres for responsible viscose, the absolute eradication of single-use plastics, and complete adoption of green-only packaging. And before the end of 2025, collections created out of 100 per cent sustainable cottons and linens and 100 per cent recycled polyester, as well as zero landfill waste from its facilities, and achieving 80 per cent renewable energy use for its HQ, distribution centres, and stores.

While these are ambitious and authentic commitments to Zara’s corporate action on the environment, what was striking that July morning was the openness from the executives to address the elephant in the room, which is this: How does the company square away its preeminence in the realm of fast fashion with the harsh truths of our environmental situation? The company’s eco objectives aside, there was a real and honest desire to engage with what Zara needs to do to align itself with where we are going as a culture: to slow down, to buy less, to make what we have last longer. (That certainly seems to be the case at Zara’s newest New York store at Hudson Yards, where the general feeling is of things being more edited, considered – a calmer, reflective, less-is-more approach.) To further gauge the company’s mindset further, three of its women’s designers – Bea Padin, Simon Psaric, and Eva Vidal – weighed in on the importance of sustainability and what they’re doing to achieve those goals.

Why has sustainability become so important to Zara?

Bea Padin: We’ve always been sustainability conscious. [Our] production is adjusted in response to sales, thus minimising surplus stocks, and by extension, waste. Today we have more scope for doing this because there are more recycled and organic fabrics. The industry throws up new design opportunities, which constitute a very appealing challenge.

Simon Psaric: To me, the beating heart [of Zara] is the customer. It’s quite clear they are fully engaged and interested in making authentic, environmentally conscious decisions in every aspect of their lives.

Eva Vidal: It started in a very natural manner, sparked by our designers and buyers. The way we work, it’s common to hold meetings to coordinate designs, purchases, management, fabrics, et cetera. Sustainability began to spontaneously become part of those conversations – [and] with increasing intensity. We work hand in hand with our suppliers to learn what the options are, to research new processes, materials and fibres; we became captivated by a new way of approaching our business, that we have a major role to play in spearheading change.

You’ve always offered trend-driven fashion, and quickly. How has the impetus for a slower fashion culture influenced that, when we are in an era in which we want things to stick around, not be disposable?

Padin: We’ve always focused on durability, particularly emotional durability. We’ve seen clothes that were trendsetting when they first came out go on to become staples on account of their timelessness, and that’s a source of pride for us as designers. Our approach to fashion is always customer-centric. They increasingly share our same sensitivity towards sustainability. They are the ones who decide and our obligation is to meet their expectations, in a sustainable manner.

Psaric: The sense of promoting longevity is also at the top of our minds. We are becoming more and more obsessed with ensuring pieces that are imbued with the qualities of timelessness and durability. We are striving to offer pieces that can form the basis of a wardrobe, or, as we say in Spanish, fondo de armario. For instance, the camel coat that makes its debut every October, or a dress in an Italian-designed archival print, which becomes something to cherish and wear for many summers to come. That coat may have been made from high-quality Italian wool spun from recycled wool fibres by a decades-old Italian mill to create a piece that someone will keep for years. Maybe her daughter will wear it one day!

Vidal: We plan to continue working on the quality of our clothes, as we’ve always done, albeit framed by our responsibility as producers; creating a new way of working that is totally sustainable, consolidating a new way of approaching fashion.

How is it affecting your working practices? The choice of fabrics, the sense of things not being disposable?

Padin: All of those things. At Zara, the teams are very conscious, but we are also seeing that sensitivity at our suppliers. In particular, we see it in the options being created by the new recycled fabrics, whether from natural or man-made fibres, sustainable plant-based fabrics, et cetera. However, we are keenly aware that there is still a long way to go. The industry has to find new techniques, develop the fabrics, and get them to market!

Psaric: When I walk in [to a showroom] to see a fabric collection, my first question is: Which are the most sustainable, environmentally conscious fabrics? This attitude pushes the suppliers to prioritise sustainable developments. For instance, a trim supplier just recently approached me with a beautiful collection of biodegradable buttons made from corn.

Vidal: We are aware that there are [now] materials, fibres, and processes that allow us to make garments which are 100 per cent recycled without renouncing design. Preparation of our first outerwear collection made solely from recycled materials [winter 2018] was a complex process, as it entailed procuring new fabrics and finishings which were sustainable and compliant with our quality standards. Today, after several collections and a lot of hard work, we have embraced the most important lesson: the only way forward is to marry design and sustainability. The challenge is to make all of our garments sustainably.

How has sustainability impacted your own wardrobe? And your own lifestyle?

Padin: [With] the pieces I wear every day and [which] constitute my wardrobe staples: a shirt made from sustainable cotton poplin, a suit made from recycled wool, and a recycled cashmere men’s sweater. Nowadays I pay more attention to everything I consume, not just clothing. Yesterday I was at the hairdresser’s and I was offered a plastic bag for some things I’d bought but explained that I didn’t want it. We have to start with the small things in order to achieve something great. Imagine what we can achieve by translating that to our work environment – and at home, where we must also raise awareness.

Psaric: My daily uniform is a statement pair of pants with a nicely fitting T-shirt in white, navy, or heather grey. I often wear our Join Life cotton crew-neck tees; the fabric for these shirts is ecologically grown – and it’s the only one I’ve encountered with the right weight, softness, and feel! It’s essential to me to have a tightly edited wardrobe; nothing enters it that doesn’t feel fundamentally necessary. And I love browsing through vintage and secondhand stores.

Vidal: I am mad for all things denim. I’ve bought several pairs of jeans from the last collection, all of which were made from recycled cotton, and some [jeans] from the new upcycling capsule, made using fibres obtained from secondhand jeans. And I am a fan of this season’s voluminous garments made from Tencel. When you see all the possibilities offered in terms of sustainability, the extent of what can be done, you do feel more responsibility for your decisions. I continue to buy new clothes, albeit with a fuller perspective. I evaluate what my clothes are made of, and though design is still a priority, I identify more with the brands that are embracing change and evolving in terms of sustainability. We have to make our desires heard if we want to see results. It’s up to all of us.

The Outerwear You Never Knew You Needed: A Couture-Grade Denim Jacket

At 29 years old, Augustin Dol-Maillot has an incredibly impressive CV. Having started at Chanel as an intern when he was just 16 years old (he’d spend his summer holidays in the ateliers, “just watching, learning”), by his mid-20s Karl Lagerfeld had appointed him part of the print and sportswear studios, which oversee everything from trainers and T-shirts to “the weird stuff like the surf boards,” he says, “and every print in every collection.” Then, early last year, his CEO called him into his office and told him: “Now, you have to do Barrie.” “I think it must have been Karl who recommended me,” Dol-Maillot reflects. “So, I did it. I would never have thought of it, but now I love it.”


A year into being appointed artistic director of the heritage Scottish knitwear brand (which Chanel acquired in 2012), and Dol-Maillot is clearly settling in. Marrying the savoir-faire of Chanel’s myriad métiers with the best cashmere and the tastes of his generation, he is bringing his fresh vision to the long-beloved house – most directly exemplified through his latest creation, an adaptation of a denim varsity jacket knitted in cashmere and covered in Lesage-embroidered patches. “At Chanel, I used to work in the sporty things… and I thought it was funny to do the trompe l’oeil,” he smiles of elevating the humble denim jacket into couture terrain. “I think we’re going to do more of that, finding more things to do in knitwear that you wouldn’t expect.”

With each patch – Scottish thistles, borders, lions – taking tens of hours to hand-embroider with minute beads and tiny sequins, and the cashmere knit indisputably the best in the world, his is a rarefied alternative to a battered basic, and indicates the direction he plans to evolve the brand. At Selfridges this week, alongside the Barrie boutiques in Paris and London, you can choose the placement of your patches, request your name stitched wherever you please, and watch one of Lesage’s petites mains finish your piece for you. When I laugh that, if there’s anything fashion loves right now, it’s luxury sportswear and DIY customisation, Dol-Maillot grins, “I’m 29…” Clearly if anyone can inject Barrie’s storied heritage with new energy, it’s him.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Zendaya & Tommy Hilfiger Are Taking Over Harlem’s Apollo Theatre For A Show Inspired By Musical Legends

Tommy Hilfiger and Zendaya are taking over the Apollo Theatre in Harlem for their second runway outing together. The designer and actor will stage the autumn/winter 2019 see-now-buy-now Tommy x Zendaya collection on September 8 as part of New York Fashion Week.

The experiential catwalk presentation marks the first time Tommy Hilfiger has returned to New York since he took the #TommyNow concept on tour during the autumn/winter 2016 season. The brand has made pitstops in Paris, Shanghai, Milan, London and Los Angeles, with each show production as blockbuster as the last. During Gigi Hadid’s two-year, four-collection tenure, sets included a “rock circus” in Camden and a “Tommy pier” on Venice Beach. Not to mention, the futuristic scenescape in Shanghai, when Hailey Bieber and Winnie Harlow temporarily stepped in as #TommyNow ambassadors for autumn/winter 2018.

Why Harlem? “Zendaya’s desire to bring #TommyNow [there] felt like an amazing next step in expressing her vision for the future,” says Hilfiger. “Her statement-making point of view in everything she does is what makes her such an inspiring collaborator – it is an honour to continue to provide her with a platform in the fashion industry to share this.”


Zendaya’s debut spring/summer 2019 show, which paid homage to the strong women of America’s Seventies-era pop culture, was staged at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. The foyer was transformed into an arcade with Pac-Man and pinball machines, while guests in the auditorium were entertained by roller skaters twirling to disco tunes in flares and sequinned boob tubes. Oh, and Grace Jones and Pat Cleveland danced down the runway.

Although few details of the autumn/winter 2019 event have been released, the collection takes its cue from the legendary women who have graced the Apollo Theatre’s stage, from Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald to The Supremes. The duo will “reimagine era-defining power dressing with a bold modern edge,” according to the label. Expect Hadid’s inner circle of models (Bella and Anwar Hadid will of course represent) walking and much fanfare. We can only hope for power ballads on the playlist.

London Fashion Week To Be Open To The Public

In a new and exciting move, certain fashion shows will be open to the general public during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2020, in a move to promote young design. Find out all you need to know below.

Journey over to the British capital, where from the 13 to the 17 of September, the city will welcome a host of fashion houses, designers, and fixtures of the fashion world for Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2020. For the first time, certain shows will entertain two audiences: fashion professionals, and members of the general public, who will be able to partake in an immersive experience from the 14 to 15 of September, including six fashion shows by designers who have yet to be named.


This new two-day venture, conceived as a part of the London Fashion Week Hub, will include creative installations, and round table discussions lead by a handful of experts, as well as DiscoveryLAB, an experimental space combining fashion, music and art. With the goal of promoting and supporting young designers, this move initiated by the British Fashion Council places emphasis on sustainability and ethics, true staple in the future of fashion.

Olivier Rousteing has designed a new sneaker collection for Balmain

The sneaker craze continues. During Olivier Rousteing's Fall/Winter 2019 runway show for Balmain, the designer unveiled a few pairs of never-before-seen sneakers. Find out more about the upcoming collection below. In combining 1990s influences with rocker-grunge style sneakers, Olivier Rousteing used his Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show to demonstrate his desire for reimagining the Balmain shoe line, ensuring an urban and unconventional twist.


After being spotted on the models towards the end of the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show, the premiere collection of Balmain sneakers by Olivier Rousteinghit Instagram feeds almost instantly. While the French fashion house has begun designing all kinds of new accessories, they also unveiled three new sneaker models: B-Gloove, B-Troop, and B-Ball, all available in a variety of colorways. Balmain has announced that their new designs will be reimagined in the coming months, featuring fresh designs and colors, and new collaborations. With each Balmain runway show, a new sneaker will be revealed. While we still need to have a little patience, we're anticipating success.

Louis Vuitton Launches Their First Video Game

Calling all gamers! Virgil Abloh revealed via Instagram that he is launching a video game, inspired by the new-yorker style of his Louis Vuitton men’s autumn winter 2019-2020 collection. When it comes to being bold and innovative, Virgil Abloh’s finesse is incomparable. After a series of collaborations with Ikea and Evian, the artist put his creative genius to work for the world of arcades, launching his first 2D vintage style game designed by Louis Vuitton.


Dubbed Endless Runner, the game is inspired by the French trunk-makers men’s autumn winter 2019-2020 collection. Players must wander through grungy downtown New York, collecting different items along the way. As for the rules, it couldn’t be easier. The player must avoid the various obstacles and collect bonus points by throwing Keepall bags branded with the house’s signature logo. Visit the Louis Vuitton website to try your luck, and who knows, you might become one of the top ten players.

SSENSE Just Launched A Line Of Merch Celebrating The 30th Anniversary Of The Margiela Tabi Boot

Outlandish. Bizarre. Uncanny. Grotesque. These are all words that could be used to describe tabi boots, the split toe silhouette adopted from a traditional style of Japanese footwear that has since become a signature style of the Maison Margiela brand. Tabi boots have been a source of passionate discord amongst fashion fans since they were first introduced in 1989. The divisive style has inspired, in equal measure, a loyal cult following of devoted fans as well as a coterie of passionate haters who suggest the style is so repulsive it is akin to a visual form of the gag reflex.

Earlier this year, we predicted that tabi boots might be poised to explode in popularity after being sighted on actor Cody Fern at the Golden Globes, and it seems our prediction may be coming true. To celebrate the boot’s 30thanniversary, Canadian retailer SSENSE has launched a 30thAnniversary Tabi Collection, a line of tabi-themed merch for those who’d like to showcase their loyalty to the shoe without actually, you know, wearing them.


The 12-piece collection includes t-shirts stamped with tabi soles in dripping paint, tabi-shaped bottle opener keychains and a delicate handbag crafted out of a tabi ballet flat. For those who actually dare to wear the silhouette, there’s a pair of boots covered in crackled white paint, modeled after the boots that appeared in Margiela’s second-ever runway collection. In addition to the collection, a pop-up retrospective of the tabi boot will be on display from July 4th-18that SSENSE’s flagship store in Montreal.

Whether you love tabi boots or love to hate them, these special edition items are sure to become collector’s items, so if you’d like to own a piece of tabi history, act accordingly.

Exploring The Misunderstood Role Of The Muse In Fashion

Though these inspirational figures are hot topics of industry discussion, what do we really know about their roles in the ideation and creation of a collection? Very little, apparently. In the arts, mentions of "muses" as a concept are copious throughout different eras and within different media. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when muses became such an important part of the fashion discourse and the object of our collective fascination, but most of the canonical designers have purportedly had muses. Perhaps the most famous example is that of Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn, a partnership made famous by Hepburn's little black dress from "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

The Hepburn-Givenchy relationship is one that we usually think of when considering the interplay between muse and designer. Hepburn proclaimed that "[Givenchy's] are the only clothes in which I am myself" and equated the couturier to a "creator of personality." Givenchy, for his part, used Hepburn as his mental mannequin the woman upon whom he imagined his creations. The idea of a muse that we have fetishized is the hyper-romanticized ideal of the Hepburn-esque muse: The apple of the creator's eye, who inspires new ideas and is capable of presenting them to a broader public. However, the fashion industry and society at large have taken some elements of the Hepburn-Givenchy dynamic and blown them out of proportion. Though Hepburn did help propel Givenchy to increased fame, this type of correlation is often mistakenly used to identify "muses" in the modern era.

Jane Birkin, for example, inspired her namesake Hermès bag after a fateful encounter with Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight and did her fair part in terms of promoting the bag, but to claim that she was a muse is a bit of a stretch; the same could be said for Alexa Chung, who inspired a best-selling Mulberry handbag called the "Alexa." Kim Kardashian may be a fan of Olivier Rousteing, Riccardo Tisci and Thierry Mugler, but is she their muse? She is certainly not Mugler's, and while she has undoubtedly had an influence on Rousteing and Tisci and been a highly visible ambassador for both designers she would probably deny that she has been either's muse in any official capacity. As for her husband Kanye West's Yeezy line, it's fair to say that she does serve as his muse a fact he's stated on record at least once.


Too often, muses are confused with brand ambassadors, though not always: Jennifer Lawrence, for instance, was the face of Dior on the red carpet and in advertisements, but she was never touted as Raf Simons's muse. However, certain designers have consistently and clearly regarded certain models, celebrities or personal friends as their muses not only casting them in ad campaigns or runway shows, but also dressing them for special occasions or collaborating with them on special projects. A few examples from the past couple of decades include Sofia Coppola and Marc Jacobs, Erin Wasson and Alexander Wang, Jennifer Connelly and Nicolas Ghesquière (at both Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton), Carine Roitfeld and Tom Ford, Lea T and Tisci (during his tenure at Givenchy) and Cara Delevingne and Rousteing. 

The confusion over who is or isn't a muse is proof that, for the most part, we're pretty clueless about what exactly a muse is supposed to be much less what one actually does. So, while we often discuss muses and their relationships with the designers, we're doing so without a firm understanding of what, precisely, we're talking about. Much of that owes to the fact that it's an idea we have created and romanticized; one based, ostensibly, on the notion that the muse is a central part of a designer's creative process. But it's not quite that simple. Talking to those who have been muses (for lack of a better term) reveals that even they struggle to define the term and, more often than not, they disagree with the way they are portrayed by the media. Luca Lemaire first appeared in a Raf Simons campaign for the Belgian designer's Fall-Winter 2013 season. Since then, he has been a mainstay on his runways and in his ads. He's also come to be seen as the designer's muse though, if you ask him, that may not be accurate.

"I'm not entirely sure I agree with the description," Lemaire recently told Fashionista. "I think, little by little, I became a member of the Raf Simons team and my role within that team was to be a model."


But Lemaire was more than just an average runway model when it comes to Raf. He's spent a lot of time at Simons's atelier in Antwerp, acting as a fit model when collections were in their nascent stages. "I don't think I necessarily influenced Raf in a direct way," he says. "But it's true that the collections have been imagined on me so maybe that played some role in color palettes or fabric choices."

Lemaire's experience is echoed by others. Another male model, who embraced the role of being a notable designer's muse for a number of years but did not want to comment on the record for this story, offered similar insight. He was present in the atelier during design sessions and for fittings, acting as a mannequin that allowed the design team to make sure that garments fit the way they wanted and that fabric fell the way it was supposed to. But, he said, he was also asked for his opinion on fit and feel; it was no secret that garments were designed with him in mind. Gradually he became part of the team like Lemaire and would accompany the designer and the rest of the designers to market and social outings, essentially becoming a friend and a first litmus test for new ideas.

That, paired with Lemaire's account, paints the muse's role as a relatively passive one. Both said they weren't intent on influencing anything, nor inserting themselves in creative discussions. Though, Lemaire did add that "if something didn't fit well or if there's a pocket that's placed in an inconvenient manner," then he would speak up and let the design team know. It is part of why they use him a real person and not lifeless mannequins. Otherwise, Lemaire tells Fashionista, his discussions with Simons and the rest of the design team "are instead about much simpler things, like music or the state of fashion, generally speaking, or about what's being taught in art schools." Lemaire is quite familiar with the latter: He's an industrial design student, which he says has allowed him to better understand the garments he models from a technical standpoint. It also facilitates a certain dialogue with the design team, since they share design vernacular and an understanding of art and design history.

Therein lies a curious and important detail that unites many of contemporary fashion's so-called muses: They are often more than models, with creative endeavors of their own that spark creative thinking of some kind within the designer. Many of those the media claims are muses of Hedi Slimane, for example, are artists or musicians who have achieved some level of success in their own right. Lemaire doesn't think that his background in industrial design played a part in him working with Raf Simons. Instead, he says, he was scouted based on his look and because of the chemistry between himself, Willy Vanderperre and Olivier Rizzo. However, there is a sense that Lemaire's identity as a student of industrial design is ignored when he is referred to as just a "muse."


It raises an important question: Is the use of the term "muse" disingenuous to what these individuals are bringing to the table?

There are some who feel that the term belittles their other achievements, too. Women, disproportionately, tend to be the ones that are labeled muses. Some feel that reducing female artists and creatives to muses represents a form of gender discrimination a way for the media to simplify the roles of women and relegate them to a secondary, or even tertiary, role while ignoring their own artistic achievements. Which brings us to the ultimate point: Often, people have been elevated to the role of muse unbeknownst to themselves, or even to the designer they are working with. It's an idea we've created because it's convenient and romantic, but our vision is not rooted in reality. Many of fashion's purported muses refused to comment on this story, or refuted, off the record, the notion that they were a muse. Designers we contacted, too, all declined to comment.

One gets the feeling that it is media and pop culture's fetishism of muses that is at the root of the confusion. We see muses as idyllic individuals with some sort of magical creative energy that sparks designers, when in fact, they're often creatives themselves artists, actors and musicians who collaborate with designers on various projects or key components of a collection or campaign. (Take Harry Styles or Florence Welch and Alessandro Michele, for example.) The models we see as muses are often ones who simply have good chemistry with the team and are willing to act as fit models almost year round.

Which brings us back to our original question: What exactly does a muse do? If you ask the people we consider to be muses, they're not doing anything special they're just doing their jobs. The nebulous yet glamorous concept of the muse has little basis in reality; we think that we're elevating people when we label them muses, but, for the most part, we're overlooking (or overselling) their true contributions. "Muse" has become a catch-all term, a cop-out to use when we don't know how to describe someone's role as an inspiration, a creative partner or an on-brand spokesmodel for a particular label or collection. Considering we're generally confused about what a muse is, perhaps we should put them on less of a pedestal or think about abandoning the term altogether.