Martine Rose’s AW23 Tribute To Italian Dance Music In Florence

For Martine Rose’s debut as guest designer at Pitti Uomo in Florence, the London creative delivered an ode to underground Italian culture, as well as the city’s dynamic history, featuring a cast of local heroes. British Vogue fashion critic Anders Christian Madsen reports.

It was Martine Rose’s first show outside of London

For Martine Rose, whose work has always been entrenched in the London communities she knows best, relocating to Florence wasn’t as simple as taking the show on the road. “It was a real honour, and a sort of surprise because I’m not much of a planner. I’m really focused on what I’m doing, but I work in a bit of a bubble. Pitti punctured that bubble,” she said during a preview in the formidable banquet hall of the 14th-century Palazzo di Parte Guelfa, which served as her makeshift studio. When Pitti Immagine – the hallowed Florentine menswear platform – invited her to headline this season’s events, she knew she didn’t want it to be a palatial affair. “How do I translate what I do in London to another city? What I do in London is always engaging the city in a real way: spaces, communities. So, I needed to understand Florence in that way. I didn’t want to use it as a backdrop.” And so, Rose dived into a study of authentic present-day Florence.

It took place in the Mercato Nuovo

“There’s billions of piazzas and palazzos, but Florence is a living, breathing city. I wanted to understand the industrial and working-class areas: the real areas. Pitti took me to some amazing places where people actually live,” Rose explained, recounting the early stages of her investigations. “I started getting under the skin of it. What I wanted to do was to go to Florence and pay respect to Italian culture.” For her show space, she chose the loggia of the 16th-century Mercato Nuovo, a location that has served as a marketplace for 500 years. (Much in Rose’s mischievous spirit, it also houses the pietra dello scandalo, where insolvent citizens received public bum-spankings during the Renaissance.) “Today, it’s a knock-off market, but there’s something normal about it. That’s what I like. I wanted to reimagine it in a different way.”

The show paid tribute to Italo house music

Rose chose to pay homage to Italian culture through an exchange that united the nation with her own: the Italo house music scene that swept over the British discotheques in the 1980s and early ’90s, and made everyone a little more Italian. She decked out the columned space of the loggia in the spirit of those clubs: “Carpeted, slightly disco-y, sexy in a louche-y way. Lots of mirrors,” she smiled. Rose backed it up with a soundtrack spanning local Florentine dance producers, New Wave bands from Bologna and Italian club tracks from the ’70s to today. While the collection itself wasn’t about Florence – that wouldn’t have been a very Martine Rose thing to do – her stripped-down, boxy tailoring silhouettes and “BuyOneGetOneFree” jumpsuits (a tailored two-piece suit from the front, a coverall from the back) did evoke the clubbing uniforms of the New Wave era.

The collection investigated costume elements

Parts of the collection were based on toy clothes and the rigid, awkward, naïve cutting that would define them if they were scaled up to human size. Asked if she was into toys, Rose erupted in laughter: “No, I’m not particularly interested in toys! But there’s something interesting in how the clothing fits.” The wonky silhouettes added an idea of costume to the collection, which also felt quite clubby, and expanded in minimised interpretations of the decorative nature of American Western clothes. Her fringed jackets and opulently faded jeans kind of evoked the rodeo glamour of certain Milanese designers around the year 2000 – something that felt entirely right for this nostalgic Y2K moment in time – but Rose made it her own by reducing the construction to its absolute core, rawly cutting the fringing of jackets and coats from the same cloth as the garment itself. This was rhinestone cowboyism for minimalists.

It featured a cast of local heroes

Rose gathered a cast for her show like Pitti Immagine has never seen. “I really want local people to see their heroes: the amazing trattoria owner, the bar owner everyone loves, the footballer. We’ve also allocated seats for relatives of the people involved,” she explained during the preview, gesturing at a line of muscly Calcio Fiorentino footballers – the city’s centuries-old brutal ballgame – waiting for their casting call. Joined by friends of the brand flown in from London, her street cast breathed into the show the authentic Florentine life Rose wanted to portray (even if the level of fabulous hairstyles she proposed would make for a rare sight on Piazza della Republicca). The show effortlessly demonstrated Rose’s ability to take on a massive fashion platform outside of the London environment that created her brand. In every way, it felt like a new chapter for one of contemporary fashion’s brightest stars.

Tatjana Patitz, One Of The Original Supermodels, Has Died

Tatjana Patitz, the quietest and perhaps the most intense of the original supermodels, has died. She was 56. A representative for the family stated that the cause of death was metastatic breast cancer.

“I never sold my soul,” Patitz said in a 2020 interview. Born in Hamburg to an Estonian mother and German father, she moved with her family to Skanör, an idyllic seaside town in the south of Sweden when she was quite young. In 1983, as a 17-year-old tomboy and competitive horse rider, she entered an Elite Model Contest in Stockholm. She placed third in Sweden. The prize was a trip to Paris and a limited-time contract. But, as Vogue wrote in 1988, “a star was not quickly born. Tatjana found no work for a year.”

Enter Peter Lindbergh, the fairy godfather of Patitz’s career. The German photographer, noted for his unretouched images and preference for a “natural” beauty look, would shoot Patitz for the famous image, “White Shirts: Six Supermodels, Malibu,” in 1988, and again for British Vogue’s January 1990 supermodels cover. When George Michael saw that issue, he invited the same cast of “girls” to appear and lip sync in his “Freedom! ’90” music video.

One of the original supermodels, Patitz never seemed to be part of “the pack.” In part that’s explained by her choice to make her home not in New York or Paris, but in California, where she could be closer to nature and her animals. Geography aside, there was a certain element of mystery to Patitz’s beauty, something in the gentle oval of her face and the shape of her eyes that spoke of self-possession and passion. “Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti,” remembered Anna Wintour, chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue. “She was far less visible than her peers – more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable – and that had its own appeal.”

Patitz’s allure was womanly and knowing, not that of the wide-eyed ingénue, and with her training as an actor, she was a force to be reckoned with. As she told Vogue in a 1988 profile, Tatjana: Million Dollar Beauty, “people always said that I looked special; that I didn’t look like anyone else. And I was going to make it because of that.”

Tatjana Patitz had long-standing working relationships with Lindbergh, Herb Ritts and Patrick Demarchelier, who often shot her on location. Her more recent appearances in Vogue were family affairs. The model was reunited with her peers for Good Jeans, a supermodels-in-denim story shot by Annie Leibovitz. In 2012, Patitz and her son Jonah Johnson were captured in a pastoral idyll at home on their ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley by Lindbergh. Again in 2019, the mother and son made an appearance in a Tina Barney portfolio. Speaking of her son last year, she declared, “Jonah is my source of happiness.”

Helena Christensen Is The Best Advert For This Cult Swimwear Brand

The best way to beat January blues? Visit a tropical destination and soak up some vitamin D, as shown by Helena Christensen, who’s chasing the winter sun in style. The supermodel sent out a beach babe Instagram alert in a mint-green swimsuit from cult swimwear label, Hunza G.

With its asymmetric neckline and high-cut silhouette, the one-piece is both practical and fashionable. The brand’s signature stretchy seersucker fabric, meanwhile, ensures peak comfort and versatility, as shown by Helena in the surf.

Swimming is central to Christensen’s wellness routine. In early December, she shared snowy pictures from a dip in a freezing river and in October, she signalled the start of cold water swimming season with a video of her submerging herself in a turquoise cossie.

“I take good care of myself, I eat more or less healthy, I’m very physically active, I’m always out in nature,” the 54-year-old previously told British Vogue. “I never give much thought to how many or how little clothes I’ve got on because I’ve been doing it for so long. It’s just me.”

Rihanna Drops A New Savage X Fenty Collection Just For The Super Bowl

Rihanna is set to hit the halftime stage at the 2023 Super Bowl LVII, which will be held on February 12 in Glendale, Arizona. Every year, the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched televised events in the world – and the halftime performance is just as widely anticipated – so it’s safe to say that Rihanna is currently in full-on preparation mode right now. And what better way to tease her forthcoming halftime show than with a new Super Bowl-inspired Savage X Fenty collection?

Rihanna’s lingerie line Savage X Fenty released a limited-edition collection of football-inspired styles that nod to her upcoming Super Bowl appearance. (RiRi herself models the new collection in the campaign images). Titled the “Game Day” line, it features an assortment of 17 sporty styles including varsity jerseys, hoodies, sweatpants, boxers, tube tops and bandanas. The brown LVII cropped jersey, notably, is inspired by the colour of a football. And as is always the case with Savage X Fenty, the pieces come in a wide size RAN too, ranging from XXS to 4X, and are priced from £20.

In addition to dropping the new collection ahead of the Super Bowl, Savage X Fenty will also be launching a special three-day “Game Day” pop-up shop in Los Angeles from January 27 to January 29. Customers are invited to shop the new line and to partake in Super Bowl-style photo ops and giveaways. The question is, however: Will Rihanna actually wear some of these pieces in her Super Bowl performance? Or will she be looking to her designer friends for a special custom get-up? Only time will tell.

How Kaia Gerber Came To Star In Alaïa’s Latest Campaign

Anyone who watches the red carpet will remember Kaia Gerber’s star turn at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles three months ago. Fresh from the spring/summer 2023 Alaïa runway, the plum-coloured draped skirt and sheer black voile jersey bodysuit she wore fit Gerber like a glove, as Alaïa designs often do. What made the look uncanny – and iconic – was that in it Gerber bore a stronger-than-usual resemblance to her mother Cindy Crawford, who made her own star turns in Alaïa. See spring/summer 1987 and autumn/winter 1989, for starters.

The look came together, according to Alaïa’s Pieter Mulier, when the creative director reconnected with Gerber in Paris last autumn after several years. Back in 2017, when she was taking her first strides on the runways, Gerber made her New York Fashion Week debut at Calvin Klein 205W39NYC, where Mulier worked alongside Raf Simons.

“I was so impressed with how she’s grown up,” Mulier said on a call earlier this week. “There’s this whole thing about nepo babies now, but Kaia represents something. She’s actually quite important for that generation – one of the rare top models we have nowadays, and she’s becoming an actress. She’s at the point of her life where she’s heading towards something bigger.” The decision to put her in the house’s spring/summer 2023 campaign, he went on, “was very simple.”

Think of the intimate, off-season shows Alaïa staged in his Paris atelier, the clique of model muses who came back season after season, and the kitchen where he liked to gather them together for home-cooked meals. “The idea of family is so important at Alaïa,” Mulier said. “And I think because her mother had such a close relationship with Alaïa, Kaia thought it was actually quite beautiful to have that same relationship again.”

Of course, Mulier’s family looks different than Alaïa’s did. For the new campaign, the British photographer Tyrone Lebon photographed Gerber on the roof of the artist Sterling Ruby’s studio in LA. “I didn’t want a big set. You know, fashion sets nowadays, they’re so big, so big. It’s 50 people on set. Here it was only hair and make-up, Tyrone, an assistant, a stylist, Kaia, and her boyfriend [Austin Butler], nobody else. So it felt more like a ’90s shoot, remember when Calvin sent Kate [Moss] and Mario [Sorrenti] on holiday? It felt more like that – nothing orchestrated, nothing merchandised.”

“What’s most important is that it was shot in – how do you say? – a family situation. There was no merchandising on set, there was no art director on set. I quite believe in the energy between a photographer and a model. I wasn’t there either,” he went on. “I told them a little bit what I like, but I told Tyron to be inspired the most by the lights, by the space of Sterling, of course by the beauty of Kaia, but that it was his eye that I wanted, not my eye. Nowadays, everything’s pre-chewed, pre-fabricated. I quite liked the idea that it was just them to doing their thing and that’s it. Basically, I want more than natural way of how it used to be.”

Speaking of fashion’s past lives, for spring 2023 inspiration Mulier went back “way to the beginning of Azzedine, to the first shows, where everything was draped, minimally and naturally. It was squares: two points that you drape onto a body and that’s it,” he explained. “The first show that Azzedine ever did [for spring/summer 1983], for me it’s genius.” For autumn/winter 2023, he’ll be adapting another Azzedine-ism. Though it’s a bit too soon to share his plans, Mulier did say this: “With everything going on in fashion, people traveling all around the world to see the most amazing sets that cost millions, what we’re planning is actually very simple. It will feel very Alaïa.”

A Beginner’s Guide To Going TikTok Viral

TikTok tips and tricks are all over the internet – and for brands searching for how to do well on TikTok, they can either feel like the Holy Grail… or massively overwhelming. We’ve narrowed down the TikTok tips to go viral that you really need to know if you want to establish your brand’s voice on Gen Z’s favourite social media platform.

These tips for TikTok will help you boost your content to more followers, raise your engagement, and ensure your TikTok efforts aren’t going to waste.

TikTok advice can be confusing. Be individual, no – collaborate. Use trending audios, no – create your own. Take it seriously, no – be prepared to laugh at yourself.

So what is the truth?

Like any social media platform, success on TikTok is dependent on your ability to tailor your content to the audience and their expectations. More than any other app, however, TikTok content is unique. It’s video-first, often highly collaborative, and driven by trends.

All of these factors are reasons why it has proven so popular amongst its largest audience: Gen Z. It’s also why it’s such an attractive platform for brands, as doing so will get you into the eyeline of the biggest consumer generation.

All of our Tiktok tips and tricks have been tried and tested, so they’re well worth adopting in your marketing strategies. And you can trust us – we’re TikTok experts, with enough viral campaigns to prove it.

If you want to go viral on TikTok, these are the best tiktok tips to keep in mind.

Tips for starting a TikTok

Let’s start from the beginning. These TikTok tips for beginners will ensure your TikTok account is set up for success, and help you navigate the video-first world of TikTok.

Bear in mind that these TikTok beginner tips assume you’ve already organised your account on the TikTok app – but don’t worry if that’s not true! We talk you through how to set up a TikTok business account here.

1. Jump on current trends

The number one piece of TikTok advice we can give is to make sure you create videos that leverage whatever is trending at the time. Of all the tips for TikTok, making the most of viral sounds, memes, challenges, video ideas and trending hashtags is likely to have the biggest effect on your visibility.

Trends are currency on TikTok, where the most popular can inspire thousands of spin-off videos, and the algorithm will push the most popular out to more users, garnering more videos, more views, more engagement…

Knowing what the trends are is the first step to getting involved, or starting one yourself. To discover the most relevant trends for you, it’s important to start engaging with TikTok yourself. Search hashtags in your niche, then like or comment on the trending videos you see. The For You Page (FYP) will adapt to show you more trending videos in this genre. Assess what you see, and act fast! TikTok creators who are too slow to join trends can get lost in the noise.



2. Use the right hashtags

Using the most popular hashtags on TikTok as the basis of creative content production can really help set your brand apart – and it will make you more visible to the right users, too.

Since hashtags are one of the factors the TikTok algorithm looks at when deciding which content to promote, using the right ones will make sure your content is targeted at the right audiences – and much more likely to be favourably received.

It’s not just the algorithm that looks for hashtags. TikTok users adopt hashtags to help signify to others what their videos are about and make their videos more easily discoverable. In turn, TikTokers will search hashtags to find content relevant to them. If you use the right hashtag, you’re putting yourself in the path of the most engaged viewers, who are actively looking for videos just like yours.

3. Boost your account authority

When it comes to actionable TikTok tricks, this might sound vague, but it’s actually quite simple: a video is much more likely to go viral if it comes from a trusted, quality account. This means your brand needs to prioritise consistent, regular uploading over time, demonstrating your account’s trustworthiness to the TikTok algorithm.

Another way to up your authority is by sticking to one of our most important rules for brands on the platform: do not repurpose content!

TikTok’s algorithm flags low-quality or unoriginal content, which repurposed content tends to be. Besides this, content that works well on one platform doesn’t necessarily work on the other. TikTok users want to consume content that is native and organic to the platform – ads that are specifically designed for TikTok, for example, are watched 13% longer.

Another piece of TikTok advice? Make sure to limit the number of times you remove videos, as this tells the algorithm you have a tendency towards releasing poor quality content.

4. Follow up on your content, and fast!

The next of our TikTok tips and tricks is simple: stay on the ball.

When you’re learning how to be a good TikToker, you have to be responsive. If you have a video that starts to gain some traction, it’s essential that you follow up – and fast! Repost, respond and create additional videos promptly.

Engagement speed and variety is important on TikTok, so waves of responses will help push a video further. Follow up quickly with new video content to maximise your reach and keep building that authority.

Of course, a great way to boost engaging pieces of content is by using influencers. Influencers have communities of viewers on the app, so enlisting their help can mean accessing hundreds of thousands of engaged users on the app.

We have activated hundreds of TikTok influencer campaigns for top brands using our industry-leading TikTok influencer discovery tool, Bytesights. We have access to over 3 million TikTok influencer accounts with AI-enabled analytics and from 200+ data points to ensure we are selecting the best influencers in any niche for your campaigns.

5. Keep videos short and snappy

Learning the best length to use for your content is one of the biggest Tiktok video tricks.

Your videos should ideally be quite short – the shorter and snappier the better! – in order to maximise watch time and completion rates. TikTok’s main audience is Gen Z, and this age group is very demanding of digital content: you only have 8 seconds to capture their attention (for Millennials, it’s 12). You need to make it clear early on that your video is worth a watch.

Video-editing tools are also your friend here. Swift transitions between quick video clips will cut down time and make your content look fresh. TikTokers will want to give your video a second watch to work out how you did it and copy your TikTok tricks.

Watch time and completion rate are metrics that really matter on TikTok. This is what the algorithm is designed to measure – if a high proportion of your viewers watch to the end of your video, this will show the algorithm that your TikTok video is worth sharing to a larger number of users. This starts a snowball effect, helping you to go viral.



6. Use cross promotion for extra engagement

A few powerful interactions from other TikTokers received soon after you publish your TikTok video will indicate to the TikTok algorithm that your video is engaging. This is vital for triggering the algorithm to promote your video wider on the platform.

Even better: if TikTokers hit the ‘share button’ to share your video, this adds to the speed at which you receive engagement, as well as boosting the variety of engagement your content attracts.

These are two critical factors in boosting performance on the TikTok algorithm – speed and diversity of engagement. A response video (like a duet), is really valuable; more than a like or a comment. So, make sure your content encourages a response. Community spirit is everything on TikTok.

Extra tip: At the time of writing, we also suggest you make the most of Instagram Reels if you already have a successful Instagram account. Reels are incredibly similar to TikTok videos, so you won’t encounter the same problems with unoriginality on the platform.

Instagram Reels are currently getting boosted on Instagram, so they are a good way to help grow on there. Just be aware that when you download a video from TikTok, it has a watermark with your TikTok handle. Sharing this on Instagram will tell your fans there that they can find you on TikTok, but Instagram is developing ways of detecting this. A better option could be to upload the video without a watermark, but be reactive in the video comments to tell your followers where to find you on TikTok.

7. How do I get better at TikTok?

Now you know how to start, the next lesson to understand is how to do well on TikTok. These are the TikTok tricks that will send your content from your drafts folder, to the top of everyone’s For You Page (FYP).

8. Know who is on TikTok

When you’re starting out learning how to get good at TikTok, and how to make the best TikToks yourself, it makes sense to look at those already succeeding.

Search for competitors on the app, or just check the highest-performing influencers in your particular niche. Understanding how and why their content is receiving good reactions from audiences is one step closer to capturing that attention for yourself!

9. Know when to post

You can follow all the TikTok video tricks in the world, but if you’re only posting when no one is around to see it, your content isn’t going to get the attention it deserves.

By setting up your TikTok for business account, you can gain access to a range of analytics – including your audience locations and when they’re most active. Setting up your posting schedule to hit these times is an easy TikTok tip for higher view rates.

There’s no point following all the Tik tok tricks you come across if you’re not aiming at anything in particular. Whether your marketing campaign includes paid ads or just original organic content, understanding what your overall aim is will be vital to setting up a successful campaign.

Once you know, test, target, and re-target. That’s one of the best tips for using TikTok for business: there is no ‘too much’ when it comes to following the analytics.

Summary Of The Top TikTok Tips & Tricks

These 9 TikTok tips will help guide you to TikTok stardom. Remember to include them and you’re set for success. 

Jump on current trends.
Use the right hashtags.
Boost your account authority.
Follow up on your content.
Keep videos short and snappy.
Use cross promotion.
Know who is on TikTok.
Know when to post.
Know what you want to achieve.

How to use TikTok

There you have it – with these TikTok tips and tricks, your next video is sure to be a hit. But remember: all the Tik Tok tips and tricks in the world cannot replace unique and creative content! Lead with your personality, think outside the box, and then leverage these tips to ensure your content has the best chance to hit huge numbers. Any TikTok tips to go viral can only take you so far. The proof, as they say, is in the posting.

Barbie Unveils Chinese New Year Doll With Guo Pei

Barbie has teamed with Chinese couturier Guo Pei for the second time to release a limited-edition doll for the upcoming Chinese New Year on Jan. 22, marking the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit.

The designer takes cues from traditional Qing Dynasty court dress, which Guo has been referencing in her couture and wedding creations for decades.

The doll comes with a cute bob cut and is dressed in a midsleeved blue satin top with a coordinating knee-length skirt, both embroidered with dragon and auspicious motifs such as tidal waves and clouds.

The limited-edition model has gone on sale in Barbie’s online store in China and is available worldwide as well.

Guo has previously released two dolls with Barbie. One was an updated version of the viral giant yellow dress Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala, and the other one was a red ensemble with golden phoenix embroideries for the last Chinese New Year

Barbie, manufactured by Mattel, has had a long history of collaborating with top brands such as Moschino, Vera Wang, Karl Lagerfeld and Diane von Furstenberg. Most recently, Balmain and Barbie collaborated to create a limited-edition, 70-piece collection.

With Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, hitting cinemas on July 21, Barbiecore style is set to continue its viral status well into 2023.