While the major fashion brands have seemingly gone nuts with their pricing, it makes sense that a certain demographic has shifted attention to Lemaire and Auralee. Both just showed at the menswear shows – precise (and practical) layering, easy-but-interesting silhouettes, harmonious colour palettes and distinctive accessories. Lemaire’s outerwear is particularly desirable with their gently exaggerated shoulders and I love the dopamine hits of red and green at Auralee (reminding me of Bally SS24).
As Hypebeast reports, Auralee designer Ryota Iwai “wants to communicate the importance of individual styling, blending vintage elements with nostalgia”, which maybe explains why these pieces – and the way they’re styled – feel familiar, and like they would slot easily into your own closet.
The casting is also fantastic; these feel like interesting-looking, everyday people that you would pass in the street in Paris. (Who is this hollow-cheeked dude at both shows? Not seen him before!)
Auralee AW25 (top and below)
Lemaire AW25 (below)
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES:Auralee AW25 by Gregoire Avenel; Lemaire AW25 NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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Reading Sheila Rock’s excellent 2020 photo book, Young Punks, her photo of the decidedly uninviting facade of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s 1976 SEX shop (above) revealed an audacious weirdness with intimidating appeal that lured people in out of sheer curiosity.
Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock said that the plywood, rubber latex and plastic sheeting sign was meant to look like a Robert Rauschenberg sculpture (those art school kids!). But the jarring plastic pink and incongruous name made it look more like an establishment for deviant behaviour than a fashion store.
Mr hand-on-hip certainly seemed to think so.
I know we can’t expect uber-luxury stores to shock us with such tactics. But in 2025, I wonder if independent fashion retailers are ready to employ some of this unnerving intimidationje ne sais quoi to bring back a sense of thrill.
Not since 2004 (with Rei Kawakubo’s first ‘guerilla store’ in East Berlin) have we seen fashion retail veer far from the minimalist-art-gallery playbook established by Armani and co. 20 years later, might we be ready for a more challenging retail experience to entice us over the threshold?
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES:Young Punks /Sheila Rock NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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Farewell Oliviero Toscani, a brilliant photographer and art director who changed the world through his audacious activism dressed as fashion advertising.
I became aware of him in the 1980s via his vibrant fashion shoots for Benetton using groups of racially diverse, often street cast models in simple studio settings, styled in layers upon layers by (my old boss) Caroline Baker.
But Oliviero Toscani is possibly best known for art directing visionary Benetton ad campaigns opening up discussion around controversial subjects such as AIDS, racial discrimination and religion by featuring provocative, non-fashion images of a kissing nun and priest, three raw hearts labelled ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘yellow’, and a man dying of AIDS in the arms of his family (below).
These campaigns, along with Benetton’s equally unflinching magazine Colors were part of Toscani’s tenure as Benetton art director (from 1982-2000), but more lastingly, cement his influence as a cultural provocateur 25 years later.
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES:Benetton; Caroline Baker (Benetton); Benetton x 3 NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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Just after New Year I treated myself to a banana bread and coffee date at the new Violet Cakes cafe in the New Bond Street Alaïa store. Food and fashion have been forging an alliance for some time and I was reminded that Azzedine Alaïa was a natural instigator of this idea as far back as the 1980s.
Unlike other luxury fashion houses with their ultra brand-coded cakes and confectioneries (hello Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami cakes) this is a somewhat more wholesome approach. The food is consumed round an aluminium communal table nodding to the original spirit of Azzedine Alaïa himself, famous for inviting models, seamstresses, editors and even passing VIP clients to join the home-made feast at the studio table.
It’s both convivial and voyeuristic; you can chat to fellow customers or simply people watch as influencers art direct their cream teas just so for the Instagram gaze. I struck up conversation about my table mate’s well-loved raincoat (a prized Japanese purchase) while his son quietly amused himself with a toy train and a cookie.
In case you’re wondering, the food is delicious. My banana bread was faultless and the cappuccino my ideal strength and temperature. (London cappuccinos are usually far too tepid and milky fyi.) Note the placemats and strategic setting of a knife and fork to show off the embroidered logo (top).
The popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels has helped luxury brands with café add-ons to reach wannabe customers by showing them a step-by-step entry into the experience. No need to be intimidated if you know exactly where you’re going in the store – in this case, straight up the spiral staircase, past the £5000 puffer coats and to the £5 coffees and pastries. Afterwards, bookish aesthetes can wander to the window seats and peruse the Claire de Rouen-curated art, fashion and literature books, all part of creative director Pieter Mulier’s ambition for intellectual stimulation and cultural exchange.
What these environments do is make the place a destination for more than just shopping. Immersing yourself in a brand universe that feels genuine and is meaningfully executed, you’re lulled into a mood where you might want to buy something bigger, or at least feel a sense of belonging. As the luxury slowdown continues, this is the smart way to keep aspirational customers interested for when the tide eventually turns back in favour.
Visit Violet Cakes and Claire de Rouen at Alaïa, 139 New Bond Street, W1
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES:Violet Cakes at Alaïa New Bond Street by Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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