Design

The culture of fashion: AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear



AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear Paradise red

What’s the deal with all the Keith Haring collabs? The FT has the answer to all my questions here (pay wall), looking at the legacy of Keith Haring as an activist and accessible artist who coined the phrase “art is for everybody”. The company responsible for the never-ending list of collabs (Uniqlo, Primark, Junya Watanabe and Coach among them) is Artestar. The licensing agency also represents photographers, designers and creatives, and its success highlights the merchification of culture in the modern age.

But this latest Haring collab isn’t just a print slapped onto a tee. The AKILA x Keith Haring collaboration is a range of optical eyewear that lets you cosplay as the bespectacled artist himself. The arms have ‘hands’ that mimic Haring’s own playful drawings and the lenses have a discreet logo too. Available in two frame shapes, a pop-py colour palette and fairly affordable at £140, they’re suitably on brand.

It’s all further evidence of our desire to embody our favourite artists and a continuation of the trend for turning famous artists into cute avatars.

AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear
Keith Haring signature eyewear

The AKILA x Keith Haring collection will be live at AKILA on Monday 20th March.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: AKILA x Keith Haring
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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Dior AW23: steel skirts, haute gorpcore and garconne beauty



DIOR FINALE AUTUMN-WINTER 2023 ©ADRIEN DIRAND

I’m very much enjoying all the variations on classics at the AW23 shows. Sacai, Saint Laurent, Bottega and Prada are doing it for me – and Dior, of course.

Almost entirely in black, the Dior AW23 show was a ‘reincarnation’ of 50s French Girl Style, with Édith Piaf, Juliette Gréco and Catherine Dior (Mr Dior’s sister) the season’s muses. More ‘The New Garconne’ than The New Look, if you will. My top five takeaways…

STEEL SKIRTS. It feels like there’s a major shift away from sweatpants and massive trousers to skirts of all descriptions. At Dior, full pleat and calf length hobblesome skirts (made from fabric with stainless steel thread woven into the weft for a gently lived-in look) avoided 50s pastiche territory thanks to their non-twee styling and indie-girl makeup.
Dior AW23

Dior AW23


COCKTAIL PUFFERS. Houndstooth check puffers were light, loose and effortless, while an evening puffer in moiré silk was the gorpcore-glam hybrid piece of dreams – perfect for rainy London society soirées. With a couple of excellent trenches in the mix, watch out Burberry, Dior might steal your thunder…

Dior AW23 puffer
Dior AW23
Dior AW23 trench


SOCKS WITH EVERYTHING. The reason those 50s-esque silhouettes look modern? The casual styling, in particular the black superfine wrinkled socks, teamed with contrasting pale Mary Jane and ankle strap comma heels.
Christian Dior fall 2023 socks


ARCHIVE FLORALS. A floral tribute ran through the show, a reference to muse Catherine Dior who grew and sold flowers during the war as a symbol of hope. The set design was phenomenal, the creation of artist Joana Vasconcelos, whose bulbous sculptures were covered in floral patterned fabric and beads from past Dior collections. Meanwhile, the blurry abstract floral prints on wrap dresses and skirts were revived from the archive. I especially love the skirt and short leather bomber combo.
Dior AW23
Dior AW23


GARCONNE BEAUTY. Of course, I loved the gamine crops – this entire look on Greta Hofer is short hair goals. The pixie cut and major dark eye is a winning combination; Peter Philips makes it look so simple. It’s an intense eyeliner-smoky-eye hybrid but ‘worn down’, concentrated on the inner and outer corners of the eye and using the central pitch black shade from the 5 Color Couture Palette Black Bow palette* on top of the Dior Show 24h Stylo* in matte black. Brows were slightly enhanced and elongated using Dior On Set Brow* and lips were left neutrally coloured. (Should you want more hair adornment, straw tiaras are a thing.)

P.S: for more throwback French Girl Style, enjoy this 80s gem from Clive James, featuring Beatrice Dalle, Ines de la Fressange and Françoise Sagan …
Dior AW23 Greta Hofer
Dior AW23 beauty Helina
Dior AW23 straw tiara
Dior AW23 Maya

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Dior AW23; Adrien Dirand
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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In bed with Le Corbusier



Tekla Le Corbusier blanket Cashmere Lambswool

More blanket hype.

Not sure how I missed the memo first time round, but Tekla has done a second blanket collection inspired by Le Corbusier.

You can’t get any more classic than these mid-century colourways from Le Corbusier’s palette, the Architectural Polychromy, a collaboration with Les Couleurs Suisse AG. The blankets come in checks or stripes and are woven in Scotland from lambswool and cashmere.

My hot water bottle just exploded in bed for the second time, so maybe it’s time to invest in a Tekla instead…

Tekla Le Corbusier blanket Cashmere Lambswool
Tekla Le Corbusier blanket Cashmere Lambswool

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Tekla Le Corbusier
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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Let them wear blankets



Saint Laurent aw23

At the risk of sounding trite, the humble blanket has stepped up as a metaphor of our times and a recurring motif at the AW23 shows. A symbol of post-Covid comfort and tactility as well as warmth (the UK energy crisis continues) and survival (another day, another earthquake), we just can’t be separated from our security blankets.

Styling wise, they appeared as travel accessories in the menswear shows (specifically, Armani’s rolled travel blanket), on blanket influencer Pharrell Williams for his Louis Vuitton announcement photo and Moncler Genius appearance, fashioned into entire coats at Burberry and unfathomably fierce at Saint Laurent (above).

Perhaps most fabulous of all, Saint Laurent’s evening blanket (a tribute to dinner blankets perhaps – remember those?), a sheer, satin-bordered affair draped across skyscraper-esque shoulders and secured with a brooch (below). Sunglasses not optional…

Saint Laurent Aw23 evening blanket

But why wait til next winter? Begg & Co is the Brit fashion pack’s favourite blanket-meisters. They have just joined forces with COS to launch this lambswool and cashmere check blanket – buy it here*.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES: Saint Laurent AW23
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week
CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman
CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare

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