“Your GQ and Vogues are about to become hair plugs on a mid-life crisis billionaire. The Newhouse family are smart and they will recognize that this is a dying industry with terrible cash flows so they will register some trophy value by selling it to someone who likes the idea of owning GQ. They are going to go the same way as newspapers. In a very weak flex way, it’ll be like owning Chelsea football club.” (more…)
“I’m not interested in luxury as a symbol of privilege. I’m interested in luxury as a symbol of truth in one’s own character. Exquisite tailoring and craftsmanship worn to elevate one’s personal intent — that’s power. That’s fashion.” Willy Chavarria, SS26
Boy, was I fortunate to see this quote in action last Friday, from my Paris menswear front row seat at Salle Pleyel. From the sober-but-powerful opening scene (to José Feliciano’s California Dreamin’) of 35 men in long white tees, shorts and socks, referencing the recent dehumanisation of U.S immigrants in Salvadoran prisons, the collection then went on to exuberantly reflect Chavarria’s personal exploration of identity, resistance and “refined subversion”. (more…)
A few snippets of digital ephemera and IRL recommendations I’ve enjoyed lately…
1/ JONY IVE’S SEXY AI. If anyone can make A.I sexy, maybe it’s Jony Ive, whose company IO is being sold to OpenAI to create desirable devices (think pendants, eyewear…) for the age of AGI (artificial general intelligence). Read more in the NYT (gift link). (more…)
“With so much of our collective experience and social interaction reliant on a digital culture, clothes, for me, represent almost the polar opposite. Clothes are tactile, emotionally resonant, personal and, on so many levels, anything but remote. The person wearing the clothes wears them against their skin. The person designing them is proposing garments that may be life-enhancing, protective, revealing, seductive – arousing many different feelings, both inwardly and outwardly.”
Phoebe Philo, How To Spend It (more…)
