Can you believe that Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette film is 15 years old this year? It’s such a fantastic piece of cinema and Vogue thinks so too. It has managed to compile an astonishingly lengthy oral history speaking to the actors, music consultants, costume designers and even Thierry Boutemy, the famous Belgian florist, breaking down every element of inspiration, technical specs and – of course – fashion detail in this over-one-hour long read. (more…)
Fashion month has kicked off and it feels like it’s properly back. Quite rightly there’s a concurrent spotlight on newer talent and younger businesses, who will need extra help in reorienting themselves after the ravages of the pandemic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many mentoring projects!
The 8th LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers just took place, with the main prize won by Nensi Dojaka and three designers sharing the Karl Lagerfeld Prize of €150K each (congrats to my fave, Lukhanyo Mdingi). While prize money is great, it’s not everything. (Remember Thomas Tait’s experience?) So alongside the cash, the LVMH Prize offers access to LVMH’s top tier of luxury business experts, helping designers to bolster their businesses and develop their brands.
The three-part Hermès AW21 ‘show’ started in New York with a dance performance choreographed by Madeline Hollander. Impeccably scheduled, the live stream began with dancers sporting identical uniforms of turtleneck, pleated midi skirt and tall boots, performing elegantly rhythmic sequences and gestures expressing the heartbeat of “how New Yorkers move through the city”.
The live broadcast switched seamlessly to Paris, where we watched a runway show of models weaving amongst towers of orange cylindrical boxes, followed by a third act, live from Shanghai, choreographed by Gu Jiani. (more…)
When I heard Dior menswear was collaborating with Kenny Scharf for AW21 I tried to keep my expectations in check. You never know quite which way these things will go, but I’m happy to report the collection looks superb.
Scharf is a painter who achieved fame in the 80s alongside his NYC club kid cohorts Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. I didn’t get my first close-up look of his eye-popping work till the late 80s. (more…)