Eleven years later, there is still little justice for the victims and their families. The 41 people accused of murder in the collapse of Rana Plaza are still awaiting trial as of January 2024. Only a few people have been granted compensation by companies that outsourced labor from the Bangladeshi garment factory. Families who could provide DNA evidence of their deceased relatives were given a mere $200 from Primark, and only seven of the factory's 28 international retailers contributed to the Rana Plaza Donor's Trust Fund within the first year following the collapse.

This imperial fashion system heavily relies on what Karl Marx described as commodity fetishism – a consumer's perception of a product that is completely alienated from the labor, and thus laborers, that it took to make said product. It's what makes the commodity desirable. For the very same reason the upper class slept on a higher deck away from the proletarian servants and steerage on the Titanic, so does the fashion industry create this laborless illusion to put our minds at ease in consuming one's exploitation. However, this infrastructure, too, is a sinking ship, and whether you can see the laborers or not, blood and sweat will stain white fabric.

Where previously Western companies were able to hide their sweatshops and garment dumps in the Global South away from the vision of their domestic consumers, the age of social technology has made it an impossibility to look away from labor exploitation. Organizations such as Fashion Revolution have started global campaigns to end human and environmental abuse in the fast fashion industry and educate consumers on garment traceability. Digital fashion communities on TikTok and Twitter have dedicated voices who strive to hold both the fashion industry and fashion consumers accountable for their unethical means of production and consumption.

However, this community-led exposé has created a cultural phenomenon where the internet adopts the language of accessibility and democratization as a means of morally absolving itself from its contribution to the fashion system. In a world where you are not given the choice to ignore the victims of the fashion industry, the only way to remain complacent in your contribution is to convince yourself that you are one. 

Anti-capitalist phrases like "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism," once serving as a reminder only to consume what is necessary, have been bastardized into a shallow rationalization for every excessive purchase — whether you are spending a paycheck on groceries or a Zara haul, the likelihood that underpaid farmers and factory workers produced both commodities is high, so you might as well buy both.

False dilemma fallacies like "I am working class too, and I cannot afford luxury fashion, so clearly my only option is to buy dupes from Fashion Nova" have also become increasingly popular. These statements parade as an act of democratization, but they are nothing more than a wolf in Shein's clothing. Entitlement to fashion, specifically pieces that fast fashion retailers stole from luxury brands (which frequently means independent designers with fair pricing), is far from class rebellion; instead, it is an illusory way of inserting oneself into a higher status in the preexisting class system.

This superficial form of online democracy starts and stops with the self. Much like the ongoing antitrust Hermés Birkin lawsuit, this outrage is based on one's own position in the exclusivity that drives the fashion industry – it is a bad thing until someone names the right price. But this markdown cannot forsake its social semiotics; after all, that's what makes the product desirable. Whether it is a Birkin or a convincing designer dupe, both commodities exist to convince the world that the person wearing it is worthy of doing so. 

But the harsh reality is that no one is worthy of fashion. So long as fashion's desirability is tethered to status performance, democratization is an impossibility. And if you cannot pay to perform with your paycheck, why should someone else pay with their life?

The term fashion victim, as coined by Oscar de la Renta, is used to identify one who gets caught up in the excess of fashion, whether they are fad followers or hyper-materialists or that secret third thing… me.

Though I do not monetarily invest in fashion in the way one would define a fashion victim, I do frequently find myself cashing in the entirety of one of my most valuable assets — my time. Fashion victimhood has always been used to identify someone who engages with fashion on a consumerist level, but I view temporal investment as capital that holds equal value to tangible wealth and frankly, for the better part of this year, I have wagered the full extent of my time getting caught up in this ambiguously defined excess of fashion.

What they don’t tell you about fashion victimhood is that it is an inevitability. To make an intentional effort in not being a fashion victim, is to be a fashion victim. Even if I were to subvert materialism and faddishness by adhering strictly to a minimalistic antifashion wardrobe, I’m still trying to chicly signal to a different subculture that I am a part of their more educated and more worldly group; all while ignorantly overlooking the fact that I continue to be controlled by fashion victimhood by completely altering my taste to fit the more enlightened mode du jour.

Getting caught up in the excess of fashion is also an inevitability to everyone who tries to subvert it. Not necessarily in terms of materialistic overconsumption, but rather in the intemperance of information — this is where my fashion victimhood resides.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an opinion on everything that has happened since the beginning of time. Ask me about my opinions on quantum cosmology or Scandoval, I will answer both with equal diligence. Anyone who knows me vaguely knows that I seemingly hate everything that has ever happened in fashion. Both are true to different extents.

If you follow me on Twitter1, you might have noticed or possibly even wondered why my bio is “loves fashion, hates Fashion.” I’ve always told myself that I wanted to go into fashion purely for the love of it. Even the hatred I hold towards the capital-F fashion industry comes from a place of love and longing to make it a safer and more equitable place. But the reality of it is, it’s not, nowhere close, not even a little, and I have opinions on it all, thereby contributing to the excess of fashion in my attempt to resist it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I started this Substack incredibly overzealous. I had plans to post thoughtful essays 3 to 4 times a week and I still have lists in my notes app of hundreds of topics I would like to write about, but I quickly learned that the rate in which the fashion industry exploits vulnerable populations is much faster than my ability to appropriately and thoroughly address them with the attention that the industry deprives them of.

I first started to lose momentum for writing during the antecedent events of the Met Gala. The HFTMG team and I were the first to publicly condemn the theme celebrating the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld. We were quickly met with a sea of backlash spanning everyone from internet trolls to established industry professionals for our attempts to “erase fashion history.” However I rather ignore history entirely than celebrate a rewritten one.

My team was never even calling for the erasure of Lagerfeld’s contribution to fashion history, but rather asking for a transparent exhibit that included the dangerous rhetoric he spread during his 50-year career.

Art is anthropology, to try and disingenuously portray the ideology that shapes it devalues it of any meaning. If I wanted to just look at clothes I would go to Saks Fifth Avenue, but museums have the moral responsibility to teach the public of how said clothes are contextualized within a sociological landscape — that was my argument from the beginning.

Watching the work that the HFTMG team and I did quickly get buried by the celebrity fanfare was incredibly disheartening. I don’t want this to come across with a semblance of narcissism because this work was never about us as individuals. It was about us being members of every disenfranchised group that Karl Lagerfeld directly targeted: queer people, Muslims, plus-sized individuals, people of color, women, survivors of sexual assault. It was about us discovering that Numéro Magazine allegedly deleted any remanence of Lagerfeld’s interview defending Karl Templer by telling his victims “If you don't want your pants pulled about, don't become a model! Join a nunnery,” a mere few days before the Met Gala’s theme was announced to the public. It was about the most prestigious institutions in fashion knowing all of this, actively concealing it, and then watching every single person who had no other choice than to remember it be accused of erasing history.

It was about systemically becoming a fashion victim.

My fashion nihilism culminated last month when Sean McGirr replaced Sarah Burton as creative director of Alexander McQueen, in turn, making 100% of Kering’s creative directors white men. Later through researching the statistics of other fashion conglomerates, I learned that this statistic should’ve surprised no one and frankly I felt stupid for expecting any different outcome. My findings were as followed:

LVMH:

• 22% of creative directors are white women

• 16% of creative directors are men of color

• 0% of creative directors are women of color

Kering:

• 0% of creative directors are women and/or designers of color2

Puig3:

• 20% of creative directors are white women4

• 0% of creative directors are designers of color

Richemont:

• 0% of creative directors are women and/or designers of color5

But again, after posting these statistics on Twitter, I was met with backlash. People condescendingly asked me “why can’t you just focus on good designs?” and again my response was, art is anthropology. If you can overlook the fact that the overwhelming majority of creative directors are favorable within the eyes of patriarchy and white supremacy, I can draw the conclusion that you overlooked the fact that for centuries these same systems of oppression have defined what qualifies as artistic goodness.

As a woman in the arts and an intersectional ally to all fashion victims, when I see these statistics I am physically incapable of “focusing on good designs.” I’m far too busy thinking about Guerrilla Girls' posters that read “Less than 5% of the artists in the Met’s modern art section are women, but 85% of the nude paintings are female.” I’m far too busy thinking about how Linda Nochlin’s Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, the essay that radicalized me as a preteen, was bastardized into a graphic t-shirt by Dior only for its sales to line the pockets of their brand ambassador who was convicted of 12 counts of domestic abuse. I am far too busy thinking about the communities of Accra, Ghana and Panipat, India who have designer clothing clogging their water supply, since they are victims of the colonial practice of garment dumping because, by no mistake, the fashion industry has ruled that the West’s excess of fashion is more valuable than the quality of life in the Global South.

And nowadays I am far too busy thinking about how less than five years ago, every major fashion company was having a pissing contest over who could donate the most money to restore Notre-Dame, all in the name of “preserving art history,” but now, not only are many of these same brands complicit in the genocide of Palestinian artisans and the cultural erasure of Palestinian art, several are actively funding it.

Refusing to view art as anthropology and ignoring the hands that either created or destroyed it makes you complicit in art imperialism. Refusing to critically analyze the history of artistic goodness makes you a cosigner in deciding which cultural arts are worthy of preserving and, by extension, which cultures are worthy of living.

Over this past month, I have been trying to learn as much as possible about Palestinian fashion and its artisans. I feel like that is where I can contribute and communicate best considering my given skill set and platform. And seeing that many fashion writers have been threatened by their employers for speaking out about Palestine, I figured, might as well talk about what we are all allowed to talk about: fashion. Because what are you going to do? Accuse us of erasing fashion history? Accuse us of not focusing on the right good designs? Blacklist us from an industry that never made space for us in the first place? You have given us power in having nothing left to lose.

Like I said in the beginning, time is capital that holds equal value to tangible wealth. But while the Western fashion industry has been basking in their excess of fashion, they have simultaneously made time a limited resource in the Gaza Strip. Using the fashion industry’s own capitalist praxis, scarcity drives demand, so there is no more apt time than now for us to talk about Palestine.

So let’s talk about Palestine.

Palestinians have sartorial rules of their own. Found stitched into their thobes, the form of cross-stitching known as tatreez was not born out of faddishness or materialism, but rather necessity. This ancient craft, primarily practiced by Palestinian women, serves as a multifunctional visual history of Palestine and a reminder that each and every wearer has a unique identity and ancestry worth preserving.

Tatreez is heritage. Each city in Palestine has their own unique symbols and color schemes that represent where they hail from. The cypress trees found on Gazan thobes represent the plants that border the agricultural fields in Gaza that functionally serve as windbreakers, while cities further inland such as Hebron and Ramallah have threads of deep purple and red as they are dyed in the climates where pomegranates are in abundance.

Tatreez is adaptation. It evolves in response to the social climate of its wearers. During the first Intifada (1987-1993), after a series of Palestinian uprisings broke out in response to the occupation, the Israeli government banned all displays of the Palestinian flag. As stated in Military Order 101: Article 5, "It is forbidden to hoist, wave or place political flags or symbols, except by permit of the military commander." But since the colors of the flag themselves were not banned, Palestinians used the art of tatreez to incorporate the country’s colors into their clothing. Creating what is known as the intifada thobe, tatreez artisans wove red, white, black, and green threads into thobes alongside maps, olive trees, oranges, and other innocuous symbols synonymous with Palestinian culture.

Overtime, as the definition of “symbols” became more strict, Palestinians adapted by creating new ones that covertly displayed allegiance to their homeland; one of the most recognizable symbols being that of a watermelon. The green and white rind, red flesh, and black seeds were a discrete display of Palestinian colors that quickly became a reoccurring theme that marked the literal and metaphoric social fabric of Palestine.

Tatreez is perseverance. Even after the 1948 Nakba, where 531 Palestinian villages were leveled and buried, 15,000 Palestinians were murdered, and 700,000 Palestinians were placed into exile, this art form sustained. From inside the walls of refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, Palestinian women have built thriving art collectives teaching a new generation of artisans how to keep this craft alive. These art collectives have enabled Palestinian women to provide for their families and to rebuild.

In a way, Palestinians have a sort of symbiotic relationship with their cultural dress. They stand just as much a symbol of it as it does a symbol of them: heritage, adaptation, perseverance.

because Palestinian art is anthropology.

American cultural institutions might have the ability to rewrite history or ignore unfashionable legacies, but the rest of the world does not have the luxury of existing within a vacuum. The rest of the world is clinging onto an ever-dwindling representation of their humanity as it gets buried in the West’s excess of fashion.

Ignorance is not bliss, it is privilege.

So, yeah, sartorial rules are simple: wearing white after Labor Day or business casual to the club makes you just as much a fashion victim as the person who rejects both on the simple premise that an arbitrary system of authority told them to do so. It’s also no coincidence that these fashion faux pas have roots in classism and white supremacy; you are inevitably and systemically made a fashion victim before you even have the chance to get dressed. It no longer matters what you wear, so long as you wear it on the right side of history — the same side of history you’ll be accused of erasing.

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Disclaimer: 

I do not condone antisemitism in any way, shape, or form. It is my own relationship with antisemitism and being the granddaughter of a first-generation American Jew whose parents were holocaust-surviving refugees that shape my opinions on Zionism.

My firm stance on Zionism is that it is an axis of the same Western imperialism that created the Holocaust. Western nations have militarized the same Jewish grief they inflicted and capitalized on the abundant antisemitism in their own nations in order to colonize Palestine. 

Zionism is not exclusively a Jewish ideology. In fact, Jewish people do not even make up the majority of Zionists. The largest Zionist organization in the United States is Christians United for Israel; their membership extends 10 million in the one organization alone. There are only 7.5 million American Jews in existence. According to geopolitical expert and Queen’s University Belfast professor, Tristan Sturm, there are over 30 million evangelical Zionists in the United States. The global Jewish population is 16 million. That is almost two American evangelical Zionists for every single Jewish person alive, Zionist or not. 

It’s incredibly frustrating to watch these historically antisemitic governments and corporations fund other governments and corporations in the name of helping “the Jewish cause” when antisemitic hate crimes are at an all time high in their own backyard. 

There’s a reason why the United States Federal Government pays for the healthcare and extended education of American Jews who relocate to Israel, but does nothing to financially assist the 1/3 of all Holocaust survivors who live below the poverty line in the U.S.. When you disenfranchise people for generations and financially incentivize them to leave, they will have no other choice than to leave. 

The West’s unwavering support for Zionism isn’t out of love or even guilt, but rather in attempt to dissolve the Jewish diaspora, kill or displace the indigenous population of Palestine, capitalize on for-profit American missile companies, and place all blame back on the Jewish people. 

When I say Zionism, I am and always will be using it synonymously with Western imperialism. And when I call myself an anti-Zionist, it is and always will be because I refuse to recognize it as a Jewish cause. 

References:

Embroidering Resistance: Palestinian Tatreez by Ruofei Shang (Atmos)

Heart, Mind & Spirit: Some Advice on Choosing a Color Palette by Wafa Ghnaim (Tatreez & Tea)

The Secret World of Tatreez: From Orange Blossoms to the Nakba by Pink Jinn

Tatreez and Development by Saniah Naim (Anera)

Tatreez & Tea’s Tatreez Introductory Model and Masterclass Series by Wafa Ghnaim (Truly one of the most thorough folk art databases I’ve ever seen, Wafa Ghnaim is incredible.)

This Is Artful Resistance: The Power of Tatreez by Erin Quinn (SOAS University of London: Gender Studies)

Woven Legacy, Woven Language by Jane Waldron Grutz (Saudi Aramco World)

Seminal Works on Palestine:

• The Battle for Justice in Palestine by Ali Abunimah

• Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women’s Anti-Colonial Struggle Within the Israeli Prison System by Nahla Abdo-Zubi

• Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

• The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance by Rashid Khalidi

• The Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination by Edward Said

• Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa’ed Atshan

• The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

Anti-Zionism by Jewish Authors:

• Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Norman G. Finkelstein

• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé

• Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plitnick

• Gaza in Crisis: Reflecting on Israel’s War Crimes Against the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé

• On Palestine by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé

For further reading, visit Decolonize Palestine’s Complete Reading List.

The obvious reason for this change is that I — the creator of Articles of Clothing, a Substack where I write articles about clothing — love an efficient pun, but the more important reason was inspired by an unfortunate tweet that made it’s way onto my timeline a few weeks ago:

Clearly, as a fashion journalist, I took offense to this. Not only is this mentality rooted in decades of misogynistic rhetoric aimed to delegitimize the cultural significance of fashion since it historically caters to a female audience, but it is also incredibly misinformed.

Just in the short month that Articles of Clothing has existed, we’ve talked about fashion’s involvement in class performance, the climate crisis, and colonization. We’ve covered fashion that has been inspired by movies, music, literature, philosophy, and art. We’ve seen how fashion is interpreted in pop culture, how fashion is perceived in media, and how designers are leading anti-capitalist innovation out of loyalty to their audience.

Fashion is and always will be part of The Social Fabric.

The Business of Fashion Seeks Applicants for Black Journalist Fellowship:

The Business of Fashion is seeking applicants for their third annual Next Generation Black Journalists Fellowship. The goal of this paid program is to equip and publish young black writers in the field of fashion business journalism.

The fellowship will start on June 1, 2023 and last for six months. All Black writers from any country who work (or aspire to work) in fashion, beauty, or other adjacent industries are eligible for this opportunity. Part-time and full-time positions are both available. Higher-level education and formal résumés are not required to apply.

The application deadline is April 28, 2023, at 5 p.m EST. To apply and learn more, click HERE.

Lizzo x Fabletics brand Yitty Releases Gender-Affirming Shapewear and Receives Backlash from the Trans Community:

On March 30th, the day before Trans Day of Visibility, Lizzo announced the release of a gender affirming shapewear line for her and Fabletics co-created brand Yitty. This line, called Your Skin, is set to launch this summer and will feature different gender-affirming compression garments such as binders and tucking underwear in a size inclusive range of XS-6X.

Although this is a community that is severely underrepresented in commercial fashion (especially within a size-inclusive range) there are currently concerns that Lizzo’s brand stole designs from a trans-owned company and failed to consider trans people in the product-testing process.

Zackary Drucker & the trans and queer woman-owned business Urbody alleged on Twitter that they had previously been in contact with the Fabletics-owned brand, met their team which failed to consist of any trans people, and were only ever asked for consultation services after the product launch announcement on the 30th.

If these allegations are confirmed true, it contributes to a larger cultural problem known as Rainbow Capitalism. Rainbow Capitalism, sometimes known as Pink Capitalism, refers to the commercialization and exploitation of the LGBTQ+ movement, symbols, and identities. This is a way for corporations and organizations to appear as inclusive for monetary gain without truly supporting or advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Since many of these companies have more wealth and exposure than LGBTQ+ owned businesses, Rainbow Capitalism leads to the erasure of marginalized voices within the queer community.

While queer-inclusive undergarments are something that desperately need to become more accessible within the fashion industry, it is incredibly important to learn how to recognize the threat of Rainbow Capitalism and listen to trans voices, especially considering the rise in anti-trans legislation and hate speech in alt-right media.

I’ve included a few of these voices below:

• MX Apparel Design (@mxappareldesign on TikTok): gender neutral clothing brand based in Twin Cities, Minnesota. The brand’s owner Maxine also speaks about trans, size, and disability-inclusive fashion brands on their TikTok.

• Zackary Drucker: multimedia artist, cultural producer, LGBTQ+ activist, and trans woman who initially broke the news on this story

• Erin Reed: creator of the Substack Erin In The Morning which covers up-to-date trans and queer news and legislation

Vogue Philippines Cover Features World’s Oldest Tattoo Artist:

The April 2023 cover of Vogue Philippines featured Apo Whang-Od, a 106 year-old indigenous tattoo artist from Buscalan in the northern Philippines.

Whang-Od now holds the title for oldest person to ever star on the cover of Vogue, dethroning Judi Dench who was photographed for the British Vogue cover in June 2020 at the age of 85. Whang-Od specializes in a traditional hand-tapped tattoo method known as Batok. She started her career in 1933 under the mentorship of her father and has been a tattoo artist ever since.

Historically Batok has been used to signify bravery in men and beauty and fertility in women, but due to western imperialism, Eurocentric beauty standards eclipsed these cultural practices. In the past 15 years, however, Batok has grown in popularity due to the fascination and talent of the 106 year-old tattoo artist.

So this cover of Vogue Philippines challenges societal beauty standards in more ways than one!

Dior in Mumbai (Revisited):

Last week Dior hosted a landmark fashion show in Mumbai. I wrote in the last newsletter that this show was historic since it was the first official calendar show for a European brand to present in India. The show was also in collaboration with the Chanakya School of Craft, meaning that this show recognized India as a global powerhouse in both fashion production and consumerism.

The Chanakya School of Craft has an extensive client list that includes brands like Chloé, Balmain, Balenciaga, Versace, Celine, Saint Laurent, and Ralph Lauren. They are no stranger to the fashion scene, but since the fashion industry has a long history of exploiting Indian artisans, some people like to pretend that isn’t the case.

After the show ended, many fashion industry professionals ran to social media to praise Dior for being among the few fashion houses that have acknowledged the fact that their textiles are made in India. Although it is due time for this acknowledgement to be made, this self-congratulatory celebration feels inappropriate since the ones celebrating are the very ones who perpetuate it.

Fashion journalists like Suzy Menkes, who you’d assume would understand this commonly known fact since she worked for 25 different international editions of Vogue, rhetorically exclaimed on her Instagram, “Who could have imagined that humble Indian handwork could develop into Dior's haute couture?”

First of all, I could. Frankly I could imagine 3 toddlers with a Fisher-Price sewing machine, a Yoplait Go-Gurt, and a dream could develop into Dior’s haute couture. But more importantly, deviating from European craftsmanship is not charity work. The western fashion industry has an extensive history of “drawing inspiration from” (mostly appropriating) Desi culture, so, yes Suzy Menkes, I do think skilled artisans can develop their regional crafts into haute couture better than the people who have been failing to replicate it for years.

It felt necessary to return to this event for a second week in a row because we hold a large responsibility in the way we discuss fashion online. Yes, cultural acknowledgments are great, even necessary, but what progression is made when it comes from an industry righting their wrongs through a white-savior complex? None, Menkes, none.

[UPDATE] My friend Hiral wrote a great analysis on this show. You can read it on her Substack here:

Vogue Chaos

Vogue Chaos Issue 7: Dior's Offensive Voyage to India

There were several reasons as to why the Dior India show was just as offensive as I expected it to be. As one of the few Indians in the independent fashion commentary space, I feel it is my responsibility to start discussions and inform because I have noticed a lot of my friends have avoided speaking on this, afraid they might say something wrong. Lets …

Read more

3 years ago · Hiral Arora

Massive Fire Destroys 3,000 Shops in Dhaka’s Clothing Market:

On April 4, 2023, a mere 20 days before the 10th anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse — the deadliest garment factory event in history, Dhaka’s clothing district suffers another major tragedy.

The Bangabazar market, home to around 3,000 locally owned shops, is a popular destination for discounted western fashion brands that outsource labor from nearby factories. Most of which, like Rana Plaza, fail to provide safe labor conditions for their estimated 4.4 million Bangladeshi workers.

The Dhaka garment district is the second most prolific in the world and produces clothing for brands like H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, Zara, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Hugo Boss. But despite generating $34 billion annually for the fashion industry, local shop owners like Mohammed Yousuf are no longer capable of clothing their family for Eid.

Non-profit organizations such as Fashion Revolution have been created to raise money and awareness for the fashion industry’s involvement in the labor exploitation of the Global South. Starting on April 24, 2023, on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy at Rana Plaza, Fashion Revolution will be hosting their annual Fashion Revolution Week. The goal of this seven-day event is to concentrate awareness for worker’s rights, teach consumers about garment traceability, and hold the fashion industry accountable for their colonialist practices in exploited countries.

To donate, learn more, and participate in Fashion Revolution Week 2023, click HERE.

Fashion Exhibits:

This was a major week for news related to fashion and art exhibits, so here is a comprehensive list of everything you need to know:

India in Fashion: The Impact of Indian Dress and Textiles on the Fashionable Imagination (OPEN)

Date: April 03, 2023 - June 04, 2023

Location: Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC). Mumbai, India.

The India in Fashion exhibit open on April 3rd at the NMACC with a very star-studded gala that included celebrities such as Zendaya, Shraddha Kapoor, Gigi Hadid, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, and Penelope Cruz.

This costume exhibit, curated by Vogue’s Global Editor-at-Large Hamish Bowles, explores the layered impact of traditional Indian dress, textiles, and craft in the global fashion industry. India in Fashion will feature western couture and ready-to-wear designs from the 20th and 21st century that are inspired by traditional and contemporary Indian fashion

@melifluaserenadeIndia in Fashion: A Costume exhibition organized by NMACC #MelifluaSerenade #IndiainFashion #nmacc #india #indianfashion #rahulmishra #fashion #chanel #dior #ysl #louboutin #sabyasachi #abujanisandeepkhosla #costumeexhibtion #fashionexhibition

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This exhibit will showcase pieces from Western designers such as Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel, Jean-Philippe Worth, and Yves Saint Laurent. The exhibit will also feature the works of pioneering Indian designers such as Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, Anamika Khanna, Anita Dongre, Anuradha Vakil, Manish Arora, Manish Malhotra, Rahul Mishra, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Sanjay Garg, and Tarun Tahiliani.

If you are lucky enough to be in the area, you can purchase tickets online HERE. But if you are not, an exhibit book is available online through the Rizzoli Bookstore.

Borsalino Foundation Opens New Museum (OPEN)

Date: April 04, 2023 -

Location: Corso Cento Cannoni, 21, 15121 Alessandria AL, Italy

On the 166th anniversary of Italy’s oldest hat manufacture, the Borsalino Foundation opened the doors to their brand new museum in the city of Alessandria, Italy.

This museum will cover the history of the luxury house from 1857 to the present day. The Borsalino Museum is divided up into three main sections: a multi-media installation called Antica Casa that displays the timeline of the Borsalino brand, a section called Manifattura which walks through the luxury hat design and production process, and a gallery section that will feature more than 2000 hats that are organized into eight different narrative paths such as Divine Hats, Travel with Borsalino, and Borsalino for Women.

Crown to Couture (OPEN)

Date: April 05, 2023 - October 29, 2023

Location: Kensington Palace. London, England.

To conclude the three day fashion exhibit streak was the opening of the Crown to Couture exhibit at Kensington Palace.

This exhibit, which is currently the largest to ever be staged at this historic venue, includes over 200 objects that are from or were inspired by the Georgian era. Crown to Couture will “draw surprising parallels between the intricate preparations for attending the historic royal court and the elaborate styling expected in red-carpet events.” Meaning this exhibit explores the politics of dress and upward mobility through fashion since “a ‘best-dressed’ accolade could get you a career, a knighthood, a marriage proposal, or even a lucrative government position,” as stated on the exhibit’s website.

Key pieces include the likes of Beyoncé’s Peter Dundas ensemble from the 2017 Grammy’s, Katy Perry’s 2019 Met Gala look designed by Jeremy Scott for Moschino, Lizzo’s 2022 Met Gala dress designed by Thom Browne, and Audrey Hepburn’s dress from Roman Holiday (1953) designed by the legendary costume designer Edith Head.

Tickets are available for purchase HERE.

Mood of the Moment: Gaby Aghion and the House of Chloé (ANNOUNCED)

Date: October 13, 2023 - February 18, 2024

Location: The Jewish Museum. New York City, New York.

The Jewish Museum in New York City announced that they will be hosting Mood of the Moment, the first museum exhibit to honor the life and legacy of Jewish entrepreneur Gaby Aghion and her French fashion house Chloé.

This exhibit will display nearly 150 garments spanning over the brand’s 70-year history. This collection will include designs from Chloé’s former creative directors such as Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, Clare Waight Keller, and Natasha Ramsay-Levi, as well as pieces from the current creative director Gabriela Hearst.

Although tickets are not yet for sale, an exhibition book and corresponding lectures and performances have already been announced.

Fashion in Motion: Minju Kim (ANNOUNCED)

Date: April 21, 2023

Location: The Raphael Court at the Victoria & Albert Museum. London, England.

The first winner of Netflix’s competition show Next in Fashion will be hosting a series of fashion shows at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Korea-based designer and Royal Academy of Antwerp graduate Minju Kim launched her eponymous brand in 2015 after winning the H&M Design Award in 2013.

On April 21, 2023, Kim will be staging a fashion presentation called Fashion in Motion which will consist of her Spring/Summer 2022 and Fall/Winter 2022 collections inspired by the Korean folktale of Bari — a goddess known for grace and beauty. These collections display pieces inspired by both traditional and contemporary Korean dress.

Anne Hathaway Becomes Global Ambassador for Versace:

Anne Hathaway has been promoted from Miranda Priestly’s junior assistant to the newest global ambassador for Versace!

Nordstrom’s & Dillard’s Investigated by the US Department of Labor:

A new US Department of Labor investigation of more than 50 garment-sewing contractors and manufactures in Southern California found labor violations in 80% of all investigated cases. These garment factories include some of the nation’s top retailers such as Nordstrom’s, Dillard’s, and Neiman Marcus.

Southern California houses the most prolific garment factories in the American fashion industry. This garment district employs more than 45,000 people, mostly immigrant women from Central America.

The investigation reports that laborers are frequently paid off the books, with records either deliberately forged or completely nonexistent. The most extreme recorded hourly wage being a mere $1.58. This sub-minimum wage is in direct violation of the California’s Garment Worker Protection Act that took effect on January 1st of last year. This senate bill mandates a mandatory minimum hourly wage for all workers, holding brands accountable for labor exploitation.

Senate Bill 62 also banned the long-standing practice of paying factory workers for the number of pieces made instead of the legally required minimum wage. This investigation discovered that 1/3 of the contractors reviewed were also violating this law.

To Read the Full Report click HERE.

And again… to donate, learn more, and participate in Fashion Revolution Week 2023, please click HERE.

The CFDA Inducts 10 New Members:

The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA) is a not-for-profit trade association and network of American designers that consists of over 450 members. In addition to owning and operating the fashion calendar, the Council of Fashion Designers of America also organizes the annual CFDA Fashion Awards.

The CFDA recently added 10 new members to their roster. The designers are as follows:

Former Vanity Fair Editor Michael Roberts Passed Away at 75:

Michael Roberts — who spent decades at the center of the fashion industry working as a writer, editor, photographer, and multi-talented creative — past away from a brain aneurysm in his home in Sicily on April 3rd.

Roberts was a collage artist who illustrated 23 witty and satirical covers for The New Yorker that poked fun at the fashion community. Last year, Queen Elizabeth II made Roberts a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to the fashion world

In 1966, he won J. Walter Thompson’s Travel Scholarship for Fashion Drawing. The award for this competition was a trip to New York City that led to Roberts meeting Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon and eventually publishing his drawings in Women’s Wear Daily. Over the course of his career, he had worked for publications such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times, and seven different international editions of Vogue.

Bernard Arnault’s Net Worth Exceeds $200 Billion for the First Time:

The French business magnet behind the high fashion and luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH had a net worth spike of $2.4 billion on Tuesday. This put Arnault at a record high fortune of $201.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index. This also put Arnault in the company of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as the only people to ever have personal net worths exceed $200 billion.

Since Musk is losing more and more money every day through his Twitter farce, Arnault currently holds the title of richest person in the world. His conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton oversees some of the biggest brand names in fashion such as Celine, Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Loewe, Loro Piana, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Off-White, and Stella McCartney. As recently as last month there have been reports of LVMH looking to acquire Cartier’s parent company Richemont which would also include brands such as Alaïa, Chloé, Delvaux, and Van Cleef & Arpels. This means LVMH could soon see an asset spike of an additional $38.6 billion.

I try my best to articulate my thoughts on these issues, but sometimes I’m just at a loss for words. For now, I hope these numbers speak for themself:

On April 4, Bernard Arnault (one man) was appraised at $201.1 billion. On that same morning, the Bangabazar market in Dhaka, Bangladesh (3,000 businesses) lost a total of $121.7 million in damages. This means that Bernard Arnault is allegedly worth 1,652 Bangabazar markets: the wages, assets, and ultimately the destruction of nearly 5 million businesses.

Burberry Brings Trench Pop-up to Fifth Avenue

After a humiliating season premiere of Succession for Burberry’s ludicrously capacious bags, the British luxury fashion brand shows their face again in New York City. This pop-up, located at 693 Fifth Avenue, spotlights the brand's signature nova check pattern (awkward) and offers trenchcoat bespoke personalization services that will run until May 2nd.

The location of this pop-up space will soon become Burberry’s new Fifth Avenue store opening this June, while their 57th Street flagship undergoes renovations.

A24 Releases A Style Book For HBO’s Euphoria

A24 has released a 273-page book breaking down the sartorial glamor of HBO’s Euphoria. This book examines the looks from the show, curated and created by Heidi Bivens, and features conversations with Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie, Sam Levinson, and make-up artist Donni Davy, plus a forward by Jeremy Scott.

Euphoria Fashion is now available HERE on the A24 website.

Weekly Reads:

Can Yohji Yamamoto Save Fashion From Itself? by Noah Johnson, GQ.

Can Clothes Be “Extremely Offline”? by Mikaela Dery, Harper’s Bazaar.

Succession and the era of billionaire bore-core by Joe Bobowics, i-D.

Why Some Brands Are Thriving in a Tough Economy – and Others Aren’t by Yola Mzizi, The Business of Fashion.

I’m a Wheelchair User. What’s the Best Thing to Wear to a Formal Event? by Vanessa Friedman, The New York Times.

How to Sell Luxury Amid Economic Uncertainty? Ditch the Logos by Julie Zerbo, The Fashion Law.

Weekly Listens:

Fashion Criticism in Crisis Hetty Mahlich interviews Dal Chodha, SHOWstudio.

Being a Poser, Gatekeeping Fashion, and “Quiet Luxury” Mina Le with Rian Phin, the High Brow podcast.

NOTE: past weekly fashion overviews will be renamed The Social Fabric for clarity’s sake

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Day 1 : Wednesday, February 22nd

Fendi :

For Fendi’s Fall 2023 collection, the inspiration was sourced from home. “It all started with Delfina,” Kim Jones stated, in reference to his seasonal muse Delfina Delettrez Fendi, the fourth-generation heiress of Fendi and founder of her eponymous jewelry brand.

Delfina, who was among the professionals named in Vantiy Fair’s International Best Dressed List in 2016, has grown up with fashion access that one could only dream of: the archive of Fendi, including Karl Lagerfeld’s RTW collections from 1965-2019, and the wardrobe of her mother Silvia Venturini Fendi.

Jones focused on her minimalistic style through the emphasis on three main categories: knitwear, dresses, and tailoring. The silhouettes were long, classic, and slender, but were coupled with subtle disruptions and asymmetry — merging together the classic Fendi archive and the youthful edginess that Delettrez Fendi brings to it.

This collection ended up being an entire family affair seeing that Venturini Fendi, who is the artistic director of accessories and menswear, debuted a new shapeshifting bag that can alternate between a bucket shape and classic tote while Delphina Delettrez Fendi applied her affinity for jewelry making to design earrings that resemble Fendi’s classic double-F logo.

Diesel :

Glenn Martens Fall 2023 collection started off Milan Fashion Week with a bang (literally?) in a playful collaboration with Durex. Martens put action behind the sexy aesthetic he cultivated during his three years at Diesel by staging the runway in front of a mass of 200,000 Durex condoms that will be distributed at stores amidst the release of their capsule collaboration in April.

Although it was definitely a conversation piece, Martens made sure the theatrics of the show did not upstage the collection he created. As typical, Martens continues to find new innovative ways to use denim— making it synonymous with the brand, but never allowing it to feel repetitive or overdone.

Distressed leather and denim flooded the runway; playing around with mesh inserts that make the looks appear to be easily ripped off. Several satin pieces also made an appearance, and since it is a fabric often associated with the boudoir and night slips, it really comes as no surprise.

This collection builds on design elements that are visible in other popular shows from this season: Elena Velez, Who Decides War, and Roberto Cavalli to name a few, so it looks like the distressed look is here to stay.

Day 2 : Thursday, February 23rd

Max Mara :

Max Mara’s creative director Ian Griffith’s found inspiration in the French philosopher Émilie du Châtelet and other female intellects in the male-dominant academic landscape of the 18th century.

Inspired by Du Châtelet’s survivalist tactic of dressing like a man in order to be taken seriously among her male counterparts, Griffith’s fall collection titled The Camelocracy both drew inspiration from her androgynous wardrobe and envisioned how she would participate in the 18th century’s apotropaic fashion had she had the opportunity to do so.

This is illustrated through the styling of Banyan coats, meant to rest on one shoulder, that draw a visible line down the middle of the human form: one half that must hide and another that no longer has to.

I find that the inspiration for this collection evolves similarly to the Talia Byre Fall 2023 collection that was inspired by female anti-heroes and the work of the American abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler. Griffith explains “Nearly three hundred years later, her gender is no longer considered to be at odds with her talent. She was one of an army of women whose wit and intellect were instrumental in producing change.” From the present day perspective, we are able to view the way women strategically navigated these spaces as a sign of intellect and power as we retrospectively honor their womanhood since it was forcefully concealed during their lifetime.

Prada :

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’s Fall 2023 collection, Taking Care, is an ode to the members of our society who hold us together. Specifically inspired by the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and the essential workers who sustained us through the Covid-19 pandemic, Prada’s collection interpolates elements of working class uniforms and dress codes.

“Mainly what I care about now is to give importance to what is modest, to value modest jobs, simple jobs, and not only extreme beauty or glamour,” says Prada, which is then later followed up in the show notes with the explanation that this collection is “embracing the ugly.”

If you haven’t read about my feelings for this show in my previous essay, it may sound like I am writing with a certain tone. I am.

This collection comes across as incredibly patronizing, not only due to the fact that these “simple" workers cannot afford the clothing that they inspired, but also because uniforms are worn out of necessity. A first responder or minimum-wage laborer has no control over the desirability of their work attire, let alone have the ability to embrace its apparent ugliness.

I think this collection contributes to a larger cultural problem of class performance. In the upper class’s attempt to absolve themselves of guilt by honoring the work that they don’t have to contribute to, they have instead just created costumes that make them look like they do. Both options are just simply a diversion of responsibility.

Blumarine :

Nicola Brognano deviated from his typical bright pastel-colored Y2K-inspired designs for Blumarine Fall 2023. This collection, inspired by Joan of Arc, adhered to an edgier and grungier image that has developed from the brand’s last spring and pre-fall collections.

Although Brognano has stated he relies more on instinct than seeking designer inspiration, parts of this collection remind me a bit of both Ghesquière and Demna’s eras at Balenciaga.

Chainmail as become a seasonal favorite for many brands, as seen in Dion Lee, Simone Rocha, and Heron Preston, so it comes as no surprise that it made its way back in Blumarine’s Fall collection. But other than that specific detailing, there really isn’t anything else to connect the collection back to Joan of Arc.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal if 1. chainmail wasn’t already everywhere and 2. Joan of Arc hadn’t already inspired many other collections. But when you have iconic shows like Alexander McQueen Fall 1998, Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 1994, and Christian Dior Fall 2006 Couture, all of which have a much clearer and justifiable depiction of Joan of Arc, there is nothing really about Blumarine’s fall collection that stands out.

Moschino :

For what we now know to be his departing collection after a decade-long position as creative director of Moschino, Jeremy Scott returned to the brand’s surrealist roots with a collection inspired by The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Salvador Dalí.

Warped houndstooth patterns, dresses that appeared to be melting off the body, and hoop earrings that dripped like Dalí’s clocks appeared on the runway as distorted 1980’s synth-pop further disoriented the hypnotic collection.

A painting about the timelessness, intangibility, and elusiveness of the subconscious mind seems to be the perfect inspiration for Scott’s grand finale. As he explained in the collection and in his interview with the New York Times, it’s too soon to see what his future holds, but as for the present, we are certainly “living in distorted times.”

I wrote about my feeling for Scott’s departure already in a weekly fashion overview, but I’ll say it again here: I think its appropriately timed (pun intended). Although it did come as a surprise to many, it is clear that Scott upholds the legacy of the brand’s founder and since Franco Moschino’s life was sadly cut short 10 years after founding the brand, it seems appropriate to not exceed that time.

Day 3 : Friday, February 24th

Gucci :

Sabato De Sarno’s debut collection for Gucci made the news for seemingly every reason but the right one. Conversations about influencers’ space in the fashion industry hierarchy, whether or not they are deserving to sit in the front row, and whether or not it is considered gauche to wear Michele’s era Gucci to the show when he is no longer working as creative director occupied my twitter feed for the duration of Milan Fashion Week. Although some of these comments needed to be addressed, most of the discourse surrounding the Gucci show is a part of a larger problem of how fashion shows present in the era of social media marketing which I wrote about in my essay Breaking Fashion’s Fourth Wall. So for now, let’s talk about the clothes!

Gucci’s Fall 2023 show was the first collection for their new creative director, and former right-hand-man of Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, Sabato De Sarno. This means that this is the start of a new era for Gucci and I think that is accurately indicated through this collection.

Whether it be the sexy minimalism of Tom Ford, accessory-forward era of Frida Giannini, or the most-recent 70s discothèque-inspired opulence of Alessandro Michele, every era of Gucci is one that is easily distinguishable. This debut fall collection feels like a walk through time; looking at the history of Gucci’s creative directors as well as providing a promising vision of the Gucci-to-come by incorporating some design elements created during De Sarno’s era at Valentino.

Vivetta :

Vivetta Ponti’s Fall 2023 collection takes us back to the rose-tinted freedom of girlhood. While designing this collection, Ponti relied heavily on the music of the 1960’s girl group, The Shangri-Las. Started between five high school girls, two sets of sisters, The Shangri-La’s discography lives eternally as a teenager who is full of unwavering desire and creativity. Having drawn inspiration from this concept and that era of fashion, Vivetta’s Fall 2023 collection is full of Mary Janes, baby-doll dresses, and cape overcoats.

However, the Shangri-La’s weren’t the only group of sisters that influenced this collection. According to the show notes, Ponti was also inspired by the Lisbon’s from Sofia Coppola’s 1999 film The Virgin Suicides. This may seem like an unlikely paring since the lives of the Lisbon sisters did not depict the same freedomland of the 60s & 70s in the way the Shangri-Las did. However, I think this duo is perfect. (walk with me.)

Vivetta does not hide her affinity for classic menswear. Even in her collections that present as more feminine, the designer still opts for traditional men’s tailoring. We can see that through this fall collection’s button-ups and pinstripe blazers that are worn over baby-doll dresses.

“The contrast between masculine and feminine remains my obsession, in my mind they attract and push each other away constantly: from time to time the volume of this contrast changes. This time, the volume is high.” - Vivetta Ponti on Vivetta Fall 2023

Now what does this have to do with The Virgin Suicides? Although the lives of the Lisbon sisters were tragic, the story is told retrospectively through the mythologized lens of the boys in their town which gives the story a whimsical, albeit perverse, male-gaze perspective.

The same can be said for the clothes in this collection; youthful flowing gowns and slip dresses are concealed by trench coats and blazers that are tailored to fit classic men’s silhouettes. In both the story and in the collection, femininity has been altered to fit the preference of the masculine.

Day 4 : Saturday, February 25th

Ferrari :

Ferrari (yes, like the sports car manufacture) presented their fourth show this year at Milan Fashion Week. This collection, designed by creative director Rocco Iannone, is an exploration of “beauty in motion.”

Although I personally believe this collection is quite nice, there is nothing that really justifies its existence. “Beauty in motion” just seems like a description that was added retrospectively to somehow connect the clothing line back to Ferrari’s main endeavor of luxury vehicles. In reality, fashion at its core is wearable art which means that fashion is inherently “beauty in motion.”

There is so much that can be done between fashion and cars, like Mugler’s 1989 Hiver Buick collection or Jeremy Scott’s current collaboration with Hyundai, but instead Ferrari relies on innocuous designs that contribute nothing more to the fashion industry or their vehicles.

For me, Ferrari’s decision to jump into the fashion industry seems like nothing more than a cash grab. Especially seeing that LVMH heiress, Delphine Arnault, has been a member of the Ferrari board of directors since 2016 — 5 years before the start of the company’s fashion line.

Ferragamo :

The trend of inconspicuous wealth and the rise of “trendy timelessness” continues in Ferragamo’s Fall 2023 collection. Maximilian Davis reflects on the brand’s history and connection to the newly-relevant members of Hollywood’s inner circle.

Davis’s starting point was the 1950s, the era when Hollywood starlets such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe would showcase Ferragamo pumps on the silver screen. This collection includes 21st century reinterpretations of circle skirts, cinched waists, sweetheart necklines, and the abundant fabric of the post-war.

Like many of the other brands retreating to timeless design, Ferragamo’s collection was void of prints (with the exception of a leopard print coat, but, in the great words of Jenna Lyons “as far as I’m concerned leopard is a neutral.”). This collection was almost entirely monochromatic, but since Davis is “[finding] resolute modernity through the new Ferragamo codes,” this collection also challenges the historic rules of dress by mixing colors that are known to be fashion faux pas.

Models are styled in black & navy, black & brown, two-toned black, and two-toned gray looks that are all very tasteful. This unique styling allows us to look back at historic design that is not bound by arbitrary fashion codes.

Dolce & Gabbana :

I don’t like spending too much time talking about this brand, but I just want to point out Dolce & Gabbana’s really desperate form of damage control. Every time they find themselves in a new controversy, which is typically allegedly every six months or so, they go back and reference their collections from 1992.

We can see it in the Fall 2023 collection that references Fall 1992 which, of course, is damage control for their latest controversy in which Kim Kardashian appears to be mocking their other ad that was called out for its racist depiction of a Chinese model.

And since this Kardashian collaboration was the initial damage control for the sinophobic ad, as well as their advertisement for the Spring 2023 collection, we see Fall 1992 referenced again in that collection.

But surely this is just a coincidence; back-to-back seasons, one of them is specifically designed to be “a throwback collection,” right? Wrong. It goes back even further.

In 2018 when Stefano Gabbana said he rather have their brand die than let Japanese designers work for Dolce & Gabbana, they immediately referenced Spring 1992 in their next collection

And again, 1992 is referenced in the first spring collection after the 2013 “Disco-Africa” Halloween party scandal where Stefano Gabbana is seeing taking photos with a guest in minstrel show makeup.

In fact, it goes all the way back to 2012, after their first major controversy, when they sent the models down the runway wearing racist caricature earrings, so, of course, they referenced Spring 1992 in the following collection.

I think this strategy is very bizarre, but it makes perfect sense. The only thing Dolce & Gabbana has going for them is 90s nostalgia. The design duo hasn’t produced a single good collection since they turned in their designer hats in order to work as full-time bigots. But the reality of it is, Dolce & Gabbana’s 1992 collections weren’t that special. It just looks like the less interesting version of Chantal Thomass if she hated women… and poor people… and people of color… and probably every other marginalized group of people on the planet.

Bally :

In a quiet 15th-century townhouse, the only operating winery estate in the center of Milan, presented Rhuigi Villaseñor’s Fall 2023 collection for Bally. The show, titled Persistence of Time, took place in not only any estate, but in the Casa degli Atellani where Leonardo Di Vinci painted The Last Supper from 1495-1498.

@ballyJOIN US Livestream the AW23 fashion show at 16:00 CET. Tune in on Instagram, LinkedIn or via our website, Bally.com. #Bally #BallyAW23 #MFW #TikTokFashion

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This new muse of Villaseñor’s allowed him to take a step back from the fast-pace trends of Los Angeles, present in his debut collection last September, and embrace the timeless and nurtured luxury codes that are embedded in Bally’s brand identity.

“Villaseñor’s sophomore collection saw him double down on his urge to use his fresh eyes to refresh Bally’s long-faded status as a provider of louche equipment for the pre-digital jet set: pre-Tom Ford Tom Ford. ‘It’s about slow travel,’ said Villaseñor of his 20th century wardrobe shaped by a 21st century mindset.” - Luke Leitch, Bally 2023 Ready-to-Wear review, Vogue Runway.

This collection appears to be another iteration of the ubiquitous presence of trendy timelessness found throughout this fashion season. 20th century dress re-envisioned in a 21st century lens is still a reference to 20th century dress and “pre-Tom Ford Tom Ford” is still an identifiable period of time, so I find it interesting to see how we retrospectively look at these eras of time and culturally decide what and why things get to represent the look of “timelessness.” Hence why I’ve been calling this trendy timelessness since everything in fashion is referential and inspired by distinct trends and eras.

Bottega Veneta :

Despite writing a rather scathing synopsis of this collection in my essay When Capitalism Becomes Cosplay, Bottega Veneta’s Fall 2023 collection is one of my favorites from this entire fashion season.

Matthieu Blazy delivered his third and final installment in the collection trilogy, Italia. This collection served as a snapshot of “people on the street,” like in a parade, “where there is absolutely no hierarchy.” For this reason, there wasn’t necessarily a running theme or visual consistency within the collection, instead, every design was uniquely its own in the same way that every person is. The only thing that tied the looks, and the characters they represent, together was the historical comradery of both Italy and the Italian fashion house.

In the show’s mise en scène sat Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913-1931) along with two 1st-century BCE bronze statues of runners that were excavated from Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum in 1754. These masterpieces sat on top of another, yet more playful, representation of the country’s history: carpet meant to resemble stracciatella gelato; a favorite of Blazy’s.

The ode to Italian art history within the set design paired nicely with the ode to Bottega Veneta’s personal history within the collection. Matthieu Blazy continued to develop on his disguised-leather technique, which highlights the versatility of the textile, since Bottega is historically a brand that specializes in leather goods.

“Bottega Veneta is, in essence, pragmatic because it is a leather goods company because it specializes in bags it is about movement, of going somewhere; there is fundamentally an idea of craft in motion. It is style over fashion in its timelessness.” - Matthieu Blazy on Bottega Veneta Fall 2022 (Italia pt. 1).

Although I did have some personal disagreements with the meaning behind the collection, the clothing itself was stunning. After Bottega Veneta’s Spring 2023 collection, I thought the not-leather leather technique was becoming a bit gimmicky, but Blazy completely outdid himself for the fall season.

Day 5 : Sunday, February 26th

Shuting Qiu :

Shuting Qiu’s Fall 2023 collection, Into Another Reality, was inspired by the late Czech abstract artist František Kupka and his 1912 painting, Compliment.

“The creative ability of an artist is manifested only if he succeeds in transforming the natural phenomena into 'another reality.' This part of the creative process as an independent element, if conscious and developed, hints at the possibility of creating a painting.” - František Kupka

Building on Kupka’s contrast of green and red, Qiu’s fall collection focuses on the appearance of two entities reacting in opposition. This form of abstraction manifested through the clashing of unlikely color combinations, opposing climatic garments, and an array of bold mixed prints. Milan Fashion Week was the perfect stage to do so, seeing that Qiu’s collection stood out from the sea of quiet luxury and modern minimalism.

One of the prints featured in Qiu’s Into Another Reality was in collaboration with Smiley and their iconic original smiley face logo.

Since Shuting Qiu’s brand ethos is dedicated to pursuing environmental sustainability, 60% of this collection was sourced from scrap fabrics and recycled sequins. Qiu also highlights the traditional craftsmanship of her hometown of Hangzhou, China through the skilled artisans on her team.

Day 6 : Monday, February 27th

AVAVAV :

AVAVAV was on everyone’s radar this season with the theatrical presentation, Fake it til you break it, for their Fall 2023 collection.

Beate Karlsson questions the meaning of true luxury and (quite literally) deconstructs illusions of grandeur in the high fashion industry by sending models down the runway in intentionally broken garments that were meant to fall apart as they walked.

"I've been asking myself; why is luxury so serious? The last collection was all about keeping up a fake projection of wealth and the personal failure of losing face when this illusion crashes. I'm still on that theme, there's something very interesting with shame and what happens when we are vulnerable. What is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a fashion house? I figured garments breaking might be it. Right now, I feel the coolest attitude is exposing your vulnerability, carrying it as an accessory." - Beate Karlsson on Fake it til you break it

Although this collection primarily serves as an opportunity to step back, have a laugh at personal failures, and not take fashion too seriously, I initially read it as a commentary on fast fashion and how it is not mutually exclusive to the luxury market.

There has been a lot of talk about “fashion gimmicks” over the past few seasons, most of the comments are negative, and although there is a lot to be said about how brands design their presentations around the sole goal of going viral, I do believe that AVAVAV’s presentation was among the more tasteful.

It was fun, it was relevant to the show, and it sparked meaningful conversation online about expectations for luxury fashion.

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(Paris Fashion Week overview to come)

Beyonce x Balmain :

Olivier Rousting, creative director of Balmain, teamed up with his long-term muse and legendary artist Beyoncé to create a couture collection inspired by her seventh studio album Renaissance. Each collaborative design is directly inspired by one of the sixteen songs on the album; bringing to life a world of characters based on Beyoncé’s lyricism.

This collaboration comes at the perfect time seeing that it was just a few days ago that Beyoncé and Adidas terminated their 5-year long collaboration for her fashion line, Ivy Park. The Hollywood Reporter stated “the Grammy-winning entrepreneur and the German lifestyle brand have mutually agreed to part ways. There has apparently been major creative differences between Ivy Park and Adidas, and Beyoncé is excitedly looking to reclaim her brand, chart her own path and maintain creative freedom.”

The looks for this collection will not be for sale, instead they have been created solely for Beyoncé’s use, as already seen on the April 2023 cover of Vogue France, and as of now a certain Cuff It-inspired look appears to be missing at the moment… Met Gala debut, maybe?

LVMH Prize Finalists :

LVMH — the high fashion and luxury goods conglomerate that oversees brands like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Fendi — announced the finalists for their 10th annual LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. This award aims to platform young creatives through endowments and mentorships and is open to any emerging designer, ages 18-40, who has created at least two collections. During the final selections, at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, the finalists will meet the LVMH Jury who will audition and select the prize winners.

The winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers will receive a €300,000 endowment for their brand as well as a tailored mentorship through LVMH, the winner of the Karl Lagerfeld Prize will receive a €150,000 endowment and one-year mentorship through LVMH teams, and 3 finalists will also be selected for a €10,000 endowment as well as an opportunity to join a design studio at one of the LVMH houses for one year.

Previous winners of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers have included the likes of Nensi Dojaka (2021), Peter Do & Chopova Lowena (20201), Thebe Magugu (2019), & Marine Serre (2017) and the LVMH prize has springboarded former nominees such as Christopher John Rogers (2021), Ludovic de Saint Sernin (2018), Glenn Martens of Y/Project (and now creative director of Diesel) (2016), Simone Porte Jacquemus (2015), and Shayne Oliver of Hood By Air (2014).

The 2023 LVMH Prize Finalists are as follows:

Aaron Esh:

Aaron Esh is a London-based contemporary menswear designer who started his namesake brand in 2022. Before pivoting to fashion, Esh studied graphic design, but quickly changed course after receiving the Alexander McQueen scholarship for Central Saint Martins’ MA Fashion Programme, from which he graduated one year early

Esh’s designs aim to encourage the average working man to broaden their understanding of men’s clothing. His brand leans towards more androgynous silhouettes that subvert the traditional design codes of menswear, such as ruffled-neck button-ups or suit jackets that have been fashioned into halter tops.

Esh’s designs are born out of a lot of world-building. His Spring 2023 collection was inspired by idealistic romance, the French actor Alain Delon and his love letters to Romy Scheinder and the discography of Amy Winehouse, which he then modernized and put into an economically conscious post-Brexit world that equates for the challenges of being young and worn out. In other words, his collections are a bildungsroman coming-of-age story that longs for a life of glamour and love.

Bettter by Julie Pelipas:

Julie Pelipas is a Ukrainian designer who launched her London-based brand, Bettter, in 2019. Before her design career, Pelipas worked as a stylist and fashion producer of special projects for Harper’s Bazaar (Ukraine) and as the Fashion Director of Vogue Ukraine. Since 2019, she has worked as the ambassador for the No More Plastic Foundation which parallels her sustainable clothing brand.

Bettter promotes a circular textile economy and ethical labor practices by upcycling deadstock fabrics with likeminded artisans and design studios. The brand is committed to transparency and traceability, providing information about their materials and production processes while bringing awareness to enviromental injustice and labor exploitation on their website and Instagram.

Bettter caters to chic women's workwear and suits that are inspired by classic tailoring such as Phoebe Philo-era Céline and the wardrobe of Fran Leibowitz, but ultimately it extends much further than a fashion label; its a community-oriented upcycling system that aims to educate customers on sustainability and workers’ rights as well as provide practical solutions to the fashion industry’s contribution to the climate crisis.

Burç Akyol:

Burç Akyol is a Turkish-French designer based in Paris. He graduated from the l’Institut Français de la Mode in Paris in 2007 and went on to work for several brands such as Christian Dior under the direction of John Galliano and Balenciaga under Nicholas Ghusquière before working as head of collections at Esteban Cortazar’s brand in 2014.

In 2019, Akyol stared his own eponymous label for which he won the highly coveted Fashion Trust Arabia Prize for in 2022. His brand adheres to the language of Haute Couture and presents off of the traditional fashion week calendar, ensuring that his collections are not rushed and allot the appropriate time to showcase the extent of his creativity and craftsmanship.

In the past, Akyol has designed for celebrities such as Cardi B and Zendaya who perfectly fit his brand identity of dramatic glamour and feminine seduction.

Diotima by Rachel Scott:

Diotima is a New York City-based brand created by Jamaican designer Rachel Scott. Diotima, named after the female philosopher who taught Socrates “the art of love” in Plato’s Symposium, explores the same conversation of intellect and intimacy inspired by community and Caribbean identity.

Scott has a wide range of knowledge in the design process, working as an assistant designer at both Costume National and J. Mendel, as designer for Mary-Kate and Ashley’s first brand Elizabeth and James, and as the Vice President of Design at Rachel Comey before starting her own brand in May of 2020.

As a Jamaican designer, Scott is passionate about advocating for the autonomy of communities in the global south and protecting them from the front lines of the climate crisis, so for that reason Diotima only releases two collections a year that are all made-to-order.

Luar by Raul Lopez:

Raul Lopez is a Dominican-American designer based in Brooklyn, New York. Before launching his reverse namesake brand in 2016, he worked as co-founder and designer of Hood by Air with Shayne Oliver. In 2018, Lopez was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and in 2022 he won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund's American Accessory Designer of the Year award after the rise in popularity of the brand’s signature Ana Bag

Raul Lopez’s designs are highly inspired by his Dominican-American identity, hip-hop, ballroom culture, and queerness. His brand specializing in combining classic 80s tailoring with with the “glamour and flamboyance of the Dominican Republic.”

As a self-made designer who pioneered his own way, he is also a known advocate for platforming young talents. For his Spring/Summer 2023 show, he open-casted independent models through Instagram instead of going through the traditional route of agencies.

Magliano by Luca Magliano:

Luca Magliano is an Italian designer based in Bologna which he describes as the “perpetual home of the Italian underground.” He founded his eponymous brand in 2017 and won the Vogue Who’s On next award the same year and now regularly presents his collections at Milano Men’s Fashion Week.

His brand is heavily inspired by queer identity and the styles of the 90s and early 2000s. At the very core of his brand Magliano is “committed to independent organizations that fight for minorities’ rights.” This is done through tasteful collections with strong messages such as his Fall 2023 Menswear collection, No, which brings awareness to the dangers of complacency.

Paolina Russo by Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard:

Paolina Russo is a London-based brand founded by Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard. Since completing a BA and MA at Central Saint Martins, receiving the L'Oréal Creative Young Talent Award and establishing a multi-project collaboration with Adidas, Russo and Guilmard have been increasingly defined by considerate craftsmanship, sustainability and innovation in textile development. The designers are currently finalists in the 2023 International Woolmark Prize, as well as part of 1 Granary's support and mentorship programme.

Committed to the sustainability and mindful production, this knitwear brand uses upcycled and unconventional materials to create avant-garde sportswear that “taps into a familiar nostalgia for the boredom, uncertainty, and naiveté of growing up.”

Quira by Veronica Leoni:

Following her debut at Jil Saunder, her years under Phoebe Philo at Celine, and working as lead designer at 2 Moncler 1952, Veronica Leoni officially launched her own brand, Quira, in September of 2021 at Milan Fashion Week.

This Rome-based brand brings an innovative and sensible perspective on contemporary womenswear by elevating classic staples to one-of-a-kind designs by merging 90s minimalism with its modern interpretation of the avant-garde. Pieces like rib knit cardigans with elongated sleeves, sculptural trench coats, and skirts with deconstructed layering exemplify the brand’s experimental approach.

Setchu by Satoshi Kuwata:

Satoshi Kuwata is a Japanese designer based in Italy. Having lived and learned between Kyoto, Paris, Milan, London, and New York, he developed a unique approach to elegance and a profound knowledge and respect for different cultures and traditional craftsmanship.

This appreciation to global design is then poured into his brand Setchu. Named after the Japanese word “Wayo Setchu (和洋折衷),” with “Wayo” referring to Japan and the West and “Setchu” meaning compromise, Setchu as a brand represents the “blending of Japanese and Western concepts - the compromise between the two cultures.”

Jean Paul Gaultier by Julien Dossena :

Since the announcement of his retirement back in 2020, a mere few days before his farewell spring couture collection, Jean Paul Gaultier’s namesake brand has enlisted a series of creative directors to each design under the Gaultier name for one couture collection. This unique initiative has allowed multiple popular designers to reinterpret the Gaultier archives and brand identity through their own individual style and design codes. Former host designers include Chitose Abe (FW21), Glenn Martens (SS22), Olivier Rousteing (FW22), Haider Ackermann (SS23), and in most recent news was the announcement of Julien Dossena for the upcoming Fall 2023 Couture collection.

After graduating from La Cambre in Brussels and interning for Nicholas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, Julien Dossena took over as creative director at Paco Rabanne in 2014. Dossena has since revived the futuristic brand while still managing to maintain its original space-age identity through modernizing some of Rabanne’s most memorable designs like The Twelve Unwearable Dresses from the mid-1960s.

This announcement and collaboration seems like a perfect match seeing that Paco Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier are both known for their retrofuturistic designs. This is also the first time Jean Paul Gaultier has collaborated with a designers under the same fashion conglomerate Puig. And since Rabanne sadly passed a month ago at the age of 88, it will be interesting to see how and if Dossena honors the legacies of both revolutionary fashion designers.

AI Fashion Week :

In a tragic continuation of the fashion industry’s incessant need to add artificial intelligence everywhere, mentioned here in last week’s newsletter, the first ever AI fashion week has been announced. Hosted by the AI studio Maison Meta on the 20th & 21st of April, this AI fashion week “aims to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the fashion industry.”

I want to focus on this phrasing because it is the same language that was used in the Stradivarius AI campaign from last week. I find it very misleading to advertise art made by artificial intelligence as something that extends “beyond the limitations of our reality,” not only due to the algorithmic biases rooted in prejudice (which maybe isn’t a part of reality of the ten largest technology companies in Silicon Valley who did not employ a single black woman in 2016, however it is for everyone else), but also because fashion is and always will be an artform rooted in the human form.

Artificial intelligence takes texture, movement, dimension, and — most importantly — the human experience away from art and fashion. It has more limitations than our reality and if you don’t trust my word, you can hear it straight from the horse’s mouth:

“Fashion shows are social events that bring people together and create a sense of community. An AI fashion show could lack the human element that makes fashion shows so engaging and enjoyable, and could ultimately fail to attract and retain an audience. While AI technology has many exciting applications in the fashion industry, an AI fashion show may not be the best use of this technology due to the subjective and personal nature of fashion, the reliance on human creativity, and the social aspect of fashion shows.” - ChatGPT on why an AI fashion show is a bad idea

Kate Spade and Indigenous Appropriation :

Kate Spade is currently under fire with indigenous activists for their appropriation of the traditional Diné ribbon skirt. This skirt is considered sacred regalia in some indigenous communities and has a long history with colonialism in the Americas.

After the Native people were forced to abandon cultural practices, such as making clothing out of the much-preferred animal skins, trade cloths such as linen and ribbon were adopted out of necessity to dress native communities. However the ribbon quickly became a way for indigenous people to display their creative expression and identity through clothing which is why the ribbon skirt still exists as an important part of some native cultures today.

@martinadeneI didn’t have time to show all our skirts.. but my amazing mom made pretty much all of them 💕 #ribbonskirt #nativetiktok #indigenous #fyp

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This is why cultural appropriation is such a major problem. It’s history repeating itself; it actively takes away from the history of adaptation and practices that only exist due to the original cultural genocide of Native people. It also has systemic consequences — traditional arts, such as beadwork and pottery, have sustained the economy of native communities for generations. A report from Racing Magpie, a Lakota art and culture center based in Rapid City, South Dakota, states that “40 percent of households on the Pine Ridge Reservation make a majority of their income through handmade art, artifacts or sales,” now compare that to the estimated 0.6% of Indigenous American & Alaskan Natives who hold design positions in the U.S. fashion industry.

As of Friday (3/31), Kate Spade New York has yet to comment on these accusations, but I think it is still incredibly important to hold the fashion industry accountable and listen to native voices (Follow @denewomanrising on TikTok for more on this situation).

Succession vs. Burberry :

Burberry made fashion and mainstream news this week as it was ripped to shreds in the Season 4 primere of HBO’s dark comedy-drama series Succession. This section might contain light spoilers, so skip ahead if you haven’t watched, but intend to!

The discourse ignited after Cousin Greg brought a date to Logan Roy’s birthday party however she made an irreversible life-altering career-damaging mistake, she *check notes* wore a Burberry nova check handbag?

In the scene, Tom pulls Greg aside to let him know that everyone at the party is laughing at his date for bringing a “ludicrously capacious bag,” which he then starts to make assumptions of the contents of the bag and the wearer by questioning, “What’s even in there, huh? Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? I mean, Greg, it’s monstrous, it’s gargantuan. You could take it camping. You could slide it across the floor after a bank job.”

Now, if you have been here since my London Fashion Week Review, you know that (1) I’m practically Nostrodamus and, more importantly, (2) these comments about fashion in media are always part of a much bigger picture.

I highly recommend going back to read my full Burberry review, but to summarize — this last collection from Burberry was completely void of the brand's signature nova check, instead the patterns typically seen on the inner-linings of their trench coats were displayed as outerwear.

Burberry has a long history of classicism rooted in the signature nova check. The brand constantly shuns and reclaims this universally-recognized pattern as a way of perpetually separating themselves from the working class. Despite it being in fashion as recently as Spring/Summer 2023 (the collection that’s literally in stores right now), the brand has already prepared for the Fall/Winter season as it falls back out of favor with its audience.

Bottega Veneta Show in Beijing :

Bottega Veneta will be re-presenting their Fall/Winter 2023 collection in Beijing on July 20th and will include new looks developed for the Chinese market. Not too much to add on it yet, other than the fact that Bottega Veneta Fall/Winter 2023 was my favorite collection from this past fashion month and I’m so so so excited to see the additional looks.

Now watch as I completely contradict myself by criticizing the brand in the next section:

Bottega Veneta’s New Bag :

Bottega Veneta has announced their newest bag called the Quadronno, which appears to be a canvas bag with leather straps that resembles a classic tote. New bags are released all the time, but this one specifically peaked my interest because it has one very unique feature for Bottega… a brand name.

As many of you know, since the appointment of Matthieu Blazy as creative director in 2021, Bottega Veneta has rebranded itself as a quiet luxury brand that is leading the newly-phrased movement known as stealth wealth which relies less on a name or social media presence and more on the integrity of the designs.

I plan on writing more about how this exists in a larger cultural context later, but as mentioned in my essay When Capitalism Becomes Cosplay and the Succession vs. Burberry section above, there is a long standing history of socioeconomic classes rebranding their dress codes to either mimic or separate themselves from other classes. For the old “quiet luxury” that means minimal logos and innocuous designs that starkly contrast from the flashy wardrobes of the nouveau riche, but what happens when the new money adopts these habits as a form of assimilation? new dress codes.

If class performance were a chess match, it would be a blitz round, seeing that the announcement of this bag and the succession episode are a mere 3 days apart from each other. In other trend-forecasting words, logos might be coming back in for like 3-5 business days!! Or at least until Burberry’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection is available in stores.

Dior Fashion Show in Mumbai :

Dior hosted a landmark show this Thursday by becoming the first international luxury fashion house to do an official calendar runway show in India with their Pre-Fall 2023 collection. This collection was in collaboration with the Chanakya School of Craft who has a long history with Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

This show is historic for two reasons, it acknowledges India as a growing buying power in the international luxury market and embraces traditional Indian embroidery on an international stage — meaning India is being recognize as both a global consumer and producer of luxury fashion.

Weekly Reads:

Telfar’s New World by Senam Attipoe, Girl in Brown

Despite Inflation, Gen Z Consumers Are Still Shopping Online by Kanika Talwar, WWD

Uniqlo Executives Hold 'Sustainability' Breakfast by Amy Odell, The Back Row

How 1997 changed fashion forever: From Tom Ford's Gucci G-string to Thierry Mugler's Fly sunglasses, a new exhibition in Paris chronicles a very important year in fashion. by Sarah Moroz, i-D

Something Odd Is Happening With Handbags by Amanda Mull, The Atlantic

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Jeremy Scott Leaves Moschino :

After 10 years as creative director, Jeremy Scott decides to part ways with Moschino. In an interview with Farah Fluerima for The New York Times, Scott explains that this split was amicable and just simply time to move on to a new project. Although that new project is not yet known, Scott is currently in Seoul, South Korea working on a collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company. Inspired by Hyundai’s Re:Style initiative, which promises to recycle Hyundai interiors, Scott will be unveiling a collection made from recycled car parts and upholstery on March 23 at AP Again, in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. The exhibit will run until April 9, 2023.

Moschino was founded in 1983, meaning their 40th anniversary is this year. The brand’s first decade was operated by, the founder and namesake, Franco Moschino. Franco Moschino was notorious for his witty and satirical designs that challenged the fashion hierarchy by parodying other luxury brands through his Couture! and Cheap and Chic lines.

“Fashion is absolutely tacky. Being fashionable is not positive at all. Fashion is over. Let’s talk about something worthwhile. Fashion kills people. It is Fascism. As a designer, I have to convince you to change–to cut your hair, to change the frames of your glasses. You’re a creature of the fashion system, a Muppet, not yourself,” - Franco Moschino, New York Magazine, 1989.

Franco Moschino sadly passed away in 1994 after fighting AIDS for several years which means his time as creative director at Moschino lasted a little over 10 years. For this reason, I think Jeremy Scott’s departure after a decade with the brand is appropriately timed. Scott managed to revive Moschino and carry on Franco’s legacy by sticking to the founder’s original brand identity — something that is not to common amongst heritage houses. I hope the same can be said for Moschino’s next creative director and I’m excited to see what is in store for the brand moving forward.

Balenciaga Profile in The New Yorker :

Demna’s Balenciaga was discussed at length by Laura Reilly for an article in The New Yorker. Nothing in this profile was new information, however it did compile Demna’s personal history, design career, and controversies as well as provide and overview on Balenciaga’s entire brand history.

The main discussion at hand was, of course, the controversial Balenciaga campaign from November 2022 that photographed children holding inappropriate merchandise, but it did extend much further than that one topic. This article did slant in favor of Demna, sometimes obnoxiously so. I tend to slant out of favor of Demna, sometimes obnoxiously so, so here is what I agree and disagree with:

Disagree :

- The article opened with immense praise of Demna, citing quotes like “Demna’s the only one who talks about the things we’re all thinking about” and “[While] other designers take us to the Qing dynasty or the Belle Époque, to Djuna Barnes’s Left Bank flat or Talitha Getty’s Marrakesh villa. Demna had been willing to take us there” while (ironically) simultaneously calling all other designers and brands “pretentious.”

Demna is not immune to pretension, in fact, he perpetuates it. I wrote an essay a few weeks ago on the fashion industry’s glamorization of poverty that you can read here, but to summarize, Demna has a long history of “critiquing capitalism” by selling luxury goods that resemble clothing of the lower class and/or unhoused. Profiting on the less-than-fortunate living situations of those living in poverty isn’t a “critique on capitalism” it is, by definition, just capitalism. Any pseudo-intellectual description you attach to justify the designs will read as nothing less than pretentious.

- I also think it is in poor taste to open an article with praise for a designer when a large reason why he is being discussed at length is for potential child endangerment. Whether you believe it to be true or not, it does not compel you to take this situation seriously and, again, whether you believe it to be true or not, any discussion of potential child endangerment needs to be carefully handled.

Agree :

- Although I think the ad is a cause for concern, I do agree that the situation was manipulated to feed dangerous conspiracy theories and weaponized by right-wing media to aid their own unrelated narratives. Again, this is another situation of a child endangerment discussion being inappropriately handled.

Fashion Trust U.S. Awards :

The Fashion Trust U.S. awards were on March 21 at Goya Studios in Los Angeles, California. The Fashion Trust U.S. is a non-profit initiative dedicated to discovering and funding young designers. Winners of the awards are given financial grants and mentorships to aid them in building their own successful brands.

The awards and 2023 recipients are as follows:

The St. John Knits Ready-To-Wear Award: Aisling Camps

Aisling Camps is a Trinidadian mechanical engineer-turned-knitwear designer. She initially graduated from Columbia University, but later pursued a second degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology where she developed her skills in knitwear design. She operates her namesake brand out of Brooklyn, New York where all of her pieces are made by hand or outsourced from Emilia-Romagna, Italy from a family-run business with three generations of knitwear experience.

Since she is a Trinidad native who grew up in the Port of Spain, Camps says she naturally leans towards beachy designs. Her eponymous brand is self-described as “Regal, Minimalist, Caribbean, and Modern.”

Aisling Camps is the 2023 winner of the St. John Knits Ready-to-Wear Award. This award consists of a $150,000 grant, an opportunity to collaborate with the St. John Knits design team, as well as mentoring and business development advice from their global CEO, Andy Lew, and the FTUS advisory board which is made up of 19 industry professionals such as Law Roach and Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.

The Jewelry Award: L’Enchanteur

L’Enchanteur is a Brooklyn-based brand co-founded by Nigerian-Dominican twins Dynasty and Soull Ogun. Their brand is heavily influenced by spirituality. The elements, numerology, mythology, religion, magic, and folklore are all common themes amongst their designs. The Ogun twins have previously worked with 3.1 Philip Lim and have dressed celebrities such as Megan thee Stallion, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu as well as designed the jewelry for Beyoncé’s Black is King.

Although the specialize in many areas of design, they specifically won the 2023 FTUS Jewelry Award. The design duo will receive a grant of a $25,000 as well as mentoring and business development advise from the Fashion Trust U.S. advisory board.

The Sustainability Award: Elena Velez

Elena Velez is a New York City-based designer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Velez is one of the most popular rising designers at the moment. She won both the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund and the American Emerging Designer of the Year award at the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards.

Velez’s work is heavily influenced by her Midwest blue-collar upbringing and her brand is dedicated to creating a space for the working class in high fashion. As a former metalsmith herself, Velez frequently collaborates with local artisans to amplify regional crafts through her deconstructed and industrial design style.

As the winner of the 2023 FTUS Sustainability Award, Elena Velez will receive a $25,000 grant as well as mentoring and business development advise from the FTUS advisory board.

The Creativity Award sponsored by Google: Puppets and Puppets

Puppets and Puppets is a New York City-based fashion label founded in 2018 by Carly Mark and Ayla Argentina. Argentina covers most of the garment construction while Mark operates as creative director and publicist of their brand. Carly Mark was also a nominee for the 2022 CFDA American Emerging Designer of the Year award.

As multi-talented creatives, and with Mark as the head of the docent program at the Detroit Institute of Art, it comes as no surprise that a lot of their collections are inspired by cinema and fine art. Their two most recent collections, Spring 2023 RTW and Fall 2023 RTW, were inspired by the films Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Dead Ringers (1988), respectively.

Puppets and Puppets is the 2023 recipient of the FTUS Creativity Award. This award consists of a $25,000 grant as well as mentoring and business development advise from the Fashion Trust U.S. advisory board.

Graduate Award sponsored by Google: Papa Oppong

Papa Oppong Bediako is a New York City-based designer from Accra, Ghana. Since graduating with a MFA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Bediako has gone on to design for the West African textile company, Woodin, as well as style and direct a fashion show for Adidas (Ghana). He has also received accolades from CNN and Forbes for his work in amplifying African design, with the latter listing him as one of the 15 young African designers “re-branding the continent.”

As the winner of the Graduate Award sponsored by Google, Papa Oppong will receive a $25,000 grant as well as mentoring and business development advise from the FTUS advisory board.

Inclusivity Award: Agbobly

Agbobly, formerly known as Black Boy Knits, is an eponymous brand founded by the Togolese designer Jacques Agbobly. Their designs emphasize on Black, immigrant, and queer design codes that aim to “subvert expectations for work made by African designers.” As a non-binary African designer themself, Agbobly’s explores gender nuance through fashion while blending traditional Togolese design techniques that are commonly overlooked within luxury fashion.

Jacques Agbobly is the winner of the 2023 FTUS Inclusivity Award. This award was created to recognize a brand that fosters a diverse and inclusive environment that acknowledges and utilizes individual’s talents from various backgrounds. Agbolby will receive a $25,000 grant as well as mentoring and business development advise from the Fashion Trust U.S. advisory board.

Fashion and Artificial Intelligence :

Artificial intelligence had a big influence on fashion this week…

Vogue Brasil Introduces AI Covers for the March 2023 Issue:

Six photographers and visual creatives were invited to each design a cover for the March 2023 Issue of Vogue Brasil. Although the photographers were all real, the models were not. This project aimed to open a conversation on fashion’s place in the digital world and legitimize AI, not as an alternative to traditional photography, but as an additional genre of it.

The covers were designed in an artificial intelligence program called Midjourney. This program generates images through text descriptions called “prompts.” Photographer Igi Lọ́la Ayedun writes that this project taught “how to transcribe our own ideas and imagery desires,” and that this prompt-based project was “the most difficult AI I've ever done.”

Levi’s Begins Testing AI-Generated Models:

The denim brand, Levi’s, announces they will supplement their human models with AI-generated ones later this year. This initiative is in collaboration with the Dutch digital fashion studio Lalaland.ai which apparently allows customers to see models “that look more like themselves.” This AI program claims to create “super-realistic models of every age, size, skin tone, and body type” and that this initiative offers a “more inclusive, personal, and sustainable shopping experience.”

Stradivarius AI Campaign

Colombia-based fashion brand, Stradivarius, launched their spring collection this week, not only using AI models, but also some AI clothing. As written on their website, these designs “are what our fashion would be if reality didn’t limit us.”

General Thoughts:

I have been a critic of artificial intelligence’s place in fashion since the very beginning. It comes as no surprise to anyone that the fashion industry has a long history of uniformity and exclusion that often overlooks racial minorities and plus size models. In recent years we saw a rise in diversity optics in the fashion industry, with one of the most public displays being Jacquemus Spring 2021 collection where the majority of models were people of color, but that did not reflect the actual design team of Jacquemus at all.

I fear that the rise of AI in fashion takes it once step further by, instead of only having (very minimal) representation in the modeling side of the industry, now replacing those career opportunities with models of color that aren’t even real.

With women only making up 26.7% of the tech workforce, and black women specifically making up only 1.7%, AI has already proven to show a great amount of racial and gender prejudices. This is a problem enough on its own, but to now present as a diverse and inclusive solution to the current exclusivity problem in the fashion industry is just like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. There are real, plausible, inclusive ways to make the fashion industry a more diverse place and none of it requires avatars to lead the revolution.

Telfar Introduces New Live Pricing Model :

Telfar, a black-owned luxury brand known for its contemporary pricing, is further proving that statement to be true with the announcement of a new live pricing model, “TELFAR LIVE”, for their March 27th drop at 12pm EST.

This pricing plan allows the value of each item to be determined by Telfar customers. All items will be listed at the wholesale price at the time of the drop at noon (this means that some starting prices are as low as $50 USD) and for every minute that passes before an item sells out, its price will increase by one dollar. Once the item sells out (or if it stays in-stock until it reaches the retail price), the end price will remain as the retail value indefinitely.

This pricing plan is a radical response to Telfar’s dominant force in the resell market. Telfar Clemens has always advocated for an accessible business model, but that has been targeted by bots and mass resellers in recent years. His iconic Telfar Shopping Bags have a retail price of $150, but have been listed as high as $600+ on the resell market. This, of course, defeats the purpose of having an accessible brand, so Clemens is passing the authority onto his audience to set the price that is most reasonable with them.

Vera Wang Becomes the First Fashion Designer to Receive the National Medal of Arts Award :

Vera Wang received the National Medal of Art Award from President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. This award is the highest medal honor given to artists in the United States and Vera Wang was the first fashion designer to ever receive it.

As someone who has dressed multiple First Ladies, was inducted to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame for her contribution to costume design, won the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, designed the uniforms for the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders, and has overall been an essential part of American fashion for the past 33 years, I’d say this honor is well deserved.

I am also thrilled to see fashion being recognized as an art form of its own at the national level. Historically fashion has been undervalued, even at the institutional level with the Costume Institute being the only Metropolitan Museum curatorial department that has to fund itself, which is largely rooted in the misogynistic history of the arts. Fashion is frequently reduced to a craft since it historically presents as a female-dominant interest, so the fact that the first time this award is recognizing fashion, it is also recognizing a Chinese-American woman is very exciting news!

EU Commission Releases Proposition to Cut Down on Greenwashing :

The European Commission has released a proposition for how companies market their sustainable businesses. This proposal requires companies to meet a set of standards in order to advertise themselves as an environmentally conscious brand. This initiative is to cut down on the widespread greenwashing problem in marketing.

The Proposal for a Directive on Green Claims targets businesses that “state or imply a positive environmental impact, lesser negative impact, no impact, or improvement overtime for their products, services, or organization.” The proposal requires green claims such as “made from 30% recycled plastic” or “committed to reducing carbon footprint” to be substantiated or else there will be “effective, proportionate, and dissuasive penalties.”

Although this proposition is not exclusive to the fashion industry, greenwashing has been a large problem in fashion for many years. Between persuasive marketing like referring to microplastic-shedding textiles as “vegan leather” or disguising garment-dumping as “clothing donations to the third world,” greenwashing is not only dishonest about their environmental impacts, but their humanitarian ones as well. There needs to be a set of standards present, so these brands can morally and legally be held accountable.

The Fashion Law breaks down this initiative even further in an article I will link here and below.

Fear Of God Announces First Fashion Show :

Fear of God’s creative director Jerry Lorenzo announced his first fashion show which will take place on April 19 at The Hollywood Bowl.

This iconic venue is not only important to music history, but fashion history as well. In 1993 Calvin Klein hosted a runway show fundraiser which raised $1 million for the AIDS project that included a performance from Tina Turner.

Although not much is yet known about Lorenzo's upcoming show, between the history of the Hollywood bowl and presenting off of the fashion week schedule, all eyes are currently on him.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the American luxury apparel brand and earlier this month Alfred Chang, PacSun’s co-chief officer, joined Fear of God’s team as chief executive officer. In February, the brand ventured into retail with a pop-up shop in Seoul, South Korea at the Hyundai Trade Center, so all of Lorenzo’s cards are lining up to have a successful fashion show debut.

Serhat Işık and Benjamin A. Huseby Leave Trussardi :

The GmBH Designers, Serhat Işık and Benjamin A. Huseby, leave Trussardi after only two years with the brand. This sadly comes as no surprise seeing that recently the entire board of directors and CEO, Sébastien Suhl, resigned amid €50 million debt. WWD states “It is understood the goal is to restructure Trussardi for a potential sale. Three parties have expressed an interest in the company, whose employees have been put in ‘cassa integrazione,’ a government-funded redundancy pay since February that is expected to extend until the end of April.”

First Look At H&M x Mugler :

The first look at H&M x Mugler was released on March 23 through a music video that features Manfred Mugler’s original muses Jerry Hall and Connie Flemming. The collection appears to have pieces similar to Casey Cadwallader’s current Mugler as well as some callbacks to Manfred’s archive.

I wrote about my feelings for H&M x Mugler extensively a few weeks ago in my essay When Capitalism Becomes Cosplay. I still hold the same feelings after finally seeing the collection, it is exactly what I was expecting, but now I am more interested in the rise in archival callbacks and how that effects the value of vintage pieces. I addressed this a bit in my JW Anderson review for London Fashion Week and have plans to discuss it even further in an upcoming essay, but to briefly summarize:

Since fashion is class performance and the fashion industry is widely dependent on exclusivity, there has been a drastic increase in the interest of archival pieces. Because of their age, there is an even more limited supply than the initial limited supply that is embedded in the luxury fashion model, which means an item’s value is directly linked to its rarity. However, since fashion is a business, it finds capital in the interest of vintage pieces therefore many brands have been bringing archival designs back into production (see: Jean Paul Gaultier Cyber Collection).

I’m curious to see how this will hold an overall effect on the value of archival pieces. Of course, there is still value in having “the original,” but since fashion is widely based on visuals, if the lack of visual-exclusivity leads to the the dwindling interest in archive fashion, the interest in re-editions will sink with it: an ouroboros.

W Magazine Announces Chinese Edition :

W Magazine is set to release a new fashion publication in China in partnership with MC Style Media, the publishing conglomerate that oversees Marie Claire China.

The publication will be led by chief executive Alex Sun and editor-at-large Mix Wei. The first edition of the magazine will be released in April and will subsequently adhere to a bi-monthly publishing schedule. W China will also have digital content on the social media platforms Instagram, Douyin, WeChat, Xiaohongshu (RED), and Weibo.

Beyoncé and Adidas Part Ways :

After five years in collaboration, Beyoncé’s activewear brand Ivy Park and Adidas have parted ways due to creative differences. However she is reportedly planning on reclaiming sole ownership of her brand to maintain full creative freedom.

Weekly Reads:

Is Viral Fashion Meant to Be Worn? by Laura Reilly, The Cut.

“Ive Been Suffering For Years.” Law Roach on the reasons behind his retirement from celebrity fashion by Lindsay Peoples, The Cut.

The Button-Pushing Impresario of Balenciaga: How Demna engineered the rise—and near-fall—of the luxury fashion house. by Lauren Collins, The New Yorker.

The New Requirement for Landing Media Coverage by Diana Pearl, The Business of Fashion.

EU Commission Releases Proposed New Rules to Cut Down on Greenwashing by The Fashion Law.

Anyway, here are my Fall 2023 London Fashion Week outtakes:

Day 1 : Friday, February 17th

Bora Aksu :

What makes one an outcast? Do they have a specific look or is their look just deviating from all other specific looks? Is that a specific look in and of itself? Bora Aksu answers this question in his Fall 2023 collection.

For him, inspiration came from two places. The first being that of the non-conformist artist, Edvard Munch. After visiting the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Aksu became enamored with the Norwegian painter’s rejection of criticism that allowed him to pioneer his unrefined art style. The second inspiration, and the one more explicitly seen in the collection, is the most popular eccentric character at the moment, Wednesday Addams.

Although I love this collection (I binge watched Wednesday with my sister in two days) and completely resonate with its inspiration (Eye in Eye is one of my favorite paintings), I think that is my very problem with it. In a culture that strives to be the other, we turn to those who already are for inspiration and rely on perfectly curated fashion lines (Heaven by Marc Jacobs) that promise us the appearance of this identity.

But the problem is, if everyone favors the subversion (which most of the time is just an illusion of it), subversion becomes a conformity of its own. This collection looks like many other popular designers at the moment (Simone Rocha, Sandy Liang, etc.) and that is completely fine, there’s a market for that, but we have to acknowledge that there is a market for that.

Di Petsa :

Inspired by her own Greek heritage, Dimitra Petsa’s Fall 2023 collection, Breaking and Healing, was influenced by the story of Persephone. As the myth goes, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, was abducted by Hades and forced to live in the underworld. Her mother, the goddess of harvest, caused a famine in the land after no one answered her pleas for help. Zeus eventually intercepted and forced Hades to return Persephone, but he tricked her into eating food from the underworld to keep her with him for half of every year.

Although Di Petsa has influence over the fashion seasons, Demeter influences the climatic ones. In the spring and summer, when Persephone is home, the earth rejoices and bears fruit. In the autumn and winter, when Persephone is forced to return to the underworld, the flowers wither and the crops die. Appropriately, Di Petsa collection mirrors this with the first series of looks being floral and berry tones (spring), then warm solar tones (summer), then blacks and reds (autumn/the underworld), finally frosty blues and metallics (winter).

In a story that focuses heavily on a mother’s love and loyalty, there is no better time for Di Petsa to expand her children’s and maternity line. Pregnant models walked the runway in several ensembles including Di Petsa’s signature wet look.

Overall this collection felt like such a warm and comforting celebration of womanhood. Di Petsa’s central theme was the darkness becomes light and I think she did just that. This collection gave Persephone a new voice by emphasizing more on her and her mother’s relationship and authority instead of the men who abused and failed them.

Huishan Zhang :

Much like his pre-fall collection inspired by Vertigo (1958), Zhang turns back to Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography for Fall 2023. In this collection, Huishan Zhang builds on the archetype of the femme fatale by redefining it in a 21st century feminist lens.

This collection is full of 1960’s glamour that takes style inspiration from some of Hitchcock’s most famous characters like the driving scarves worn by Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963).

While most cultural criticism positions it as a sexist trope, Zhang’s femme fatale centers women’s confidence and power instead of the stereotypical “pure evil seductress.” In addition to all the traditional noir gowns and sensual silhouettes, Zhang softens this image with lighter colors and bouffant feather details, giving the archetype a multi-dimensional identity.

Chopova Lowena :

Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena went off the runway for their Fall 2023 collection titled A Conversation with Angels. These cult-favorite designers further refined their utilitarian designs in a new and unexpected scenery: a 1970’s ski resort.

Their signature carabiner kilts are paired with insulated vests and body warmers. Several models wore blouses with milkmaid sleeves reminiscent of the traditional silhouettes of the Swiss alps. The styling of this collection felt very mismatched, which is not uncommon for Chopova Lowena, but with this specific theme it felt authentic to out-of-towners visiting a ski lodge and making due with their narrow perception of the region and the very limited cold-weather clothing they have.

In this collection we start to see an emerging pattern at London Fashion Week (and really this fashion season in general) which is contrasting lightness and darkness; both as visible colors, but also as what the colors represent. We see this with Bora Aksu’s contrast between gothic counterculturists and his signature light-feminine style, Di Petsa’s mantra the darkness becomes light and division of Persephone’s residence, Huishan Zhang and the new well-rounded femme fatale, and now Chopova Lowena with new cartoonish prints clashing with their traditional grunge aesthetic.

I think in the case of Chopova Lowena, it builds on the scenery of a ski resort and the constant comfort of lounging around in kiddish pajama sets knowing that you’ll never see any of these people again. But as a larger picture, I think this has to do with the industry’s current obsession and everyone’s favorite buzzword: Subverting.

I, myself, have a tab constantly opened to "subvert synonyms thesaurus.com" and yet I have already used it 4 times in this substack. Although countercultures and the act of deviating from fashion trends is nothing new, there is an apparent increase in its interest (and, in turn, its marketability). The most visible way to display this is through a transitional collection where your signature is met with its opposite force which is typically illustrated through the concept of dark vs. light.

Although I would say Chopova Lowena has clearer roots in countercultural identities than some of the other designers on this schedule, with the overexposure of these subcultures, even brands like Chopova Lowena are forced to reinvent themselves in an attempt to now subvert (5) those who are also suddenly subverting (6).

(I hope this short summary make sense for now, but I will try to expand on it more in an upcoming essay.)

Conner Ives :

We see another film inspired collection on day one of London Fashion Week with Conner Ives Fall 2023 collection, Magnolia. Titled after Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film of the same name, Magnolia is an ode to the character and trophy-wife Linda Partiridge played by Julianne Moore.

But more than just an homage to cinema, Ives reminisces on the era in which the movie came out, the era in which he fell in love with fashion.

“My collection titles aren’t ever informative of everything that you’re going to see, but you pick out little hints at the heart of it… I always want these collections to be a cross section of pop culture, of my subconscious, of topical things that we’re all thinking about, and it just felt like such a poignant depiction of that, and done in such a beautiful, artistic way.” - Conner Ives on Magnolia

This collection felt like a fun game of spot-the-difference for any fashion lover who grew up in the early 2000s. There were references to Nicolas Ghesquière’s Fall 2006 collection for Balenciaga, Pucci-like patterns, styling reminiscent of Kate Moss’s Glastonbury Festival outfits, and a playful nod to Elizabeth James’s wedding dress from The Parent Trap.

Day 2 : Saturday, February 18th

Chet Lo :

Chet Lo further refined his signature spiky knits for the Fall 2023 season. In this collection, Lo focused on creating a more mature look that highlighted his technical ability in fabric manipulation. His distinctive knitwear is seen rescaled and resized in an array of different tops, skirts, and dresses.

The show, titled Bioluminescence, takes on a more serious tone as well. In an interview with Vogue, Chet Lo stated that the collection’s title serves as a metaphor for him navigating through his depression diagnosis and deep sea creatures’ inherent ability to guide themselves through darkness. This is illustrated through a primarily black collection with accents of blue, red, and green peaking through the dark fabric.

This is my favorite Chet Lo collection so far. I thought the use of color was very intentional, not only in the meaning behind the show, but also how it worked within the fabric. To use color to peak through slits in a dress or as an ombré effect at within the spiky knits really enhanced the texture of the garments instead of color and texture working as two separate entities.

Matty Bovan :

For the Fall 2023 season, Matty Bovan delivers another whimsical maximalist collection titled Deep Space Nymphs. Described as “hardcore baroque sci-fi”, Bovan uses deadstock fabrics in a seemingly random assortment of colors, textures, and patterns to illustrate a future where humanity’s appearance is controlled through artificial intelligence.

Bovan presented off the runway this season by instead opting for an intimate presentation in a cherry-red bar which allowed the audience a closer look at the intricacies of his designs. While I initially imagined the mixed matched fabrics to be an illustration of the pattern recognition problem an AI art, Matty Bovan’s approach was one that was way more human.

“Hand drawn, hand touched, mistakes, these all contribute to my world of splendor and luxury, infused with the dirty, worn, and overdyed” - Matty Bovan on Deep Space Nymphs

As a multi-talented creative who, at the time, was running an immersive art installation at NOW Gallery, it comes as no surprise that this collection was entirely made by Bovan alone. I think this detail is important and adds weight to the appreciation of mistakes because every imperfection is an imperfection of his own.

David Koma :

David Koma drew inspiration from the legendary German-American actress, Marlene Dietrich, for his Fall 2023 show. In collaboration with Marlboro, Koma presents a sultry collection that takes inspiration from Dietrich’s signature androgynous style. Models walked the runway holding rhinestoned cigarettes while wearing deconstructed suits “fit for the modern woman.” I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I absolutely hated this.

A few years back I went to that terrible immersive Van Gogh exhibit and was shocked that the gift shop was selling shot glasses with The Starry Night on them. Never in my life had I seen art “appreciation” displayed with such a blatant disregard to the root of an artist’s struggle, but David Koma really superseded all of my expectations.

Marlene Dietrich’s smoking habit gave her advanced arteriosclerosis, partially crippled her, and led her to become dependent on alcohol and pain killers. To try to honor her by making her out to be a smoking siren in collaboration with the largest tobacco and cigarette company in the world not only shows zero respect to her humanity, but also proves the very very minimal research that went into this collection.

Marlene Dietrich is undeniably a fashion icon and Koma is no where near the first designer to be inspired by her (see: Westwood’s FW92 collection Always on Camera or Gaultier’s FW01 spiral mesh print), but he certainly had the worst execution.

Ambush :

Ambush’s creative director Yoon Ahn aimed to address the cultural lack-of-individuality problem in her Fall 2023 collection. Inspired by Japanese school uniforms and the signature style of the Kpop girl group New Jeans, Yoon finds ways to personalize uniforms through subtle details that are enough to stand out, but are still distinctively homogenous.

Personally speaking, I would wear almost everything in this collection, but I think there is a bit of irony in the attempt to deviate from uniformity. This is one of the biggest examples of the subversion problem that I’ve discussed in other overviews. In attempt to stand out from the rest, we have circled back to the masses because, well, that is what everyone else is doing too.

Parts of this collection look identical to Chet Lo’s spiked fabric, Miu Miu sets, Rick Owens’s boots, and Charles Jeffery Loverboy’s beanies.

We also see the return of manufactured personalization and the illusion of upcycling that I mentioned in the Simkhai Fall 2023 overview through the same “repurposed” suit co-ords.

Simone Rocha :

In an incredible comeback from the disappointment that was Spring 2023, Simone Rocha delivered a cohesive and distinctively on brand collection inspired by the Irish harvest festival, Lughnasadh

The theme of bounty and harvest was most present towards the end of the collection where models wore gowns made of and/or stuffed with hay.

Although this is Simone Rocha’s second collection to include menswear, I wouldn’t say the boundaries between them were very distinct. Similar metallic tweed sets and sailor collar suits were interplayed in both lines. I do enjoy the menswear, however, I don’t necessarily see a need to separate the two. Prior to the menswear era, Rocha still incorporated traditionally masculine elements into her light-feminine brand identity and the same can be said about the other.

One thing that I consistently appreciate in Simone Rocha presentations is not only her ability to influence trends through clothing, but also through the styling of hair and makeup. I think its fair to say that the rise in small ribbon accessories directly corresponds with the rise in popularity of both Simone Rocha and Sandy Liang, so it comes as no surprise that we see this detailing further developed through the makeup and hair of this collection.

Mowalola :

Mowalola Ogunlesi presented her second solo collection, Dark Web, this season at London Fashion Week. In this collection, she builds on her futuristic aesthetic by envisioning what people would wear at after the collapse of technocapitalism.

Mowalola is a brand that excels in androgynous fashion and we really see that stand out in this collection through her bottomwear. Denim skirts resembling that of sagging pants and other skirts seen with screen prints of denim jeans were present throughout the collection in addition to Mowalola’s signature miniskirts seen on models of all genders.

Like many apocalyptic movies, Mowalola places her setting in New York City. Models were seen wearing classic New York streetstyle with references to some of NYC’s most famous logos.

One of my brilliant mutuals, Michiko (@parisianysl), pointed out in a Twitter Space that this collection is like a movie in and of itself in that its interpretation of New York resembles that of Nollywood films. As a British-Nigerian designer, Mowalola wasn’t replicating New York City as much as she was interpreting it through the lens of Nigeria.

We can see this through Mowalola’s tongue-in-cheek references to iconic New York City logos such as the MoMA and the New York Yankees which she then interpolates into her own name (much like her signature walkman trucker hat).

Day 3 : Sunday, February 19th

JW Anderson :

After looking through the archives of the legendary Scottish choreographer, Michael Clark, for their Fall 2023 collaboration, Jonathan Anderson was inspired to look through his own. This inspired Anderson to make this collection a trip down memory lane; let's walk with him!

While designers referencing old collections is nothing new, I have grown increasingly interested and its rise in popularity. Whether it be the Prada re-edition bags or Jean Paul Gaultier bringing back the 1995 cyber collection, it seems as though there is just as many old things on the runway as there are new.

And I know everyone has heard that "fashion is cyclical" and “everything comes back every 20 years”, but this is really the first era where that refers to exact pieces instead of overall themes and styles.

This is obviously due to the rise in popularity of archive fashion, but I think it proposes a weird paradox. For the past few years, archive fashion has grown in desirability and the fashion industry clearly saw capital in it, hence all of the rise in references to past collections, but a large reason for that initial interest is its inaccessibility.

The industry thrives on exclusivity and the only thing more exclusive that an inaccessible brand’s designs are an inaccessible brand’s designs that are no longer made. So, although I love the references from a fashion history perspective, I can't help but wonder if the callbacks to old collections will eventually decrease the value of their archives.

Feben :

After making a tarot themed collection for Spring 2023, Feben focuses in on one single card for her fall collection, The Chariot. As an emerging fashion designer, having graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020, she uses the chariot as a symbol of confidence and strength in growing her brand.

In the collection titled Scales, Feben explores the strength in femininity by using artistic references to Salvador Dalí’s Gradiva and Lycra dresses displaying statues of the goddess Psyche. Feben also plays with traditionally feminine elements like sequins and beading to represent coats of armor.

Much like Dalí, Feben takes on a surrealist approach to design, so the Gradiva gowns paired nicely in this collection with her signature 3D textural pieces which also resemble coral and scales.

Talia Byre :

Inspired by Barbra Streisand’s portrayal of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, Talia Byre’s Fall 2023 collection — Sadie, Sadie — is an ode to female anti-heroes.

“The person I’m designing for is brash, greedy, selfish; all of what’s perceived as the worst traits to have, but what’s great about them is that they’re also strong and independent—it’s their way of saying a big ‘f— you’ to society.” - Talia Byre on Sadie, Sadie

I wanted to highlight this collection specifically because Byre references my personal favorite artist, Helen Frankenthaler, by using her 1957 painting Jacob’s Ladder, as inspiration for the collection’s color palette.

Frankenthaler herself can be considered an antihero of her time seeing that she was among the many female abstract expressionist forced to live in the shadows of their male counterparts, so it is quite lovely to see how antiheroes of the past evolve into heroine of the present.

Yuhan Wang :

The theme of heroinism (and the theme of light vs dark mentioned in previous overviews) returns in Yuhan Wang’s Fall 2023 collection titled The Women Who Came Back. In this collection, Yuhan Wang contrasts her style of traditional Chinese femininity with Uma Thurman’s character from Kill Bill (2003).

“Yuhan Wang elaborates on her exploration of womanhood to deliver a revisionist slant on female figures fortified by the male gaze... Looking at the film through a feminine lens, Wang observes that, ‘The Bride’s quest isn’t about taking her revenge, but rather restoring her true self – a warrior.’ As the film flows, Beatrix begins to rectify herself and her beauty, and interpreted by Wang, it translates into a disobedient Autumn/Winter collection celebrating women’s resilience, leadership, and activism.” - Teresa Sui, Hyper-Femininity, Strength and Fragility: Yuhan Wang autumn/winter 2023, L’Officiel Austria, Feb. 2023.

In attempt to deconstruct the male gaze, Wang references Beatrix Kiddo’s iconic yellow uniform and Gogo Yubari’s signature meteor Hammer, but supports them through the use of hyper feminine detailing such as lace, ribbons and chrysanthemums — a Chinese symbol of vitality and women’s resilience.

Day 4 : Monday, February 20th

Dilara Findikoglu :

Inspired by the powerful women leading the protests in Iran, Dilara Findikoglu’s Fall 2023 collection, Not a Man’s Territory, is all about bodily autonomy and female rage. Findikoglu aimed to destroy modesty on the catwalk and she did so with strength and passion.

With hair being a central symbol in the Iranian protests, many of Findikoglu’s designs include strands of hair repurposed into miniskirts and bralettes. This puts pressure on the concept of modesty seeing that hair, which is viewed as immodest by the Iranian Guidance Patrol, is actively being used to conceal the body.

The collection includes deconstructed feminine armor made of silver hair clips and Victorian knives. Although Findikoglu frequently finds inspiration in the Victorian era, in this collection it allows us to connect to the social history of the powerful women who came before us.

One of my mutuals on twitter made an excellent thread further breaking down this show that is worth sharing:

Burberry :

Burberry’s Fall 2023 collection marks quite a transition for the brand as it is both Daniel Lee’s return to the runway and a rebrand for one of Great Britain’s oldest luxury fashion houses.

Lee gave Burberry a much younger look for his debut collection. The signature nova check was not included in the collection, instead subtle tartans, that are typically seen within the linings of Burberry’s trench coats, were revisualized as outerwear.

Since Daniel Lee is the ex-creative director of Bottega Veneta, who is currently going through a Stealth Wealth rebrand of their own, I must wonder if the same can be said about the rebrand of Burberry.

The nova check has a long controversial history rooted in classism. Originally created to identify one’s pieces as luxury goods, it is no surprise that owning clothing with Burberry’s signature pattern became a fantasy for members of the British working class. The nova check was quickly reproduced by many accessible retailers and eventually became a staple in the wardrobes of proletarians.

In an attempt to re-separate themselves from “chav culture,” Burberry’s former creative director, Christopher Bailey, decrease the production of the nova check by 15%. Over the years, as the pattern fell out of favor, Burberry has steadily increased its production. That is until now — it appears the game of cat and mouse continues.

Day 5 : Tuesday, February 21st

Susan Fang :

Since Thom Browne’s The Little Prince inspired collection was my favorite show at New York Fashion Week, I was happy to see another designer take inspiration from a classic children’s book on the last day of London Fashion Week. Susan Fang’s Fall 2023 collection, Air Topia, is based on the 1986 storybook Ami, Child of the Stars by Enrique Barrios.

Much like The Little Prince, the story is about a young boy who goes on a mission to spread optimism after hearing extraterrestrials tell messages of hope.

“It might be written for kids, but the philosophy behind the book is clear: What unites us all is love, and since it is the law of the universe, we should all make an effort to love others and be loved in return.” - Susan Fang on Air Topia

Both children and adults walked the runway in light pastels, frilly tutus, and delicate embroidery. This collection felt like such a celebration of both girlhood and womanhood and, in the spirit of unity, how one stays with us in the next.

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(Milan Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week reviews to come)

This common sentiment fundamentally changed the way I reflect on collections of years past. I started taking runway analyses seriously during the 2020 Met Gala, About Time: Fashion and Duration, when my friends and I created an open-participation online event called the High Fashion Twitter Met Gala. For our book, Temporal Conflation: Time and Duration, we wanted to focus not only on how fashion evolves overtime, but also how it is cyclical and internally referencing, so it comes as no surprise that one of our initial sources of inspiration was Vivienne Westwood’s Spring/Summer 1994 collection, Café Society.

The British fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood, rose to popularity in the 1970s through her partnership with Malcolm McLaren who was widely known for managing the punk rock band known as the Sex Pistols and recruiting their frontman Johnny Rotten. In 1977 when the Sex Pistols’ album God Save the Queen went No.1 on the NME charts, Westwood, who at the time was their designer and stylist, was amplified as a prominent figure in the punk movement.

This authority stayed with her even after the disbandment of the Sex Pistols as she transitioned into a full-time fashion designer with her eponymous brand, Vivienne Westwood.

Westwood was commonly known for challenging authority and the expectations for women in the fashion industry; one popular way she did so was by taking the construction of historical garments and subverting, or rather parodying, them through a provocative punk lens. One of the first examples of this was in the 1980s when Westwood began designing a garment that is now synonymous with her brand: the mini-crini.

Inspired by the Victorian cage-crinoline, Vivienne Westwood’s ‘mini-crini’ takes two challenging ideas: restriction and liberation; both in the literal connotation of how the garment is constructed and in society’s interpretation of the woman who wears it.

“If the crinoline stands in for a mythology of restriction and encumbrance in women's dress, in the mini-crini that mythology is juxtaposed with an equally dubious mythology of liberation associated with the mini-skirt. In it two sets of ideas about female desirability are conflated: one about covering, the other about uncovering the female body… In terms of a sartorial mythology these garments evoke a combination of tyranny and moralism that is repugnant to twentieth-century views of both women and fashion. Westwood picks out garments such as the crinoline because they are anathematized, in the same way as bondage wear.” - Caroline Evans, Women & Fashion: A New Look, 1989.

As Vivienne Westwood’s popularity grew, so did her stage. These singular subversive garments became entire subversive presentations which is what led to the Spring/Summer 1994 collection known as Café Society.

Café Society is a retelling of European History and how it has shaped women’s dress. The central question of this show is: what does a woman free from restriction look like? Although this show is filled with historical fashion references, Westwood subverts them by placing it on a new canvas, a liberated woman.

As a challenger of authority in the fashion industry, it only make sense for Westwood to start at the very beginning. Café Society draws inspiration from the 19th century designer and founder of the first haute couture house, Charles Fredrick Worth. The Victorian era designer founded The House of Worth in 1858 and quickly became successful by designing one-of-a-kind wedding dresses, ballgowns, and other special event pieces for performers and members of high society.

Vivienne Westwood calls on elements of his design, such as his ivory tassels, and places it on a body that is free from restrictive garments like the Victorian bustle and bodice.

Westwood also references the portraits of the 17th century artist, Anthony Van Dyck. Café Society takes direction from the Baroque painter illustrating cues of social status in the wardrobes of his subjects. She then challenges these signals of authority by placing them on the people they were intended to separate themselves from. This is seen through Westwood’s famous court platforms, meant to resemble that of nobility’s, on the feet of women who are presumably prostitutes.

“Van Dyck's paintings are filled with such deliberate gestures and, more than one might suspect, they are the same fashion gestures that people use today to express status, taste and anti-fashion attitudes.” - Cathy Horyn, From Flemish Flourishes to Soho So What, The Washington Post, Nov. 1990.

Vivienne Westwood satirized the Napoleonic Era as well with a mixture of pastel colored bicornes, worn by the emperor and his generals, and men’s silhouettes from the Bourbon Restoration, the period following Napoleon’s first fall.

By making these to periods of fashion compatible with each other, Westwood illustrates how the history of war and power is driven by the same thing that drives the subjection of women — male egoism and patriarchy.

Westwood’s signature of conflating restriction and liberation returns with a much shorter version of her 1985 mini-crini (the micromini-crini, if you will) on a topless Kate Moss. This contrast is further highlighted by the presence of Elizabethan hair and makeup. The cosmetics are a contradiction in itself: not only is it the only historical reference that is inspired by a woman’s reign, but — since this style of makeup came with physical repercussions such as lead and mercury poisoning — it illustrates that, even during periods of female authority, there is still a looming pressure to comply to dangerous beauty standards to either attract men or separate themselves from other (poorer) women

Although the collection is completely filled with historical references, Vivienne Westwood gives it a level of fantasy by letting liberated women relive (and retell) it. This allows Café Society to transcend time by permitting modern women to insert themselves in the past, giving historic women a glimpse at the present, and allowing all of us to fantasize about a more freeing future.

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Vivienne Westwood | Spring/Summer 1994 | Runway Show | Café Society :

**This video is mislabeled, it is from 1994 not 1995, but this was the only video on YouTube that included all parts of the show :)

Day 1 : Friday, February 10th

Rodarte :

Kate and Laura Mulleavy started off this fashion season with Rodarte Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear. This collection highlights the contrast between black & white and silver & gold only to tie the divergences together with something unexpected, something magical: fairies.

The latter half of the show consisted of a series of caftans bordered with bright ruffled chiffon and adorned with whimsical portraits of fairies. Since talent seems to be a genetic trait in the Mulleavy family, it comes as no surprise that these fairies were drawn by none other than Kate and Laura’s mother. Using these opposites in design to find common ground on the world beyond reminds me of one of my favorite pop culture moments of all time: Alexa Demie and Nathan Fielder discussing the logistics of going into the fairy portal.

But on a more serious note, whether it be a representation of opposite political parties or other us vs. thems finding likeness in the joy of fantasy or just simply a sweet homage to childhood, Rodarte’s Fall 2023 collection acts as a much-needed breather from the stresses of being an adult.

To throw it back to the Mulleavys’ personal childhood, it’s only right to pay homage to the 1980s queen of whimsy herself, Siouxsie Sioux.

Models walked the runway wearing various makeup looks by James Kaliardos reminiscent of the lead singer, and titular member, of British post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees

My absolute favorite looks from Rodarte Fall 2023 have to be the series of mossy-looking knitwear and gowns adorn with bouquets of calla lilies that preceded the fairy caftans. This sequence of looks perfectly illustrates what I imagine that lush entrance to the fairy portal must look like.

Collina Strada :

Following the theme of fashion and fantasy, Collina Strada’s Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection, Please Don’t Eat My Friends, was the next show on the schedule. Inspired by the threat of an impending global recession, Hillary Taymour prioritizes sustainability and garment longevity in her company’s ethos. Although this collection is the “toned down” or timeless version of the brand’s identity (not necessarily by my definitions, but hey, to each their own), this was starkly juxtaposed by the presence of models in anthropomorphic prosthetics.

This isn’t the first time in fashion history where anthropomorphisms have been used to illustrate economic and societal turmoil. For the Spring/Summer 2010 season, Alexander McQueen used this exact concept to communicate the threat of the climate crisis in his final complete collection, Plato’s Atlantis. The vision of this collection was to predict what humans would have to evolve into to once the sea levels rise.

It’s both sentimental and incredibly concerning to see this symbolism return to the runway. From a fashion history standpoint, I love to see how these patterns form, but it’s very frustrating that, even 13 years later, we are still screaming the same messages into what is seemingly a void.

Thankfully for Collina Strada, these spectacles are not just façades. As partners of the OR Foundation, the brand is able to financially support the charity’s goal to “catalyze a justice-led circular textiles economy” through supporting communities like Accra, Ghana who become victims of colonialist practice known as garment-dumping.

To learn more about the OR Foundation, garment dumping, and how to donate: click HERE.

Simkhai :

Jonathan Simkhai, or as the rebrand suggest, just Simkhai, was another brand to present on the first day of New York Fashion Week. This is where we see the beginning the most ubiquitous commonality this fashion season: trendy timelessness

I find these three looks above specifically worthy of note because, they have echoes of a very specific type of garment repurposing that has been popular on Instagram and TikTok for the past few years. This style of up-cycling being, configuring second-hand men’s blazers into fashionable co-ords.

But if the objective of this is to make something new that looks like something old that’s been turned into something new, this alleged sustainably-conscious trend of timeless is only an illusion: nothing more, typically less.

Again… to learn more about the OR Foundation, the colonialist practice of garment dumping, and how to donate: click HERE.

3.1 Phillip Lim :

Phillip Lim presented his Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection through one-on-one showroom appointments. I’ve really grown fond of showrooms in recent months, partially because of what inspired my essay Breaking Fashion’s Fourth Wall: What is the Focal Point of a Fashion Show? and partially because it simply gives you a better opportunity to see the garments up close.

A subsequent pop-up gallery followed the collection’s debut in collaboration with Jiro Konami, a photographer known for their evocative photos of The City. According to Nicole Phelps,

“Lim gave Konami five pieces from his fall collection and told him to hit the streets. He’ll see the results for the first time when he shows up at his party this evening” - Nicole Phelps, 3.1 Phillip Lim Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Review, Vogue Runway, Feb. 2023.

I always love a good designer x photographer collaboration, but this one is especially interesting for two main reasons:

1. The idea that Lim limited the number of garments that Konami was able to photograph. I think it speaks to the versatility in Lim’s collection and, by extension, his confidence in it too. which is point two…

2. The fact that Lim trusted Konami enough with his designs that he was able to view the photographs at the same time as his audience because, that is ultimately what designing clothes is about; trusting your audience and customers enough to faithfully represent your brand once your clothes leave the store.

Prabal Gurung :

And so we return to the whimsical animal theme of NYFW Day 1. For Prabal Gurung Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear, it was butterflies.

Again, according to Nicole Phelps,

“Over the holidays [Gurung] did a 10-day silent retreat, during which time he didn’t talk to anyone, and wasn’t even supposed to make eye contact. But he did come face-to-face with a butterfly, and he found it a useful metaphor for finding beauty in impermanence.” - Nicole Phelps, Prabal Gurung Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Review, Vogue Runway, Feb. 2023.

I love the idea of highlighting the beauty of impermanence, especially as it ties to Hinduism and Gurung’s Nepalese roots.

The context of this show happening in New York City is also important, both due to the 339% rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes nationwide last year and one of Gurung’s previous collections, Who Gets to be American?, serving as inspiration for the two-part 2021/2022 Met Gala theme, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.

"This is all deeply personal to me. Though my roots lay with my family in Nepal, this country is my home. America is where my heart is. I am an American. As immigrants continue to birth this "new America," we must remember all versions of our history and take ownership of our past while forging a new legacy. Amidst the deep wounds that are severing the unity of our country, I continue to seek the America I came here to be a part of—the America that I know is still there. And so, with the Spring 2020 collection, we seek to celebrate hope, courage, and present an ode to the true American dream." - Prabal Gurung on Who Gets to be American?

So to see Gurung continue to showcase the depth and beauty of his Nepalese heritage while navigating as a South Asian-American immigrant in these unprecedented times, truly shows the importance of collectively embracing our cultural identities while trying to forge this new America.

Dion Lee :

For the last show of Day 1 of NYFW, we have Dion Lee’s Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection.

I think José Criales-Unzeuta best described this as “high-octane luxury rave wear.” Especially considering this was the luxurious high-octane environment that attracted everyone’s current favorite rapper and it-girl, Ice Spice, to make her NYFW debut.

Again we see the animal motifs one last time on Day 1 with a few snakeskin looks in the middle of the collection. Not only is the animal motif a reoccurring theme, but more specifically how it relates to our mortality; with Collina Strada and the consequences of an economic collapse, Prabal Gurung and the beauty of impermanence, and finally Dion Lee and the symbolism of shedding old skin (an anamorph, a metamorph, and a molting).

“It is not unusual for Lee to find inspiration in nature and merge it with his industrial designs (for spring 2023, he found convergence between monstera leaf patterns and classic motocross lines). He has a flair for materialization, but the laser focus on a single motif this season saw him test this potential to the fullest.

‘There is a parallel with identity and always changing and evolving as a person and designer,’ he said. ‘But, really, I think I’m focused on how plants and reptiles shed their skin, and that as a visual in itself.’ He translated the concept into rhombus-shaped eyelet belting¹, wide-gauge knits² and mixed-gauge mesh³, peeling rubber⁴, distressed ball chain applied over silk georgette dresses (a technical wonder)⁵, shaved shearling (a crowd favorite)⁶, and Japanese shibori dyeing (a personal favorite)⁷.” - José Criales-Unzeuta, Dion Lee Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Review, Vogue Runway, Feb. 2023

I think I am among the masses in that my favorite part of the show was the outerwear. But with the combination of snake skin, ripped denim, and pantsless-looking high-boot combo, its safe to say that the 20-year trend cycle is getting shorter and shorter.

Day 2 : Saturday, February 11th

PH5 :

We start off the second day of New York Fashion Week with a discussion of inconspicuous consumption and ocean pollution led by PH5. In their Fall/Winter 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection, This is Not a Jellyfish, the brand highlighted the impact marine debris has on the ocean’s ecology through a claustrophobic and suffocating thalassic-themed presentation.

Much like the sea-life in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and other disturbed aquatic ecosystems, both the models and their clothing were constricted by fishing nets and scraps of plastic. This waste was all recycled by the design duo, Wei Lin and Zoe Champion, and is intended to be recycled again. On a post shared to Instagram, PH5 showed crocheted handbags made from the plastic used in their presentation that will come as a gift free-with-purchase.

Sandy Liang :

What is seemingly everyone’s favorite brand and the moment, Sandy Liang, was the next show on day two of New York Fashion Week. This collection is unapologetically feminine, Rian Phin described it best as “a reclamation of girlhood” and “aspirational because of the kind of girl that wears it.” Sandy Liang is one of the best designers to look to for creating a dynamic brand identity in the era of micro-individuality. Liang doesn’t just design clothing, but rather creates an entire identity for her audience: the cool girl at the office, the mysterious girl on the subway, the girl who just “threw this outfit together.”

Parts of this collection look like a 2023 reinterpretation of kinderwhore. The style (popularized by Hole’s Courtney Love, Babes in Toyland’s Kat Bjelland, and other 90’s Riot Grrrls) aimed to challenge the view of femininity in the grunge scene by simultaneously exaggerating it and corrupting it.

“[Kinderwhore takes] the most constraining parts of the feminine, good-girl aesthetic, inflating them to a cartoon level, and subverts them to kill ingrained insecurities.” - Mish Barber-Way of White Lung

Although its name is very vulgar (which is ultimately the point) this style is about taking the hyper-idealized view of womanhood and contrasting it with an ironic provocation — another example of built-in identity in design.

Proenza Schouler :

Although fashion week officially started on Friday, tradition states that it doesn’t officially start until Chloë Sevigny arrives.

Sevigny opened for the show that marks the 10th anniversary of Proenza Schouler (Fall/Winter 2013). This collection felt very mature, like Hernandez and McCollough were catering to the audience that grew with them in the decade since the brand’s creation.

It addition to fashion, my other primary passion is literature, so I was thrilled to hear that this collection was in partial collaboration with the contemporary novelist Ottessa Moshfegh. The author, known for her complex female characters, was asked to write 11 journal entries about a woman who is learning about herself by exploring her inner monologue. These journal entries range from incredibly mundane to incredibly profound, some very personal and some more vague, which all highlights the theme of the show: a woman told 40 different ways (through 40 different looks).

Area :

Another commentary on mortality returned on Day 2 of New York Fashion Week, this time with Area Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear. Piotrek Panszczyk used fruit as a symbol to communicate both new beginnings and final ends through its growth and decay. The collection started off with brightly colored looks with motifs of bananas and watermelon. But as the looks progressed, the fruit blackened and grew spores.

Panszyczyk frequently references Madame Grès’s draping through his beaded work, but in this collection he pays homage to the iconic yellow dresses synonymous with the French couturier :

“I always look at [her] through all our work, but we always translate [the inspiration] into rigid crystals. This season, we really started going back to fabric, going back to basics.” - Piotrek Panszczyk from Area Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear review on Vogue Runway

Anna Sui :

Here it is everybody, the show that led to the creation of my Substack (see: Breaking Fashion’s Fourth Wall). Although I had much to say about the way this show was handled on social media, I also want to take time and let the collection speak for itself.

Inspired by the flamboyance and intimacy of the historic Peppermint Lounge, Anna Sui’s Fall 2023 collection is a modern take on the 1960s discothèque. Comprised of shift dresses, silk laced-trimmed miniskirts, and gogo boots, Sui wanted a collection that was playful and “easy to dance in.”

In addition to this collections references to the history of New York City night-life, there was also a lot of internal referencing to the brands own history. Models are seen wearing accessories reminiscent to Anna Sui’s Spring 1993 and Fall 1998 Ready-to-Wear collections.

Not only is this collection perfect for the venue, but Sui also throws in a view looks for the cold walks back home.

Heron Preston :

Heron Preston appeared on the New York Fashion Week schedule for the first time with his Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection. Inspired by the real people in the city, the stylization of Preston’s collection feels both incredibly familiar and unique.

The styling of this collection felt very authentic. As a Houston native (and I’m sure as everyone else who lives in a big city), it’s clearly evident that Heron Preston is a designer who watches what people are wearing on the street.

With the constant talk about the return of indie sleaze, I can’t help but imagine that this is what it might look like in the context of 2023. The collection was very wearable (and for the most part universal) with wardrobe staples like athletic shorts, sweatpants, and hoodies, but was elevated with unique accessories like chainmail detailing, fur boots, and leather chokers that look like barbed wire.

Sergio Hudson :

Inspired by the wardrobes of Fran Fine and Hilary Banks as well at the upcoming 2023 Met Gala theme Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, Sergio Hudson’s Fall 2023 collection is an ode to the 90s.

Drawing inspiration from the designers who ruled that era, this collection has echoes of 90s Chanel, Versace Spring/Summer 2021 (which in itself is an ode to Versace Spring/Summer 1992), and Vivienne Westwood Fall/Winter 1993.

As someone who grew up watching both The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Nanny, I will always feel a sense of nostalgia for this era of fashion, however, in the case of this collection, I feel like it is a bit too committed to reflecting those specific designs and it comes across more as a costume than an ode.

(Unless this is a super meta way of also referencing Moschino, another Fran Fine favorite, and their history of parodying brands then maybe I’ll walk with him.)

Day 3 : Sunday, February 12th

Puppets & Puppets :

Puppets & Puppets Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection was inspired by David Cronenberg’s 1998 film, Dead Ringers; a psychological thriller about deception, manipulation, and two twin brothers living double lives.

This collection reminds me quite a bit of Undercover’s Fall 2019 collaboration with Valentino inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971). Both shows highlight the color red and rosebuds and its association to the wardrobes of the movies’ villains & use prints of depictions of forced operations.

Obviously in Undercover’s collection, the prints came from the scene in A Clockwork Orange where Alex was submitted to the aversion therapy known as the “Ludovico Technique", but in the case of Puppets & Puppets, the prints depicted the painting by Gaspare Traversi called The Operation (1753).

Vivienne Tam :

Vivienne Tam’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, Weaving into the Metaverse, is “inspired by the futuristic utopian vision of a new Hong Kong.” This collection is a phygital (I still hate that word) or possibly this time a digtysical (that’s even worse) display of tech x fashion where garments are seen with prints of various NFTs.

I can go on for hours about my resistance of Web3/Metaverse/NFTs and their position in art, but sadly I think this has become a new reality. For my own sanity I choose to look at the collection as a critique on techno-Orientalism and a display on the financial insecurity of blockchain since Tam is seemingly profiting on NFTs she does not own. You go Vivienne Tam !!!

Day 4 : Monday, February 13th

Palomo Spain :

Palomo Spain’s Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection, The Closet, is an exploration of queerness and gender expression. Building on the double entendre of “the closet”, this collection is also a playful reflection on childhood and the initial joys of fashion before being introduced to any societal gender roles and binaries.

A lot of these looks appear oversized, perfectly illustrating the way children look when playing dress-up in their parents closet. The final look of the collection even appears to resemble bed linens, like a child experimenting with draping.

Coach :

What happens when uptown kids go downtown? That was the initial question that prompted Coach’s Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear show. This collection had the fashion-forward thinking of downtown paired with the timelessness of uptown.

I appreciate this interpretation of trendy timelessness more than others this season (see: Simkhai review) since it actually promotes garment longevity and a circular textile economy. After Coach was accused of destroying unsold bags, they have since taken accountability and committed to more sustainable business practices. Several looks in this collection were patchwork pieces made of scrap leather.

Elena Velez :

Elena Velez’s Fall 2023 collection, How’s My Driving, was an homage to women of forgotten populations. Highlighting the fashion of trucker culture, lot lizards, and the women of the American Heartland, Velez focuses in on the areas of femininity that are often deemed invaluable to the upper class.

This collection explored the depth female rage and the feeling of being overlooked. Velez takes this to a generational level by reflecting on the history of American dress and how it is rooted in blue-collar workers.

Recently I wrote a rather critical essay on the optics of high fashion brands “drawing inspiration” from the American middle class (see: When Capitalism Becomes Cosplay), but in the instance of Elena Velez, who comes from a working class family in Milwaukee, this collection felt authentic and non-pandering

Day 5 : Tuesday, February, 14th

Thom Browne :

“All grown-ups were once children… but few of them remember it.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

This truism from was the central theme of Thom Browne’s Fall 2023 collection. Like I said for Proenza Schouler’s show, the two loves of my life are fashion and literature and, like many, I owe a large majority of that to The Little Prince. Thom Browne’s show started with two models, representing the pilot and the prince, walking out onto a set with a plane crashed into a sandy field.

The pair were then preceded by a series of planetary gowns, representing all the worlds the little prince had travelled through before he met the pilot.

These looks were then followed by models carrying classic Thom Browne bags, including the Hector Browne bag, detailed with clocks counting down the time in 30-minute increments. The motif of the clock was to represent the inevitable passage of time and the monotony of adult life

Thom Browne, known for drawing inspiration from the fantasy and folklore of childhood, was drawn to The Little Prince’s message of children seeing more to life than adults. This allowed him to transition between traditional and conceptual tailoring by shifting between the child and the adult’s eye.

As far was this New York Fashion Week goes, this was by far my favorite show. The set and performance were so beautiful (and the clothes were too, of course). I definitely recommend watching it in full if you have the chance.

Thom Browne Fall/Winter 2023 Show :

Day 6 : Wednesday, February 15th

Michael Kors :

Michael Kors Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear paid homage to the women who shaped fashion in the late 60’s-70’s, one of whom being in attendance herself, Gloria Steinem. This collection felt like quintessential Patti Smith’s Just Kids New York City. The collection had very obvious references to the time — the fringe, the hot pants, the bell bottoms, the micro minis — but none of it came across as outdated.

Although sequins are sort of a staple for Michael Kors, the way that it was presented in this collection reminded me of the legendary 1970s fashion designer, Halston.

Overall this collection was a very tasteful ode to the 1970s. I often feel like inspired by [insert decade here] collections come across as costumey, but this everything in Michael Kors Fall 2023 looked very wearable, well-tailored, and suitable for the times.

Wiederhoeft :

I am ashamed to say that the Fall 2023 season was the first time I was put onto Wiederhoeft, but thank god I finally caught up. Their Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection was a “post-gender retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice” where the fate of Eurydice is determined by themself; in which they choose to live in the underworld. I think this show is worthy of watching in full so I’ll have it linked below.

The show starts with a wedding gown fit for the bride, Eurydice, and follows with three bridesmaids, or rather the fates, who (as the name suggests) allow Eurydice to determine their own fate by cutting the red string.

The show preceded with a story of self discovery, style evolution, and gender euphoria.

By far the most memorable part of the collection were the incredible corsets. Since we are in an of era rumors about streaming services and production studios banning the use of the support garment, it was nice to see the art of corsetry re-embraced and directly linked to a tale of personal choice and bodily autonomy.

Wiederhoeft Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Show :

Who Decides War :

Who Decides War’s Fall 2023 Menswear collection, Politics as Usual, was named after Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt song of the same name. Appropriately timed in the age of constant nepotism and buy-outs, this collection was a conversation of politics and access in the fashion industry.

Ev Bravado and Tèla D’Amore’s signature stain glass motif was beautifully, and aptly, presented in this collection seeing that the show took place in the same Gothic-revival synagogue that Alexander McQueen held his Fall/Winter 1996 show, Dante. The collection was in partial collaboration with the Italian outwear brand, add, which merged the practicality of their brand and the artistry and design of WDW.

As the show’s title suggests, Who Decides War’s collection paid homage to the styles of NYC artists: puffer jackets reminiscent of the late Biggie Smalls paired with the Adidas Superstar popularized by Run-DMC.

(London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week, and Paris Fashion Week overviews coming ASAP)

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In the early 2000s, luxury brands such as Oscar de la Renta and Isaac Mizrahi began producing clothing lines at department stores such as Dillard’s and Burdines, respectively. In fact, H&M was among the first retailers to jump on this trend in their 2004 collaboration with, at the time, Chanel’s creative director Karl Lagerfeld. As this marketing strategy made headway, there were growing concerns with how these once elite and exclusive brand names would look sewn into blue-collars.

“At one time, designer slumming was inconceivable. The point of the fashion enterprise was to create a symbiotic aura of aristocracy and exclusivity between couturier and client, so that both could look down on the (poorly dressed) hoi polloi.” - Mimi Schwartz, Cheap or Chic: The new lines by Isaac Mizrahi and Oscar de la Renta are inexpensive, but how do they look?, Slate Magazine, Dec. 2004.

However, when the news about H&M x Mugler made its rounds, the court of public opinion simply nodded their heads, muttered “makes sense,” and kept moving forward.

Some might chalk this up to personal grievances with how Casey Cadwallader is handling his position as the creative director of Mugler. However I, with Cadwallader grievances of my own and an innate ability of reading too far into things, see this as just another piece in a sociopolitical puzzle looming in the fashion zeitgeist.

As a generation of digital natives relying on an algorithm to perfectly curate our personal styles, we have to adapt to its own unique language. This often comes at the price of shoving ambiguous ideas into much smaller boxes. One popular way of doing so is by tagging on the internet colloquialisms “aesthetic” and “-core” to the end of our Pinterest search bar to indicate that we are, in fact, demanding a perfectly wrapped artistic selection of style inspiration. However, by doing this, said styles are completely stripped of their individual contexts and shoehorned into those more digitally desirable.

One of the front runners of this form of keyword searching is the aspirational trend known as the “old money aesthetic.” This style, heavily coded by the wardrobes of 1960s jet-setters and Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf, allows the opportunity to dress as though we have a vacation house in The Hamptons without committing to the tax bracket that comes with it.

However, the internet was quick to call out the visual inconsistencies between this aesthetic and the real wardrobes of modern aristocracy. This, of course, is because of that precious context excluded from Pinterest vision boards.

One of the largest influences on the old money aesthetic comes from the portfolio of American photographer, Slim Aarons. Known for his candid photographs of the daily lives of high society, Aarons’s camera lens acted as a fly-on-the-wall in the resort hotels and vacation homes of the world’s most famous socialites. What cements his legacy as one of history’s greatest photographers was his ability to show the working class a crack in a very, very narrow door. However Aarons’s portfolio can only act as a time capsule of this aristocratic aesthetic because in the 1980’s, when the esteemed photographer retired, that narrow door was then sealed shut.

So for more modern examples of this aesthetic, we must turn on our televisions. For as long as I’ve been engaged in internet fashion discourse, one name consistently remains as part of the discussion: Blair Waldorf. This main character from the 2007 teen drama, Gossip Girl, lives eternally in High Fashion Twitter moodboards and, for many 20-something year olds, served as the initial interest in the world of fashion.

This means our options for dressing liked the “old money” are slim (pun intended). One must wear clothes that are 50 years out-of-date or dress up like a character on TV, however, both are merely costumes.

And while a select few are masquerading as the upper crest, another group of the working class are actively trying to hunt them down.

With the constant threat of an impending recession, the general tolerance for opulent displays of wealth are becoming lower and lower, thus ushering in recession-core or, as Roisin Lanigan puts it, revolutioncore.

“As many have pointed out in online coverage of so-called recessioncore, there’s no authenticity to this as a fashion trend. It’s simply ‘an opportunity for celebrities to cosplay being poor’. The term is obviously catchy enough for us to project our economic and sartorial worries onto; under the hashtag ‘recessioncore’, TikTok creators are using it to talk about the decline of post-pandemic ‘dopamine dressing’, logomania and the un-ostentatious displays of wealth through fashion — but it’s ultimately a misnomer. Recession doesn’t come for the uber-rich and famous the same way it comes for us normals, but by pretending it does, they can try to save some face during the looming collapse. So we don’t eat them. Or at least cancel them.” - Roisin Lanigan, It's not recessioncore, it's revolutioncore, i-D, Feb. 2023.

We see this witch hunt in real-time as the internet turns their back on some of their most beloved influencers who have gained upward mobility in the fashion industry. This is demonstrated in the Instagram comments of content creators like Emma Chamberlain and Ashley Rous, better known as bestdressed. The truth of the matter is, this resentment doesn’t even have to come from a direct display of wealth, but, since social capital is its own form of currency, a mere association with it will suffice.

So if proximity to the fashion industry is enough of an excuse for persecution, what does that mean for the fashion industry itself? More costumes, of course.

For Prada’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection, Taking Care, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons drew inspiration from the uniforms of nurses, the military, and the working woman. As the show’s title suggests, this collection is a way of honoring those who “take care” of our society - members of the working class.

But how much of an honor is it to replicate the uniform of those who cannot afford to wear your clothes? and if the target demographic isn’t the people you are parroting, it must be someone.

Which brings us to the era of inconspicuous wealth or, as Matthieu Blazy defines it, Stealth Wealth, with his new technique of disguising leather as other textiles acting as a literal example of something pretending to be something else it is not.

“‘Viewing clothing as a dialogue between maker and wearer rather than a spectacle to be beheld by the public, Blazy’s Bottega (the newNew Bottega, if you will) taps into the more private pleasure of “quiet power”,’ according to the press notes. Some of Blazy’s most impressive creations for Bottega Veneta are the most innocuous-looking. Embodying the notion of stealth wealth, the opening look appears at first glance to be a simple pair of dark low-rise blue jeans teamed with a white tank top. However, bestow it with a second look and you’ll see that both the jeans and tank are crafted from leather, a key element of Bottega Veneta’s heritage.” - Theo Rosen, Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta FW22 Collection Puts Forward A Unique Take On Stealth Wealth, Albert Review, Mar. 2022.

Some (Demna Gvasalia) people take it to new extremes by financially exploiting the appearance of extreme poverty. Balenciaga, a brand that continues to be adored by celebrities despite its recent controversies, is the loudest voice in a movement that can only be bluntly defined as poor-core.

Poor-core, otherwise known as “homeless chic”, exists not in necessity, but in its ability to be nonexistent. In other words, it exist because it can. It exists because of the upper-class’s obsession with self-actualization and justifying (or apologizing) for their wealth, so they pay a hefty price for their assets to look like yours.

“Homeless people, totally without a safety net, are living at the very bottom of that pyramid. People who live at the very top, in the heady realm of ‘self-actualization,’ can only see the homeless through their own extremely privileged lens. It’s a phenomenon akin to cultural appropriation.” - Leeann Duggan, Why Fashion Needs To Quit It With “Homeless Chic”, Refinery29, Jan. 2015.

While these designers play defense, others rely on hanging their universally recognizable logos and motifs on the affordable racks of H&M. This is a last ditch effort to blur the lines between us and them and, since the fashion industry is always multiple seasons ahead of the general public, they have been doing so long before there was talk about a global recession. But of course they knew it was coming, because they are partially responsible.

So, again, this H&M x Mugler collaboration really comes as no surprise. Because, in this economic crumble, the only way for the working class to thrive and for high society to survive is to become reflections of each other.

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To start off this series of runway analyses, it’s only right to begin with my personal favorite show, Alexander McQueen’s 2001 Spring/Summer collection, Voss.

To understand the importance of this show, we have to discuss the history of Lee McQueen and what led up to this point. Voss took place during an incredibly pivotal era of McQueen’s life and career. At the time, he was departing from his position as chief designer at Givenchy. Both he and the company had polarizing views on the boundaries of fashion. Historically Givenchy kept a very classic and timeless brand image popularized by the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Suzy Parker, and Dorian Leigh.

McQueen, however, liked to test the limits of Givenchy’s identity. Most famously during the 1997 Autumn/Winter Couture collection, Eclect Dissect, where he made an exact replica of Hubert de Givenchy’s gown for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. While this was initially thought to be the closing bridal gown, it was only the collection’s penultimate look. To close the show, Jodie Kidd walked down the runway in the exact same dress in black, adorned with an important motif of McQueen’s, taxidermy birds.

At the time, changing the traditional bridal look at a couture show was incredibly taboo. Hubert de Givenchy himself described McQueen’s era at the brand as “a total disaster.”

McQueen started his namesake label, Alexander McQueen, in 1992 which allowed him an outlet for the creative expression that was limited during his tenure. During his last few contentious seasons at Givenchy, Lee McQueen went from working as head designer for a major fashion brand with a large atelier, to spending most of his time designing alone. This solitude took a toll on both his mental and physical health. With all eyes on him now designing under his own name, he felt pressured into drastically changing his appearance.

After losing a significant amount of weight and various cosmetic procedures, McQueen expressed that he was no longer a person he recognized. He compromised his health, appearance, and well-being for the industry that ridiculed him. All of this pain and anger is what led to the birth of Voss.

Voss is comprised of two main themes, mental suffering and nature, more specifically, the beauty of nature when it is left untouched. The collection’s title “Voss” comes from the name of a Norwegian town known for its natural scenery and wildlife— both of which can be seen within the designs of this collection.

The runway for Voss took place inside of a box with padded walls and was enclosed by a two-way mirror on all sides. While this set is commonly understood to resemble a psychiatric hospital, one alternative perspective comes from Frank Darabont’s film The Green Mile (1999), which tells the story of inmates living on death row, adding an additional layer of confinement and nihilism to the show.

The audience’s chairs faced towards the box on all directions. Prior to the show, with the house lights on, the guests could not see beyond the glass. The attendees were forced to sit and face their reflections for nearly an hour. McQueen sat in the wings and watched as the crowd became visibly uncomfortable through a monitor. He stated that this stunt “was a great thing to do in the fashion industry — turn it back on them.”

When the show finally started, the two-way mirror switched. Allowing the audience to see into the box, but the models could not see out. This detail of the show is two-fold. The more obvious side being the set before the show began, forcing the audience to experience the voyeuristic torture that they put McQueen through, but the inability to see outside the box serves a unique perspective of its own. The models wearing McQueen’s designs — an extension of the designer himself — are stripped of their visibility. This illustrates McQueen’s beliefs of existing only for the industry while receiving nothing from them in return.

Kate Moss opened the show in a sandy-colored gown swathed in feathered chiffon. The model meandered around the box, pressing up against the glass, displaying a sense of agitation to add to the claustrophobic feel of the set. Moss was one of the many models whose head was wrapped in medical bandages, resembling that of a lobotomy patient.

This stylistic choice is often assumed to be a nod to Baron de Meyer’s 1927 editorial for Elizabeth Arden. De Meyer became the first official fashion photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair in 1913, but he abruptly ended his position to work for Condé Nast’s rival Harper’s Bazaar. Evidently this sudden career shift parallels that of McQueen’s, both of whom left established fashion conglomerates to work for a rival company that allotted more creative liberty.

McQueen’s reoccurring taxidermy bird motif made its way onto Look 24, modeled by Jade Parfitt. The ensemble consisted of a floor-length skirt made of bird feathers and a headdress adorned by three stuffed hawks. The birds appear to be ripping the models blouse and bandages while the skirt remains untouched. This is another example of McQueen “turning it back” on the industry. Only the elements of the look that are manmade are being destroyed, while the natural remains unscathed. This directly opposes the pressure McQueen faced from his contemporaries to change his natural appearance and turn to cosmetic surgery.

Look 33 is perhaps the perfect antithesis to Look 24. Erin O’Connor is seen wearing a dress made entirely of razor clamshells. McQueen instructed O’Connor to step onto the runway and immediately start ripping the shells from her dress. Consequently O’Connor sustained injuries during this performance with the serrated edges of the shells leaving cuts across her hands. This entire performance was one of the most memorable parts of the collection as well as the most blatant display of the mistreatment McQueen endured — a person being forced to strip themself of the very thing they are made of for no other reason than being instructed to do so.

Going along with the setting of a mental ward, McQueen drew inspiration from recreational room activities commonly found in psychiatric hospitals. Various ensembles are seen adorned with accessories made of puzzles of Bavarian castles and decks of cards. This unique repurposing of common room games can speak to the length of time the models, and McQueen himself, have been left in this captivity. Gradually their intended function becomes a bore, so to occupy their time they quite literally had to fashion the games into something new.

In addition to Norway, Voss was also heavily inspired by elements of Japanese design. Look 65, modeled by Karen Elson, consists of a dress made from a repurposed antique Japanese silk screen sourced by McQueen himself. The intricate embroidery of flowers and birds were carefully removed from the silk panels and transferred to the dress without being reshaped in any way. The original craftsmanship of the embroidery was preserved thus serving as another example of the conservation of beauty.

Erin O’Connor returned to the runway for the closing look of the collection. The design consisted of a skirt made from ostrich feathers dyed red and black and a bodice made from hand painted microscope slides. These slides were used to represent blood and the inside of the human body; one final design to tie in the theme of the natural state of beauty.

As the models exited the runway, the sound of a beating heart played throughout the venue. As the heartbeat flatlined, a box in the center of the glass encasement shattered. Live moths rushed out of the box, revealing Michelle Olley, a writer and plus-sized model, as the centerpiece of the runway. Olley, laying elegantly on her side wearing a winged mask connected to a breathing apparatus, displayed a live recreation of Joel-Peter Witkin’s photograph Sanitarium (1983). This performance, both eerie and graceful, concluded Voss and left the audience with a final question:

What is the true nature of beauty?

Alexander McQueen | Women's Spring/Summer 2001 | Runway Show | Voss :

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but most of all, why does any of this matter?

Over the past three years, as the fashion industry worked to maintain its relevancy both during the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, there has been a growing interest in the audiences of fashion shows. Perhaps its a desire to be among the few whose social capital made them immune to lockdown protocol, the growing accessibility of runway livestreams, or good old-fashioned stan culture. Regardless of what prompted it, as the majority of people invested in fashion week switches from those physically in attendance to those tuning in via Instagram Live, the focal point of the show is forced to adjust with it.

Livestreams introduce an entirely unique approach to fashion. Prior to the age of live social technology, viewing a fashion show meant sitting in the physical audience or catching the photos an hour later on Vogue Runway. In both scenarios, the perspective shown is one that is entirely human, either from your own perception or an individual cameraman’s. However now in the era of the livestream, we are digitally handed an omniscient eye that not only sees the runway in real time, but also everyone in attendance. The discussion is no longer between the show’s attendees and the runway but now, with this electronic panopticon, the conversation is split between those in front of the screen and those behind it, ultimately leading to physical audiences being grafted into the show itself.

This can be explicitly seen during Mugler’s Fall 2022 Ready-to-Wear collection where celebrities on the runway were directed to interact with other celebrities in the audience. The Showtime talk show host, Ziwe, walked the runway while holding a call-and-response with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills veteran, Lisa Rinna, who was seated in the audience. Arca also walked for the show and briefly stopped to fight with JT from the City Girls over one of Mugler’s spiral curve handbags.

However one of the more subliminal ways the adoption of the audience is demonstrated is through the growing amount of celebrities and influencers who attend fashion shows wearing designs that are a mere few minutes away from debuting on the runway.

In fact, this marketing strategy entirely changes the idea of what it means to “debut on the runway.” Since many of these designs are captured by photographers before the show starts or even voluntarily posted to Instagram by the celebrities themselves, there is nothing really to debut on the physical catwalk. Instead “the runway” becomes a much more ambiguous concept consisting of the brand, the audience, and their collective social media presence.

An audience member’s ensemble doesn’t even have to appear the way it looks on the runway in order to be grafted in as part of the show. This phenomenon has recently been demonstrated through Doja Cat’s attendance at Paris Couture Fashion Week.

Although these looks are directly from the runway, they deviate from the overall theme of the show. This is not inherently bad, in actuality in adds an entirely new dimension to fashion presentation. Fashion shows are now able to simultaneously exist through a carefully curated collection of designs while also deviating from itself through the presence of celebrities with their own unique brand identity. This sort of Schrödinger’s catwalk allows the collection to exist in a vacuum while also taking credit for the creative liberty of the show’s attendees.

But what happens when we open that box?

As the omniscient eye in this newly emerging cyberspace that is still working out its rules and regulations, we as the digital observers currently hold the power to decide what is grafted into the shows and what is excluded entirely. This power is wielded through our collective interactions and commentary that pushes certain elements of the show to the top of the algorithm.

For Prada’s Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection, the point of interest that dominated the news cycle came from TikTok fashion influencer, Madeleine White. Before attending the show, White posted a get-ready-with-me video where she cuts up a jumper from Prada’s previous Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection. Although this style of garment repurposing is a common theme on her page, the responses she received for this specific look were polarizing.

One side of the argument sees it as a disrespectful or rather tacky stunt to haphazardly chop up the clothes of the designer whose show you are attending; the other side sees it clearly as a marketing strategy carefully organized between the brand and influencer.

but, again I ask, why does any of this matter?

We’ve grown so accustom to our all-seeing eye, to the point where the main focus of a fashion show doesn’t even have to consider the content of the collection being presented. At what point do we draw a line in the sand and reinstate the boundaries between the runway and its audience?

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