Some of the most established names in the New York Fashion Week circuit are leaving the city. After presenting its Spring/Summer 2020 show in a subway station, Tom Ford is now opting to present its next collection in Los Angeles two days before the Academy Awards. And Jeremy Scott (who similarly showed a Pre-Fall 2020 collection in a subway, albeit for Moschino) will be presenting his namesake line in Paris later this summer. There seems to be a general sense of worry as big-name designers depart the once-dominant fashion capital — could the end of NYFW be near?
Quite simply, no. This is actually a good thing — this might be some of the best news since Project Runway returned to Bravo. When celebrity designers bypass NYFW to gain some new credibility (and customers) in a different country, it clears the way for a fresh wave of designers to take the stage and essentially construct a new fashion landscape. Brands like Linder, N.Hoolywood, Nihl, Wiederhoeft, Area, and Chromat among others are some of the fresher labels that are offering different perspectives. The fact that they don’t have to compete with the same timeslots as the Fords and Scotts of the industry works in their favor.
Back in 2016, Kanye West controversially and suddenly decided to present a show during NYFW. This was seen as a kind of a “fuck you” to local designers that had spent time and money organizing a show, as West’s fame easily eclipses rising talent. His show, which was more a media circus than anything, was met with a lukewarm response but one thing was made clear: celebrity over clothes. Maybe some of the bigger names are leaving since they are simply growing weary from the competition.
It’s an exciting time to be a designer in the city. There’s a whole generation of creatives — a generation that has essentially been raised on social media and to which gender fluidity is a standard rather than a trend — who doing really cool shit and they should have the opportunity to share it with the world in the context of NYFW. There are still a number of household-names like Michael Kors, Helmut Lang, Proenza Schouler, Christian Siriano, and Oscar de la Renta that are all slated to present in the city next month. And if you’re worried about the future state of fashion week, remember that everything in the industry is cyclical. So rest assured, NYFW will never really die.
Once again, fashion month kicks off with several high-profile shows in New York before crossing the pond and making waves in London, Paris, and Milan. For Spring/Summer 2020, Helmut Lang returned to prominence by referencing its past, Tom Ford invited the glitterati to a show in a subway station, and Libertine returned to the city to show off its signature LA humor. In case you couldn’t make it, we’ve rounded up some of the week’s highlights.
Mark Thomas and Thomas Cawson, who debuted their first collection for the brand in February, are more comfortable at the helm of the legacy label. Treading on some of the designer’s signatures — reflective fabrics, sheer tops, and understated yet pristine tailoring — the collection was a solid albeit safe progression for the seminal brand. Steady as she goes.
Johnson Hartig’s return to NYC (after staging his Fall show in his native Los Angeles) was a cornucopia of all his favorite things that totally hit the spot. He used his home textiles and even wallpaper as a basis for the prints and mixed that with crystals, vintage painted Hèrmes bags, and, of course, his louder than life humor.
The fashion crowded went underground for Tom Ford’s latest, which was held on the subway platform at the Bowery and Delancey (J) stop. Ford’s signature party-ready suits were made over with funky prints (including zebra among other things) and full leather looks were softened by lighthearted pastel hues.
The latest collection from the American designer was packed with more Americana than Lana Del Rey’s entire discography. Combining ’40s influences with a contemporary and sporty spin, the designer recalled the more optimistic days of the country while acknowledging the current divisive state of affairs with a graphic anti-hate sweater.
Music pulsed through the veins of Pyer Moss’ most ambitious and striking collection yet. Influences from disco, rock, and hip-hop, among others were visible in the pieces, which was largely inspired by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the little-known actual Godmother of Rock and Roll. In addition to celebratory ensembles, a political call to action was present with a graphic tank urging onlookers to “Vote or Die — for real this time.” Read our interview with the CFDA Award-winning designer here.
Richard Bernstein — who helped define Interview Magazine’s pop-aesthetic with his cover illustrations — lent his work to Coach’s recent collection in a full New Wave art-school revival. In addition to the graphic prints starring some of the ’80s biggest stars, the key takeaway was definitely the leather pants, available in every color of the rainbow.
In good Jeremy Scott tradition, the designer just wanted to have fun with his collection. Strongly inspired by the ’80s cult class film Liquid Sky, Scott put his models in colorful rock wigs and dressed them in hallucinogenic pieces. Silly and surreal, the collection was an escape from the seriousness of Fashion Week.
The designer combined utilitarian fits with a serene sensibility that elevated traditional men’s pieces. Suits were reimagined with subtle cut changes, outerwear was enhanced with performance materials, and while a neutral color palette grounded the rest of the collection.
Always a critical favorite during NYFW, this year Prabal Gurung celebrates his brand’s 10th anniversary. He was once told that he did not look American and so his collection dubbed “Who gets to be American?” marries the cultures he belongs to or countries he has lived.
A decade since launching his eponymous line, Dion Lee has taken the global fashion stage. The latest output from the Australian designer raises subversive elements (like the S&M influences evident in the harness tops and leatherwear, and the hanky-code reminiscent bandana that has been converted into a series of loose button-downs and dresses) and adds a sharp and sophisticated spin in the form of concise minimal staples.
Hosted in the former Bendel’s boutique on 5th Ave, Alexander Wang x BVLGARI was potentially the hottest party of NYFW. With a star-studded guest list including Dua Lipa, Coco Rocha, and all of fashion week’s front row, the bag collection was displayed on nude mannequins as if in a “closed-down store.”
SWAROVSKI BOOK OF DREAMS
The brand’s book launch was celebrated on a Hudson Yards rooftop reminiscent of a prom after-party. Tons of sparkles and plenty of neon lights lit the evening dancing throughout the wee hours of the night.
Saint Laurent had perfectly nick picked a concert location for the launch of their fragrance with Dua Lipa only for the singer to announce that she would not sing. (She instead went to her own after-party.) Despite this, the party featured the city’s most beautiful guests wearing tons of black, drinking champagne, and eating Dominique Ansel ice cream-filled mushrooms.
The year’s hottest playwright Jeremy O. Harris has landed on Broadway with his controversial and critically acclaimed Slave Play. To celebrate, Telfar hosted a star-studded after-party at the Edition Times Square, with appearances from Hari Nef, Lily-Rose Depp, and Timothée Chalamet.
Hedi Slimane to Show at Paris Fashion Week Men’s for Fall ’19
Image: Indigital.
After a hotly anticipated and polarizing Celine debut in September, Hedi Slimane will show at Paris Fashion Week Men’s. Taking place later this month, it marks the French label’s first ever official menswear show (though Slimane included a series of menswear looks in his Spring ’19 show — skinny suits, rocker influences, you know the deal) and will serve as an opportunity for the designer to prove he’s more than just a one trick pony. Fingers crossed.
Who will Replace Raf Simons at Calvin Klein?
Image: The Independent.
Raf Simons announced his departure from Calvin Klein at the tail-end of 2018, leaving us with yet another cliffhanger of who will be his successor. Simons was the chief creative officer for the American label for a little under two years and his collections were distinct for their strong and literal inspirations from film and television (his most recent collection featured predominant themes from Jaws, including graphic prints and neoprene diving suits). It would have been nice to see him continue to grow at the house, but so it goes. And there’s still no word on who will replace him yet so we’ve got that to look forward to.
Moschino Takes its Show to Rome
Image: David Maestr. Feature image: Arnaud Lafeuillade.
On January 8th (that’s next week if you can believe it), Moschino will show in Rome as part of Men’s Fashion Week. The Italian designer, which has previously shown in Milan and London, opted for the city’s Cinecittà Studios for its latest presentation as the collection is rumored to be inspired by director Federico Fellini, who filmed some of his greatest work there. Additionally, British designer J.W. Anderson will leave its home of London to present its FW19 collection in Paris later this month.
The First Ever Mugler Exhibition to Open in Montreal
Image: Mugler.
Thierry Mugler, the French designer who earned international acclaim for his spectacular runway shows and futuristic looks in the latter half of the 20th century, will get his first exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts later this spring. Curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot (who was also responsible for the Jean-Paul Gaultier retrospective that traveled the world a few years ago), it marks the first time the designer’s work will be celebrated in its own show. Set to open on March 3rd, it’s likely that the show will embark on its own world tour in the fall.
Margiela Gets his Own Documentary
Image: Marina Faust.
The ever mysterious Martin Margiela will be the focus on an upcoming documentary chronicling his affluential career. Titled Without Compromise, it’s billed as the first documentary that the reclusive designer himself has agreed to participate in, which is pretty major for a man who’s never released a proper picture of himself. Produced by Dogwoof, who also released the Vivienne Westwood documentary last year, the film is scheduled to premiere at Cannes.
A see-through Louis XVI armchair, nearly invisible, yet unignorable. A bookcase that spirals across a wall like a snail’s shell, and threatens to send its contents to the floor. A corrugated, shaded table lamp, whose base is baroque and the deepest black. These plastic-fantastic confections are the work of renowned Milanese company Kartell, a hits factory of interior design since turning its eye from auto accessories to home décor in 1963.
Kartell’s success, including flagship stores in 130 cities around the world, comes in large part from its keen eye for partners. The designers who imagined the pieces above—Philippe Starck, Ron Arad, and Ferruccio Laviani, respectively— share shelf space with work from Joe Colombo, Patricia Urquiola, Tokujin Yoshioka, Marcel Wanders, and dozens more. The broad portfolio is a testament to Kartell’s historic respect for innovation and willingness to take risks, a legacy that owner and president Claudio Luti continues to this day, updating classic pieces and launching new ranges of shoes and handbags (in plastic, naturally) with fashion partners like Paula Cademartori and Alessandro Dell’Acqua N°21. Designers clearly adore him: in 2008, he convinced everyone from Moschino to Vhernier to create Kartell installations at Salone del Mobile, the world’s largest design fair. In 2017, the fair appointed him president. “In a collaboration,” he says, spruce and suited in the eye-popping, bustling SoHo flagship, “I try to give back what I take in. Designers have to be clever and generous. And we offer them the best of technology and the chance to take a risk.”
Kartell’s new worldwide retail concept shown at Salone del Mobile in Milan.
In 1988, Luti joined the company, which was originally owned in part by his father-in-law, Giulio Castelli. He’d spent the previous decade working with college friend Gianni Versace to remake the fashion world in Versace’s multo-maximalist vision. Kartell, meanwhile, was still best known for groovy units like Anna Castelli Ferrieri’s Componibili storage columns, which boasted rounded-corner drawers operable via a simple, circular hole. In the buff glass-and-chrome ’80s, such cheer looked more retro than retro-futuristic. Now, it just looks timeless. Design spirits lifted with the arrival of the zany Memphis movement, but such flights of fancy from Ettore Sottsass et all just weren’t Kartell. “The philosophy was fantastic,” Luti says, “and I liked the strength of the Memphis movement’s color and form. But I was against it, because it was not industrial.”
It took a new kind of plastic to manifest Kartell’s mix of the one-of-a-kind and the readymade. “We began experimenting with the material of police shields,” Luti reveals. “It was not so transparent, but strong. We worked on it for a year and a half, and in the end found a polycarbonate that was very clean and resistant. And it was exclusive [to us.] I thought, ‘Who is the best designer to use this innovation?’”
The answer was the French polymath Philippe Starck, who in 2002 boiled the neoclassical Louis XVI armchair, maybe the most famous seat in the world, down to a few essential lines. Kartell made a mold capable of producing the Louis Ghost chair in a single piece, then made a mint, reportedly selling more than 1.5 million copies. Free of joints that might crack from heat or cold, and easy to clean (Kartell even marketed its own spray), the various iterations of Starck’s indoor/outdoor seat—armless Victoria, child-sized Lou Lou, and barstool Charles—still haunt chic dining rooms, lobbies, and lofts. In 2016, the notorious Fiat heir Lapo Elkann updated its Ghost model by wrapping its backs and seats with stripes and numbers inspired by his beloved racing cars; he suited others up in houndstooth and tartan, and similarly remixed the old favorite Componibili. Barneys showed off the results in a pop-up installation this past January.
The 21st century has seen Kartell looking back quite a bit: beyond the Starck and Laviani remixing, there was 2013’s massive Taschen monograph Kartell: The Culture of Plastics. In 2015, the Kartell Museum observed its 15th anniversary with a complete renovation to house a definitive corporate history and a rotating exhibition space, currently filled with a retrospective of its partnership with the peerless Italian mid-century masters Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.
Kartell toy design by Moschino seen at Salone del Mobile.
But Luti is also looking ahead. At this year’s Salone del Mobile, Kartell debuted a new collaboration with the Milanese print devotee La DoubleJ, a wild combination of dizzying geometric repeat and floral motifs encasing Kartell’s signature framework. The collection’s charm is undeniable, installed in the entire front half of the SoHo location with a verve that spills out through the windows and into the streets—and, of course, into the backdrops of selfies around the world. This is no accident, for Luti is well aware an Instagram post is at least as influential as a window display. And that’s not the only change: manufacturing technology is constantly updating.
“Maybe one day a robot will make everything,” Luti says with a laugh, “but someone must still provide creativity. Products must have a strong personality that can give emotion. It’s not like fashion, which is consumer- based. We make pieces that remain—10 years, 20 years—because we imagine them with such strength.” Such strength ensures a bright future for Kartell. That much is clear.
After a highly successful event in New York City back in October, Barneys New York and Highsnobiety have announced they’re taking thedrop@barneys to Los Angeles. Over the course of the weekend, fashion and streetwear aficionados will have the opportunity to shop and hang out with each other at Barneys’ flagship store in Beverly Hills.
Starting June 2, guests will be able to explore over 90 brands and engage in numerous exclusive brand activations and panels. Event exclusive collections will be stocked by brands including Prada, Fendi, Heron Preston, Moschino, Versace, Rick Owens, and FEAR OF GOD (see below for a peek). When not shopping, attendees can try skating at the Gucci skating rink or try their luck at a Balenciaga raffle that’s donating proceeds to Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit fighting for gun regulation. Designers and influencers scheduled to attend the event include Jeremy Scott, Heron Preston, and Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg of AREA. It’s the perfect place for anyone in the community to really dive into the worlds of luxury and streetwear. If you’re unable to attend, do not fret — the event will be streamed online on Sunday June 3.
Last night, the Met Gala took A-listers to church on the first Monday in May. This year’s theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” was bound to stir some controversy, but also confusion since very few gents dressed accordingly to theme — sorry guys, a tux complimented by a cross is a bit lazy at this point in the game. Especially when you’re competing with the Queen of the Met Gala and this year’s co-host Rihanna (who wore Versace) and the Queen of Catholicism as a Pop Accessory herself, Madonna (dressed in Jean-Paul Gaultier), who later treated guests to an intimate performance of ‘Like a Prayer.’ This year’s male showstoppers — including Migos, Jared Leto, and Chadwick Boseman — were dressed in Versace, Gucci, and Moschino. Take a look below.
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images | MIGOS in Versace
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images | Chadwick Boseman in Versace with Christian Louboutin shoes and Bulgari jewelry
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images | Jeremy Scott in Moschino
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images | Christian Combs in Dolce & Gabbana
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images | Jared Leto in Gucci
Moschino delivered not one but two major 90s Madonna references — the soft S&M aesthetic of Erotica and the deconstructed menswear of the Blond Ambition tour — in one rich presentation. Several models were covered with black latex masks, jackets were kept opened to reveal studded leather harnesses, suits were printed with newspaper-clipping graphics, and suits were deconstructed and repurposed in a way that I can only assume should be interpreted as a reclamation of power. Here for it. Slay.
Wild child Jeremy Scott unleashes his candy-colored eccentricities onto Google‘s new Pixel smartphone, an amusing release that seems clandestine in its making, both brands among today’s biggest tastemakers. A collaborative effort in two parts, the first is a live phone case for the tech giant’s mobile offering, a nostalgia-tinged reinvention dripping with simplified pop-art spectacle. Pictured on the product are tiny, yet overwhelmingly happy, little emojis, illustrated by Scott himself, that extend to the second half of the collaboration—an emoji keyboard bursting with crazy characters and sassy nods to the designer’s own confectionary world. Aptly dubbed J’Moji, the keyboard is the fashionable way to share emotions with just the right touch of insatiable crazy. Armed with both the phone case and keyboard, not to mention an aptitude for all things fun, anyone can walk in the shoes of fashion’s favorite child-at-heart.
The Jeremy Scott Pixel live phone case and J’Moji keyboard are available online now.
What’s pink, gold, and mesh all over? Excluding Miami post 4 PM, fashion interpreter Jeremy Scott reveals his second seasonal drop for adidas Originals, a sporty assortment that exclaims the fiery loud voice of the designer in teddy bear slides, track pants, zip-up hoodies, and a bright yellow adidas duffle bag.
Image: adidas Originals.
Image: adidas Originals.
Image: adidas Originals.
Image: adidas Originals.
Image: adidas Originals.
Image: adidas Originals.
adidas Originals by Jeremy Scott Spring/Summer 2015’s second release is available online now.
After seven days of rambunctious, perfectly-lit chaos how could we possibly let the fun of New York Fashion Week retire to just web gallery heaven? In the spirit of rehashing our favorite shows, dancing at our desks, and bobbing about in and out of sartorial heaven (follow us on Soundcloud), we present you with this season’s trendiest and most terrific fashion show tunes.
The mix:
Michel Gaubert‘s soundtrack for Jeremy Scott‘s Autumn/Winter 2015 runway show in New York City at Milk Studios for New York Fashion Week.
Track list in the following order:
01. “Lemonade” – Sophie
02. “Close To Me” – People Like Us & Kenny G
03. “BIPP” – Sophie
04. “Icy Lake” (Original Arena Mix)- Dat Oven
05. “Mr. Hand” – Jonny Trunk
06. “You Better Watch Out Boy” – The Accents
07. “Hard” – Sophie
08. “Jolene” – Dolly Parton
Audio: Michel Gaubert for Jeremy Scott.
Neither Essential Homme Magazine nor Jeremy Scott claim ownership of any of these songs. If you have ownership of music in this playlist and wish to not be included, please contact us at INFO [at] essentialhommemag.com and we will remove immediately.
Though I’m not suggesting that all men should start buying dolls—that being said, it’s 2014 nearly 2015, and you can do whatever the hell you want, okay—designer Jeremy Scott’s latest “Ken” doll of himself takes his mattel-influenced Moschino‘s Women’s Spring 2015 collection to a literal and perversely collectible level that is sure to top the desks of high rollers and fashion devotees this holiday season… so basically me and all my friends, right? That is if it actually goes into production. While the details surrounding the fashion figurine are as amorphously defined as the appendages on its not-human toy body, like the brand’s recent Barbie house themed party at Art Basel Miami, SpongeBob SquarePants-themed leather goods, or the designer’s own Shrek collab, if it does, it won’t be anything less than horrifyingly brilliant. Plan B is a 3d printer, Scott’s proper measurements, and a lot of weird time on my own.
