Sometimes a dress silhouette becomes so pervasive you almost don’t notice its dominance. Right now, slinky, liquid maxi dresses that sheath the body while simultaneously leaving little to the imagination are having a moment. And a large proportion of them, at least judging by my social feeds, are exemplars by Tove. Co-founders Camille Perry and … Read more
Stefan Cooke showed his fall 24 collection in London to an audience of one. I’d been invited to sit in while he and his partner Jake Burt were shooting their lookbook, featuring a collection loosely based on the citizens band radio subculture which broke out into pop culture in the in the ’70s and ’80s. … Read more
Making its Paris Fashion Week debut, the only Africa-based brand to make the official schedule is South Africa’s Maxhosa Africa. Traveling some 6,000 miles, founder and creative director Laduma Ngxokolo was keen to make his dream of showcasing in Paris a reality—something he had his sights set on for a while now. Showcasing at the … Read more
Margaret Howell is allergic to branding, so it was a surprise to see a monogram sneak its way into her fall collection. That said, it was more of a cipher than a logo, comprising a tiny ‘MH’ written in her own hand and stitched on the pocket of a vegetable-dyed shirt. The brand’s head of … Read more
Quira’s fall presentation was held at the Oratoire du Louvre, a rather solemn location that framed what Veronica Leoni called “a raw, crude, textural collection.” The tension between abstraction and physicality, control and release is what makes her designs so compelling; here, she went for a more rigorous approach than in previous outings, indulging less … Read more
For both pre-fall and fall 2024, Christopher Esber is exploring the different facets of nostalgia. “I wanted to create this idea of summer past and present for day-to-evening and also express the idea of erosion and decay in textiles,” he explained via Zoom from his studio in Sydney. That translated into some compelling plays on … Read more
Rabih Kayrouz is always in his element when interacting directly with people: nudging someone to try on a jacket; showing off a gown’s construction (or remarkable lack thereof); tracing the lines of a skirt like a calligraphic gesture. As he arrives at the 25th anniversary of his label, he has been welcoming people to a … Read more
The Paris Olympics are right around the corner, and Mira Mikati is carrying that spirit into fall with her own twist. “Where I used to be into checks, now I’m into stripes,” the designer said during a preview, showing a low-slung tennis skirt not in white but gray, double layered with a new accessory: striped … Read more
By calling his Fall-Winter collection “Society,” Alexis Mabille said he was giving a nod to today’s café society, one that travels the world constantly and might at any minute be confronted with an invitation to a gala or last-minute charity benefit. That customer needs a dress in her back pocket, so to speak, which is … Read more
Caroline Hu showed a series of one-of-a-kind pieces in a dilapidated Paris apartment, whose dark, moody atmosphere somehow offset the lineup’s flamboyance, its intricate execution and the vibrancy of printed surfaces. Generous plays of draping and layering made every creation a fantastical, voluminous presence, each taking lots of space and attention. “It’s about relationships and … Read more
