Bernadette Morra

Naomi Campbell Designs a BOSS Collection for Women on the Go

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:20:16 +0000

Naomi Campbell is known for being many things: supermodel, style icon, activist and, perhaps most amusingly, germophobe. Videos of her meticulously wiping down her airplane seat captivated social media followers in the summer of 2019 (well before the rest of us began doing the same thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic). But that’s Campbell; she’s unapologetically herself — much like the woman she’s targeting with the new Naomi x BOSS collab. This travel capsule is designed for go-getters like Campbell who are always on the move, conquering both their personal and professional domains with grace and style but also with ease — hence the use of luxurious but liberating fabrics like cashmere and cupro. “I want them to feel comfortable, like their clothing is an extension of their true selves,” Campbell explains. A grey pinstriped suit is cut from stretch-infused wool with a wrinkle-free finish, and an oversized leopard-print track suit comes in a technical jersey — perfect for curling up in a business-class pod.

The idea for the collab spun organically from Campbell’s photo shoot for BOSS’s Fall 2022 collection. “Moving beyond being a campaign face to co-creating a collection with BOSS has allowed me to explore a whole new facet of my art,” she notes. Here is more from Campbell on her Naomi x BOSS travel capsule.

Jacket, $895, shirt, $350, pants, $450, and shoes, $330, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

What is the inspiration behind the collection?

“With the Naomi x BOSS collection, I wanted to craft a travel capsule that spoke to the spirit of today’s modern and dynamic women — a woman who’s strong, independent and always on the go.”

How does the collection reflect your personal style and taste?

“The Naomi x BOSS collection combines my personal style — which has been shaped by decades in the fashion industry — with something that has been a constant source of inspiration and growth for me: travel.”

What was the design process like between you and the BOSS design team?

“My involvement in the design process was very hands-on and collaborative, and I enjoyed working closely with the incredibly talented Marco Falcioni, senior vice-president of creative direction at HUGO BOSS, and the entire BOSS design team. It was like a well-oiled fashion machine. We started with brainstorming sessions where I shared my vision, ideas and personal style inspirations. It was about merging my style with BOSS’s impeccable craftsmanship and innovative spirit.”

Coat, $845, jumpsuit, $380, and shoes, $745, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

What are the important qualities/features you wanted to include in the collection?

“Today’s woman has a million things on her plate, and the last thing she needs to worry about is her outfit, especially when on the go! We’ve incorporated technology into the fabric to make life a bit easier. Everyone knows I’m a bit of a germophobe, so of course we’ve added antibacterial properties to ensure freshness and cleanliness. There’s also an anti-crease feature, which means you move from one meeting to the next without worrying about wrinkles. Life can be rather demanding, and sometimes we all need a moment to de-stress. The track-suit set in the collection features a special print with proven anti-stress properties, promoting a sense of Zen and balance. In the end, we wanted to offer practicality without compromising on style, ensuring that every piece in the collection serves a purpose beyond just aesthetics.”

What is your favourite piece (or pieces) from the collection?

“Oh my, that’s like asking me to pick my favourite child. I love the entire collection. Each piece has its own unique charm, and together, they form a cohesive narrative of modern power dressing. But OK, if I had to pick, my favourite would be the compression suit. It hugs every curve, elongates the silhouette and exudes confidence. It’s a statement piece that’s perfect for those moments when you want to make an entrance and leave a lasting impression. The second would be the classic white button-down shirt. Now, this is an absolute wardrobe essential that every woman should have in her collection. It’s timeless, versatile and oozes effortless elegance. You can pair it with anything, dress it up or down, and it always looks impeccable.”

Jacket, $845, shirt, $350, pants, $350, and shoes, $745, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

The collection features your personal mantra — dedication, determination and drive. Why are these three D’s so important to you?

“These three D’s have been my companions throughout my career, helping me navigate the ever-changing world of fashion and beyond. They’ve inspired me to break barriers, shatter ceilings and achieve things I never thought possible. So for me, these three words are not just a mantra; they’re a way of life, a philosophy that has guided me to where I am today, and I hope they can inspire others to pursue their passions with the same spirit.”

The colour purple appears as an accent, including jacket linings and the footbed of a flip-flop. Why did you choose this tone?

“Purple is associated with creativity and individuality as well as accepting oneself for who you are. It’s a colour that encourages self-expression and confidence, which aligns beautifully with the message we want to convey with the Naomi x BOSS collection.”

Vest, $845, and pants, $450, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Coat, $1,295, shirt, $350, pants, $450, and shoes, $330, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Sweater, $400, shirt, $350, pants, $350, and shoes, $330, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Coat, $1,195, bodysuit, $380, pants, $350, shoes, $330, and hat, $100, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Sweater, $845, pants, $250, and shoes, $745, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Jacket, $895, shirt, $350, and pants, $450, Naomi x Boss. Photography by Nick Merzetti

1/6

2/6

3/6

4/6

5/6

6/6

Photography by NICK MERZETTI. Styling by ASHLEY GALANG. Creative direction by GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS. Hair by RYAN MCGOVERN for P1M.CA. Makeup by VERONICA CHU. Photo assistant: ALEJANDRO SILVA CORTES. Makeup assistant: CELINA BENIGNO. Model: BIBA ESAAD for NIWA MODELS.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s March 2024 issue. Find out more here.

The post Naomi Campbell Designs a BOSS Collection for Women on the Go appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Billy Porter Is FASHION’s March 2024 Cover Star

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 14:17:55 +0000

BEING BILLY

Against all odds, Billy Porter is a magnificent couture creation of his own making — one that has conquered the worlds of music, acting and fashion.

WORDS BY BERNADETTE MORRA

Billy Porter is a hugger. But I don’t realize this at first. He arrives at the FASHION cover shoot in a studio near New York’s Hudson Yards serving feisty realness like only Porter can. He is animated and emphatic as he bellows into his cellphone dealing with some issues around his divorce. In fact, he is so fired up that I can hear him coming from way down the hall. But when he finishes the call, he takes a deep breath and centres himself. And after that, there are cheery greetings and hugs all around — for me, for senior creative director George Antonopoulos, for the photographer, for the videographer and even for the fashion assistants. I get the feeling that if a cleaner were to come in to empty the trash bins, they would receive a hug, too.

Top, $20,595, pants, $19,950, and necklace (bottom), $970, Gucci. Boots, $295, Syro. Necklace (top), $550, and ring, $375, Dean Davidson.

Porter marches over to the makeup chair, where his beloved glam team is waiting. Makeup artist La Sonya Gunter has been working with Porter since 2013, when he was headlining the Broadway hit Kinky Boots, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. “You may see us bicker because she’s like my sister,” he tells me, waving his hand at Gunter. “From the first day,” she drawls. Later, his real half-sister MaryMartha Ford (nicknamed “M&M”), who works as one of his managers, drops by. It’s clear that Porter surrounds himself with a fun but selective mix of biological and chosen family. At one point, hairstylist Cheryl Bergamy-Rosa and Porter give me a lesson on “doodoo” or “dookie” braids — so called because they are the thickness of poop. “That’s an old-school southern term — we are lettin’ you in, woman!” Porter howls with a throaty laugh.

Letting people in seems to come naturally to the extroverted Porter, though in his 2021 memoir, Unprotected, he admits to erecting emotional walls to keep people out. And with good reason. His childhood was challenging, to say the least. At age five, he was sent to a doctor in an attempt to “fix” his love of girlie clothes and skipping rope. He was bullied and beaten (even on his first day of school), twice landing him in hospital. His stepfather sexually abused him from ages seven to 12, a violation that is even more heinous considering how he manipulated Porter into viewing him as a father figure and a source of comfort. Singing became an outlet, then a job, then a career. Things got off to a great start when he won Star Search, and US$100,000, in 1992 at age 22. But this is a world in which talent isn’t always enough. Porter has been told he sings too high and speaks too white. He’s been pigeonholed into playing Black stereotypes and passed over for being “too flamboyant.” But along the way, he learned to stand up for himself and was always certain of his talent. If you haven’t seen Porter’s confidence on display, Google his impromptu rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” at the 2019 Tony Awards.

Kinky Boots arrived at a point when he was bankrupt and homeless and sleeping on a patron’s couch. Even so, he took a chance and spoke up to convince the producers that his character should be gay and not a straight cross-dressing boxer, as originally written. They agreed. It was the first time he would see himself — a gay Black man playing a gay Black man — on Broadway.

I don’t move through the world ultra-masculine. I don’t move through the world ultra-feminine. I’m just there.

The show was a hit, but not without backlash. After a performance during the 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Kinky Boots message of love and tolerance was attacked by right wingers. “I find it really odd that what I’m doing over here in my own life triggers you so much over there that you feel the need to beat me, hate me, shame me, take my rights away,” he says sharply. “Just leave me alone. Just leave us alone. Who am I hurting by expressing myself in this fabulous way? Nobody.”

More than 10 years later, Porter, at age 54, is pushing back harder than ever against hate— especially the type that comes from within. He is an outspoken role model for self-acceptance, something that is reflected in every aspect of his work. “When you are connected spiritually to all the things you embody, that’s where the healing lies,” he believes. Healing is something he talks about a lot. Of the 12 songs on Porter’s album Black Mona Lisa, released last November, almost all touch on his (sometimes rocky) road to overcoming shame, including his 2021 decision to come out as HIV positive after 14 years. His role as the ballroom emcee Pray Tell on Pose, a series set during the AIDS crisis in ’80s/’90s New York, helped with the emotional fallout from that trauma. “I lost more people by the age of 21 than my grandmother had at age 85,” Porter laments. “I used to always wonder ‘Why did I stay alive?’ Then I got that job and I’m like, ‘Oh, I survived to tell the story.’” He made history in 2019, when he became the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. His rousing speech proclaimed “The category is love, y’all!!!” and he quoted author and civil rights activist James Baldwin: “‘It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth like I had a right to be here.’ I have the right. You have the right. We all have the right.”

Jacket, top and necklace (bottom), prices upon request, necklace (top), $550, Versace.

Top and shorts, prices upon request, Aknvas. Boots, $295, Syro. Bracelet, $1,490, Sterling King. Signet ring, $375, Dean Davidson. Rings, $15 each, H&M.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. A gay man in a dress is somehow perceived as a threat, especially to children, while a straight man in a dress — be it Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire or Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie — is considered entertaining. Whether a predator is wearing a dress or not while engaged in sexual misconduct has absolutely nothing to do with it, Porter writes in his memoir. And no one knows that better than him. Furthermore, he questions why dresses are seen as masculine in certain contexts but not in others. “I was watching a fashion show by this African designer, and every single one of those men was in traditional African dress, which is a dress,” he points out. “So it’s weird to me that I get attacked for just expressing myself that way. Preachers wear robes. Jesus wore a robe. That’s a dress, y’all. So back up and leave me alone.”

Porter bursts into a few bars of song, something he does throughout the day. Maybe it’s a way of releasing tension. Like many artists, Porter seems thoroughly guided by a combination of intuition and angst. He moves with abandon in front of the camera, alternating sudden spins with balletic stances and graceful arm gestures. But he is specific about how he wants his hair and beard to look. “I have a very feminine face and a high, raspy voice, so it doesn’t take much for me to be misgendered,” he says. “If the hair looks feminine, then people start calling me ‘ma’am.’ That’s not a problem. But I want rock ’n’ roll edgy, not feminine, and there’s a fine line. It’s non-binary, really. I think if I were younger, I would probably identify as non-binary. Because I don’t move through the world ultra-masculine. I don’t move through the world ultra-feminine. I’m just there.”

Porter’s efforts to de-gender clothing are nothing short of magnificent, most notably with the Christian Siriano tuxedo gown he wore to the 2019 Oscars. The look broke the internet, and every one of his Met Gala and red-carpet appearances since have nudged forward the concept of what a man could, and perhaps even should, wear. “Fashion exists in a really expansive space for me,” he says. “It’s spiritual and political. Every time I show up, I’m a walking piece of activist art.”

Coat and jumpsuit, prices upon request, A. Potts. Boots, $2,575, Christian Louboutin. Bracelet, $11,400, Tiffany & Co. Ring (left), $5,835,

State Property. Ring (middle), $255, and ring (right) with base, $490, Acchitto.

Coat, $5,880, pants, $1,175, and brooch, $1,070, Alexander McQueen. Ring (bottom), $7,150, and ring (top), $3,700, Tiffany & Co.

Avant-garde designers Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons are among his go-to names. “And I love wearing Thom Browne when people need to know I’m educated and fancy at the same time,” Porter says. “He takes classic silhouettes and suits and explodes them into the fantastical. That’s me. I’m very classic, but I’m also way over the top. I think people would be surprised at my closet, because I have really simple stuff for my everyday life.” Or at least his definition of simple, like the oversized black Yohji jumpsuit with swinging silver chains that he shows up to set in. His caftans run from solid-coloured sequins to psychedelic swirls. The loose cover-ups were his uniform during the COVID shutdowns, an experience that was painfully triggering. “COVID was like being snatched right back into the AIDS crisis,” he shares.

Being fully Billy will hopefully include having his own fashion brand one day. “I’ve learned over the past few years how specific my vision is and how freeing it is to people,” he says. In the meantime, Porter continues to slay with his music and onscreen. After playing a divorcing dad locked in a custody battle in Our Son, released last December, he will turn his attention to the role of Baldwin in an upcoming biopic. And he’s spreading love, and lots of hugs no doubt, by setting up a philanthropic foundation and by playing an advisory role on The Bow, a digital hub for LGBTQIA2S+ people in the works by Toronto creative director Matthew McLaughlin. “I ain’t stopping,” Porter vows. “Like I say on the album, ‘Haven’t even started yet. Haven’t even broke a sweat,’ darlings. There’s so much work to do.”

Top, $1,455, Hervé Léger. Pants, price upon request, Hyke. Bracelet, $30, Zara. Rings, from $350, Dean Davidson.

Dress and pants, prices upon request, Stella McCartney.

Top, $875, and shorts, $975, Zankov at Nordstrom. Shoes, price upon request, Aknvas. Necklace, $780, Sterling King. Ring (left), $625, and ring (right), $425, Versace.

Top and shorts, prices upon request, Aknvas. Boots, $295, Syro. Bracelet, $1,490, Sterling King. Signet ring, $375, Dean Davidson. Rings, $15 each, H&M.

Jacket, top, pants and necklace (bottom), prices upon request, necklace (top), $550, ring (left), $625, and ring (right), $425, Versace. Ring (middle), $4,265, White Space. Boots, $2,375, Christian Louboutin.

1/5

2/5

3/5

4/5

5/5

Top, $525, and pants, $1,155, Moschino. Boots, $295, Syro. Necklaces, prices upon request, Yutai. Bracelet, $15,600, ring (left), $3,700, and ring (right), $7,150, Tiffany & Co.

AVAILABLE ON APPLE NEWS+ FEBRUARY 12 AND NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 19

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK MERZETTI

VIDEO AND LIGHTING BY SHAYNE GRAY

STYLING AND CREATIVE DIRECTION BY GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS

BEAUTY DIRECTION BY SOUZAN MICHAEL GALWAY

HAIR Cheryl Bergamy-Rosa for Exclusive Artists/Contents Hair Care, Eco Style and Dyson. MAKEUP La Sonya Gunter.

FASHION ASSISTANTS Alexis Ayala and Tess Jameson. FASHION INTERNS Hodaly Garcia and Keila Garcia.

The post Billy Porter Is FASHION’s March 2024 Cover Star appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Fendi’s Peekaboo Bag Is Still Peak Chic

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 14:34:14 +0000

The Fendi Peekaboo Bag might have been named after a children’s game, but the design is anything but infantile. Smart, sophisticated and expertly crafted, the Peekaboo was an instant hit when it debuted on the Fendi runway in 2008. Fifteen years later, the bag has dangled from the arms of Angelina Jolie, Rihanna, Hailey Bieber, Amal Clooney, Jennifer Lopez and the late architect Zaha Hadid, to name just a few.

Silvia Venturini Fendi explains that her idea for the Peekaboo came at a time when fashion houses were flooding their runways with purses, hoping to have the one that would be declared the It bag of the season. “I said, ‘Let’s do a classic bag, back to our roots but in a very Fendi way,’” recalls the brand’s artistic director of accessories and menswear. She landed on the idea of a mid-century frame style in soft glove leather with an exterior pocket that drapes when opened by a turn lock. This cheeky “smile” is the bag’s signature and inspired the name Peekaboo (after a game Venturini Fendi has played with her own children and grandchildren). “When it’s closed, it looks like a classic bag, but then the inside is always a bit of a surprise,” she remarks.

But Venturini Fendi’s intention was more than just fun and games. “I really wanted to create a bag that only a real leather-goods maker like Fendi could make,” she says. “It is a bag to be experienced: When you put your hands inside a Peekaboo, you can feel some of the softest leather in the world.” Styles are handcrafted at the company’s ateliers outside Florence, in the hills of Tuscany, but the headquarters, where Venturini Fendi designs, are in Rome.

Venturini Fendi was only five years old when Karl Lagerfeld was appointed artistic director of the house founded by her grandparents in 1925. In 1992, Lagerfeld suggested that Venturini Fendi be put in charge of accessories, and five years later, she created the Baguette, also a bestseller — and an icon of pop culture thanks to the Sex and the City episode where Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie is robbed of her prized accessory at gunpoint.

Like the Baguette, the Peekaboo comes in a mind-boggling array of materials, colours and trims — as seen in the new limited-edition book Peekaboo-K. Venturini Fendi’s personal go-to, however, is basic black. “It’s simple, complex and timeless,” she says. Enduring, too, is the satisfaction Venturini Fendi takes from her achievement. “It was an idea that came really fast, but it was a valuable idea because it’s a bag that I still adore today,” she adds. “I am never fed up with it. It’s good to see that a good idea is forever.”

Top, earrings, ring and bag, prices upon request, Fendi. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Blazer, top, pants and necklace, prices upon request, Fendi. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Coat, top, pants, shoes, ring and bag, prices upon request, Fendi. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Jacket, top, skirt, shoes, earrings, ring and bag, prices upon request, Fendi. Socks, $9, Simons. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Shirt, pants, shoes, necklace and ring, prices upon request, Fendi. Socks, $6, Uniqlo. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Blazer, top, pants, shoes, necklace, ring and blanket, prices upon request, Fendi. Socks, $6, Uniqlo. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Jacket, top, skirt, boots, earrings, ring and bag, prices upon request, Fendi. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

Top, skirt, shoes, earrings, necklace, bracelet and bag, prices upon request, Fendi. Photography by Lawrence Cortez

1/8

2/8

3/8

4/8

5/8

6/8

7/8

8/8

Photography by LAWRENCE CORTEZ. Styling by ASHLEY GALANG. Creative direction by GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS. Hair by RYAN MCGOVERN for P1M.ca. Makeup by VERONICA CHU. Photo assistants: JACOB GAY and JUDY GU. Fashion assistant: KENNEDY ADAMS. Models: FINN CREEGGAN for NIWA MODELS and WILLY for NIWA MODELS.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s Winter 2024 issue. Find out more here.

The post Fendi’s Peekaboo Bag Is Still Peak Chic appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Chanel Takes Over Manchester With the 2024 Métiers d’Art Show

Bernadette Morra — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 21:42:28 +0000

You can’t blame Alexa Chung for getting all fan girl-y over Virginie Viard, the creative director of Chanel. Chung was meeting Viard for the first time at the unveiling of the 2024 Métiers d’Art collection in Manchester on December 7. “I asked her for a photo because I’m such a fan but then everyone was like, ‘she doesn’t like taking photos,’” shared Chung, dressed in a Chanel tweed coat, leather shorts and patent boots and a “non-Chanel” thermal vest due to the damp North England chill.

Viard might be camera shy but her musical taste is more out there, including ’80s bands The Smiths and New Order, whose hit “Bizarre Love Triangle” closed out the show. The Mancunian sound is just one of the reasons why Chanel’s traveling road show landed in Manchester, a buoyant city with a high-octane nightlife, a globally renowned football team and a thoughtful mix of old and new architecture. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel vacationed an hour away at Eaton Hall, the residence of her longtime beau The Duke of Westminster. Hunting and fishing were among her favourite holiday pursuits and where she fell for the mannish, tweedy style of rural English attire. Manchester was also known for textile production and by 1860 half the world’s cotton was processed there, earning it the nickname Cottonopolis.

And so the looks paraded (mostly in flat Mary Janes!) down the middle of a damp street reflected both the rock and roll and genteel vibes that the region is known for — mixed with classic Parisian elegance. There were glossy black leathers, belted knits, soccer scarves and tweed suits in a mostly dank palette with intermittent pops of pink and apple green.

1/17

Look 8

2/17

Look 15

3/17

Look 19

4/17

Look 21

5/17

Look 22

6/17

Look 23

7/17

Look 25

8/17

Look 27

9/17

Look 37

10/17

Look 39

11/17

Look 42

12/17

Look 45

13/17

Look 47

14/17

Look 54

15/17

Look 57

16/17

Look 62

17/17

Look 66

The Metiers d’Art collection is a way for Chanel to show off the talents of the legendary feather makers, embroiderers and other hand crafters who work in a state of the art building in Paris known as 19M. Sequinned treatments in this collection included teacups, cakes and vinyl records and the double C logo also came in safety pins (1,000 of them!), a nod to the town’s music legends. Residents living above the street’s bars and tattoo parlour looked on in delight, especially with Kristen Stewart, Hugh Grant, Lucy Boynton and Tilda Swinton sitting front row.

And so what did Chung, whose style has captivated millions on social media, think of it all?

“I loved all the black leather which weirdly looked quite Elizabethan to me,” she said, noting the puffed sleeves and white lace. “And the baker boy hats which are quite a Northern English thing. They reminded me of a Kate Moss shoot in the ’90s that’s on my Pinterest board.

“There was also a lot of practicality, like the girls had scarves or knee high socks on — things that I think are idiosyncratic quirks that British people do naturally because we are always concerned about the weather. We need to wear something that you can enjoy in the rain or sun and that’s weatherproof.”

Click through the gallery below to see all the celebs from the show.

1/24

Kristen Stewart

2/24

Lucy Boyton

3/24

Hugh Grant

4/24

Alexa Chung

5/24

Tilda Swinton

6/24

Sofia Coppola

7/24

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

8/24

Kristen McMenamy

9/24

Afrodeutsche

10/24

Sakura Ando

11/24

Musumba

12/24

Jasmine Jobson

13/24

Lennon Gallagher

14/24

Rebecca Marder

15/24

Zhou Xun

16/24

Victoria Jane

17/24

Aicth

18/24

Akemi Fox

19/24

Momoko Sando

20/24

Charlotte Casiraghi

21/24

Gwei Lun-mei

22/24

Marion Barbeau

23/24

Millie Brady

24/24

Laura Bailey

The post Chanel Takes Over Manchester With the 2024 Métiers d’Art Show appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Alexa Chung Doesn’t Own a Full-Length Mirror

Bernadette Morra — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 21:07:28 +0000

What’s this? Style icon and perennial It girl Alexa Chung doesn’t own a full-length mirror? How does she know her look is working if she can’t see more than her head and shoulders in her bathroom mirror?

“You have to vibe it out. Do what feels right,” she shared after Chanel’s Metiers d’Art show in Manchester on December 7. Chung was kitted out in a tweed Chanel coat, black leather shorts, (non-Chanel) thermal vest, and black patent knee boots that, she moaned, are completely sold out (she was wearing borrowed samples).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexa Chung (@alexachung)

Chung described how her style is shifting since her birthday in November. “I’m really into a power shoulder and leaning more ’80s than ’60s since turning 40,” she says. “Kind of like Sharon Stone in Casino or Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface and it’s cocktail hour and I’m with a gang.”

She also says that what people see on social media isn’t a totally accurate depiction of her style. “I don’t think my friends would recognize that person because day to day I mostly wear jeans, jumpers (sweaters) and menswear,” she lists. Because she doesn’t have a full-length mirror she can’t shoot her reflection, so what gets shared are her event and going out looks which are captured by others.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexa Chung (@alexachung)

So why doesn’t Chung invest in a full-length mirror? Up until now she’s been living in tight quarters, she explains. But that’s about to change. “My new house in East London which is almost ready will have a full dressing room with mirrored sliding doors. That was a prerequisite for the entire design.”

Click through below to see some of our favourite and most iconic Alexa Chung looks.

Photography by Neil Mockford / Ricky Vigil M/GC Images

Photography by Samir Hussein/WireImage

Photography by David M. Benett/Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images

Photography by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images

Photography by Christian Vierig/Getty Images

Photography by Karwai Tang/WireImage

Photography by Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

Photography by Cindy Ord/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Photography by Mike Marsland/WireImage

Photography by Christian Vierig/Getty Images

Photography by Gareth Cattermole/BFC/Getty Images for BFC

Photography by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Photography by Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images

Photography by Darren Gerrish/WireImage for Alexa Chung

Photo by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Photography by Daniele Venturelli/WireImage

Photography by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Serpentine Gallery

Photography by David M. Benett/Getty Images for Elephant Family

Photography by Joel Ryan/PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Photography by Fred Duval/FilmMagic

1/20

British Vogue’s 2023 “Forces For Change” Party

2/20

The Fashion Awards 2023

3/20

London Fashion Week September 2023

4/20

Paris Fashion Week March 2020

5/20

London Fashion Week September 2021

6/20

National Portrait Gallery Re-Opening

7/20

The 2019 Met Gala

8/20

The 2023 Met Gala

9/20

Fashion For Relief London 2019

10/20

London Fashion Week September 2023

11/20

The Fashion Awards 2021

12/20

The 2022 Met Gala

13/20

Paris Fashion Week September 2014

14/20

Barbour By ALEXACHUNG Collection Launch At Towpath

15/20

The BoF 500 2019

16/20

The 76th Annual Cannes Film Festival

17/20

The Serpentine Gallery Summer Party

18/20

The Animal Ball 2019

19/20

Central London 2006

20/20

The Fashion Awards 2016

The post Alexa Chung Doesn’t Own a Full-Length Mirror appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Toronto Style Stars Brought the Holiday Sparkle to Bloor Street Entertains

FASHION staff — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:27:16 +0000

The fall charity calendar in Toronto is packed with swishy parties and live auctions. But there is only one Bloor Street Entertains. The annual fundraiser for the Canadian Foundation for Aids Research (CANFAR) has become the hottest ticket in town come autumn. So hot, in fact, that this year there was heavy security at the Four Seasons Hotel, where the lively Bloor Street Entertains 2023 after-party was held, to control the crowd and keep crashers out.

Prior to that, 1,000+ revellers dressed in patterned tuxedo jackets, tiers of tulle and sparkles from head to toe dined at one of 22 venues which included luxury boutiques, art galleries and hotel ballrooms, all on or near the Bloor Street shopping strip.

Bloor Street Entertains is 27 years old, but began years before when many in the Toronto creative community were dying of AIDS. Restaurateurs, florists, decorators and wait staff banded together to create dinners in people’s homes to raise money for the newly-formed CANFAR. Fast forward to now and while AIDS is no longer a death sentence, HIV infection rates in Canada continue at a rate of six per day, hitting women and Indigenous people particularly hard.

As the need to reduce stigma around AIDS and HIV, to continue research and to get self-testing kits out into the community remains, so does the desire to keep up the fight. In a Four Seasons ballroom bathed in red light with gyrating gents on raised platforms, R&B singer and longtime gay rights advocate Mya took time out from her overseas tour to rev spirits even higher.

Click through to see some of our favourite Bloor Street Entertains 2023 looks of the night.

Photography by George Pimentel

1/30

FASHION editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra

2/30

Co-chairs Candice Sinclair, Janice Fricker, and Michael Liebrock

3/30

Singer Mya and CEO of CANFAR, Alex Filiatrault

4/30

Honorary chair Sylvia Mantella flanked by the Beckerman twins

5/30

Sasha Exeter

6/30

Nicholas Mellamphy

7/30

Lily Li and Ivan Mao

8/30

Myles Sexton (left)

9/30

10/30

11/30

Seamus O’Regan and Stelios Doussis

12/30

13/30

Nikki Wirthensohn Yassemi

14/30

Billy Newton-Davis in Hoax Couture

15/30

16/30

Yuki Zhao

17/30

Lesley Hampton

18/30

Alan Anderson and Bonn Brown

19/30

20/30

21/30

22/30

23/30

24/30

25/30

26/30

27/30

Victoria Radford and Aly Currie

28/30

29/30

Bojana Sentaler

30/30

The post Toronto Style Stars Brought the Holiday Sparkle to Bloor Street Entertains appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Looking Back At Canada’s Most Stylish Thrifter 2023, Aldeneil Española

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 15:00:23 +0000

This article was originally published in March 2023. Are you Canada’s next Most Stylish Thrifter? Apply here!

When FASHION embarked on a search for Canada’s Most Stylish Thrifter, we had no idea of what might unfold. Would any “serious fashion people” apply? Would all the submissions come from big cities? And from influencers looking to boost their followers? We knew what we wanted: a true thrifting devotee. Not someone who is trying to dress designer on the cheap. Not a second-hand-shop clerk who has dibs on all the best goods. We wanted a person who enjoys the hunting process, who is discerning when it comes to quality and who doesn’t care what name is on the label. We were also looking for creativity: someone who would surprise us with how they put their finds together. And definitely someone who loves thrifting so much that they would do it even if they had the disposable income to shop entirely new.

Española is wearing a blazer and jeans from Value Village and a shirt and scarf from Village Green MCC Thrift, where he also found the cat bag; the earrings are by Adeline Scott. Photography by Molly Schikosky

We found all of that and more in Aldeneil Española, a 24-year-old university student in Saskatoon. His submission — which included a full-on fashion shoot inspired by Frida Kahlo, among others — put him at the top of a very impressive list of entrants from across the country. But what set Española apart was his artistic eye and deep connection to what he wears.

“Clothes are so much more than just fabric covering the body,” Española wrote in his application. “I am a queer POC artist who uses clothing to tell stories. Clothing is one of the quickest ways to communicate who you are without uttering a single word. I hope to show the younger generations behind me that it’s important to be visible and that clothing can be an extension of your personality and being.”

Española in a blazer, jeans and bag from Value Village, a printed shirt from eBay and a white shirt by an artisan in the Philippines; the Calvin Klein boots were purchased on Grailed. Photography by Molly Schikosky

When I meet Española on Zoom, he is dressed in a vibrant floral shirt from Value Village that seems better suited to a beach in Maui than his small apartment in sub-zero Saskatoon. His cheeks are glowing thanks to a combo of Fenty Beauty and E.L.F. blushes and Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb highlighter. He describes how he began thrifting menswear and then shifted to the women’s aisles. “My earliest women’s find was a fur coat with the label, the year and who the coat was made for,” he says. “I felt like I had a connection to the person who wore it and I was carrying on their legacy. That was a big shift in my mind.” Española also began to see the value in vintage clothing, which was made to last, as opposed to the fast fashion that fills so many thrift-store racks. “I love the feel of vintage leather,” he says. Among his treasures is an armadillo bag, complete with head and feet, that he carries like a football because of its shape: “I have never seen anything like this, and it probably cost way more than what I had to spend for it.” The first designer item he thrifted was a pair of Calvin Klein boots from the Raf Simons era that he wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.

These Calvin Klein boots from the Raf Simons era were Española’s first luxury score. Photography by Molly Schikosky

As Española shares his story, it becomes clear that at one time he dressed for necessity, not personal expression. Born in the Philippines, he was 12 when he landed with his family in the tiny town of Gravelbourg, Sask. “It was the middle of nowhere and we didn’t have a lot coming into Canada,” he recalls. “We arrived in March, so it was still pretty cold. The Filipinos in that community gathered a lot of second-hand clothes, coats and stuff — things we didn’t need when we were in the Philippines because it’s always hot.”

There was little “fashion” in Gravelbourg, population 986, or among Española’s very conservative churchgoing family. “I definitely just dressed to fit in,” he says. But that first experience of wearing only second-hand clothing had a profound impact. “It opened my eyes to the possibility that it’s literally fine for me not to have anything new,” he shares. When Española moved to Saskatoon at age 19, he continued to thrift but began to notice a difference in how people dressed. Social media expanded his world even further, and that, combined with the freedom to break away from his parents’ constraints, ignited a passion for experimentation. Around the same time, Española saw a documentary on Alexander McQueen that confirmed what he had already been sensing. “McQueen was the first person who showed me that clothing can be an art form and a visual language,” he says. “And that really inspired me to explore this part of myself.”

This Ajisai kimono from Hazlewood is paired with finds from Village Green MCC Thrift, Value Village and eBay. Photography by Molly Schikosky

It was also the beginning of his path to self-confidence. “Fashion was the first place I saw evidence that I was good at something,” he says. “And then I thought I could apply that same principle to other forms of art.” Española is now in his second year of a fine arts degree, and he often shares his expressive drawings on Instagram and TikTok, interspersing them with the fashion shoots he collaborates on with other Saskatoon creatives. He is also part of a stylish small group counted on to bring energy to brand events and parties. “This helped me have endless belief in myself,” he declares. “I know that no matter what I want to do, I will always be there to catch myself and bring myself back up.”

Española would love to find a way to combine his passions by creating wearable art and is experimenting with prints, dead stock and painting on blazers. Turning found fashion into art is just one of the reasons he believes thrifting will always have a place in his life. The other is his unapologetically exuberant style. “Clothing costs a lot of money, and thrifting is a really good way for me to be able to create extravagant maximalist looks without going broke.”

Española bought this armadillo bag from a local vintage collector he found on Facebook Marketplace. Photography by Molly Schikosky

Aldeneil Española shares his top thrifting tips:

1. “I don’t shop online a lot unless I’m looking for a specific piece. Clothing acts differently on different bodies. You need to be able to try it on to see if it lies properly, if it moves the way you want it to move.”

2. “Feel the fabric with your hands, and then try the item on. The more senses you bring to clothes, the more you’ll appreciate and understand them.”

3. “I wear basics that cling to my skin so it’s easier to try clothes on overtop. It also feels better to wear something underneath as you don’t know where the clothes have been.”

4. “Travel light. I sometimes bring my own grocery bags and maybe a handbag. Other than that, I rarely carry anything.”

5. “I’m not very fun to go shopping with. I’m very specific, and I need to think. I can’t be having a conversation with someone. So I like to do it alone.”

6. “I prefer it when there are less people in the store, so I go in the evening. It’s usually the only thing on my agenda as I like to take my time to look through the whole store. No time constraints makes the experience more enjoyable.”

7. “Staff in smaller stores are more likely to strike up a conversation. This way, I’ve found pieces that are not yet on the floor. Even though a store is filled, they likely have more stock in the back.”

8. “It’s powerful if you can do alterations. That’s how I got into sewing. I hem pants and take in shirts, and I’ve reconstructed thrifted pieces for other people, usually to make them fit.”

Photography by MOLLY SCHIKOSKY. Makeup by KACIE HANCHEROW. Photo assistants: BERIT JOHNSON.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s April 2023 issue. Find out more here.

The post Looking Back At Canada’s Most Stylish Thrifter 2023, Aldeneil Española appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Nelly Furtado Is FASHION’s November 2023 Cover Star

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:25:57 +0000

ULTRA SOUNDS

Nelly Furtado didn’t quite understand why her hits from the aughts have been getting so much airtime recently — until she realized that her songs have been saying it right all along.

WORDS BY BERNADETTE MORRA

Like many of us, Nelly Furtado took a much-needed break from social media. Unlike many of us, she took a break that lasted five years — from 2017 to about a year ago, when she not only returned to social media but leaned into it with the force of a Ferrari.

It was her daughter Nevis, now 20, who reignited her interest after showing her that her 2006 hit “Promiscuous” was trending on TikTok. “I was like, ‘What does that mean — that it’s trending?’” Furtado laughs at her obliviousness. Now, of course, she gets it and delivers amusing BTS and dance videos and admits that she gets as sucked into doomscrolling as the rest of us. But most important to her is that social platforms are a source of creative inspo — whether it’s through sharing playlists with friends or listening to remixes that DJs DM her on Instagram. “I love this direct contact with other artists and musicians,” she says. “There is this constant conversation going on.”

Blazer, $1,865, and pants, $1,420, Dion Lee. Shoes, $1,195, Christian Louboutin. Ring, price upon request, Jennifer Fisher.

Furtado is speaking from her office in Toronto and, in true Canadian style, is deeply apologetic about calling late. (She was having trouble with the lock on the door.) She is days away from the release of “Keep Going Up,” which she describes as “a big musical hug” with previous collaborators Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. Their first recording together was the 2007 electro hit “Give It to Me,” which has been given new life in remixes by Gen Z fans. She connected with Timbaland early this summer to mark the 17th anniversary of her album Loose. “I think we were both shocked that this music we made in Miami many years ago is resonating with people so much lately,” she says. Other early Furtado hits have also been reimagined by total strangers, with one track alone — “Say It Right” x Bicep’s “Glue” — getting seven million streams.

“When you’re young and you put an album out, you’re thinking ‘Maybe this is a fluke or maybe people just like this now and they won’t like it later,’” Furtado remarks. “But 20 years in, people of all ages are still loving these songs. I’ve realized the strength of my catalogue and my music. It’s given me a lot of confidence.”

And it’s not just the past that’s resonating. Furtado’s first release in five years, “Eat Your Man,” with Australian record producer Dom Dolla, was one of the hottest singles of the summer. She slayed at Lollapalooza and Osheaga this season and grabbed headlines in September after presenting an award to Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards while wearing a backless Dundas dress that dipped down over her cheeks.

I’VE REALIZED THE STRENGTH OF MY CATALOGUE AND MY MUSIC. IT’S GIVEN ME A LOT OF CONFIDENCE.

Most women get more modest, not less, as they age — especially 44-year-old mothers of three. (Furtado also has a four-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter.) “When I first started, I was trying to preserve my identity as an artist,” Furtado explains. Her hip-hop/electronic aesthetic translated to baggy jeans, sneakers, hoop earrings and Princess Leia buns. “Every photo shoot I went to those first couple of years, I would bring a bag with all my raver clothes inside,” she recalls. “If things weren’t going well, I would abort the mission and put on a comfy outfit. I wasn’t yet comfortable trying on different looks. Now I love walking in and saying to the stylist ‘Dress me up like a doll.’”

Her own stylist, Toronto-based Marc Andrew Smith, has been turning up the heat with body-con dresses and unitards by Ottolinger, Syndical Chamber and Toronto’s Susan Dicks. Off-duty, Furtado dresses for how she feels in the moment and recently told Vogue that her go-to brands include Off-White, Marine Serre, Dion Lee, Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier as well as Bottega Veneta and Amina Muaddi for shoes. “And I have a new trick,” she adds. “I make sure I love all the pieces in my closet and then I don’t decide what I’m going to wear until five minutes before I get dressed. If I plan my outfit, I’ll inevitably change my mind because my mood changes. I’m very spontaneous.”

Some of that spontaneity might be due to ADHD, which Furtado was diagnosed with about two years ago. While there are some downsides (“we’re kind of messy”), she has learned to accentuate the positive. “In the studio in particular, it’s become a superpower,” she shares. “My mind is very fast — often 20 steps ahead. I feed off the energy, and that way I can be working on more than one song at once.” She describes recording vocals for one piece and then in between takes starting a new song, which her crew writes down. “That’s something I’ve always done, but now I might have two rooms going, with producers in one room and me in the other, and I go back and forth; the creativity keeps bubbling, and I can ride that wave really well. I don’t get overwhelmed at all. I love it.” The expressiveness of Furtado’s voice, even over the phone, is obvious. Her sentences rise and fall like she is practising scales. She drops into a moody, reflective range when she is pondering a question and then soars into a childlike squeal when she thinks of an amusing answer. It’s so clear that as an artist, she is expert at conveying emotion through not only one word but also one syllable — even if that syllable is “um.”

Jacket, $2,500, Loewe. Top, $20, Aritzia. Pants, $2,050, Bottega Veneta at Holt Renfrew. Earcuff, $275 for three, earring, $820 for a pair, necklace (top), $550, and necklace (bottom) and ring, prices upon request, Jennifer Fisher.

Blouse, $6,150, and skirt, $8,650, Balenciaga.

Musicality is in her DNA. “My mother’s father was a brilliant composer and multi-instrumentalist and the conductor of his local marching band,” she says, explaining that her family were “creative, wildly brilliant, musically gifted farmers and builders” in the Azores. “When my mother was growing up, women weren’t allowed to be in the band.” So when Furtado was young, her mom put her in the marching band at their church in Victoria, B.C. “She was so proud of me,” she says. Furtado played her trombone six days a week, and though her grandfather died when she was nine, she says she got to meet him on a visit to São Miguel, see his stash of handwritten compositions and hold his old clarinet. “I do approach music with this legacy mindset,” she says. “That’s where I got the gift from, and I’m super grateful for it.”

Furtado attributes her ability to withstand the pressures of early fame to her grounding in family. She worked as a chambermaid with her mom and didn’t explode onto the scene until after graduating from high school. “I got to go to prom and backpack in Europe — those little things made a really big difference,” she says. She also had a strong instinct for when to take a time out. “I knew when to remove myself from the spotlight, put on some sunglasses and a ball cap and disappear into the crowd when it became too overwhelming.”

Still, when Nevis was young, Furtado famously cried her way through a few songs during a performance in Amsterdam. But she used the experience as an exercise in self-awareness. “I can’t be out there burning both ends of the candle or I get burned out really quickly,” she acknowledges. With two more children now, Furtado is definitely pacing herself. She is more realistic about scheduling and carving out time for self-care, which includes candlelit baths, picnicking in the park with her little ones and listening to music. “I’m very spoiled because Dom Dolla sends me whole sets that he would play for a crowd and that you can’t get anywhere,” she says. “His fans would be so jealous. And Questlove sends me his amazing playlists once a month — hopefully he won’t stop sending them to me when I say this!” The Latin-heavy lineup she played at the FASHION cover shoot was compiled by Colombian-Canadian singer Lido Pimienta, one of Furtado’s closest friends.

Dress, $875, Lamarque. Shoes, $3,275, Christian Louboutin.

Dress, $9,250, Hermès. Bracelet, $9,350, Van Cleef & Arpels.

She is also making some time for dating, which she says is “really fun.” “Because I’ve never known myself as well as I do now, and I’m not chasing anything,” she explains. “Plus, there’s nothing I care more about than my kids and my work. So it puts dating into perspective, right?”

Work is also fun, she says, because of the confidence she has now compared to her early years. “I had some really big moments as my first introduction to this business — my first photo shoot was with Vanity Fair!” she says with a how-wild-is-that laugh. “And then one of my first TV performances was on Saturday Night Live. I was this very nervous gangly 21-year-old tomboy going ‘Whoa! What’s going on?’” She also learned to deal with the surprises that come with performing live. “I tripped on my guitar player’s amp and went tumbling into the audience at the Hard Rock Cafe in New Orleans,” she recalls. “I literally had a chain-link-shaped bruise on my back.”

Thankfully, most of her performances go much better than that, including her comeback moment in 2022 at Drake’s OVO Fest after a five-year absence from the stage. She shocked the crowd by stepping out and singing “I’m Like a Bird” with the rapper, who told the audience he’d had a tough time convincing her to appear. But the experience seemed to reignite something in Furtado; her seventh studio album is currently in the works.

“Now I realize that I’m really doing it for me,” she shares. “I’m doing it for the craft. I’m doing it because I’m competing with myself. I want to be my best at every element of my career, whether it’s recording or performing or photo shoots. I’m a perfectionist. So I know there’s always another level to attain.” She’s worked on the very high choruses of “Promiscuous” and feels she is singing them better than she ever did. And she spends hours in the dance studio, which she says really helps with her ADHD. “I did about three and a half hours of really intense choreography for a show, and then I came home and was able to organize my whole closet,” she explains. “When doing choreography, your brain and your body have to be in sync, and that discipline is really effective.”

Most of all, she’s enjoying the experience of connecting with her audiences again. She says she sometimes feels like she’s in a giant karaoke where everybody’s just having a great time and so is she. And unlike some artists who moan about having to play old hits over and over, she says she never tires of delivering “I’m Like a Bird” live. “I would never be the type of person to say ‘I’m over that song’ because I’m not. I think: ‘Isn’t this a blessing? That’s so amazing that all these people know this song.’” Maybe that’s why Furtado, like the lyrics say, may fly away for a while now and then, but she’ll never fade.

1/3

2/3

3/3

AVAILABLE ON APPLE NEWS+ OCTOBER 16 AND NEWSSTANDS OCTOBER 23

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATASHA GERSCHON

CREATIVE DIRECTION BY GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS

STYLING BY ZEINA ESMAIL

HAIR Kelly Araujo MAKEUP Sabrina Rinaldi for P1M.ca/Decree and Charlotte Tilbury
NAILS Khristinne Manuszak for P1M.ca/Tips Nail Bar PHOTO ASSISTANT Fabian Di Corcia FASHION ASSISTANTS Sara Lewis and Artemiz Rezvanifar HAIR & MAKEUP ASSISTANT Connor Lange PROP STYLIST Caitlin Doherty

The post Nelly Furtado Is FASHION’s November 2023 Cover Star appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

How to Read a Runway

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:28:50 +0000

“I don’t really understand how fashion shows work,” White Lotus actor Haley Lu Richardson told a New York Times reporter at the Diesel show in Milan in February. It’s not surprising that Richardson, who plays Portia in season two of the hit show, was a bit confounded. Even an industry vet like myself can be perplexed by what a designer puts forth on the runway. What, for example, were we to make of Schiaparelli’s lion’s-head dress for the Spring 2023 couture collection? Was it a publicity stunt or a way to remind us of the house’s Surrealist roots? Or was artistic director Daniel Roseberry actually hoping it would be purchased and worn? Read on to see what I keep in mind when viewing a runway show.

Photography via launchmetrics.com/spotlight

Consider who is in charge

Goals vary among the people who are setting the agenda at a fashion label. Some are conceptualists (Iris van Herpen, Yohji Yamamoto, Kei Ninomiya at Noir) who strive to create something that has never been seen before. Their “clothes” — if you can call them that — can sometimes look like moving sculptures, which pretty much is, in fact, what they are. These are the sorts of shows that often elicit comments such as “Who is going to wear that?” But that’s missing the point of the exercise. These designers aren’t working to solve a problem like “What should I wear to the office this fall?” They are meeting a creative challenge that they have set for themselves. These visionaries will often have lucrative commercial ventures, like fragrances (Viktor & Rolf), that support their businesses. Cases in point: Rei Kawakubo’s successful T-shirt line collab with Nike and the now iconic sneaker collab with Converse, both under the label Comme des Garçons Play.

This is very different from people like Emilia Wickstead and Tanya Taylor, who deliver more-familiar wares in updated shapes and new fabrics and prints. They, too, are designers, but their end game is to solve a problem like “What should I wear to my niece’s wedding?” Or, as in the case of Max Mara and Alberta Ferretti, they simply want to entice us with something beautiful and luxurious that we can’t resist.

Most designers fall somewhere between these two extremes. They offer originality and relatability. Think Dries Van Noten, Miuccia Prada, Pierpaolo Piccioli at Valentino, Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough at Proenza Schouler.

Assess the environment

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kanye Westaurant (@kanyewestaurant_)

Often, there are clues about a designer’s intent in the show’s set design and music. Classical music playing in a gilded ballroom sets a very different tone than models walking through a field in silence. Many designers today commission art installations to create a unique setting that can become a major social media moment. Bonus: The looks are immediately identifiable on social media. There’s no way Stella McCartney’s wild horses darting around an equestrian arena can be confused with Akris’s industrial backdrop — even though both designers did lots of checked suits for Fall 2023. Sometimes, though, the atmosphere can overshadow the clothes. Does anyone remember anything from Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 presentation other than Ye marching through the mud?

Don’t judge a designer by their first show for a brand

When a designer jumps into a new role, it takes a while for them to find their way. They need to learn how to work with a production team, and that production team needs to learn how to work with them. Some designers create by draping cloth on the body, while others hand over sketches that need to be interpreted. Everyone needs to learn how to work together to ensure that what’s in the designer’s head can be executed as intended. And that takes time.

Where is the show taking place?

Historical context matters, and a show’s location can be a major indicator as to how you should frame what you see. New York’s Seventh Avenue was a manufacturing hub as far back as the early 20th century, so designers in that city tend to be more business-minded (Michael Kors, Tory Burch). London, England, which gave us the ’60s micro mini and ’70s punk, has always challenged the status quo and has an element of eccentricity that is pretty much expected (Vivienne Westwood, Christopher Kane, JW Anderson). Milan’s fashion industry grew from the fabric mills of Northern Italy, so there’s a big emphasis on materials (Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Missoni). And Paris fashion is rooted in haute couture, which grew out of the imperial court, cementing its position as the epicentre of luxury and craft at the highest level. This, in turn, draws creators from around the world, but only those deemed worthy in terms of technique and originality are given a slot on the official calendar.

There are exceptions, of course. The experimental sisters behind Rodarte mostly show their avant-garde looks in New York, while in Paris, Virginie Viard tends to stick to the tried-and-true at Chanel. And some designers switch fashion capitals now and then or stage off-calendar destination shows elsewhere around the globe. But you can pretty much assume that the closer you are to the Eiffel Tower, the more likely it is that what you will see on the runway is art.

Is it fashion or clickbait?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by coperni (@coperni)

This is a hard question to answer. Some runway items are just too expensive to make and will only be used for an ad campaign or window display. Still, these are valuable marketing tools that are worth their weight in gold. According to Women’s Wear Daily, in the 48 hours following Coperni presenting its spray-on dress in Paris, the event’s media impact value was measured at $36.3 million, with nearly 80 per cent attributed to social media. However, the dress was never produced beyond the runway version.

And sometimes it’s not about the clothes at all

As compelling as the looks at Gucci and Hermès are, do they matter? Probably not, because in the end, a large portion of those houses’ revenue comes from bags and leather goods. But that shouldn’t stop us from enjoying their shows.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s October 2023 issue. Find out more here.

The post How to Read a Runway appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Celebs Pulled Out the Sparkle at the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards

Bernadette Morra — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 17:55:12 +0000

TIFF might be lighter on stars than usual this year, but there was still plenty of sparkle at the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards gala on September 10. Under the twinkling chandeliers of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel where Hollywood royalty Marlene Dietrich and Alfred Hitchcock once laid their weary heads to rest, Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar were among this year’s recipients. Both directors delivered moving speeches about how filmmaking can advance social and political justice.

But it was the women who brought the bling both onstage and the red carpet.

Diamond earrings swung from architect Diane Bald’s lobes as she and her husband, Roots co-founder Michael Budman, introduced the inaugural Norman Jewison Career Achievement award, which went to Shawn Levy, best known for directing and executive producing Stranger Things. Vicky Krieps, who is starring with Viggo Mortensen in The Dead Don’t Hurt and took home the Tribute Performer “trophy” – that’s what her kids told her to call it – dazzled in a silver mini-skirted suit. And The Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award presented by Bulgari went to Patricia Arquette, who was lavishly outfitted by the luxury jeweller in their Serpenti diamond necklace, Serpenti Viper diamond ring and Serpenti diamond earrings and bracelet with emerald eyes.

Oscar winner Arquette is a fourth-generation actor and something of Hollywood royalty herself and was praised by Camila Morrone for being, “as fierce a mother, as she is an activist, as she is an actress.” Arquette directed Morrone and Willem Dafoe in Gonzo Girl, which had its world premiere on TIFF opening night.

Take a look at some of the most glamorous celebrity style from the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards presented by Bulgari below.

Photography by George Pimentel

1/8

Camila Morrone

2/8

Devery Jacobs and Ethan Hawke

3/8

Vicky Krieps in Chanel

4/8

Tonya Lewis Lee and Spike Lee, wearing custom Louis Vuitton

5/8

Patricia Arquette

6/8

Viggo Mortensen

7/8

Shenina Cinnamon and Angga Yunada

8/8

Pedro Almodóvar

The post Celebs Pulled Out the Sparkle at the 2023 TIFF Tribute Awards appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

The Ones: FASHION’s September Cover Stars On Modelling’s Highs and Lows

Bernadette Morra — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:00:31 +0000

It’s difficult to express how thrilling it was to have Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Irina Lăzăreanu and Winnie Harlow together on-set for our September cover shoot. We wanted a powerhouse of Canadian modelling talent for this issue, and we sure got it. At times, I felt like I was watching an elite modern-dance troupe improvise a new work. These women’s body awareness, lack of inhibition, ability to play off one another and understanding of lighting and angles really drove home the difference between “model” and “supermodel.”

All except Harlow, who began modelling in 2014, could be considered veterans, having had decades to hone their skills. “Those of us who started 20 or 30 years ago have had a long time and a lot of experience to build our confidence,” declared Lăzăreanu, who grew up in Montreal and was a muse of Karl Lagerfeld’s. “I’m sure that when we first started out, none of us were the models we are today.” Indeed, Rocha admitted that “it has definitely taken years to make it this,” referring to her explosive style of movement that has landed her on approximately 200 magazine covers, from Toronto to Tokyo.

At age 53, Owen is the eldest of the group, and what a privilege to see her in action — there is a powerful force within her that seems to take over when she is in front of the camera, to the point where she is sometimes unrecognizable. And I could hardly take my eyes off of Stam and Harlow — both radiate elegance and beauty whether they are performing on-set or relaxing in a makeup chair.

@fashionmagazine The fab five 🤩 Introducing FASHION’s September 2023 cover stars: Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Irina Lăzăreanu and Winnie Harlow 💫 #fashionmagazine #fashiontiktok #magazinephotoshoot #KirstenOwen #CocoRocha #JessicaStam #IrinaLazareanu #WinnieHarlow ♬ original sound – FASHION

It was also revealing to hear Rocha, Stam, Owen and Lăzăreanu reminisce about working together in the aughts and compare their views of their profession to those of some young women today. “Modelling is not ‘how to take a selfie,’” lamented Lăzăreanu, alluding to how anyone with a social media account seems to think they are a model. And then there’s the matter of those who believe they are free to dictate hair, makeup and wardrobe. “I’ll wear whatever I’m told to wear,” Rocha shared. “But girls today will say ‘That doesn’t fit my image.’ They put themselves before the job.”

Of course, the logistics of getting five supers together in a Brooklyn studio were overwhelming and involved flights from as far away as Hawaii, where Stam lives. And I counted 63 pairs of shoes, 40+ pairs of boots, 16 curling irons and flatirons, hundreds of fake nails, wigs and hairpieces and eight jam-packed rolling racks that day.

As I left around 6:30 p.m. to catch my flight home, our cover stars were still going strong, and I told them how much I admired their stamina — I was completely drained, even though I’d done little more than scribble in a notepad and record their interviews.

Watch Canadian supermodels Kirsten, Coco, Stam, Irina and Winnie talk about the highs and lows of modelling, and their magnificent careers, here:

Creative director, video: Greg Swales
Cinematographer: Chevy Tyler
Camera operator: Vanessa Viera
Sound mixer: Braulio Lin
Editor: Leila Lorenz
Creative director, photo: George Antonopolous
Styling by Ashley Galang
Hair by Dimitris Giannetos for Opus Beauty/Sway (Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam and Irina Lăzăreanu) and Dhairius Thomas for Raw Sugar (Winnie Harlow)
Makeup by Soo Park for The Wall Group/Chanel and Yeika
Nails by Nori Yamanaka for See Management/Chanel
Hair assistants: Luca Pagani, Christina “Harley” Beman and Miller Brackett
Makeup assistants: Tsuyoshi Sekimoto and Jayden Ho Pham
Nail assistants: Marie Barokas and Kuniko Inoue
Fashion assistant: Alexis Ayala
Producer: Alexey Galetskiy for AGPNYC
Art direction: Danielle Campbell
Words by Bernadette Morra
Fashion interns: Reinaldo Rivera Nunez, Tess Jameson and Gabby Hannley
Photo assistants: Yolana Leaney, Fracisco Bravo and Shawn McCarney Alviz
Digital technician: Amanda Yanez

Read our full September cover story with Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Irina Lăzăreanu and Winnie Harlow here.

A version of this article first appeared in FASHION’s September 2023 issue. Find out more here.

The post The Ones: FASHION’s September Cover Stars On Modelling’s Highs and Lows appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Introducing FASHION’s September Cover Stars: 5 Iconic Canadian Supermodels

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:13:05 +0000

The Ones

Canadian supermodels Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Irina Lăzăreanu and Winnie Harlow unite to discuss the highs and lows of their magnificent careers.

WORDS BY BERNADETTE MORRA

As Kirsten Owen, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Irina Lăzăreanu and Winnie Harlow trickle into a Brooklyn studio for FASHION’s September cover shoot, it’s clear that this is going to be no ordinary day on-set. “It’s been so long!” Lăzăreanu exclaims as she throws her arms around Rocha. “I’m having a flashback,” Stam muses as she, Rocha and Lăzăreanu sit for hair and makeup. For many years, the trio were “like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants—always doing the same shows, the same shoots together,” explains Lăzăreanu, who was born in Romania and grew up in Montreal. “We would have a whole floor at the Principe hotel in Milan and leave our doors open and wake one another up for shows. It was a challenging time. We used to do 75, 88, 97 shows a season. But we got through it together.” As the blow-dryers buzz, there are shared recollections of good times, and bad, from over the years.

On Stam: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. On Rocha: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $130, Levi’s. On Lăzăreanu:
Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. Boots, price upon request, R13. On Owen: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s.
Boots, price upon request, R13. On Harlow: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. Boots, $1,295, R13.

Owen, Rocha, Stam, Lăzăreanu and Harlow have each walked the most prestigious runways, starred in the biggest ad campaigns and graced countless magazine covers. They all have the height, bone structure and temperament that the industry favours. And they are all Canadian. But it’s their differences that set them apart—not only from one another but also from other stars of the modelling world.

At 53, Owen is the eldest of the bunch. Born in Montreal, she was 16 and busing tables at a nightclub in Toronto when she was discovered by legendary agent Judy Welch. Within the year, she was sent off to Paris, where the style of catwalking at the time was sexy and high energy with lots of smiles and twirls. Grunge before grunge, Owen was a misfit with her solemn, androgynous strut. But she quickly became a darling of avant-garde designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Her loping stride put more emphasis on the clothes than the personality in them. And then, recalls Owen, “one Fendi show, Karl Lagerfeld told all the models to walk like me.” Suddenly, bouncy, bubbly runway romps seemed out of date. Owen’s uniqueness and air of nonchalance have made her one of the coolest models ever, and she still travels between Toronto, her blueberry farm and jobs around the globe.

Lăzăreanu’s path has been a bit more colourful. It was Lagerfeld who plucked her out of obscurity and set her career in high gear. As she chronicles in her book, Runway Bird (Flammarion), released last year, Lăzăreanu mixed modelling with rock ’n’ roll escapades of epic proportions. She was engaged to Pete Doherty of Babyshambles and the Libertines, collaborated with Sean Lennon, partied with Kate Moss and even woke up in a trashed hotel room—in Claridge’s no less. “I was very different from the other models and would get in trouble for being wild,” Lăzăreanu admits. “There would be some story about me in the press, and my agent would call and say ‘You can’t do that.’ But Karl had my back, and I was always so grateful for that.” These days, Lăzăreanu’s life is much calmer. She lives with her son in her cottage in the Laurentians in Quebec and, in addition to jetting around for work, is executive deputy director of the action group No More Plastic.

They all have the height, bone structure and temperament that the industry favours. And they are all Canadian. But it’s their differences that set them apart—not only from one another but also from other stars of the modelling world.

Rocha, who was raised in Richmond, B.C., came to modelling as a Jehovah’s Witness. From early on, she has adhered to its core beliefs, such as no nudity or even partial nudity. But her faith has never been an obstacle, and Rocha quickly became lauded for her theatrical style of movement in front of the camera. Her strength of character extended to her off-hours as well. Rocha was among the first models to embrace social media (even her three young children have accounts); she is an owner of Nomad Management, with her husband/manager, artist James Conran; and she has passed on her knowledge of posing, runways, branding, contracts, agencies, accounting and social media to more than 4,000 students through the Coco Rocha Model Camp. But the thing she is most proud of, she says, is her involvement in pushing for legislation changes in New York state for models under the age of 18. “There were no laws protecting against sexual harassment and abuse or ensuring that models received payment or even meal breaks—nothing,” says Rocha, who began her career around age 15.

“You’re a baby working with grown-ups,” points out Stam, who was discovered by a modelling agent at age 16 in a Tim Hortons. Stam, who grew up on a farm with six brothers outside Kincardine, Ont., advises newbies to learn about money matters and keep an eye on what’s going on. “There are, unfortunately, a lot of bad people who will try to take advantage of your finances because they know you’re a child and don’t know what you’re doing.” She now has two young children of her own and lives with them and her husband, screenwriter Brahman Turner, in Hawaii. Two of her most recent career highlights are the reissuing of Marc Jacobs’s Stam bag, named after her in 2005, this spring and walking the red carpet at the AmfAR Gala Cannes during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

L.A.-based Harlow also attended the AmfAR Gala Cannes, along with her boyfriend, NBA star Kyle Kuzma. Harlow, who hails from Mississauga, Ont., is the newcomer in FASHION’s September cover crew, having started in 2014 with an appearance on America’s Next Top Model. Despite having been discouraged from modelling due to her skin condition, vitiligo, she persisted, and in addition to her many cover, runway and campaign achievements, she brought her suncare line, Cay Skin, to Canadian Sephora stores—one of which turned her down when she once applied for a job. She also just launched her very first Puma collaboration—fully designed by Harlow herself. Watching our cover stars in front of the camera, I’m struck by their athleticism, lack of inhibition, understanding of how to “work” the garments and ability to silently improvise with one another. I sit down with them between shots to discuss their profession, their highs and lows and their views on the industry.

On Stam: Jacket, price upon request, David Dixon. Pants, $1,285, Lapointe.

On Rocha: Coat, $12,360, Chloé. Boots, $2,590, Ami. Ring, $3,970, Dinh Van.

ON THE EARLY DAYS

OWEN “It was horrible when I first started. I hated it and felt really uncomfortable. I was 17, and I had just arrived in Paris; I had never seen so much beautiful food, and I wanted to eat everything. People in the business were telling me I was too fat, and I felt like they wanted to change me. The hair and makeup didn’t feel like me at all. The style of runway walking was very coquettish. I could only walk the way I felt comfortable, which was my normal way of walking—really fast, with large steps. Some people wanted me to walk differently, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to do it.”

LĂZĂREANU “My first big show was a Chanel couture show in either 2004 or 2005. I wasn’t doing much work as a model. I was doing go-sees, but it wasn’t really working out. My agency sent me to this Chanel casting, and there were like 300 girls. I walked in wearing a long gypsy skirt and Tibetan boots; everyone else was in tank tops and high heels. Karl [Lagerfeld] passed through the corridor; he stopped and looked at me and then kept walking. And then the casting director came out and said, ‘Karl wants to see you.’ I was like, ‘Me?’ So I went in, and they changed me into a little black dress. And they said, ‘Don’t talk to him.’ But I talk a lot, and when I’m nervous, I talk even more. So he asked me a question and I started talking. I had a really strong French-Canadian accent, and that made him laugh. I did that show, and then I worked with him for 10 or 12 years.”

HARLOW “In Toronto, friends would ask me to model things they were selling and post the images. It was the beginning of social media. Anna Trevelyan, the stylist, saw me on Twitter. She showed Nick Knight images of me and he was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, amazing—reach out to her.’ They asked me to come to London to shoot. I had no idea who anyone was. So I did my research and showed my mom and I was like, ‘Can I go?’ She said: ‘Let’s hit up your family in London. Make sure that you’re safe.’ I didn’t have an agent for a very long time. I picked a manager in Toronto because I was getting a lot of emails. I got a lawyer, and I was my own agency.”

On Stam: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. On Rocha: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $130, Levi’s. On Lăzăreanu:
Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. Boots, price upon request, R13. On Owen: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s.
Boots, price upon request, R13. On Harlow: Top, $145, CDLP. Pants, $140, Levi’s. Boots, $1,295, R13.

ON STEVEN MEISEL AND LEARNING HOW TO MODEL

STAM “I didn’t know anything about modelling. Before my first fashion week, somebody taught me how to walk in heels because I had never walked in heels before. But as far as modelling, posing and all that goes, I sort of learned as I went. And I learned from photographers like Steven Meisel. I met him when I was 16 or 17 and still living in Canada. He shot me for a Versus Versace eyewear campaign the day I met him. He put me on an exclusive with him for seven or eight months. It was like going to school—the Steven Meisel School. He taught me how to position my face toward the light, find my pose and relax into it and then have fun and play. Last year, we shot a Zara campaign. Now when he shoots, he has a mirror on-set so you can perform a bit more and see how you look.”

ROCHA “I used to be an Irish dancer; this kind of dancing is rigid up top with the bottom moving fast, so nothing about it is practical for modelling. I went to Taipei to do catalogue work; it was hours upon hours of shooting every day, and it’s where I learned the basics of quick posing. These catalogue models move very quickly, and I truthfully thought that’s how you model. A few years later, I worked with Steven Meisel, who loved this quirky, weird thing I was doing. He was like, ‘That’s so weird and strange—keep doing it.’ So I was allowed from day one to perform the way I wanted because he gave me that approval, which, in turn, led to the industry saying ‘Well, if he says it’s OK, I guess we should let her do it the way she wants to do it.’”

Top, $2,100, skirt, $5,300, and shoes, $1,650, Prada.

Irina Lăzăreanu

On Steven Meisel and Learning How to Model

“One of my first jobs with Steven Meisel was for Vogue Italia. It was a very long editorial—70 pages—so we shot for almost three weeks. Camilla Nickerson was styling, and Pat McGrath and Guido [Palau] were on makeup and hair. I had to be different characters; one was a marionette, and I had to do these crazy jumps for about an hour straight. Steven would say ‘Do it again, but your hand should be here, your pinky should be there.’ And we did it again and again and again. I really believe that Steven is the absolute best teacher. He trains you how to move, how to understand images and lighting and how clothes move on you.”

Jacket, $3,455, Ami. Top, $150, Eliza Faulkner. Legwear, $120, Sheertex. Shoes, $1,885, Christian Louboutin. Earring, $160, Jenny Bird.

ON NOT GIVING UP

LĂZĂREANU “When I started my career, nobody understood my look; nobody knew what to do with me. I was considered edgy and different looking; I would go to casting after casting and people would throw my book away. This is when we used to do castings on foot and go around the city with a little map. It was 10 castings a day and 10 noes a day. And I thought, ‘OK, well, I’m going to go through photography books and learn about lighting and Irving Penn and study images and be productive to prepare, so when I get a job, I’m going to be the best model I can be.’”

HARLOW “I went to an agency when I was maybe 16. They said that if I wanted to be in the fashion industry, I should try to be a makeup artist. But I just thought, ‘You know what, that’s your opinion.’”

ON THE ROLE OF A MODEL

LĂZĂREANU “Kate Moss was a mentor to me when I started my career, and she taught me a lot. She said: ‘This job is not about you looking pretty. And it’s not about you. You’re a canvas and you’re part of a team, and together you’re going to build a concept and tell a story. So the faster you understand that as a model, the better you’ll be at your job.’”

OWEN “When I started, I thought modelling was incredibly boring, and I hated that. Everyone else got to be creative. The photographer was creative. Everyone was creative, but the model was like a puppet. I decided that it was not working for me, and I wanted to try to find a way that I could have fun with it, too. I had to come out of my shell and use my imagination to create a scenario and play and be able to make it work. It took years to finally realize what I had to do to make it fun for myself and make it work for other people. Then Paolo Roversi said to me, ‘Kirsten, modelling is an art and you are an artist,’ and that was like—wow, I was touched.”

Jacket, $14,265, top, $3,585, and gloves, $840, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.

Coco Rocha

On the Role of a Model

“The whole purpose of any artist is to make people feel something. Actors, dancers, singers, performers—they all understand that. But if you say a model’s job is to make people feel something, you get a giggle. Fashion is a multi-trillion-dollar industry where you are trying to sell something or at least get someone to feel something. My goal on-set is that the room should applaud. They should be excited by what they just saw.”

On Owen: Dress, $695, Sid Neigum. Shoes, $1,675, Roger Vivier. Bracelets, $175 each, Jenny Bird.
On Lăzăreanu: Dress, $795, Sid Neigum. Shoes, $1,675, Roger Vivier. Bracelets, $175 each, Jenny Bird.

ON DIVERSITY

ROCHA “I remember Liya [Kebede] being backstage and saying ‘I’m the only Black woman.’ And we would be like, ‘Yeah, you are.’ But it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, shoot, what are we going to do about that?’ Looking back now, how did the world not see this as an issue? The industry shifted, for sure, but it shifted because the public said ‘Where am I? Where is my skin colour? Where is my body size?’ That only happened when social media came around.”

HARLOW “The true meaning of being a trailblazer is not just walking the path; it’s making that path easier for others to walk. I remember the first time I saw a model with vitiligo get a job after I had pretty much been the only one. In the comments, people were saying ‘Winnie Harlow, watch your back’ or ‘This girl is coming for your job.’ But the whole point of me doing what I do is so that I can cry tears of joy to see someone who looks like me. One of the first big covers I did was in Saudi Arabia, and there was a girl there who was a fan of mine and DMing me. I asked the magazine to have her with me on the cover. Being that representation that I never had is my proudest achievement.”

ROCHA “I find it funny that in acting or singing, you don’t see ‘curve singer’ or ‘curve actress.’ For some reason, models are put in tiny boxes.”

Dress, $1,885, Lapointe. Shoes, $1,150, Jimmy Choo. Earring, price upon request, Dinh Van.
Necklace, $6,950, and ring, $4,150, Bulgari.

Winnie Harlow

On Diversity

“I don’t call myself a spokesmodel for vitiligo. I don’t want to make another box for everyone to fit into, like ‘vitiligo models’ or ‘plus-size models.’ There shouldn’t be a mould in the first place. Let’s break it completely.”

On Lăzăreanu: Dress, $1,230, Mance. Boots, $2,420, Saint Laurent By Anthony Vaccarello. Necklace, $7,560, Bulgari.
On Stam: Blazer, $520, Norma Kamali. Necklace, $13,560, Dinh Van. On Rocha: Jumpsuit, $4,095, Moschino. Bracelets, From $185, Dean Davidson.
On Owen: Blazer, $795, Pants, $350, And Boots, $450, Boss. Necklace, $7,400, Bulgari. On Harlow: Coat, $2,375, Top, $570, And Shorts, $480, Mance. Boots, $2,400, Ami. Earrings, $225, Dean Davidson.

ON PUSHING BACK WHEN NECESSARY

LĂZĂREANU “We need to talk about general respect and work conditions for models. We all have war stories about how fashion week is and how the lifestyle is—it’s not the healthiest environment for a young woman.”

ROCHA “I’ve had an equal amount of frustrating moments with both sexes in my career. I think it’s fascinating when you find yourself in a sticky situation with a woman and you’re thinking ‘Is this even possible?’ Recently I worked with a new designer I’d never worked with before. I don’t give names because I believe people have the right to change. In the fitting, she spoke to me as if she were saying ‘I own you because I paid for you to be here.’ She never said it in those words, but it felt like that because of the way she was talking to me and even looking at me. All of it was such an awkward experience. And I thought: ‘Here we are in 2022, and your behaviour is so shocking. Women shouldn’t be doing this to other women.’ I left thinking ‘What is happening?’ James saw me cave in and cry; it was that bad. I think I was also in shock because there I was, trying to be technical and kind and respectful. But this woman was just not having it, and I said, ‘James, I can’t do it’ and he said, ‘I agree—we’re cancelling.’ This person’s team was very sweet and said, ‘Can we double the amount?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Any designer who thinks that treating someone like that can be fixed with money will never learn. She was not happy. She told my team I was disrespectful and a diva. A few days later, she tried to get herself in front of me, but I have a husband who is my bodyguard, my everything, and he wouldn’t let her come near.”

HARLOW “I’ve endured a lot of hair damage backstage and during photo shoots when there haven’t been people behind the scenes who are well educated in Black hair. Those are the times when I feel the most discrimination. For one cover shoot, I came on-set with my natural ’fro. I’d worked on it all night, putting curl-rod sets into it, and it was really beautiful. When I got on-set, they said they wanted my hair bigger, so they decided to add water. If you know Black hair, you know that water makes it smaller, not bigger. And so I ended up with a really wet, soggy hairdo. And then they asked me to put it back to what it was before. It had taken me all night to create the hair that they had just ruined, and I couldn’t get it back to what they wanted. That was disheartening because I had spoken up for myself, saying ‘It gets smaller if you wet it, not bigger,’ but I wasn’t heard.”

ON GOING TO EXTREMES TO GET THE SHOT

ROCHA “What have I not done for a shot? I’ve stood on the edge of a skyscraper without any sort of safety net. I have been in rooms that were on fire and worked with animals from elephants to camels. I had a black snake in my mouth for eight hours for photos by Steven Klein that never got published because American Vogue said they were a little too editorial—I would love to find those photos.”

LĂZĂREANU “We were shooting a Puma campaign with Ryan McGinley at the Serpentine in London. We had the museum to ourselves, and at the very top there was a swing that was attached to the ceiling seven storeys up. Ryan said, ‘Why don’t you jump from the balcony onto the swing?’ Obviously, the production team was against it. So during the lunch hour, Ryan and I ran away, and I jumped from the balcony onto the swing and we got the shot. And then we didn’t know how to get back. It took about an hour and a lot of people to get me off that thing.”

Jessica Stam

On Going to Extremes to Get the Shot

“I did a shoot 18 years ago with Charlotte Stockdale for British Vogue. We were on a cruise ship in Alaska for eight days. For one of the shots, we took a helicopter to an iceberg, and they dropped me off and shot me from the helicopter. So I was all alone on this iceberg. They were like, ‘Don’t move around too much because we don’t know if it’s OK.’ One of my favourite things is getting in a harness and doing flying shots. There was a Nina Ricci fragrance campaign where I was like Catwoman running across the rooftops they had built on a set. And I recently did a Vogue Italia shoot where I was climbing on furniture. I like doing flips and stuff when I’m not supposed to; it’s really fun.”

Blazer, $1,985, top, $750, pants, $995, and choker, $575, Sportmax. Rings, $280 each, Dean Davidson.

ON SOMETHING SPECIAL A DESIGNER HAS GIVEN THEM

STAM “Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui used to have these giant rooms full of samples, and they would give you a shopping bag and say ‘You can fill up the shopping bag—that’s your payment for doing the show.’ So I have a ton of Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui and Thom Browne, from when he first launched his womenswear. He’s also one of my favourite designers.”

LĂZĂREANU “I have a 1992 Westwood tweed jacket that Vivienne gave me that I cherish because she was such an inspiration to me and to so many people around the world. She really was the embodiment of punk and such a trailblazer. And I have an Alexander McQueen coat that he gave me. I love it very much because I loved him very much. He was an incredible designer, a master tailor and a very sweet human being.”

OWEN “My two kids and I have these beautiful cashmere Louis Vuitton blankets that Marc Jacobs gave us when he was there. He’s so lovely to work with—incredibly cool, accepting and easy. He doesn’t put pressure on you or judge you. He’s so easy to be around.”

ON KARL LAGERFELD

LĂZĂREANU “Karl was a perfectionist. He worked a lot. He was very demanding, but he also gave a lot to people. I would spend time with him at the studio, and he would draw while I would do my journals and my poetry, and he would lend me books to read.

“Once, I was doing the cover of Visionaire, and at the time I was flying back and forth from New York to Paris like four times a week. I got off the plane in Paris and went straight to the set. It was a night shoot, and I was exhausted. I remember having tears in my eyes. Karl saw me. He didn’t say anything, but he took me outside and said: ‘Let it out. If you’re going to cry, you do it now.’ So I was crying, and then he said, ‘Don’t ever let them see you cry.’ And it’s really kind of crazy because everybody in the studio would always say ‘Don’t show emotion; don’t let him see you cry.’ When he cared about you, he was very loving. It was a human moment.”

ON STAYING IN THE GAME

ROCHA “Some models look at new girls and think ‘You’re going to be my replacement. Why would I ever want to help you? It just means I’ll lose my job quicker.’ But in reality, we’re going to be replaced. It’s an industry that still has a warped belief that beauty is young. So why not help someone?”

Kirsten Owen

On Staying in the Game

“I have a very simple regimen: I run through the woods barefoot and then jump in my pond. I run for about 45 minutes, three or four times a week. It makes me feel happy and grounded. It’s not about looking youthful. It’s about feeling alive.

“How long will I keep modelling? I don’t know. Probably forever. [Laughs] I’m sure that I’ll still be doing pictures when I’m in my 90s.”

Top, $595, and skirt, $725, Rachel Gilbert. Bracelet, $175, Jenny Bird.

Our group discussion ends with a rousing chorus of Canada’s national anthem (in both official languages!) and agreement that one of the bonuses of the day was getting to see respected colleagues at work. “We never get to watch each other perform,” explains Rocha. “That’s when you think ‘I know why you’re so good, I understand why you keep working and I know why everyone loves you.’ It was really special today to watch everyone.” It’s also a privilege that I will never forget.

The full September 2023 issue will be available
on Apple News+ August 1 and on newsstands August 7

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREG SWALES

CREATIVE DIRECTION BY GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS

STYLING BY ASHLEY GALANG

PRODUCED BY ALEXEY GALETSKIY FOR AGPNYC

CINEMATOGRAPHY Chevy Tyler CAM OPERATOR Vanessa Viera SOUND MIXER Braulio Lin VIDEO EDITOR Leila Lorenz HAIR Dimitris Giannetos and Dhairius Thomas for Opus Beauty/Sway and Raw Sugar. MAKEUP Soo Park for The Wall Group/Chanel and Yeika. NAILS Nori Yamanaka for See Management/Chanel. HAIR ASSISTANTS Luca Pagani, Christina “Harley” Beman and Miller Brackett. MAKEUP ASSISTANTS Tsuyoshi Sekimoto and Jayden Ho Pham. NAIL ASSISTANTS Marie Barokas and Kuniko Inoue. FASHION ASSISTANT Alexis Ayala. FASHION INTERNS Reinaldo Rivera Nuñez, Tess Jameson and Gabby Hannley. PHOTO ASSISTANTS Yolanda Leaney, Francisco Bravo and Shawn McCarney Alviz. DIGITAL TECHNICIAN Amanda Yanez.

The post Introducing FASHION’s September Cover Stars: 5 Iconic Canadian Supermodels appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Myles Sexton on Nature, Fashion and Their New Podcast

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 13:00:30 +0000

It’s kinda hard to believe that Myles Sexton was once a sheltered country boy who had never heard of Madonna or Cher. “When I finally left my little town and moved to Halifax, people would ask me which one I liked and I had to say, ‘I don’t know who either of those people are,’” laughs Sexton from their airy living room in their Waubaushene, Ont., home, just steps away from Georgian Bay. “It was a bit of a culture shock because I didn’t grow up with any of that.”

Swimsuit, $295, Jade Swim at Holt Renfrew. Jumpsuit, $320, Jesse Woon Sam. Boots, $250, L’Intervalle. Eyewear, $45, U3 Select. Bracelet (left), $1,380, bracelet (right, top), $1,080, and bracelet (right, bottom), $935, Omi Woods. Hair accessory (worn throughout), hairstylist’s own. Photography by Nick Merzetti

The makeup artist, activist and social media star describes being raised in a house that was “tucked in the woods on a hill overlooking a beautiful river and giant willow trees.” The property was in Nova Scotia on the border of Newport Corner and Brooklyn, which had a combined population of fewer than 2,000. “My parents lived a very simple, beautiful country life,” explains Sexton. “They never really believed in TV or video games or things like that. They would just tell me to go outside and not come back in until the sun went down. So I would explore the forest and see what I could find and watch the plants grow. Nature will always be a part of what grounds me.”

Swimsuit, $385, catsuit, $510, shoe covers, price upon request, and shoes, $775, Marine Serre. Bag, $195, Kanuk. Photography by Nick Merzetti

In August, Sexton and their fiancé bought their home in Waubaushene as a way to bring more balance to their life. You would never know it from Sexton’s bouncy persona — where they often begin a social post with a cheery “Hey cuties!” — but city life was taking its toll. “I am so bad at saying no,” they admit. “I wasn’t taking any time for myself, and I think I was burning out.” Demands included content creation for advertising partners, appearances on shows like Cityline and The Social and ambassadorial duties for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). On top of that, Sexton had a full-time job as an educator for Fenty Beauty, which had them flying all over Canada and to the United States. “It was intense,” they say.

Top, $95, U3 Select. Dress, $420, Rotate at Hudson’s Bay. Boots, $230, L’Intervalle. Ring (left), $180, and ring (right), $275, Omi Woods. Photography by Nick Merzetti

They decided to kiss their Fenty Beauty role goodbye and take weekends off as well as a break in the middle of the day to walk Atlas, their Australian cattle dog. “I’ve been blown away by how much wildlife we see here,” they smile, citing a bear and lots of deer. “And there are these giant woodpeckers that are the size of a cat.”

The return to nature has been super healing for Sexton. “I’m really big into Japanese forest bathing,” they share. “I truly believe that trees give off particles that we absorb through our skin and they reduce our stress, anxiety and blood pressure.”

Jacket, $2,245, and corset, $1,680, Vivienne Westwood. Earrings, $60, COS. Photography by Nick Merzetti

This new chapter has also come with new projects. Sexton will take on more of a leadership role with Sexfluent, CANFAR’s youth-focused HIV and sexual-empowerment program. (Sexton is HIV+.) And in January, they released their first video as part of an ongoing partnership with Jean Paul Gaultier. “It’s me talking about HIV and getting to celebrate JPG’s fragrance and fashion,” they say. “So that was really a big one. JPG has been my favourite brand since I was baby Myles.”

Next on the horizon is a podcast, which is an extension of Sexton’s advocacy work. “I’ll be covering different topics around inclusive language and creating awareness about HIV/AIDS and sobriety,” they explain. “This will allow me to go into more depth compared to in a 60-second video.”

Jacket, $350, Monier. Skirt, $130, U3 Select. Swimsuit, $345, Abysse at Holt Renfrew. Bracelets, $215 each, Omi Woods. Boots, Sexton’s own. Photography by Nick Merzetti

And like many of us, Sexton is reconciling their love of fashion with their sense of responsibility. “I’m trying to be as conscious as I can,” they say. They seek out small-batch indie designers such as Montreal’s Denis Gagnon, whose high-waisted wide-leg trousers have been a go-to for five-plus years. Toronto jewellery designer Jenny Bird and gender-free, queer-focused New York brand Fang are other favourites.

Jacket, $850, Mindful Pigs. Top, price upon request, Acne Studios. Skirt, $110, Unlike. Boots, $230, L’Intervalle. Photography by Nick Merzetti

With a wardrobe that includes body-con dresses and thigh-high boots, Sexton admits to being nervous about how their new neighbours were going to receive them. “I was dressing down when I would go to the grocery store and Costco and things like that,” they say. “And then people started recognizing me from TikTok and they’d be like, ‘Oh, you’re not wearing your regular outfits.’” So Sexton amped up the fashion factor, which has sparked a different, somewhat bemused, reaction. “Now, every time I leave the house, they’re like, ‘Are you going to an event?’”

Top, $55, The Giving Movement. Pants, $370, Rotate at Hudson’s Bay. Boots, stylist’s own. Photography by Nick Merzetti

Photography by NICK MERZETTI. Creative direction by GEORGE ANTONOPOULOS. Styling by ASHLEY GALANG. Hair by DUYEN HUYNH for LAKMÉ. Makeup by MYLES SEXTON. Prop styling: LAURA BRANSON. Photo assistant: RYAN FRANCOZ. Fashion assistant: KAREEM ALLAN MCCLEAN.

This article first appeared in FASHION’s Summer 2023 issue. Find out more here.

The post Myles Sexton on Nature, Fashion and Their New Podcast appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

How One Man Wears Chanel

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 25 May 2023 17:51:15 +0000

Chanel may not produce menswear, but at the recent Chanel Cruise 2023/2024 show in Los Angeles, there were men in Chanel roaming everywhere around the roller rink “runway” set up on a Paramount Studios lot. There was Snoop Dogg with a scarf tied babushka-style over his braids, Lil Nas X with a tangle of pearls and chains around his neck, G-Dragon in a black jacket embroidered with white camellias, Nile Rogers in a CC logo jacket and jeans, Anderson Paak in a pink chain motif cardigan and many, many dudes — some famous, some not — carrying quilted bags.

Some of the gents sporting Chanel that night are “friends of the house” including the National Ballet of Canada’s Siphe November. The stylish principal dancer began his relationship with the brand about two years ago, a perk that has allowed him access to an array of Chanel that he mixes with his wardrobe of cool independent designers and high street labels. Even better, November is a perfect sample size in Chanel clothes and shoes.

In L.A., he threw an oversized jacket thrifted at Value Village over a Chanel T-shirt to check out the new Rodeo Drive flagship. He lunched at Matsuhisa in a Chanel bomber jacket and black leather pants from Gap. And he attended the show in a tweed jacket with satin collar and cuffs over Ms. Min trousers. I sat down with November to chat about how he wears Chanel and how growing up in a small town in South Africa has given him a unique perspective on the storied brand.

Chanel jacket, sunglasses, bag and loafers, Ms. Min pants and socks from Soop Soop. (Photography by Maya Fuhr)

How did you choose your look for the Cruise show?

There’s always one piece, whether it’s a pant or a hat, that’s the thing that allows me to step into my vibe for that day or event. For the show, it was that jacket. The whole look was inspired by Versailles and old drawings of the Sun King, Louis XIV. And the fluffy socks helped create a ballet feel without it being literal. It’s still me but it’s the Chanel version of me.

And there was a Michael Jackson influence with the sunnies. Especially with the loafers and the socks. He was also inspired by the courts of France. And he was the King of Pop. But I didn’t anticipate the way that jacket would shine in the lights which made it so much more spectacular. It sparkled so beautifully. It was a real moment and I felt like a star. I wanted to feel like the Sun King and I did.

Chanel does not make menswear, so you are a guy wearing women’s clothes.

And I love that. One of my biggest fashion idols is Pharrell (Williams). I remember I saw him once when he came to Toronto. It was, like, 2014 and it was at the height of when he had that Vivienne Westwood hat that everyone had an opinion about it. And I remember watching him through that whole time and he just kept wearing it. And then seeing him wear Chanel and rocking it and looking so fire made me want to wear it too. Chanel sunglasses are the only sunglasses I wear because of him.

Chanel sweater and necklaces worn with upcycled pants from Herbie Mensah London in Portobello Market. (Photography by Maya Fuhr)

A lot of guys would not wear pearls. Do you associate pearls with femininity?

No, I don’t. A pearl necklace on a man’s bare chest looks good to me. Jewellery is an accessory. It has no gender. If you look at different cultures around the world, historically they approach jewellery as a form of self expression and status. I see pearls as an accessory for self expression as opposed to an identity.

That must partly come from growing up where you did. I imagine you didn’t have any specific references for pearl necklaces.

No, I had none of that. In my culture, men and women wear beads as part of their traditional wear. I didn’t grow up with pearls tied to an image and then in my teens I saw artists breaking those boundaries — like Pharrell wearing pearls and mixing it with high jewellery and rappers breaking those codes. There’s a rebellious nature to men wearing pearls, which I like for sure.

Chanel cap and leather jacket. The string bracelet was purchased from a street stall in Windsor, ON and November treated himself to the Cartier Santos when he was promoted to principal dancer. “This is my reminder of everything I’ve accomplished so far.” (Photography by Maya Fuhr)

Do you have a favourite Chanel element?

One of the first shows I saw was dedicated to the camellia and to me, it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s so part of the identity of the house to me, even more than the two C’s. There’s something so rich about it. There’s so many ways you can play with it. I have a white camellia pin that I love to pop onto different outfits. It makes me feel Chanel without being too Chanel-ified.

Again, not to harp on the gender thing, but a flower is so conventionally identified with women.

To me it’s not associated with anything but care and sensitivity and beauty. So if it makes me look better, I’ll put it on.

Chanel necklaces worn with a KOTN tank and a mohair sweater that November purchased from a friend. (Photography by Maya Fuhr)

Do you think of Chanel as something precious that you only wear on certain occasions? Or do you look at it the same way you look at a cotton T-shirt?

Sometimes I approach it as “this works well with what I want to wear” or sometimes I make it the main event and the Chanel piece is the star. I look at clothes in general as kind of an everyday conversation. I don’t take very good care of my clothes, if I’m being honest. Because I think they’re supposed to be worn.

You’ve visited 19M, Chanel’s new Paris headquarters for 600 artisans including embroiderers, feather workers and goldsmiths. What was that like?

It was crazy. Seeing all the creativity that goes into developing new styles — as an artist that’s something I really connected with. As someone who puts a lot of hours into perfecting my work and understanding that whether my leg is two degrees higher or lower evokes a whole different emotion in the person experiencing it, seeing that attention to every little detail changed everything for me. It added a different layer of appreciation for the garments and what the brand represents.

The post How One Man Wears Chanel appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Coco Meets Barbie in Chanel’s New Cruise Collection Shown in L.A.

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:06:47 +0000

Margot Robbie need look no further for her promo wardrobe for the Barbie film coming in July. The Cruise 2023/2024 collection that Chanel presented in Los Angeles on May 9 was full of beachy, Barbie vibes. Robbie was among the dozens of celebs, including Kristen Stewart, G Dragon, Elle Fanning, Lily Collins and Riley Keough, seated around a massive roller rink plunked down amid the sound stages of Paramount Studios for the show.

The first clue that this was going to be a lighthearted romp came as guests walked into a lineup of food trucks serving falafels, pizza and other casual fare. A local radio station played over the loudspeakers and a giant scoreboard seemed to hint at a roller derby with the jumbotron catching glimpses of smiling celebs. Designer Virginie Viard‘s parade of pink short suits, leather jogging pants, board shorts, and cutout swimwear — often worn with leg warmers — seemed well suited to California’s fitness-crazed lifestyle. There was lots of sparkle for awards season and Hollywood premieres, including glow-in-the-dark heels and eveningwear that glittered with fireworks and ice cream floats. Palm trees showed up everywhere, one model carried a skateboard, and a VW van handbag had a couple of surfboards attached to its roof.

After the show, guests could join the professional roller skaters who were swooping and spinning around the rink. Snoop Dog, wearing a Chanel scarf babushka-style around his long braids, brought the house down with a short set. “This is my first fashion show,” he told the crowd before mentioning that his wife was wanting a Chanel bag, or two. He’ll find plenty at the four-storey flagship Chanel just opened on Rodeo Drive.

Click through below to see some of the most attention-grabbing looks from the show — we think Barbie would approve.

Photography courtesy of Chanel

1/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

2/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

3/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

4/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

5/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

6/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

7/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

8/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

9/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

10/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

11/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

12/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

13/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

14/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

15/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

16/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

17/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

18/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

19/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

20/20

Chanel Cruise 2023/2024

The post Coco Meets Barbie in Chanel’s New Cruise Collection Shown in L.A. appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Vivienne Westwood Was “a Designer’s Designer”

FASHION Staff — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 21:43:49 +0000

This article was originally published on December 29, 2022.

Vivienne Westwood, who died December 29 in London at age 81, is widely credited for being the “high priestess of punk.” But she was so much more than that. Westwood was a visionary whose designs always led, never followed. She was a wit who could skewer aristocratic snobbery with a shrewdly mangled plaid. She was irreverent and provocative, receiving her Order of the British Empire at Buckingham Palace panty-less and putting the Queen with a safety pin through her lip on a T-shirt. But beyond being fashion’s foremost provocateur, Vivienne Westwood is the reason corsets, crinolines, rubber, leather and latex are accepted aspects of modern dress.

Dame Vivienne Westwood after collecting her insignia from the Prince of Wales during an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London in June 2006. (Photography by Getty Images)

“She was revolutionary in so many ways,” says George Antonopoulos, FASHION’s creative and fashion director. “She took historical elements like corsets and coquette silhouettes and made them supercool and exciting.” S&M gear and fetish wear became “normalized” in her hands. “And back in the ‘80s, she was the very first gender bending designer,” he says. “She created unisex clothing and showed men’s and women’s together on the runway and it all made sense.” She was also one of the first designers to use her platform to raise awareness for political and social issues including nuclear disarmament and climate change.

Ever the non-conformist, Westwood seemed to get particular pleasure from sending up British culture. “She took traditional elements like tailoring and tartans and Harris tweed and turned them upside down,” Antonopoulos says, adding that Westwood was the first designer he ever spent money on as a teenager. “I loved how disruptive she was. She was the designer that made me fall in love with fashion.”

Vivienne Westwood with Malcolm McLaren. (Photography by Getty Images)

In the ‘70s, Westwood met Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, and together the pair shaped the punk movement — he with the music and she with the clothes. They were romantic partners too, though Westwood later married her current husband Andreas Kronthaler, a designer who has worked alongside her since they married in 1992. In typical Westwood fashion, the union raised some eyebrows — he was 25, she was 50. But she could hardly care what others thought — a theme that ran throughout her career.

Perhaps that is why Westwood is also one of the most respected creatives of our age and one whose ideas have been referenced by so many who followed her. “She was a designer’s designer,” Antonopoulos says.

Below, a look at some of Dame Vivienne Westwood’s signature designs, from tartan to corsets, on the runway.

Photography by Getty Images

1/10

A model in the first show Westwood presented outside of London

2/10

Kate Moss, 1993

3/10

Naomi Campbell, 1994

4/10

Eva Herzigova, 1995

5/10

Kate Moss, 1994

6/10

Linda Evangelista, 1995

7/10

Kate Moss, 1996

8/10

Pamela Anderson, 2009

9/10

Two models, 2017

10/10

Bella Hadid, 2020

The post Vivienne Westwood Was “a Designer’s Designer” appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Alessandro Michele Says Goodbye to Gucci

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 22:21:26 +0000

Some are shocked. Others aren’t. Either way, the news that Alessandro Michele is leaving Gucci is rocking the fashion world. And in a week that also saw Raf Simons shutting his label, that world had already been knocked off its axis.

Michele arrived at Gucci in 2015 with a bang, taking over from Frida Giannini who had carried Tom Ford’s sexy/suit-y legacy forward when he left the brand in the mid-oughts. But that formula was stale and predictable and it was time for something new. I attended Michele’s first fashion show for Gucci in Milan — one that divided opinions as sharply as one of the knife pleats on the runway. With men and women both dressed in floral suits and pussy bow blouses, many left thinking, “what was that?” Others loved the gender blending. It was a fresh, young attitude that would eventually seep into the mainstream.

A visit to the Gucci showroom to re-see that first collection was like witnessing an explosion of creativity splattered all over walls. There were jarring mixes of colours and patterns, geeky glasses, fur-trimmed grandma coats and beaded birds and bees that seemed randomly placed. There was also so much that had not made it to the runway. It was an excess of ideas and designs made even more remarkable because Michele had kept it all bottled up inside in the years he worked under Giannini. It was clear that old school sexy had been replaced with something that seemed much smarter — unapologetic eccentricity. Michele’s fur-lined slides, which became a must-have as soon as his first collection hit the stores, were the first clue that there was an appetite for his brand of quirk. And that’s exactly what Alessandro Michele delivered through his seven years at the helm of Gucci.

The reason many are not surprised by Michele’s exit is that despite high-profile fans like Harry Styles and the buzz Michele was so brilliant at creating like with his Spring 2023 show featuring 68 pairs of identical twins, Gucci clothes and accessories had become too predictable. Designers, like artists, sometimes reach creative limits and Gucci’s parent company Kering is a public one that needs growth to make shareholders happy. But the true question is: did Michele leave to take a mental break or to join another brand (Burberry could sure use him)? Only time will tell but we’d be very surprised if another big name doesn’t snatch him up soon.

Until then, we’ve rounded up Alessandro Michele’s top 10 most memorable moments from Gucci, from the opening look of his debut to Lady Gaga’s epic purple moment at the premiere of House of Gucci.

Photography courtesy of ImaxTree

Photography by Getty Images

Photography courtesy of Gucci

Photography courtesy of Getty Images

Photography courtesy of Gucci

Photography by WireImage

Photo by Getty Images

Photography courtesy of Gucci

1/10

Gucci Fall 2015

2/10

Gucci Fall 2016

3/10

Gucci Fall 2018

4/10

Harry Styles at the 2021 Grammy Awards

5/10

Gucci ARIA Fall 2021

6/10

2022 – Gilded Glamour

Alessandro Michele and Jared Leto at the 2022 Met Gala

7/10

Gucci Love Parade Spring 2022

8/10

Lady Gaga at the UK Premiere of “House of Gucci”

9/10

Rihanna at the Gucci Fall 2023 show

10/10

Gucci Spring 2023

The post Alessandro Michele Says Goodbye to Gucci appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Bilal Baig Teases Romance and Fun for Sort Of Season Two

Bernadette Morra — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 15:00:05 +0000

This article was originally published in March 2022.

Bilal Baig moved into a new apartment in Toronto a few months ago and apologizes for “the mess.” But there isn’t much visible on my computer screen, even when Baig takes me on a video tour. They show me the yellow walls in the living room, purple in the kitchen, and the art by Harmeet Rehal and Meera Sethi they haven’t had time to hang because Sort Of, the CBC and HBO Max original comedy written by Baig and Fab Filippo, has been renewed for season two and shooting starts this spring.

Photography courtesy of CBC/Keri Anderson

Since launching last fall, the show has been hailed for breaking barriers – from its normalized portrayal of trans people to Baig being the first queer South Asian Muslim actor in a Canadian primetime series. Unlike that other CBC show with an LGBTQAI2S+ lead, Schitt’s Creek, Sort Of has little to no camp and zero stereotyping. “One of the things we didn’t want to see was somebody snap their fingers and read somebody down,” Baig says, swishing their hand around and using the slang for pointing out a person’s flaws. In fact, the realness is what makes the show so widely relatable. When Baig’s character, Sabi Mehboob, reveals to their mother they are working as a nanny, she looks at them in horror and replies, “Like Mary Poppins?”

Uh, not exactly. For starters, Mehboob is often dressed in boho layers for day and shiny minidresses by night. Shelley Mansell, costume designer for season one, mined the wardrobe from local Toronto shops selling both new and secondhand including VSP Consignment, Fashionably Yours, Second Nature and Rewind Couture.

Photography courtesy of CBC/Keri Anderson

Baig, too, is an enthusiastic thrifter, citing Common Sort, Nouveau Vintage and Black Diamond as their favourite destinations. “I like things that feel lived in,” they explain, adding a desire to shop responsibly is also top of mind. “When I was in high school I was really silly with my money. I got a part time job at Baskin Robbins and all I did was buy clothes.”

Today’s look is a floaty butterfly print top, pleather leggings, a filigree cuff, and three of their mother’s bangles. Raiding her jewellery box is something Baig started as a child growing up in Mississauga.

“There wasn’t a punishment associated with me wanting to wear my mom’s bangles or explicitly exploring my femininity at an early age,” they note. “My parents had some very strong values on how they wanted us to be raised and at the same time, there was a lot of freedom in my childhood to express myself.”

Not fearing rejection allowed Baig to grow in a way they may not have otherwise, they believe. “And interestingly, I think my parents are on their own journey of learning more about themselves too.”

Photography by Greg Wong

So what can fans expect in season two?

For starters, there might be romance on the horizon. “I think it’s so delicious where we’ve left Sabi at the end of season one,” Baig says, with a smile stretching across their rose pink lips. Mehboob had to give up plans to join their BFF in Berlin when the mother of the children they look after has a serious bike accident. That and “sort of” coming out to their own mother combine for an emotional growth spurt that pushes the character to a new level of maturity for season two.

“I think they’re in a more open place when we meet them at the start of season two and I think they’re a little bit more open to receiving love,” Baig describes. “And more open to just being themselves more fully and freely in the world. And I think a lot of fun comes from that.”

On April 10, the Canadian Screen Awards will air with Sort Of leading with 13 nominations. And whether Baig and their colleagues take home top honours, they have already won in ways that are far more personal.

“My DMs are so full of really beautiful expressions of love and gratitude from lots of different kinds of people,” Baig says. “People talk about how they watch the show with their parents and that their parents have started to use their pronouns correctly, or at least really making a strong effort to. Folks have messaged me letting me know that they feel more certain than ever that they will transition or come out to their family. It’s like this spirit of opening. It means that it has reached people and changed lives and opinions, and that’s major.”

Check out the trailer for season 2 of Sort Of here:

The post Bilal Baig Teases Romance and Fun for Sort Of Season Two appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Is Kanye West Uncancellable?

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 18:03:09 +0000

On October 3, Kanye West sparked outrage when he unveiled a series of “White Lives Matter” T-shirts during Paris Fashion Week. You can read details about that and the ensuing drama, in which Ye publicly bullied a Vogue editor and accused LVMH’s Bernard Arnault of killing Virgil Abloh, elsewhere. Ye’s hate messaging is not in line with FASHION magazine’s values of love and acceptance of all.

But his latest provocation does raise a lot of questions, especially in the areas of mental illness and fashion reporting.

Kanye West is impossible to ignore for editors tasked with keeping numbers high on their websites and social media platforms. From his false and incendiary claims (slavery “sounds like a choice”) to his harassment of ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Ye is the traffic gift that keeps on giving. But it’s also painful to watch someone with bipolar disorder (he was diagnosed in 2017) so recklessly attacking others. Social media has allowed us a front-row seat to the illness and we are witnessing in real time the impulsivity that is a core feature, along with grandiose delusions, feelings of invulnerability and self-destructive behaviours. (It should be noted that some of those same qualities might have contributed to Ye’s artistic achievements as well.)

But his illness can only be blamed for so much. It is the corporations who back his fashion ventures, the consumers who buy his wares and the media who keep shining a spotlight on him (as I might be criticized for doing here) who are enabling Ye to continue to wreak havoc.

And then there’s the matter of fashion reporting.

I am old enough to remember the ’90s (and earlier!) when critics like Suzy Menkes and Cathy Horyn spoke their minds in show reviews for The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times, respectively. Sometimes they would be banned from attending a show the following season, a wrist-slap that seems almost quaint today. But there’s very little critiquing now, partly because no one wants to upset a current advertiser or potential sponsor, but also because it’s up to you, the consumer, to decide what is good and what isn’t. There is just too much freedom of expression today for editors to declare what’s hot and what’s not. We show you what’s new and your choices are your business.

There is a problem, however, with what Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma describes as “fawning media attention” and, specifically, how it has enabled Ye to feel empowered to say and do anything he wants, without any consequences. She calls for fashion editors, journalists, headline writers, social media managers and editors-in-chief to “Please. Stop. Covering. Kanye. Uncritically.” If we do that though, don’t we need to Stop Covering Everyone Uncritically?

Fashion is just a slice of the pop culture sphere that Ye operates in, which makes his influence so potent. And also puzzling. With all the hate spewed and hurt inflicted, with his bullying of Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA’s and alignment with racist homophobe Donald Trump, why has this man not been cancelled? Many people have for less. At press time, there was still no call to boycott Ye or his products. Does his illness provide him with a shield? Is it the traffic he generates, thanks to our ravenous appetite for voyeuristic thrills, that makes him untouchable? Do his random acts of kindness (giving cash to the homeless, donating $2 million to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor among them) somehow redeem him, if only temporarily? Or is there a point at which a person becomes so famous, they are simply uncancellable?

The post Is Kanye West Uncancellable? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Zendaya, and a 4 kg Emerald, Star in New Bulgari Film

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 15:06:07 +0000

A one-hour film about the Bulgari jewellery house which premiered at TIFF this week has no shortage of celebrities. Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni, Blackpink’s Lalisa Manoban, model Lily Aldridge and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas all make appearances. We also spend a good chunk of time with Zendaya (who just made Emmys history) in her lead-up to wearing the luxury brand at the 78^th Venice International Film Festival.

But the real star of Inside the Dream is a 4 kg emerald—a dark loaf-sized rock that has brilliant green veins of precious material trapped within it. The Jaipur gem dealer whose family has owned the 21,000-carat rough gem for more than 25 years tells Bulgari creative director Lucia Silvestri that he has never had a good enough reason to cut it. But Silvestri is determined to convince him the time is right, as she is looking for an outstanding stone that will become the centrepiece of a magnificent diamond necklace.

For much of the rest of the film, which launched on Amazon Prime Video on September 13, we follow Silvestri, who is possibly the only woman in the male-dominated jewellery world who buys roughs and sees them through to their final state: precious works of art. We see her at her desk in Rome with a pile of purple and pink stones, using tweezers to place them on a wax board to try out different necklace designs. We see her creative wheels spinning as she imagines a diamond snake holding a giant emerald in its mouth. And we see her meeting with laboratory technicians, as the idea in her head begins to take shape with fire and other lapidary tools.

Photo courtesy of Bulgari

Director Matthieu Menu, who previously worked on profiles of Yohji Yamamoto, Karl Lagerfeld and Simon Porte Jacquemus for an i-D magazine series called Hometown, also weaves in Bulgari history, from its founding by a Greek silversmith in 1884 to the 1960s when Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor discovered the Bulgari shop on days off from shooting at the Cinecitta studios in Rome, then insisted on wearing the purchases onscreen. “It was the original product placement and not only was it free, they paid us,” quipped Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin prior to the screening at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Jewellery and fashion lovers will appreciate the behind-the-scenes glimpses of campaign shoots and how a 4 kg rock transforms into a 93.83-carat cabochon for the Serpenti Hypnotic Emerald necklace on Zendaya in Venice. But good luck resisting the temptation to head to bulgari.com immediately after the film for a little retail reconnaissance. Silvestri’s own jewellery is a greatest hits of Bulgari design and you’ll be wanting to sell your car or condo to own your own viper ring or Roman coin necklace by the movie’s end.

The post Zendaya, and a 4 kg Emerald, Star in New Bulgari Film appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Margaret Qualley, Tilda Swinton and Anna Kendrick Mingle at TIFF’s Chanel Dinner

Bernadette Morra — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:10:54 +0000

“I love your look! You make me want to add another necklace,” Margaret Qualley tells me at the annual TIFF Chanel dinner at Soho House Toronto this past weekend, one of the most star-studded events at this year’s film fest.

The actor is referring to the ropes of pearls I have layered over a special edition Chanel-in-Monaco T-shirt from the 2023 Cruise event. Qualley, who plays a dominatrix in Sanctuary, which premiered the following day, kept her accessories clean for a knit look covered in Chanel’s famous CCs.

Tilda Swinton, Tyler Perry and Anna Kendrick were among the other head-turners mingling at the third annual Female Filmmaker Dinner. The event is co-hosted with Variety Magazine to spotlight talent from the Chanel Women’s Writers’ Network—a project that the brand has been supporting in partnership with TIFF. But it was the unmistakable energy of Hollywood networking in overdrive that gave this evening its buzz with so many actors, writers, directors—and future job opportunities—in the space.

Many expressed their thrill that TIFF was back full throttle, including director Elegance Bratton, whose film The Inspection premiered earlier in the day. He is so enchanted by Toronto he would like to buy a home here, he shared adding, “If New York and Detroit had a socialist baby, it would be Toronto.”

Qualley, meanwhile, giggled when asked what preparation she had done for her role as a dominatrix. Did it involved any whips, chains or leather? “It’s more psychological warfare and not overtly sexual,” she explained. Whatever the vibe of the film, she has reason to celebrate. Her performance with co-star Christopher Abbott has been called “riveting” and “electric.”

Here’s our roundup of photos from the Chanel and Variety event:

Photo by Pat Martin courtesy of Chanel

Photo by Pat Martin courtesy of CHANEL

1/12

Tilda Swinton in Chanel

Tilda Swinton attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

2/12

Margaret Qualley

Margaret Qualley attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

3/12

Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

4/12

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

5/12

Lashana Lynch

Lashana Lynch attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

6/12

Thuso Mbedu & John Boyega

Thuso Mbedu and John Boyega attend the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

7/12

Abessi Akhamie & Chester Algernal Gordon

Abessi Akhamie & Chester Algernal_Gordon attend the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

8/12

Lyric Ross

Lyric Ross attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

9/12

Kiersey Clemons

Kiersey Clemons attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

10/12

Leslie Mann

Leslie Mann attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

11/12

Ty Simpkins

Ty Simpkins attends the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

12/12

Andrew Scott & Kerry Condon

Andrew Scott & Kerry Condon attend the 3rd annual Female Filmmaker Dinner hosted by Chanel and Variety Magazine at Soho House in Toronto.

The post Margaret Qualley, Tilda Swinton and Anna Kendrick Mingle at TIFF’s Chanel Dinner appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

A Queen in Every Sense of the Word

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:55:13 +0000

As we absorb news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle, let’s reflect on the word “queen.” We use it loosely to describe a person who is strong, charismatic and true to themselves. A leader. A force.

And in some respects we do that because of THE Queen, the woman who ruled for 70 years through ups and downs, deaths and divorces. Fires and family embarrassments.

Queen Elizabeth II was from a generation of women who were only expected to support their husbands, raise their children and bake perfect pies. But she embraced the job thrust upon her at age 25 when her father, King George VI, died. It’s a role with lots of rules and regs. Pomp and protocol. And, yes, perks, too. But it was never her choice. She stepped up and never stepped down, even down to her last few days when she welcomed new prime minister, Liz Truss.

Her Majesty evolved the role with the times—creating the walkabout decades ago and bringing television cameras into the palace. More recently she was the first in her family to tweet and have a Facebook account. She played along with Daniel Craig, pretending to arrive at the London 2012 Olympics by helicopter.

She shook hands with world leaders and visited factory workers and seemed just as pleased to be doing both. She cleverly crafted a fashion style that allowed her to be picked out in a crowd from half a kilometre away. And it wasn’t because she wanted attention. It was about the duty she undertook so profoundly—to serve the institution of the monarchy and the people of Great Britain.

She was also, of course, a wife, mom, grandma and great-grandma.

And through it all, truly a queen.

Below, we look back at Queen Elizabeth II’s life lived in style over the past seven decades, and some of her most iconic fashion moments:

Photo by Central Press/Getty Images

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Photo by Cecil Beaton

Photo by Serge Lemoine/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Photo by RDA/Getty Images

Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Photog by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Photo by Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images

Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

Photo by Indigo/Getty Images

Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Photo by Eddie Mullholland - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Photo by Chris Jackson - WPA Pool /Getty Images

Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Photo by Eddie Mulholland/AFP via Getty

Photo by Yui Mok/Getty Images

Photo by Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage

1/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

(Then) Princess Elizabeth in uniform as Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards, 1947.

2/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Princess Elizabeth and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on their wedding day, 1947.

3/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation, 1953.

4/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II with a group of local children during her state visit to Mexico, February-March 1975.

5/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II in Paris at the Opera with French President Rene Coty, 1957.

6/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth ll smiles during her visit to New Zealand part of her Silver Jubilee Year Tour in March of 1977.

7/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Arriving at Aberdeen Airport in Scotland with her trio of corgis, 1974.

8/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

The Queen posing with the newly married Prince and Princess of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, 1981.

9/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

On a visit to Blois In France wearing a pink and taupe outfit designed by Ian Thomas.

10/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Attending the Royal Variety Performance at the Birmingham Hippodrome on November 29, 1999 in Birmingham, England.

11/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II with Carole Middleton and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, exiting Westminster Abbey following the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, 2011.

12/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, which marked the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, 2012.

13/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

The Queen attending the Order of the Garter Service, the most senior and the oldest British Order of Chivalry, 2015.

14/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her reign of 63 years and 217 days, marking the overtaking of her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria’s record by one day, 2015.

15/17

Queen Elizabeth Style

Queen Elizabeth II greets well-wishers from the balcony of the Chester Town Hall during her visit, with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, to Chester, Cheshire on June 14, 2018.

16/17

The Queen II Style

Queen Elizabeth II sits next to Anna Wintour as they view Richard Quinn’s runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design as she visits London Fashion Week’s BFC Show Space on February 20, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.

17/17

Queen Elizabeth II Style

Queen Elizabeth ll arrives at the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament on November 15, 2006. (

The post A Queen in Every Sense of the Word appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Princess Diana’s Death Was a Gut-Punch to Us All

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 17:54:54 +0000

I remember Princess Diana’s death vividly. My husband and I were at a tiny cottage on Lake Muskoka 25 years ago, when his phone rang with his sister calling to say the Princess of Wales had been in a car crash.

I was already in bed, but something about the tone of his voice made me climb out and head down the hall to the living room. He stopped the video he was watching on the little portable TV we had brought from the city. And there it was. Breaking news headlines. Regular programming interrupted. Diana had left the Ritz Hotel in Paris and been involved in a high speed car crash in the Alma tunnel, one I had driven through many times during Paris fashion week.

There was something ominous about the reporting from the get-go. A tension and weight to the delivery. We were both riveted. Then around 11 pm, reports that she was in grave condition. And soon after that, the gut-punch. Diana was dead.

We looked at each other in astonishment.

As so often happens when one is told someone they know well has passed, the first reaction is disbelief. The mind struggling to comprehend. Of course we didn’t know her personally. But all of us who followed her marriage, and its dissolution, felt we did.

Newscasters read statements from Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth, saying they were “deeply shocked and distressed.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair was “utterly devastated.” My thoughts went to William and Harry, who would have been woken near dawn to be delivered the devastating news. And my husband, so quiet, was possibly recalling when he was told, at age six, that his father had died, just weeks after being diagnosed with leukemia.

We sat there for hours watching the commentary, with few details emerging. At certain points, all that was aired was the British flag at half-mast with the caption, “Princess Diana 1961-1997.” Newsroom staff were clearly as shocked as the rest of us.

The next morning we drove back to the city so I could go into work at The Toronto Star to write a piece which I titled: Princess Diana, Supermodel of the Royal Set. The camera lens loved her and so did we, I wrote. And while Buckingham Palace might have liked her to remain as silent as a mannequin, she had become much more than than a fashion plate. She used her beauty as power, turning the spotlight on those who weren’t as fortunate as her.

Until her luck ran out.

The days following her death were surreal. It was like the world had stopped turning, not unlike the period, only four years later, after 9/11. We sombrely connected with friends and family. We watched the floral bouquets outside Buckingham Palace grow, the Queen’s television message after being criticized for not addressing the public, and the heartbreaking site of Diana’s sons walking behind her casket which was topped by a note addressed to “Mummy.”

And now we watch the emotional fallout of her death. One son who is devoted to royal duty. The other who is not. Each dealing with the trauma in their own way, as all sons who face the untimely loss of a parent do.

1/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

February 6, 1986: Princess Diana wears a red ski suit during a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland.

2/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

May 13, 1986: Prince Charles and Princess Diana arrive at the British Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, to attend a dinner reception hosted by the British Ambassador Sir John Whitehead. The late princess wears a gown designed by David Emanuel.

3/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

December 9, 1996: Princess Diana wears a navy blue John Galliano slip dress and her sapphire engagement ring three months after her divorce, to an event honouring Christian Dior at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

4/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

June 14, 1993: Princess Diana wears a pink Catherine Walker coat dress to the Order of the Garter ceremony at Windsor Castle.

5/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

April 24, 1996: Princess Diana is spotted leaving the Chelsea Harbour Fitness Club in her gym attire.

6/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

1994: Princess Diana is captured during an oil painting session at American painter Nelson Shanks’s studio in London, wearing a petticoat and a white chiffon blouse designed by Tomasz Starzewski.

7/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

April 1, 1987: Princess Diana wears a military style suit by Catherine Walker and hat by Graham Smith to the passing out parade at Sandhurst.

8/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

November 1, 1988: Princess Diana wears a purple Bruce Oldfield velvet gown to a charity dinner in aid of Dr. Barnardo at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

9/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

April 14, 1986: Princess Diana wears a blue sequinned dress paired with a pair of emerald and diamond earrings and a diamond necklace featuring the Prince of Wales’s feathers (a gift from her husband, Prince Charles) to the Vienna Burgh Theatre.

10/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

November 10, 1988: Princess Diana wears a floral Catherine Walker gown to a dinner banquet hosted by the British ambassador at the British Embassy in Paris.

11/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

July 18, 1986:
Diana wears a casual gingham outfit designed by Laura Ashley.

12/12

Best of Princess Diana Style

November 1, 1988: Princess Diana wears a Viv Knowland veiled hat at The Armistice Commemoration Day in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

The post Princess Diana’s Death Was a Gut-Punch to Us All appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Issey Miyake Was the Sweetest Designer I Knew

Bernadette Morra — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 14:57:56 +0000

Issey Miyake, who died last week in Tokyo at the age of 84, was without question the sweetest designer I have ever interviewed.

It was 1994 and I was working for the Toronto Star when I met him in his Paris office overlooking the exquisite Place des Vosges. The occasion was the launch of his first fragrance, L’Eau D’Issey, which went on to win multiple awards and become an international bestseller.

As I wrote then, I was struck by his lack of pretension, his simple, cluttered desk, his twinkling eyes, his warm smile.

Issey Miyake and models at his Ready to Wear, Spring 1994 show in Paris. Photography courtesy of Getty Images

He had every reason to be bitter and angry. He was a seven-year-old boy riding his bicycle in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb fell. It left him with a pronounced limp and, no doubt, profound invisible scars. His mother died three years later from the radiation. But unlike other designers whose life challenges have led to self-medicating, suicide or a narcissistic need for attention (or a combo of the three), Miyake seemed happy, serene even. And that joy was translated into clothing that bounced and billowed, expanded and contracted, and seemed endlessly charming and entertaining and…yet…comfortable, as anyone who has worn pieces from his Pleats Please line knows. In 2007, he stepped back to create a textile innovation lab with a focus on sustainability, more evidence of his lack of need for the limelight and public adoration.

Swedish model Emma Sjöberg wears a Pleats Please creation at the Issey Miyake Fall 1995 ready to wear show in Paris. Photography courtesy of Getty Images

We saw him as a visionary, a ground-breaking talent whose innovations were celebrated in museum exhibits and worn by some of the greatest musicians, writers and contemporary artists of the 20^th century. Miyake saw himself as a man who simply liked to sculpt with cloth.

Issey Miyake Spring 1999 ready to wear show in Paris. Photography courtesy of Getty Images

Having witnessed the worst, he seemed determined to find beauty wherever he looked. During our interview he suddenly stopped mid-sentence and began staring at the shadows on the wall. “Look,” he said. “The light.” I remember the moment so clearly, and how it captured the essence of his artistic core. RIP Miyake-san. Though it seems you had found peace already in your time on earth.

The post Issey Miyake Was the Sweetest Designer I Knew appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Kristen Stewart Reveals Her “Checkered” Past at Chanel’s Cruise Show

Bernadette Morra — Thu, 05 May 2022 16:16:40 +0000

“Fun” was how actress Kristen Stewart summed up the Chanel 2022/2023 Cruise collection shown May 5 at the Monte-Carlo Beach Club just outside Monaco.

“There’s something about watching high heels and a bathing suit walk down the beach,” Stewart mused. “I was laughing out loud throughout the entire thing. The collection had a real buoyancy.”

She wasn’t the only one who found designer Virginie Viard’s latest work full of whimsy. Clients, press and celebrities including Tilda Swinton, G Dragon and Johnny Depp ex Vanessa Paradis had flown in from all corners of the globe for the event. And there were plenty of locals, too, including royals such as Princess Caroline of Monaco (a BFF of late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld) and her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by G-DRAGON 🌐 (@g__dragonn)

Guests lounged under striped cabanas while models strutted by at the water’s edge. Many of the looks riffed on the region’s cultural and leisure pursuits. There were cute pink tennis racquet cases, superyacht-ready swimwear, and black satin footwear inspired by the pointe shoes worn by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Slot machine purses nodded to the Casino de Monte-Carlo, made famous in films such as Golden Eye and Ocean’s Twelve.

And the Monaco Grand Prix, which takes place at the end of this month, provided endless amusement. Several models carried racing helmets or miniature versions made into purses. Tweed and silk jumpsuits lined in terry cloth seemed like luxe versions of what a pit crew might wear.

Photography courtesy of Chanel

Lagerfeld had always wanted to show at the Beach Hotel, Viard shared in a touching press release. “To me, Monaco is a matter of feelings above all. That’s Karl, Caroline, Charlotte. From very early on, I knew we would hold a show there, and more precisely at the Beach Hotel. Besides, Karl was dreaming about it.” Lagerfeld owned the villa, La Vigie, above the beach club and shot several Chanel campaigns at the home including an iconic one from the ‘90s starring Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington. “I will never forget the times I spent there: terraces and balconies, big umbrellas, baskets of flowers — so much beauty,” Viard recalled.

Those florals popped up as bib-like clusters on striped shirt dresses and black satin gowns. But it was the racing prints that spoke to Stewart.

“I don’t know if it’s because I like cars and I like to drive really fast,” she said, adding that she isn’t one of the many who have recently taken to watching Formula 1 racing. “The first car that I ever drove as a teenager had a strip of checks around it and the top of the car was completely checkered.” You could even say she has a checkered past.

Swipe through the gallery below to see all the looks from the Chanel Cruise 2022/2023 collection.

Photography courtesy of Chanel

1/67

2/67

3/67

4/67

5/67

6/67

7/67

8/67

9/67

10/67

11/67

12/67

13/67

14/67

15/67

16/67

17/67

18/67

19/67

20/67

21/67

22/67

23/67

24/67

25/67

26/67

27/67

28/67

29/67

30/67

31/67

32/67

33/67

34/67

35/67

36/67

37/67

38/67

39/67

40/67

41/67

42/67

43/67

44/67

45/67

46/67

47/67

48/67

49/67

50/67

51/67

52/67

53/67

54/67

55/67

56/67

57/67

58/67

59/67

60/67

61/67

62/67

63/67

64/67

65/67

66/67

67/67

The post Kristen Stewart Reveals Her “Checkered” Past at Chanel’s Cruise Show appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Special Message from FASHION’s Editor-in-Chief

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 20:30:59 +0000

You are unapologetic about who you are.

And so are we. So FASHION has adopted a new tagline: Unapologetically Ourselves. We feel it reflects where we are now since transforming, two years ago, from a traditional women’s magazine to a brand for all ages, sizes, genders, ethnicities and orientations.

Since then we have written about so many fascinating fashion and beauty lovers — from a guy who wears sequins to an 80-year-old woman with pink hair. We have featured people with a range of styles — from elegant to eccentric. And we’ve heard over and over again how emotionally and spiritually connected our subjects are to their fashion and beauty choices.

@fashionmagazine You are unapologetic about who you are. And so are we. So #FASHION has adopted a new tagline: #UnapologeticallyOurselves ♬ Stacked – TruFeelz

So when our team gathered for an editorial conference a few months ago to discuss future story ideas, we realized that we are living in a new era. Fashion has grown to have a broad definition and style is as individual as a fingerprint. People are feeling unapologetic about their life choices, and that has extended to what they wear, how they adorn their bodies, even how they style their hair. Often, when challenges arise, it’s clothing that becomes a comfort or a way to convey the turmoil inside. In the last year we’ve met a cancer patient who wore heels to her surgery as an act of defiance and a transgender woman whose courage around coming out was symbolized by a floral crown.

And so the #FASHIONforall mission statement that has adorned the spine of our print issues for the last two years has been replaced with Unapologetically Ourselves. And it’s a phrase you will find popping up again and again on our social media and website and in our magazine. Because, like you, I am #UnapologeticallyMe and we at FASHION are #UnapologeticallyOurselves.

Click here to subscribe.

The post Special Message from FASHION’s Editor-in-Chief appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

André Leon Talley, the Former Influential Vogue Editor, Dies at 73

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:57:04 +0000

André Leon Talley, who died January 18 at age 73, was the poster boy for a bygone era of fashion media, when the focus was on designers and their craft, and when knowledge of fashion history was a valued asset. “He was a one man style encyclopedia,” Toronto writer Shinan Govani declared on Instagram to mark the death of André Leon Talley.

André Leon Talley and Anna Wintour at the 1999 Met Gala. Photography courtesy of Rose Hartman/Getty Images

When he was travelling the runway circuit as an editor for American Vogue, Talley’s assessment of a collection was often a lesson in fashion history, with references to Cristobal Balenciaga’s innovative silhouettes, or how Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized women’s dress. His observations were always delivered with excitement and appreciation, rather than the dry tone of an academic. Everything was, “Fabulous, darling!” – even the most head-scratching ensemble because he was unconditionally supportive of creativity. And his endless enthusiasm was infectious.

André Leon Talley and Naomi Campbell at the 2006 Met Gala. Photography courtesy of Rabbani and Solimene Photography/WireImage

As Talley’s stature grew in the fashion world, his mere presence at an event made it significant. He became an icon, even before he started wearing colourful Daniel Day caftans to cloak his girth, a result of the emotional eating that started after the grandmother who raised him died. At six foot six, he literally took up more space than anyone in the room. And yet, he seemed more interested in the people around him, charming socialites and encouraging young people who approached him to follow their dreams.

MADE Fashion Week Spring 2015. Photography courtesy of Rob Kim/WireImage

The 2017 documentary The Gospel According to Andre and the publication of his 2020 memoir, The Chiffon Trenches, shed light on the pain behind Talley’s rise to the top. He was born in Durham, N.C. and grew up at a time when segregation still existed. He was sexually abused when he was a boy, tormented for being Black and stoned by students at Duke University on one of his weekly walks to buy fashion magazines. His most valuable education began when he interned with Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, and he landed at Vogue in 1983 where he held various titles, ending with editor-at-large.

Through his film and autobiography, we also learn how behind his back in Paris he was called Queen Kong, a term coined by Clara Saint, a publicist for Yves Saint Laurent. “There’ve been some very cruel and racist moments in my life in the world of fashion,” Talley expressed. “Incidents when people were harmful and mean-spirited and terrifying.”

André Leon Talley speaks at the “The Gospel According to André” Q&A during the 21st SCAD Savannah Film Festival in 2018. Photography courtesy of Cindy Ord/Getty Images

After leaving Vogue, he seemed to grow lonely and bitter, calling the fashion world, “a vicious cruel beast.” He didn’t seem to understand the need for the budget cuts that were gutting the magazine industry, expressing horror that legendary editor Grace Coddington should have to line up for a taxi at the Paris airport. He came across as egomaniacal and entitled, which is unfortunate because given his wit and intelligence, and how dedicated he was to elevating others both at Vogue and through his support of the Savannah College of Art and Design, one would have hoped for a more serene retreat from centre stage. He certainly deserved it.

The post André Leon Talley, the Former Influential Vogue Editor, Dies at 73 appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Visionary Designer Virgil Abloh Dies at 41 After Private Battle With Cancer

Bernadette Morra — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 23:39:21 +0000

This story was updated on Nov. 29. Virgil Abloh, whose death on Sunday from a rare form of cancer shocked the world, didn’t come from the fashion world. So he never bothered to fit in.

Instead, he created his own system — one that didn’t include going to fashion school and peddling fancy clothes to department stores.

Lollapalooza 2018. Photography by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic

Abloh was an architect and part of a DJ collective that had a small clothing line. He was tight with hip-hop artists Kanye West and Travis Scott — fellow creatives who dressed like him in sneakers, tees and cargo jackets. He and West did an internship at Fendi in 2009 and three years later, recognizing that a new generation were mixing streetwear with luxury labels, Abloh founded Off-White. The upscale casual wear bearing graphic black and white stripes and arrows took off, appealing to well-funded international students and tech entrepreneurs who were re-writing the rules on corporate dressing. Abloh preferred concept stores to traditional retail and in the summer of 2018, recreated his Chicago studio at the Ssense flagship in Montreal.

Paris Fashion Week 2018, Off-White Menswear Spring/Summer 2019. Photography courtesy of Getty Images

“Virgil was the first to merge music, architecture, culture, art and fashion,” comments George Antonopoulos, creative and fashion director of FASHION. “He created a lifestyle, not just a label. I think that’s what gave Off-White so much clout. He was also the king of collabs before collabs were king, finding success with IKEA, Nike, Mercedes-Benz and Rimowa.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @virgilabloh

“Everything Virgil touches, people are interested in,” Christopher Casuga told The Globe and Mail in 2019. Casuga and his wife Lia were the first in Canada to carry Off-White at their CNTRBND boutique in Toronto. In 2016, Abloh entrusted the duo to open one of his first Off-White stores on Yorkville Avenue. “Virgil has always told us to never be afraid to follow your dreams and believe in yourself,” Casuga told FASHION the day after Abloh’s passing. “It is a very sad moment for myself and my wife as he is a big reason we are who we have become today.”

Casuga and Abloh had been close friends ever since meeting at a party in Chicago in the late ’90s, and were part of a circle that included West, Scott, creative director Heron Preston and Givenchy designer Matthew Williams. “This is before they became who they are today,” Casuga told The Globe, recalling an event held at a Toronto nightclub that he calls, “one of most epic parties in Toronto ever. Virgil was DJing, Kanye was literally swinging off the ceiling.”

Abloh was named artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear in 2018, making him one of the few black designers to lead a major French fashion house. The casting for his debut Vuitton runway show was heavily BIPOC and included several rapper friends, as if he were signalling the traditional fashion world that he was setting a new agenda. Which he did.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Louis Vuitton (@louisvuitton)

Abloh paved the way for other non-fashion-schooled creatives to be seen and heard in the upper echelons of the luxury business. Fittingly, he was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential in 2018. Abloh was a visionary and a disruptor. But he was a husband, son, father and friend too. And that is the greatest loss of all.

The post Visionary Designer Virgil Abloh Dies at 41 After Private Battle With Cancer appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Toronto Galas Resume with Bloor Street Entertains Fundraiser for CANFAR

Bernadette Morra — Fri, 26 Nov 2021 19:55:57 +0000

The Toronto gala scene came bouncing back on Nov. 25 with Bloor Street Entertains, an annual fundraiser for the Canadian Foundation for Aids Research (CANFAR). Last year’s event was a virtual one, like many charity fundraisers over the past 20 months. But the CANFAR team carefully plotted to ensure that this year’s 25th anniversary edition was a safe in-person soirée.

More than 850 guests gathered in a range of locations on or near Bloor Street and at several after-party spots further afield.

CANFAR ambassadors appeared at each venue of Bloor Street Entertains to share the story of how their lives have been impacted by the virus. “I was born with full-blown Aids,” 23-year-old Ashley Rose Murphy told a rapt crowd at Tiffany & Co. Her early years were filled with hospital visits – “I thought all kids did that,” she shared. But when she was seven, her adoptive parents told her the real reason for all the doctor appointments. Thanks to advances in treatment and one pill a day, Murphy lives a relatively normal life, though not without stigma. “A bunch of parents at my school got together and told the principal they wanted me out because of my health status,” she recalls. “That principal stood up for me and told them their kids could leave; I was staying.”

Fighting stigma is one effort the $1.1 million raised will go towards. Another is spreading the word about self-testing kits, which became available in Canada last year. More than 65,000 Canadians are living with HIV, though 14 per cent aren’t aware of their status. CANFAR’s goal is to eliminate new HIV transmissions in Canada by 2025 through increased prevention.

Click through to see photos from the event.

Four seasons after party. Photography by George Pimentel

Clio After Party. Photography by George Pimentel

Louis Vuitton dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Park Hyatt dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Tiffany & Co dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Yorkville Village dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Four Seasons dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Lumas dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

Holt Renfrew dinner. Photography by George Pimentel

1/19

2/19

3/19

4/19

5/19

6/19

7/19

8/19

9/19

10/19

11/19

12/19

13/19

14/19

15/19

16/19

17/19

18/19

19/19

The post Toronto Galas Resume with Bloor Street Entertains Fundraiser for CANFAR appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Chanel Brought John Legend and Faouzia Together for its Dazzling Dubai Show

Bernadette Morra — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 15:16:37 +0000

Two legends — one a storied fashion house and the other, a performer named John — came together this week in Dubai as Chanel restaged its 2021/2022 Cruise collection for one of the world’s most glamourous audiences.

The show had first been unveiled in May at an old limestone quarry in Provence, France, a region that inspired the flower prints in the collection. The quarry was the location for the film The Testament of Orpheus directed by artist Jean Cocteau, a friend of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s. There was no audience at the presentation so Chanel chose Dubai as the spot for its first post-pandemic destination show with invited guests.

Virginie Viard blended mod and punk vibes for looks that brought a fun edge to the tweed suits and flowy dresses — a bejewelled smock worn over fishnets with holes is just one example of the designer’s playful irony.

Photography courtesy of Chanel

There was just as much fashion off the runway, though. Clients, press and stars of the Middle East and beyond busted out the bling with wall-to-wall Chanel including sequinned jumpsuits and glittering evening gowns from recent collections. And even women who chose to cloak themselves in black abayas clutched novelty purses — from a grapefruit-sized pearl to a giant bottle of Chanel No 5.

Penélope Cruz. Photography courtesy of Chanel

Star power included Penelope Cruz, who was cruising the scene in a white Chanel suit cut out in the back so a twinkling logo pendant dangled against her smooth skin. But it was John Legend who shone brightest — the singer flew in to perform five songs including the duet “Minefields” with Canadian-Moroccan singer Faouzia.

“It’s our first performance live in the same room together,” Faouzia pointed out before the show, relaxing in black satin pants and a turtleneck dotted with pink CC’s before changing into a white miniskirt and blazer for the stage. The pair had performed the song live once before for a Kelly Clarkson show but that was virtual, with Faouzia in Canada and Legend in LA.

Faouzia’s love of Chanel is a family affair — her sister and mother’s fragrance of choice is Chance. “Every time I smell it, I think of them. So even when I’m travelling I can be brought right back to them, just with a bottle of perfume.”

Photography courtesy of Chanel

1/9

2/9

3/9

4/9

5/9

6/9

7/9

8/9

9/9

The post Chanel Brought John Legend and Faouzia Together for its Dazzling Dubai Show appeared first on FASHION Magazine.