This feature appears in V139, Supermodel, Superhero issue, now available for purchase. 

FENDI FORGES FUTURE FAVORITES

Here’s your winter horoscope: The Fendi Baguette is in. The classic bag is celebrating a milestone of 25 years, and this is a birthday celebration that cannot be missed. The phrase “iconic” is reinvented and reimagined; from Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Tiffany & Co., Porter, and Sarah Jessica Parker, the Baguette gets new life breathed into it, with interpretations of the bag released in homage to its place in pop culture. The Baguette is New York’s beating heart of leather, a dichotomy of excess and utility, cosmopolitan and glam, accessory and focal piece. History is celebrated by a re-emergence of the present; the new Baguette collection plays with the idea of a bag itself, with delicate silk satin and glossy leather, micro pockets, and contrasting sequins. As ceaseless as the stars–and always better for your temperament.

 

 

GUCCI HAS THE LAST LAUGH

LOL is so last year–this season, it’s all about HA HA HA. The best of friends have the three syllables embedded in the framework of their vocabulary. Now, the best of fashion is learning the phrase with Gucci HA HA HA, born from the minds of Creative Director Alessandro Michele and superstar Harry Styles. With H and A together, Gucci HA HA HA is inevitable, merging the vision of the Italian fashion house with the distinctive style of the British rocker. It’s about duoship, creativity, laughter, the melding of minds—as simple and seamless as embracing an old friend–loud prints, Gucci’s tailored, exaggerated construction, synthesis, and exchange. The 1970s is revised through English bohemian dress codes; the uniform of a rockstar is woven into Gucci’s playful vocabulary. H and A, with blazers and trousers, button-downs and knits; because the best things come in pairs.

 

 

CELINE CULTIVATES A CLASSIC

The quiet hiss of a vinyl record. The warm, wool smell of a new, tailored jacket. An identity and a destination. Celine’s Haute Parfumerie Bois Dormant is an olfactory experience in a bottle; an elegant scent, with designer Hedi Slimane’s signature mastery stepping from couture to cologne. Bois Dormant is a quiet English autumn, tasteful and elegant, underscored by notes of iris butter, cedar, and vetiver. Bois Dormant is the last evenings of summer slipping away, with just a hint of juniper and a touch of bergamot. It is an experience–Slimane’s own search for a secondhand suit as an adolescent in London–and a destination–the androgyny of the 21st century, the fluidity of identity and tradition. Luxury, comfort, and timelessness are called to mind with the daytime scent from Celine. Hugging the skin closer than even a fitted suit, Bois Dormant is the new intimacy of the season.

 

 

GIVENCHY’S NEW GENERATION

The future of fashion looks better in pairs–just ask Matthew M. Williams. For the upcoming season, the Givenchy creative director is remixing classic brand icons in collaboration with New York-based, Atlanta-born label (B)Stroy—the disruptive, nuclear label where the streetwear rulebook is rewritten entirely. The past is reshaped, refolded, reworked into something innovative and forward-looking; with new silhouettes and graphics, there’s a youth and vivacity to the capsule collection. Givenchy and (B)Stroy go hand-in-hand, with ready-to-wear, retouched and elevated: denims are embossed, patchworked, deconstructed and reconstructed. Graphics are splattered across the brightest of blues, black leather, pink and yellow, tees and jeans. And the backpack is designed anew, charmed and patched, with a new menswear style featuring a vertical zip. The new generation is electric, bold, unafraid of mixture and duality. The new generation is collaboration, where Givenchy and (B)Stroy intersect.

 

 

BALENCIAGA X ADIDAS: A MATCH MADE IN SPORTSWEAR

There’s one word for Spring/Summer 2023: Balenciaga. Balenciaga the iconic, Balenciaga the ingenious, Balenciaga on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street has always had its wolves; with Balenciaga, it got something even more sharp and animalistic. Latex “Garde-Robe” fetish bodysuits remix ready-to-wear in the new collection, also seen through fine denims and luxe wool, silks and sharp cuts, and suiting in Balenciaga’s minimalist, cutting-edge vocabulary. New York is unfiltered at its finest with evening wear–gowns clinging to flesh, tuxedos torn at the hems and reconstructed. Where there’s B, there’s A; Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection hosts a collaboration with Adidas, fusing sportswear with the excess and innovation of Creative Director Demna Gvasalia. The iconic trefoil meets the Balenciaga typeface in signature pieces, ranging from ready-to-wear to shoes and accessories. After all, what’s Wall Street without its capital?