Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, and other stuff
This Week In Fashion
Much to discuss this week and I already know I’m going to be a day late in sending this out, again. I’m sure it makes little difference to you, my deepest apologies. Also, what are y’all dressing up as for Halloween? I have multiple ideas, but I still don’t know what my plans are, and what I end up being depends on what the plans are.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Earlier this morning the Costume Institute announced its Spring 2025 exhibit entitled, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”
According to Vogue, the exhibit will “take the Black dandy as its subject, examining the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.”
The exhibit is inspired by Monica Miller’s book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity (highly recommend), and she will act as guest curator alongside Andrew Bolton.
We will see the exploration of the Black dandy from the 18th century all the way to modern day. Miller described Black dandyism as “a strategy and a tool to rethink identity, to reimagine the self in a different context. To really push a boundary on who and what counts as human, even.”
I talk about the significance the Black community and other minority groups and subcultures have had on fashion at large quite often, as there is no denying that those are the people who often originate trends and styles luxury houses, celebrities, and just people in general continue to replicate and interpret, too often without credit. For instance, hip-hop culture's influence on luxury fashion epitomizes this phenomenon. What originated as a street style statement—marked by oversized silhouettes, flashy jewelry, and logo-heavy branding—was, in part, a means of signifying success and defying socio-economic marginalization. Yet over time, these aesthetics were co-opted by luxury houses like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Balenciaga, all while the originators were often pushed aside in the discourse of innovation. This exhibits the duality of fashion as both a tool for empowerment and a playground for appropriation.
This exhibit is important, and one I can already see unfortunate unfavorable discourse around. However, it’ll hopefully open up a larger conversation around class signifiers and the relationship between the upper class and the ways in which the impact of the Black community and other marginalized groups has been pushed to the wayside. Bolton himself said, “I feel that the show itself marks a really important step in our commitment to diversifying our exhibitions and collections, as well as redressing some of the historical biases within our curatorial practice. It’s very much about making fashion at The Met more a gateway to access and inclusivity.”
As for the Met Gala, its co-chairs include Pharrell Williams, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, and of course, Anna Wintour. Lebron James will act as honorary co-chair as well. These choices all make sense to me, however since we are in fact in modern times, it would have also been nice to see a woman thrown into the mix— was Janelle Monáe not available? June Ambrose? The exhibit will also be sponsored by Louis Vuitton with additional funding from Instagram, and while it’s obvious that it will feature the work of Black designers, I truly hope we see Black designers also given a seat at the table when it comes to guests actually attending the gala and dressing attendees. I hope that the people invited aren’t just one time invites. I hope the dress code for the event is more thoughtful than that of China: Through the Looking Glass. It’ll also be interesting to see the girls who tend to love a reference without credit attending as well.
Kim Jones is stepping down as creative director of Fendi.
Thank GOD.
He will still, however, remain as creative director of Dior Men. This is good. It’s always blown my mind that the same person was behind the never ending heartburn that was his Fendi womenswear, and his delicious Dior menswear.
This news comes at an interesting time, as Fendi will be celebrating their centennial, so I’m wondering when they’ll announce the new creative director. Personally, I think Silvia Venturini Fendi taking over completely would be fantastic, as her Fendi menswear very rarely misses, and she also designed quite a few wonderful Fendi womenswear collections back in the day.
The rumor is that Pierpaolo Piccioli is headed to Fendi, which I expect will be great, but you know… white man musical chairs, etc.
- Billie Eilish for Vogue; You know, American Vogue gets very few things correct, but this cover? Very good. The styling is delicious and does a really wonderful job of embracing Billie’s usual, oversize style, while still being a little bit more unique for this specific creative direction. What I think is most interesting is the contrast between this cover and her 2021 cover. The latter was very feminine and was styled in a way in which we don’t usually see Billie. It felt like a response to all the public pressure and the commodification of her image, almost like this reclaiming of her body. Especially when she’s mentioned that she’d wear all these baggy clothes in order to prevent people from objectifying her body. The editorial allowed her to reveal her body on her own terms and reclaim her agency. Whereas here, she’s styled in a way that is a lot more similar to the Billie we’re used to seeing, but it feels a lot less defensive. It just feels more comfortable, and just simply the way in which she expresses her individuality. It explores the line of being authentic and being consumed as a product, while also rejecting this idea of having a fixed identity. Styled by Ib Kamara.
- Kamala Harris for Vogue; I talked about Kamala Harris’ styling and her first Vogue cover here, so I won’t repeat all that, but if you want some background, there it is! I’m sure there’s some people wondering why it’s just the online edition and not the actual print edition, when for her first Vogue cover she got both the online and print versions. I find that this decision is a little less in your face than a print edition you’d see on all the stands, especially for voters that are undecided— it’s humble. With the print editorial there also comes more posed, styled photographs, whereas the cover is the only posed portrait here. The other photos are a bit more journalistic and tap into that behind the scenes quality we often see in Annie Leibovitz’s work. Speaking of Leibovitz, not my fave, but this portrait is nice. The in motion photos also make Harris feel a little more relatable and humanize her. As for the clothing, she’s wearing a suit by Gabriela Hearst— her own according to Vogue. Supporting American businesses! This suit, with its silk blouse, still feels very put together and in charge, but there’s also a softness to it that is warm and comforting. It wants to be seen, but it’s not the focus. Styled by Leslie Fremar.
- Jennifer Lopez for Interview; The styling here is very J.Lo. Everything she does is very J.Lo. However, I really like this! She looks fantastic, and I like that it’s almost a little stripped back. Styled by Haley Wollens.
- Mytheresa bought Yoox-Net-a-Porter. Another one bites the dust.
- Vogue Business released their inclusivity report of the season, and as usual, we need to do so much better.
- Diesel x Savage x Fenty is now a thing and I am not mad at it.
- Jacob Elordi for Bottega Veneta. Big nodding head emoji.
- Binx Walton for Saint Laurent. Well not just Binx, but I’ve always loved her. Is this niche? Idk. I crossed the street next to her once and had nobody to tell.
- I really loved Beyoncé in this look from Sergio Hudson’s Spring 2025 collection, which was inspired by Valley of the Dolls. There’s something very retro, Americana about this that still feels fitting of Cowboy Carter.
Renee Rapp in Willy Chavarria is most pleasing to ME. Love, love, love this take on a gown, and there’s something about the detail on the track jacket being gold that tickles me in the exact right way.
- Sabrina Carpenter wore a Verscae gown that is based off of FW1998, and it’s nice! This makes a lot more sense to me than that Madonna look she wore to the VMAs. The oroton chainmail scarf is very good and that waist is snatched.
- Selena Gomez’s style has been quite simple recently, but very lovely. She’s also been wearing a lot of black, but this red Oscar de la Renta gown based off of Spring 2025 is so sweet! Like I said, very simple, but a classic silhouette, and the way the bow ties around the waist as if two sides of the skirt are coming together is so fun.
- Ariana Grande hosted SNL this week and for promo she wore this JW Anderson Spring 2025 dress and we love to see it!!
They also pulled out this Thierry Mugler FW1982 number, and she looks like a little rosebud. I like it and we’ve obviously been seeing Ariana in a lot of pink since she’s playing Glinda in Wicked.
- Saoirse continues to gag me. Forever grateful that she started working with Danielle Goldberg. It’s simple, but it’s perfect, and is a lovely white crêpe jersey dress that is tailored to the millimeter. The crossed trompe l’oeil belts are just enough. I love.
So that was this week! Omg, would you look at that! I finished on time. Proud of me.