Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Also happy birthday Lee McQueen. Well, this is a day late, but the sentiment still stands.
Earlier this week it as announced that Walter Chiapponi would be stepping down as creative director of Blumarine, after just one season.
Now, multiple things can be true. Yes, fashion CEOs love to play creative director musical chairs and often don’t give creative directors enough time ti settle into a brand before moving on to the next, however, this is definitely a situation where people need to read beyond the headline.
Chiapponi was brought into Blumarine after Nicola Brognano, and during Brognano’s time as creative director, he definitely brought more attention to Blumarine as a brand. He helped usher in the Y2K revival, or whatever it is that people think Y2K is, and the fashion girlies on TikTok and Instagram and Twitter ate it up, but that’s kind of the extent of the support. It kind of stayed online, whereas the actual Blumarine customer, wasn’t interested in the clothing, and there’s only so much Blumarine Dua Lipa could buy to keep the brand afloat! It’s not like the girlies online had Blumarine money, whereas the Milanese women who did, didn’t want to spend it.
So in comes Walter Chiapponi, after being the creative director of Tod’s. I’m sure Blumarine’s goal was to increase sales, and so with his first collection we saw him take a more “wearable” approach and delve more into the roots of Blumarine as a brand, regardless if you liked the collection or not.
If you read his statement, I think you’d see that his leaving is more of a personal issue than a higher ups issue. This man lost multiple people close to him in a short period of time, including his nephew and best friend, Davide Renne. All that, plus taking the helm of a luxury brand? It’s a lot.
With all the vague press statements we get and the revolving door of creative directors, I think this one deserves a little bit more critical thinking when it comes to a reaction.
- Ayo Edebiri for Vogue; You guys! This is so cute. I’m so often underwhelmed by a Vogue editorial, and maybe it’s just because I love Ayo, but this is so refreshing and fun. All the styling feels very cohesive without being too similar, and there’s a lightness to it that feels appropriate for a Spring issue, but also feels representative of Ayo’s personality. Styled by Jorden Bickham.
- FKA Twigs for British Vogue; This is Chioma Nnadi’s first issue as head of editorial content, and it’s a good one. I so look forward to British Vogue under Chioma, and can’t think of anyone more fitting to follow Edward Enninful. When talking about choosing Twigs for this cover, Chioma said she wanted someone that embodied the modern British eccentric, and how inspired she was by the artists relationship between fashion and music. Honestly, it’s fantastic. It isn’t any crazy, but the taxi, the red phone booth are so identifiable, plus the pol moment and the overall incorporation of movement. It’s very London and it’s very Twigs. I also love that we see the incorporation of smaller brands and London based designers! Styled by Ib Kamara.
- Kristen Stewart for Who What Wear; Wow, great week for editorials. Kristen Stewart is the love of my life, but that aside, this is a great editorial. Now, it isn’t anything crazy in terms of creative direction or fashion, but WWW editorials are shopable, and so there has to be a commercial aspect. However, even though Kristen is wearing these full luxury looks, they do a really good job of making them make sense for her style while also not feeling too much like forced advertisements for these brands. Styled by Lauren Eggertsen.
- Required Reading: Phoebe Philo Breaks Her Silence… but she also could have broken it a lil more.
- Carlos Nazario has stepped down as global fashion director of i-D. First Alastair McKimm and now this? What is Miss Karlie doing over there. She’s massacring my boy.
- Gucci released a documentary about Sabato de Sarno, narrated by Paul Mescal. I laughed the entire time I wrote that sentence. He for sure wants to be a celebrity, right? Like, Sabato is very, it’s me and the clothes so far at Gucci. I don’t know, it makes me giggle. I have not watched, but I might. It’s on Mubi and I have no clue what that is, but.
- The Kristen Stewart press looks for Love Lies Bleeding have been most pleasing to me. They’re not perfect, but they feel so much more authentic to her. Here she’s wearing a top by Mônot— it’s very hot and fun, and I wish she’d worn the drop stitch set from Tom Ford. She also wore different versions of this outfit, later with a t-shirt, leather jacket, and sneakers. Love efficiency, and a day to night moment.
This look was one of my favorite. I love a no pants experience and the red in the heel tying in the lining of the briefs is a nice detail. I also feel like these no pants/athleisure styles are maybe a little bit of method dressing. Love Lies Bleeding takes place in the 80s and features body building, so these feel like references to gym wear from that time. The one thing I’d change, is switch the tights out for a completely sheer pair, because you can see the more opaque fabric coming out from under the brief.
I’ve for sure said this before, but look how good Chanel can be for her when they let her be a little gay. Love the vintage style short, and I’m not generally opposed to a leg warmer, but I don’t love them here. However, I understand why we did it, so I can respect it. Also she’s really in her metaphorical bag, carrying that literla Chanel bag with each look.
Finally, we get this look, that has my neck itching to be stepped on. Love the little BDSM, underwear as outerwear elements, and the leather jacket feels very 80s.
- Zendaya, finally in Louis Vuitton. I am so sat for Challengers press. I famously want to take tennis lessons for the cute outfits, but also because I have this weird feeling I’d be good at it. Anyway, very chic look, but I also expect her to wear a lot of Loewe, since Jonathan Anderson did costumes for this movie.
She actually gave us two tennis chic looks by Louis Vuitton. I like the neoprene jacket and how it adds that bit of Nicolas futurism to the look.
- Sydney Sweeney’s styling felt like it was improving to me around the time she started press for Anyone But You, and it seems to be continuing with Immaculate, because I’ve loved the few looks that I’ve seen. I have yet to see the movie, but from what I can gather from the trailer, Sydney plays a nun, and it’s very much giving immaculate conception, but make it horror. With that being said, she’s been wearing a lot of white and black, playing into the garb nuns wear, but also papal outfits generally. White is also seen as this pure color, often associated with brides and virginity, and seeing it against the contrast of a horror movie is compelling. This Richard Quinn looks is really stunning, and bridal is a large part of his clientele so you often see bridal looks as a part of the collections. Then the lace boot plays into those little fetish details we sometimes see from the brand as well.
Then she wore Balmain to the LA premiere, and again, it’s great. Olivier is no stranger to a molded bodice, and has also been incorporating florals a lot with his last few collections. Although the top is white, and feels like a bridal bouquet, there’s also something incredibly unsettling and eerie about it, especially with the two hands wrapping from behind
- This dress made me salivate when I saw it on the runway. I mean, the color alone is so stunning. Somebody on Twitter said that this is a dress you do coke in. Anyway! The draping is just so stunning, and I love how the fabric looks like it’s just looping into itself.
- Hunter and Dara NEVER miss. This look is from FW2007, and I love that when they do full runway looks, they really commit to the styling.
- Oprah wore Prada, and this is tailored to the millimeter. It’s beautiful. The color is lovely and I like how the embroidery looks like a whole bunch of necklaces broken appart. Although I do think it could have gone without the lining under the bust area, since there is that bow across the waist so close.
- I love Taylor’s style and I love The Row and I love this dress. BUT, it could have been tailored shorter. On the model in the lookbook it hits at the ankle, and it works as a full length gown just fine, but it’s just a little too long here.
So that was this week! Fall 2024 recap should be done this week hehe.
TTYL!!!
xx