Phoebe Philo Phanaticism
It’s been a long three years, but Phoebe Philo is back in fashion. She left right before high fashion fully embraced streetwear, before the super powered collabs of the Kering houses, before sustainability was even a buzzword. Still though, Philo is coming back to an industry covered in her thumbprints. Daniel Lee’s Bottega Venetta undoubtedly has the cultural zeitgeist right now, and he’s still very much aligned with the design aesthetic imprinted in him during his time at Philo’s Céline. Much ado has been made about this potential conflict between Lee and Philo, but no apt student stays in their teacher’s shadow for long. Philo is the face of millennial design, particularly older millennial and Gen X women. Lee’s Bottega is younger, fresher, more appealing to the younger cohort of millennials and Gen Z. Maybe at the beginning of his tenure, Lee was firmly in Philo’s aesthetic grasp, but he has his own visual lane, and — perhaps most importantly to his Bottega — a very specific means of communicating that image.
Kudos to her for taking the risk and starting her own label. Her aesthetic is so well defined and understood at this point, and with such a devoted fan base, there’s no need for her to work with an established house. And for LVMH — who owns a minority stake in her brand — this is a godsend. Phanatics have been praying for Philo’s return since 2018, and LVMH manages to unite them alongside the Hedi Slimane fans who flocked to Celine after her departure. They now have an answer for the Kering houses of Saint Laurent (Celine) and Bottega Veneta (Philo’s brand), with Philo’s brand sure to tap in to that rich cultural vein Lee has nestled Bottega into.
One Hit Wonders
Aime Leon Dore announced a new collection of specially curated vintage clothing, all of which has served as inspiration for the brand and its collections. The way the drop is phrased is as a means of openness, for fans of the brand to see where Aime was drawing its inspiration and getting to own a piece of the brand on a level deeper than the individual garment. Most brands would be better served releasing their moodboards, but with Aime, you don’t need them — you already know it’s the Long Island sound, sailboats, sunsets, and vintage Porsches. If nothing else, they’ve found a new way to monetize this behind-the-scenes access.
The more looks I see from Paris or London Fashion Week, the more important it is to see looks from outside of the Eurocentric fashion capitals. Münn Seoul strikes an incredible balance throughout the collection, merging the sort of cutthroat, razor’s edge look of hardcore punk with delicate and ornate touches that speak so strongly to the fluidity of style of their clientele. The brand advertises its construction techniques as the reason for why their clothes look so unique, stating that they switch up the order on how they construct their garments, which in turn creates different silhouettes. There’s very little else out there about their process, but they’re undeniably cooking right now.
The Week in Collabs
The best parts of fashion often leave you feeling like you saw something in a dream, awoke and found it depicted even better than you could’ve imagined. This is not that. This is the dream you have where you feel like you’re falling into an endless pit, then you wake up and discover that somehow the real world is worse than the seventh circle of hell you were destined for in your dreamscape. If I had known that the Optic vs. FaZe quickscoping montages I was watching in middle school would lead here, I would’ve stanned Scump instead.
This collection pushes the limits of what a collab can be, in the best way. All you can ask for when bringing in a designer of Abe stature is that they can review the house codes and find some fresh, unique way to approach them, and we more than got that. The collection is so well done, it’s easy to forget that this is Abe and Sacai’s first venture into couture.
The cotton gabardine of trench coats flipped into flowing panels of a gown. Strips of suiting bleed from the models neck, folding and wrapping around the figure in a subtle allusion to the bondage and fetish looks of Gaultier’s past. Gaultier’s iconic Breton stripes are presented not so much as printed stripes but as subtle stacks of fabric whose ridges add a third dimension of contrast. What really makes this collection perfect is that if you were to remove the labels from the show, you could tell me it was done by either Sacai or Jean Paul Gaultier, and I wouldn’t bat an eye either way, such is the fit of Abe at Gaultier. Each look is instantly iconic, and well worth the yearlong wait.
A$AP Rocky Is Pacsun’s Guest Artistic Director
This is a headline that reads like predictive text. Most interestingly from the article is that Rocky has been working with Pacsun since 2019. I never knew! I don’t really know how you can date Rihanna and have a bar that says “Gucci and Dior, bidding wars/Who wore the piece before it hit the floor?” and then work with the brand most synonymous with the worst aspects of American shopping malls, but hey, I guess anything in this world is possible. Maybe we’ll get a VLONE jr line. Maybe he’ll drop a Pacsun bar in his next album. Maybe A$AP Nast will work with Forever 21. Or maybe he’ll finally drop an album. Who knows!
Song of the Week: Turnstile — “Out of Rage”
It’s very rare to hear a hardcore band have this much dynamic contrast spread throughout a song. Turnstile lulls you into this false sense of security in the intro groove, just to set you up for the sucker punch of the face melting chorus. They almost sound like Rage Against the Machine, only instead of, well, raging against the machine, they’re literally just vibing and laying down some phat riffs.
Love Always,
Dan Moran