Welcome to the weekly Avocado Fashion Club, where you can read about style and fashion trends for all gender expressions, browse a selection of runway collections, and chat about style, accessories and more with your fellow Avocados.
This week’s edition takes a look at some of the newest developments in the world of high fashion, whether it’s an overall change in creative direction at high-profile labels (chief among them influential streetwear designer Virgil Abloh’s appointment as creative director of Louis Vuitton), up-and-coming international talent, or advancements in the use of techniques and materials. The Look Book highlights Target’s new fashion line and fun accessories for the rest of summer, and the edition wraps up with fall collections by Uniqlo U and Japanese label Beams Plus.
Settle in and enjoy!
LOOKING AHEAD: NEW FACES OF HIGH FASHION
Abloh is the first black man in Louis Vuitton’s 164-year history to debut a men’s-wear line. He’s also, he might point out, the first man in his position to hail not from New York City, or even the suburbs, but from Rockford, Illinois—a far midwestern cry from the majestic largesse of Paris’s Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, where, the previous afternoon, his meteoric rise was capped off with a Wizard of Oz-themed rainbow runway. Abloh’s technicolor, multicultural parade of models and artists donning mohair jumpers and bright leather trench coats, all of them affixed with L.V. monograms and Abloh-esque flourishes, was a decisive statement: we’re not in Kansas anymore.
“The fashion industry is still pretty Jurassic,” 69’s creator says, noting its exclusivity and often restrictive standards of beauty. The designer sometimes appears in the label’s collection campaigns, photographed wearing a black head-to-toe bodysuit beneath the season’s new denim garments. Their anonymity frees the clothes from any demographic associations, aiding the designer’s mission to make 69 a brand for anyone and everyone. The name 69 is a little “cheeky,” they allow, but turned on its side, the number calls to mind an equal sign, “and equality is what we’re all about.”
- This Anonymous Designer is Reinventing Denim (The New York Times)
Chinatown’s Jing Fong Restaurant is an unconventional choice for a fashion show. But for Snow Xue Gao, the chandelier-studded institution (known as New York City’s largest Chinese restaurant) was the ideal venue to showcase her collection inspired by the neighborhood’s denizens. Think business suits, traditional Chinese attire, and practical ugly-chic touches (galoshes, shower shoes with socks). … The standout item: her blazers (Rihanna has worn one of Gao’s pinstriped styles onstage).
Piccioli is especially drawn to the early Renaissance and punk, along with other eras when the status quo cracked open to reveal something new. And while he has a scholar’s knowledge of visual culture — Valentino’s office is filled with stacks of Piccioli’s own reference books — he talks about his touchstones in more Proustian terms: “I’m interested in memory, but I don’t want to retell the past. I want to remember the emotion you had first looking at a picture and the fantasy you have about the characters.”
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‘A Dress Is Like a Passaporto, No?’ Welcome to Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino (The New York Times)
THE LOOK BOOK
Articles on outfits and accessories for all your style inspiration and needs.
Wild Fable will feature clothing, accessories, jewelry, and shoes, with well over 700 products to choose from. And apart from its inclusive sizing, it seems the brand plans to cater to a variety of styles: From two-piece miniskirt sets and office-friendly tops to a whole host of denim jackets in-between, Wild Fable looks to be a destination for affordable work and weekend wear.
When it comes to the warmer months, you really can’t have too many sneaker options. They’re cool, they’re casual, and they can be worn for any occasion. And if you really want to up the style quotient, you should get a pair in suede. First off, it looks great. And second, it’s far less likely to get destroyed on a sunny summer day than during the precipitation-drenched depths of fall and winter.
The true reason could be much simpler: After Labor Day, the first Monday of September, became a federal holiday in 1894, it came to mark the end of summer. Vacationers packed away their breezy white dresses and linen button-downs in favor of darker-hued clothing, like navy suits and gray sweaters. “There used to be a much clearer sense of re-entry,” explained Steele. “You’re back in the city, back at school, back doing whatever you’re doing in the fall—and so you have a new wardrobe.”
- Can White Be Worn After Labor Day?: A Consensus (Marie Claire)
ON AND OFF THE RUNWAY
Some of the collections that caught my eye this week.
“The styling for this season emphasizes volume through dolman sleeves for women’s fleece blousons and boxy silhouettes for men’s fleece jackets,” the brand said in a statement. “Women’s items exude comfort and confidence, while men’s pieces convey unpretentious relaxation.”
Inspired by the classic American contemporary styles found in spades at prestigious Ivy League campuses, the label’s collection includes a large variety of suiting, letterman jackets, Harringtons, a handful of cropped trousers, and much more. While BEAMS’ influences are clearly rooted in academia, they also incorporate unique styles of patchwork, a variety of patterned blousons, and a handful of military garments, giving the entire range a touch that is unmistakably BEAMS.
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