NYFW
and Branded Real Estate & Cardigan Weather
Clockwise from Top.
It’s a Wrap
It may be smaller than its European counterparts, but New York Fashion Week can still pack a punch. One of the more indelible images from this year’s edition was from the Elena Velez show in Bushwick where the models ended the show fighting in a mud pit:
Velez deplores what she characterizes as “the sanitization and unilateralization of womanhood in popular culture” — in part, she argues, because it “leaves no room for the nuance and multiplicity we deserve as architects of labyrinthine interior lives.” That’s typical of Velez’s rhetoric, which she included in a “manifesto” about her latest collection. She declined to talk to reporters afterward, and I, for one, am grateful. If a designer is the real deal — and Velez is, in my opinion — and if she has something worth saying, then it will come out in the clothes, or not. The rest is all rhetoric, and I’m not interested. One of the greatest privileges and pleasures of covering fashion over the past 35 years is not getting an explanation from designers like Rei Kawakubo and Martin Margiela. They never talked, or barely. That forces you to look at the clothes and just interpret what you see and feel.
As Horn notes, finding someone to help sell and contextualize her collections will be key to finding a way to sustain her business.
And, on the party circuit, I was lucky enough to attend GQ’s fashion week party at Jean’s Tuesday night. I did not get my picture taken, though a lot of pictures were taken. Most of the celebrities were way too young for me to recognize, though Jeff Koons was there holding court.
Branded Real Estate
It’s no surprise that the likes of Ritz-Carlton, Aman and the Four Seasons have expanded from hotels into luxury residential real estate. But luxury brands from outside of the hospitality world are increasingly doing the same:
In Sunny Isles Beach, a sleepy, resort-heavy city within Miami-Dade County, the towers with boldfaced names include a Porsche Design Tower, Residences by Armani Casa and the forthcoming Bentley Residences, which by 2026 will stretch toward the sky with an exterior of recessed glass in Bentley’s signature diamond-in-diamond quilted design, instantly recognizable to devotees of the British automaker.
A link to the Porsche Design Tower is here, with images of their “sky garages”:
As luxury brands continue to search for growth, licensing your name to an experienced real estate developer seems like an easy win.
Cardi Season
It’s finally starting to cool off, which means it’s time to start layering again. Last season we had to sadly retire a much loved camel colored cashmere sweater that we wore through the elbows on. We had it patched up multiple times, but there are limits, and it’s time to invest in something better. And hey, Raquel and I can both use it, so it’s almost like it’s half off?
Links.
An AI Art account with some unsettling work.
Jenna Lyons profiled in The Cut.
Vogue’s palace intrigue with Anna, Enninful and China Nnadi.
The Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 is the most expensive running shoe on the market - at 500 EUR.
The cult of Japanese magazines.
Jeffrey Eugenides talks Virgin Suicides and its backstory.
Meet the bros who love Olivia Rodrigo.
<3
Chris & Raquel