Quil Lemons launches his first clothing line, while this year’s LVMH Prize finalists are revealed
Balenciaga’s new London flagship is a total mess – and deliberately so. Sewagey liquid forms a dried patina on most of the shop’s concrete fixtures (all of which are calcified) while entire sections of the building’s infrastructure have been hacked away, revealing rusty pipes and old lift shafts. Masterminded by Sub studio, the Berlin-based architecture firm responsible for Demna’s AW22 snow globe, the store has been severed in half by an enormous fissure, throwing up mounds of synthetic dirt as if it were the result of some catastrophic, tectonic movement. According to designers Niklas Bildstein Zaar and Andrea Faraguna, it’s an experiment in ‘Raw Architecture’, and as such, to visit the label’s New Bond Street location is to walk through an abandoned car park, warehouse, or dank factory space.
In other fashion news this week, the world’s first Metaverse Fashion Week landed on Decentraland, while designer and former Vogue Ukraine editor-in-chief Julie Pelipas and Anna October launched Bettter.Community to support Ukrainian creatives. As we looked at all the stupid little trends from the AW22 runways, Yu Fujiwara sent out a street style broadcast from his time photographing Paris Fashion Week, and the ModeMuseum traced the relationship between flesh and fashion. Click through the gallery below to see what else may have passed you by.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD BRACES FOR THE HEAT WAVE
With the actual sun managing to break through the UK’s gloomy skies, Vivenne Westwood has launched her latest eyewear collection, drawing on traditional wooden sunglasses, a certain old Hollywood panache, Italian glamour, and the eccentricity of the Kings Road in the 1970s – where the grand dame first set up shop with Malcolm McLaren. “Sunglasses should be the embodiment of personal theatre,” Andreas Kronthaler says, “of course they have a purpose, but they should be fun, playful, joyous.” Vivienne Westwood’s Sun Collection is available from boutiques in New York, LA, and online.
RALPH LAUREN RETURNED TO NYC
After two years away, Ralph Lauren made its runway return this week. On the backs of Gigi and Bella Hadid, Shalom Harlow and Tyson Beckford, the catwalk read like an ode to the Big Apple, all glimmering cocktail dresses and tom boyish suiting. A detail not missed by city’s mayor, Eric Adams, who nodded politely as a Yankees baseball cap and varsity jacket closed the show.
QUIL LEMONS EXPANDS HIS APERTURE
Taking over from Tremaine Emory, photographer Quil Lemons is set to release his first clothing collection as part of the Sky High Farm collective. With its namesake label Sky High Farm Workwear, the non-profit organisation, which addresses food security, has been quietly working its way into the fashion space over recent years, boosted by support from Dover Street Market. Keep up to date with Lemons’ collection here.
FASHION EAST GOES ON TOUR
Lulu Kennedy took a gaggle of Fashion East alumni on the road this week, showcasing their collections in a private salon show at the British ambassador’s residence in Stockholm. Ashley Williams, Per Götesson, HRH, and Goom Heo, who were unable to show during London Fashion Week, all made the journey to Sweden, presenting a mix of their work from current and past seasons.
DSQUARED2’S NEW ECO-INITIATIVE
Dean and Dan Caten have spent the past few years researching sustainable alternatives to fashion production, which has resulted in the DSquared2’s first eco-offshoot, ONE LIFE ONE PLANET – a denim line made from recycled and organic cotton. To celebrate the launch, the duo have released a one-off Smiley collection – sweatshirts, t-shirts, joggers, and shorts blasted in smiley faces. ONE LIFE ONE PLANET launches this April in Dsquared2 stores and online.
DIOR SETS UP A PERMA-GALLERY
Dior’s atelier, 30 Avenue Montaigne, has been reborn with an in-house gallery – tracing the history of the storied maison through RTW, couture, and fragrance. Curated by Nathalie Crinière, who was responsible for Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition, the revamped atelier features 1,874 objects including 452 miniature dresses and 1,422 3D-printed pieces. Head over to 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris to travel back through the label’s archives and era-defining looks.
GUCCI GOES TO NEO-TOKYO
Though Metaverse Fashion Week is being hawked as the first of its kind, Gucci has been taking tentative steps into Web3 for the past few years. Its latest venture sees Alessandro Michele travelling through the Neo-Tokyo metaverse, creating outfits inspired by the Aria and Love Parade collections in collaboration with virtual shop 10KTF. The 10KTF Gucci Grail project is an NFT initiative that will take place in the brand’s experimental online space – Gucci Vault.
GO YEEZY ON NUR ABBAS
This past week, Kanye appointed Nur Abbas as the new head of design for YEEZY. Formerly at Nike ACG, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci, Abbas will be responsible for YEEZY’s mainline, YEEZY Gap, and Stem Player – “I’m energised to work with Ye because he cares so deeply about design and moving culture forward,” the designer told WWD.
LVMH ANNOUNCED ITS FINALISTS
Eight designers were revealed as finalists for the 2022 edition of the LVMH Prize. After a two-day showroom in Paris, this year’s cohort spans Japan, Nigeria, South Korea, Ireland, and the United States, with Ashlyn, ERL, Róisín Pierce, Ryunosukeokazaki, and Winnie all in the running, while London boasts Steven Stokey-Daley, KNWLS, and Tokyo James as its contenders. Together, they will compete for the grand prize and the Karl Lagerfeld prize for innovation later this spring.
CARHARTT WIPS UP AN EXHIBITION
Running from March 24 to April 10, Carhartt WIP is paying homage to the 2000 AD comic books at London’s Dinner Party gallery. Pro-Gress explores the series’ legacy, with original artworks from Ed Davis, Oliver Payne, Mudwig, Leomi Sadler, Skatething, Gasius, Will Sweeney, Ancco, Hans Berger, and Liv Preston.
3MAN MEETS ITS MATCHES
CSM graduate Joshua Walters has made it onto the Matches Fashion roster. Starting 3MAN long before graduating from his MA, Walters’ genderless pieces have previously been stocked in London's Dover Street Market and SSENSE, where they garnered a reputation for soft utilitarianism – blending the organic and industrial, the austere and the poetic. Head over to Matches to see more.