Fashion & style
fromElite Traveler
9 hours agoIs Alaia's First Denim Collection Actually a Recession Indicator?
Alaïa's first dedicated denim collection redefines jeans as a sophisticated, body-conscious staple rather than just casual wear.
An engagement ring is more than a piece of jewellery, it is a symbol of commitment. Couples are moving away from mass‑produced designs, preferring rings that capture their unique journey.
Clare Vivier and Heather Taylor have perfected the art of hosting by dividing responsibilities, with Vivier focusing on wine and Taylor on flowers and dessert. Their friendship of 20 years has led to a seamless collaboration that enhances the dinner party experience.
Participating in London Fashion Week is not a luxury but a necessity for any emerging brand aiming to go global. It's your ticket to the world of international fashion. - Katie England, Creative Director of Topshop and curator of the New Generation program
The Rolex Lady-Datejust is an exceptional timepiece that sets the gold standard for women's luxury watches, renowned for its timeless design, unmistakable prestige, and mechanical precision.
I designed this bag in the same way I designed everything else, so largely based on right angles, but perhaps a little more emotionally, more personally. Designing a handbag is undoubtedly different to designing a Braun stereo system, but I applied the same principles. It had to be functional, visually durable, and very aesthetic. Less, but better.
In 1971, Manolo Blahnik created shoes for the designer Ossie Clark's catwalk show in London. Relatively new to shoemaking, the Spanish designer forgot to put steel pins in the heels of the shoes, which meant that models wobbled, unbalanced, down the catwalk.
Not just any algorithm, mind you, but the most devilish metric devised to date. Because it finally translates the old publicity strategy of fame once governed by unquantifiable guesswork into money. No, it isn't (black) magic, just computerized math: by analyzing and comparing quantitative and qualitative data, the program in question calculates and assigns an economic value to these star appearances based on their public performance.
I did an internal crowdsource to invite everyone to submit their ideas about how they would like to celebrate 170 years. We've played around with a lot of cinematic narratives, but this time, I felt we should probably do something a little bit more institutional to reflect the anniversary year. The trench offered a way to celebrate a cornerstone of Burberry's past, while showing its relevance across generations and geographies.
Everybody thought I would make oversized bomber jackets with monograms, said the mononymous king-of-the-hoodie designer after the show. That's what ChatGPT said, apparently. But that's not why I came to Gucci. Instead, he said, his Gucci will be energy, passion, fun and sex.
Gucci previously commissioned digital artists to produce visuals, including AI-generated images, auctioned as non-fungible tokens by Christie's. In December, it released an AI-generated video of a model strutting down the runway while photographers behind her fall over themselves - literally - to capture her.
It's not a multi-thousand pound handbag from Hermes that best captures the new era of It bags, but a 149 tote from John Lewis. Launched this season, it's deeper (45cm) and taller (33cm) than your average handbag, and comes loaded with good intentions. It's able to hold your packed lunch, flask and book, as well at a push as your gym kit.
In the show, "dirty" extends to anything that breaks fashion's pact with propriety. Here are clothes caked in grime, blotted with makeup, stiffened by salt, pieced from trash, frayed, and faded. The garments span decades, from the 1980s through the mid-2000s, when the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier built their fame on defying convention, to today, when corporatization has made such daring increasingly rare. But forgoing practicality frees certain designers from the demands that the body be polite-and thereby policed.
Even a casual mention of online lottery tucked into lifestyle chatter feels normal because influencers blend interests so effortlessly across posts, creating a steady flow of conversation that pulls you in. Fashion content has a now-or-never feel. Fashion choices are seen as they happen, rather than in a presentation. Fashion influencers are turning mundane environments into instant fashion displays. This authenticity inspires a whole new generation of fashion with a fresh look.
After his three-year post at Bottega Veneta, the visionary lent his famed technical prowess to the French maison and brought a certain levity to the brand during his debut. Apart from joyous models traipsing down the Paris Fashion Week runway and lightweight fabrics billowing along with them, one of the buzziest highlights of Chanel's S/S 2026 season was an unexpected take on a classic.
Last year, traditional luxury brands struggled to keep the attention of aspirational shoppers, and it was their lower-priced counterparts that swooped in to fill the gap. The formerly squeezed middle of the market - sitting below pure luxury labels but above mass-market brands - was able to capitalise on luxury's ever-growing prices and perceived lack of innovation. Tightening consumer budgets also played a part.
"This is a great opportunity to reach new audiences by harnessing the power of Instagram to help fashion-forward women tell their stories through this inspirational platform. Our audience is one of career women, whose networking is mobile and on-the-move. It's important for them to keep up with the brands that inspire their ambition for life and this campaign firmly places Radley as a leader in this category."
Modern it bags are superstars in the fashion space, thanks to a potent mix of buzzy creative directors, heritage design inspiration, and celeb endorsers, among other factors. That said, many of them exist in a vacuum. From the studded and fringed Valentino Nellcote to the boxy Dior book totes inspired by actual reading materials, there isn't a singular umbrella trend that captures today's most popular arm candy styles and kick-starts an entire design direction at the same time.