Welcome to 2024, dear fashionistas. We hope you’re feeling rested and ready for another hurtling trip around the sun because – as any veteran of the chiffon trenches will tell you – fashion waits for no one. Still sluggish from our biblical consumption of Saint Laurent panettones and lightheaded with Le Labo Santal 13, we’re picking up where we left off: scouring Planet Mode for only the finest tidbits and scoops you need to know week by week. Dame Viv’s favourite diva shot by Juergen Teller? Yes, please. More leather-look jeans in Bottega Veneta’s Lunar New Year campaign? Absolutely. Plus, we spill the beans on the Tories’ latest attempt to derail our Depop girlie side-hustles, where to shop Pharrell’s Vuitton in style and Dior’s new fragrance documentary – not to be sniffed at. Here’s what’s in fashion.
It’s deadline day for LVMH Prize applications
Any budding fashion designer keen to kickstart their career deserves a raise. Aside from being a tortured artist on a shoestring budget, they’re expected to have business acumen, marketing knowledge and the financial literacy of a chartered accountant, all while churning out hot-shit designs. Tricky, right? Fortunately, the LVMH Prize has been assuaging this occupational gripe for the past decade. Its 11th iteration for 2024 promises more support where that came from, enlisting experts for advice across comms, budgeting, legislation, production and every other avenue known to jump-scare a young creative. Of course, the savvier hot young things among you will have pressed ‘submit’ on your application way back in November when it was first announced. But, ever the supporters of rebellious youth, we know that even the most committed designers need a little time for rest, recuperation or raving during Q4. So, take this as fair warning (your last chance) to get the portfolio together and in before Sunday 7th January 2024 when submissions close. “What’s in it for me?” you ask. Well, just 400,00 euros and bespoke guidance from the industry’s top dogs. Last year, you’d have been mentored by the likes of Kim Jones, Jonathan Anderson, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Silvia Venturini Fendi and Marc Jacobs. Not bad. This year, we’re expecting equally splashy names. Oh, and don’t fret about not coming first. Select designers from the shortlist are in for a chance to win the Karl Lagerfeld Prize or the newly introduced savoir-faire prize, which both come with a handsome 200,000 euros and mentoring. Graduating from fashion school in 2024? You’ll want to try out for the young fashion graduate prize, which closes for submissions in mid-March. Apply here. JB
Back to school: Gucci gives hope to a new generation with UNICEF
When you think of Gucci, you think of luxury: the GG monogram, fur-lined horse-bit loafers, stacked trunks, the lot. Of course, there’s much more to this luxury behemoth than insatiably chic fashions. Indeed, anyone who’s been paying an ounce of attention these past two decades will have picked up on the casa’s more charitable endeavours, whether that’s the cult zines and films it ran in support of gender equality during its Chime for Change initiative a few years back, or the ongoing relationship it’s held with UNICEF since 2005. Just take a look at its recent achievements via Gucci Equilibrium, the sustainability and community-focused wing of the label, which has harnessed resources to aid NGOs, support underprivileged fashion students and train young artisans. Now comes its latest – relatively downplayed – act of generosity. Yep, while the fash-pack goes wild for that steamy, snogging campaign plastered across Instagram, an urgent mission to facilitate schooling in impoverished communities is well underway. Giving 300,000 euros to UNICEF’s Education Thematic Fund, Gucci and Sabato De Sarno continue a long legacy of empowering youth in the Global South, putting paid to the hackneyed idea that a luxury house should be just that. Kudos, Gucci. JB
Juergen Teller photographs Naomi for Vivienne Westwood SS24
It’s campaign season and the competition is hotting up. Naturally, Vivienne Westwood HQ has risen to the challenge in style, enlisting fashion’s old and new guard alike. Lensed by freaky photographer par excellence, Juergen Teller, the story sees Naomi Campbell and a choice pick of faces lounge around an old East End mannequin factory. On show, a neat and earnest homage to the late Viv, rendered here in Andreas Kronthaler’s reworks of her favoured personal ‘fits. Look closely, and you’ll recognise the hooded cape dresses she sent down runways or wore for her post-show bows. Those, and the placket-collar jackets in mauve and black plaid, which hark back to her heady days stalking the King’s Road. As for that grey power suit sharpened at the lapel and crumpled on the sleeves, this could just as easily have been a mid-90s sample, pulled straight from the V&A’s archive. Of course, each piece comes with subtle differences to the template it riffs on, reminding us that even in her absence, Dame Viv has plenty to give. JB
Louis Vuitton shares the sunshine at Selfridges
Unless your modem’s been cut off, you might just have heard about Pharrell’s starry debut at the centuried Parisian malletier-turned-fashion-behemoth that is Louis Vuitton. On that fateful day last summer, the creative maverick ushered in a brand-new house monogram, dubbed the ‘Damoflage’ – a digi-camo take on the Damier print – envisioning a fresh and modern direction for men’s luxury. Soon after came the diamond-encrusted Speedy bag that looked and cost a million bucks, the LV-emblazoned Hawaiian shirts and those ridiculously extra LV surfboards. Yes, it’s been quite the show so far, but never has Pharrell’s vision felt removed from the communities he made his name in. Indeed, he’s been quoted on several occasions asking, “What will you do when the sun shines on you?”, a prescient question underscoring his meteoric rise against the odds. At the SS24 show, Pharrell marked his full-circle moment, sending Pusha T and Dave down the runway in buttery Vuitton leathers. Now, it’s not just those who witnessed his first collections getting a taste of the sunshine, but us, too, in an otherwise wet and windy Old Blighty. At the iconic yellow-splashed department store, Selfridges, Pharrell presents his very own sun on the horizon as a cubic installation, akin to the Damier pattern he’s made his own. There, in Selfridges’ ever-buzzy Corner Shop, you can bask, shop and – New Year’s bonus-dependent – pick up one of those yellow checkerboard totes from SS24. JB
Prada spotlights Troye Sivan for the SS24 campaign
It feels like only yesterday that pop-twink extraordinaire, Troye Sivan, made his runway debut, clad in that chaotic but preppy ensemble Mrs P had assigned him for her personal – and very financially lucrative – label, Miu Miu. But that wasn’t the end of dear Troye’s working relationship with Miuccia. No. Soon after, he got the call-up again, this time to front her family business’ latest campaign: Prada SS24, no less. Of course, he’s but one fine embellishment in the shoot’s tapestry. All 40 of the divas that walked Prada’s hyper-cinched, hyper-snatched women’s show are shot by i-D’s old chum and Raf bestie, Willy Vanderperre, while actors Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Harris Dickinson both get a white-hot profile snap alongside Troye. Maybe, Harris’ casting as fashion model heartthrob in Triangle of Sadness (2022) convinced Miuccia and Raf that he was up to the challenge. Indeed, he’s nailed his pose for Balenciaga and H&M, and, it transpires, Prada. Oh, and where the garb is concerned, it’s whittle-waisted tailoring, grommeted splay-collar shirts and work jackets for the guys, meanwhile, the girls put that gossamer ghost dress to work alongside hour-glass tailoring and just a sprinkle of fringing. Check it out at Prada. JB
Burberry drop another iconic campaign for the lunar new year
Daniel Lee’s Burberry is famed for its very chic campaigns and their one for the lunar new year is no less breathtaking. Following faces of the house including BAFTA nominated actress Tang Wei and acting, singing and producing star Chen Kun through the streets of Chengdu, vibrant red and gold motifs – the colours of luck and prosperity – flow through the wavy checks on sportswear and scarves. Gorgeous deep red leather bags are decorated with regal gold chains and kimonos feature an elegant field of roses print. For the full collection head to Burberry.com or Burberry stores. Happy new year! TG
Pamela Anderson stuns for Proenza Schouler SS24
2023 was the year of Pammy. After releasing her biography, Love, Pamela, and a Netflix documentary about her famed, iconic and controversy-laden rise from Playboy Playmate to Baywatch Babe to superstar sex symbol, Pamela Anderson ended the year taking PFW by storm with her no makeup and minimalist fits era. As a result, it’s inevitable that the woman who went from Y2K It Girl to quiet luxury style inspo would become a fashion icon and obsession of a whole new generation and that’s set to continue into 2024: the 56 year old model is now the face of NYC brand Proenza Schoeler. For the Parson grads’ SS24 campaign, photographed by Davit Giorgadze and styled by Thistle Brown, Pamela shines with her au naturel beauty against the brand’s elegantly tailored blazers and halters then unexpectedly paired with acid-wash jeans, fishing net style maxi dress and plastic shopping bags. Whimsical and classy at the same time, it’s exactly what we would expect Pammy to serve. TG
The tories want to tax your second-hand clothes sales
“Not another one!!” we hear you scream when you learn there’s a new Tory initiative because the likelihood is it’s going to make everyone’s lives worse unless you’re within the country’s most wealthy. This time, they’re coming for us vintage fashion girlies. Cashing in on the success of second-hand resale platforms, the government are cracking down on their so-called ‘side hustle’ tax. But what does that mean? Put simply, platforms such as Depop, Vinted, Vestiaire Collective and Ebay will now have to start reporting the income sellers make on the items they put up for sale. If you make more than £1,000 a year selling second-hand items you will then have to register as self-employed and include these earnings in your annual tax return – which any freelancer will tell you is the most confusing, stressful process that leaves you with an ever constant fear you may be arrested at any given moment because you pressed the wrong button on the complicated form. But not only is this ridiculous given it means sellers would be paying tax twice on an item – once for buying it and then again for selling it – it also makes a system which promotes sustainability, slow fashion and less waste less attractive and less accessible. That’s something we definitely don’t need during a cost of living crisis and increasing climate change issue. And just because nobody wants to buy unslay Rishi’s garms doesn’t mean he should tax us for trying to sell ours. 😤 TG
Dior drops a new fragrance doc and an exhibition of their muses
Sisterhood has had a major impact on the collections Maria Grazia Chiuri has crafted for Dior’s womenswear collections and a new exhibition at La Galerie Dior in Paris celebrates this. Running until 13 May 2024, the space has been transformed into a celebration of the Parisian house’s collaborations with female artists, with rooms adorned with the artworks of Lillian Bassman, Elina Chauvet, Judy Chicago, Maya Goded, Constance Guisset, Katerina Jebb, Eva Jospin, Brigitte Lacombe, Claude Lalanne, Sarah Moon, Brigitte Niedermair, Shourouk Rhaiem, Niki de Saint Phalle, Penny Slinger and Yuriko Takagi. Eight special editions of the Dior Lady Art are also exclusively revealed within the chambre aux merveilles, showcasing the unique bond the house has with the women creatives and artists du jour. Not in Paris before then? You can still take in a bit of the house’s history with a documentary from the world of Dior fragrances. Entitled Inside the Dream, the film by Matthieu Menu takes us through the birth of one of the house’s most iconic scents: L’Or de J’adore. Looking at how the feminine floral notes came to be, and trying to encapsulate their essence, the documentary travels from LA to Paris to India, speaking to the perfumers and noses behind the scent as well as Dior icon Charlize Theron. Watch it on Amazon Prime now. TG
Bottega Veneta celebrate the dawn of the year of the dragon
The best thing about New Year is calling in the next 12 months with your most precious loved ones and those you want to make more memories with that you can turn into a cute instagram dump in a year’s time. Bottega Veneta’s Chinese lunar new year 2024 campaign – this year the year of the dragon – plays on the beauty of this moment, as a new day dawns on a new year, with a film by Jess Jing Zou and BV creative director Matthieu Blazy entitled The First Sunrise With You. Cuteeee! The fourth film the director has made for the italian luxury house, we follow a couple as they watch the beauty of the sun as it reflects off the snow-capped mountains. We see a mother and daughter – model Chen Estelle and her mother – take an early morning stroll while they’re still alone on the streets of Shanghai. We watch friends gather at the beach and cause mayhem on scooters on the mountain roads together. Each also showcases the dragon-inspired collection from the house, featuring gold scaled hoop earrings and necklaces, running trainers in fiery tones and leather bag offerings rimmed with horns and tail like details. Check out the full collection here! TG