Attenzione fashion girlies! A chic new iOS game called Fenzy is here to fill the time between now and the September shows, making sure your fashion knowledge is up to the standard it damn well should be. It is to the sartorial obsessed what Wordle was to language nerds. If you manage to pull yourself away from playing it for just a hot sec, you’ll also find the arrival of AW23 garms at Dover Street Market London, and the revival of long-lost vintage pieces at Byronesque to scoop up. In other must-see news, Kenzo takes its East-meets-West SS24 show from Paris to Shanghai, 16Arlington drops the campaign for its heavenly AW23 offering, cult label Ifeoma returns with a refined new collection! And if, honestly, you just want to block it all out and retreat from planet mode, we’ve got just the suggestion for the chicest way to do that, too. Here’s what’s in fashion.
Kenzo brings its SS24 show to Shanghai’s skyline
You’d have had to be a fool not to notice that fashion’s travelling circus is well and truly back in swing, with runway shows popping up across the four corners of the world. The latest brand to hotfoot it across the globe is Kenzo, who, this week, presented a repeat of its SS24 show in Shanghai. Presented on the Bund, the show saw looks from the pastel-poppy collection – a sartorial meditation on the 80s Japanese genre of city pop, and creative director Nigo’s adolescent memories of it – against the backdrop of the megacity’s iconic skyline. Joining the original line-up, though, were a suite of new riffs on key looks, cementing the ‘East meets West’ ethos that has always constituted the foundation of the house, and its importance in Nigo’s vision for it during his tenure. MS
16Arlington drops its shimmery AW23 campaign
Earlier this year, 16Arlington debuted their divine AW23 collection, entitled Wake; a series of heavenly going-out garms in angelic whites and night-sky navies, all filed along a floor covered in aromatic ground coffee, serving as both a heartfelt tribute to the brand’s late co-founder Federica ‘Kikka’ Cavenati, and serving as a metaphor for a new spiritual dawn. Now, the campaign for the collection, photographed by Hanna Moon and styled by Georgia Pendlebury, sees it brought to life by model Louise Roberts. Adorned in the collection’s sheer embroidered catholic lace halters and dove-like marabou feather peplums, she’s seen swinging an embossed bitter chocolate leather Kikka bag from her shoulder, bringing a party girl energy to the delicate, almost spirituality-imbued pieces, perfectly embodying the brand’s alluring duality. TG
The best of AW23 arrives at Dover Street Market London
At long last the day has come when all the AW23 fashions we’ve been coveting since they first appeared on the runways have landed in stores – well, one store in particular: the London branch of Dover Street Market! “But wait – autumn/winter collections in August?!’, you’re probably thinking, but if you were here in London, it would make sense – after all, autumn has basically already arrived, rendering the sexy, summer wardrobes we delved into our overdrafts to put together more or less redundant. Anyway! As for what you can expect to find if you visit the Haymarket fashion emporium from today on, highlights include new spaces from Molly Goddard and Wales Bonner and exclusives from the likes of Chopova Lowena, Paolina Russo and Stefan Cooke. Can’t make it to London? Well, luckily for you, you can skip the inevitable queue and shop from the store’s impeccable new selection online. MS
Fenzy turned your favourite fashion TikTok game into an app
Who was Zendaya wearing at the 2019 Met Gala? Which designer created a froggy shoe with Wellipets? Which SS24 show featured Kendall Jenner wearing a white puffy off-the shoulder bikini in Cannes? If you know the answers to these questions then download Fenzy from the Apple Store asap! From Elias Medini and based on those viral TikToks with the same premise, the new iOS game tests your fashion knowledge across runways and red carpets, high street and high fashion. With different expertise levels and the option to record both the gameplay and your reactions and responses to post on social media, it’s your window into who in your friendship group is a Miranda and who’s an Andy. Who needs to crack open a fashion mag and who needs to turn off @stylenotcom notifications. TG
Byronesque wants to revolutionise how you shop vintage
In 2023 most fashion lovers have mastered the vintage buying game, after all, as online vintage market Byronesque points out, the over $90 billion resale business is set to grow five times the size of the luxury market by 2025 and twice the size of fast fashion by 2029. But Byronesque’s relaunched site is set to push the boundaries of vintage shopping even further by creating the first ever online boutique department store for contemporary vintage fashion.
What does all those words mean? Well, now brands themselves will have sections, a bit like market stalls, of verified pieces. The first of these concessions will be from the not-for-profit Vivienne Foundation who will have iconic pieces from Viv’s brand, as well as Fondazione Sozzani, who boast a collection of Alaïa, Balenciaga and Comme des Garçons pieces from Carla Sozzani’s personal archives. There’s more though: Byronesque has been working in tandem with Machine-A to revive old, incredibly desirable collections for limited edition re-issues! Claude Montana, Vexed Generation and Helmut Lang are already brands they’ve resurrected key pieces from (let’s see Jesus do that) and are now reuniting the OG As Four Four team 18 years later to bring back their famed circle bags. Big slay! Finally, the vintage market is getting their crystal ball out, predicting what current pieces are no doubt going to be retro must-haves that our Gen Alpha kids are going to be begging us to borrow. Byronesque are truly living in the future! TG
Rajasthan’s oh-so-fashion, must-visit resort
The French and Italian proclivity for taking August off en masse means that the month is the fashion industry’s de facto holiday season, with Instagram giving you enough angles on Positano and Patmos to make you believe you were there. Here’s our hot take, though – heading on holiday when everyone else is just isn’t that chic! Rather than risk bumping into your colleagues in overcrowded Catania airport, we’re of the opinion that an autumn/winter break is rather more refined. If you’re of like mind, but find yourself uhm-ing and ah-ing over where to go, allow us to take some of the pain out of the process and point you towards the princely northern Indian state of Rajasthan – more specifically to one of its most dazzling resorts, Raffles Udaipur.
Located in the middle of mountain-fringed Udai Sagar lake, the Palladian mansion – the first Indian outpost of Singapore’s grande dame of a hotel – sprawls across a 21-acre private island. When you arrive, it’s immediately clear why it’s become an instant favourite for fashion productions, with publications including ELLE recently picking out the property as a shoot location. Work kudos aside, though, it’s an ideal spot for anyone looking to totally disconnect from the fashion frenzy, featuring a seemingly endless range of impeccably manicured gardens, two decadent cocktail bars, a generous infinity pool, and – most important of all – one of the most lavish, soul-soothing spas we’ve ever experienced. Given that it’ll be about 30 degrees in November, and it’ll be less than half that here, it makes for a pretty appealing post-fashion month/art fair slog retreat, n’est-ce pas? MS
Discover Ifeoma’s “crossfire couture”
The independent fashion design acolytes among you (i.e. all of you, we bloody hope!) will perhaps recall Ifeoma, the 2017 brand that made waves for its coolly off-kilter, awkwardly sensual knits and garments hewn from upholstery fabrics. Though it quickly earned a cult audience, its founder, Eckhaus Latta alum Reva Ochuba, chose to place the brand on hiatus in order to pursue ventures in both fashion and the wider creative industries, settling in London, Paris, Prague, Istanbul and Tbilisi along the way. Now, the erstwhile designer has come home to roost – well, not literally, but rather spiritually, returning to her calling to put out the first Ifeoma collection in six years. Here, Reva tells us about the conceptual underpinnings of her svelte, black-on-black revival collection – and shares a selection of images from her self-starring, Marc Asekhame shot campaign. MS
How would you introduce Ifeoma to someone discovering it for the first time?
A Billboard. Oh wait—you want a description? I don’t know, as much as I want to be a serious person, I’m probably more vain than voracious. I’d say my clientele feels the same.
Could you summarise the spirit of your latest collection for us in 3 words?Crossfire Couture. Epicureanism. Shera Seven.
What was the main jumping-off point for the collection?
Initially, I had no desire to produce a full collection. But, carried all these sketches, and continued to sketch. It seemed wise to put them to fruition. I’d gone through a series of interpersonal experiences that harkened a revival of self. Alas, the collection seemed just the right antidote.
Give us three things that were on your moodboard.
Bird Bed by François-Xavier Lalanne, Tocino Chairs by Sergio Rodrigues (Sheepskin Obv), and Ilia II of Georgia.
Is there a particular piece or look that you think of as the cornerstone of the collection?
The mop skirt, for sure.
Are there any particular pieces or techniques that you want to highlight?
Bodyblocking. As a woman shaped like a rectangle, the illusion of a waist was important for me.
Is there a particular style icon that you see wearing the collection? If so, where are they, and what are they wearing from it?
Long-haired Tilda Swinton circa Female Perversions (1996). Chef’s kiss. Absolutely divine.
