It’s been 84 years but after the AW23 fashion weeks (filled with many, many, many runways, robodogs, Lisa Rinna, blankie-couture, farmyard garms and revolutioncore – you can read all our coverage of the season here) taking over our newsfeeds, we’re back! And there’s a lot of other fashion news to catch up. From many sexy pop stars and beloved actors as the new faces of various houses, to the latest must-buys in skincare and fragrance, let’s get right into it! Here’s what’s in fashion.
Shawn Mendes has curated Tommy Hilfiger’s preppy new collection
If, like me, you follow @styledeshawn – partly because Shawn Mendes’ preppy, retro-Americana style is both sexy and desirable; partly because you just want more of his floppy brunette curls and tattoos on your feed – then Tommy Hilfiger have given you a gift: an entire collection curated by Shawn himself, and an incredibly sultry campaign featuring the Canadian pop king photographed by Craig McDean. Titled Tommy x Shawn Classics Reborn, the 28-piece menswear and womenswear collection harkens back to pre-90s prep by giving pieces from the Tommy archive a contemporary new look. In line with Tommy and Shawn’s own beliefs, the collection’s sustainability credentials are strong, as attested by the use of recycrom (dyes made from the fibres of repurposed factory cutting waste) and circulose (materials made from recycled textiles and then mixed with wood fibres to reduce the need of virgin materials). In the photos that will leave you flustered, Shawn evokes his innate boy-next door energy in a loose-fit american flag rugby top; plain white tees and polos alongside jeans with a worn-in spirit and the revealed waistbands of underwear; minimalist regency stripe shirts barely done up and a sporty varsity jacket with the Tommy colours on the collar and wrists, made using nylons derived from ocean and land waste such as fishing nets. Oh Shawn, you really are a “good boy” aren’t you. Check out the collection here. TG
How Haeckels continues to revolutionise the skincare game
As all you beauty girlies well know, Haeckels has made waves in the industry since its founding in 2012, opening our eyes to the replenishing benefits of seaweed-derived soaps, serums and more. This week, though, a new chapter dawned for the brand with the announcement of a brand new vertical: Haeckels Lab. Born out of the actual lab at its seafront headquarters in Margate, the new range comprises three pioneering products set to shake up your regime – a cleanser, a toner and an EGF (yes, that’s right, epidermal growth factor) serum – formulated with Spiraglow, “an in-house algae created by biotechnology to visibly hydrate, calm, soothe and plump the skin”, Charlie Vickery, Haeckels managing director, explains.
Developed by Em Rose, Haeckels’ head of formulation, the miracle ingredient was the result of her research into the derivation of prebiotic peptides from the fermentation of single cell algae (duh!), which prompted her to work towards this three-step regime that actively nourishes the skin’s microbiome. “Traditionally, dermatology was always about the epidermis, and the other layers of your skin, but more recently, it’s become more obvious that bacteria play an important protective role,” she says. “With all three products, they’ve been designed to cause minimal disruption, as well as to feed the ‘good’ bacteria.”
More than just a snazzy ingredient, though, its lab-grown nature marks a major development on the sustainability front – not just the brand, but for the industry as a whole. “Haeckels Lab is built around a pillar of sustainability, harnessing the power of lab-grown ingredients and in-house biotech,” says Charlie. “Natural ingredients are resource intensive; from the amount of land required to grow the ingredients to the carbon emissions created in harvesting, transporting and manufacturing them. The idea is our new in-house created algae can be created and grown anywhere in the world – even in places previously inhospitable to nature – through our in-house designed bio-reactors and other vertical farming methods.”
For a brand that has, since its founding, typically been perceived as an all-natural skincare brand, it’s a bold step. But it is exactly to broaden this perception – and of that of which Haeckels is capable of – that this step has been taken. “Part of Haeckels Lab was about entering the conversation about what ‘natural’ means and disrupting,” Em says. “It’s been about expanding what we do in terms of the ingredients we use, involving processes like fermentation and growing algae indoors, basically; being able to make these ingredients derived from natural things, but without necessarily going into the environment and taking them from there.”
“Haeckels Lab challenges all that we have done over the last ten years and allows us to create a sustainable blueprint for the future,” Charlie echoes. “It’s really going to allow us to flex our muscles through innovation – it’s an exciting time for us to be launching with three products but with many more in development already. Our entrance into the biotech world with advanced skincare has only just begun.” MS
Saint Laurent Rive Droite heads down under
Good news for all you sheilas down under! The paragon of French fashion, none other than Saint Laurent, is bringing its smoking-hot vision of Parisian left-bank glamour to the shores of Bondi Beach. Well, not physically. It’s a long way to travel, after all. And well, it’s actually been available since 13 Feb, but — to be completely honest — we’ve been a bit busy reporting from the front line of les fashions. The good news is that it is still available to the dedicated Antipodean fashion fanatics. The house has launched its ‘Rive Droite’ collection of objets for Australian audiences via its e-commerce website, which means that those ultra-chic lighters, vinyls, Baccarat paper-weights — objects for the man and woman who have everything — will be shipped from Sydney to Melbourne in no time, arriving in one of those gorgeous black boxes. What’s not to love? OA
D.S. & Durga: the perfume brand creating aromatic ‘cover songs’
“What does a rainbow smell like?” may not be a question that you’ve ever asked yourself, but it’s one that David Moltz – one of the founding duo behind New York-based indie perfumers D.S. & Durga alongside Kavi Moltz, his wife – has concocted an answer to. And trust us, it’s one you’ll want to know — or smell, rather. “I’ve had this idea for such a long time,” he explains with palpable glee of Steamed Rainbow, the label’s most recent global launch. “I’m very into thinking about things that don’t have a smell, and what they would smell like if they did. With Steamed Rainbow, it was about creating something that smelled like all of the colours, in this light, steamy, pastel-y way.” Indeed, the aromatic experience of Steamed Rainbow is akin to what I would imagine drifting through a rainbow to be like. Citrusy top notes of red mandarin, orange and yellow elemi resin waft on to green cedar, blue almond flowers and indigo grass, all underpinned by sweet violet and vapour-y mist.
Far from a one-off, this eccentric, synaesthetic approach is D.S. & Durga’s defining trait. Founded in 2007 by David and his wife, Kavi, the New York based perfurmer has built a cult reputation for fragrances that evoke an unexpected span of moods, places and even flavours. Big hits are Radio Bombay, which elicits the memory of a“transistor radio hewn of sandalwood [radiating] ragas in the Bandra heat,” according to the brand’s website; Debaser, an olfactory summoning of “the wild shrill of Black Francis coming through the radio in the August heat”; and I Don’t Know What, a pioneering “fragrance enhancer with transparent radiance that gives any perfume a certain, as the French say, ‘I don’t know what’”. The through line that seems to draw the eclectic family of scents together, though, is their specificity – they’re all created with the intention of capturing and eliciting memories with Proustian force, even if they’re memories you never formed first-hand.
The fragrances that David and Kavi have most recently released, however, see them branching out into yet further new territory. Pistachio – an unabashedly sweet interpretation of the nut as a dessert flavour – heralds D.S. & Durga’s entry into gourmand territory, while Royal Kinam Oud and 40 Million Year Old Amber – both limited edition fragrances available exclusively at Harrods – find innovative ways to express the hyper-rare scent-sources at their heart. That said, it would be remiss to state that they smell just like what it says on the bottle. Just as was the case with the brand’s viral Pasta Water candle, created in collaboration with New York restaurant Jupiter, David sees his art as one of figurative interpretation, rather than direct, ‘faithful’ translation. “One thing that I want people to understand is that perfumes are a bit like cover songs,” he says. “If a perfume is called Rose, it’s not going to smell like another perfume by a different brand with the same. The perfumer knows what rose smells like, but maybe they wanted to highlight the really citrussy aspect of the rose, so they added tonnes of lemon, and then they wanted to add a bit of greenness to it, so they added bergamot. You then end up with that person’s vision of what rose is — it’s just like an abstract painting of a rose that you’d hang on the wall. More than anything, I’m trying to show that perfume works in the same way — that it lives on the level of all the other art forms, and that it can do the same amount of things.” MS
KJ Apa is back (this time with a few more clothes) at Lacoste
You of course remember when Riverdale star KJ Apa’s trunk underwear campaign for Lacoste sent the internet ablaze last fall. Well the actor is back at it with the iconic French brand, although now advertising another of their staple garments: the polo. No longer with Archie’s famed fiery red locks, KJ leads the campaign as he stuns in a dynamic print inspired by streetwear called The Movement Polo, designed to fit like a second skin and be ultra-light and breathable for agility. It’s part of five specific styles the brand’s Polo will now be released in, alongside The Paris Polo (smart and minimalist with a discrete croc logo), The Tennis Polo (uses seamless tech and light recycled jersey for the court), The Golf Polo (super-stretch and printed with a bask of crocs) and The Original Polo (featuring a world map to show its global domination). Check them all out on the Lacoste website and in-stores. TG
Anya Taylor-Joy embodies the Dior woman for their latest campaign
To celebrate the coveted new Dior accessory, the Lady 95.22 bag, a stunning new campaign from French photographer Brigitte Lacombe explores the timeless allure of the piece through the lens of exceptional women that embody Maria Grazia Chiuri’s vision. It makes sense, then, that the latest would be Anya Taylor-Joy, an actress who can embody a 16th century New England witch, a Regency-era feminist icon, a 70s chess nerd and a contemporary sex worker with equal measure and sophistication. In these photos, the graphic lines of cannage on the black leather bag and ruthenium-hued handle charms pop against the demure, ageless and simple glamour of her outfit, in a look that epitomises the Dior woman. TG
Acne Studios heralds the Devonnaisance
‘One night in Devon!’ read an i-D coverline read of the OG Y2K supermodel, Devon Aoki, who famously swapped international catwalks for an acting career and motherhood. Well, dear reader, Devon is back — and she shows no sign of disappearing once again. The English-German-Japanese-and-very-Californian super is the new face of Acne Studios, gracing our pages once more in a campaign lensed by Dutch visual artist and photographer Carlijn Jacobs. Now with poker-straight blonde hair — tres 2000s, dare we say — Devon appears blushing in the pil sheets that comprised the set of the Swedish house’s SS23 show, and ice-hot in little more than periwinkle blue bow. ”I love the energy behind the Acne Studios,” she said in a statement. “Delicate but with an element of danger,” she continued. As for working with Carlijn, she was full of prase. “Carlijn is one of the great talents, I knew her work and felt that we would do something amazing together,” Devon gushed. “Upon meeting her, you see the creative energy just kind of flows out of her and she is a powerful storyteller.” If our fashion instincts are anything to go by, we’re predicting this to be the beginning of what we’re calling the Devonnaissance (sorry, Carlson sisters). Watch this space. OA
Alighieri PF23 collection is a celebration of film photography
You don’t need us to tell you why film photography will always trump digital stills, so instead, we let Aligheri’s Rosh Mahtani explain it for you: “There is a liberation in exploring the world through the lens – setting ephemeral moments in stone; turning light into dark into light again; capturing the vastness of adventure, framing and harnessing it into a vignette, time-stamped and immortalised,” she says of her latest film-inspired collection, 56.60. Ever the analogue girl, Rosh began the process for creation by going on an adventure, armed with her old 35mm Pentax camera, her eyes open to capturing the first frames, the happy accidents and the grainy textures of real life. 56.60 refers to her favourite light setting, the result of which is clear to see in the series of 25 wet-plate photographs that the jewellery captured with NYC-based artist Angela Jones of Image Atlas, which will go on display in Berlin at the end of this month.
The experiment proved to be serendipitous. Earlier this year, Rosh discovered a box of photographs her father had taken on a roadtrip in 1980. “As I handled each vignette, almost like an artefact, I found a series of photographs that left me speechless,” she explains. “The composition, the colours and the style were almost identical to photographs I had taken on my travels over the years… . My deep and obsessive love for photography suddenly took on an even greater meaning.” Her collection of wax-cast jewellery also hints, bold and textured in vibrant yellow gold, also offered parallels to her exploration of film photography. “This collection features the textured link between my dad and I,” says Rosh. “Fragments framed in molten gold, almost like old photographs themselves; and totemic rocky castings – an ode to Africa and the magic of adventure through the camera lens.” Available on Aligheri’s website, take your cue from its parental provenance and order yours in time for Mother’s Day this weekend. OA
DSM and Salomon drop an exclusive sneaker
Sneakerheads, your attention please! Gorpcore go-to brand Salomon has paired up with London’s foremost style emporium, Dover Street Market, to release a special edition iteration of its iconic ACS Pro. With its structural silhouette and hardy sole, the shoe has proven a smash hit with everyone from trail-hikers in the Pyrénées to litty lengy Louis hot-footing it to Jolene, with this latest iteration only set to reinforce its reputation. Available in two directional new colourways –Black and Vanilla Ice, both featuring Quiet Shade and Silver Metallic X details – the chic new shoes landed both online and in DSM stores worldwide. Get on whatever kicks you’re going to be replacing with these and sprint on down to that queue! MS
Babe, wake up! A new CK underwear campaign has dropped!
Since those famed photos of Kate Moss and Mark Wahlberg in the 90s, no fashion campaign is more awaited by the horny people on the internet each season than Calvin Klein’s. And for the latest season, their roster of celebrities stripping to their tighty-whities has become even sexier. Gay twitter has, of course, already got their hands on those pics, all by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, of jockish actors Michael B. Jordan and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in form-fitting trunks and strappy white vests. There’s also BLACKPINK girly turned The Idol actor JENNIE, and her cat, wearing some loose fit jeans and lacy lingerie (JENNIE, not the cat). Kendall Jenner then shows why she’s a supermodel with dynamic poses in double denims and white socks, while musician and pole dancer FKA Twigs stuns wearing nothing but a loose-fit denim shirt. Calvin Klein underwear campaigns, you will always be famous. TG
Valentino invites you to an in-store unboxing
Given that you’re reading this, you will no doubt have followed the deliciously dramatic debacle that has ensued around celebrity stylist — sorry, I mean ‘Image Architect’ — Law Roach’s imminent ‘retirement’. Well, if there was ever a case for the rising power of stylists-to-the-stars, let it be Valentino’s latest initiative, a global roll-out of instore concepts dedicated to its ‘Unboxing’ collection and designed by ten celebrity stylists around the world. The line-up includes Lorenzo Posocco (client: Dua Lipa), Law Roach himself (Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, Hunter Schafer), Rebecca Corbin-Murray (Salma Hayak, Lily James, Gemma Chan), Clement Lomellini (Carla Bruni, Camille Razat) and Anna Dello Russo (err, Anna Dello Russo), who have all taken on the roles of stylists to Valentino stores around the world, from London to Paris, Milan to Sydney. There’s also an online space, created by a styling duo Grandquist. Each one has been tasked with coming up with a concept that creatively interprets the collection, known for its V logo-bearing pattern named Toile Iconographe, which first came down the catwalk at Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s ready-to-wear show last October. They’ve even each created Spotify playlists to get you in the mood! Get yourself to one of Valentino’s stores this weekend for your own Oscar-worthy transformation.
Lil Nas X and Camilla Mendes share what’s in their Coach Tabby
Misquoting Kelly Clarkson, Coach’s new campaign invites us all to embrace our personal baggage as what we carry makes us stronger. The TikTok-beloved Tabby bag is all about individuality and unapologetic self-expression of course and to embody this, equally TikTok beloved stars share what they carry with them each and everyday. For pop superstar Lil Nas X, it’s his dreamed creative future that fuels his every move. For Riverdale and Do Revenge star Camila Mendes, it’s embracing her Brazilian-American culture. Model Kōki holds her desire to constantly try new things and actor-slash-dancer Wu JinYan always has a vision of turning challenges into opportunities with her. With the bag available in so many different styles and colours to express yourself with, the campaign is part of a larger story from the house to wear ourselves and what we carry with us openly on our sleeves. TG
Fendi takes Pitti Uomo’s headline slot
Anyone with a vague interest in menswear will know that taking up the headline slot at Pitti Uomo – the globally significant menswear fair that takes place every six months – is a big deal. In previous years, the platform’s been offered up to pioneering independent brands like Wales Bonner, Y/Project and Martine Rose, the latter of whom had the honour at the most recent iteration back in January. For the next chapter in June, however, we’re in for a real blockbuster of a show, with one of the fashion industry’s most significant houses taking up the spot: Fendi. Set to take place at the Fendi Factory, a newly-opened space set in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, it’s already certain to be the highlight of the SS24 men’s calendar. “I am thrilled that the next Men’s Show will take place in such a special location to me, the pulsing heart of FENDI, a place symbolic of creation, where development, innovation, craftsmanship training and production are reunited under the same roof,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi, the house’s Artistic Director of Accessories and Menswear. “It will be such a unique occasion to see our products take life exactly where our Artisans make them, letting them take centre stage on that day,” and we can’t wait to be there! MS