How could anyone feel less than optimistic about a year that started off with a real burst of polka dots?
Ten years after her first collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, Louis Vuitton has teamed up with Ms. Kusama once again for her first major collection of the year, and it’s a smack. Hundreds of LV products (sneakers, flip-flops, bags, bikinis, bucket hats, coats, skirts, and trousers for both men and women) speckled with almost every permutation of dots imaginable—multicolored dots, metallic dots, and merry confetti rain—are in a sea of logos. .
Unveiled in Asia on January 1 and the rest of the world on January 6, the series raises the bar for what has quickly become an outdated fashion trope. (Out of ideas? Get a collaboration!) It also serves as good cheer for an otherwise obscure year.
Yes, we may be nervous about household spending and geopolitics and maybe even a Covid resurgence, but take a look at Ms. Kusama’s spotty reimagining of the LV world and you’ll find it’s impossible not to smile. Even better, it’s just leaving out either one. Kusama’s next line of products featuring more signature work is coming at the end of March – a reminder that in 2023 there are many interesting, distracting and possibly even exciting fashion developments that will shape our way of expressing ourselves and our wardrobes. .
What else can you look forward to?
Gucci mood change (and other appointments and outings)
The style-setters of the world were shocked when designer Alessandro Michele, who transformed Gucci from a gold-plated, python-skinned, sheerly passionate avatar, to a huge mess of emotions, products and identity, announced in November. was taking a step. His departure leaves a tremendous void in a luxury mega-brand, aside from pop culture in general, and raises the question of what’s next: more of the same or a dramatic comeback? Whoever makes it to the top will be partially responsible for resetting the mood of the industry.
Speaking of hugely impactful new business: More than a year after Virgil Abloh’s death, Louis Vuitton has yet to identify a new menswear designer, but rumor has it an appointment will be made soon. It’s not yet clear whether an LV or Gucci announcement will be made ahead of next season’s big debut – Daniel Lee at Burberry. Mr. Lee is the very famous designer of Bottega Veneta, who left the brand under a cloud in late 2021. Whether it can make the same comeback for Britain’s biggest luxury house and its own reputation will be the test of London Fashion Week in February. .
Phoebe Philo is probably, definitely, probably, finally coming back
When Phoebe Philo, the Greta Garbo of fashion, announced she would be returning to fashion with her own brand in July 2021, a population of grown-up women held their breasts and screamed with joy. Ms. Philo has been trying to decide what to wear since leaving her creative director position at Céline nearly five years ago.
After all, it was in Céline that Miss Philo quietly embraced sophisticated luxury minimalism and became the patron saint of smart, grown-up women everywhere. She was returning now, and on her own terms! Joy! don’t get carried away! More information was promised last January, but there was no news from the Philo camp that month and all year. Smart money says the Phoebe Philo brand will finally debut in 2023. Expectations are higher for Lady Gaga’s platform stilettos.
Some large and small screen style specifiers
It is impossible to ignore the fact that movies and broadcasters have become not only mega-watching events but mega-fashion events, and that costume designers are often as influential as any fashion designer. To that end, the two premieres are almost guaranteed to leak into lockers everywhere.
The first is the Amazon Prime series “Daisy Jones & the Six,” based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s book, scheduled for release on March 3 right in the middle of Paris Fashion Week. The show features a variety of rock ‘n’ roll, flower power 1970s designs courtesy of Riley Keough as the Stevie Nicks-like main character and costume designer Denise Wingate, and it’s almost certain to shape festival fashion for the rest. year. Then comes the movie event in July, which has been leaking to the collections since the first screenshots were leaked last year: Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” with costume design by Jacqueline Durran. Expect a neon pink and yellow post with the corresponding postmodern revisionism of the classic fashion palette.
More royal dressing dramas
On May 6, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will be officially crowned, and the event will be celebrated by Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Harry and Meghan revelations (continuing with the release of Harry’s memoirs this month). Get ready for at least a bit of grandeur and status, as well as some serious luxury and historical image-making, by the immediate royal family, including William, Prince of Wales; his wife Catherine and their three children are always coordinated. Considering that Prince Harry and Meghan will also be invited, the style stakes will be even greater.
The fact that the fairytale ceremony comes just days after this year’s Met Gala in honor of Karl Lagerfeld and brings a different perspective to the fashion kingdom will make it an unforgettable dressing week.
And some courtroom intrigue
Fashion tends to have a fear of voicing its squabbles in court, but earlier this year, two potentially important lawsuits will take place in New York’s Southern District for everyone to hear. On January 3, the opening arguments in the Adidas v Thom Browne trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit took place as Adidas (whose founder is also the new chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America) went after the fashion brand owned by Zegna. on whether the use of four and five stripes in sportswear is very close to the Adidas three stripe logo. Considering the growing synergy between the worlds of high fashion and sports, the case that will continue over the next week or two may have some major wardrobe repercussions.
Then at the end of the month (assuming the parties have not reached an agreement between now and then) Hermès v. Here comes Rothschild, Mason Rothschild is the artist who created the MetaBirkin NFT series – the group of digital representations of blurry, colorful Birkin. It was also a commentary on consumer culture – with all its potential implications for what happens when issues of fashion, creativity, artistic expression, and the meta-universe collide. Your avatar, or potential wardrobe for your avatar, may never be the same, not to mention the relationship between fashion and that obscure arena of collecting otherwise known as unchangeable tokens.