What’s Trending This Week?
01-12-2024
Alexandra Shulman officially left Vogue on Thursday 22nd, closing her career spanning nearly 40 years at Condé Nast and marking her last day in the Vogue office. Her leaving party was crammed with fashion elite such as Victoria Beckham, David Bailey, Christopher Bailey and Rosamund Pike all bidding Shulman farewell, and the Vogue team even created a one-off Vogue cover of Shulman as a keepsake.
Rihanna and Manolo Blahnik have collaborated for a third and final collection entitled ‘So Stoned’ (there are no cannabis leaves here, don’t worry) – a collection of bejewelled sandals (which are, of course, limited edition). The collection comprises of four styles: a mid-heeled mule, high-heeled mule, strappy high heel and heeled gladiator – all created in clear PVC creating an illusion of floating Swarovski crystals. Make sure to check Manoloblahnik.com come July if you fancy grabbing a slice of this collaboration.
Glastonbury festival was by far the highlight of this week, and if you were lucky enough to attend (unlike me, who attended the festival by proxy through my television) then you can probably skip this section (unless, you know, you can’t really remember any of it…). Jeremy Corbyn made a special appearance on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday, thanking founder Michael Eavis for bringing “the spirit of music, of love, of ideas, of great messages”. The Hunter Mini Top Clip backpack was “the” bag of Glastonbury, with the likes of Alexa Chung sporting them – along with friends Cara and Poppy Delevingne (Sienna Miller was even in attendance).
Marvel and shoe-designer Charlotte Olympia unveiled a collaboration this week, (which drops on July 5th) and contains some very high-fashion Spider-Man merchandise indeed. The collection comprises of her signature styles: such as high-heels, strappy sandals, and a clutch – all with a spider web motif embroidered all over each piece. “We are teaming up with the world’s most iconic web-slinger,” Olympia announced via Instagram (what else) – accompanying the announcement with an animated video merging Olympia’s illustrations with footage from the film.
On Tuesday Rihanna called on G20 leaders via Twitter, pressurising them to explain what they are going to do regarding child education in developing countries. At the moment Macron is the only one to respond, whereas Argentinian president Mauricio Macri, Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert, and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau have all yet to hit reply – let’s hope their tweets hold resonance when it comes down to real action and funding.
This week it was announced that Couture Fashion Week – showing in July – is undergoing a shift, with a whole line-up of established ready-to-wear names on the schedule – A.F. Vandevorst, Dutch designer Ronald van der Kemp, and Proenza Schouler and Rodarte among them – elected by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode as “guest members” for the week. “We are in a time when it could be possible for haute couture to be considered passé, but today people are looking for individualism and uniqueness, mixed with a strong aesthetic dimension. This means that there are different ways to approach this notion of couture,” Pascal Morand, executive president of the Fédération Française de la Couture, comments on the additions. I must say, I’m intrigued to see (some of my favourite) ready-to-wear designers showing with ‘traditional’ haute couture institutions; will it be a step forwards in the industry – and perhaps start a chain reaction with other designers following suit to show earlier than their ready-to-wear competitors – with couture getting a much-needed update, or will it feel more like an invasion of strict confines of Haute Couture and the sacred ateliers?
