From the very beginning, Victoria’s Secret was never about women but about men.

Victoria’s Secret first store was opened in San Francisco, California at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. However, the first Victoria’s Secret fashion show took place 18 years later in August 1995 in New-York at the Plaza Hotel.

Monica Mitro who was Executive Vice-President of Public Relations at Victoria’s Secret from 1995 to 2021 explained the reason behind this initiative in an interview with Vogue in November 2018: “The reason we did a show in the first place is because our chairman, Les Wexner, said to all of our businesses, “We’re fashion businesses; we need to be doing fashion shows.”" (Via Vogue)

In 1995, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show looked less extravagant. There was no wings or singing performances or glitters on the runway but it was still the beginning of something that became very big. The famous angel wings first appeared on the runway in 1998 and Claudia Schiffer was the first model to wear the fantasy bra in 1996.

Although Victoria’s Secret toxic culture was more and more present in the 2010s, the early stages of it were already here in 1995. In 2017, Vogue Magazine interviewed several people who were present at the first Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Model Veronica Webb recalled how she did 1000 squats the week before the show: “[…] I think I did nearly 1,000 squats the week before and went on a ketogenic diet to reduce bloat. You’re in your underwear so it’s all about your body and how strong and healthy you are — there’s nowhere to hide a single body flaw. It was a great exercise in overcoming fear and self-consciousness. But it is a show like no other. It was a big, glam pyjama party with all your besties sharing the spotlight.” (Via Vogue)

This toxic culture is something that had been present for many years at Victoria’s Secret. Over the past few years, models have come forward sharing their stories:

All of this wasn’t publicly encouraged but in my opinion it was definitely normalized. In November 2018, the mind behind the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, Edward Razek was asked by journalist Nicole Phelps “Are you putting more emphasis on diversity now?”. Razek took this question as an opportunity to address the models’s workout routines: "the girls have just continued to get more physically fit. We don't tell them to; they compete with one another and they work hard, they work in pairs, they work in threes. Many of them work out at the same gyms; they have complex routines." (Via Vogue)

Later in this same interview, Edward Razek emphasizes on his previous statement by calling the Victoria’s Secret models "aggressively fit" and also says “Should they apologize for being fit? This is their profession […]”. (Via Vogue)

But it’s not their profession. They are models, not athletes and this isn’t the Olympic Games. Victoria’s Secret had been in its own bubble for many years. A bubble where the people at the top believe that only skinny tall women buy lingerie so only skinny tall models should appear on the runway to sell this same lingerie. The saddest part is that the lack of diversity and representation was never really going to change drastically with the old executives.

When Monica Mitro was asked about diversity she talked about the fact that 19 new women were going to walk the show [which is not the definition of diversity]: “This year—it’s kind of hard to believe, because we only have 60 women—we have 19 new faces who have never walked Victoria’s Secret before.” (Via Vogue)

And then there’s Edward Razek who made transphobic comments in this same Vogue interview: “Shouldn't you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don't think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It's a 42-minute entertainment special. That's what it is. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and any other fashion brand in the world would take it in a minute, including the competitors that are carping at us.” (Via Vogue)

[Note: Two days after this interview, Edward Razek published a statement to apologize for his comments: “"My remark regarding the inclusion of transgender models in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show came across as insensitive. I apologize. To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show. We've had transgender models come to castings... And like many others, they didn't make it...But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are."“]

Progress can’t happen when there’s people blocking it.

While I was doing research to write this piece, I have seen many TikTok think pieces theories of why Victoria’s Secret lost their relevance. Too many of them leaned into right-wing propaganda "go woke go broke". These people claim that VS isn’t what it used to be because "there’s no more angels", "it’s meant to be a fantasy", "I don’t wanna see any average people in it".

I think Victoria’s Secret and fashion in general is used for many people as a projector of their self-image issues and their own insecurities. When thin women were seen all over the runway, some people felt included, special, almost superior. So when the body positivity movement started to gain traction with brands like Savage x Fenty showcasing that more than one body type can be celebrated, more plus-size models were seen on the runway.

Those people who once felt exclusive weren’t anymore and they felt triggered. Because for some reason, people seem very triggered by plus-size bodies.

Some state that Victoria’s Secret lost their relevance because they decided to put wings on plus-size models. Those same people purposefully put under the rug all the events that lead to the show’s cancellation and the fall of the brand.

In August 2019, Edward Razek resigned and in February 2020 he was accused of bullying, misogyny and sexual harrasment in an article of the New York Times Magazine.

Monica Mitro complained about suffering of harrasment from Edward Razek and was put on administrative leave the next day.

In July 2019, the New York Times Magazine exposed the ties between Jeffrey Epstein and the billionaire Les Wexner who owned Victoria’s Secret from 1982 to 2021 through the company "L Brands".

In 2021, Victoria’s Secret and its parent company “L Brands” parted ways and Victoria’s Secret became an independent company.

Many changes were made in order for the brand to redeem its image. In October 2024, the Victoria’s Secret show was brought back after its cancellation years prior.

On top of that, Adam Selman [Savage x Fenty ‘s Chief Design Officer from January 2022 to January 2025] joined the brand as Executive Creative Director.

Victoria’s Secret can hire whoever they want to but at the end of the day the thing that remains the same is their audience. A fatphobic audience who doesn’t seem to evolve and probably never will. I could have added so many screenshots of the too many distasteful comments I could find under posts of plus-size models walking or being in advertisements for the brand. Some of these comments included things like “no wonder why they filled bankruptcy” “eat half” “bring back old Victoria secret fashion shows” “they’re just hiring anyone these days”.

I could have made a collage of all those hateful comments but it would have taken more room than my writing and that was not the point.

A fashion show is an advertisement and the point is for people to see how the lingerie looks like on somebody who has a similar body type as them.

So while some people will spend all their time on their phone from the comfort of their couch criticizing models walking the show, others will actually walk the show and I think that sums up everything!

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Raymond

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria%27s_Secret_Fashion_Show

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria%27s_Secret

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Razek

https://www.vogue.com/article/victorias-secret-ed-razek-monica-mitro-interview

https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/trends/this-is-what-the-very-first-victorias-secret-fashion-show-looked-like/image-gallery/c065da776040de691316014dbc0b938a

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/business/jeffrey-epstein-wexner-victorias-secret.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50512414

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/aug/06/marketing-boss-quits-victorias-secret-first-trans-model-hired

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-21/victorias-secret-forced-into-sale-with-brand-in-decline/11987394

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-selman-a7015b161

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dougmelville/2025/09/14/nyfw-with-67-of-american-women-being-plus-size-meet-the-designer-fighting-for-full-size-fashion/

https://www.today.com/popculture/news/victorias-secret-fashion-show-controversy-rcna174902

Voguehttps://www.vogue.comVictoria's Secret Taps Designer Adam Selman as Executive Creative Director

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49653273

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jul/22/victorias-secret-pink-sales-stock-down

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46163922

https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/accessories/victorias-secret-history-every-single-fantasy-bra-thats-made-it-down-the-runway/image-gallery/4d2c341ce8770d9ca1ce8dec48b3b462

https://crfashionbook.com/victorias-secret-fashion-show-moments-throughout-history/

https://people.com/health/victorias-secret-fashion-show-adriana-lima-extreme-diet/

https://womenshealth.com.au/bridget-malcolm-victorias-secret-weight/page/17/?el_dbe_page

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/former-victorias-secret-model-bridget-malcolm-details-companys-toxic-weight-loss-culture.amp

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/victorias-secret-podcast-erin-heatherton-b1943677.html

https://wwd.com/pop-culture/culture-news/feature/victorias-secret-fantasy-bras-1235810881/

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/06/victorias-secret-what-went-wrong/

https://uk.fashionnetwork.com/news/Ny-times-investigation-uncovers-sexual-harassment-bullying-among-victoria-s-secret-s-highest-ranks,1182563.html

https://www.papermag.com/victorias-secret-trans-inclusion-apology#rebelltitem1

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I can’t feel inspired by fashion or at least by rich people coming together to sit down and watch clothes getting presented in front of them. In fact fashion has never felt more dystopian to me. And I mean when has it not been? (Never)

No matter how much some people put fashion and most specifically fashion shows on a pedestal, it’s not the most important thing in the world. It might inspire you but in 9 out of 10 cases it won’t be life changing. This fashion utopia-ish bubble where nothing is more important than fashion and where you ignore the outside world (the real world) is weird!

In one Parisian street there’s high schoolers asking for better facilities to study in, for more teachers, for better schedules and getting brutalized by the police for it! While a few streets away, there’s the ultra-rich fashion people who live in their bubble and choose to look away.

I think being apart of the “fashion world” and being conscious of the world that surrounds yourself are two things that can co-exist. Privileged people gain even more privileges and the working class keeps struggling more and more. The gap is so big that looking away should not be an option anymore!

There are those who actually say something smart and then there are the others who just give their biased opinion.

Although i think a fashion review isn’t one without the writer adding their personal touch to it, i don’t believe that giving your biased opinion should be called “a fashion review”. Because people tend to live in their own bubble and too many people who choose to comment on fashion think about themselves too much.

When you think about yourself too much, you think that only your opinion is the right opinion and that is what being self-centered actually is (hello twitter). You don’t take the people around you into consideration and you just live in your own bubble. The reality is that the truth is very different, the world is made of different people who each like different things and that’s what make this world perhaps so interesting.

During this latest couture week in july, Duran Lantink presented his very first couture show for Jean Paul Gaultier. Duran Lantink was appointed in April 2025 at the brand. When he presented his first ready-to-wear show, an image of a designer who doesn’t “design for women” stuck to him. However, his couture debut looked different, way different from his ready-to-wear debut.

“You can tell that this designer loves women” “this designer designs for women” is something that I’ve only read on twitter. On top of that, i do believe that this is such a subjective thing because everyone has a different opinion of what today’s woman is wearing or should wear.

Your opinion isn’t everyone else’s.

And in fact, this collection did speak to somebody.

@itsbleekerxox ‘s pronouns are they & he. After seeing their post, I asked them to tell me more about how much this collection did speak to them: "I think a lot of the common misconception with the changing of shape & form of a woman's body is that it's all inherently poking fun if it's not accentuating a silhouette they see as "womanly" or of the feminine mystique, so to speak. While it is, yes, a fine line to tread, Duran's collection speaks to people like myself because he's presenting what we may see in the mirror every day as people who struggle with body & gender dysphoria (sometimes both at the same time, sometimes even dysmorphic).

Every time I see a cinched silhouette with a perfect hourglass shape, I'm reminded of the body I'm put into. To the women who see me at face value, they see me as a woman with an hourglass shape. When I was younger & even now (when I allow myself form fitting shape), I'd always be complimented on how traditionally feminine I looked. While this is a compliment in their eyes, it's a bullet for me to take as a "biologically female born" non-binary transmasc person. Every day I'm bombarded with perfectly framed silhouettes of women, but too shapely for the silhouettes of men. Forever in the in between.

All of the pieces speak to me on a level of performing an optical illusion in a world that only wants to see you as black & white. To you, the male torso distortion or the overly accentuated hips of a gown spewing red tulle are cartoonish clown shows that mock a woman's body. To me, it's my reflection in the mirror and the expectations of what I'm supposed to be to society. That's not just a distorted dress warping a woman's body, it's an all encompassing spectacle that's near ovarian & states an emotional complicitness of only ever being seen as a woman of reproduction.

The warped torso? A mirror of a split view of my own bodily autonomy & the blurred lines of distortion I paint for myself in order to see what I want in the reflection. As I said in my post, you may not need a jar opener, but someone does. To me, Duran speaks to a wider audience and people don't even know it. It's not a charactature or cartoon, it's insecurity in self when a runway is normally presented as confidence. People hate to live in their discomfort, but those of us who do that every day simply feel seen when its displayed."

The beauty of fashion lies in the fact that there are so many people doing so many different things so that everyone is able to find something that appeals to them. When people express their thoughts and call it a “fashion review” or “fashion commentary” they really should think more about the world around them because fashion is a reflection of the world.

It’s one kind of art that can reference many things such as movies, paintings, sculptures, music, people…and it’s what makes it so interesting.

So if something didn’t appeal to you think about the fact that it might have appealed to somebody.

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Being in other people’s nachos: Soft Plagiarism.

Brand Ambassador: A celebrity being paid to wear one brand’s clothes and appear in their campaigns and at their fashion shows.

Brand Identity: A brand’s theme.

Cancel Culture: Non existent in fashion.

Capsule Collection: Small collection which will be probably more expensive.

CFDA: Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Couture: Expensive handmade clothing.

Creative Director: ¹ In charge of designing clothes for a brand.

² Gives the ideas.

Custom: Custom outfit made by a brand.

Emerging Designer: A designer that deserves your attention.

Fashion Twitter: A battlefield where people try to not get crucified for sharing their opinion.

Fashion Week: It’s actually a month.

Fresh off the runway: Someone wearing a piece of clothing a few days or a few weeks after it was presented at fashion week.

GOAT: Miuccia Prada.

Iconic: An overused word that has lost its meaning.

Menswear: Clothes for men.

Met Gala: Rich people fashion meeting where half of them don’t respect the theme.

Method Dressing: A celebrity dressing like the character of the movie or tv show they are promoting.

Musical Chairs: Designers having too many jobs in only a few months.

Ready-To-Wear: Exactly what it says.

Recreating: Often mistaken with referencing.

Referencing: Often mistaken with recreating.

Resort: A collection presented between two fashion weeks.

Spring Summer: Spring clothing presented in September so that it arrives in stores on time.

Vintage: Old clothing.

Fall Winter: Winter clothing presented during the spring so that it arrives in stores on time.

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Haute Couture is a term that only exist in France and there’s so much history behind it.

The early stages of what is now recognized as haute couture goes back to 1770 with Rose Bertin. Rose Bertin was born in 1747 in Abbeville, France. She moved to Paris at 16 years old and became a dressmaker. She worked with Mademoiselle Pagelle —a French couturier— who became her mentor.

In 1770, Rose Bertin opened her own Parisian boutique called “Le Grand Mogol” which rapidly gained popularity within the aristocracy. Thanks to her ability to set trends and to answer to her clients’ requests, the shop became a huge success. In 1774, Rose Bertin was named by Queen Marie-Antoinette “Ministre Des Modes” (fashion minister) to advise her on fashion.

With her new job, Rose Bertin became apart of Marie-Antoinette’s inner circle and a successful dressmaker. Her clients included the royal family but also the Queen’s portraitist Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun and the Marquis De La Fayette. Rose Bertin set the foundation of what “Haute Couture” is today. After the execution of Marie-Antoinette in 1793, Rose Bertin fled to London and died in 1813.

Let’s now talk about the first haute couture house. In 1858, British couture Charles Frederick Worth —known today as “the father of haute couture” opened his own fashion house “Worth”.

With high profile clients like Empress Eugénie, Charles Frederick Worth was a revolutionary man known for his revolutionary ideas. Think about it. In the middle of the 19th century, couture was much more more different than what we see today and it was the clients who would come to the couturier and share what they wanted, Mr Worth changed that.

He prepared collections ahead of time. He ditched mannequins and decided to present his work on human models. He was the first person to sew his label onto his clothes. He established the characteristics of haute couture as we know it today.

Let me take you back to 1945. As i was saying earlier, the term "haute couture" became legally protected in 1945 but it’s all apart of a bigger scheme. In 1868, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, des Confectionneurs et des Tailleurs pour Dame (Association of Dressmakers and Tailors) was founded and is today known as the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion).

The federation can be distinguished in three singular committees: the comité mode féminine, comité mode masculine and the comité haute couture.

The comité haute couture has three kind of members:

-Haute Couture Members: Fashion Houses that are established in Paris such as Chanel, Schiaparelli, Jean Paul Gaultier…

-Corresponding Members: Foreign based members such as Armani Privé, Elie Saab…

-Guest Houses: Fashion houses invited on the schedule to present their work on the official calendar such as Robert Wun, Ashi Studio…

You should know that if a guest house is invited four times in a row on the schedule they become eligible to be a member.

Haute Couture week runs from July 6 to July 9 and will be opened as always by Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli.

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https://www.europeana.eu/fr : Media from all over Europe (photos, artworks, journals, books, music, videos…)

https://www.scannedfashionworld.com/

https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/accueil-fr : French national library

https://fashionheritage.eu : Private and public museums contribute to the website and share runway photos, videos and much more…

www.starstyle.com : Many celebrities’s wardrobes documented on this website (since early 2000s)

https://www.are.na/andrea-fanelli/rsvp-fashion-show-invitations-archive

https://anneofcarversville.com : Blog created by Anne Enke in 2007 + posts about fashion news, commentary…

https://fashionmoodboard.com : curated by Loïc Prigent’s team + full of interviews, photos, paintings, articles…

https://allcreativedirectors.nssmag.com

The 2026 Met Gala took place.

This year, the energy felt particularly off whether it was because the dress code was way too vague or because the Bezos bought their way into the event I’ll let you decide. This year’s costume institute exhibition is called “costume art”. It is an exhibition that depict different body types and the relation between the body and fashion. I’d like to say that I think it is one of the strongest exhibitions in years.

[photo via Vogue]

Every year for the Met Gala, there is a dress code which is more or less related to the theme of the exhibition. This year’s dress code was “fashion is art”. In a previous Substack post, I talked about the dress code and said that I had hopes. I thought that a vague dress code would allow those who attend the Met Gala to feel more free fashion-wise. That they would feel safe to experiment but I don’t think this was what happened.

A lot of looks were very underwhelming. Not only that, but considering the fact that the dress code was so vague and in my opinion way too foreign to the exhibition’s theme. It felt like people were attending two different evenings. On one hand, you had people whose looks were an interpretation of the exhibition’s theme [and those looks worked very well] and you had everything else.

Do not mistake me some looks that were an interpretation of the dress code “fashion is art” did work. But the gap between those who dressed up according to the dress code and those who dressed up according to the theme of the exhibition was giant.

Let me now talk about some of my favourite looks:

Chase Infiniti in Thom Browne + styled by Wayman and Micah

Doechii in custom Marc Jacobs + styled by Sam Woolf

Emma Chamberlain in custom Mugler + styled by Jared Ellner

For this Met Gala, Emma Chamberlain wore a custom Mugler handpainted gown which took “a thousand hours plus” to make. Emma Chamberlain and her stylist describe this look as “something that reference art but also could be taken off and put in a museum”.

Jeremy Pope in Vivienne Westwood Fw96 + styled by Law Roach

Paloma Elsesser in Bureau of Imagination by Francesco Risso + styled by Carlos Nazario

Paloma Elsesser is not new to this. Paloma wore a piece made by Marni’s former creative director Francesco Risso from his newest project “Bureau of Imagination”. This gown was made out of dozens of dresses from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s which were sourced from Ebay. They were reconstructed into one gown and on top of that tin, beads and paint were added on the dress.

Rachel Zegler wearing custom Prabal Gurung + styled by Sarah Slutsky Tooley

The dress code for this year’s Met Gala was “fashion is art”. A lot of people’s looks were an interpretation of it including Rachel Zegler’s look. Rachel wore custom Prabal Gurung which was styled by Sarah Slutsky Tooley. Her outfit was inspired by a painting called "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" from 1833 by Paul Delaroche. Lady Jane Grey was also known as the nine days queen. She was proclaimed queen in July 1553 and 9 days later she was overthrown and killed.

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A charity event that with time became a cultural phenomenon. On May 4th, the biggest fashion event of the year will happen:

The Met Gala.

But how did it all started?

The Met Gala was founded in 1948 by American fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. Eleanor Lambert who was also responsible for the creation of New York fashion week, CFDA and the best dressed list is also the mastermind behind the creation of the famously known gala. First and foremost the Met Gala is a fundraiser. It is here to finance and help sustain the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2025, The Met Gala helped raise a whooping 31 million.

But where does that money comes from?

It’s very simple. Every year, brands and not just fashion labels [Meta had a table last year] buy seats or entire tables. In 1948 —for the very first Met Gala— the ticket would have cost you 50$. In 2025, it was revealed that a ticket cost 75,000$ and an entire table up to 350,000$.

This money helps finance the costume institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was founded by Irene Lewisohn in 1937 and was then known as “The Museum Of Costume Art”. It became “The Costume Institute” in 1946 after the “Museum of Costume Art” merged with the “Metropolitan Museum of Art”. The costume institute counts today a collection of over 30,000+ objects. The preservation of history is so important and these items need plenty of people to help preserve them.

In 2014, the costume institute was renamed after Anna Wintour who has been in charge of the organization of the Met Gala since 1995. She is the “chair of the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”.

Anna Wintour is a pillar of fashion.

She is a very important figure who has worked to make sure the Met Gala run smoothly for the past 30 years. I previously told you that to get a seat at the Met Gala a brand needs to buy a ticket but there’s more to that. Anna is the one curating the guests list. No matter the amount of money, Anna has the last word on who attends the Met Ball and who doesn’t.

I think one of the biggest misconception about the Met is that the most fashionable or deserving people are in the room. The reality is that money rules everything and you need a brand to buy you a seat.

One exception!

In 2021, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton bought his own table “The Met is the biggest fashion event of the year, and for this theme, I wanted to create something that was meaningful and would spark a conversation so that when people see us all together, it will put these Black designers at the top of people’s minds.”

To celebrate black designers and allow them into a space like the Met Ball, Lewis Hamilton bought his own table and invited fashion designers Kenneth Nicholson, Edvin Thompson and Jason Rembert. Law Roach, Kehlani, Miles Watson and Alton Mason were also guests at his table.

Lewis Hamilton once again bought his own table at the 2025 Met Gala and invited Lauryn Hill, Regina King, Jordan Casteel, Ming Smith, Adrienne Warren, Danielle Deadwyler, Lorna Simpson and Radhika Jones:

Over the years, several celebrities have attended the Met Gala.

Singers.

Royals.

Models.

Actors.

But there’s one woman who has been able to distinguish herself,

Rihanna.

[Rihanna at the 2015 Met Gala]

It was 2015 and the theme of this year’s Met was “China: Though the Looking Glass”.

If you were to ask me “what is the most relevant and memorable Met look in modern era?”. I’d 100% say this one because something shifted that night.

The stunning piece that Rihanna wore that night was made by a Chinese designer named Guo Pei. This gown which took 2 years to make is named “Yellow Empress Gown” and is apart of one of Guo Pei’s collections called “One Thousand And Two Nights”.

Not only did this look took the event that is “The Met Gala” to a whole new level but it also became a massive part of pop culture.

Every year alongside the exhibition a red carpet dress code is announced, that is loosely related to the theme of the exhibition.

Let’s talk about this year’s theme.

For 2026, the costume institute is “Costume Art” and the dress code for the Met Gala is “Fashion is Art”. The exhibition organized by Head Curator Andrew Bolton is described as an examination of “the centrality of the dressed body, juxtaposing garments and works of art from across the Museum’s vast collection to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform.”

The dress code “Fashion is Art” is a theme that can be very broadly interpreted. Although I hope that nobody will show up dressed as the Mona Lisa (it will definitely happen) I’m excited to see who will wear what at this year’s Met Gala.

If I personally had to choose one piece of art to be interpreted in a look for the theme “Fashion is Art”, i would choose “The Birth Of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli (1485).

One thing that I love the most about the Met is that every year everyone comes together all around the world to follow the biggest fashion night of the year. That is why to finish this article i asked some of my favorite minds what their favorite Met Gala looks are and here are their answers:

@itgirlbackup

“This Zendaya Joan of Arc look by Atelier Versace....the mix of strength and fluidity, Versace's glamour mixed with the hard suit of armor. Heavenly bodies was iconic for its depictions of saints but this one was exquisitely done. Super different, edgier, darker. I adored it!”

@muglare

“I will always stand by my admiration for Paloma’s 2021 Met Gala gown designed by Zac Posen and styled by Carlos Nazario. The theme for the year was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” exploring the brilliant design and designers from all over this country. Zac Posen is an American designer who’s work you come across once or twice and immediately fall head over heels in love. The way he captures women. It’s not over saturated, bleak or derived from this position of only seeing us for our bodies but instead it’s sexy, unapologetically confident, and alluring. I love his work and I believe Paloma choosing him was nothing short of a match made in heaven. Paloma is someone for me who has reshaped not only how I see clothes but how much they define me as a person. She is truly one of the girls who’s ahead of the game. Focusing on what makes her happy and refining how she shows up in a world that just wants her to hide. 2021 was the year I truly began my deep dive into fashion and because of these two I wouldn’t be here on this platform so it will always hold a strong place in my heart.”

@_SPRVINGXBUMS

"I would have to take a look back to the previous Gala, but I think my ultimate favorite will be Rihanna in Guo Pei because of the cultural impact. She was actually the only one who nailed the theme that year but that's as my first time experiencing Guo Pei and I loved her since then."

@BOTTEGAHOENETA

“The obvious one is Rihanna, and almost every Rihanna look will do. Guo Pei (2015), Comme de Garçons (2017), and the list goes on. I’m gonna go with a fairly recent one from 2024’s the garden of time met gala dress code where Chloë Sevigny, wore a seemingly in reverse decaying dress with the front assuming a peak into the underlying corset. even though it was definitely a tight dress constructually. But it felt rebelliously freeing in what it was daring to depict; a woman unraveled, and in that imagery it was audacious enough to symbolise that that is beautiful enough to be THE look. I love both the symbolic and literal deconstructed concept behind that look which I hold very dear.”

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[twitter is where I talk mostly about fashion!!]

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sources:

https://youtu.be/HQK2R2yXSBk

https://youtu.be/a3IYgT1ZjGQ

https://youtu.be/W96_Dd9bI5Y

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/met-gala-breaks-record-31-million-1237616027/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hayleycuccinello/2017/04/28/inside-the-met-gala-the-money-behind-the-first-monday-in-may/

https://www.businessinsider.com/met-gala-ticket-price-cost

https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/the-first-met-gala-in-1948-was-a-midnight-dinner-and-cost-50-to-attend/news-story/586ea8486d823cda04e9ca565eccdb33?amp&nk=db6108c313578cecb010b1a77c1f6fbe-1775737402

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wintour_Costume_Center

https://www.metmuseum.org/fr/departments/the-costume-institute

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/met-renames-costume-institute-anna-671055/

https://www.voguecollege.com/articles/madrid/anna-wintour-the-icon-who-shaped-the-met-gala-and-redefined-fashion/

https://www.wallpaper.com/fashion-beauty/met-gala-2026-costume-art-exhibition-everything-you-need-to-know

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/12/10/beyonc-nicole-kidman-venus-williams-and-anna-wintour-will-co-chair-2026-met-gala/

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/the-met-gala-2015-dress-roundup-10224887.html

https://www.metmuseum.org/fr/press-releases/costume-institute-spring-2026

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bolton

https://www.etonline.com/lewis-hamilton-buys-met-gala-table-to-host-black-designers-172086?amp

For the press tour of her new movie “The Drama” in which she plays a bride to be alongside Robert Pattinson, Zendaya has mastered once again the art of method dressing.

A lot of people didn’t know what to expect [or maybe did too much] thinking that Zendaya should wear white gowns during this press tour.

However Zendaya and her stylist Law Roach had once again more than one trick up their sleeves:

[photo via @FilmUpdates on twitter]

Something old,

Something new,

Something borrowed,

Something blue.

“Something Old”

The story started in Los Angeles. Zendaya re-worn a Vivienne Westwood dress that she previously wore at The Oscars in 2015. Zendaya is known for buying her gowns and this was the perfect opportunity for her to showcase a gown a part from her very own archives.

“Something New”

In 2023, Zendaya was announced as Louis Vuitton’s new house ambassador. Every time she attends any kind of events in the French capital you can see her in LV. For the Parisian premiere of “The Drama”, Zendaya wore a custom Louis Vuitton ensemble by Nicolas Ghesquière. We can also note that the look overall from the glam to the dress is slowly but surely becoming “darker” just like the movie.

“Something Borrowed”

If there’s anybody known for re-wearing her gowns, it’s Cate Blanchett. For the premiere of “The Drama” in Rome, Zendaya borrowed Cate Blanchett’s Armani Privé gown that she worn at the 2025 Venice Films Festival but also at the 2022 Sag Awards. Allow me to point out once again, that the gowns and the glam are getting darker which perfectly reflects the dynamic of the movie.

“Something Blue”

Last night for the NYC Premiere of “The Drama”, Zendaya wore Look 26 from Schiaparelli Ss26 Couture collection. In an interview for A24 Zendaya described this dress as her “one of her favourite dresses that walked recently”. This marked the end of a perfectly (fashion-wise) curated press tour.

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Let’s talk about Zara. If you’ve been following fashion closely you may have noticed that the brand Zara has been more and more present everywhere.

Over the past few years, fast fashion brands have started to integrate themselves more and more into the high fashion space. I can think about H&M who held runway shows, supermodels posing for their campaigns…

[photo via marie claire italia]

Zara wants a piece of the cake too.

Zara is a fast fashion brand. Every fast fashion brand works the exact same way. They produce knock offs of what is presented on the runway. If I were to go into a Zara or H&M store I can absolutely promise that I would be able to identify every single brands that inspired the pieces you see in their stores.

Everybody thinks that the worst kid of fast fashion brands is Shein but the truth is that they are all just as worse as one another. Zara is on the BDS boycott list. In December 2023, they published an ad that felt tone deaf to many due to the resemblance with the horrifying images that we could see coming out of Palestine.

[photo via CNN]

Zara is not unknown to high fashion spaces. In May 2025, too many supermodels gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the brand. However over the past few months, they’ve been more and more present.

The fashion industry has very much the memory of a goldfish. When they are exposed for their wrongdoings, designers disappear from the public eye because they are just “so sorry” and if you don’t forget fast enough they will make you!

Fast fashion brands knock off the designs of high fashion brands but they also knock off the fashion industry’s culture!

As a brand or even as a fashion designer, when you don’t have a great image the best way to redeem yourself in the public eye is by putting very liked celebrities in your clothes for everyone to admire and comment about it.

A tale as old as time!

In February of this year, Zara dressed Bad Bunny for the 2026 Super Bowl. A choice that took a lot of people by surprise. The Super Bowl is seen by millions of people which is a great opportunity to highlight a message or [fashion-wise] an emerging designer.

You can imagine that when a fast fashion brand is front and center it has the same exact repercussions.

But it’s more than just dressing a celebrity on a singular occasion.

A few days ago, it was announced that John Galliano —who previously worked at Maison Margiela— will now be working for Zara.

The couturier will “re-author the brand's archives through a series of seasonal collections.”

“Mr. Galliano will be working directly with garments from Zara's past seasons, deconstructing and reconfiguring them into new seasonal expressions and creations.”

[words from Zara]

The bills needed to be paid and the check must have been heavy! Who knows? What is sure is that fashion has evolved into an environment where such things are now seen as acceptable. I am convinced that if this happened 25 years ago he would have been crucified.

Collaborations between fast fashion and high fashion brands are nothing new. [H&M has collaborated with Moschino,Mugler…] We live in an era where everyone feel entitled to have an access to luxury without paying the price that would allow everyone that worked on the product to be fairly and equally paid.

On the other hand, people do not have the thousands of dollars to spend in high luxury items. They want other options that mimick what today’s trend-setters are wearing. Is it acceptable to participate in a system that benefits you when you do know that it will harm somebody else?

Too many people die in fast fashion factories. It is a never ending system but it does not mean we have to feed the machine even more and make it an even bigger problem than what it already is.

When fast fashion brands collaborate with high fashion ones, the clothes are massively produced in fast fashion factories. I think fast fashion brands are surely but slowly understanding that if they can erase from the general public their image of unethical brand they will be legitimized. So when celebrities and popular luxury brands are put front and center, fast fashion brands’s image evolve [for the best].

H&M has done it perfectly over the past few years with their own luxury-ish line “H&M studio”. High fashion brands gross billions every year and they gain massive traction every fashion month. Fast fashion has understood that it’s where they should head next.

Zara’s latest collaboration is with Willy Chavarria. The responses to this versus to John Galliano’s 2 years collaboration with Zara is way less virulent. People weren’t shocked anymore or they probably just don’t care? The conversations have felt very performative.

I think criticizing fast fashion will buying monthly clothes from H&M,Zara and Shein is hypocrite at last. But does it mean that those conversations shouldn’t happen at all? I don’t think so.

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Today we’re talking about Dior Fw26.

Jonathan Anderson presented his second Dior womenswear show at the Tuileries Garden. After a first womenswear runway show that felt very much equal to his menswear debut, this newest collection gives us a better view of who the Dior by JWA woman is.

This collection continues the dialogue around nature that was started during the latest couture show, presented back in January.

These days, Jonathan Anderson has a tendency of opening his show with a similar version of one look three times. For some reason, these three looks made me think about Tinker Bell. This Fall Winter 2026 collection was presented at the Tuileries Garden which was created by Catherine De Médicis in 1564 and opened to the public in 1667. In a conversation with Vogue Runway, Jonathan described this show as “people dressing up to the park”. When you were watching the show it really felt like you were looking at different versions of the Dior Woman. The Dior woman who wears a dress. The Dior woman who wears jeans. The Dior woman who wears a bar jacket.

Jonathan Anderson has always used nature in his work whether in the past at Loewe or now at Dior. For his tenure at Dior, I believe the choice makes even more sense. As a child, Christian Dior developed a passion for botanic which influenced deeply the fashion he created as an adult. Previous creative directors of Dior have all incorporated nature into their work at the brand, JWA is not an exception!

Let’s now talk about one of the most exciting parts of the show,

The shoes.

The shoes were made by Nina Christen. Nina Christen previously worked at Bottega Veneta, Loewe and is now footwear designer at Dior.

The flower that you can see on top of those shoes is made out of ceramic. What I’ve always liked [since Jonathan Anderson started designing for Dior] is that when a collection embodies a particular theme it’s everything that does too. It absolutely makes sense when you know how much accessories sell in fashion.

I like how much care is put to every details. These accessories are like piece of arts.

[And let’s be honest, if I had the money to do so, I would absolutely buy those water lilies shoes!]

Jonathan Anderson loves references. Paul Poiret, Magdalene Odundo…

But I also think he loves to reference himself.

I understand the idea behind wanting to connect things to one another but also wanting to establish a particular visual imagery that will stay. Dior is almost 80 years old. Many creative directors came and left. As a creative you want to be remembered for your work but also for its impact on the culture. However, I don’t believe a 12th bar jacket will help with that. This show was good for a number of reasons but wasn’t for many others. Fashion has become saturated. Everyone did 2000s and now everyone do 80s. At Dior, it’s kind of different. Jonathan Anderson doesn’t lean toward global trends but toward art references. That’s why his work has always felt so unique. However I don’t think it’s necessary to do what he already did since he started at Dior. I [personally] do not want to see that many bar jackets. It’s one of the things that I find the less interesting in what he presents.

Before Jonathan Anderson’s work debuted at Dior last year in July, many of his designs appeared at Venice Film Festival:

This dress never appeared on the runway which I found weird because other Dior designs that celebrities worn at that time did debuted on the runway. I think some designs and ideas could have been more explored but weren’t. On the other hand, some were done and re-done and re-done [way too much].

I want to see fresh and new ideas. I don’t think fashion needs so many similar versions of the same things. JWA still needs to find a balance between the codes he likes and the new ideas that should be primarily in his collections.

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sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden

https://www.s-quive.com/article/de-granville-a-la-haute-couture-leternelle-romance-entre-dior-et-la-nature

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/christian-dior-gardens-inspiration

https://www.vogue.fr/article/designer-chaussures-nina-christen-interview

https://wwd.com/footwear-news/shoe-trends/dior-spring-2026-shoes-jonathan-anderson-nina-christen-1238270109/

All photos from Vogue Runway.

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No matter where you are reading this from, thank you so much for taking the time to do so!

When I’m writing this, the 2026 Met Gala theme was just announced “Fashion is art”.

For those who are new to this (don’t worry I once was too) there’s an exhibition theme and a red carpet theme. Those two are two different things but they can be correlated!

I feel like “fashion is art” is a theme that can be very broadly interpreted. Fashion is something that reunite a lot of things like history, architecture and art. So this theme fits perfectly.

The Met Gala works this way. Brands buy seats. They decide to invite people and those same people have to be approved by Anna Wintour. If you’re wondering if this will be slightly altered and the list will look slightly different since The Bez*s are sponsoring the gala, you’re just like me! But I think fashion has always had a very close relationship with controversial and questionable people.

It’s the Met Gala, like always a lot of men will show up in tuxedos and a lot of people will show up in runway clothes that have no correlation to the theme whatsoever! Let’s ignore that for a minute.

One of the brands that come to my mind when I think art and fashion is obviously Schiaparelli. A brand who is famously known for the collaboration between their founder Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali in the 30s. Some other names quickly come to my mind when I think about designers that recently created collections influenced by art. Rachel Scott for Diotima Fw26. Jonathan Anderson for Dior Ss26 Couture. [And plenty others]

Art is the center of our world. It’s been a few seasons that art has been heavily present in fashion too. I’d say this theme comes at the best time possible. This theme has the potential to become as memorable as the 2019 Met Gala “Camp: Notes on Fashion” or the 2018 Met “Heavenly Bodies”. In the pool of people that will be invited some will take it seriously. I think a lot of people will go the easy road and lean toward archives. But there are others that will be wearing custom looks. I have hope for those.

I hope to see looks from emerging brands. There’s one brand that I discovered during this London Fashion Week that I think would be perfect. It’s called “TheVxlley”. I’ll let you check it out.

I hope people will keep the archives where they are. If you actually do care about fashion and art you also care about the preservation of it and a lot of those archival garments are too fragile to be worn in 2026. It won’t kill people to wear a recreation? Will it?

Some of the designers that I think could thrive with this theme are Gaurav Gupta and Robert Wun. Every time a new collection is presented I look at it and say “this is art”. It’s so spectacular that you wonder how it was possibly created.

Both of the exhibition and red carpet have a theme related to art: “Costume Art” and “Fashion is Art”. There’s a lot of material to create spectacular looks. When I watch fashion shows I sometimes tell myself “this is art” [especially during Couture season] and the Met Gala 2026 will be the perfect day to show up in those.

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Thank you for tuning in once again!

Today we will talk about Diotima by Rachel Scott, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson for Interview Magazine and how cool Paloma Elsesser is.

Diotima Fw26 by Rachel Scott

Rachel Scott’s work has been my greatest discovery of 2025. So you can only imagine that i was obviously going to tune in for Diotima’s Fw26 Ready-To-Wear show.

No matter what people think, I truly believe that there aren’t anybody that knows more what a woman wants [or would like] than a woman herself. I think Rachel is one of those designers that create real clothes for real women. Not a mind made fantasy. Real women that can wear her designs in their day-to-day life. It’s wearable fashion.

You can project yourself in her clothes. Not only you imagine yourself doing your daily activities in them but you feel confident in them.

Powerful.

The crossover between fashion and art is truly one of my favorite things at the moment. Rachel Scott didn’t fail to the assignment. For Diotima’s Fall Winter 2026 collection, Rachel decided to collaborate with the estate of Wifredo Lam. In an interview with Vogue, Rachel Scott revealed that she learned about the Cuban painter at university while “studying the anti-colonial Négritude movement, led by Black and Caribbean intellectuals like poet Aimé Césaire and philosopher Frantz Fanon during the 1930s through 1950s.” For this collection, the Jamaican designer showcases Lam’s work on several of her designs.

[ Left pictures - Diotima Fw26 // Right Pictures - Wifredo Lam “Femme-Cheval” (top picture (1950)) (bottom picture (1948)) (All Via Vogue)]

The show was styled by Marika-Ella Ames [who also worked on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX Tour]. Marika-Ella Ames collaborates with Rachel Scott both at Diotima and Proenza Schouler. Two women that collaborate to make beauty come to life.

Zendaya & Robert Pattinson for Interview Magazine

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are back in the spotlight for the promotion of their next movie “The Drama” in which they play a couple that is getting married.

Let’s now do a bit of theory [just for fun].

This photoshoot by Nadia Lee Cohen is for the promotion of their next movie “The Drama” which is described as “a happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.” We can only theorize about how this photoshoot could portrait the dynamic of their characters Emma Harwood [played by Zendaya] and Charlie Thompson [played by Robert Pattinson].

The entire shoot is a combination of pictures which showcases Zendaya and Robert in similar settings but also portraying different emotions.

We can only theorize about if this means anything for “The Drama” but what is sure is that this shoot is one of the best of 2026 so far.

Paloma Elsesser is so cool.

Paloma Elsesser is not only an excellent model but she also has such great style. She recently was the cover girl for Purple Magazine’s latest number and during a dinner to celebrate it she showed once again how immaculate her style is.

For the occasion, Paloma Elsesser wore a Ss05 Junya Watanabe ensemble styled by Aly Cooper. Another moment that proved that she knows her fashion and might just be the coolest model out here at the moment.

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Loved the sequin tops !!

Ralph Lauren - Less is More

[Literally everything] by Rachel Scott - wearable + modern fashion for women

Coach looks less and less interesting to me as the shows pass by

Tory Burch - Classy + Loved Look 26

I love seeing bright colors on the runway

Michael Kors Collection Look 43

Calvin Klein Collection - I already saw a lot of this before and somewhere else

Area should be a party girl every day of the year.

7 For All Mankind - Let the Y2K rest in peace where it was left off

Also a denim brand but with no denim? Just vibes in a collection

Loved Eckhaus Latta <3

Long Live Rachel Scott

I need to write about Diotima

Whether at Diotima or Proenza Schouler, Rachel Scott is killing it.

I choose peace and I’ll not try to think piece Sandy Liang + she needs to let the bows rest where they were left

Coperni

Coperni is a French fashion brand founded in 2013 by Arnaud Vaillant and Sébastien Meyer. Over the past few years, Coperni has taken over the fashion scene. Whether it was thanks to the innovation that once upon a time translated in their clothes or to the gimmicks that allowed them media exposure.

In October 2022, Bella Hadid closed Coperni Ss23 after getting a dress sprayed on herself live in front of the audience. Even thought it was not Coperni’s first gimmick, this performance was the one that made the brand insanely viral. [I don’t think somebody now would understand the magnitude of this moment. It was one of those things where you just had to be here.]

This was the start of the chase of the viral moment for Coperni. When your brand finally acquire exposure and people are watching your work you want it to keep going right? I think in this case the venue of the show became more important than the fashion and that’s the whole problem. The brand’s strongest code was always their bags. They’ve made bags with glass. They’ve made bags with gold. They’ve made bags with air. They’ve made bags with meteorite! The way they always try to innovate was what they have always been known for. However, when the innovation started becoming second and the venue of the show and gimmicks to sell it became first…there was nothing to save!

I personally do not think there is a limit to innovation, ideas are endless. However fashion is about fashion and the venue of your show shouldn’t be the most interesting thing about your collection. They’ve had great themes (disney,video games…) but I don’t think it has translated well into the clothes. If the focus was on the clothes and not everything else maybe something could be done about it!

Just today, this article was published by bof [and send to me by @pradachurch] which stated that Coperni will not be presenting at the upcoming fashion week: “Coperni will not show at Paris Fashion Week for the upcoming season, founders Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer said in a statement on Friday, citing a deterioration of their partnership with Tomorrow London, which took an undisclosed stake in the label in 2019.”

La culture de l’instant

If you didn’t know I’m French and i believe that some French expressions cannot be correctly translated in English, it just doesn’t feel the same. "La culture de l’instant” [if i had to explain it to you with my own words] , I’d say it’s when people (especially on social media) consume so many content that they forget about what they see just as quickly. It is something heavily present in fashion. During fashion week, sometimes there can be five shows presented in a single day. Our brains are filled so much information that we do not have time to process them and even more information is presented again and again and again.

Margot Robbie is back on the center stage for the press tour of her newest movie “Wuthering Heights” during which she has so far worn many clothes inspired by the movie. Margot became a fashion girl after the press tour she did for the “Barbie” movie with her stylist Andrew Mukamal. Since then, people have tried to rewrite history. You are allowed to feel however you want about her fashion style but acting like Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukamal invent method dressing is a subjective opinion, (a lie) and not a fact.

The public choose to act like she popularized method dressing with Barbie and erase what others did before her. Zendaya and Law Roach did not invent method dressing [Glenn Close showed up dressed as Cruella during the 1996 premiere of the "101 Dalmatians"] but they definitely popularized it. As early as 2017, for the press tour of “The Greatest Showman” Zendaya was wearing themed clothes that matched the movie she was promoting.

[Method Dressing.]

Since then, many celebrities like Halle Bailey for “The Little Mermaid”, Jenna Ortega for “Wednesday” and Margot Robbie for “Barbie” tried their hand at the exercice of method dressing for their respective movie/tv show press tour.

Writer Mikelle Street pointed it out as early as 2024. While Zendaya was back in the spotlight for the promotion of “Dune: Part 2”, journalists were rewriting history and giving credits to the wrong people.

Let’s now go back to our subject “la culture de l’instant”. Our brains are filled with so much content all day, every day. People don’t process information. On social media, it’s definitely worse. Those stan communities are literal echo chambers. They talk about the same things. They see the same few informations and they believe (or choose to believe) that what they see is only what exist. Do they simply not care to have all the infos in front of them? (Maybe!) But i think it would be hypocritical from me to not highlight the erasure of it all. Margot Robbie [a white woman] gets credited for popularizing something that Zendaya [a woman of color] did.

The erasure is real.

Not being aware and choosing to stay ignorant are two different things. And i think those who choose to take the time to learn will forever win intellectually.

If you take the time to dig deeper and learn about the things you are being introduced to on social media maybe it will stick with you. And that’s when you will know what actually had an impact on you and what beat “la culture de l’instant”.

Who won haute couture season?

The Haute Couture Spring Summer 2026 season happened a few weeks ago. There are two shows that stuck to my mind.

The first one: Schiaparelli.

Schiaparelli Couture is like the superbowl of couture. A superbowl that happens twice a year and that you get the first glimpse of through instagram stories and lives.

Daniel Roseberry presented his newest Schiaparelli Haute Couture collection called “The Agony And The Ectasy”. Through the entirety of haute couture week, there’s been a debate on what Haute Couture should or should not look like. Some people believe that it has to be grand and spectacular, others believe that Haute Courure can be "simple”. “Wearable Haute Couture”.

The haute couture that you can wear on red carpets and the haute couture that you can wear in your day to day life. For those who crave spectacle and grandeur, Schiaparelli is definitely the right place for you.

Daniel Roseberry is one of the greatest couturier of the 21st century. Not only does he always reinvent himself but he always keep the dna of the house alive while doing so. Every Schiaparelli show is a feast for the eye and it’s my greatest honor to be in the generation that is able to witness Daniel Roseberry’s work.

[Side note: If you are interested in learning more about the house of Schiaparelli there’s this wonderful instagram account who analyse every collection and everything surrounding Schiaparelli. Curated by the lovely Gabriela @schiaparelli.archive https://www.instagram.com/schiaparelli.archive ]

Valentino is the second show presented during the Spring Summer 2026 Couture season that i still think about to this day. During this haute couture season, i liked as much the simplicity of Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel than the maximalism and extravagance of Alessandro Michele’s Valentino. This fashion show was also very sentimental for Valentino [as a brand] since it was the first show for the brand after the death of the founder Valentino Garavani.

The set of the show also sparked a lot of conversations. Guests were sat outside of some kind of “box” while at some point small windows were opened from which they could see the models walking.

The set was a recreation of the kaiserpanorama. A form of stereoscopic entertainment medium considered as a precursor to film and invented by August Fuhrmann. People would seat down and look through a pair of lenses to look at rotating stereoscopic glass slides.

I do think if you like to look at fashion with a more critical point of view you can also see a critic on today’s fashion world but also on social media. People in the fashion industry choose to ignore some things and not others. And looking at things through a rectangle isn’t that what everyone do on their phone all day?

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After almost 3 years of talking about fashion on various social media platforms, I have noticed that the term “craftsmanship” has been used more and more to talk about ready-to-wear collections. This also do coincide with the rise of generative AI. I believe that there is a lot to say about this subject and that’s what i wanna talk about today.

Over the past few years, the emphasis on craftsmanship has been heavily present whether it’s on the runway or in the social media content showcasing what is happening on said runway.

This luxury present in fashion has been devalued with the arrival and rise of generative AI. AI fashion is a real thing in today’s fashion industry (believe it or not :-/). The other day I was watching a reel of a podcast called “the cutting room floor” on which its host Recho Omondi was sharing names of “AI artists” (whatever it’s supposed to mean).

And let’s be honest, there is no such thing as “AI artists”. AI doesn’t create. It produces a knock-off of something that has been already created beforehand by humans!

So I do have an hard time with fashion leaning toward AI because to me it is unethical on every. single. levels.

AI fashion is very much real. My first memory of it is when in American Vogue’s July 2025 issue you could find a Guess ad with “AI models”.

My immediate thought was that this was going to give courage to every brands that wanted to use AI publicly but was too scared of the backlash. Guess what? I was right!

Since then, several fashion brands have used AI to make AI generated ads. Not only does this feel very bleak (and it looks like shit) but it also show you very clearly where the mindset is at. Fashion has always been an industry that saw people as “replaceable” (Dario Vitale stayed for a singular season at Versace) but this time it’s different and even uglier. AI takes jobs from human beings. It’s bad for the planet. It’s unethical on every level.

While some brands are using AI so publicly, others do things differently.

If you can make a fake runway picture or an ad with AI from the comfort of your home and in just a few minutes, don’t you think it devalues the whole machine? I think it does.

Brands show you their products on the runway. They also show you how they created said products through social media content.

Through this media content, they allow you to see that somebody worked on those garments, bags, shoes… Which I think is the best response to the rise of AI in fashion. AI is something that devalues so deeply human and what they can add. Those at the top of those AI apps want you to believe that AI can write your emails, make your schedule and even create the art that you’ve always been creating. Which is so dangerous because there is no art without humans.

Brands highlighting their craftsmanship and the people that work behind the collections is fundamental to differentiate themselves from AI.

AI will never ever be able to replicate what humans can do. It’s a program. A program cannot sew a garment, humans can.

It will never get us anywhere.

I wish that instead of producing AI images of a runway, people would spend more time looking for emerging designers who are just waiting for their big moments.

To conclude I’d like to present you some of my favorite designers:

links:

https://www.instagram.com/diotima.world

https://www.instagram.com/liagabrielleatelier

https://www.instagram.com/antoine.guerin_

https://www.instagram.com/_torisheju_

https://www.instagram.com/magdabutrym

https://www.instagram.com/gabe.gordon

https://www.instagram.com/connorogrady

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i’m a second year student in an english bachelor and it’s soon to be finals season (so it’s exhausting). i love writing it’s one of my favorite things to do but i also strongly believe in the fact that you cannot create when you are exhausted (that’s me right now).

i don’t feel that i create anything great when i am tired but i also don’t want to. real life is important and right now real life is calling.

i would love to be able to manage all my hobbies with my life in general but right now i’m not there and i don’t even know how it would look like.

so i’ll see you soon because you cannot create when you are exhausted!

(That’s what they say)

The conversation about who can or cannot criticize fashion was brought back on the table after Edward Buchanan gave his own perspective about the question on Instagram.

His comments caused a lot of discourse not necessarily because he is 100% wrong (I know a ChatGPT Twitter take when I see one) but because this was published the same day Duran Lantink’s Jean Paul Gaultier debut happened.

A collection judged distasteful, unwearable and even misogynistic by the internet (myself included). Was this published in defense of Duran Lantink? Who knows! But again like I said, he’s not 100% wrong.

“please brush up on your culture and fashion history before attempting to criticize the present for click bait..”

He is right on that part, several people prioritize shock value over actual knowledge and would say the craziest things to get the craziest reaction out of you. I can remember during fashion week somebody on tiktok feeling a little too confident (because of his Amazon mini mic) and who told his audience that Pierpaolo’s Balenciaga debut was “close to disrespect” and that he couldn’t understand how you could “ignore the identity of a fashion house that much”.

?????????????????????????????????????????

We are in an illiteracy crisis. People believe that ChatGPT is their bestfriend. They do not read books, they read resumes of books. They do not care to do researches, they use Pinterest.

Edward Buchanan’s take on who can criticize fashion felt extremely elitist to me. The fashion industry wasn’t build for you (the outsider) to see what happens at these runway shows. During the pandemic, the industry needed to live on and this is why everything started to be even more streamed from the Met Gala to Parisian fashion shows.

It benefited them and they started inviting influencers in those so elitist spaces to make sure that those watching behind their phones would still care to follow. Emma Chamberlain made her Met Gala debut in 2021 (the 2020 Met Gala was canceled because of the pandemic). People were still wearing masks at that time and it was the first time that a gen-z influencer would interview celebrities walking the carpet. Emma Chamberlain’s interviews have never screamed fashion literacy to me.

“Amazing” “Tell me more about this look” “You look amazing” “Yes”

Emma Chamberlain did not study journalism nor has a degree in it. However, she has been a recurring interviewer at the Met Gala since 2021. So, does the “you cannot criticize fashion if you are not inside the room” “brush up your culture” only works when the discourse play in your favour (in this case the fashion industry’s)?

It is clear that the debate of “who can criticize fashion” is only here to make you understand that you are not welcomed inside those rooms and that they wish to go back to their elitist cult. No one will open the door for you unless you open it yourself.

Over the past decade, a wave of fashion critics on social media has emerged. @ideservecouture @hautelemode @rianphin @thekimbino … People with their own platforms who decided to make room for themselves. I call them fashion critics (Rian Phin calls herself in her Instagram bio a fashion theorist) because if you take a look at their content you will always learn something.

Food for the soul.

Other voices are not necessarily present on instagram, TikTok or YouTube but on Twitter — now known as X — all mostly emerged from a community called “high fashion twitter”.

Fashion journalism has one giant problem. It used to be the journalists who set the tone and now it’s the brands who control everything. Can someone give their honest opinion about a fashion show if they were invited, flew out by the brand? But even if they do will they be invited back during the next season?

On the internet, this problem doesn’t exist. A lot of people who choose to create pages on Twitter to showcase their interest for fashion, do not work in fashion. At this present moment, it is not their job but their hobby. Some do take themselves too seriously thinking that maybe the community manager of LV’s Twitter might see their tweet and decide either to blacklist @pradaversace1999 or to send them PR.

Who knows? Delusion is the solution!

But. Honesty is heavily present on here and most of people do not have to choose their words carefully to make sure to not offend someone.

We all wear clothes and this make us all able to criticizes fashion.

Social media has evolved. Blogs used to be a great thing because those who were connected on them shared the same interests as you and the same knowledge. Nowadays, anyone can see your content in their for you page / timeline. Because of this, you might happen to have conversations with stubborn people who thinks they know it all (they don’t) and who thinks they are right in all situations (they were triggered because you didn’t like the dress their favorite celebrity is wearing).

The argument that you need to be in the room to criticizes a runway show is more ridiculous than anything else. I mean most people present in the room look at the show through their phones when they make sure to have enough videos for their Instagram stories.

Criticism make you evolve. Brands are so scared of negative criticism that in today’s fashion world they try to control every opinions. This kind of filter is not present on the internet. And it is probably what bother industry insiders because the narrative cannot be controlled.

Criticism may be the greatest thing one human can face. Whether it goes in your favor or not it will always somehow, make you grow.

My wish for the future is for more honesty and less politics in fashion criticism.

More nuance.

Instead of saying that “you hated” or “you loved”.

Please tell me more.

Give me details about what went through your mind.

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Celebrities photoshoots for Halloween are like a tradition that gets bigger and bigger every year. But is it really an Halloween costume if you wear it for 5 pictures?

This year’s Halloween has proved one thing. Too many people believe that a meme makes a costume and that recreating a photoshoot is the ultimate peak of creativity.

When you need to hire a graphic designer for people to know who you are dressed up as maybe the costume isn’t that great?

Setting up an entire production to recreate the recreation of the creation just to publish it over your social media platforms isn’t the peak of fun to me. What happened to having fun?

In an era where social media is present in your every moves: you post your vacations, you post your achievements, you post your Christmas tree… Do we really need to see 12 Frankenstein’s brides, 7 Elle Woods and 5 Victoria secret angels?

Every month of October, the internet become oversaturated thanks to an holiday that used to last a single night and now is a month long celebration. While you wait for celebrities to post their costumes know that somebody else already did it the year prior.

Look past your phone.

One thing that is for sure is that we can always count on Heidi Klum’s Halloween Party for some fun costumes.

Where guests show up in their best costumes and remind everyone that the parties are happening in the real world (and not on the Instagram feed).

People post their Halloween photoshoots recreating memes and pop culture moments to show the world that they are à la page (it’s the French in me).

Over the past decades, Halloween has become a commercialized holiday. When you add on top of that social media, being able to set up a whole production just for an Instagram Halloween themed photoshoot has turned into a status symbol.

All the fun and creativity that comes out of some of those photoshoots should be translated past social media, in the real world.