Milan Fashion Week: Bally and Bottega Veneta FW23

February 27, 2023

When a designer takes over a fashion house that has been around for more than a few decades, the anticipation is always high. We saw it with Daniel Lee's Burberry debut at London Fashion Week, praised for his brilliant resurgence of the brand's more British roots, and again, over the last week in Milan.

Creative Director of Bally, Rhuigi Villaseñor, showcased his second collection for the Swiss fashion house. The heritage label, which had not shown on the runway for two decades, was in need of a renaissance and Rhuigi was its catalyst. For SS23, he offered a sensual interpretation of high-octane glamour, placing Swiss elegance in the context of modern luxury — a conversation he continued this season in Milan. Entitled ‘Persistence of Time,’ the collection plays with Rhuigi's connection to Los Angeles and the unfading glamour of Hollywood. For his third collection for Bottega Veneta, Mathieu Blazy channeled a similar motif, that of a timeless Italian sensibility.

Each collection was a collision of heritage with a brand new language that explored the interaction between identity and artistic spontaneity. Both designers probed the nuances of time and rediscovered the fundamental dualities that divert us from indulging in the unexpected, where the true beauty of fashion resides.

Text by Sahir Ahmed
Photos courtesy of Bally and Bottega Veneta

Bally

Shown in the Casa Degli Atellani, the 15th century dwelling of Leonardo Da Vinci when he painted The Last Supper, the collection took on a monumental, cinematic allure. The historic residence heightened the clothes' inherent glamour and eschewed the fleeting moment for the movie. It was a sensorial experience. Models interacted with those in attendance, shattering the invisible barrier tied to traditional showcases. Award-winning producer Mike Dean further elevated the star-studded affair with a soundscape that felt both known and new.

While inspired by the icons of the silver screen, the clothes embodied the après-ski aesthetic embedded in Bally since their start in 1851. Rhuigi demonstrated an understanding of the house's DNA, and carried that into the present with his bold sense of style and eye for modern luxury.

The collection explored the dualities of strength and sensuality across menswear and womenswear with oversized faux fur coats, puffers quilted in archival diamond matelassé, and several snakeskin trenches in vibrant colors, from burgundy to purple. Leather, metallics, and knitwear were softened by touches of lace that all together created a heightened sense of everyday drama.

It was extra, and we loved every part, from the handbags, footwear, and jewelry that demanded main-character attention to the all-over logomania with the Bally emblem that reinforced the brand’s new, yet familiar, era.

Bottega Veneta

If there was a house that epitomized timelessness this season, it was Mathieu Blazy's Bottega Veneta. Blazy's 'Italia' trilogy show was a season-defining moment that introduced a new Bottega Veneta through a conflation of the country's past, present, and future.

This season the invitation to the show was a leather watch strap with no watch on it, hinting at the collection's psychological terrain. To further set the stage, Blazy borrowed timeless bronzes, three of his favorite artworks, and put them amid the plaza where the models walked: the famous bronze runners of Pompeii from 1BC, and in the other room, the 1913 sculpture by the Italian futurist Umberto Boccioni, "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space."

Blazy drew on the mythology of antiquity and Futurism's shape of things to come to capture the randomness of a carnival parade. In this parade, a cast of character archetypes descended the runway, individual characters, who might be walking down the street. He skewed the idea of 'getting changed' from its everyday meaning in the early silhouettes to its fantastical promises later on, where a new mythology took shape. People in states of change — just waking up, getting undressed, swapping garments — became Roman priests, Agnelli-like playboys, and later, chimerical sirens of the screen and of the sea.

The first look — a transparent white chemise and bed socks made of knitted leather — represented the 'bombshell' archetype in her morning glory. It raised the question of what constitutes as chic and when that even begins. The knitted leather socks, mirrored by other trompe-l’œil creations like a white striped Oxford shirt, boxer shorts, and 'grey flannel' pyjamas, all realized in Nappa leather, alongside intrecciato woven accessories throughout, further demonstrated Blazy's understated yet highly technical style.

It was all ultimately a story of transformation, as well as, a matter of personal taste. From the woven rugs that hinted at Blazy's favorite gelato, stracciatella, to his signature style, leather manipulated to look unlike itself. If there was a point, it was that dressing up should be bold, intentional, and fill the wearer with the confidence to be whoever.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.