Love, Nicolaia: FW24

First stop was a Simone Perele lingerie event, where a very patient seamstress embroidered initials onto lace panties. Simone had original lingerie flown in from Paris; they were extremely pretty. When I walked into the event the PR girl had a photo sheet with pictures of all the influencers/attendees. This, of course, was tantalizing, a fleeting chance to see how the world views you. I had to know! There, smiling up from the dossier was my college ID, a goofy i-phone shot my mom took of my 17-year-old self, a photo I thought was only accessible on my personal phone and in a college database. I’ve been hacked! Those PR girls work hard!

Party starts when Ava Pearlman and Sasha Mutchnik arrive. Ava tells me she knows how the world is going to end but won’t say anymore. I love mysterious women. I invite myself on their next trip to the Banya. Hot girl schvitz. There were also experts fitting. The last time I had a bra fitting I was a senior in high school getting manhandled in a Victoria Secret. I still own that Bombshell bra. Anyway, I left without getting fitted. Sometimes you just don’t need to learn anything new about yourself!

At the Puma gifting suite I had option paralysis and got a pair of white bondage, straightjacket, knee high mostros. Taylar Herman of Puma had the best bob I’ve seen in a while. Downstairs HG digital editor Olivia Ghantous and I spot Dylan Sprouse. I have secret nonsensical resentment towards the Sprouse twins because I grew up in a Hotel and I spent my childhood fending off, “Oh, like The Suite Life of Zac and Cody? Do you get room service?” from impertinent middle schoolers. It was NOT like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I did NOT get room service. I didn’t even get service! Until 7th grade I had to sit down in the lobby to get any wifi.

I go to Ava Pearlman jewel box of an apartment to pick up a sexy silk dress from her new brand All The Rage.

Puma’s return to the runway was a magic show all about the Amazing Mostro. A funky freak of a shoe, with spikes and knobs and velcros, and I am glad they’ve revamped it. Next they should remake the sporty ballet flats that those Depop motherfuckers are price gouging me on. The runway had an abandoned carnival with disembodied legs suspended from a carousel and Eartheater sang as people entered.

The standout for me were the bags. First, a shiny silver soccer ball bag that clearly took cues from the iconic Dirk Bikkembergs bag. A bag of the millennium for me, right up there with Maya Kotomori’s Richard Prince LV and my beloved Girbaud Pockachu bag. Another Puma standout was a clear gym-bag for when you really want people to see your preworkout. The clothes were an uncanny valley reversal: sportswear does serious fashion, instead of serious fashion doing sportswear. As I watched models in thong bodysuits and 3D puma harnesses it made me consider the current state of athleisure. We’ve reached a confusing standstill – in the economy of the hustle do we ever have time off? How do we dress for near constant on-ness? What is athleisure anymore, when nobody really has leisure? There was a brief moment of confusion when the show ended and no designer jogged out.

Star photographer Sophia Wilson, Olivia, genius Liv and I decamped to Kikis for a carafe of white and some taramasalata. The hostess tells us that we can’t sit at the corner high-top because it’s actually for “two and a dog” and would be too small for four slender gorgeous ladies. This isn’t Kikis slander. My only Kikis slander is that I can never get a table.

Downtown at the Siren Basics Party at Le Dive softly hued mesh panties dangle from the ceiling and pretty girls danced while Miss Dylan mixed drinks upstairs.

The afterparty for Puma is hosted by ASAP Rocky at Nebula but ASAP is sick. There’s a rumor that Beyonce is coming (LOL). The parties this season have felt subdued. We walked through Time Square at night and there are no street Elmos out to play.

At Kim Shui, Maddy Crawford sported an excellent cabbage bag which reminds me of stuffed cabbage which reminds me of how hungry I am. It's an influencer bonanza and I can unfortunately identify every one of them. The only person with worse screen time than me is Adam Faze.

Gia Kuan, looking magnifique, runs around. There are Mac goodie bags for the primo guests. I sit next to the chicest woman in the country Taylore Scarabelli. Watching the editor’s outfits this season was often better than the shows. Taylore’s writing a FW diary. Matt Weinberger appears. What’s he working on? A FW diary. I admit it shamefully, I too am writing a diary. It’s a deluge of diarists. Nikole Naloy, the only person from my high school to get into Harvard, takes photographs. White fur boots and hoods at Kim Shui, white cloudlike coverings on the models, and teensy hot pants.

I meet the Olivias at a Prada Beauty launch in the newly rebuilt Dominos Sugar Factory. I have been wanting to see this space since I slept through an Open House New York tour months ago. Seeing Manhattan up from the dome makes me feel like I’m in a Roald Dahl movie adaptation. Katie Holmes is in an argument on her phone outside the elevator. Charli D’Amelio tells me, “Prada 100%. I love Prada. I am only doing Prada this fashion week.” Reese convinces Annie Hamilton and I that there's a secret extra special smoking room in the back. This, of course, is not true. Security guards yell at us for smoking in the green room. We are quickly becoming persona non Prada. As we leave we get goodie bags of a silver clutch with their new refillable lipstick.

I admit it shamefully, I too am writing a diary. It’s a deluge of diarists.

At the Vaquera x Pornhub party PR legend Kelly Cutrone manned the door. It was held at a strip club in Midtown. A resigned security guard told Liv when she showed him her camera “just… try not to get nipples.” Reader, I saw no nipples, not even my own! This was my first time in a strip club (blushing) and the leopard print interior extravaganza bore a striking resemblance to my own apartment. I did, though, see writer extraordinaire Ludwig Hurtado and writer extraordinaire Rachel Rabbit White and writer extraordinaire Nico Walker (who published a brilliant except from his forthcoming novel in Granta last week). Writer party at the strip club. A partygoer asked Liv and I if we were models. Unfortunately, this is the one week a year that line really doesn’t work. Nothing like partying with six foot gazelles to make you feel your height.

My former roommate’s boyfriend was at Eckhaus Latta which was great because he thought I was unemployed the entire time we lived together. Suck it Ian. Across the room actress Ruby McCollister wore skin colored eye patches.

One of the best games to play during Fashion Week is “What’s in my bag?” My bag is from Aynie-Bsas. Clara, the designer, started an accessories label based out of the back of her father’s leather store in Buenos Aires. She makes these perfect pouches and leather bags inspired by Argentine Gauchos and professional polo players. When you visit her showroom, you pass by rows of bespoke riding boots and saddlery. My homage to the upcoming year of cowboy and country. “What’s in my bag?” is an Hourglass lipgloss in Slip, an Armani lipstick in a color I can’t remember because the label has rubbed off, a tiny photo of Messi and unfortunately not my keys!

Eckhaus had party mules, covered in stubby glitter, a black tank with slashes at the rib that opened like an accordion as the wearer moved. Casting was typically fantastic — Bella Newman and Paloma killed with Alek Wek closing. Loren Kramar sang in the back. A live singer, while creating opportunity for mistakes, goes so much farther emotionally. Eckhaus, one of the remaining exciting NYC brands, held its line this season, with clothes that reminded me of both the joys and imperfections of having a voice. You go farther, you risk more.

At FFORME I took BTS of the models for Hommegirls (look over here hunny, to the left, to the right). Photographer Matt Weinberger, who I ran into, is looking for a Nice Jewish Girl. Natalie Miano’s client Anastasia Coope performed on a stage to the right.

I am an extremely biased party but Sandy Liang was my favorite show and I got to write the show notes for it! I saw the collection early, which gave me a head start at obsessing over the collection. Devon Lee wore my favorite, a tweed brown skirt set with a square neckline that reminded me of this one MNZ look I’ve been trolling TheRealReal for. Sandy is the most fun show of the season because there’s a real connection to the enjoyment of fashion, i.e. dressing up for the hell of it, because you can and because you want to and because it makes you feel good. Sandy feels like shopping with all your best friends. It feels like the nicest girl at your high school telling you she loves your outfit. The bows and ballet flats were out to stomp, yes, but so were perfect leather bags and structured boots and sweetly tailored skirt suiting. I went earlier in the week to the store to pick out an outfit — I know… The sweetest part of the show was watching the Sandy Liang team led by Sarah Brown poke their heads out over the crowd and watch the show. Sandy Girl Forever.

Olivia and I sat behind Marc Jacobs at Ludovic de Saint Sernin. He hit an elf bar the entire time. I wasn’t quite close enough to sniff out what flavor. Anyway; the clothes! There was a freaking grommet dress. Silver knuckles. Corset bags that recalled Galliano Dior. Anne D. shoes. A saucy studded hankie tucked in too-tight pants. Gimp masks. My favorite by FAR were the cheeky bum bum pants. They were so serious to me. I’m not one for collaborations with the dead (the collection was in collaboration with Robert Maplethorpe’s estate) but it felt more ode to a moment in New York, creatively and sexually.

On the heels of Jessica Testa’s excellent NYT profile of Carly Marx where the designer announced her imminent move to London and pivot to accessories, the final Puppet’s runway was all people talked about. What would this show be like? Most striking to me were the shoes – Carly’s typically whimsical heels were subbed out for muted black Manolos. The styling was business haphazard, fur coats belted on at odd angles, pointless anklets hovering over stilettos. All in all, the show felt deliberately unfinished, as in unfinished business, as in a ghostly reminder of our failure to support new designers, of fissures in a cracked up industry. Read Danya Issawi in New York Mag PLEASE. Carly Marx will haunt NYC! And she will be back.

Back home I scrolled through TikTok and ate a weird almond flour tortilla situation. Between Mob Wife and Ballet core, it seems we’ve sartorially landed on Little Edie. A Grey Gardens revival is my prediction of the year.

Luar was at SAA in Bushwick. This means taking C to the L and then an 11 minute over an icy bridge over a train track in the dark. As Liv and I stumbled over the stairs I wondered if everybody else was doing this schlep. The answer: “no.” We arrived at a parade of black town cars. Inside Ariella Starkman commands a headset like no other, and in kitten heels no less. Vogue’s Hannah Jackson claimed she saw a glittery cowboy hat arriving… and it was BEYONCE! In BUSHWICK! Call your chiropractor, because the necks were craned. I had the pleasure of sitting next to the one woman show that is Liana Satenstein and her Stanley cup...

Luar served luxury payes, “fat shoulders” (Liana), and skirts with modern bustles. I LOVED it!!! 80’s silhouettes met Brooklyn Hasidim to revamp the sexy metrosexual. There was a gasp so loud when Colin Jones walked I couldn’t tell if people were reacting to Col or Beyonce. What a walker! One thing I adored about Luar was the vocal appreciation from the crowd. Even before the after-party it was a party! As soon as the show was over Beyonce, a silver hat in a mob, evaporated.

A fashion show is a show and I felt brands wrestling with that this season (magic, live performances, etc), especially hard to reckon with at a moment where fashion can feel inconsequential relative to the suffering currently going on. Within media and fashion, the frantic reshuffling and layoffs generate nausea. Personally, it felt like with standouts (for me, Luar and Sandy) designers committed to not just creation of spectacle, but enjoyment of vision. And there should be enjoyment in creation.

Just like Beyonce, NYFW '24 came and went. See you next time!

Love,
Nicolaia

Fashion

District Vision x New Balance: Eco-Friendly Trail Runners

Fashion

After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.