Latest news with #French-Belgian
Fashion United
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion United
Chanel autumn/winter 2025: a winter of elegance and comfort
Paris – Chanel presented a glamorous and understated Haute Couture collection at the Grand Palais in Paris on Tuesday. This is the last collection designed by its in-house creative studio before the highly anticipated debut of new artistic director Matthieu Blazy. For the autumn/winter 2025 season, the French fashion house reinvents winter classics and reinterprets its emblematic tweed. This time, it takes on a woven look in dresses of varying lengths. It also features in long coats, and low-waisted skirt and trouser suits, embellished with sequins, feathers and pearls. Lighter dresses and skirts, generally in silk or chiffon and often ruffled, also form part of this new wardrobe. The collection plays with layering, with long skirts open over shorter skirts or wide belts with pockets. Chanel Autumn/Winter 2025, Haute Couture. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight. All of this is presented in black, beige and white, matched with round-toe, knee-high boots. This new wardrobe was presented in the Salon d'Honneur, decorated with wide draped curtains and comfortable beige sofas in the style of last century's haute couture salons. It was not shown in the nave of the Grand Palais, as is usually the case, as the latter houses a monumental installation by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto. Guests included actresses Marion Cotillard and Carole Bouquet, as well as pop stars Lorde and Gracie Abrams. Chanel Autumn/Winter 2025, Haute Couture. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight. The next collection, presented in October during Paris Fashion Week, will be signed by Blazy, who was appointed in December, six months after the abrupt departure of Virginie Viard. The discreet and highly respected French-Belgian, former artistic director of Bottega Veneta, will have the difficult task of turning the page after Karl Lagerfeld. Lagerfeld reigned over the house for more than three decades until his death in 2019, leaving the reins to his right-hand woman, Viard. Chanel Autumn/Winter 2025, Haute Couture. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight. Chanel Autumn/Winter 2025, Haute Couture. Credits: ©Launchmetrics/spotlight. This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
Fashion United
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion United
Paris Fashion Week Men's SS26: What to look out for
Paris - Men's Fashion Week returns to Paris on Tuesday with highly anticipated highlights: Saint Laurent is back on the official calendar and, most notably, Jonathan Anderson makes his debut at Dior. After a turbulent start to the year with numerous changes in artistic direction, this spring/summer 2026 (SS26) season highlights the upheavals in the industry. Milan presented a significantly reduced calendar; London cancelled the event altogether. Paris, in contrast, promises a particularly rich edition. "The calendar is well-filled and there is an excellent balance between creativity, business, independent houses, large groups and new talent," Alice Feillard, head of menswear buying at Galeries Lafayette, told AFP. From June 24 to 29, no fewer than seventy houses will present their collections in thirty presentations and forty fashion shows. The most anticipated show is Dior Homme on June 27, designed by Jonathan Anderson. After months of speculation, the Northern Irishman was appointed successor to Maria Grazia Chiuri at the helm of the women's collections in early June; a few weeks after joining Dior Homme. He is the first designer since Christian Dior to be responsible for the women's and men's lines, as well as haute couture, for the LVMH flagship. Following the appointment of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy at Chanel in December, Anderson's appointment at Dior is undoubtedly the biggest event in the fashion market in recent months. The 40-year-old designer, who led Loewe, also owned by LVMH, to the top of the industry, is considered one of fashion's prodigies. The Spanish brand will be absent from this Fashion Week, however, awaiting the debut of the duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who were appointed as Anderson's successors. In addition to Anderson's debut at Dior, Julian Klausner's first menswear collection at Dries Van Noten on Wednesday afternoon is also likely to attract great interest from the fashion world. Klausner, who was appointed in December to succeed the fashion house's founder, Dries Van Noten, who retired last year, had already attracted attention in March with his first womenswear collection. Return of Saint Laurent Another important event of this edition is the return of Saint Laurent to the official calendar. The French fashion house had not participated in Men's Fashion Week since January 2023. Anthony Vaccarello's new collection will be unveiled on Tuesday at 5pm GMT; a few hours before Pharrell Williams' for Louis Vuitton. Established houses such as Hermès, Kenzo and Issey Miyake will be represented, as will brands AMI, Comme des Garçons, Egonlab., Rick Owens and Willy Chavarria, who returns after a first Paris show in January. Also noteworthy is the return of British designers Wales Bonner and Craig Green, as well as the first show in the French capital by trendy Indian label Kartik Research. Jacquemus, which made its comeback in January, will close Fashion Week. Men's Fashion Week will be followed by Haute Couture Week from Monday, July 7 to Thursday, July 10, which is also marked by numerous changes in artistic direction. Dior will not participate, as Anderson is planning his first haute couture collection for January 2026. Jean Paul Gaultier will also be absent. Its new permanent artistic director, Duran Lantink, will make his debut in October during Women's Fashion Week. Balenciaga will unveil the latest creations by Demna, who is moving to Gucci, while Glenn Martens will make his debut at Maison Margiela. Between the two events, American designer Michael Rider will present his first collection for Celine with a mixed show on 6 July.(AFP) This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
Elle
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Your Guide to All the Upcoming Runway Debuts
This past year has been a never-ending game of creative director musical chairs that had us all tossing bets into hats and wondering which talent would end up where. But with the recent confirmation that Pierpaolo Piccioli will succeed Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga and Jonathan Anderson will take over for Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, most of the chess pieces have finally made their unpredictable moves and landed in new homes. As of this moment, Marni and Fendi are now two notable luxury brands without an officially appointed creative director (Fendi's 100th anniversary womenswear collection was designed by the accessories and menswear artistic director Silvia Venturini Fendi, who also briefly stepped into womenswear following Karl Lagerfeld's death). Hedi Slimane, John Galliano, Kim Jones, Luke and Lucie Meier, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and most recently, Francesco Risso are the remaining big-name free agents. With men's spring 2026 and couture fall 2025 show seasons just around the corner, industry insiders are buzzing about the long-awaited debuts. Anderson will kick off the season with Dior Men on June 27, followed by Michael Rider for Celine at the top of couture week in July, and Glenn Martens's first standalone couture show at Margiela. September's womenswear runways will bring Piccioli at Balenciaga, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Demna at Gucci, Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, and Anderson again at Dior. While the aforementioned names and the maisons at which they will be taking the helm no doubt garner excitement amongst stylists and retail fashion directors, one thing about the group stands out to Sonya Abrego, a fashion historian and part-time Associate Professor at FIT and the New School. 'I am most excited and curious about Louise Trotter,' she says. 'She's the only woman designer in the group and has been more under the radar than the rest, which feels like a good fit for Bottega.' Though women are still vastly under-represented at the luxury creative director level, Trotter will now keep company with Sarah Burton at Givenchy and Veronica Leoni (formerly of The Row) at Calvin Klein, both of whom debuted earlier this year during the fall 2025 season. It's Trotter's predecessor, Blazy, that Nordstrom VP, Fashion Director Rickie de Sole has her eye on. '[His] appointment at Chanel is truly exciting,' she says, adding, 'His dedication to craftsmanship and distinctive creative vision makes him one to watch.' Having successfully pushed Bottega Veneta to new heights with his refresh of the house's signature Intrecciato weave technique (a hit both commercially and on the red carpet), there are high hopes for what the French-Belgian designer will do at Chanel. 'There's immense potential for him to reinterpret the maison's timeless elements, from the interlocking C's to the tweed fabrications, offering endless possibilities for exploration and reinvention,' says De Sole. Stylist and ELLE contributing editor Jan-Michael Quammie has her eggs in an entirely different basket. 'There's something incredibly chic about wearing Gucci right now, and not just bags and shoes but Gucci runway,' she says. 'I think Demna is the only creative director that can make me a Gucci girl again.' Fashion is no doubt facing an interesting period, one unlike any other in history. 'We're in a moment of significant change in fashion,' says De Sole. 'This industry thrives on evolution and fresh ideas, but what makes this time stand out is the sheer number of shifts happening all at once.' Abrego equates it to the '90s, when a similar re-shuffling was happening at Dior, Givenchy, and Alexander McQueen. 'What's so different now is in today's landscape we have so much more buzz and speculation on social media (and beyond) beforehand,' she says. All of this pre-season contemplation and anticipation is likely to add pressure for these wildly innovative talents, who are already walking into roles that require so much of their time and energy. Beyond the typical challenges that go along with creating multiple collections a year, and monitoring the sales that their work generates, there is also the need to live up to all of the internet hype. Quammie has reasonable expectations. 'I'm hoping to see class again, new POV's and anything that feels chic,' she says. It's even more straightforward for De Sole: 'Embrace the codes of the past but in an unexpected and bold way.' Let the games begin.
Chicago Tribune
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Patience' review: A detective show that takes autism seriously
A police detective in Yorkshire teams up with an autistic woman working in the records department in the British series 'Patience' on PBS. Patience Evans is content to be squirreled away, working alone amid all those file folders, but when Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf requests some information, Patience slips in another file that, at first glance, seems unrelated. But there are shared patterns between the two cases. Detective Bea (as Patience calls her) is intrigued and compels the young woman to leave the comfort of her solitary workspace to come out into the field and help her solve crimes. This new experience is at turns thrilling, distressing and overwhelming for Patience, depending on the moment. When she pushes through the discomfort, it's because she has a genuine curiosity and is a puzzle-solver by nature. And she . She's emotionally invested. Actor Ella Maisy Purvis is neurodivergent herself and I like that the show (adapted from the French-Belgian series 'Astrid et Raphaëlle') neither infantilizes the character nor treats her as a brilliant but robotic savant who cracks a case by simply scanning a room. She doesn't solve the crimes so much as identify important clues, patterns and other details overlooked by everyone else that help Detective Bea (Laura Fraser) piece together the bigger picture. Their pairing is awkward and tentative and involves a learning curve for both. Bea can be dismissive and sometimes terse, though she gradually becomes more thoughtful in her approach. For Patience, a sharp word or any deviation from her routine can be devastating and discombobulating. Sometimes she's willing to stray from her usual schedule, but she needs a minute to come around to the idea and it's on Bae to slow down, take a beat, and let Patience decide either way. 'Fancy a trip to the mortuary?' Bea asks one day when a new case is dropped in her lap. Patience pauses, wrapping her head around this unexpected change in plans, but then a small smile reaches her lips. 'Yes,' she says firmly. Bea and Patience carry the show, while the rest of the ensemble is just sort of there, not really adding much, aside from Bea's obnoxious and bigoted subordinate (played by Nathan Welsh) who is dismissive and sneering about Patience, both to her face and behind her back. I get the idea behind the character; sometimes you need a foil. But the guy has no redeeming qualities (until he suddenly comes around at the end) and I'm not sure what we're meant to think when Bea, as his boss, just smiles wanly instead of putting him in his place. The cases themselves are interesting enough and sometimes pivot around an amusing premise. When a best-selling crime novelist is found dead in his home, the police note that his door had been bolted from the inside and there are no other obvious signs of a break-in and Patience excitedly points out that it's a classic locked-room mystery! 'I just worry whether she can adapt,' a colleague tells Bea patronizingly, and she counters: Don't we have to ask ourselves the same thing? It's a process of figuring out one another's needs and processes and negotiating a way to work together that is respectful of Patience, but also effective at unraveling what happened. Bea and Patience both wear their nails cut short, with perpetually chipped nail polish, and it's a small detail but the kind of visual cue that subtly suggests a common bond, despite their differing temperaments. Less effective are the numerous flashbacks to Patience's childhood. I wish detective shows would abandon this trope forever, it's a time-filler that adds nothing. It wouldn't be accurate to say this is a new spin on the genre, since so many crime solvers — from Sherlock Holmes to Adrian Monk to Professor T — bear traits that could place them on the autism spectrum. But it is a series that aims to capture a less cliched, more multi-dimensional portrayal of autism that also includes a flirtation with a co-worker. An actual romantic subplot! 'I don't think we've ever had a TV show or film that's authentic and actually shows what it's like day to day in a workplace being neurodivergent,' Purvis has said in interviews, making an argument for more autistic actors and writers to be involved in these kinds of stories: 'The kind of perspective that comes from lived experiences can't be learnt, and so when you're casting for roles which have neurodiversity as part of their character it's really important that those voices are being heard and are actively in the room.' 'Patience' — 3 stars (out of 4) Where to watch: 7 p.m Sundays on PBS
Fashion United
03-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion United
In times of crisis, luxury brands turn to the new guard of designers
Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Jonathan Anderson at Dior and Demna at Gucci: luxury's leading brands turned to the creativity of relatively low-key designers in their forties to address the economic challenges facing the sector. Following months of speculation and his arrival at Dior Homme, forty-year-old Jonathan Anderson was appointed creative director of the brand's womenswear collections on Monday, replacing sixty-one-year-old Maria Grazia Chiuri. The Northern Irish designer became the first designer since Christian Dior to create the womenswear and menswear lines for LVMH's flagship brand, as well as haute couture. After the appointment of forty-year-old French-Belgian Matthieu Blazy at Chanel in December 2024, this was the biggest event in the extensive reshuffle that had been stirring the fashion world for over a year, in response to the economic turbulence experienced by the luxury sector. Another shift within the Kering group was that of forty-four-year-old Georgian Demna, who spent ten years at Balenciaga, and was appointed head of Gucci in May 2024. After several lavish post-Covid years, the sector had been facing headwinds in its two main markets since 2024, with a recovery yet to materialise in China and the threat of increased customs duties in the US. At Dior, the second largest fashion brand in the LVMH group after Louis Vuitton, turnover reached 8.4 billion euros last year, with profits of 2.7 billion euros, but the brand experienced a 'double-digit decline in the second half of the year', according to HSBC bank. Chanel reported a 28.2 percent drop in net profit to 3.4 billion dollars last year, and a 5.3 percent drop in turnover to 18.7 billion dollars. Gucci's underperformance dragged down the Kering group, which saw its net profit collapse by 62 percent in 2024, with the Italian brand's sales falling by 23 percent to 7.65 billion euros. Forty-somethings to the rescue Relatively unknown to the general public, the forty-something designers tasked with reviving these powerful fashion houses had nevertheless proven their worth. 'There is the idea of giving a kind of fresh impetus but with profiles who already have experience, a certain maturity, and whose objective is not so much to revolutionise as to have a coherent, authentic and strong message, which resonates both with the brand and with the evolution of consumers,' explained Serge Carreira, an affiliated professor at Sciences Po Paris and a specialist in the luxury industry, to AFP. Jonathan Anderson made the Spanish brand Loewe, during the eleven years he headed it until 2025, one of LVMH's greatest successes, not forgetting that of his own label JW Anderson. Among his flagship creations were stage outfits for Beyoncé and Rihanna. He also had a link with cinema, particularly with Italian director Luca Guadagnino, for whom he designed the costumes for 'Challengers', starring Zendaya, and 'Queer', starring Daniel Craig. More discreet, Matthieu Blazy contributed to the resurgence in popularity of Bottega Veneta (Kering group), where he was creative director from 2021 to 2024, giving a sense of movement and boldness to the Italian brand's signature woven leather. At Chanel, he would also be tasked with turning the page on Karl Lagerfeld. The Kaiser reigned over the brand for over three decades, until his death in 2019. His right-hand woman, sixty-three-year-old Virginie Viard, succeeded him before abruptly leaving her post in June 2024. Finally, Demna enabled Balenciaga to exceed one billion euros in turnover. His strengths: an iconoclastic style, from T-shirts to haute couture, his ability to make the 'ugly' desirable, from platform Crocs to bin bags, as well as his celebrity connections, from American influencer Kim Kardashian to French actress Isabelle Huppert. A success story, however, tarnished in 2022 by an advertising campaign featuring children with sado-masochistic-inspired accessories. The results were not long in coming: Jonathan Anderson opened the ball with Dior Homme on June 27 in Paris, while Demna and Matthieu Blazy made their debuts at the womenswear Fashion Weeks in Milan in September and Paris in October, respectively. (AFP) This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
