In the absence of a ticket, I watched Simone Bellotti’s debut SS26 show on YouTube. As one of 13 key designer debuts this season, it’s one of the first shows that will be discussed big. Coming from a very critically successful few seasons at Bally, Bellotti has engineered a lot of good feeling from the press.
I loved this debut. It felt stripped back to the spare linear silhouettes of OG Jil Sander, with a pure colour palette that nodded to Raf-era. Within that I particularly liked the cold eroticism of cutaway slashes in the skirts and cut-out back details, unexpected pops of silver, some great bags and the flat shoes.
It felt like a reset, palate-cleansing the proportions from Lucie and Luke’s XXL to something more elegantly wearable. Maybe next season there will be more Simone in the mix, but the response in the room was enthusiastic (I love a cheer at a fashion show). Early responses from buyers are promising – Dover Street Market called it “incredible”, while Carla Sozzani praised the craftsmanship and “beautiful work”. It will be interesting to hear what the rest have to say.
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES: Jil Sander SS26 NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
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It might be my age and the time of year (nesting is calling!) but I’m a bit more excited for fashion’s lifestyle news than adding more clothes to my wardrobe. (Yes, really!)
This week sees the newly refurbed JW Anderson store in Brewer Street, overflowing beautifully merchandised with Jonathan Anderson’s mix of knitwear, loafer bags, Wedgwood Jasperware and Mackintosh oak stools. Later in the year we’ll see his vision for a new store in Pimlico Road (home of spendy antique shops and World of Interior-style stores).
Basically, I can’t wait.
Let’s not forget, Jonathan Anderson started his fashion career learning the art of visual merchandising (aka retail ‘world building’) at the knee of Prada sidekick Manuela Pavesi. So he knows how to pull an enticing store vision together.
A quick whistlestop visit of the Soho store gave an inkling of what one might expect. Firstly, the store can only accommodate a few customers at a time, so be prepared to wait a few minutes. (And no photos please.) Next, delight yourself with the mix of idiosyncratic homewares alongside the tweed tailoring and fairisle pig jumpers.
Some pieces are very desirable and expensive (the £990 limited edition Wedgwood cup and saucer sets, a once-aborted collaboration with Lucie Rie that is only now seeing the light of day, with proceeds going to support the new Lucie Rie x Hans Coper foundation). But there are also more accessible lifestyle pieces to scratch the craft itch, such as Murano glass pieces and Nicholas Mosse stripy mugs. And of course, for the entry-level fashion diehards there’s plenty of choice in leather padlock charms and other knick knacks.
Fashion retail thrives on surprise and the surprise here is that the home stuff is done so well. As a craft head, Anderson hasn’t just pulled in the generic homesy product you can buy anywhere. This feels genuinely hand selected, down to the vintage gardening implements that seem random, yet make sense in his town-meets-country context.
It reminds me a little of the much-missed Thomas’s Café, the fabulous eatery appended to Christopher Bailey’sBurberry flagship, which sold all-British fare on fantastically crafted British-made plates and bowls. It was a sensorial adventure simply enjoying a buttered teacake there, while also compelling you to snap up a check scarf or trench on the way out.
In other fashion-lifestyle news, is there a Margaret Howell x Kettle’s Yard collab in the works? My spies say it’s possible and I’m totally down with manifesting that idea. Watch this space…
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES: JW Anderson Brewer Street, London W1 (sorry for the piss poor quality but they’re taken guerilla-style on the hoof!) NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare
Congratulations to Soshi Otsuki, who just won the LVMH Prize.
Since launching as a menswear brand, Soshiotsuki, in 2015, his “distorted elegance” (also the name of his AW25 collection) in the tradition of Armani, Cerruti and even Studio Nicholson, now includes a number of women’s pieces.
To be specific, that means taking western men’s tailoring and filtering it through a Japanese lens – cardigan-soft fabrics, gentle gathering and draping, voluminous tailored trousers, enveloping knits – and juxtaposing them through careful styling.
I particularly love the knitwear and trouser combo with a shirt and tie (even though I would never wear a tie, I like the comfort-meets-formal tension). And the voluminous bomber jacket paired with full-legged pleat-front trousers and slim, low-positioned belts. I think I would dress it all down a notch with well-loved Converse high tops or Jack Purcells and perhaps a chain bracelet or two (a la A$AP Rocky). It could be fun to see some (credible) celebs – Tilda Swinton? Emma Corrin? – putting their spin on the look and I’m sure their stylists are already on the case.
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES: Soshiotsuki NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare
A few snippets of digital ephemera and IRL recommendations I’ve enjoyed lately…
1/ Everybody’s sad about GIORGIO ARMANI’s passing – R.I.P – and quite rightly so. I enjoyed writingthis piece a couple of years ago and especially re-watching Martin Scorsese’s short film on him, Made In Milan (below).
2/ I’m very late to the MATERIALISTS party but was instantly enamoured with Lucy’s Paris Texas boots in the opening scene. Could this autumn see the return of small skirts, tall boots and black Wolford opaques? Buy the boots here* (and get the rest of the wardrobe intel here).
4/ TONNE GOODMAN talks. If you’re a 90s nostalgist, don’t miss this excellent podcast from earlier in the year with Tonne Goodman and Paul Cavaco. (Have tissues on standby for the ending!)
5/ This summer I learnt a new haberdashery term and can’t believe I never knew about ‘cabbage’, aka “the practice of making extra garments from offcuts or leftover fabric from cutting an item”. Obviously, from now on I’m pronouncing it ‘cabbahgge’, in the style of a 1980s New York ballroom queen.
7/ HERBERT LEVINE (the revived shoe brand helmed by former The Row designer Trevor Houston) has just dropped in 12 stockists including Harrods, Saks 5th Avenue and Mytheresa*. Vogue Business has a fascinating profile and this old Coveteur piece is great too. The shoes promise to be playful and practical. I like the look of this boot (below).
8/ P.S: We’ve been saying STEVE BUSCEMI’s name wrong. It’s Boo-SEM-ee, says the NYT (gift link).
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla IMAGES: Herbert Levine by Mark Borthwick; Made In Italy/Disneyrollergirl; Peter Hujar’s Day; Herbert Levine by Mark Borthwick NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links* and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here
CLICK HERE to get Disneyrollergirl blog posts straight to your inbox once a week CLICK HERE to buy my book, The New Garconne: How to be a Modern Gentlewoman CLICK HERE to buy my beauty book, Face Values: The New Beauty Rituals and Skincare
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