Hello, Open Thread. Happy March. Happy Woman's History Month. Greetings from Paris! Even over here, amid all the fashion and the celebrities — Jennifer Lawrence at Dior; Serena Williams making the rounds of Balmain and Off-White; Thom Yorke from Radiohead at Undercover; Zoë Kravitz and Zoe Saldana at Saint Laurent — one particular fashion-celebrity pairing has stood out, and it isn't happening in Paris, but back in the United States. I am speaking, of course, of Monica Lewinsky's Reformation campaign. Ms. Lewinsky, the erstwhile scarlet White House intern-turned-anti-bullying activist, who has been outspoken about her own experience in the crucible of public pillorying, has teamed up with the contemporary fashion brand on a series of "You've Got the Power" ads for its new workwear line, with an associated hub to register voters. Get it? Power dressing, electoral power, the power of self-determination. It's all there! This is Ms. Lewinsky's first fashion campaign, and I have to say, it seems like a smart move for both sides. On the one hand, she makes Reformation look more engaged and sophisticated; on the other, the clothes make her look both contemporary and accessible, further extending her platform and positioning her as a reformer. (A whole generation has apparently just learned her story and adopted her as their heroine; if she can get them to vote because of it, yea.) My colleague Ruth La Ferla spoke to Ms. Lewinsky about the gig, so check out her thoughts. It's also a good reminder that it's not only the super young and blandly beautiful who sell stuff. I've always been a fan of Louis Vuitton campaigns that featured Mikhail Gorbachev, Keith Richards and Buzz Aldrin. Perhaps this will encourage more brands to start thinking out of the box.
In other news from Paris, there's been a big kerfuffle about the Row's insistence that no social media be committed at its show. Yes, no smartphones. No X or Instagram or Threads. I got swept up in it because in place of the usual runway snaps, I posted the request. A spokeswoman said it was about encouraging everyone to focus on the collection rather than keeping one eye on the runway and one eye on the internet. Others suggested it was actually a way to make the brand, which is an effective expression of stealth wealth, even more insider and inaccessible. Some posited that it was a reaction to the time the founders Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen spent as child stars and their consequent dislike of publicity. I respected the ask, but I also thought it was sort of silly and unnecessarily controlling. Fashion week is a business contract between brand and, in my case, critic. Designers unveil their propositions for how women may define themselves in the months ahead, and I tell you my analysis of it. For them to censor how I do part of that job is wrong. That's my take, anyway. Finally, my colleague Elizabeth Paton got a sneak peek at hospitality plans for the Paris Olympics and sent the following insider scoop:
"Lunch during fashion week is normally a few canapés stolen from a presentation for the car," she wrote. "But on Thursday, On Location put on a Michelin-starred spread as it unveiled plans for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. What is On Location, you ask? It is a subsidiary of the global sports and entertainment juggernaut Endeavor, and it won the right to offer all of the official hospitality experiences at the Games after it did a bang-up job with the Super Bowl. The cheapest package (all will include a ticket to an event) starts at 100 euros. For the most expensive — think private shopping at Chanel, wine tasting after hours at the Louvre, mingling with Olympics legends and dinner on a bridge over the Seine during the opening ceremony — the sky is the limit. In fact, the only thing these packages may not include is a limo. Given that the already terrible traffic in this city is set to get much worse, even the 1 percent is being encouraged to take the Metro." Elizabeth added, "Good luck with that," and I agree. Chew on that for a while. Then check out all the reviews here, including what you need to know from Milan as well as the start of Paris. Consider the recent spate of nepo baby models. And remember Claude Montana, a designer who was the "Alexander Graham Bell of shoulders." Have a good, safe weekend.
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Your Style Questions, AnsweredEvery week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader's fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.
Do designers really expect us to wear those outlandish looks they show on the runway? I look at the images and can't imagine anyone walking down a street in most of those clothes no matter where they lived. — Mary, Auckland, New ZealandThis is one of those questions I have been asked pretty much every season since I started covering the runway shows. Another one is about why models never smile, which I answered last season, and I get it, I really do. From afar, many styles that appear on designer catwalks can seem more like souvenirs from a trip to an alternate dimension in the Tardis in "Doctor Who" than actual clothes. There are, of course, some brands, like Max Mara and Dries Van Noten, that feel an almost moral compulsion to be able to sell what they make. Ditto Rick Owens, the designer of the somewhat extreme fall look above — but he has a committed fan base that sees itself in his otherworldly aliens and embraces the idea of announcing that to the world. (As does Mr. Owens himself, who told me backstage he had figured out a way to produce and sell the ropy looks.) Remember that just because you don't want to look like a paramecium does not mean there isn't someone in the world who sees such an outfit and thinks, "YES!" It is also true that for many designers the runway is the only opportunity they have to show their ideas to the world in their purest state — not through the filter of magazine stylists or celebrity desires or retail choices — and they have only about 10 minutes to do so. That means that those ideas have to read quickly and clearly, and often the fastest way to get an idea across is by exaggerating it. This has become more imperative in the age of social media, when ideas are being conveyed not just to the people in the room, but also to anyone watching a livestream on a very tiny screen. There's really no better example of this than the work of Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, who charmed me forever when in 2014 she announced that the idea behind her show was "not making clothes." That sounds ridiculous, I know, but it means that her runway is mostly one of thought experiments, rather than garments. And the garments, which are interpretations and iterations of those experiments, are back in the showroom and often end up in the stores. (Comme des Garçons, if you are wondering, is a healthy business, full of stuff people can buy.) There will always be die-hard fashion fans who collect the crazy stuff and some who actually wear it, like a sign screaming "fashion acolyte." These are also the clothes museums tend to acquire and that have value that accrues at auction since they represent a moment in time. (Once they are worn, and depending on who wears them, their value becomes associated more with social, as opposed to aesthetic, history.) But for most people, no, designers do not expect you to dress like shrubbery or a space queen or a Brancusi sculpture. They expect you to exercise your free will and think for yourself about how what they are making does or does not fit into your life and closet; to make it your own. They know what they are offering is a proposal. What to do with it is up to you.
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Friday, March 1, 2024
Open Thread: Monica Lewinsky, Reformation, the Row, the Paris Olympics
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