Then, at the Paris haute couture shows, Simone Rocha will become the sixth designer and only the second woman after Sacai’s Chitose Abe to guest design a Jean Paul Gaultier collection. How will the Irishwoman, known for the dreamy romance and eccentric embellishments of her clothes (lately she’s stuffed the lining of her dresses with both long-stemmed pink roses and hay), interpret the Frenchman’s own unique codes, which are more sartorial and shot through not with feminine wistfulness but humor? She has complete freedom, according to Gaultier: “The whole concept is about trusting a guest designer whose talent I respect,” has told Vogue. “There are no instructions or anything because I figure if it were up to me to work for another house, maybe I’d kind of want direction but it’s better not to have it because you wind up being influenced, whereas your own vision is the whole point.”
As the most responsible fashion week (designers are required to meet a number of green requirements in order to show), Copenhagen is attracting more attention every season. Kicking off the fall 2024 collections, the city’s calendar includes cult local label mfpen’s fashion week debut, Nicklas Skovgaard’s sophomore outing, and an off-schedule show from indie label Solitude Studios.
Marc Jacobs is once again preempting New York Fashion Week, this time with a show on February 2. His ode to Dame Viv was a knockout last year, so we’ve saved the date in our calendars. The official schedule kicks off on February 9, three days before another kickoff: that of Super Bowl 58, where Usher is the halftime entertainment. Fashion-wise, he has a tough act to follow in Rihanna, who famously revealed her baby bump in custom Loewe and Alaia, from a platform suspended a couple dozen feet above the 50 yard line at Super Bowl 57. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to try. The R&B legend made some inspired, avant garde choices in 2023, from a Bianca Saunders tux at the Met Gala to Marni polka dots at the Italian label’s first Paris show.
