The pandemic hasn’t impacted Mugler’s standing with celebrities. If anything, the dearth of red carpets has led to more risk-taking when they actually happen, and that’s precisely what creative director Casey Cadwallader has been specializing in lately. Miley Cyrus called upon him for two of her more scandalicious looks this year. If you saw her in them, they’re probably seared into your brain; the first was a strapless see-through dress embroidered all over with tiny mirrors; the second, a body stocking more sheer than opaque that has 1.8 million likes on Instagram.

Cadwallader also pointed out the increasing importance of music videos, those very 20th-century cultural artifacts, in the absence of live performances. He’s working on clothes for those apparently, too. In fact, about half of his time is spent on VIP requests. The other 50% he expends on the label’s ready-to-wear, but he’s not exactly playing it safe with this category either. “I felt it was time to deal with the fantasy side of Mugler,” he said, referring to the house founder’s infamous collections of the 1990s.

There’s the hyper-sexy clothes, and then there’s the way he’s going about making them. Cadwallader is putting a lot of effort into sourcing more sustainable materials. He says those bodystockings will be constructed with 100% recycled lycra by fall 2021. And he’s also working at lowering the prices of pieces like the twisting-seam jeans he designed for his first Mugler collection two years ago and the Lycra and illusion tulle leggings and tops that he likens to “complex puzzles” of couture pattern-making. “There’s energy in young people that want to buy Mugler,” he said. That jibes with the trend toward body-conscious—and body-positive—collections we saw this season from emerging designers across Europe.

Mugler is moving to a see-now-buy-now model starting in February. This capsule collection is a “prelude” of that outing, and—speaking of videos—Cadwallader and his team filmed one to promote it. The three-minute clip stars a Bella Hadid avatar and a cast of “all genders, all races, all sizes” friends of the brand. In that way, it quite effectively speaks to both sides of the designer’s reimagining of this brand.

There’s the hyper-sexy clothes, and then there’s the way Cadwallader is going about making them. 

Helmut Lang has finally launched its first eyewear partnership with Berlin-based brand MYKITA after debuting the sunglasses at its SS20 runway show back in September 2019. The set consists of two styles that deconstruct the concept of a wraparound sunshield into four individual elements, the HL001 and HL002. Contrasting lens colors like neon pink and orange, are the reference key colors from Helmut Lang's SS20 runway show. 

Collection's kicking off is a series of HL001 sunglasses. The eyewear choice features a straight top line and a double bridge, creating a simple, angular look. The HL002, therefore, has more flexible, curvilinear shape. The HL002 — influenced by the silhouette of aviators — places a twist on a classic, timeless style while the HL001 provides a sleek, futuristic feel. Both models depart from traditional glasses design, demonstrating how new designs are created by questioning tradition and conventions of normality. 

In the gallery above take a closer look at the latest eyewear models.

Lang is known for his deconstructivist, minimalist, and often harsh designs. In the late 1980s his fashion house became renowned for its plain yet elegant forms, slim black or white dresses, its denim line and the use of high-tech fabrics. Helmut Lang fashions have been sold by selected retailers in premium department stores as well as iconic Helmut Lang shops across the globe. Lang has entered into a partnership with Prada Group in 1999 which culminated in Prada acquiring the Helmut Lang brand in 2004, and Mr. Lang's departure from the label in 2005. Therefore, in 2006 Prada sold it to Link Theory of Japan. In 2007, Link Theory re-launched the Helmut Lang brand with new designers. Helmut Lang fashions became available worldwide once again at upscale department stores and iconic Helmut Lang boutiques.

In other news, Thierry Mugler's fan account followed by Maestro himself.

Focusing on the height of Thierry Mugler's career – from the 1970s to the mid-1990s – Reinherz strives to reflect in the truest sense the codes of his universe. "The way he looked – and still looks – at women as superheroes I loved especially," she continues. "I definitely have specific models that I really like to post that he's been working with – for example, Pat Cleveland. Apart from that, I have specific shows that I always go through – particularly the mid-80s shows. It's always the most amazing stuff I would choose to find."

A new take on the wraparound sunshield silhouette.

DECONSTRUCTED SUNGLASSES COLLECTION: HELMUT LANG X MYKITA

Renowned photographer Keizo Kitajima has been enlisted to shoot "Manual," the Spring/Summer 2021 collection of Junya Watanabe which pays dual homage to the books and the people of the working class who inspire him. Every model comes from different hands-on profession representatives and is shot near their place of work.

"Manual" lifts the cover art from a number of favorite Watanabe's tomes, much like his tees from Spring/Summer 2020. Titles include Spin: 360°, Playboy, and even the classic Dr. Slump manga from Akira Toriyama, each rendered on top of Watanabe's t-shirts, button-ups, and his signature patchwork blazers.

 Classic blue-collar basics, ranging from boxy chore coats to contrast-stitched double-knee jeans, are modified with premium Japanese construction throughout. The models — which include a bonsai master, sushi chef, bar owner, sword craftsman and mechanics — bring their own style to highlight Watanabe's casual car coats and droppув-crotch denim shorts, mixing and matching with gingham tops, Heinrich Dinkelacker shoes and New Balance sneakers. 

"I find myself focusing on the influence of the books around me this season – important things that I love, while I might not open them every day," Watanabe said in a statement. "Many of the pieces are portraying and incorporating these books in this collection." 

Junya Watanabe is a Japanese fashion designer, originally a protégé of the designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. Raised in 1961 in Fukushima, Japan, he went to attend Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College, and graduated in 1984. He started his apprenticeship as a pattern-maker at Comme des Garçons at thas time. Watanabe was promoted to Tricot knitwear line chief designer in 1987, and then went on to work for Comme des Garçons Homme. Beginning in 1992, he worked as part of Comme des Garçons under his own name. Watanabe started his own line in 1993 under the name Comme Des Garçons, renamed 'Junya Watanabe Comme des Garçons,' and has begun showing in Paris the same year.

In other news, Takay, The Japanese photographer, filmed models in Yohji Yamamoto classic uniforms, some with new design twists in an imaginary show with soft and jazzy music and occasional close-up displays to show the details of the signature looks: easily recognizable Yohji styles with the slouchy silhouettes and military uniform garments.

Garments for living and working inspired by Watanabe’s precious book collection.

MANUAL: JUNYA WATANABE'S WORKING CLASS INSPIRED SS21

1017 ALYX 9SM has delivered a new product from its seasonal collection. The Matthew M Williams-helmed label has opted for a Double-Buckle Rollercoaster belt, after launching a gold-plated buckle necklace two weeks ago. 

The signature rollercoaster buckle of the brand is mounted in two sections of the belt — the left and right waist sides instead of a single buckle in the middle. Smooth black leather is positioned between the two ends, separated along the adjacent sides by a sturdy ripstop. Each buckle has a luxurious silver-tone finish that contrasts with the rest of the sleek black shade of the accessory, with subtly engraved "1017 ALYX 9SM" branding on the hardware completing the design. 

Currently, the 1017 ALYX 9SM Double-Buckle Rollercoaster Belt is available for $390 USD. 

The brand has become synonymous with the use of innovative technological fabrics and industrial statement accessories, with the ingenious rollercoaster buckles from Williams (inspired by a trip to the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park), spawning a series of trend-setting, must-have accessory drops. Their signature rollercoaster belt, or the trendy Berlinesque harness, did not deceive anyone. ALYX Chest Rig Bag draped across Kanye has been clocked by everyone, while Bella Hadid seemed to be inseparable from her ALYX Cross Body Bag. 

This earned a slot at Paris Fashion Week for the company, and a coveted nomination for the 2016 LVMH Prize finalist for Williams. Williams also has notable collaborations with Moncler, Nike for the MMW Technical Runner, and Dior Men (creating Dior's SS19 collection accessories) with hailing accolades all over. Just to say, 1017 ALYX 9SM has come into its own, and rightfully so – regardless of the star-studded past of the designer himself. 

Williams started collaborating with Kanye West in the music industry in 2008, and later became famous as a creative director of Lady Gaga. Williams has also been working on a Lady Gaga costume from a sketch by Alexander McQueen shortly before he died in 2010.

In other news, Due to the coronavirus pandemic, David Koma was unable to host a show or presentation this season.

"I think it's important to remain true to yourself and to remain true to what you believe, no matter what," David Koma says from his London studio. The meaning of that in the Koma universe is glamor — but how to marry a Koma piece's sexy, slinky appeal with the slouchy, ready-for-Zoom style of COVID-19 self-isolation "work from home fits?" Koma's approach is a clever combination of coziness and camp.

1017 ALYX 9SM DROPS DOUBLE-BUCKLE ROLLERCOASTER BELT

Whether you are tie-dying a pair of Nike socks or perfecting your hand-lettering skills, in coronavirus times, art can be a helpful tool for relieving tension. The LA-based artist and co-founder of Dreamhaus LA, Nikkolos Mohammed, sees the development of drypoint etchings as a useful outlet to decompress during the difficult times we are currently living in. 

Drypoint etching is considered to be one of the oldest forms of printmaking, dating back to the 15th century. Artists and printmakers carve or scrape images onto a plate with a hard-pointed needle in the process. One of the benefits of drypoint etching is that it is safer than other methods that require the use of acid, such as conventional engraving and aquatint. Mohammed shows us his drypoint etching techniques. 

First, he's using scotch tape to attach an image, in this case, a portrait of Malcolm X, to a plexiglass medium. He then uses an etching tool for visual tracing. Occasionally, he puts a piece of fabric in between the plexiglass to see his etching results. Mohammed also etches hatch marks to determine their depth on certain areas of the composition. When the etching is finished, he scrapes ink onto the plexiglass and then uses tarlatan and telephone pages to extract the tin from the plexiglass surface where there are no reliefs. Finally, he uses a portable printing press to pass the ink onto a sheet of paper.

Drypoint is an intaglio family printmaking technique in which an image is incised onto a plate or matrix with a sharp metal or diamond pointed hard-spotted needle. The process is essentially similar to gravure, in theory. The distinction is in the use of tools, and the raised ridge along the furrow isn't scraped or filed away as in engraving. Traditionally, the plate was made of copper, but now it's often popular to use acetate, zinc or plexiglas instead. Like etching, for an artist trained in drawing, drypoint is simpler to learn than gravure, since the process of using the needle is closer to using a pencil than the burin of the engraver. The word also refers to inkless scratched inscriptions, such as manuscript glosses.

Designer Thierry Mugler was using the Drypoint etching technique in one of his collections back in the 1970s.

The LA-based artist and Dreamhaus LA co-founder shares his creative process.

NIKKOLOS MOHAMMED: HOW TO MAKE A DRYPOINT ETCHING

When I was younger, I would associate wearing a brooch with the women over a certain age. I grew up watching them on my grandmother - that lady was beautiful and classy. While I was a little girl, I loved their style, and I still do, I have also inherited some fabulous pieces of my grandmother's clothing. Yet I'd never considered wearing a brooch myself. Certainly not my type. That's been for sophisticated grown-up ladies, and I was more of a rock chic bracelet kid. 

I like to think I am 21 forever, but I am certainly not. And slowly but steadily my style was developing and changing naturally. I found this classic Chanel CC brooch a few years ago. And though they have always been in front of my eyes, if that makes any sense, I have never seen them. 

Now I see them showcasing beautiful dresses on ladies of all ages. I developed a fascination for myself. There is pure love indeed. So, I purchased my very first Chanel brooch in their flagship store at 31 Rue Cambon when I came to Paris a few years ago. Wrapped in the iconic white box of the flagship store, this was a stunning brooch in light gold with tiny little crystals.

Chanel brooches come in a vast variety of shapes and materials. Silver, gold, with pearls or crystals, or both, enamel, in plexiglass, or just plain and simple uber-traditional. Chanel releases a new collection every season. You want to own more than one of them, of course! 

I'm still a bracelet girl and love a good arm candy, but a brooch, or two, or even three if you dare, is now also a natural part of my uniform. I love how the brooch lifts your outfit immediately, no matter how casual or formal your starting point might be. 

They can be used for any kind of outfit. A denim jacket, a blazer, a utility jacket, a shirt, a knitted sweater. You can pin it on a beanie or on a beret too. Or even in your hair as a super chic pin. 

Do you also remember those Mugler star-shaped brooches reminding of the soviet Moscow?

The Chanel brooch is a classic piece that can lift an outfit to another level.

Valentino has hired YH Fong, a production producer and visual artist dually based in London and Hong Kong, for the Autumn 2020 menswear campaign. The collection features woodblock-like prints and patterns which fuse elements of architecture, landscape and fantasy. For a short film, Fong used digital editing to bring certain elements to life. The prints are blown up into the background, so the clothes perfectly blend into the landscape. As shapes and figures are replicated and rearranged, there is a peculiar style that seems to accept both juxtaposition and harmony. 

It is from the intoxicating dualism that the campaign derives its energy. For all its oppositions, past and future, analog and digital, of grayscale and color, there is always a unity, the kind of sameness we assign to a pattern. Fong's technological alchemy is truly remarkable in constructing this dreamscape and we are grateful to Valentino for bringing this dream to life. 

Valentino S.p.A. is an Italian apparel company founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and part of Valentino Fashion Group, which in turn belongs to the State of Qatar through Mayhoola for Investments S.P.C. Pier Paolo Piccioli has been Valentino's creative director since October 2008. Valentino's headoffice is based in Milan, whereas the creative direction is in Rome. 

The company has been created in 1960 when Garavani opened a fashion house on Via Condotti in Rome, Italy with the backing of Giancarlo Giammetti, his father's associate. 

Valentino's international debut was in Florence, the Italian fashion capital of the time, in 1962. Wedding dresses for Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Courtney Cox, Sophie Hunter and Princess Madeleine of Sweden have been all custom-made by Valentino. 

In 2012, Qatar state purchased Valentino via an investment fund named Mayhoola for Investments S.P.C. for 700 million euros.

Valentino Creative Director | Pierpaolo Piccioli

Models | Callum Heslop, Jeremiah Berko Fourdjour, & Jethro Sapon

We are looking forward to seeing Yohji Yamamoto and Rick Owens digital shows on the 10th of July at 17h30 and 18h respectively. Stay tuned!

A new campaign from Valentino discovers a unique digital dreamscape.

DREAMATIC: VALENTINO'S FALL 2020 MEN'S FASHION AD CAMPAIGN

Milan's governing institution for fashion, the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, has confirmed the schedule of designers to display their new collections as part of a digital fashion week in July, as a substitute for conventional fashion shows canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Some of the biggest Italian labels are included in the schedule: Prada, Gucci, Ermenegildo Zegna, Missoni, and Salvatore Ferragamo are among the labels which are confirmed to be present. Some brands will showcase collections of Spring/Summer 2021, while others will focus on Cruise and Pre-Collections. 

Many of the most revered names in Milan, though, are also notably absent. Marni, Fendi, and Giorgio Armani are missing, while labels like Bottega Veneta usually opt out of the Summer men's shows in favor of presenting in September. 

Since lockdowns were introduced as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the major fashion capitals were forced to find new ways to allow designers to present themselves. London Fashion Week was replaced by a digital portal that received a timid response from the press and buyers, although some designers found ways to create excitement. 

The Paris menswear shows, which were scheduled to take place last week, will be replaced by a virtual event named Whispers of Paris, set to be held from 9-13 July. The list of participating designers has still not been confirmed. 

The shows in Milan run from July 14-17, with the Prada show taking place on July 14 at 14:00 CEST, and the Gucci presentation on July 17 at 14:00 CEST. The full program can be viewed on the website of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.

We are waiting for the list of Paris Fashion Week's participating designers to be confirmed ASAP! Stay tuned, we will keep you updated! Are we going to see Rick Owens, Mugler and Courreges defiles this season?!

As part of Milan’s digital fashion week in July.

GUCCI AND PRADA'S NEW COLLECTIONS AS VIRTUAL SHOWS

Celebrate the coming summer with the Versace Summer 2020 capsule collection that boasts a bright, colorful print. 

Blue skies and bold patterns, the Versace collection includes printed designs that evoke sun-drenched holidays. The Mediterranean spirit features vibrant prints and enlivening combinations of colors defined by the capsule collection.

Home or away, the unisex Versace Home bathrobes trimmed with the iconic Barocco motif complement the new Summer collection.

Versace was often known as the "Rock'n'Roll designer," since they were producing attires for music icons, including George Michael, Elton John and Michael Jackson, amongst other the most famous musicians. In 1992, Versace designed the Elton John's stage outfits as well as his album cover costumes. Versace has designed dresses for the Princess of Wales and Monaco's Princess Caroline. In their advertising campaigns, Versace corporation is famous for using the same models as on their runways. 

In 1997, after the murder of the founder Gianni Versace, his sister Donatella Versace, executive vice-president, took over as artistic director, and his older brother Santo Versace became a CEO. Donatella's daughter, Allegra Versace, was left with a 50 percent interest in the business that she took ownership of on her 18th birthday. 

In 2000, Jennifer Lopez's "green Versace dress" at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards gained a lot of media attention, being voted "fifth most iconic dress of all time" in 2008, with Hurley's 1994 dress being first voted in a Daily Telegraph poll.

Michael Kors announced on 24th September 2018 that they were offering a deal to purchase Versace for 2 billion euros. The same month, Versace announced that one hundred percent of all family shares in Blackstone and Versace had been sold to the Michael Kors Limited Group.

Insiders say Victoria Beckham, Mugler, and Alexander Wang this season's collections are going to be striking. Stay tuned, we will be keeping you updated!

The latest fashion looks from Italian design house Versace for their Summer 2020 ready-to-wear collection.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, David Koma was unable to host a show or presentation this season.

"I think it's important to remain true to yourself and to remain true to what you believe, no matter what," David Koma says from his London studio. The meaning of that in the Koma universe is glamor — but how to marry a Koma piece's sexy, slinky appeal with the slouchy, ready-for-Zoom style of COVID-19 self-isolation "work from home fits?" Koma's approach is a clever combination of coziness and camp. 

Here the stretch corsets from his Fall 2020 show reappear. They are more like loungewear than babe-wear without boning, capable of being tucked into stretch patent leather bike shorts or a knit miniskirt in bright bubblegum pink. Long crystal mesh dresses are paired with knitwear or slouchy blazers, and even a neon-green metallic off-the-shoulder dress has a four-way stretch, making it the kind of Zoom party-to-couch-potato item a Koma vamp may be looking for during her homestay. Destined to arrive this fall and winter in stories, these clothes also have plenty of potential for going-out. Koma's women will cheerfully walk back into it in crystals, neons, and body-con dresses as the world open up. Also don't think of it as a return to normal — by fusing a more streamlined silhouette with new elements of comfort and stressing it, Koma shows he can adapt to a changing environment.

Immediately after graduation David Koma launched his eponymous ready-to-wear brand, and has been a London Fashion Week participant ever since. The brand has received numerous awards throughout the years including Fashion Forward in 2013, NEWGEN sponsorship in 2010, and Vauxhall Fashion Scout in 2009. David Koma has been shortlisted to the British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2018 and 2019. Koma held the position of creative director at Mugler from December 2013 till December 2017.

In these extenuating circumstances, writing about this collection via photos and remote interviews.

"Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Show" is an unprecedented look into the artistic world of the artist, storyteller and cultural icon Nick Cave. With more than 300 items gathered or created by Nick Cave, put together in large-scale installations over six decades of his artistic and private life, the exhibition is a work of art in itself. Created in Copenhagen for The Black Diamond of The Royal Danish Library, and with Cave as co-curator and co-designer, the show is an unorthodox combination of history, memoir, and literature, asking what forms our lives and makes us who we are.

The work of Nick Cave encompasses a wide variety of media and modes of expression, with narrative forms at the heart. The exhibition invites visitors to follow the development of Cave as an artist – and gain insight into the overarching themes of his work, his working methods and the many inspirational sources that underpin it all. There is an equally interesting artistic process behind each piece, not initially intended for public viewing; the show opens up the innermost sections of Cave's imaginative world and provides a tale of its own. It shows how the life, music, archives and fictions of Nick Cave continue to interweave, educate and inspire one another.

Once I was approached by the Royal Danish Library with the idea of a "Nick Cave Show" I was hesitant to participate. Obviously I'm not sentimental and I didn't have time for a ride down Memory Lane. But the library team is obviously serious people with great infectious enthusiasm and they pulled me in! We created an exhibition that in its audacious scope feels unparalleled, its feet rooted in the past while stretching into the unknown future. We were able to put together an extraordinarily detailed exhibition which commented on the fragile and vulnerable nature of identity. I am incredibly proud to be part of the special unorthodox show -a  fractured past we've called Stranger Than Kindness. 

Considering their tendency to creative collaboration and stylistic fascination with the antique and the mysterious, Gucci's sponsorship makes perfect sense. It seems that Nick Cave is exactly the sort of artist in whom creative director Alessandro Michele seems to find a kindred spirit. An analysis of the connection between designed object and constructed narrative informs the show, an idea that strongly parallels Gucci's approach to their own brand. For Gucci, it is a generous way to help the creative scene they love, while smartly giving their name an even wider scope.

We were thinking of organizing several exhibitions based on the lives of either Hedi Slimane, Thierry Mugler, Andre Courreges or Rick Owens. We will keep you updated, stay tuned!

In celebration of the life and work of the musician.

STRANGER THAN KINDNESS: GUCCI SPONSORS NICK CAVE EXHIBITION

Olympus today announced it sells its camera business to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). Olympus — once one of the biggest camera brands in the world — will now focus on supplying industrial and medical imaging equipment. Although the company said it had improved cost structure, worked on high-profit cameras and took steps to "cope with the extremely complicated digital camera market," it reported three consecutive fiscal years of operating losses. 

In 1936, Olympus made its first camera, the Semi-Olympus I. The costly accordion-line camera started off Olympus' camera business. In 1996, it launched the first digital camera, and established the interchangeable lens system Micro Four Thirds trademark. Smartphones have therefore eroded the need for mirrorless cameras. In 2011, Olympus, while being one of the largest companies by market share at the time, has also been involved in a $1.7 billion accounting scandal. 

"We're asking for your patience: we believe this is the right step to preserve the legacy of our brand, the products and the value of our technology," explained the company on Facebook. "Olympus sees this potential transfer as an opportunity to enable our imagery business to grow and delight both long-term and new photography enthusiasts." Meanwhile, JIP has revealed plans to streamline the business, as it has done with Sony's VAIO PC. This will make cameras "more lightweight, more powerful and more agile." 

The Olympus scandal has precipitated on 14 October 2011 when British-born Michael Woodford was suddenly ousted as Chief Executive Officer of Olympus Corporation. He had been president of the company for six months, and two weeks before he had been promoted to chief executive when, according to The Wall Street Journal, he exposed "one of the largest and longest-running loss-hiding arrangements in Japanese corporate history". The chairman of the board, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who appointed Woodford to these positions, again assumed the title of CEO and president. The incident raised questions about the tobashi schemes' resilience, and the quality of Japanese corporate governance. 

Apparently irregular acquisition payments had resulted in very significant asset impairment charges in the company's accounts, and this was exposed in an article in the Japanese financial magazine FACTA and came to the attention of Woodford. Japanese press speculated on Yakuza (Japanese organized crime syndicates) connection. Olympus defended themselves against charges of corruption.

*Fashion designers Thierry Mugler and Hedi Slimane, both also talented photographers, have been using Olympus equipment throughout their careers.

In 2011, Olympus attracted worldwide media scrutiny when it fired its CEO and the matter snowballed into a corporate corruption investigation with multiple arrests. It paid $646 million in kickback fines in 2016.

OLYMPUS SELLS ITS CAMERA BUSINESS AFTER 84 YEARS

Written and directed by Maurus Vom Scheidt, the short follows several characters as they experience moments of change or discovery, featuring pieces from the Fall 2020 collections. There is no dialogue, and all actions are internal: the storytelling is handled by bodies, eyes, faces, and colors. A young couple discovers their dream apartment together in one storyline; in another, an old couple, as they dance they fall in love all over again. Although it doesn't specifically invoke Pride, the sense of embracing love and freedom implicitly endorses the message of Pride. 

The film is produced elegantly. Its color scheme is beautifully cohesive: the grey of glass and concrete gives off rare red and ice blue flashes. Sensitive camerawork focuses on the movement and lighting emotional effects. A score fusing orchestral and electronic elements swells to suit the emotional beats. 

While the film feels successful, it suffers from its own ambition to a little bit. Mostly it feels just too long: it sees itself as offering an intimate glimpse of inner action, but it gives us too many different characters and storylines to form a meaningful connection with any one of them, especially when we don't really know what's going on. When the soundtrack swells, and each scene reaches a certain emotional resolution, we are left with only a vague sense of happiness and rest, though without knowing why. It's still a nice way to highlight the collection, however, as well as sending an uplifting message never to stop discovering love. 

The campaign was filmed earlier this year by Maurus vom Scheidt in Berlin in January – a director who is known primarily for his commercial work with foreign non-fashion brands. Balenciaga's Autumn Winter 2020 collection is a celebration of urban life. From conversations, activities, and objects that, wherever we are, can offer us feelings of comfort and trust. 

The film itself is a collection of heart-warming vignettes and an intense music buildup that conjures up the almost teary-like inner-stomach feelings of the Love Actually airport montages. If you know you know.

Rumors say that Mugler are going to release a short movie this year within their new season's campaign. Looking forward to watching it!

A new short film from Balenciaga, entitled ‘Live to Love,’ celebrates the energy and uncertainty of growing up.

BALENCIAGA'S LIVE TO LOVE FALL 2020 AD CAMPAIGN FILM

Following the cancellation of men's fashion week earlier this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, regular scheduling is set to start again in September. Paris Fashion Week will return in September for the Spring/Summer 2021 women's shows, according to a statement issued by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. 

No other details have been released re the schedule or its participants but the shows shall take place between September 28th and October 6th. The statement of the Federation goes on to add that the event "will comply with the recommendations of public authorities for its implementation." The physical fashion week will run alongside a specially created online platform. 

The Coronavirus crisis has led brands to search for new and innovative ways of showing their fashion weeks collections. London staged an online-only event earlier this month, while Burberry has announced their plans for a show in the "British outdoors" in September. Also in September both Pitti Uomo and Milan Fashion Week are set to go ahead. 

Although New York hosted the first Fashion week, the event itself derives from "salon shows" ("défilés de mode" in French, literally "fashion parades") in couture salons in Paris. 

A fashion week consists of events showing collections of multiple designers. Before this event has been recognized in New York City, fashion showings were held in Paris as early as the 1700s. These early collections have been shown on mannequins only to customers purchasing products. Showings began to change during the 1800s. Charles Frederick Worth, noted for haute couture, started to show many pieces together with a higher style. Jeanne Paquin was the first designer to publicize her shows, and after her events, Paul Poiret was the first to host parties. 

In the mid-1800s, an Austrian princess and wife to the Paris Ambassador, Mme Pauline von Metternich, saw one of Worth's sketches and employed him to make her a gown. Through his powerful clients he gained much recognition and in 1858 he opened his own haute couture house in Paris which would sell luxury fashion to women of the upper class.

In September, we will be publishing footage from Rick Owens, Mugler, Courreges Parisian shows to name but a few. Stay tuned!

The womenswear shows will run from September 28 to October 6.

Chanel S. A. is a privately held company owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer, grandsons of Coco Chanel's early business partner Pierre Wertheimer.

Throughout World War II, Coco Chanel shut down her boutique at Maison Chanel — leaving only jewelry and perfumery for sale — and moved to the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where she lived with her partner, Hans Günther von Dincklage, a Nazi intelligence agent. After invading France in June 1940, the Nazis set up the Parisian occupation headquarters at the Hôtel Meurice, on Rue de la Rivoli, next to the Louvre Museum, and just around the corner from the trendy Maison Chanel S.A., at 31 rue Cambon. 

Meanwhile, in mid-1940, considering the official anti-Semitism of the Nazi occupation, Pierre Wertheimer, an early business partner of Coco Chanel,  and his family had fled France to the U.S. Later, in 1941, Coco Chanel attempted to take charge of Parfums Chanel's company but was blocked by an administrative committee that disallowed her sole disposition of the perfumery. Having foreseen the Nazi occupation policy of seizure and expropriation of Jewish business and assets in France by Germany, the majority partner, Pierre Wertheimer, had earlier, in May 1940, appointed Felix Amiot, a French Christian industrialist, as the "Aryan" proxy whose legal control of the business of Parfums Chanel proved politically acceptable to the Nazis, who then allowed the perfume enterprise to continue operating their business. 

Occupied France was full of rumors that Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator; her clandestine identity was Abwehr's secret agent 7124, codenamed "Westminster." As such, by order of the Sicherheitsdienst's General Walter Schellenberg, Chanel was sent to London on a mission to get in touch with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and discuss the details of a separate peace" which was a plan proposed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, seeking to avoid surrendering Soviet Russians to the Red Army. 

By the conclusion of War, after France's Allied liberation, Chanel was arrested for collaborating with the Nazis. In September 1944, Chanel was summoned by the Free French Purge Committee, the épuration, for interrogation re her collaborationism, yet without documentary evidence or witnesses of her collaboration with the Nazis, and due to Churchill's secret intervention on her behalf, the épuration released Coco Chanel from arrest as a traitor to France. After being liberated by Churchill's political grace, the severity of Chanel's Nazi collaboration allegations made it difficult for her to live in France; so Coco Chanel and her German husband, Hans Günther von Dincklage, went to Switzerland for eight years in exile. 

In the post-war period, during the Swiss exile of Coco Chanel from France, Pierre Wertheimer returned to Paris and regained formal administrative control over the business holdings of his family — including control over Parfums Chanel, the perfumery established with his venture capital, and successful because of the name of Chanel. 

In Switzerland, the news aroused Coco Chanel's anger at having been exploited by her business partner, for only ten percent of the money. So, she set up a Swiss parfumerie to manufacture and sell her "Chanel perfumes." In addition, Wertheimer, Parfums Chanel's majority capital stock owner, saw his business interests threatened, and infringe on his commercial rights because he had no legally exclusive rights to the name of Chanel. Nevertheless, Wertheimer avoided a lawsuit against Coco Chanel for trademark infringement, lest it harms the business image and the creative integrity of his Chanel-brand perfumery. 

Wisely, Pierre Wertheimer settled his business- and commercial-rights quarrel with Chanel and, in May 1947, they renegotiated the 1924 contract establishing Parfums Chanel — she was paid $400,000 in cash (wartime profits from the No. 5 de Chanel perfume sales); assigned a 2.0 percent running royalty from the No. 5 perfumery sales; assigned limited commercial rights to sell her Chanel perfumes in Switzerland and granted a monthly regular fixed sum that paid all of her expenses. Gabrielle Chanel closed her Swiss perfumery business in exchange and sold to Parfums Chanel the full rights to the name "Coco Chanel."

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In her youth, Gabrielle Chanel gained the nickname Coco from her time as a chanteuse.

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