the big names of the season

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It’s been a shaky few months in the world of luxury, with several brands talking of a slowdown and others short of leadership. As I write, Chanel is still yet to announce a successor to Virginie Viard, who left earlier this summer, and Givenchy was without a designer for many months before Sarah Burton was appointed creative director this week.  

Nevertheless, the season changes and with it new names and faces. Who is setting pulses racing now? I knew as soon as I saw Chemena Kamali’s debut collection for Maison Chloé in February that a shift in the sensibility was due. After years of stealth wealth and quiet luxury, Kamali delivered a knockout show of boho boots, clogs, capes and pretty dresses, and since then we’ve seen a wave of ruffles, tulle and chiffon on everyone from Suki Waterhouse and Sienna Miller to Daisy Edgar-Jones. (Kamali also dressed Kamala Harris for her presidential nomination in two fine trouser suits that prove that boho chicks don’t always wear a gown.)

It seemed appropriate, therefore, that we should put a Chloé look from our fashion shoot on this cover. I think it captures the current mood. It’s playful, it’s powerful, it has a whiff of ’70s nostalgia. Most importantly, it’s full of joy.

Other designers have also risen to prominence this season: Duran Lantink, for example, has really been blowing up. Based in Amsterdam, the Dutch designer is pushing the silhouette in unexpected directions: Jessica Beresford meets the man who says inflation will take off. Then, in Milan, she profiles another trio of designers who are recharging the Italian fashion capital. I have been obsessed by what Simone Bellotti is doing at Bally since his first collection: the former Gucci designer is creating a classic wardrobe blending his Italian background with the codes of Swiss design. Jessica talked to Bellotti, Matteo Tamburini at Tod’s and Adrian Appiolaza at Moschino about their visions for each label and what they want to bring to the city’s fashion scene.

And then there are the fashion legends bookending this issue: the stylist Grace Coddington and designer Anna Sui. Both are women who have had huge influence for many decades. Both have magnificent taste and epic style. 

Stephen Jones is marking his 44th year in millinery, which is being fêted by a huge retrospective at the Palais Galliera in Paris. Jones is a fixed point on the fashion calendar – some would say an institution – having collaborated on all of John Galliano’s creations, and with all other subsequent creative directors at Dior. He also works with Schiaparelli, Rei Kawakubo, Matty Bovan and his own private clients (Princess Diana wore his berets). He sees hats as a punk element in fashion – it’s its “extrait de parfum”, he says. Harriet Quick meets him at his London studio, within the boutique where he has worked since 1995. His extraordinary knowledge, passion and saucy humour make him a wonderful companion, and it’s great to see a real artist get the recognition he deserves.

As to what trends you should embrace this autumn, I say try doctor’s overalls, nurse’s hats and khaki green. Hospital scrubs (or some version of them) were much in evidence at Miu Miu, a medical preoccupation to which Miuccia Prada has returned frequently over the years. We asked Kin Woo, a style writer and trained physician, why we’ve all gone Grey’s Anatomy and his diagnosis is quite fun. Khaki, meanwhile, is this season’s new neutral – a base colour that popped up everywhere from Burberry to Saint Laurent. Too practical? Then why not try full 2000s bows and sequins: we’ve got a first preview of Nicky Hilton Rothschild’s eveningwear… 

@jellison22

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