Mood board: In today’s frenzied fashion landscape, where images are consumed with incredible velocity on Instagram, designers are stepping back to refocus and reassess their output. In London, JW Anderson was fascinated by ways of perceiving, and how we focus on silhouettes and details. For spring, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli offered a ‘study on withdrawing,’ taking everyday silhouettes, like the shirt, pencil skirt and the Bermuda short, and imbuing them with the extravagant Couture sensibility which he is renowned for. Ensuring the ‘ordinary becomes extraordinary,’ the designer took the form of the white shirt dress for the show’s opening looks, reinterpreting it with ballooning bell sleeves, as a mini dress swathed in ostrich feathers, with a ruffled bib or oversized starchy bow. Elsewhere, his mastery in colour came in ruffled gowns in neon green silk georgette and fuchsia taffeta, and tropical landscape scenes, inspired by Fauvist forms, embroidered onto kaftan shapes and column dresses.
Best in show: The show’s opening white series had a particularly pared-back ethereality, both splendid yet simplistic in its construction. Elsewhere, a hot pink short suit had all the slouch of spring’s most popular tailoring silhouette, and a Lacroix luxuriousness when paired with a transparent blouse with a trailing pussy bow collar.
Finishing touches: There was an extravagant elegance in the show’s accompanying catwalk jewellery, which included bauble like golden cuffs and huge chandelier earrings dangling with encrusted flowers and colourful monkeys.
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The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San FranciscoThe artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
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Spend the night at architect Geoffrey Bawa’s former home in ColomboThe godfather of Tropical Modernism’s Number 11 residence now features a brand new guest suite furnished with the Sri Lankan architect’s very own curios
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London’s best pizza restaurant gets a new home in MayfairSecure a slice of New York-style pizza in central London as Crisp Pizza teams up with the Devonshire pub to set up shop in the relaunched The Marlborough
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Ten boat shoes that put a playful twist on the footwear classicFrom Miu Miu’s viral riff on the nautical staple to those that are studded, slip-on, square-toed or two-tone, the Wallpaper* team select the best boat shoes of the season – a style set to be ubiquitous over the coming months
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Glenn Martens’ thrilling Maison Margiela debut was a balancing act between past, present and futureThe Belgian designer made his debut for the house last night with a collection that looked towards medieval decoration for a new expression of opulence
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Art meets perfume in cross-disciplinary fragrance series Nez 1+1Talents from film and fragrance come together to create Ansongo, the latest scent resulting from a creative matchmaking project by perfume revue Nez
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Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
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The collections you might have missed this S/S 2026 menswear seasonBetween the headliners in Paris, Milan and Florence, a few off-schedule displays are deserving of honourable mention – from Martine Rose’s sexually-charged portrait of Kensington Market to Sander Lak’s appointment-only namesake debut
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‘They gave me carte blanche to do what I want’: Paul Kooiker photographs the students of Gerrit Rietveld Academie for Acne StudiosHeralding the launch of a new permanent gallery from fashion label Acne Studios, the celebrated Dutch photographer’s new body of work praises the bravery of ‘people who choose to go to an art school at a time like this’
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‘I’m surprised that I got this far’: Rick Owens on his bombastic Paris retrospective, ‘Temple of Love’The Dark Prince of Fashion sits down with Wallpaper* to discuss legacy, love, and growing old in Paris as a display at the Palais Galliera tells the story of his subversive career
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The standout shows of Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026: Hermès to Craig GreenWallpaper* picks the very best of Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2026, from Véronique Nichanian’s portrait of summer in the city for Hermès to Craig Green’s return to the Paris runway
