Style findings: January dispatches from the Wallpaper* fashion team

Mosaic magic
17 January

Last November, Christie’s London’s Art Adorned exhibition featured Old Masters paintings presented alongside exquisite high jewellery pieces by Dolce & Gabbana. Art has long inspired the Italian label, be it Renaissance or gilded Baroque, and now the craft of mosaic takes centre stage in its newly renovated Faubourg St. Honoré men’s and women’s boutique in Paris. Overseen by long time architectural collaborator Carbondale studio, who installed a digital fresco in Gabbana’s Rome boutique last summer, the majestic Rosa Libeccio marble and velvet-clad space boasts two seven-meter-high glass and enamel mosaics behind its staircases. In the women’s space, Joséphine de Beauharnais has been depicted in tiles, while over in the men’s Napoleon Bonaparte stares masterfully in mosaic across his retail domain. The designs are based on two early nineteenth century portraits by the Italian-French painter Baron François Gérard. A state of the art retail space indeed.

Writer: Laura Hawkins

Psychedelic style
15 January

Last September, a kaleidoscopic strip of lightbulbs illuminated not only the dazzling, flower-power-inspired womenswear looks on the S/S 2020 Paco Rabanne runway in Paris, but they also shone a multihued spotlight on the label’s debut menswear offering. This Woodstock-worthy collection is not for the faint fashion hearted, featuring chainmail heart logo t-shirts, skinny striped sweaters, daisy print polo necks and rock-and-roll centric leather jackets. Should you wish to be the first to get your hands on Rabanne’s psychedlic style, we suggest you head over to Matchesfashion, where the innovative retailer has first dibs on the offering. It’s Summer of Love style for the new decade.

Writer: Laura Hawkins

Full plate
13 January

Upcycling aficianado Emily Bode has a strong emotive affiliation with Cape Cod. For her A/W 2017 collection, the NYC-based  menswear designer was inspired by the summers her mother spent there as a child, and the Cape Cod home her family had to give up after her father died. The domestic sphere bears a strong link with Bode’s aesthetic, which incorporates upcycled fabrics including kaleidoscopic vintage quilts. Now, Bode has demonstrated that home is truly where the heart is with its debut range of ceramic plates, stocked exclusively on Mr Porter. The porcelain pieces boast pen and ink illustrations of serene Cape Cod-inspired fishing trips, and have been created in collaboration with 2017-founded Botticelli Ceramics. They’re certainly styles to write home about. 

Writer: Laura Hawkins

The power of two
10 January

At A.P.C’s S/S 2020 women’s show in Paris last September, founder Jean Touitou set up an immersive APC summer fair, celebrating its upcoming collaborative projects. Partnership lies at the heart of the label, which in recent months has seen pair ups with stylist Suzanne Koller and creative collection Brain Dead. Today sees the launch of APC’s fifth collaboration with workwear aficianados Carhartt WIP, on a series of reinterpreted classics (like a reworked cotton Carhartt Michigan Chore Coat), denim, t-shirts and tote bags which combine both label’s logos. In celebration of the launch, photographer Matteo Montanari has lensed A.P.C and Carhartt WIP staff sporting the creations, and we suggest you do the same sharpish.

Writer: Laura Hawkins

Strong bond
9 January

Whether we need a new tote to zhoosh up our 2020 travel, or a carry-all for our everyday commute – Givenchy has provided us with a sublime solution. ‘The Bond’ is the bag for any occasion, and we believe that it is an ideal contender in our search for a closet staple worthy of the new decade. With straps that work whether we favour our shoulders or hands and clever clasps which unfasten to let the bag lie entirely flat ­– perfect for a bursting suitcase – we deem the Bond to be the ultimate companion as we welcome the New Year. We particularly enjoy the black leather iteration with the barely-there logo embossed in graphic stripes.

Writer: Josefin Forsberg

Artistic license
8 January

Since the inception of Dior’s Dior Lady Art project, a host of prolific creatives have been enlisted to reimagine the Cannange stitching and sleek top handles of the Parisian maison’s signature bag, first immortalised by Princess Diana in 1995. The fourth iteration of the project also sees an impressive artistic roster, including Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno and Indian-born London-based painter Raqib Shaw. But it’s the Lady Dior design of French London-based artist Marguerite Humeau which has given us a real oomph of artistic inspiration. ‘I wanted to add movement to the original shape,’ Humeau says of her wildly undulating design, imagined in oddly futuristic pearly shades of white. ‘We took the bag and imagined putting it in a wind tunnel, or a room used in a the aeronautical industry to simulate wind and test resistance.’ The artist also added a hidden surprise to her creation. ‘I decide not to use the classic Lady Dior charms as objects’ she adds. ‘I hid the Dior letters in the folds of the bag.’ We suggest you seek them out asap.

Writer: Laura Hawkins

Good evening
7 January

Tomorrow evening, Luke and Lucie Meier, the husband-and-wife co-creative directors of Jil Sander, present the brand’s A/W 2020 menswear show at Pitti Uomo in Florence, the city where they met as students in 2001. Since joining the label in Spring 2017, the Meiers have cultivated their take on the Germany-founded brand, one rooted in artisanal craftmanship, materiality and the push and pull of juxtaposing aesthetics. They are also using Sander’s Via Sant’Andrea store in Milan as a physical space to explore their inspirations, through a series of rotating exhibitions and installations, which debuted last autumn with a dedication to denim. Today sees a new nightfall-focused makeover, with ‘Evening’ an installation of pieces from Sander’s Resort 2020 with a sun down sophistication. In a minimalist set up, the styles have been accentuated with green velvet soft furnishings and black wood and crystal fixtures. Now we’re even more excited about tomorrow evening’s show.

Writer: Laura Hawkins

Cold spot
6 January

Back in 2018, we awarded Woolrich’s Extreme Weather Experience Room at its Milan’s Corso Venezia flasgship the Best Big Chill gong in our Wallpaper* Design Awards. The immersive space allowed customers to experience extreme glacial temperatures and test out protective Woolrich parkas at the same time. Now, New York residents can also feel the freeze, as Woolrich has unveiled its first Snow Experience Room in the United States at its Manhattan flagship – a space developed with Techno Alpin – which allows outdoors-obsessed customers to experience blizzards and temperatures plummeting to -20° celsius. We can’t think of a cooler way to chill out.

Writer: Laura Hawkins