British Vogue February 2022

It has always held true… even in the future-shaping world of fashion, that genuine change does not happen overnight. In an industry that is forever looking forward, where society’s evolutions are shaped and charted in styles both nuanced and grand-scale, it is not always the case that proclamation equals transformation. So, as we move into a new year in earnest, I want to take a moment to reflect – and happily so – on the fact that somewhere, deep in its core, over the course of a relatively few short years, fashion has indeed changed. Fashion Now: that’s what this month’s two covers proclaim. Their stars? Models Adut Akech, Anok Yai, Majesty Amare, Amar Akway, Janet Jumbo, Maty Fall, Nyagua Ruea, Abény Nhial and Akon Changkou: a powerful cohort of reigning…

MERT ALAS & MARCUS PIGGOTT; HEATHER GLAZZARD; NADINE IJEWERE; RAFAEL PAVAROTTI; RYAN PFLUGER; MATTHIEU SALVAING: GETTY IMAGES…

I’ve been on this focus, in terms of my art and creativity, of getting adults to behave like children again. That they go back into this sense of wonderment – they start to stop using their mind, and they start using their imagination.” Shortly before 6pm on Tuesday 30 November 2021, Virgil Abloh’s voice came over the PA. Approximately 1,500 of us had, at last, settled into our seats, on the floating runway at the Miami Marine Stadium, to the haunting opening notes of Mansur Brown’s “Want You”. (According to chatter backstage, the organisers at Louis Vuitton had been expecting only 600 guests, mostly local clients, to celebrate the opening of a new Louis Vuitton men’s store, for what was essentially a high-end trunk show, entitled “7.2”, which coincided with the…

“Be it earrings, necklaces or belts, go bold and layer up for a modern-day Dynasty fantasy”NAOMI SMART, COMMERCE DIRECTOR HAIR: SYD HAYES. MAKE-UP: HIROMI UEDA. NAILS: CHARLY AVENELL. DIGITAL ARTWORK: IMGN STUDIO. MODELS: DORRIT LI, RAYNARA NEGRINE, LAURA REYES. SOCIAL DISTANCING RULES WERE FOLLOWED THROUGHOUT THIS PHOTOSHOOT…

If there was one star shoe that dominated spring/summer ’22 conversations (and Instagram feeds), it was Loewe’s cracked-egg stiletto. The house had other heels, too: lifelike renditions of a pot of red nail varnish, a bar of soap, a candy-striped birthday-cake candle, and an upside-down rose. Buyers spent hours locked in debate over which to order. The smart ones took the lot. Pop art references were ubiquitous in the shows this season. Daniel Roseberry, artistic director of Schiaparelli – a Parisian maison renowned for its surrealistic designs – consistently nods to the art world with his collections, particularly by exaggerating and embellishing anatomical placements. “In fashion and art, the body, specifically treated within the context of self-portraiture, has always fascinated,” explains the American designer. “In a time when we are redefining…