Fashion month, what feels like the longest month of the year, has reached its end. On today’s episode, Chioma and Chloe are joined by friends of the pod, Vogue Runway Director Nicole Phelps and Vogue Fashion News Director Mark Holgate, to unpack the best moments of the past few weeks. Paris Fashion Week just wrapped, and the Vogue team was itching to get into it. (Yes, there was apparently a bed bug infestation plaguing the City of Light, but nevertheless, the shows went on.)
Fresh off the tarmac, Nicole was our resident expert on all things Paris. Maison Margiela, with its scrap clothing pieced into beautiful silhouettes, was a season highlight for her, as was the larger-than-life Undercover collection, which made headlines with its terrarium dresses (with live plants and insects in the garments). Don’t worry—no butterflies were harmed. Mark was a fan of the pairing of a sparkly cocktail dress with a T-shirt at Miu Miu, and of the ephemeral Prada collection, with all its flowing chiffon. And another friend of the podcast, Usher, was in the front row at Marni. He was performing in Paris and having a great time—but when isn’t he?
The editors also shed a collective tear (as did Naomi Campbell) over the final Alexander McQueen collection from longtime creative director Sarah Burton. The mention of Burton’s departure led to a discussion about the much-needed appointment of women and people of color as creative directors at legacy fashion houses. They also discussed the continuing dearth of size diversity on the runways. Designer Karoline Vitto, who worked closely with stylist Katie Grand, pleasantly diverged from the straight-size hegemony in her show, which strove to center models who aren’t usually on the runway with exciting cutout designs. Now we rest, and hope that our team, and the rest of the fashion world, stays bed bug-free!