Loose Threads
I wrote for the New York Times about the “triumph of tacky,” pegged to the Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sánchez wedding taking place in Venice. Read it here with a gift link.
While we’re at it, this is her wedding dress:(She’s wiped her Instagram feed and added “bezos” to her handle. Interesting?)
I have not fully digested this yet, but Vogue’s digital cover story of the wedding is live.
With this week’s Anna Wintour news, this was such a big and exciting week for fashion! If you’re not a paid subscriber, you can sign up here for complete access to today’s review and all Anna succession coverage. I’ll have an issue devoted to it next week.
The And Just Like That recap has been delayed to accommodate all the breaking news.
Review: Jonathan Anderson's Dior Debut
If the recent images of Ryan Murphy’s Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy costumes reminded us of anything, it’s that insouciance — that indescribable “It” factor she was known for — is dead.
Instead of casual, thrown-together cool, fashion has become a parade of celebrities wearing triumphantly tacky animal prints and Dolce dresses on a Venetian canal to attend a billionaire’s second wedding; statement over-the-knee Saint Laurent boots for men; and stars on the red carpet wearing clothes anyone can find the credits for with a quick Google. There’s not much mystery to how people in the public eye put themselves together anymore, the art of creating a look farmed out to a paid army of talent who select someone’s clothes and accessories, and groom them just so, algorithms likely top-of-mind.
Can Dior’s new creative director Jonathan Anderson, the first to oversee men’s and women’s since Christian Dior himself, bring a little of that thrown-together cool back?
His debut collection for Dior Men’s in Paris Friday morning suggested as much. Analog-era chic might not be possible to achieve in a media landscape where designers have to chase online impressions, brand overlords want “house codes” all over the products, and The Row charges $750 for plain rubber flip-flops. But Anderson has a long resumé, including a decade at Loewe where he proved he can design things that sell, the goodwill of the fashion industry at his back, and a hefty marketing budget from Dior, all of which might afford him the opportunity to do things differently from others. Which is to say, he doesn’t need to cast Kylie Jenner and stage a show at Disney World to get anyone to give a damn.
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