Fashion in August 2020 in the time of COVID-19 FBS C19 Issue 14

Fashion in August 2020 in the time of COVID-19
FBS C19 Issue 14

Usually at this time of year, much of the fashion world is on holiday. France shuts down
until the “rentree” in early September, education is taking its holidays and people are
heading abroad from wherever to wherever. Not this year. Holidays for many people
are too worrying, or are only to be achieved with too many worries. Plans for the
autumn and winter seem to be endlessly changing and the COVID 19 rules and
lockdowns across the world are not disappearing.

Online proposals take time to evaluate and elucidate, this is new territory for many. Is
an online boost required? What happens about buyers? How many pieces are needed
in the collection? Endless questions for the start of the season, especially for those in
the “designer” category but not at the topmost “luxury” section. It’s about those people
with good businesses, established like, for example, Michel Klein or the smaller
newcomers. How do you communicate, what will your stockists wish to know and see,
how many of them will be travelling? Endless questions which since the fashion weeks
are, as I write this, only 40 days away from the start, is urgent.

The big questions are can decisions be made now? The answer is that they have to be,
and to a degree made using the worst-case scenarios, not the best. When we finished
last season in Paris, in the first week of March, who knew that we would face a fashion
season unlike any other?

Conjecture, second guessing and optimistic “bury your head in the sand” “it’s all going
to be fine”, is useless right now. Major decisions are outside our control, wishing won’t
make it all change and hard work isn’t the only answer. Ideas, communication,
thoughtfulness, compassion, and lightness of touch seem to be key creative elements
to use, implement and offer. Too escapist or too dumbed down or in fact too anything
seems wrong; direct and honest, clear and precise, offer a relief from uncertainty and
doubt. It’s time to acknowledge that this season the four cities and the next seasons
style statements will be unlike any previous times. So, let’s think about things carefully;
look and learn, listen and discuss, watch and wait, consider and create.

One thing is certain, if things are problematic, the more we know about what everyone
else is doing, the better. Information and communication are essential.

One final word for this issue in week fourteen; collaborate. Online connections, asking
for help, using others skills and combining talents can be done across a great many
channels. Just because you’re not all in the same studio isn’t a bar to collaboration.
You may be alone, but, in truth, as far as creativity and technical solutions are
concerned you’re far from isolated, and everyone is looking for new opportunities.

Valentino

It used to be that mystery was the key to so much in fashion. Today the mechanics of
the team, what does a stylist actually do, online instructions how to be a “professional”
make-up artist, and so on, are all the rage. The truth is it takes training and years of
experience and talent, and luck. To sustain a career in fashion it’s a circus of season
after season, after season. Pier Paolo Piccioli at Valentino was originally behind the
scenes, Nick Knight wasn’t always a star, so it’s great to see work by these talents and
learn a little. It’s not all done with mirrors, it’s done with expertise and knowledge.

We love a little inside peak, or the background story, the swift glimpse behind the
curtain of the Wizard of Oz.

Valentino Haute Couture FW 2021 | Backstage

https://youtu.be/IG426Dupwac

Beyoncé

If this seems like a lot of Beyoncé, it’s simply because it’s important in its cultural
attitudes. Check out responses online, check out why it’s happened, and above all
check out who Beyoncé works with. Fashion loves her and she loves it right back. If I
personally question how much of this is fashion, and how much costume that’s my
question. It’s important to follow up on all the people who’ve made the pieces, you
then get a much clearer picture of their abilities. It’s certainly true that in the time of
Black Lives Matter this work appears at an opportune moment. It’s already being
widely redistributed and discussed, your job is to watch and discuss and decide what
you think, but in the end …
There truly is only one thing to say about all these films - enjoy.

BLACK IS KING, a film by Beyoncé | Official Trailer | Disney+

https://youtu.be/69MO7yU0d70

Beyoncé, Shatta Wale, Major Lazer – ALREADY (Official Video)

https://youtu.be/agCgvFTJeRs

Beyoncé - MY POWER (Official Video)

https://youtu.be/LoFGiccb0Ks

Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Salatiel - WATER (Official Video)

https://youtu.be/LBgE9AqrKwA

Beyoncé - Brown skin girl official video HD quality

https://youtu.be/WXWpg39cZS4

Beyoncé - FIND YOUR WAY BACK (Official Video)

https://youtu.be/tJeIZ_5KN5A

Beyoncé - Spirit official video from black is king HD version

https://youtu.be/qpjblUZcxYE

https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/beyonce-black-is-king-fashion-
message#intcid=recommendations_vogue-bottom-recirc_ecdfb26d-de2b-4c9f-b604-
c926163e2a7d_text2vec1-mab

https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/beyonce-black-is-king-wardrobe-behind-the-
scenes-alon-livne

https://www.alonlivne.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/arts/music/beyonce-black-is-king.html

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/g33489316/beyonce-black-is-king-
celebrity-cameos/

DISCOVER SARAH DIOUF AND WHY BEYONCE LOVES HER FASHION! by Loic
Prigent

https://youtu.be/gxjGvKOouJ0

KIDILL

How designers communicate, and when, is changing rapidly. This popped up from the
PR after many other collections, but still grabbed my attention.it led to my thinking of
the question – “At the time of COVID 19, do seasons and times count in the same
way?” Isn’t popping news across to your audience about when it feels right, the
instinct of a designer? Azzedine Alaia always produced collections when he was ready,
and presented them when he felt the time was right. Once considered eccentric, or a
power play this wasn’t anything special. Balenciaga always showed after all the other
collections by two weeks, and persuaded Givenchy to do the same. This then of
course guaranteed them exclusive coverage. Maybe not getting mixed up in the frantic
schedule, or or maybe just working the way it suits each designer best, is modern and
fresh. Seasons, fashion weeks, and a set routine calendar have been with us so long,
perhaps questioning the way we work is overdue.

KIDILL 2021 Spring Summer Collection “IDOL”

https://youtu.be/iyWsNlGUcu0

Prada

Prada never ceases to surprise, never ceases to show intelligence, and thought.
Partnering up with Sotheby’s for a special auction makes total sense, and its audiences
will match perfectly as well. Miuccia Prada has kept a huge archive, she once explained
that patterns are reused, new fabrics make them unrecognisable, except to the Prada
connoisseur. This auction will certainly attract the Prada cognoscenti. Collectibles and
the timeless is actually at the heart of Prada, the heritage of the leather goods and the
modern heritage of the black nylon is a brilliant foundation on which the house and the
name is built.

Wikipedia

“She released her first set of backpacks and totes in 1979. They were made out of a
tough military spec black nylon that her grandfather had used as coverings for steamer
trunks. Initial success was not instant, as they were hard to sell due to the lack of
advertising and high prices, but the lines would go on to become her first commercial
hit.”

Prada – Tools of Memory/Sotheby’s

https://www.prada.com/us/en/pradasphere/campaigns/2020/fw-woman-man.html

WEHVE

Ethical and sustainable is well matched to shopping in the time of COVID 19. We may
not wear the pieces we buy immediately, we are uncertain about when we will be
showing off our new purchases. So, ethical and sustainable pieces fulfil several
functions during these times. Below is the express release for one such brand.

“Hello

I am happy to share with you the release on the new sustainable and circular fashion
design projects of Belgian label WEHVE, designer and producer of merino wraps,
shawls and ponchos, Made in Uruguay. www.wehve.com

Founded by Belgian based Gesine Holschuh in 2014, the word WEHVE comes from
the process of weaving on manual looms, a traditional skill handed down since the
dawn of time in South America.

And WEVHE is all about that, with the commitment not only to sustainability but also to
the circular economy. Wehve only produces what is ordered, limiting the unsold stock
at the source. Wehve will be taking pieces from its previous collections which belong to
clients in exchange of 100€ voucher, a symbolic value. The pieces will be then
reworked, brought together, embroidered as unique pieces and sold through its
website.

Wehve is sold in 3 continents, in over 60 carefully curated boutiques in Paris, London,
Como, Santa Fé and many more. We remain available if your editorial schedule wants
to talk about green subjects and if your fashion stories or news request this kind of
product.

Warm regards, Cristina Malgara”

Jar – the magician.

Jewellery at the highest luxury level can be a bit of a mystery, technicalities abound, but
when you see the Jewels by Jar it’s easy to understand the beauty and the techniques
and the sheer desirability of the pieces. I’ve met this man who is meant to be so
difficult, and he’s also funny and sincere, and above all, genius. He’s allowed to be a
little eccentric.

https://www.christies.com/features/A-collectors-guide-to-jewellery-by-JAR-10451-
1.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Arthur_Rosenthal

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/jewels-by-jar

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/arts/design/jewels-by-jar-joel-arthur-rosenthal-at-the-
met-museum.html

Bottega Veneta

If the act of communication is more and more essential to a brand then Daniel Lee at
Bottega Veneta has succeeded perfectly. This film speaks to the viewer and speaks
about fashion in terms the client/customer/consumer can listen to and respond to. This
isn’t about fashion it’s about people, and it’s about clothes. Fashion is deeply
embedded in the DNA of both the house and the designer so it can speak subliminally
through the men who are talking to you through the film.

https://www.bottegaveneta.com/es/men_film_en_section

Gucci

After the show comes the advertising. See various online observations plus the film
itself below.

“Gucci The Ritual, Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2020 2021 campaign
Andrea Tuzio · 2 months ago · Style
“Power to the imagination” said Herbert Marcuse, and imagination is the starting point
for Gucci‘s new FW20 campaign. A turnaround in the status quo, Alessandro Michele –
the brand’s Creative Director – overturned the canons of communication with Gucci’s
first DIY campaign.

“I have decided to have the clothes travelled to the houses of the girls and boys who
usually populate my countryside. I imagined that the magic and the dream with which
they are imbued, could burst into the world and be observed as they come to life, as
they take possession of new spaces and take root within new existences. My creative
act took shape in the careful construction of an experiment of magical neo-realism,
indeterminate in its results. This time there was no script to follow. Rather the need to
construct the conditions of a detonation: the desire to inject fuel capable of igniting a
wonderfully eccentric human potential”.

Alessandro Michele
All the Gucci models involved made the campaign photos, each one at home, through
self-timer, simple and direct, without all the support that is usually an integral part of the
realization of an advertising campaign (photographers, sets, hair stylist, make-up artist,
etc.)”

“By Gabrielle Leung
Gucci’s new advertising campaign for the Fall/Winter 2020 season explores the idea of
looking at things from a different point of view. Titled “The Ritual,” the images capture
the daily lives of Gucci models in the comfort of their own homes. Recorded by the
models themselves, the intimate images and video clips reflect an eclectic cast of
characters, providing a deeply personal, honest and candid series of self-portraits.

The Gucci models are shown knitting, gardening, cleaning, jumping off a bed or
skateboarding indoors. These hyper-real images show inhabitants who are free to have

fun and experiment using their imagination, becoming their own photographers,
storytellers, producers and scenographers. The playful campaign film, which evokes a
strong sense of freedom and joy, is set to the song “Alright” by Supergrass. Although
the images were captured on an array of tools, ranging from disposable cameras to
camera phones, the entire visual experiment exudes an emotional dreamlike quality.

“I decided to let the clothes travel towards the houses of the cast of models – the
characters that have embodied my stories for years; individuals I chose precisely, over
time, for their uniqueness that usually brings my campaigns to life,” Creative Director
Alessandro Michele explained. “I asked them to represent the idea they have of
themselves, to go public with it, shaping the poetry that accompanies them. I
encouraged them to play, improvising with their life.”

Gucci The Ritual: The Fall Winter 2020 Campaign

https://youtu.be/LTn6qMufMu0

Gossip

The gossip this week is that we have been feeding you a message every week, which
we sometimes mention, and which is sometimes subliminal. We continue by stealth to
bring you, People in fashion, fashion which influences the Planet, fashion businesses
who operate with a Purpose, and we know that only fashion which shows a + Profit
can function. These are the key objectives within FBS at LCF and we have never lost
sight of them in the COVID 19 reports. “the schools adopted themes of People, Planet,
Purpose + Profit”. Look back at every report and every entry ticks at least one element
on our list.