The sizable roster of talent set to accept honors at the 2025 SCADSavannah Film Festival, the nation’s largest university-run film festival, just got even longer. Just days after announcing 10 prominent honorees, the fest is set to announce seven more, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Also headed to Georgia: Park Chan-wook (writer/director of Neon’s No Other Choice) for the International Auteur Award; Brendan Fraser (star of Searchlight’s Rental Family) for the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award; Spike Lee (writer/director of A24’s Highest 2 Lowest) for the Legend of Cinema Award; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (star of Neon’s Sentimental Value; Amanda Seyfried (star of Searchlight’s The Testament of Ann Lee); Kristen Stewart (director/producer of The Forge’s The Chronology of Water); and Sydney Sweeney (star/producer of Black Bear’s Christy).
They join previously announced honorees Will Arnett (writer/star of Searchlight’s Is This Thing On?) for the Luminary Award; Hannah Beachler (production designer of Warners’ Sinners); Craig Brewer (writer/director of Focus’ Song Sung Blue); Rose Byrne (star of A24’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) for the Luminary Award; Miles Caton (star of Warners’ Sinners) for the Rising Star Award; Jon M. Chu (director of Universal’s Wicked); Zoey Deutch (star of Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague) for the Breakthrough Performance Award; Joel Edgerton (star of Netflix’s Train Dreams) for the Vanguard Award; Rian Johnson (writer/director of Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery); Jennifer Lopez (star of Roadside’s Kiss of the Spider Woman); Mark Hamill (star of Neon’s The Life of Chuck) for the Lifetime Achievement Award; Oscar Isaac (star of Netflix’s Frankenstein) for the Icon Award; Dylan O’Brien (star of Roadside’s Twinless) for the Lumiere Award; Benny Safdie (writer/director of A24’s The Smashing Machine) for the Maverick Director Award; Miles Teller (star of A24’s Eternity); and Tessa Thompson (star/producer of Amazon/MGM’s Hedda) for the Distinguished Performance Award.
“I’m overjoyed with the lineup of remarkable honorees joining us this year,” Christina Routhier, the fest’s executive director, said in a statement. “Their contributions to the industry are truly inspiring, and I’m especially excited for the opportunities our students and audiences will have to learn from them, which is what make the SCAD Savannah Film Festival such a singular and transformative experience.”
At this year’s edition of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which will run Oct. 25-Nov. 1, the honorees will participate in award presentations, moderated conversations and master classes with SCAD students.
Art Basel Paris 2024 on opening day. Courtesy of Art Basel
The majestic Grand Palais quickly filled with a steady stream of art lovers there for Art Basel Paris’ VIP preview day. The atmosphere was positive and the mood upbeat, spurring healthy sales and lively negotiations from the early hours. Collectors and professionals from across the globe descended on the preview, with many traveling from the Americas and Asia. Among the notable attendees were Chloe Sevigny, Natalie Portman, Owen Wilson, Princess Maria-Anunciata von Liechtenstein, Queen Rania of Jordan, Raf Simons, Sheikha Mayassa, Sheikha Nawar Al Qassimi, Philip Tinari, Massimiliano Gioni, Adrian Cheng, George Economou, Maya Hoffmann and Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, to name a few.
Pace Gallery’s booth “Mystic Sugar” curated by Paulina Olowska at Art Basel Paris. Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
At the entrance, Gladstone’s booth greeted fairgoers with a monumental Dubuffet hanging on the wall, juxtaposed with a sculpture by Sarah Lucas and drawings by Marisa Merz, an homage to the Arte Povera artists celebrated in the show at La Bourse—Pinault Collection. Pace Gallery stood out with “Mystical Sugar,” curated by Paulina Olowska, featuring an extensive work that dominated the booth alongside pieces by Louise Nevelson, Kiki Smith and Lucas Samaras. In the first few hours, all four of Olowska’s paintings sold, as did several sculptures by Nevelson and Smith. In the backroom, Lee Ufan’s Response from 2024 led sales, complementing works by Ufan, Agnes Pelton, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini and Alexander Calder.
Next door, Blum & Poe presented a solo booth of Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, which sold out by the afternoon, with prices ranging from $22,000 to $100,000. Not far away, Eva Presenhuber’s solo presentation of new works and furniture by Tschabalala Self also sold out in the early hours, with prices ranging from $175,000 to $320,000. Jeffrey Deitch curated a booth featuring rarely seen artists like Myrlande Constant and Ella Kruglyanska, with a focus on Judy Chicago and a standout selection of Rammellzee works, ahead of his upcoming show in NYC.
PPOW saw strong results, selling all of its Grace Carney pieces in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, along with a central piece, a large table with a hand-painted tablecloth and porcelain vases by Ann Agee, sold as a pair for $14,000-18,000. MASSIMODECARLO also did brisk work, selling twenty-five pieces on the first day, including a Matthew Wong painting consigned directly from the estate, presented alongside a work by Salvo. Other sales included a piece by Dominique Fung ($36,000), various works by Jean-Marie Appriou, two by Tomoo Gokita, three by France-Lise McGurn and one by artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, who currently have a museum exhibition at Le Musée D’Orsay.
Among the notable sales on the first day, White Cube sold a Julie Mehretu work for $9.5 million, a Howardena Pindell piece for $1.75 million and a Lucio Fontana slash for $1.3 million.
Jeffrey Deitch at Art Basel Paris. Photo by Andrea Rossetti. Courtesy of the artists and Jeffrey Deitch, New York and Los Angeles.
Standing out in the Hauser & Wirth booth was a striking spider by Louise Bourgeois, paired with a powerful Ed Clark, which reportedly sold by the end of the day for $950,000. Also sold was a work by Barbara Chase Riboud for $2.2 million and a large Mark Bradford for $3.5 million. Of particular interest, the external wall featured a large Jeffrey Gibson, hinting at a potential new collaboration with the gallery, while the other wall showcased a vibrant, explosive work by Frank Bowling. Meanwhile, Lisson Gallery sold two pieces by Colombian artist Olga de Amaral—one for $800,000 and the other for $400,000—both to a private U.S. collection. The sales coincided with the artist’s current show at Foundation Cartier in Paris, one of many exhibitions opening alongside Art Basel Paris.
Lisson Gallery at Art Basel Paris. Courtesy Art Basel
In celebration of Surrealism’s 100th anniversary, many booths honored artists from the movement in the city where it began. Di Donna offered a beautiful dialogue between Jean Tanguy and Wilfredo Lam, while Nahmad devoted their entire booth to works by Dalí, Picabia, Max Ernst, Tanguy, De Chirico, Picasso and Magritte, along with a stunning floating mobile by Calder. In the masterworks section, featuring pieces priced in the five- to six-digit range, Van De Weghe presented a 1964 Pablo Picasso and a 1985 Great American Nude by Tom Wesselmann, riding the wave of momentum from the “Pop Forever” show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Tornabuoni’s booth featured a standout monumental map by Alighiero Boetti, covering an entire wall. New York dealer Aquavella showcased a series of masterpieces by Fontana, De Kooning, Basquiat and Thiebaud, with a gallery representative telling Observer that “a lot of good collectors” had come through throughout the morning.
Among the best-curated booths, The Modern Institute from Glasgow dedicated its entire presentation to a site-specific, immersive installation by artist Martin Boyce, titled Before Behind Between Above Below. Combining various works and elements, Boyce created a liminal interior space exploring the boundary between the real and imagined and the collapse of architecture and nature. The installation drew inspiration from Jan and Joël Martel’s cubist trees, first exhibited at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in 1925, right in front of the Grand Palais.
The Modern Institute at Art Basel Paris. The Modern Institute
Once the ground floor became too crowded to navigate, many collectors sought breathing room in the upstairs sections, where more space allowed for new discoveries, particularly in the terrace corridor of the “Emergence” section. A standout in this area was the experimental Jakarta-based gallery Rho Projects, showcasing Kei Imazu’s intriguing blend of historical memory, traces,and digital structures (priced between $15,000 and $20,000). Another highlight was a large, narrative-rich painting by young Polish artist Jeh Eustachy Wilsky, presented by Piktogram, stretching across the entire booth.
Upstairs also housed a range of thriving galleries, including Karma, Clearing, Mariane Ibrahim, Sultana and Société. Société’s booth had a future-forward feel, featuring Trisha Baga’s pictorial explorations of the digital realm and a divinatory video by Lu Yang. Nearby, Ortuzar Projects presented a solo booth of Takako Yamaguchi, fresh from the Whitney Biennial, which quickly attracted buyers. With prices set at $300,000, only three works remained by midday.
Throughout the VIP day at Art Basel Paris, the atmosphere was effervescent, proving that collectors are still eager and excited about bold new moves—especially with this being the first Art Basel in its new, opulent historic venue, which truly has no architectural equal worldwide.
SCAD at Design Miami Paris with an Alumni Booth presenting the work of Trish Andersen, Lærke Lillelund, Bradley Bowers and Eny Lee Parker. Photo Chia Chong. Courtesy of SCAD.
Design Miami Paris also saw a successful opening, launching its second edition the day before with a similarly packed VIP reception at L’Hôtel de Maisons. Inside the lavish 18th-century mansion, exhibitors presented a curated selection of historic and contemporary collectible designs, with strong sales early on. Notably, Galerie Downtown-LAFFANOUR (Paris) sold a full-scale Jean Prouvé post-war prefabricated house (1946) for over one million euros.
Among the standout presentations, SCAD took over the elegant staircase with a cascade of abstract forms and vivid colors in a fiber site-specific installation by artist and alumna Trish Andersen. The school also showcased the creative talents of alumni Lærke Lillelund, Bradley Bowers and Eny Lee Parker. Other highlights included fashion designer Rick Owens’ striking pair of Tomb Chairs in the gardens, presented by Salon 94 Design (New York), alongside rare pieces by Gaetano Pesce, such as his Palladio Cabinet (Milk colored prototype) (2007) and Flower Origami Table (2023). The award for “Best Gallery Presentation at Design Miami Paris 2024” went to Galerie Gastou (Paris) and Galerie Desprez-Bréhéret (Paris), which brought a significant collection of minimalist works by Jean Touret in wood and iron, shown in dialogue with contemporary pieces by Agnès Debizet.
The garden of Design Miami at the fair’s opening. IVAN EROFEEV
“The crux of this exhibition is the marriage of Christian Lacroix’s couture legacy with his passion for the theatre. These costumes exemplify his level of mastery through unimaginable attention to detail,” says Gomes. “[They] have the same technique and skill level as those shown on the runway, manifesting in these layered, textural pieces that emphasize Peer Gynt’s fantasy world. Whether the costumes are lavishly embellished or aged and dyed, Lacroix achieves this in a realistic, well-done way.”
The acclaimed fashion photographer is hours from opening her new exhibit—“This Side of Paradise,” a retrospective at SCAD FASH in Atlanta—and her custom black metallic paneling is nowhere to be found. “Apparently it got lost in Korea,” shrugs Unwerth, who favors slim black suits that make her look like a lion tamer. “So they brought a bunch of hot pink glitter to the museum instead. The SCAD students sprayed it on the walls themselves. Like, a billion pieces of pink glitter. A bomb of it. They made it beautiful even though it was [a] crazy [amount] work, so now we have the show.”
“The show” contains dozens of the German snapper’s original photographic prints, including iconic portraits of Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera, along with va-va-voomclose-ups of lacquered lips and unlaced corsets that helped build von Unwerth’s reputation for air-kissed imagery that mixes frothy decadence with hints of deviance.
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Britney Spears, shot by Ellen von Unwerth.
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“I always make up a story for my pictures,” says the 69-year-old. “It’s like, ‘This girl goes to a party, but then she spills all the champagne,’ or ‘This girl has a rich boyfriend, but it goes bad, so she needs a job and ends up walking dogs all over Paris. But the dogs end up walking her.’ For me, the beauty always happens when something goes a little bit wrong.” (That includes the Great Atlanta Glitter Emergency. “It’s even better because it’s hand-done,” she says. “Now, it’s a lot like a diamond.”)
Born in war-bombed Frankfurt, von Unwerth became a magician’s assistant in high school before becoming a commercial model. “They always wanted me for hair products,” she smiles. “I did have very beautiful hair.” But she was far more fascinated by the other side of the camera. “That’s where you had control!” she laughs. On a modeling trip to Kenya, she brought her small camera along and came back with portraits of the local Maasai women that earned her a six-image spread in the French magazine Jill. Campaigns with the British activist and designer Katharine Hamnett followed.
But the photographer’s major break came from this very magazine.“[ELLE] called me and said, ‘There is this nice German girl, like you! Maybe go take some pictures of her at her house.’” That’s how von Unwerth ended up meeting Claudia Schiffer in 1989, sensing she could be more than “just the nice girl next door,” and styling her like Brigitte Bardot. The resulting ELLE photos convinced Guess to give them both a campaign, and the rest is fashion history.
Beyoncé, shot by Ellen von Unwerth.
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Von Unwerth credits her revealing imagery to the on-set camaraderie she cultivates with women like Beyoncé, Lana del Rey, and Bella Hadid, all of whom she shot at the beginning of their stardom. “Because I was a model, and, you know, a girl, I know what it’s like for people to just tell you where to go and what to do. As a model, they never let me move around on a set, so now I always want movement, and music, and fun…and I never say, ‘You look bad.’ No. I say, ‘Great!’ and that allows them the freedom to be great in their own way.”
That’s what happened in 2003, when a 21-year-old Britney Spears was in her Toxic era of ice blonde hair and shiny vinyl bodices. Posing at Nell’s nightclub (RIP!) in downtown Manhattan, the pop star’s cavalcade was gunning for a ’50s pin-up look until von Unwerth took matters into her own hands. “Yes, the fifties are great, but I said to her, ‘Nobody has seen a Britney in the ’20s.It will look so beautiful, like a Berlin nightclub in a dream. And it will be great because, you know, you will look different…now Britney, she is great. She has style! So she let us style her like a silent film actress, and she looks so vulnerable, so soulful. It was a brilliant shoot because she faced herself in the mirror. She is beautiful and she is brave.”
The photographer urges other women to be brave, too—especially when it seems like everyone is gunning for the same opportunities at work or in a creative field. “There’s always going to be competition, and competition is everywhere in life, with everybody,” she says. “I think even my gardener is jealous of the other gardener. Of course it’s a challenge, but also, it drives you. It pushes you to say, ‘What am I really good at? Let me explore more and try harder.’ Jealousy also lets you say ‘who gives a shit about them, I’m going to work on me.’” She laughs, going on to describe being a successful woman among others as “a pain, but when it pinches you, it wakes you up a bit. The pinch gets you moving. So you say ‘thank you,’ and you believe it’s good.”
A print by the artist… and glitter.
Colin Douglas Gray
Those in Atlanta can see von Unwerth’s SCAD FASH exhibit through Jan. 8, 2024. Meanwhile, Manhattan dwellers can visit the photographer’s prints at Verōnika, the gilded fine dining hangout that’s just named her its debut Artist in Residence. But first, von Unwerth has a date with some SCAD graduate students—at a nearby Atlanta strip club. “They created these very inventive clothes, and so I thought, why not go shoot them [there]? When I’m home [in Paris], I don’t really go to parties—I prefer to just get to bed on time. But I am here, and beauty is like a magnet. It pulls you sometimes. You don’t even have to know why.”
As I wrap up our interview, von Unwerth gives me the customary European double kiss. Hours later in the mirror, a stray fleck of glitter is still stuck to my cheek.
Editor at Large, ELLE.com
“Her beauty and her brain go not together.” —William Shakespeare
The last few years have brought about a shift in how people use technology in all facets of their lives. More than ever, virtual realities, decentralized transactions and non-fungible tokens are altering how we approach everything from social life to business to creativity.
In the past year alone, Prada‘s linked its monthly physical Timecapsule to NFTs that grant access to global Prada Crypted and special events. Meanwhile, Gucci partnered with animated celebrities company Superplastic to release 10 unique NFTs. The metaverse has become so popular, there’s even a Metaverse Fashion Week with brands like Etro, Dundas and Dolce & Gabbana.
Fashion schools have been quick to adapt to these developments, bolstering their digital curriculums in order to keep up with industry demands.
At the Parsons School of Design, metaverse learning experiences are part of the core curriculum during students’ junior year. There’s a specialized studio class in which “students learn intensive 3D modeling software,” says Soojin Kang, an assistant professor of fashion technology, for example. Students learn the traditional skills of garment-making — like creating patterns or sewing — digitally. By senior year, those focusing on digital fashion take Senior Thesis 1 and Thesis 2 classes, both of which yield digital-heavy outcomes and cover skills such as 3D modeling, rendering and other hybrid technical aspects.
To further cement its digital education, the school also partnered with online game platform Roblox to develop a course through which students create hyper-realistic and inclusive 3D digital apparel.
Photo: Courtesy of Parsons
While interest in metaverse coursework has been prevalent for years, Kang explains that demand really increased during the pandemic, when schools moved to an online teaching format. Suddenly, tools like Clo3d became integral to the curriculum: “The software synchronizes the drapes and the fabric properties at the same time you make any changes to your 2d patterns,” she says, noting how that helped ease the transition between 2D and 3D design processes.
Drexel University offers a range of innovative classes like “Fashion Design in the 3D Space” and “CAD Patternmaking”. But the peak of its metaverse curriculum might just be a historic costume virtual fashion course, titled “Costuming the Metaverse”: Kathi Martin, the associate director of graduate fashion design at Drexel, says the class was initially developed for gaming and animation students, but the construction of virtual spaces has also allowed fashion students to drape and pattern-make on avatars. It culminates in an immersive Medieval-inspired project, in which students create detailed period costumes by designing appropriate textiles, silhouettes and embellishments — all in the metaverse.
Sample of Drexel University student work.
Photo: Courtesy of Drexel
In addition to educating students on how to use the various tools and programs to create digital products, schools are also thinking about teaching the new business models that come with them.
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Under its Baker School of Business & Technology, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) recently introduced several new metaverse courses to its curriculum. “First Year Experience” educates students as early as freshman year about the metaverse, Web3, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens. Other additions include “Understanding, Developing Web 3.0 Business Opportunities and NFTs” and “Introduction to Blockchain for Creative Businesses.”
The metaverse is novel and ever-changing, which means schools must adapt accordingly. At FIT, the faculty remains open-minded, and frequently evolves its curriculum in response to these trends, which “offers an unparalleled win-win for the students and the creative/fashion sector in which we serve” according to Vincent Quan, professor and department chair of fashion business management at FIT SUNY Korea.
For the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the push toward meta-education is opening students’ eyes to new opportunities and alternative career paths in fashion.
“Obviously, we’re focused on the current and future employment opportunities in this field… We think it’s essential that our next generation of SCAD graduates play a defining role in shaping the direction of Web3,” says Dirk Standen, dean of SCAD’s school of fashion. “Fashion and tech companies can benefit from their input.”
For instance, SCAD’s sneaker design minor program implements accessory design strategies geared toward the metaverse. “We’re using the Oculus Quest 2 VR headsets to teach our students to 3D model athletic footwear and other accessories,” says Michael Mack, professor of accessory design and sneaker design at SCAD. “Accessory and sneaker design is diving more heavily than ever before into the virtual and 3D space, and we’re preparing our students to be at the forefront of design and lead the way as they embark on their creative professions.”
Photo: Courtesy of SCAD
However, when it comes to the intersection of fashion and technology, it’s integral to consider the impact of what we’re creating within a still-unexplored frontier.
At the Pratt Institute, metaverse courses are part of a larger push toward building a responsible future. These electives — which cover new media, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, interactive installation and physical comp coding for artists — engage students in critical thought surrounding how decentralized technologies will impact the future of design and the ethics around that.
“We felt it was important to introduce curriculum exploring ethical questions and considerations about how this technology is restructuring the relationship between fashion creation and consumption” says Tessa Maffucci, adjunct assistant professor and assistant chairperson in Pratt Institute’s Fashion Design department. “In the fashion context, especially, decentralized models raise important questions about authenticity, creativity and ownership – and present new opportunities to design in collaboration with others, to design with empathy and to explore equity-centered and community-based design.”
These new curriculums are part of our new reality — and educators shaping the minds of the next generation of creatives are adapting accordingly.
In fashion, the top headlines of 2022 were brimming with excitement and chaos.
Scandals swept Balenciaga and any brand associated with the artist formerly known as Kanye West. Legislation offered a new pathway for sustainability in fashion. A new guard of creatives took the helm at some of the world’s most stories houses, while a recession loomed over the whole industry.
Ever since the pandemic struck in 2020, the years have felt as though they’ve all bled together. That’s certainly true for fashion news — so, we’re recapping the biggest headlines in the industry from 2022, from the biggest controversies to the most notable moments of progress.
Designers Act Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine
Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images
In a major escalation of a longstanding conflict, Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, kicking off an intensified war that hasn’t stopped. The fashion industry responded with letters, donations and posts on social media. Vogue Ukraine called designers to action, while Granary — the fashion education platform founded by Ukrainian Central Saint Martins graduate Olya Kuryshchuk — shared an open letter urging the community to condemn Russia.
Groups like LVMH and Kering donated to aid groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), while some brands suspended business in Russia altogether. Meanwhile, designers like Demna took to the runway for messaging against the war (before the brand was embroiled in scandal).
Balenciaga ended the year not with a celebration, but with a series of apologetic statements.
The Kering-owned luxury brand released its Balenciaga Gift Shop campaign on Nov. 16, showing a range of new giftable items from the brand, “staged around children dressed in the Balenciaga Kids line” — however, it soon started trending, with many criticizing the photos showing children next to wine glasses, holding teddy bears in BDSM-reminiscent harnesses.
#BalenciagaGate only got more heat when people turned attention to its Spring 2023 campaign, released just a few days after on Nov. 21. The Joshua Bright-photographed imagery was set in an office, and among a variety of props strewn across a desk, there was a printed copy of the 2008 United States v. Williams decision on child pornography laws. More controversy ensued.
Every era in fashion has had its big names. Now, the industry is moving forward with a new guard of creatives taking seats at the helms of the world’s biggest, most influential houses.
Meanwhile, we’re seeing some of the most powerful names in fashion step back. Riccardo Tisci showed his final Burberry collection in September, and has been replaced by Daniel Lee. Alessandro Michele, who ushered in a new era of extravagance at Gucci, stepped down in November, after seven years at the helm and two decades at the brand. That month, Raf Simons also announced the closure of his eponymous label after 27 years in business.
Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the industry and larger-than-life presence, Talley was creative director and then editor-at-large at Vogue, responsible for some must-read columns that inspired the next generation and becoming one of the first Black editors to reach the top of the masthead.
Raised in the Jim Crow South, Talley detailed his ascension in fashion and the racism he had to work against in his memoir, “The Chiffon Trenches.” He peeled back the curtain with language as entertaining as it is profound, welcoming wonder in a world often guarded by walls. He ushered in a new guard of dreamers, building his audience and developing close ties with educational institutions like SCAD.
As Fashionista reported, size diversity on the runway regressed in 2022, with the number of New York Fashion Week shows featuring non-sample-sized models dwindling from past seasons, after this issue had become such a talking point pre-pandemic. With runways often being in the market of what’s in and what’s cool, the exclusion of different bodies served as a disappointment.
Sustainability’s next frontier
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The fashion industry is notoriously under-regulated, but a new chapter is on the horizon in the U.S., with legislation presenting a path forward for the conversation around sustainability.
… All the while, Kardashian was laughing her way to the bank, by way of Skims, which reached a $3.2 billion valuation in 2022, thanks to new funding and ever-loving fans.
“This latest round will allow us to focus on bringing more innovations and solutions to our customers and become even more of a trusted resource for them,” Kardashian told Fortune.
Since launching in 2019, Skims has found rapid success in shapewear and loungewear, with the pandemic catapulting its cozier categories. This year, the brand also took home the inaugural CFDA Innovation Award presented by Amazon at the trade organization’s annual ceremony.
Patagonia literally gave itself away as a company in the name of environmental preservation and sustainability: This year, American rock climber-turned-businessman Yvon Chouinard transferred ownership of the brand he founded to a trust and nonprofit. The company said it was “going purpose” instead of “going public,” making Earth its main shareholder — a first-of-its-kind move.
The year of the ‘nepo baby’
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
For the (somehow) uninitiated, “nepo babies” are relatives of successful, famous or otherwise well-connected people who then end up successful, famous or otherwise well-connected. In 2022, they got called out on online and on the front pages of magazines, with the connections that may have helped them reach their heights of career success being called into question.
Of course, fashion has always lovednepo babies, from Hadids to Jenners to Gerbers. And every year, there’s a new class to look out for in campaigns or sitting in the front row at a Miu Miu show.
Rihanna’s maternity style
Photo: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Rihanna has changed any and every new space she’s entered, so it’s no surprise she had the same effect on maternity style as she flaunted her pregnancy in the first half of 2022.
Rather than opting for clothes that covered up her growing bump, the Fenty founder refused to tone down sexiness or her own style. That meant: beaded halter tops, vintage Chanel, diamond belly chains and more. She even got “maternity crop tops” to trend.
Even after their split, Fox continued serving looks, becoming a TikTok star and highlighting emerging designers. She opened LaQuan Smith’s Fall 2022 show and was crowned one of Fashionista’s best dressed celebrities in 2022. She took the cake in ambitious dressing, daring any fan to take it up a notch and dream bigger through their clothes.
Between the covers of any good book are pages that transport and enrich the mind of its reader. In 2022, leaders in the fashion industry turned to various texts to inspire their upcoming collections, deepen the knowledge behind their curations and find personal liberty within their identity.
Major book releases swept the fashion community this year, like Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue’s Edward Enninful’s memoir, “A Visible Man,” in September. Other books like Safia Minney’s made an urgent call to regenerative fashion and a closer look at today’s fashion system.
Across the fashion, leaders and experts like FIT Museum Director Valerie Steele and Business of Fashion Senior Correspondent Sheena Butler-Young reflected on their reading this in 2022. Favorite books span topics, eras in time, country in focus and connections to fashion.
See below for the 34 favorite fashion books that leaders in the industry read in 2022.
Jacques de Bascher: Dandy de l’ombre by Marie Ottavi, $24, available here
Photo: Groupe Robert Laffont
“A page-turner about Karl Lagerfeld’s great love, a decadent dandy of the 1970s, this has been an essential source for all the recent books about Lagerfeld, including Ottavi’s own biography, ‘Karl.’” — Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology
Trendy, sexy et inconscient: Regards d’une psychanalyste sur la mode by Pascale Navarri, $21, available here
Photo: PUF
“I’m working on a book about fashion and psychoanalysis, so I read with great interest this book by a French psychoanalyst exploring the unconscious aspects of contemporary fashion.” — Stelle
Pretty Gentlemen: Macaroni Men and the Eighteenth-Century Fashion World by Peter McNeil, $52, available here
Photo: Yale University Press
“A brilliant account of a controversial moment in men’s self-fashioning.” — Steele.
Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, $40, available here
Photo: One World
“Black Futures, by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, and The New Black Vanguard, by Antwaun Sargent, are my top reads for 2022. The authors are true visionaries. I was inspired by them while working on my memoir, Wildflower. I have always had a desire to forge a new creative path, and I hope to lift up others through my own personal journey.” — Aurora James, creative director and founder of Brother Vellies, founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, author of “Wildflower“
The Colors of Sies Marjan by Sander Lak, $65, available here
Photo: Rizzoli International Publications
“I treasure my little collection of fashion monographs, and my new favorite is this book on the much-mourned label Sies Marjan. Designer Sander Lak is a virtuoso when it comes to color, and I love the way he organized everything by hue. Paging through this felt like a first-class flight straight into his genius brain.” — Véronique Hyland, Fashion Features Director at Elle, author of “Dress Code“
What Shall I Wear? by Claire McCardell, $24, available here
Photo: Harry N. Abrams
“This was a very kind gift from Tory Burch, who wrote the excellent foreword to this reissued version. Claire McCardell’s 1956 answer to the eternal question is very much of its time, but also feels relevant today. She maintains that fashion should be fun, and the same sense of ease that she brought to her designs is evident in her prose.” — Hyland
“This book is a daily reminder to myself to never ever compromise or conform on the things that really matter to me. Quinn’s photography of interesting people taking bold fashion risks is inspiring from a style and dressing standpoint, but also as a powerful statement against racism, ageism and homophobia. There should be no limits on beauty, style and self-expression. Quinn’s work is an apt assertion that fashion is at its best when it serves as a vehicle of change, not an endorser of status quo.” — Sheena Butler-Young, senior correspondent at Business of Fashion
Token Black Girl: A Memoir by Danielle Prescod, $25, available here
Photo: Little A
“I can’t think of one Black woman I know — in fashion or elsewhere — who hasn’t felt like 15-year-old Prescod flipping through the pages of glossy magazines in the ’90s and early aughts, seeing beauty defined as everything we’re not. Through the lens of Prescod’s life story, it powerfully unpacks the reverberating negative consequences of white supremacy in media, while gently reminding us of the power we have to recover from and reject ideologies that harm us. This book is much-needed wink — an ‘I see you, girl’ — to Black women, but it’s also a must-read for all women, period.” — Butler-Young
Africa: The Fashion Continent by Emmanuelle Courrèges, $65, available here
Photo: Flammarion-Pere Castor
“The more I scratch the surface of diversity, equity and inclusion issues in fashion, the more I uncover about the inherent biases we all have about beauty, style and influence. The title of this book alone disrupts long-held assumptions about who or what gets to define fashion. Courrèges takes the reader on a journey of discovery where you get to meet all of these amazing African designers, artisans, boutique owners and stylists whose work push the boundaries of innovation and craftsmanship. It features vibrant, awe-inspiring images of people adorning colors, prints, fabrics and patterns (Xhosa beaded embroidery, for example) and body artists using their vessels to advocate for change, hair tousled and contorted in fascinating and expressive fashion, street style that’s inherently environmentally conscious. It’s a true homage to a forgotten part of fashion’s roots.” — Butler-Young
Celebrate That!: Occasions by Kate Spade New York, $35, available here
Photo: Harry N. Abrams
“My ultimate — feminine, witty and whimsical — guide to planning a celebration however big or small. As an editor working in New York City, I’m constantly surrounded by big moments: cover stories, splashy fashion week shows, star-studded events. It feels like my friends always expect me to deliver something comparable when I host. This book has fun, thoughtful recipes and tips, like how to make a ginger mojito or plan a unique fundraiser for my son’s school, that make me seem way cooler and fashion-y of a host than I am. It also doubles as a self-help guide with cute reminders to celebrate moments — like making your bed, getting through a tough conversation or not spilling your coffee on a fancy coat — that we take for granted each day.” — Butler-Young
Karl Lagerfeld Unseen: The Chanel Years by Robert Fairer, $85, available here
Photo: Abrams
“Written by photographer Richard Fairer — whose previous work SCAD FASH highlighted in our exhibition entitled “Robert Fairer: Backstage Pass — Karl Lagerfeld: Unseen captures amazing access to one of fashion’s most iconic and fascinating figures. Through his behind-the-scenes images, Fairer provides a unique perspective that fashion fans dream of seeing!” — Rafael Gomes, creative director of SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film
The Blonds: Glamour, Fashion, Fantasy by David And Phillipe Blond, $65, available here
Photo: Rizzoli International Publications
“In The Blonds, David and Phillipe highlight their 20 years in the fashion business through images and bold, elaborate creations. Blurbs from The Blonds and their star-studded clientele offer readers unique insights and inspirations behind their collections and collaborations.” — Gomes
Ring Redux: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, $39, available here
Photo: Arnoldsche Verlagsanstalt
“Corresponding with a recent a SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah) exhibition, Ring Redux reexamines the traditional image of the ring as not just jewelry, but a contemporary art form, finding inspiration in the modern and sculpturally reimagined rings in the Susan Grant Lewin collection.” — Gomes
Embodying Pasolini by Tilda Swinton and Olivier Saillard, $75, available here
Photo: Ruediger Glatz/Rizzoli International Publications
“Commemorating their fourth collaboration, Embodying Pasolini is Tilda Swinton and Olivier Saillard’s ode to Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini. By presenting costumes from Pasolini’s film, Swinton and Saillard pay homage to one of the most important names in Italian cinema, sharing his work with hopefully a new generation interested in the convergence of fashion and film.” — Gomes
Regenerative Fashion by Safia Minney, $40, available here
Photo: Laurence King
“This compact sustainability handbook from social entrepreneur Safia Minney features interviews with more than 30 industry insiders, like Chloé Chief Sustainability Director Aude Vergne and Daniel Windaier, the CEO and Founder of Bolt Threads, a biotech company that’s partnering with brands like Stella McCartney to put mycelium leather bags ‘grown’ from fungi spores on the runway. It gave me fresh hope about the ways the fashion industry can lower its carbon footprint and actually improve the environment if creative people put their heads together.” — Alison Cohn, deputy fashion news editor at Harper’s BAZAAR
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The Fendi Set: From Bloomsbury to Borghese by Kim Jones, $135, available here
Photo: Nikolai Von Bismarck/Rizzoli International Publications
“I’m an English lit nerd at heart, so there’s something really delightful about this photo essay, which features portraits of Kim Jones’ friends — like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Bella Hadid — channeling the spirit of Bloomsbury, the 20th century community of British writers, intellectuals and artists that included Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West and Vanessa Bell, dressed in looks from the Fendi artistic director’s first couture collection. There are also excerpts from diary entries and correspondence and snippets of Woolf’s Orlando.” — Cohn
Yves Saint Laurent at Home by Jacques Grange, $95, available here
Photo: Marianne Haas/Assounline
“Designers are storytellers who creating entire worlds through clothing, but we don’t often get to experience their personal environs. This book offers an intimate view into Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s beautiful homes in Paris, Deauville and Marrakech, showing how their deep appreciation for art and design informed Saint Laurent’s work in fashion.” — Cohn
Rebel Stylist: Caroline Baker — The Woman Who Invented Street Fashion by Iain R. Webb, $50, available here
Photo: Acc Art Books
“British stylist Caroline Baker worked with just about every magazine (Nova, British Vogue, i-D, The Face) and just about every photographer (Helmut Newton, Hans Feurer, Guy Bourdin, Sarah Moon) while also collaborating with Vivienne Westwood; that was an inspired pairing, because she’s just as original and maverick as the brilliant Westwood. As a stylist, Baker riffed on vintage, army surplus, thrift, recycling and punk at a time when everyone else was still in the thrall of the news out of Paris. What makes this book a must-read? Author Iain R. Webb is a friend of Baker’s, so this is the inside story of a woman whose work is a masterclass in the art of style and subversion.” — Mark Holgate, fashion news director at Vogue
Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life by Kari Marie Norgaard, $36, available here
Photo: MIT Press
“This Norwegian author interviews the inhabitants of a ski town in Norway about how they’re coping with climate change and why our modern culture at large is so disconnected from the environment. It illustrates how we, individually and culturally, must reconnect with our emotions and grief around climate collapse and environmental loss in order to get activated to make radical changes in our society. I think this is especially true in fashion, where overproduction and overconsumption is predicated on deliberate disassociation from our bodies and the Earth.” — Becca McCharen-Tran, Founder and Creative Director of Chromat
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem, $18, available here
Photo: Central Recovery Press
“This feels like it should be required reading for every white person in fashion who believes in the importance of inclusion and diversity. It illustrates through somatic exercises how racial trauma lives in white and Black bodies, and offers ways forward to a place of healing. There’s so much healing we need to do in fashion when it comes to racial trauma, not only through ensuring more diverse casting or hiring, or how we perceive race in the fashion industry, but really attuning to the physical sensations in our body when we feel excluded or included, how it constricts or expands when we feel truly safe. We all have a responsibility to make the fashion industry a safe and welcoming place, and this book offers really tangible ways in which we can start that healing in our own bodies.” — McCharen-Tran
Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green, $20, available here
Photo: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
“‘It’s not about the dress you wear,’ Diana Vreeland once quipped. ‘It’s about the life you lead in the dress.’ Well, then, the best-dressed woman I’ve read about all year is not a traditional fashion plate, but the late, great Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers, who went on to compose the music for the unsinkable ‘Once Upon a Mattress,’ write the novel ‘Freaky Friday’ and lead ten other creative lives. Her memoir, co-authored with New York Times critic Jesse Green and published eight years after her death, is exhilarating, funny, dishy, heartbreaking and the most enjoyable book you’ll read all year. Did I mention funny? Show me one other fashion book that made you laugh.” — Erik Maza, executive style director at Town & Country
A Left-Handed Woman: Essays by Judith Thurman, $32, available here
Photo: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
“Judith Thurman’s Two For One, her 2008 profile of the Cuban designer Isabel Toledo and her husband, the artist and illustrator Ruben Toledo, is just one reason why her new collection of essays, A Left-Handed Woman, gets my vote for the best fashion read of the year. Isabel died in 2019 — Ruben continues to make incredible work, including a recent cover of T&C — but nearly 15 years after its publication, Thurman’s profile remains one of the most considerate ever published about a designer, as well as a poignant portrait of creative partnership.” — Maza
Selbstverständlich: a Century in Fashion by Akris, $88, available here
Photo: Lars Muller Publishers
“A murderer’s row of fashion journalists contributed to a monograph to mark the centennial of the Swiss label Akris.” — Maza
Prêt-à-Porter, Paris and Women by Alexis Romano, $38, available here
Photo: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
“French ready-to-wear fashion has been woefully understudied until now. Romano communicates its history through an analysis of photographs from Elle and other popular magazines; the rich selection makes this book as visually compelling as it is informative.” — Colleen Hill, curator of costume and accessories at the Museum at FIT
“I’m fascinated by the minds of highly creative people, and I was gripped by Enninful’s memoir from its first few sentences. I devoured this honest, captivating account of his life and career.” — Hill
In America: a Lexicon of Fashion by Andrew Bolton and Amanda Garfinkel, $50, available here
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
“This book contains over a hundred garments that were on display for both rotations of this exhibition highlighting pioneers in American fashion, as well as emerging young designers. It’s a beautifully-designed publication, as well as a substantial fashion reference book, including full length images and detailed shots of the garment. Any reader interested in fashion history will also appreciate the text that accompanies each object.” — Julie T. Lê, associate museum librarian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute
Nadine Ijewere: Our Own Selves by Lynette Nylander and Nadine Ijewere, $55, available here
Photo: Nadine Ijewere/Prestel Publishing
“Our library at the Costume Institute has hundreds of books on male photographers who have dominated the fashion world from the beginning, so it’s wonderful to see the work of a female BIPOC artist highlighted in book form for future generations to be inspired by. This monograph celebrates the work of fashion photographer Nadine Ijewere, who made history as the first Black woman of Jamaican-Nigerian descent to photograph a cover of American Vogue in 2021. Along with her fashion editorial work is a personal series called ‘Tallawah’ (which means strong and fearless), a project she worked on in 2020 in collaboration with hair stylist Jawara Wauchope celebrating the beauty and strength of Jamaican women and their unique hair culture.” — Lê
A Time Before Crack: Photographs from the 1980s by Jamel Shabazz, $40, available here
Photo: powerHouse Books
“I heart New York, and Jamel Shabazz is one of my favorite photographers who documented hip hop culture and fashion in the streets of NYC from the mid-70s to the 90s. For this publication, he revisited his photographic archive and rediscovered a treasure trove of unseen images that reveals a new nostalgic visual diary of life in New York and the street style of those people he connected with throughout his career.” — Lê
Really Free: the Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe by Nellie Mae Rowe, $50, available here
Photo: Delmonico Books
“Finding this artist has opened my creative side again. It has really been wonderful to read about her life, see and feel her art. She should be given a medal.” — Peter Jensen, fashion professor at SCAD, designer of Yours Truly by Peter Jensen
Fashioning the Afropolis: Histories, Materialities and Aesthetic Practices by Kristin Kastner, Reina Lewis and Basile Ndjio, $132, available here
Photo:Bloomsbury Visual Arts
“So few books focus on the influential and visually stunning fashion culture of the African continent. I love this book for its mix of scholarly study and rich visuals. It helps push past stereotypes we hold in the west on what African fashion is.” — Elizabeth Way, Associate Curator of Costume at the Museum at FIT
Africa Fashion by Christine Checinska, $45, available here
Photo: Victoria & Albert Museum
“This is another important book that illuminates the multifaceted creativity of fashion on the content. Africa Fashion accompanies an exhibition at the V&A in London. For those who can’t travel, the book immerses you in the gorgeous fashions on display and the designers’ histories and inspirations.” — Way
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. This in no way affects our editorial decision-making. Some quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
The iconic designer once told a good friend he only had about three pieces by the French couturier — but after Alaïa’s death in 2017, that friend, renowned curator and director of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa Olivier Saillard, discovered there were actually over 900.
Unless you were alive between the 1940s and 1980s, it’s unlikely you’ve seen a Madame Grès original in person. While images of them exist in the archives of advertisements and Vogue, the garments themselves have been collected and preserved less. Alaïa’s dedication to collecting them, then, contributes massively to the preservation of fashion history.
“The Art of Draping” — presented in Atlanta, GA in collaboration with Fondation Azzedine Alaïa — engulfs visitors in beauty and wonder. It also tells a story of a deep connection across time and space for two great designers.
The show-stopping velvet cutout dress
Photo: Courtesy of SCAD
Towering at the entrance are four black dresses that stretch to the floor with a regal sprit. Draped fabrics around the neck flow behind like a cape. A low-cut gown flaunts the lower back, while an asymmetrical cap-sleeve style flows down with the grace of a waterfall.
Walking deeper into the exhibit, you face an outpour of draped beauty. Richly textured red velvet traces a mannequin’s silhouette before skimming the floor as if to tease it. Crinkled gowns in pale yellow command one corner of the room, while sage-green garments capture viewers in another. A most striking black velvet cutout dress outlines the upper bodice with sensual-yet-simple cutouts. As if curving into a whirlpool anchored by the chest, one marigold-orange style’s intricate lines create a voluminous collar fit for a queen.
Each Madame Grès design possesses the power to lure any onlooker with its meticulous details, as if a siren’s soul was captured in clothing.
Born Germaine Émilie Krebs in 1903, Madame Grès grew up wanting to be a sculptor, but her parents didn’t allow it. As she developed her skills in fashion design, she kept her desire to sculpt close, using fabrics to mold the feminine body. Her designs were minimalist and timeless, lending her garments the nickname of “goddess gowns.”
With a style and design language so strong, Madame Grès’ clothes were indistinguishably hers. She became a leading French couturier from the 1930s through the 1980s; Alaïa rose to prominence during the same period, almost receiving a passed baton of couture.
Bright and shining from the corner of the room, this trio of gowns flaunts the talent of Madame Grès across varying silhouettes.
Photo: Courtesy of SCAD
“She was obsessed with timelessness — I think [Alaïa] was also looking for timelessness inside the work of Madame Grès, in order to understand how you could be timeless,” Saillard says.
Madame Grès used lots of black and white, for example; when it came to ornamentation, she focused on draping the body rather than using prints and embroidery. Alaïa was similarly artful, his work known for timelessly celebrating the body with a foundation of sensuality. (He was even called the “king of cling” in the 1980s, with Uschka Pittroff once saying that wearing his clothes was “like being in a man’s passionate embrace.”) Alaïa sculpted the body like Madame Grès, but leaned into a broader range of techniques.
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His ardent collecting of Madame Grès garments (and her photos) is evidence of his curiosity and reverence for her style, which also inspired Cristobal Balenciaga.
Like Madame Grès, Alaïa was enthralled with fashion design from a lens of sculpture. Like her, his career spanned half a century, impressing a legacy of beauty and creativity. In line with her rebellious spirit, Alaïa was unafraid to call out the fashion industry’s habit of overproduction and consumption, instead following his own fashion calendar.
“It was a question of line: Azzedine was absolutely obsessed with doing clothes without any visible seams,” Sailard says, noting that both wanted to be sculptors. “The essence of Azzedine is the body.”
Olivier Saillard curated the exhibit from more than 900 pieces discovered across Alaïa’s extensive collections.
Courtesy of Savannah College of Arts Design
“Doing an exhibition is to choose the first dress,” Saillard says. “The very first moment of an exhibition is very important.”
Curating an exhibition from over 900 pieces is no easy task, especially when working with the collections of a lost friend. Alaïa’s apartments throughout Paris would be so filled with items, Saillard remembers, there were rooms one couldn’t enter.
“It became a privilege to discover the collection, but it was also very sad,” he says. “There’s a moment to collect — and Alaïa collected a lot — and now, it’s a moment for me to preserve, to show. But in fact, there’s an ambiguity between the joy. I have to show them without him.”
Lud models a dress by Alix, Madame Grès’ first alias under which she opened a French couture house.
Photo: Courtsey of the Horst P. Horst Estate and The Art Design Project Gallery
“The Art of Draping” follows up the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film’s many rich offerings, which have included exhibits on and by Christian Siriano, Ruth E. Carter, Carolina Herrera, Pierre Cardin and Guo Pei. This latest project traces synchrony and hints at the undercurrent which connected two great designers across space and time.
“I have to confess. When you see the history of fashion through the great architects — like Balenciaga, Vionnet, Grès, Azzadine, Comme des Garçons — it’s another thing,” Saillard says. “I really think fashion could win something by going back to the clothes, not to the image.”
As Virgil Abloh broke fashion ground applying his architectural philosophies to fashion, Madame Grès crossed disciplines in a similar way to masterfully infuse garments with her sculptor’s touch. As the exhibit illustrates, Alaïa reveled in it, following in her footsteps.
“The Art of Draping” is on view at the SCAD Fash Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta, GA through June 30, 2023.
Disclosure: SCAD paid for Fashionista’s travel and accommodations to visit the exhibit.
