FASHION November 2023

ANY WORLD IN WHICH I AM THE HEADLINE act over Nile Rodgers is definitely an imaginary one. But I couldn’t help chuckling when I opened an envelope delivered to my room at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles to find the card you see here. The lengths to which luxury brands are going to deliver rich social media experiences is staggering. For its latest Cruise collection, Chanel created a Venice Beach vibe on a Paramount Studios lot complete with food trucks and expert roller skaters (“California Dreaming,” page 26). The night ended with a dance party led by Snoop Dogg and Anderson .Paak. And since the SAG-AFTRA strike had not yet started, the venue was packed with A-list celebs, which made for quite the scene at the limo drop-off. In…

Matthieu Blazy has always been a wizard of sorts, but with this pair of ruby “slippers,” the creative director of Bottega Veneta is giving the ruler of Oz a run for his money. And just like with his Emerald City counterpart, there’s more to these boots than meets the eye. While they appear to be knitted with yarn, they are actually made of fine leather, which increases their durability and makes them perfect for, say, following a yellow brick road.…

You might describe Israella Kobla’s clothing the way you would an architectural monument: functional, beautiful and built to last. Conceived by engineer turned designer Emefa Kuadey, the Toronto-based label’s structural garments are made to weather passing trends and closet upheavals. An antidote to fast fashion, Israella Kobla’s minimalist wares are made on demand, reducing waste from overproduction. Its most popular styles—like the Dalmar, an oversized asymmetrical shift dress released in 2021—are produced in small batches, and the rest are assembled after an order is placed. The British-born Ghanaian designer says she owes her sustainable mindset to her mom, who favoured a good bargain over fashion fads. “I was never on trend,” Kuadey jokes. When her peers were changing out their antiquated articles for whatever was in vogue, a young Kuadey…

THERE’S A COAT I OWN THAT GETS ME compliments every single time I wear it—and I wear it often. It’s a red, brown and orange houndstooth one from Marni’s Fall 2017 menswear collection made of heavy wool, with flap pockets at the hips and a roomy enough fit that I can layer sweaters underneath it—a must for Canadian winters. When I first bought it, I wore it sparingly. It’s the kind of piece that people can’t help but notice, and at the time, I felt this meant they’d notice I was always wearing the same thing. I felt overdressed when I popped into the grocery store. Rather unbelievably, in retrospect, I considered selling the coat during the summer of 2018 because I was worried that it was too big after…

There is perhaps no better example of an overachiever than Nikhil Kapoor—although he’d never admit it. Raised in California, the 22-year-old content creator (@poshheat) studied biochemistry and molecular biology in college. His initial plan was to go to medical school, and he even got in. “But as much as I love science, it was just going to be too much work, so I decided to go to law school,” Kapoor shares, ignoring how absurd it is that he considers law school an easier alternative. Somewhere in between cramming for finals and bingeing Queer Eye, Kapoor launched a gender- and size-inclusive clothing line called Posh Heat. “When I first started becoming more stylish in college, I never realized how difficult it would be to find fashionable clothes in my size,” he…

IT WAS THE LATE DESIGNER Karl Lagerfeld who solidified the trend of destination shows with one of his earliest being in 2007, when models emerged from a Chanel-branded private jet at a Santa Monica airport hangar. The Parisian luxury house has continued to bring its runway road shows to far-flung locations around the world, including Dakar, Seoul and Dubai. Chanel returned to Los Angeles in May with its 2023/2024 Cruise collection, which lands in stores in November. Here are 10 reasons why holding this show at a legendary film studio made total sense. 1 Chanel’s Hollywood connections are long and deep. In 1931, legendary film producer Samuel Goldwyn beckoned Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel there to ensure that his films’ fashions wouldn’t look outdated by the time they were released. She ended up…