Fashion Conversations

Vetran Condé Nast magazine professionals, Fiona Hayes and Julia Zirpel, discuss collaborating on The Fashion Yearbook 2021. Recently published by Callwey of Munich, Germany, The Fashion Yearbook features striking images representing outstanding fashion ad campaigns, editorials and covers published last year. Fiona and Julia explain how, with picture editor Katja Sonnewend, they assembled all of this by working with a jury hailing from Europe, North America, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. The jury included Ariel Foxman, Veronika Heilbrunner, Veronique Kolasa, Sebastian Lux, Martien Mellema, Sara Maino, Florentine Pabst, Grant Pearce, Asanda Sizani and Donald Schneider.

Julia and Fiona also describe the challenges and rewards of assembling The Fashion Yearbook during lockdown. Magazine publishers were scrambling. Newsstands were closed. The fashion industry was at a standstill. Nevertheless, they gathered 1200 stories for their judges to narrow down to the group showcased in the book. The images meaningfully interpret Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 as well as climate change, gender discrimination and the refugee crisis. Despite the hurdles of publishing this book during the pandemic - and at a time when fashion photography is experiencing total upheaval - Hayes and Zirpel express their hope for the medium's future. A more diverse group of people are calling the shots in front of and behind the camera, they say. Creativity is flourishing in the hands of a new generation of visionary image makers.

The writer and director, Elza Kephart, discusses her new film Slaxx. Described by the Guardian's film critic, Peter Bradshaw, as an "often amusing and sharp, horror satire...set in an unbearably cool clothes shop," Slaxx shines a light on the inhumanity of the cotton trade and fast fashion.

Kephart explains how her commitment to climate change activism and Andrew Morgan's documentary, The True Cost, prompted her to craft a macabre yet darkly humorous movie about Keerat. She's a young Indian girl who perishes while picking cotton. Her spirit lives on in a pair of "killer jeans" which, ultimately, exact revenge on the employees of a fast fashion store.

As the atrocities of Xinjiang cotton dominate the fashion conversation, Kephart candidly addresses the human cost and environmental toll which the manufacture of inexpensive throwaway garments is exacting on our world. She discusses honing her craft by working in the art departments of some Hollywood blockbusters and the rewards of collaborating with an array of Montreal, Canada fashion and film creatives - including her writing partner, Patricia Gomez, the practical effects company, Blood Brothers FX, the costume designer, Eric Poirier and the sustainable denim brand, Naked and Famous - to create the "killer pants" that steal the show.

On April 24th, the fashion designer, Alber Elbaz, died in Paris. He was 59 and the cause was Covid-19. This episode is a tribute to the women's fashion designer who rose to fame when - after a stint designing ready-to-wear at Guy Laroche - Pierre Bergé appointed him to be a creative director at the House of Saint Laurent. Following his short tenure at Saint Laurent, Alber Elbaz went on to resurrect the house of Lanvin. He reigned there as creative director for 14 years and the fashion world fell in love with the modern femininity he channeled into the long dormant brand.

Special people talk about Alber Elbaz including the award-winning independent film producer, Christine Vachon. She worked with Alber Elbaz when he was Senior Designer at Geoffrey Beene in New York and Mr. Beene asked him to supervise the making of Tom Kalin's short film, Geoffrey Beene 30. Christine produced the film with her partner at Killer Films, Pam Koffler. Christopher Petkanas - the author of Loulou & Yves: The Untold Story of Loulou de la Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent - weighs in on how Alber Elbaz made the leap from Guy Laroche to Saint Laurent where he was charged with rejuvenating Rive Gauche women's wear. The author Dana Thomas assesses Alber's contribution to fashion and - how just prior to his passing he had launched A-Z Factory. This was his own fashion house that was size-inclusive, seasonless and technically innovative.

Brothers Alexander and Sebastian Adams explain why they founded their brand, Varsity Headwear, to create the perfect baseball cap, simply because they couldn't find one. They reveal putting everything on the line to launch a boutique for their brand in Saint Tropez, France and how their caps have sold seven at a time from their destination shop.

Looking back, Alex and Seb observe how their design journey really began when they grew up as the children of architects in Oslo, Norway and why it was vital for them both to break away from the family fold to study in London. The siblings share the advantages and challenges of operating a business with a family member.

Claire Wilcox - the Senior Fashion curator at London's Victoria and Albert Museum discusses her new book, Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes. As the title suggests, Patch Work is a memoir. But as the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that Patchwork is an unconventional memoir. The original storytelling method Claire conceived for this book portrays the facts of her life in an abstract manner, prompting the reader to imagine the finer details.

The writing process, Claire explains, was as much of a therapeutic exercise as a creative release. She embarked on this book in 2014. She then experienced the passing of her beloved parents and also undertook the most challenging curatorial project of her career - staging the Metropolitan Museum's blockbuster exhibition, Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty at the V&A.

Claire Wlicox has worked closely with some of the biggest names in fashion from McQueen to Vivienne Westwood and the Versace family. And along with discussing her new book, she provides a peek behind the closed doors of the V&A, its groundbreaking fashion department, where she has worked for decades. She also discusses some of the legendary professionals who elevated the museum onto the world stage including Sir Roy Strong and Valerie D. Mendes.

Related Reading

• Claire Wilcox, Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Claire Wilcox, "Who Gives A Frock?" - Valerie Mendes, Jean Muir and the Building of the National Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Fashion Theory, 8 June 2018
• Claire Wilcox & Valerie D. Mendes, 20th Century Fashion In Detail (Thames & Hudson)
• Sir Roy Strong, Splendours and Miseries, The Roy Strong Diaries, 1967 - 1987 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

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Over the last month designers in London, New York, Paris, Milan - and some other places - have streamed presentations of their fall/winter 2021 ready-to-wear collections. Alexander Fury - AnOther Magazine's Fashion Features Director and the Financial Times' Menswear Critic - joins Bronwyn Cosgrave to assess the direction of fashion for the season ahead and beyond.

Alex shares details of the interviews he has conducted over the last year for the FT with some of the most important designers at work right now, including Kim Jones, of Dior and Fendi, Givenchy's Matthew Williams, as well as Prada's collaborators, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.

He reveals his belief that London's fashion community will survive the double challenge it is facing. That's the pandemic and Brexit. He offers his expert opinion on the future of the suit, why the red carpet remains relevant as a fashion forum and some details about his forthcoming book about Dame Vivienne Westwood.

The writer and director of Audrey - a new documentary exploring the life and work of Audrey Hepburn - discusses how her own life prompted her to craft a film about one of the greatest movie stars of all time. Helena Coan explores the craft of working with archive footage and voiceover narration to reveal Hepburn's life story. She discusses Hepburn's triumphs on the Broadway stage, at the Oscars and campaigning for UNICEF in war torn Somalia. Coan reveals how she grappled with telling the story of Hepburn's personal struggles with her parents and her husbands. The filmmaker also sheds new light on Hepburn's creative partnership with Hubert de Givenchy including how they battled to get her long black Breakfast at Tiffany's dress exactly right.

Anna Sui discusses her fall 2021 collection, Phantasmadelic, and making a film to showcase it with her family. She recalls her rise from operating out of her New York apartment, as an indie designer in the early Eighties, to be a global fashion force. She considers her longtime creative partnership with Steven Meisel and how Madonna, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell wearing her signature baby doll dresses helped to establish her brand. To honor Chinese New Year, Anna ponders her Chinese American identity, and explains how the rise of her ancestral homeland has played a part in her success story

The new book, Glossy: The Inside Story of Vogue, is a comprehensive history of American Vogue magazine – and some of Vogue's international editions. The author, Nina-Sophia Miralles, reveals why she told Vogue's history through the lens of its editors. She discusses the careers and cultural impact of renowned Vogue editors including Edward Enninful, Grace Mirabella, Alexandra Shulman and Anna Wintour. She also tells the story of the unsung heroes who edited Vogue like Edna Woolman Chase who worked her way up from a job in American Vogue's mail room to edit the magazine for 38 years, from 1914. Discover how Michel de Brunhoff - who edited Vogue Paris from 1929 to 1954 - saved the magazine from a Nazi German takeover during World War II. We also revisit the career of the late Liz Tilberis. She applied her expertise editing British Vogue to relaunching American Harper's Bazaar in the early Nineties. Find out what happened to two French Vogue editors who challenged the unspoken rule that Black women were not the right fit for the magazine's cover. Nina also delivers her expert opinion on American Vogue's controversial February 2021 cover fronted by U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris.

P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes talk about producing and directing House of Cardin. This documentary tells the story of Pierre Cardin's life and work. House of Cardin premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. But on December 29, when Pierre Cardin passed away - at the age of 98 - Ebersole & Hughes's film attained new relevance as the last word on a design giant.

In the early Sixties, Pierre Cardin created ready-to-wear. He also pioneered logomania by affixing his circular initial insignia to a staggering array of 850 products which were sold worldwide. Pierre Cardin dressed the Beatles and costumed movies. He produced rock concerts and plays at his own eponymous theater. He had a record label. He owned and operated the celebrated Belle Époque restaurant, Maxim's de Paris.

Ebersole and Hughes explain discovering Pierre Cardin by collecting his furniture and acquiring a rare sports car which the designer customized for AMC in the early 70s. The filmmaking duo reveal how their mania for all things Pierre Cardin prompted them to venture from their home in Palm Springs, California to Paris. There, after a series of fortuitous events, they settled in at the House of Cardin and let the cameras roll.