Fashion

Fashion is about creating desire and stimulating curiosity, and nowhere is that as apparent as with Cruise collections. Back in the 1920s, Cruise collections were marketed to wealthy clients who escaped the European winter and headed to more tropical climes. Today, a number of labels offer these mid-season collections to satisfy consumers' demand for novelty. We check out those of Chanel, Dior and Moschino.

Next winter's haute couture offerings are as concerned with protecting our oceans as they are about showcasing the best of ancestral savoir-faire. Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad rubs shoulders with Kerby Jean-Raymond, the first Black American to be invited to present his collection in Paris. Plus, the likes of Christophe Josse and Chanel celebrate the artistic accomplishments of their artisans, while Iris van Herpen embarks on a thrilling collaboration with Domitille Kiger, the French freeflying world champion!

Thread, the primary building block for any piece of clothing, is increasingly inspiring a number of fashion labels. At Dior, Maria-Grazia Chiuri experiments with a new tweed made from cashmere, while Indian designer Vaishali Shadangule creates her own fabrics from scratch as part of her homage to the power of nature. And Parisian designer Clara Daguin explores the intersection between science and mysticism through her beguiling use of fibre optic threads.

They dictate the latest trends, but the fashion stories published in glossy magazines can also be vehicles for questions about the world we live in. Laurent Dombrowicz is a fashion editor and stylist. For his latest work for the magazine Citizen K International, he's doing a shoot in Belgium inspired by Tim Burton's masterpiece "Edward Scissorhands" – a perfect context to explore questions of eccentricity, identity and acceptance. We went to meet him.

After seemingly endless months of cancelled and postponed events, life has almost returned to normal in the French capital. Theatres, cinemas and museums are throwing their doors wide open and catwalk shows are back. In Paris, Dior presented a dreamlike collection set against an arid decor, Parisian designer Louis-Gabriel Nouchi created a collection for Chinese label Joeone, while Maroussia Rebecq, queen of upcycling, issued a defiant call for a "fashion revolution". We bring you a glimpse of Paris Fashion Week.

For years, fashion followed a simple formula: source, produce and sell – with any leftover stock simple thrown away or burned. But we gradually realised there was a different way of doing things. Fashion became notorious as a polluting industry. Could what's good for the planet also could also be good for business? The idea is now so ingrained it's even got its own university course at the prestigious French Institute of Fashion, with graduates awarded a Sustainable Development Certificate. We take a closer look.

In just a couple of decades, collaborations have opened up a world of possibilities for the world of fashion, with consumers now attuned to the letter X that indicates the marriage of two brands. High-profile collaborations include Prada x Raf Simons and Gucci x Balenciaga, but younger labels are also getting in on the action, as we've seen with La Draft Paris x Apnée. Commercial success is often a given, but the best fusions happen when the brands involved have a shared vision. We take a closer look.

He was exuberant, creative and undeniably eccentric. But he was also fundamentally curious – and loved nothing more than asking questions. Designer and stylist Alber Elbaz worked at Guy Laroche and Saint Laurent before going on to be creative director at Lanvin for 14 years. In January 2021, he launched his latest project, AZ Factory – the fruit of his desire to democratise fashion. He passed away just a few months later, aged 59, after contracting Covid-19. We take a look back at his legacy.

With her signature red lips and sharp black bob, Chantal Thomass is a true fashion icon, a woman who embodies the essence of her eponymous label. With several decades in the business under her belt, the designer has decided to put 650 pieces from her archives up for auction. Chantal Thomass is best known for her ground-breaking lingerie, but her ready-to-wear collections from the 1980s are also iconic.

Barbara Blanchard is a business owner on a mission. Her belief in the importance not only of diversity but also inclusion infuses everything she does. In the 1990s she helped put on a groundbreaking fashion show with Lamine Kouyaté, founder of the label Xuly Bët, casting 100 Black models at a time when diversity simply wasn't on the industry's radar. Today, she offers diversity training to companies, while also working as a talent agent and running a fashion label devoted to women's football. We went to meet this exceptional woman.