Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 51 - Spring Fashion, Art, Design 2025 i L'OFFICIEL USA

Is there anyone who doesn’t find “Creative Black Tie” to be the most confusing of dress codes, demanding a seemingly impossible balance between flair and formality? Thanks to gala circuit frocks worn with the sort of performance outerwear that’s usually reserved for more rugged pursuits, the Spring/Summer 2025 runways have this wardrobe quandary sorted. What really makes this ineffably cool look work: The contrast between such nonchalantly thrown-together materials. Odd couples that just look so good together include Rabanne’s black parka and bedazzled asymmetrical mini combo, and Prada’s Re-Nylon rain jacket paired with a sequin, mirror, and crystal–encrusted tulle cocktail dress. Ditto Burberry’s metallic paillette–fringed jersey number, worn with a no-nonsense cotton parka sprouting faux plumage from its hood, or The Attico’s feather-embroidered georgette maxi, peeking out from underneath a…

“Tired of carrying my bags by hand and losing them, I slipped a strap over them and slipped them over my shoulder,” Gabrielle Chanel once said of the pioneering 2.55 quilted hand-bag that she introduced in 1955. Built to be both elegant and functional with its hands-free chain strap, the 2.55 featured pockets for all the essentials that a mid-century woman might want to have with her, from lipstick to love letters. Today, it serves as the inspiration for the new Chanel 25 bag, fronted by Dua Lipa and Jennie. Scaled up for more modern use, the trapezoidal Chanel 25 comes in three sizes, with a variety of fabrications that include grained calfskin, washed denim, and tweed. The largest version is big enough to hold both a 13-inch laptop and…

It’s not easy to make ancient art like stained glass feel modern, let alone wearable. With the launch of a colorful new timepiece, Tiffany & Co. makes it feel downright au courant. Inspired by a 1905 table lamp that was originally created for Tiffany Studios by glass designer Clara Driscoll, the Tiffany Eternity Enamel Dragonfly watch is a true symbol of masterful handiwork. Recalling the graphic nature of Driscoll’s original lamp—a bronze-and–leaded glass triumph that, under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany, was handmade at the height of the Art Nouveau movement—its titular creature rests breezily on the dial. Down to green glass jewel eyes and ornately patterned wings, the dragonfly’s details—and those of its surroundings—are replicated precisely. And the method of ensuring this is quite complex. Mimicking the mottled…

Isabela Merced has had one hell of a year. The actor, 23, is fresh off a bold 2024, when she appeared in Madame Web and Alien: Romulus, and also filmed roles in James Gunn’s Superman and the second season of HBO’s zombie drama The Last of Us, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. For most young actors, even a small part in any one of these franchises would be a huge step in elevating their profile, but for Merced, being in all four is a continuation of work that stretches back to her breakout role as the live-action version of Dora the Explorer in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The Last of Us is poised to put Merced on the map in a much larger way. Her…

Fendi has plenty to celebrate in 2025. To mark its 100th birthday, the luxury Italian fashion house has welcomed an unexpected collaboration with the American footwear brand Red Wing, merging its renowned Italian craftsmanship with utilitarian durability with the release of a work boot collection for Spring/Summer 2025. The innovative partnership combines Fendi’s meticulous leatherwork with the well-known reliability of Red Wing. Since launching in 1905, the Minnesota-based company has earned a reputation for producing durable boots that have been trusted by workers across industries for over a century, thanks to their high-quality, oil-tanned leather (which is sourced from the brand’s very own tannery). Fendi, of course, has also been known for its commitment to premium materials and artisanal expertise since its 1925 founding in Rome. Now, the labels are…

As the oldest luxury fashion house under the LVMH umbrella, Loewe’s storied heritage is worth revisiting. And with the release of the Madrid bag, the maison is paying proper tribute to its roots. Its leather ateliers have called the Spanish capital home since 1846: It was in the heart of Madrid, on Calle Lobo, that founder Enrique Loewe Roessberg first began designing small leather goods with a collective of skilled artisans. The brand’s first store opened on the busy shopping street Calle Príncipe in 1892, and in the century-plus that followed, Loewe has continued to produce high-quality creations that are as wearable as they are coveted. From seemingly ubiquitous raffia basket totes to innovative leather styles that reign supreme (think: the cult-classic handwoven Puzzle bag or the cinched drawstring Flamenco…

Hannah Traore was destined to enter the creative space. It was art that brought the gallerist’s parents together: Her Canadian mother was traveling around West Africa, searching for artwork to sell in Toronto, when she met Traore’s Malian father. “Our house was filled with art from my dad’s country, so it was a big part of my upbringing,” says Traore, 30. “I’ve always loved being surrounded by those pieces and that part of my history. At the same time, I was raised going to museums and taking art classes, and my grandmother was a painter with an incredible collection of her own. So before I could talk, I really was seeing and making art.” Despite an early appreciation for art—and a childhood “obsession” with Degas’s “Little Dancer” sculptures, in particular—Traore…

For Spring/Summer 2025, Bode designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla turns her fashion historian’s eye to swimwear. This new category, part of the brand’s Bode Rec. line, features sleek men’s swim briefs modeled on 1950s Speedos alongside a trio of women’s styles. The high-cut bikini featuring a tonal logo on the waistband and the rickrack-trimmed maillot with a low back and long straps tied in a bow—both in recycled polyamide and elastane—resemble sexy 1970s beachwear. The cotton-alpaca one-piece is a more unusual specimen, highlighting functional side cutouts to reduce drag, an innovation that was popular in the 1920s before the development of elasticized fabrics allowed for more closely fitting swimsuits.…

It was “New York or nowhere” for Toteme’s New York Fashion Week runway debut in September. “That’s where I find my woman,” explains the label’s Stockholm-based designer, Elin Kling. “She has an independence and a stride, and she’s always on the go.” From the catwalk on the 48th floor of the Gordon Bunshaft–designed Solow Building in Midtown Manhattan, you could practically see the whole metropolis laid out like a LEGO City set, with Kling’s muses moving purposefully across the grid. The show was a homecoming for Kling and her husband and co-founder Karl Lindman, the branding genius behind Toteme’s minimalist-chic T-lock hardware and square monogram with six letters spelling the brand name arranged in perfect symmetry. The couple met and launched their label together in New York a decade ago—back…

As life and business partners, Luis Laplace and Christophe Comoy do their best to avoid bringing their work home. With their Paris apartment located in the same building as the office of their design firm, Laplace, that’s easier said than done. Since the company’s founding in 2004, its namesake Argentinian-born designer has remained the creative lead; Comoy serves as the CEO, managing the overarching vision for Laplace along with its business plans. Together, they’re known for creating unique yet functional spaces that feel timeless and unexpected all at once. The duo primarily work with clients in the international art and design space, tackling projects with artists, museums, and collectors. They also dabble in the realms of private residence and hospitality, and they’ve designed a plethora of spaces for the famed…

Art, fashion, and design intersect in our May issue, in which our globetrotting editors and contributors highlight time-honored craftsmanship. “From Paris, With Volume” captures the artistry of the Spring/Summer 2025 couture season with billowing, extravagant silhouettes from Schiaparelli and Balenciaga (page 60). No discussion of Paris couture would be complete without acknowledging the city’s renowned haute joaillerie practice. In “Come Alive” (page 82) the diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires of Cartier’s “Nature Sauvage” collection do just that. Elsewhere in the issue, the season’s finest accessories are displayed like the artworks they truly are. Loewe’s newest bag, the Madrid, pays homage to the label’s Spanish roots while showcasing the dedication to detail that Creative Director Jonathan Anderson established during his 11-year tenure. Gucci’s silk artistry is brought into focus in an excursion…

After a five-year renovation, New York’s beloved Fifth Avenue house-museum The Frick has at long last emerged, with two-thirds more exhibition space and nearly double the number of works on view. Architect Annabelle Selldorf has changed virtually nothing in the iconic Fragonard Room or the Old Master–filled West Gallery, save for the faded velvet and silk damask wall hangings that have now been swapped for faithful reproductions from the same textile houses originally commissioned by the Frick family over a century ago. In fact, Selldorf has opened second-floor bedrooms (recently used as staff offices) to the public for the first time, while also building an underground auditorium and an Indiana limestone–clad addition—complete with a café, education center, and temporary exhibition space—that blends seamlessly into the Gilded Age mansion’s facade.…

Les Rhumbs, Christian Dior’s childhood home set on the windswept cliffs of Normandy, takes its name from a naval term denoting the 32 divisions of a compass rose. Dior Joaillerie Artistic Director Victoire de Castellane drew inspiration from a mosaic wind rose that guards the entrance to the villa for her classic Rose des Vents medallions, now celebrating their 10th anniversary. Bordered in rice-grain gold reminiscent of a navigator’s rope, each protective amulet features an eight-pointed gold star (incidentally, the founder’s lucky number) adorned with diamonds and colorful gemstones like opal, onyx, and malachite. The latest Rose des Vents collection highlights a range of ear cuffs, brooches, and necklaces that join these precious charms, in addition to the founder’s other favorite motifs, such as the moon and stars, florals, and…

For years, the industry’s obsession with minimalist beauty has favored the “clean” symmetry of hair parted down the middle. But, as with fashion, beauty trends are cyclical. Amid a resurgence of Y2K staples, side parts were everywhere on Spring/Summer 2025 runways, as designers tapped top hairstylists to reintroduce the look in experimental ways. At Saint Laurent, thanks to hairstylist Duffy, models rocked sleek side parts with tailored suits designed by Anthony Vaccarello. Others on the Paris runway wore their hair in voluminous sideswept waves that cascaded romantically. Anthony Turner went for an edgier look at Acne Studios, where sections of hair flowed out from a corner part, artfully plastered to models’ faces. At Jil Sander, designers Lucie and Luke Meier featured similarly slicked-down formations, but with bangs fixed into a…

Christmas 2004, freshman year of high school. Between squeaks of Happy Birthday, Jesus! my sisters and I greedily ripped into our presents. Beneath the green-and-red wrapping paper were two albums by soft jazz singer Diana Krall. It was a Christmas miracle—I had gotten exactly what I asked for. My father, stirring the shit, asked if there were any albums I wanted by, you know, Black people. “Well, what I really wanted was Ciara’s Goodies, but I knew you wouldn’t buy it for me,” I retorted, and he agreed. Sure, I was corny, but whose fault was it? Since she first came onto the scene, Ciara, now 39, has been an unstoppable force, so cool and self-assured and comfortable in her sexuality that even my parents couldn’t deny it. In the…

Not everyone is invited to walk through the stone-arched entryway of Palazzo Settimanni, the unassuming Florentine home of Gucci’s archives. Gucci acquired the 15th-century jewel box of a palace, on the left bank of the Arno river, in 1953. The palazzo has lived many lives since its days as an aristocratic home: as a factory, a workshop, and even a showroom during the Tom Ford era. Gucci’s former Creative Director Alessandro Michele unveiled the palazzo’s new purpose as an archive in 2021, declaring it the “inner sanctum from where one sets out for Gucci’s holy lands.” To the inner sanctum I went, one sun-drenched Friday during Milan Fashion Week, in pursuit of the creative history behind the legendary Gucci scarf. Some elements of Gucci’s history, particularly those of the heady…