Beyoncé Past To Future, Burberry Big Protein, New Bottega and More

by SHOWstudio on 4 October 2024

Your weekly fashion newsround.

Your weekly fashion newsround.

Beyoncé and Levi’s Warp Denim and Weft Pop Culture History

Chapter 1: “Launderette” reimagined with Beyoncé | LEVI’S®

Denim headlines our news this week, what with Beyoncé and Rihanna’s favourite stylist announcing denim-specific intentions. While Mel Ottenberg’s eponymous denim is inspired from Levi’s 505 versions (no stretch here, see Mel modelling), Beyoncé promotes the real thing in a campaign with Levi’s titled ‘REIIMAGINE.’ Their inevitable partnership was a standout megastar moment, in a cute country nod to the powerhouse denim company called ‘Levii’s Jeans’ (with Post Malone!) from Cowboy Carter, Mrs. Carter’s eighth album.

The campaign release was a timely occurrence as Levi’s reported its biggest fiscal gain in two years, also this week. Beyoncé represents eternal added value as the business-minded icon generated $5 million US in Media Impact Value from Instagram posts this week.

Revenue details aside, the ‘REIIMAGINE’ campaign is presented charmingly on the nose. The campaign video instructs your eye using several Beyoncé lyrics from ‘Levii’s Jeans’ quite literally:

Boy, I’ll let you be my Levi Jeans/So you can hug that ass all day long

Denim on denim on denim/Give you high fashion in simple white tee

Give you these blues it’s in my genes

Shot by longtime Beyoncé filmmaker Melina Matsoukas, the ‘REIIMAGINE’ campaign pulls inspiration from Levi’s 1985 laundry ad featuring model and Buffalo boy Nick Kamen as the original Beyoncé.

Nick Kamen by Jamie Morgan, The Face, No. 55 (November 1984)

While Kamen wasn’t pulling mother’s things from the closet, he was actually a bit of a pop star. Madonna — the featured icon on Beyoncé’s Queens remix for ‘Can’t Break My Soul’ — wrote and sang background on his 1986 hit ‘Each Time You Break My Heart’ (the stylist Olivier Rizzo swears by this song!). Kamen’s turn in the first Levi’s commercial made a sex symbol out of him (see below).

Levis 501 Originals Commercial (1985)

So now you see how Beyoncé maintains global domination by stacking her-itage atop icons from pop culture’s essential standards. Plus, we get to see how Beyoncé does laundry. Yep, it’s been a good week.

MEL by RE/DONE

If that wasn't enough denim for you then let us introducte you to MEL by RE/DONE. Stylist extraordinaire and editor-in-chief of Interview teamed up with RE/DONE on a capsule collection imbued with '80s nostalgia. The star? The MEL jean, available in two head-turning washes—medium blue and light acid. With a high rise that offers versatility, you can style them however you please—snug and high-waisted for a power vibe, or laid-back and relaxed for those chill days. The collection also features a selection of upcycled Levi’s 505s for those looking to flex their sustainable sartorial muscle. And the kicker? These jeans are unisex, tailored to fit and flatter anyone who dares to don them. 'I wear jeans a lot,' says Ottenberg. 'I usually wear vintage Levi's 505s from the 80s, becuase they look great on the butt and have a perfect leg.'

Yohji Yamamoto Reunites With M/M, Ignites In-House Hysteria

Nearly 30 years ago, creative directors Michael Amzalag and Mathia Augustyniak (M/M Paris) released their first catalogue for legendary designer Yohji Yamamoto. This was for the memorable Yamamoto A/W 1995 collection. The runway show is known for its Ryuchi Sakamoto solo piano and Stella Tennant’s big red exit. Any fashion idiot can recall the giant rounded hat, voluminous red gathered skirt and relaxed fit jacket evoking the Dior bar silhouette. The look recently featured in a summer Yohji Yamamoto retrospective in Milan. That Yamamoto commissioned M/M for his coveted seasonal catalogues was a dream realised dating back to their student days spent obsessing over Wim Wenders’ 1991 film Notebook On Cities And Clothes. We could detail M/M’s history with Yohji Yamamoto art direction — baby David Sims and Craig McDean, Amber Valletta in yellow mask A/W 00, Maggie Rizer as hell-raising wood nymph for A/W 98 and my beloved Stella Tennant in A/W 95 cloche — but that would bury the lead even deeper: M/M are publishing another Yohji Yamamoto book for A/W 24!

Make a joyful noise. Yohji Yamamoto has once again commissioned M/M for ‘Perspective Libre,’ a series of images juxtaposed familiar household, office and jewelry-like objects with models to ignite a new instinct. The Yamamoto A/W 24 collection predicated on seduction, particularly melting hearts with soft, sculptural shoulders. The new M/M chapter features replaces erotic tailoring with Cubism, more Braque than Picasso actually.

Photographer Martinez Leclerc with another legend, stylist Joe McKenna, took editorial inspiration to set models Ajus Samuel, Caitlin Soetendal and Freya Vervaet in surreal environments to capture warmth, ferocity and an effortless way of being.

The book, which is essential for any Yohji Yamamoto campaign catalogue psycho, can be had right now at all Yohji shops. The first 1000 copies include vinyl songs from Yohji himself. This is all too much to handle. We desperately need this book. Please send donations to SHOWstudio immediately!

Burberry Bulks For Fall

On the heels of their ‘interesting’ new S/S 25 collection, Burberry releases an innovative new B shield scarf. Burberry and Italian factories fuse a new material called Brewed ProteinTM fibre with wool and cashmere to offset inclement weather arriving any day now. Brewed ProteinTM, owned by Spiber, is a lab-generated polymer produced from fermenting plant-based ingredients. Offered up as an alternative to polymers developed from plastics, Burberry and Spiber look to protect outdoor elements and the environment. The B shield emblem from Burberry’s Prorsum knight features across the scarf and is available in caramel and ecru colourways with contrasting darker shades.

Couch Time With Rick Owens

Join the fashion designer Bella Freud as she invites Rick Owens to explore his innermost thoughts on her therapeutic new podcast, ‘Fashion Neurosis.’ While Freud tries to pop-psychoanalyse how fashion and identity connect in your brain, Owens is a fairly transparent subject. Freud proposes questions about Owens’ many obsessions, how fashion as a prism reflects back to proportion, queries age angles and exclusion. Knowledgeable Rick Owens fans will find some answers familiar. No matter. Owens could make yogurt ingredients sound enticing. Episode one of ‘Fashion Neurosis’ is an elegant conversation between Freud and Owens involving rabble rousing social perceptions of good taste, evolving personal style from contemptible to polite and negotiating uncomfortable vanity. Yes, Owens had Dad issues. And yes, they too sound novel. His story shopping at The Row is another matter entirely. Check out Bella Freud’s podcast ‘Fashion Neurosis’ to not only meet Rick Owens’ superego, but also find out when Michèle Lamy’s birthday party takes place.

Matthieu Blazy Maps Out A Fragrance Globe

Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy fosters a tactile sense of craft to innovate material worlds into solid personas. That vague sentence references his third collection indirectly, the Italian social scene show. Blazy’s variant characters in degrees of abstract, extravagant styles of dress were as hefty as a 50-stone flounce. His earlier collections were characterised by lively ideas, but heavy decoration with leaden hessian techniques gone technicolour. His new fragrance collection introduces a much lighter affair.

Concepting the Venetian house’s Intreccio leather crosshatch, Blazy presents five fragrances acting as meeting points — filled with mood and escapism — for ingredients from other countries. Think of the fragrances as aromatic compasses from Blazy’s S/S 24 collection, which placed regional dressing styles across continents into a Vitamix.

The five-part story skips across elemental regions to ignite scents and sensations. Colpo di Sole (evergreen cap) blends French Angelica oil with orange blossom absolute from Morocco. Come With Me (red cap) delights with tart citrus Italian bergamot and baker’s bread wafting from French orris butter notes. Acqua Sale (light wood grain cap) merges primal and calm extremes from Spain’s leathery labdanum and serene Macedonian juniper oil. Déjà Minuit (dark wood grain cap) captivates with emotional balance, the Madagascar geranium, only to be seduced by spicy, charming cardamom from Guatemala. Lastly Blazy’s Alchemie (black onyx cap) fulfills its name as mystery and provocation evoke your voyeuristic essence.

Each Bottega bottle encapsulates Matthieu Blazy’s preternatural tactility. The chalices are a celebration of Bottega Veneta’s artisanal values and continuity of house pride for the Veneto region.

Marina Raphael and Georgia Medley Present GEORGIA

Marina Raphael collaborates with friend and stylist Georgia Medley on a bold new handbag. Conceived through natural conversations, (friends do talk, you know), the luxury bag designer decided the new handbag line should be called GEORGIA. Raphael twists modernity with a specific set of timeless flourishes. She is granddaughter to legendary shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo. Quality and craft is in her bloodline.

Blending Medley’s individualistic instincts with her own sense of future function, the female dichotomy — comforting, curvacious, hardness — manifests in GEORGIA’s multiplicity. The six-piece, multisized collection features Raphael’s penchant for exquisite materials. That GEORGIA is available in embossed croc or pony hair, proving friends with great taste are the best luxury accessory.

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