← The Run-Through with Vogue
The Run-Through with Vogue
The Most Impactful Shows of the Century So Far According to Vogue Editors
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- [00:00]
A
Hi listeners, it's Cho Menardi here. We're currently conducting a survey of our audience and want to hear from you as a run through listener, this is one of the best ways for us to learn about what you value as a listener and a chance for you to help shape the future of our shows. As a token of our appreciation, you'll be eligible to enter a prize drawing up to $1,000 after you complete the survey. You can find a link to the survey in our episode notes.
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B
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C
Hello, it's Nicole Phelps. We're currently conducting a survey of our audience and we want to hear from you. This is one of the best ways for us to learn about what you value as a listener and a chance for you to help shape the future of our podcast. Whether it's a dream guest for the show or thoughts on your favorite episodes, we want to hear from you. And as a token of our appreciation, you'll be eligible to enter to win a prize of up to $1,000 after you complete the survey. You can find the links to the survey in our episode and show notes. Thank you so much for listening to the Run through. This is the Run Through. I'm Nicole Phelps. Throughout December of last year, the Vogue Runway team published a roundup of all the major trends of the last 25 years of fashion. We did a year a day, and you can go back and find that on the Vogue app. As part of that project, I invited my colleagues Laird Borelli Pearson, Virginia Smith and Mark Guiducci, who's now at Vanity Fair, and to discuss their picks for the most impactful fashion shows of the last quarter century. After the September to remember we just saw, with 12 debuts across New York, Milan and Paris, I wonder which of those shows will emerge as the most impactful in years to come. Could it be Matthieu Blaisey's Chanel? Heider Ackerman's Tom Ford? Only time will tell. So as we close out 2025 and start making our end of year lists, we're revisiting that episode. Here's my conversation with Laird, Virginia and Mark. Welcome.
- [03:18]
D
Hi, Nicole.
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E
Hi, Nicole.
- [03:19]
C
Hi. I'm excited to hear about your picks and again, I definitely recommend listeners follow along on the app and on the site to see the looks we're talking about today. But before we get to our own picks, we have to go back to the reader's choice list. They selected their top 25 and because of time, we didn't get to all of them on Tuesday. So at the top of this list is Versace Spring 2018. And I can guess why the readers had such a big reaction to it. To me, it really is the beginning of the return of the supermodel. Donatello was celebrating the 20th or marking the 20th anniversary of her brother Johnny's passing. And she brought back to the Runway some of Johnny's favorite models to work with, including Naomi, including Cindy. Helena Christensen was there, Carla Bruni. It was a great list of models. And even Kaia Gerber was there. So it was a mom, a mom daughter moment. And the clothes were very much in honor and in like an ode to Johnny's collections in the 90s. And I would say not only was it the rebirth of the supermodel, but it was the beginning of this idea of re additions and fashion being very open to revisiting the past, whereas maybe once upon a time people were more focused on it has to be new, it has to be new, it has to be new.
- [04:42]
F
Well, it was around that time that Google Trends said that nostalgia was the, the trend of the year, I believe in 2018. So I think this played into that. But it also brought it forward. It was forward and back because you had Cindy and Kya, you had the prince, but not the exact designs. So And I think there's a lot of longing that we've seen over the past few years for the 90s in particular. And like, it's not a fear of missing out. Cause you couldn't have been there, but you still want it because you. You came up with it on Tumblr or Instagram or Pinterest. And so I. It's a really interesting dynamic where the past and the present are in constant dialogue.
- [05:25]
D
2018, we're a decade into Instagram culture, more or less, and the idea that photo archives, which have been uploaded there and fed to us via algorithm, the audience, a young audience, would have known what they were looking at. Both not just the famous faces, but also the prints. And that kind of visual remix was primed and ready. And Donatella, like her brother before her, is so clever at understanding where that pop cultural needle is on that.
- [05:59]
C
I'm glad you brought up Instagram culture, Mark, because the next show sort of has to do with that in a. In sort of the reverse way. We wanted to put Tom Ford's eponymous debut for his label, which was in 2010, on the list. But at the time, I don't know if you all remember, he forbade any photographs being taken. I think he had one photographer there. He kept those photos for internal use. And everybody else, you know, who wasn't at the show, which was many of us, because it was a very small show, were left to wonder what happened. It really was going back to Tuesday's show when we were talking about keeping things for the clients only. It was a very, very private experience. And the sad thing about it for all of us was Beyonce, Julianne, Mo, Lauren Hutton, all walked the Runway. Also on the list, Sarah Burton's spring 2020 Alexander McQueen collection. And Sarah is obviously very au courant because she has since left McQueen to take the job at Givenchy. I was happy to see this show on the list. The readers pick it. And in fact, Virginia, this is a collection that produced one of your recent Met Gala looks.
- [07:12]
E
It did. I wore one of those beautiful tailored looks with ruffles for last year's Met Gala. They were nice enough to let me borrow it. So I have a deep appreciation for this collection.
- [07:25]
C
And you're happy that Sarah Burton is returning to the spotlight, right?
- [07:29]
E
I'm very excited. I think we all are.
- [07:31]
D
You know, this is like a kind of a quintessential Sarah Burton McQueen collection. It was nice to see it, but it's actually a really significant collection for its casting. It had a generation of girls that are now supermodels, but they were babies then. Kaya and Vittoria. But it was also one of Stella Tennant's last shows, and it featured Jill Courtlev. Jill was exclusive to McQueen that season, and it was. This is not that long ago, but it was kind of a big deal to see a curved girl walk McQueen at the time. And then the next season, Paloma walked that show. And so it has a place in fashion history for that reason too. And I remember Sarah gave away amazing sweaters on every seat that season.
- [08:17]
E
Yes, she did. With your little initials.
- [08:19]
F
Yeah.
- [08:20]
E
Correct.
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F
Wow.
- [08:22]
C
All right, Loewe. Spring 2023. No designer has gotten more press, I think, in the last year than Jonathan Anderson, thanks to his work with the director Luca Guadagnino and many other reasons. So it's natural to have to have Jonathan on this list.
- [08:42]
D
And there's a number of looks. The Anthurium dress that is so graphic is one that comes to mind. But for me, it's that pixel look that Jonathan is so creative and fun, and he's so damn smart. And that idea, I think, is one of his smartest, that I implore everyone to go look at the picture. It's look 19, because you really have to see it to understand. But he knew what that look would look like photographically. And the effect isn't the same IRL if you see. You know, it's been in the office before as it is in a picture, which means that that look wasn't actually about being in the room. It was about seeing it on Instagram or seeing it on Vogue Runway. And he was making a meme. He was creating Internet content in real life, which is so brilliant. And I think that idea will continue to be influential, especially as Jonathan goes on.
- [09:34]
F
I'm glad you called out that look, because I also love it. I'm kind of obsessed with glitch culture and music, hyper pop. But I love that it exists in the same collection with the pannier dress which opened the show. Pannier being the extended hips that women Wore in the 18th century and then were revived in the early 20s. And I think that juxtaposition, for me as an archivist, is really beautiful to see the Internet culture mixing with fashion history that's been updated. But I also think that maybe glitch is one way to describe Jonathan's genius, because it's always not quite what it should be, and that's why it's so exciting. It's kind of caught in the moment between what you expect and what it actually is. And I love that idea.
- [10:25]
C
The readers also selected Saint Laurent Fall 2023. This is the show where Antoni Vaccarello did the shoulders. I mean, bigger than football, American football shoulders. You know, inches added to your profile and your silhouette, and they became super influential. Right. That shape.
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E
You know, Anthony has been to me, he's just really, really come into his own the last few years at Saint Laurent. I mean, he was always good. He just minds a specific sort of area that he loves, and he does such an incredible job of it. And, you know, talk about women taking up space. Like, Anthony gave them the clothes to do that. And he continues to do, like, incredible collections. So I have a huge amount of respect for him and what he's doing there.
- [11:13]
D
Virginia, when those clothes came into the office, did you ever try on one of those jackets?
- [11:17]
E
I did. I don't. I felt like, too big, you know, like, I was just. I'm too tall, too big. Too much of me was going on for that same.
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D
I tried it on, too, but it.
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E
Looks great for other people. I was like, I don't think I can pull this off. But I admire anyone who did.
- [11:35]
D
It changes your psychology, though, doesn't it?
- [11:37]
E
It does.
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F
And the funny thing is this beautiful, sophisticated collection that speaks to Yves St. Laurent's tailoring was inspired by Working Girl, which is, you know, Staten Island Ferry coming to Wall Street.
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C
Anthony is now multitasking as a movie producer and is having quite a good run with Amelia Perez. Right?
- [11:59]
E
Sure is.
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C
So Thom Browne is another designer, multitasker. He's also our CFDA chairman. And fall 2023 was his debut couture collection in Paris. He had shown there many times in the past, but this is the first time he joined the couture schedule. And, Mark, I think you were there.
- [12:20]
D
I was there. I've been to a couple of shows that have taken place in theaters before Opening Ceremony. Did one in New York, I think at Lincoln center, maybe. But Tom did this genius thing where we were all invited to the Opera House in Paris, which designers have historically shown that before, but you usually enter through the front. We entered through the back. And you went backstage through the bowels of the Opera Garnier, and you were sat. You didn't know it at the time, but you were sat on stage. And then when the show started, the curtain came up, and there were thousands of little cardboard cutout men. I mean, I don't know what they were made of, but little cardboard figures in each and every seat of the Opera Garnier. Little Thom Browne avatars. And so all of a sudden you felt like you were part of the spectacle and it was one of Tom's. I don't know, it was probably a 40 minute show that had narrative and had plot points and probably motifs and supporting characters.
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E
Going to a Tom Brown show is like going to Broadway. You need to invest your time into a Tom Brown show. No.
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D
Yeah. It's like going to see the Brutalist. It's fabulous. The intermission might be necessary.
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C
Yeah. I think that it really is a moment where he is wearing both of his caps, his designer cap, and his CFDA boss cap, and sending a message to the world and especially to Europe, which oftentimes European fashion, which oftentimes disputes this or discounts this fact that American fashion can compete on the world stage. And definitely Tom Brown's can also.
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D
The stage of the Opera Garnier.
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C
No less.
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D
No less.
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C
All right, this is the last show that our readers picked and it is Mathieu Blasey's spring 2023 Bottega veneda. And when Laird and I were making our selections for the poll, we had a big debate over doing his debut or this second collection, spring 2023. And tell us, Laird, why you felt so sure we should use this one.
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F
I'm obsessed with this collection and it inspired an essay that I wrot the eye becoming an unreliable narrator. In a digital world with AI and fakes, we don't know if what we see is real. And the tank and the jeans were marvelous, but the flannel shirt was something else. I think it belongs to grunge. It belongs. It has so many things attached to it, but you would never in a million years think it's leather unless someone used words to tell you or you felt it. So this iconic piece that has so many built in associations to see it rendered this way and need to be told what it actually is, it just brought back to mind Magritte's this is not a pipe. It was what it was and it's not what it is. And I find it fascinating and more complicated than the tank because of the pop culture references and that he put.
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D
It on Kate Moss. Right. That just took it. Not only was she going to get the most attention, but also she was part of that moment in the 90s from which it came. And it's been so influential. Now you see all kinds of high street brands doing versions of that trompe l' oeil with that in mind, whether they know it or not.
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F
I think they know.
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C
That'S it for the reader's Choice. Now that we've come to the end of the list, I'm curious what you all think and what you learned from studying it.
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D
I think, for one, there is some recency bias. You know, if you look at the list as you laid it out chronologically, Nicole, the first 15 years have only half a dozen or so shows, and then the last decade has the majority of the shows on the list. And I think that's natural, particularly with younger readers who will remember the last 10 years better than the prior 15. But I also think there's something about how, as we were saying before, Instagram has habituated our eyes to seeing Runway images, and the designers know that they need to create something that's gonna stand out. So Rachel Taschen, who's a critic at the Washington Post, she actually texted me and said that seeing the reader's choices made her feel old. And I said, honestly, same. But I think it's because designers today have learned so much about how to stage a fashion show from those earlier designers like Hussein shalayan and Alexander McQueen and Dries van Noten, that they've been honed the devices about how to create spectacle much better today.
- [17:09]
E
I was pretty impressed by the range of designers that were included, though I have to say I was, you know, very pleasantly surprised to see, like, someone like Adrees Van Noten included on that list. Obviously, that show was incredible, the one I missed that we, you know, can go into once again. But while that show was sort of a spectacle, he's not really a designer who. That sort of spectacle is not so important to him. That's not really. He's not an Instagram designer, shall we say. He's not really a showman. He really lets the clothes speak for himself. So I was impressed that he made the list, to be honest, and obviously very thrilled. And then someone like Victor and Rolf, who. I was surprised they actually made the list because I wouldn't have thought they were as well known as many of the other designers. But that, I think, goes to show you that, you know, those collections that do have a real sort of Instagram moment recently also are, you know, so impactful. But I thought the range was impressive.
- [18:08]
F
And I think it represents a bit of a generational shift. I think Miu Miu today is what Prada was to people in the 90s, for example. And I also think there's a sort of cult of designer and brand that people really. It's. I think fashion is moving closer to sports in the sense of, like, fandom. There's always been fandom, but it's people really deep dive. There are, you know, scroll and scroll and there are a million people telling you the details of specific nitty gritty about a collection. And so I think that's become more of the norm to have Dunya on that list from 2000. I'm so happy with this list.
- [18:50]
C
I guess my big takeaway is that I'm an outlier because at least two, but possibly three I'm trying to remember of my favorites didn't make the top 25. So we'll have a lot more to talk about after the break.
- [19:15]
A
Hi, it's Cho Minardi. If you're not on the Vogue app yet, what the hell are you doing? You can follow along with me and other editors as we talk about everything happening in fashion. Think you're already a fashion expert? Well, find out how your Runway IQ stacks up against the Vogue community with an all new Runway genius leaderboard. So download the Vogue app today and you'll never miss a moment. The wait is over. Macy's biggest deals of the year are here. The Black Friday sale is happening now through November 29th. Why not go ahead of your holiday shopping with huge savings and treat yourself too. Avoid last minute scrambling and score your outfits, presents and more all in one place. And when you shop at Macy's this holiday season, you can make your gifting go further by rounding up for Big brothers, big sisters. 100% of funds will go to help one to one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Macy's has raised over 13 million for BBBs to support 280,000 mentoring moments. Shop Black Friday savings online or in store today so you can skip the stress tomorrow and get gifts that keep on giving.
- [20:31]
G
It's 11:30pm I'm just about to fall asleep. And yet I'm still scrolling ebay looking for YSL. Quilted satin transparent Moto Miss 60 deadstock, an antique Edwardian blouse I'm actively bidding and putting in best offers on ebay before my head hits the pillow. That's actually what lulls me to sleep at night and then waking up in the morning checking to see who responded to me. This is a normal day.
- [21:08]
C
Okay, we're back. We are now gonna talk about editors favorites and the way I want everyone to think about this is there were 25 shows that didn't make the list. We gave the readers a selection of 50 and there's some in that second 25 that are just too important important not to talk about. So while we may Talk about specific collections. We'll also talk about the influence and the impact that these designers have had over the course of the last 25 years. And at the top, we are gonna start with Balenciaga, fall 2007. I think this might be one of your favorite Nicolas Ghesquier collections ever.
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E
I don't know how this did not make the top.
- [21:50]
A
Me neither.
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E
I mean, this was a tour de force of a show. I mean, and almost every editor I know would put this in their top list. I think I certainly would. But it was this amazing, multicultural blend of collegiate jackets, e cop prints, Sajadhpur's. I mean, you just saw all this coming at you and you couldn't believe it. And the thing that was so incredible about this show, I think, is of course you wanted those looks on the Runway, but it also was so. It sort of changed the way you looked at your own wardrobe. And you could go into your closet and relook at how you sort of styled yourself. It was so influential in that regard. Like, the next day, I remember seeing anyone who had brought a scarf to Paris, had it wrapped around their neck, you know, with every single print they owned on their body, you know, and if you were lucky enough to have a jodhpur in your suitcase, you were really doing it. But it was such an incredible, incredible show. I absolutely loved the clothes of the show. I actually have a gray flannel varsity jacket from this collection that is so beautiful. It did not fit me, I don't think, when it was given to me, and it does not fit me now. But I still go into my closet and look at it every once in a while just to see how beautifully made it is.
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C
The incredible thing about Nicola is that he really toggled between these sci fi collections. And, you know, he was looking a lot at Cristobal Balenciaga's own work from the mid century. And then he would do a show like this that was really all about the street. I think that's what he said at the time. It's about the street mix. And he could do it all.
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F
I mean, but really, how do you pick a favorite Nicolas Balenciaga collection? It's almost an impossibility.
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D
I remember that store that's now a Comme des Garcons store in Chelsea with kind of egg shaped door. And I remember going there and just sort of like, it was almost like going to church. You would just go and, you know, look around, light a candle, go to the various chapels, see the altar, beg.
- [23:58]
E
The sales associates to go Back in the stockroom and find something more to.
- [24:02]
D
Bring out, pay significant alms.
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C
Okay. So a year later is another show that we think, you know, is not to be missed. And it was Prada's spring 2008. And this was the Fairies collection.
- [24:20]
F
Yes. Mitya worked with an illustrator and sort of did Ossie Clark sort of silhouettes in these vibrant colors and psychedelia. But I think that Mark Guiducci is the one to talk about this collection because it's his most favorite. So I turn it over to you.
- [24:37]
D
It is my most favorite Prada collection. Sarah Moore, in her review, started by saying, fairies at Prada. Why, yes. And Prada is always unpredictable and I think purposefully, maybe even inscrutable. But this collection really stood out as something different. It had a few prints that became really popular. There's the windowpane Prada skirt that, you know, has continued and we see all the time. But this particular art nouveau motif of, like, a wood nymph seemed to come from total left field. She's like a green absinthe fairy that's printed on these retro 1960s silhouettes in silk chiffon. And there's collars that look like flower petals. It was like Aussie Clarke meets FernGully. And I don't know, it was just the antithesis of what you might expect from one season to the next. It was like as if Donald Judd all of a sudden started doing figurative painting. And I think because of that reason, it was so unexpected that it immediately became a cult classic. I threw a party once, and my friend Colby Mugrabi, who's a collector, showed up wearing a look from that collection, and it was like my present just to wear it. And you can still. I think these pieces are, like, for vintage. Archive hunters are still the Grail. Yeah, the Grail.
- [26:01]
C
Such a great show and so many. Mucha is another designer who. It was so hard to pick which collection.
- [26:09]
F
I know. The pepams, the wrinkles. I mean, it goes on and on the list.
- [26:16]
C
Ricko in spring 2014. This was a very big moment. He invited American dancers to perform at this show, and sadly, I wasn't there. I think it might be the only Rick show that I haven't seen in a decade and a half. And I can't believe. I can't believe this is the one. Were you there in Virginia?
- [26:38]
E
No, I missed it, too. And I'm very lemon lipped, as much Hamish Bowles would say about not being there. Because Rick is just a phenomenon of a designer. I mean, you know, I have a son who's been obsessed with Rick Owens since his, you know, since a teenager. He has a following that his reach is so vast, and he's always cool. Rick never goes out of not being cool. He's just the ultimately cool designer. And his clothes are so good for kids who are lucky enough to be able to save up and afford, you know, the dark shadow tennis shoe to, like, what we would want. And it's just. It's. He's very unusual in that way.
- [27:23]
C
To me, there's always this line outside his store in soho, right? And it's always kids out there, and you're like, how can they afford anything in that Rick Owens store? And going to a Rick Owens show is one of the highlights of Paris Fashion Week. Right? Because he's one of these designers who has developed this cult around him. And his clothes are accessible and odd and eccentric, and they come dressed head to toe, and it's just a trip to be there.
- [27:51]
D
Yeah. And his, you know, he's another multidisciplinary designer. He has a furniture show at Salon 94 right now uptown. But I love that he exists because as this California transplant in Paris, goth genius. Because I think sometimes people think of fashion as being for one kind of person. And the Rick Owens girl is a really different than the Oscar de la Renta girl. And it's just really great that I think he's a good example of how inclusive has many other meanings now, but, you know, how broad and inclusive fashion actually can be.
- [28:29]
F
I mean, Rick talks a lot about this, about being an outsider and having had that experience, he has, you know, it has transformed him and given him a really inclusive vision, both in terms of, you know, aesthetics and, you know, looking through. Some of the collections are very couture like, and, you know, interested in other people doing things that you might not know about. And I think we all benefit from that.
- [28:58]
C
Well, talking about cults, designer cults, Phoebe Filo, of course, old Celine has a very big. A big one. And again, we clicked through many a Celine show to decide which one to put on this list. And in the end, Celine Spring 2014, is what we chose. And for those who can't conjure it out of their head, this is a show where Phoebe Filo sort of fell in love with color. And these bold brushstrokes on these sort of simple, ish shapes, like a boxy tee, a lean tank that went down to the thighs, and a pleated skirt with an asymmetrical hem. And the prints are so exceptional. And I Will say that there is an editor who works on floor 20 who still wears pieces from this collection going on. Yes, 11 years ago. So she was. It was, you know, a great collection then, and it maintains. It's still a great collection. And of course, you know, we were all bereft when Phoebe stepped away and took her six years to come back. But now she's back, and lots of us are very happy about that.
- [30:09]
E
Yes, we are. I mean, this was a sort of a surprising collection from her. You know, it's a bit of an outlier with her other shows, but I think it sort of showed women who don't necessarily wear color in print how to wear color and print. Very interesting from her, I think, in terms of her collections as a whole.
- [30:29]
F
But, I mean, from the very first collection, Nicole, that we saw, the pre fall that she did, I mean, this idea of a woman's designer or woman designing for women, I don't know how you get that feeling, but. But I think we got that feeling right away. There was a special sensibility, like she understood what your life was like to some extent.
- [30:52]
C
I think it also resonated, right, because many of us were in love with her and what she did at Chloe 10 years earlier, and she had gone away, you know, for the first time to start a family and to have kids and to see her come back really, with a completely different. And I think that is partly what made us feel like these strong connections to her, that we had watched her grow up through fashion, and she grew up with us.
- [31:22]
F
The boho was gone, and it was a much more sophisticated but not uncomfortable thing.
- [31:29]
C
We are gonna take a break and be back in a moment.
- [31:45]
H
In a time when the United States military is being sent into American cities, when civilians and soldiers are being pitted against each other, it's strange that we've never dressed more alike. We all wear performance clothes. We all wear outdoor clothes, whether or not we're outside civilians and soldiers. I'm Avery Trufelman. I make a podcast about clothing called articles of Interest. And in this new season, I trace the interwoven histories of the military and the outdoor industry and how they built each other. Find articles of interest wherever you get your podcasts. And the season is called Gear.
- [32:24]
C
Okay, we're back. And next on our list is Gucci fall 2015. I think everybody knows what this is. This is Alessandro Michele's Gucci debut.
- [32:35]
E
Yes. But, Nicole, what's interesting that we sort of have forgotten about is that, you know, that January before, he'd actually done the Menswear show about five days after his predecessor had left and somehow gotten this men's show together. And that's where he showed all the bow ties and the androgynous vibe at the menswear show, which everyone was frankly a little bit shocked about. And it seems sort of quaint now, but at the time it was really, really a, a thing that no one had ever seen. So there was a lot of sort of talk about what he was gonna do at this, which was his real debut.
- [33:12]
D
Good memory.
- [33:14]
E
Well, we had a lot of conversation about it. I remember one weekend with Victor LaMotte and I remember watching this show and then turning to Mark Colgate at about looked in and going, I'm loving this show. You know, this is like amazing. And if you look back at that show, like, like all of his ideas for Gucci were fully formed at that debut show. It's an incredible show when you go back. And he just built upon it and built upon it, but everything was there. And I can't think of too many times that's really happened in fashion. And I think I personally feel so lucky to have been there and seen that debut. But it was pretty remarkable.
- [34:02]
D
It's like Athena being born fully grown, you know, in armor, except that the armor's like horn rimmed glasses and silk scarves.
- [34:12]
E
And to have it, you know, his vision of Gucci was so different than the designers before him. So to have that sort of confidence in what you were doing was, you know, as I say, that he is a remarkable designer and it changed the.
- [34:27]
D
Industry, you know, that Gucci just from a business perspective, took on a rocket like trajectory. I looked back at your review, Nicole, and you said that it was significantly less buzzy than if one of the already famous designers that everyone had thought might take over the job had gotten it. And it's amazing to think that it was just a decade ago that Alessandro, who is a giant figure creatively and in the industry, was a complete unknown.
- [34:58]
C
Yeah, I can't even think of who those designers were. Like, who were the rumored people that were gonna take that job. They have completely been obliterated in my memory by the Alessandro Michele effect. I mean, he totally, as you said, changed the industry. Not just the business, but also the aesthetics. I mean, a whole generation of kids grew up. You know, I think he might be partly responsible for the current obsession with vintage. You know, I was thinking he's a.
- [35:30]
F
Roman and when you're in Rome, everything is layers, everything coexists. You know, it's old and new. Mashed together. You can't escape it. There's a sense of heritage and strangeness and newness. And he also is a home obsessive, and I think the patterns and prints also relate to wallpapers and interior designs. And so I think it was really his walking around Rome and seeing old and new or layers of old and, you know, living in a. In a home filled with things that you love, that you've collected. And, yes, this brilliantly, what you said. This sort of embodying fashion's vintage obsession in his person.
- [36:14]
C
And of course, now, after, you know, having a year off, he is at Valentino. And I just think fashion is richer with Alessandro in it. I'm very excited to see what he does at Couture later this month. I'm very optimistic and hopeful. I think we're all gonna have our fashion minds blown. I can't wait. All right, the last show. It's another Balenciaga show. This one, Demna's debut.
- [36:40]
F
Oh, my God.
- [36:41]
C
And this one sticks out for a lot of us, But I know, Laird, it is a treasured memory for you.
- [36:46]
F
It is. Because I think it's rare that posture changes. You know, someone in vogue in the early 90s had done a posture story, and I followed up, adding to it on the site. But the way that the shoulders. You carry yourself when something is off shoulder, the way that the hips were constructed, maybe you weren't carrying your hips, but they were jutting out in a sort of couture tradition. It wasn't only what we were seeing was new, but the way that the models carried themselves was new. And I think that's extraordinary. And thinking about it as I did research for this, you know, the thing with Demna is that everything in that show was recognizable. It was a skirt suit, it was a puffer. You know, it was a pencil skirt. Everything that you knew. So borrowing that idea from Margiela and from looking at archives, but. But totally reimagining it in a way that was astonishing. But, yes, but how you carry yourself to be able to influence that, I think is a rare thing indeed.
- [37:55]
D
He was upgrading workwear to couture. Not just streetwear, but workwear. And there's a classist conversation happening there where he's confronting a client with something that they. That was a scandal at the time, actually. It was shocking. People were saying, oh, Cristobal would be rolling over in his grave. And so it was divisive in the best way. You know, he always plays with this degradation of luxury. You know, when they recreated the couture salons, they did them exactly as Crystal Balenciaga had them and then had the team come in and actually damage the moldings and create like as if they had been chipping away and had had mold and smoke all over them. And just that idea of playing, you know, or elevating the everyday where a trash bag becomes a handbag or the answer is that the age old question, what does a couture puffer look like?
- [38:50]
F
He always wore a couture or a.
- [38:51]
C
Couture jean jacket or a couture. I mean, you name it, he's so just last July, or was it in June, he, you know, he made a dress out of meters and meters of tulle. Right. And it was this dress that you wrap on once with the help of three Balenciaga studio team members and you unwrap yourself at the end of the night and it's just a ball of fabric.
- [39:15]
D
In the context of what we were saying about Stephen Sprouse yesterday, it's kind of like, you know, that graffiti at Vuitton was really transgressive at the time, but 15 years later, the bar had been raised and I think Demna more than cleared it.
- [39:31]
C
All right. We have spent going on two months now thinking about the past 25 years and does anybody have any big takeaways?
- [39:41]
D
We were saying yesterday that the reader seemed to be selecting spectacle in one way or another. Not just how a show is staged, but maybe the clothes themselves, but the editor's choices. It seems like we've all gravitated towards something different, whether it's a one off show, like something that stand out in a designer's very consistent of like the 2008 Prada Fairy Collection or that Celine show that we were talking about, that stand apart or in other cases, a show that marked a shift in fashion. So Alessandro's debut at Gucci or Demna's debut at Balenciaga. And it's just interesting to think that as editors that that's what, that's what we see as being impactful.
- [40:25]
E
To be honest, some of that could be Mark, because we see so much and it's those moments of real change that maybe we remember more and think about more because we have seen, you know, hundreds and thousands of shows at this point. So that could have something to do with it. I mean, I probably wouldn't say that particular Celine 2014 show was my favorite Celine show in all the Celine shows I've seen, but it might be one of the most memorable shows and important in different ways. If you know what I mean.
- [40:59]
C
That's a really good point. I think. When you do a list like this, what are we measuring? Are we measuring our favorites, or are we measuring impact or, you know, the best?
- [41:09]
E
Yeah, you and I were talking about that. It's a. You know, you let your own personal preferences enter in versus what felt impactful and important. And I think we sort of leaned more towards the impactful and important in many ways.
- [41:25]
F
And I think we were walking a line. It was a list of shows, but inevitably, it's also a list of designers. And so I think the editor's list, we're really talking about people who have. And not that everyone on this list has changed fashion, but here we're talking about people who developed groups, bodies of work. And this is one example. Maybe it's your favorite, maybe it's your not, but you can't ignore them. And I think maybe the lesson is, when you dare, it matters. So to fashion, who wants to be safe in difficult times, that's very understandable. But what we remember is people that took a chance, that dared, that put themselves on the line, and that's what these shows and list represents, I think.
- [42:14]
E
Well said, Laird.
- [42:15]
F
Yeah.
- [42:15]
C
And the new season is starting in a matter of days, so there will be more opportunities for designers who decide to dare. And I guess that's why we all keep going back, right? Because so many of these shows, for me, are such important moments. And like you say, Virginia, we have literally been to thousands of shows, and when you get that feeling, it doesn't come along every week or even every season sometimes. And it's a really beautiful moment, and especially because it's a collective moment that we feel together. Like, you all sense it and it's.
- [42:51]
D
Worth it, and you don't wanna miss it, because we all remember. We could do a whole series about the ones that got away, about the shows that we missed. I had one. I once got a call. I was in London, and I was at a work lunch. I was not working at Vogue at the time. And I got a call from Hamish Bowles, and he said, where are you? And I said, I'm like, you know, wherever I was. And he said, you need to be in such and such a dress. And he said, there's a seat with your name on it next to me, and you don't want to miss this. And it turns out that it just hadn't made my way. It's weighted my calendar. But it was the show that the Queen attended. It was Richard Quinn's show.
- [43:28]
F
Oh, Richard Quinn. Yeah.
- [43:29]
D
And I.
- [43:30]
E
Did you make it there on time or not?
- [43:31]
D
I did not make it on time. I was outside. I was outside for the queen.
- [43:35]
A
Queen.
- [43:39]
D
The ones that got away.
- [43:40]
C
All right, well, this was so much fun. Thank you all, Virginia, Mark and Laird for being here.
- [43:45]
E
Thank you, Nicole.
- [43:51]
C
That's it for the show. We'll be back next week with a new episode. The Run through is produced by Chelsea Daniel, Alex DePalm and Stephanie Kariuki. It's engineered by Pran Bandy and James Yost. It is mixed by Mike Kutchman. Chris Bannon is Conde Nast head of Global Audio.
- [44:22]
I
Famous Amos. It's a brand synonymous with chocolate chip cookies. It's also the creation of my dad, Wally Amos. When he passed away last year, I set out to understand how he became one of the most famous black men in America and how his life and our family unraveled. From Vanity Fair, this is Tough Cookie, the Wally Famous Amos Story. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
- [44:51]
B
This show is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out odoo@o d o o dot com. That's O-O-O dot com.
- [45:21]
G
My first job in New York City was as a trend forecaster. I do trend forecasting still, and. And ebay is a part of that because I'll search for things that I'm seeing around and it will end up directing me in places that I could have never anticipated. One of the trends that I'm seeing these days is crafting things that are made by hand. And so playing with clothes and accessories to create something kind of distinctive for your wardrobe is a great way of doing it. And getting supplies off of ebay is my favorite thing for it. I'll get like, maybe a pair of slippers that I'm wearing right now and then cut them in a specific way and then they're totally my own. And I feel like it's a great resource to create your own trends because then you can both feel like you're bringing something back to life. You're already, like, pulling it out of the ebay archives, and then you're also adjusting it so that it really expresses your own style, which is something that, you know, people really want right now whenever they are feeling like, so algorithmic about the style that's being pushed to them. That doesn't have to be perfect. Things can have rough edges and that sometimes makes them feel more special.
- [46:28]
D
From PRX.