MILAN — In fashion, as Heidi Klum has made a television career of opining, one day you’re in, and the next day you’re out.
Unless you happen to be Jim Moore, the long-serving creative director of GQ, in which case you’re “in” practically in perpetuity — or at least as long as anyone seems able to remember.
On Saturday night here, GQ celebrated Mr. Moore’s 35th anniversary at the magazine at the private home where Leonardo da Vinci lived while working on “The Last Supper.” Wine grapes of the type da Vinci planted in the garden vineyard were once again growing out back, near a giant illuminated GQ logo.
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Jim Nelson, right, and Jim Moore at the GQ party.CreditJacopo Raule/Getty Images for GQ
The magazine has absorbed Mr. Moore for the entirety of his career. “Someone was like, ‘What job did you have before GQ?’ ” Mr. Moore said. “I was in school.” (He had studied fine art under Chuck Close but high-tailed it to New York, fearing the lonely life of an artist.)
The show season was in full swing, but this evening was “all about Jim, Jim, Jim,” said Jim Nelson, GQ’s editor, himself a long-serving veteran of the title. (“Other Jim, Jim, Jim,” he clarified.) Attendance was very nearly mandatory for Milan’s designers, many of whose careers Mr. Moore has nurtured and watched grow from seed.
“He was in my showroom when I had one rack of clothing,” said Thom Browne, in Milan to show his collection for Moncler Gamme Bleu. “He loved it. He was brave.”
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Neil Barrett and Thom Browne at the GQ party,CreditJacopo Raule/Getty Images for GQ
Mr. Browne was waiting to greet Mr. Moore alongside Bottega Veneta’s Tomas Maier and Neil Barrett; Brunello Cucinelli was chatting in the foyer. By the end of the night, Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2, Marni’s Consuelo Castiglioni, Kean Etro and Zegna’s Stefano Pilati had all been through.
In an exercise of bilateral diplomacy, many had, before or after, been to a competing party not far away. Details magazine was commemorating an anniversary of its own: the 15-year mark for its editor, Dan Peres.
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Dan Peres, right, and Tomas Maier, center at the Details party.CreditVittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Details Magazine
“Have you celebrated Jim Moore’s 35th yet?” Mr. Peres asked in the open-air courtyard of the Villa Clerici. There were giant blowups of images from the magazine, though GQ had the edge on entertainment: Unlike Details, it had a groaning table of food in addition to drinks, and a live performance by the R&B singer Miguel, versus Details’ D.J. set echoing down the Via Clerici.
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The Details magazine party.CreditVittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Details Magazine
The two camps were full of diplomatic praise for each other (befitting their status as brothers in the Condé Nast family). “I think we’re all, as an industry, unbelievably inspired by Jim and his tenure at GQ, and the impact that he’s had on men’s wear in general,” Mr. Peres said.
He insisted that the scheduling was a coincidencem saying, “We’ve always done events around the same time as them, but I didn’t know until I was coming over here that it was Jim’s anniversary.”
Mr. Moore said of the night’s double bill: “I think it’s fantastic. I was telling Dan tonight, 15, 35, put it together, and. …” That number seemed to invite awed silence, so he trailed off, and said again, “I think it’s great.”
Though it is a few years shy of 35, 15 years is no small span to run a magazine, and a similar crew of designers and industry executives — including, at that particular moment, Mr. Etro, Mr. Maier and the Canali group communications director Elisabetta Canali — was there toasting that achievement in measures carefully calibrated to equal GQ’s.
Even for fashion week, this was an usually busy night in Milan. Ms. Canali allowed herself a glass of Champagne to toast hitting not one party, not two, but three. (“We also went to Leon, the Chinese magazine,” she said.)
Mr. Peres, for his part, was feeling both celebratory and reflective.
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Dan Peres, Constanza Etro and Kean Etro at the Details party.CreditVittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Details Magazine
“So much has changed within our business, and so much has changed with me personally,” he said of 15 years at the helm. “It feels like a lifetime, and it feels like I was just coming over here to meet these people for the first time. Fifteen years ago, my first collections, I was wearing sneakers and jeans and not shaving.”
That’s become a fairly popular look among attendees again, though not on Mr. Peres, who was wearing a navy suit and open-collared shirt. (He said he felt too long in the tooth for the unshaven look any longer.) Which made one wonder whether he was looking forward to another 20 years, to a 35th bash of his own.
“Let me tell you something,” Mr. Peres said. “It’d be great to make it to 16.”
Little Mix - Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall - admit they only found their own fashion identity after they left 'The X Factor'.
The girl group were put together on the British talent show in 2011 after auditioning separately and while being mentored to victory by pop star Tulisa Contostavlos they admit they had little control over their on-stage styling.
However, once they started touring and recording the foursome - Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall - quickly found what clothes worked for them.
Jesy said: ''To be honest, on 'The X Factor' we didn't really have a choice. We got thrown in it whether we liked it or not. We've found what suits us now though and fashion evolves so we've changed with it.''
The girls admit to having expensive taste since conquering the charts across the world, but still are big fans of high street clothes as well.
Perrie said: ''I'm a bit obsessed with Prada handbags and Jimmy Choo (shoes). I wore an Isabel Maran skirt in 'Black Magic' (music video) that I loved.''
The 'Move' hitmakers also think it's impossible to rival London's fashion as the band gushed to Hunger magazine about the late designer Alexander McQueen.
Speaking to the new issue of the publication, Leigh-Anne said: ''You'd never find creativity or designs like Alexander McQueen's anywhere else in the world. I went to the Savage Beauty exhibition recently, it was insane!
''There's nobody like him and I don't think there will be again.''
At the end of a dimly-lit street a buzzing crowd, bright lights and thumping music stood out against the quiet backdrop of the neighborhood.
The boisterous party celebrated the launch of Seaport Studios, a pop-up store that features a rotating mix of fashion designers, artists and food. However, the was event was more than just another opening—it was an important part of a vision led by the Howard Hughes Corporation to revitalize New York’s oldest neighborhood, the Seaport District, after the area was devastated by Hurricane Sandy more than two years ago.
“This is such a great opportunity for us to restore the vibrancy back to this part of the city that really goes back to the root of the city” Chief executive of the Howard Hughes Corporation David Weinreb told the Observer. “This is a great example of the kind of energy and the kind of unique, best-in-class experiences that we intend to bring to the district.”
A sculpture by Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos.
Designed by the Brooklyn-based Guild Group, the building is an airy space with a distinctly nautical aesthetic inspired by the District itself. Downstairs, guests sipped drinks at a bar overlooking the neighborhood’s cobblestone streets and ships before perusing curated selections of clothing and accessories from each of the Studio’s featured designers. In front of a huge, backlit canvas, artist Shantell Martin hectically drew a black-and-white sketch; she prefers to work live, she explained, channeling the energy of those around her and infusing it into her art.
Upstairs, guests admired a glowing sculpture made in the shape of a paper sailboat by artist Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos, ran their hands over a display of surfboards crafted by Union Boards, and relaxed in the space’s lounge area which contains photography books and fashion magazines. Among the guests was designer Olivia Palermo, who wore a black, leather-centric outfit, saying “even though we’re in summer, it hasn’t really felt like summer all year.”
Glass, a swimwear company in its third season designed by native New Yorker John Glass, hosted a an eye-catching display of colorful men’s’ board-shorts. Though many of the shorts featured prints inspired by Japanese culture such as sushi, ninjas and waves, (“I was reading Shogun at the time” Glass explained) they should have no trouble fitting into the usually more understated wardrobes of New Yorkers.
“Swimwear is the one item that men can wear and get really funky with the prints and designs” Glass told the Observer. “It’s very representative of me and who I am.”
Glass swimwear displayed colorful board shorts infused with Japanese prints. Mens’ luxury brand Rochambeau displayed summer items in neutral tones like chunky knits, eclectic shorts and leather embellished hats. Surprising details such as oversized tops and side zippers added an edgy New York feel. “This was kind of our interpretation of the city dweller on the beach” designer Joshua Cooper told the Observer.
“It was super exciting to do something downtown, and in this area especially, because not much happens down here” Mr. Cooper said. He added, “It exposes us to a new market and brings some fun down to the Seaport. I feel like normally it’s a lot of financial people and college kids and this brings the downtown, cool hip crowd.
Designer pair behind Baja East Scott Studenberg and John Targon describe their brand’s aesthetic as “loose luxury,” taking an “ambisexual” approach to fashion with androgynous pieces designed to be worn by people of all genders. Their selections featured shades of blue and crisp whites in knit sweaters, loose pants and patterned wraps.
“We started our brand on Wall Street and we’d always come over here for dinner but there was never anything to do during the day” Mr. Studenberg said. “[Seaport Studios] is an awesome addition to the area and we’re excited to have our product down here.”
For many streetwear aficionados, logo-emblazoned looks and oversize B-boy gear have given way to Italian-cut suits and leather skirts. But, who’s the culprit? According to Daniel Day, known to most style enthusiasts as Dapper Dan — the man who brought remixed logos of luxury brands uptown — the blame lies with self-described “fashion killa” A$AP Rocky. The rapper and Harlem native recently described his look as “Richard Porter mixed with Mr. Porter,” referring to the notorious mid-'80s Harlem drug kingpin and former customer of Dapper Dan's, and to the highbrow men’s digital fashion mecca. But of late, his style has leaned much more toward the latter — perhaps with an assist from Harry Potter.
At last night's premiere of Fresh Dressed, a documentary about the history of hip-hop fashion that features Nas and Pharrell Williams, Dapper Dan said, “The biggest challenge to traditional Harlem fashion right now is A$AP Rocky, because he caused a shift. I have never seen it move so far from the traditional look as it is now. That’s really something to examine. And the feedback that I’m getting from the streets is that the style is really almost shocking to some. Harlem fashion was generated from the guys on the corner who had no problem balling like certain entertainers." It sounds like between Dapper Dan, Hood by Air, and Kimye, A$AP has plenty of brewing feuds to keep him busy.
Chloë Sevigny: ‘She makes terrible clothes look amazing’
Style-wise I am the opposite of King Midas: all clothes look terrible as soon as I put them on. I could wear the most expensive piece of Chanel couture ever created and somehow I would make it look like bargain basement Jane Norman. This is not an exaggeration, or self-deprecation: last year I spent an absolute fortune on some YSL ankle boots and the first time I wore them out a (very fashion-aware) friend said, “Ooh, your boots – Primark?”
She wore some of the ugliest, cheapest clothes ... Chloë Sevigny. Photograph: Tammie Arroyo/Alpha
Thus, I have enormous admiration for those who somehow manage the reverse: to make terrible clothes look amazing. Hence, my fascination with Chloë Sevigny. These days it is generally accepted that Sevigny is a style icon, and she is given high fashion by designers accordingly. But my favourite Sevigny era is the 90s, when she really did wear some of the ugliest, cheapest clothes in the world, and yet always looked amazing. Eighties blazers with giant shoulder pads, denim waistcoats, hotpants that never quite fitted right, cropped tops, shapeless tartan dresses – and every time, she made them look like something you needed to own right now, if only you could find the rubbish bag Chloë pulled it out of. For a try-hard like myself, there will always be something so enviably cool about someone who looks like they couldn’t care less what you think of their ugly bomber jacket, and that, coupled with my sudden weird nostalgia for 90s fashion, makes 90s Sevigny my fashion icon for the summer. And the tragic thing is, I won’t look any worse in Chloë’s cropped tops than I would in Chanel couture. Hadley Freeman
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A mix of sports luxe and futuristic chic ... Jaden Smith. Photograph: Alexandra Wyman/Invision for Talent Resources/AP Images
It’s hard to explain why a 36-year-old man (me) would have a 16-year-old as a stylistic touchstone. But Jaden Smith is no regular snotty-nosed Minecraft player. Neither is he a super-precocious, creepily fashion-forward celebrity sprog like Suri Cruise or any one of the Beckham kids. Instead, Jaden’s clothes are decidedly on-point – a mix of sports luxe and futuristic chic. He likes to pair sharply cut tops with loose-fitting trousers. He’s able to do his own take on summer chic (hooded T-shirts, quarter-length shorts) without descending into flip-flops and confusion like the rest of us. It’s a multi-textured look that references Hedi Slimane’s designs for Saint Laurent, Drake’s emo-hop look, Kanye West’s utility wear and the sleek monochrome of the xx. It’s an always surprising mismatch of styles that feels very current. In fact his own tellingly named fashion line MSFTS does just that. It is also a slightly comic look. It’s a look that says: “I might be the son of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air but I could also be in a tonal post-industrial band featured in the pages of Wire magazine.”
Jaden’s avant-garde tendencies are not limited to his choice of clothes, however. You just need to look at his now sadly defunct Twitter account to see evidence of this. It featured missives like “how can mirrors be real if our eyes aren’t real” and “most trees are blue” which suggest a career in dystopic haiku writing is not far away. Still, the fact that he has also been papped wearing a dress, an Iron Man outfit and went to his prom in an all-white Batman costume suggests a man who doesn’t take himself too seriously. A son who would make proud a father whose best known maxim is, “Wickey wickey waa waa West”. Priya Elan
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‘The white polo-neck is this year’s haute look’ ... Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Photograph: Allstar/LucasFilm
Princess Leia: ‘An ultra political, badass chick in a man’s world’
It is a truism generally acknowledged that women of my generation owe their early feminist awakening, however begrudgingly, to Margaret Thatcher’s ascendancy in 1979. I beg to differ. Two years before Mrs T, there was Princess Leia: an ultra political, badass chick in a man’s world, charming when it suited her but on the whole stroppily determined and not scared of making a few enemies. Leia may have been a princess, but she never let that define or limit her. She had little truck with simpering or waving. Watch the film now and it is striking how little she smiles: instead she has a frowny, concentrating face that you don’t see so much in modern Hollywood starlets.
And then there was her hair, which was seriously fancy in all its bonkers Rapunzel-meets-cinnamon-bun majesty. Nearly four decades before other women of Hollywood began pointing out that they were More Than A Dress, Carrie Fisher’s Leia was like: I do my hair like this and then I will go out and bring peace to a troubled galaxy, so watch and learn, suckers. Well, that was the message my four-year-old self took from the film in 1977 and I will always be grateful for it.
It’s not just because JJ Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set for release later this year, or because this year’s Secret Cinema production is the second instalment of the original Lucas trilogy, that Leia is an icon for this summer. Her complicated, twisty hair style is Coachella 2015 through and through. The white polo neck is this year’s haute look, seen everywhere from the Céline catwalk to Kim Kardashian. And the space age is the era to namedrop ever since Nicolas Ghesquière showed Louis Vuitton in Bob Spring’s UFO palace and Raf Simons went head-to-head with a takeover of Cannes spaceship-mansion Les Palais Bulles. Frankly, the Princess Leia look couldn’t be any more now. Luke who? The force is strong with this one this summer, actually, Darth. Jess Cartner-Morley
Yves Saint Laurent: ‘A bit unisex, a bit 70s, but ultimately timeless’
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His style really bloomed in the heat ... Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech in 1972. Photograph: Reginald Gray/Conde Nast Archive/Corbis
The 70s always look like they had great summers – and they were even better when spent in Marrakech at a villa with Yves Saint Laurent. I love Saint Laurent’s personal style – the hair, the specs, the slightly silly grin – and it really bloomed in the heat. From the mid-60s, he travelled there every year, staying first at his house Dar el Hanch and later in the Villa Oasis at Jardin Majorelle, the garden that he and his partner Pierre Bergé had long admired. They eventually bought it in 1980, and set about renovating it.
Morocco is having a moment this year with David Beckham staging his 40th birthday party there, and Kate Moss using it as a backdrop to her latest shoot in Vogue. But, more to the point, I just went there on holiday and, after a visit to the Jardin, I fell for Yves all over again. The bright blue walls, exotic pink flowers and a room full of the designer’s vibrant “love” collages did its work.
Fun was had on these trips and you can feel it. Fellow guests on Yves’ holidays numbered Bergé, Bianca Jagger, Talitha Getty and Andy Warhol, who was photographed wearing his trademark black polo neck. But Saint Laurent’s style beat all his guests. As a fellow sun worshipper, I love the way he embraces the heat, and looks great in terrace-ready outfits like white jeans, top button undone, and sunglasses. In tight T-shirts – with an Yves Saint Laurent logo – and a medallion. Or dressed up and photographed by Patrick Lichfield, in high-waisted jeans, billowing black shirt and fuscia scarf.
Although there are stacks of snaps of him hanging out on cushions with Betty Catroux or laughing with Loulou de la Falaise, it’s an image of him alone on a rooftop, dressed in a chambray shirt, faded flares and sneakers that really sticks out for me, for its simplicity. It looks just like what I want to wear right now – simple, easy, a bit unisex, a bit 70s but ultimately timeless. I’ll be dressing like this all summer in the hope I can bring a little bit of the Majorelle look into London 2015. Lauren Cochrane
Everything is intelligent, unassuming and just right ... Sofia Coppola. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
Sofia Coppola: ‘Confidence and a quiet, understated elegance’
The outbreak of barely-there, half-arsed dresses on the red carpet of late makes me love Sofia Coppola’s pared-back style even more. The 44-year-old has a confidence, a quiet, understated elegance – being one of a handful of female directors in Hollywood, she stands out for her award-winning achievements – and doesn’t need shouty clothes and selfies to make an impression.
From the oversized, mannish shirt to the slightly undone hair, Coppola’s gentlewoman style is carefully considered, but never try-hard. Everything is intelligent, unassuming and just right. The perfect black trousers, the shoes you can walk in and the “do not disturb” sunglasses – all the under-the-radar essentials grownup women want to wear in real life.
Cool, calm and uncluttered are three things a woman over 50 wants from her summer wardrobe, and if that involves being a bit covered-up, then all well and good. Coppola’s modern, ageless style appeals to women of all ages. Relaxed, slightly tomboyish and consistently chic, the only thing barely there is the perfect no-makeup makeup. Coppola has said that she never planned to be in film and wanted to be a magazine editor or art director – and there is definitely an air of the French Voguette about her look; acquired during summers spent interning at Chanel as a teenager, or time spent at a Parisian pied-a-terre with Thomas Mars, her French, indie rocker husband, no doubt. Sofia Coppola would rather pay attention to detail than be the centre of attention. Alyson Walsh
Alyson Walsh is the author of Style Forever: the grownup guide to looking fabulous. She blogs as thatsnotmyage.com
Of course it helps no end that she’s very fit ... Nancy Carter. Photograph: Ray Burmiston/BBC
Nancy Carter: ‘A soap character who made me reassess my image’
It was actually on Christmas Day, when numerous relationships crumbled in the Queen Vic, that Nancy Carter’s sportswear first came into its own. Historically a day where drama is in direct correlation to the number of sequins you’re wearing, Nancy remained calm and defiant in a striped sports shirt and gold hoops.
Her look centres around various American sports: softball, baseball and basketball. Often lazily described as a tomboy, she has a style that is far more considered. She pre-emptively tapped into “lad-y” wear, this summer’s take on nu-lad, and has done so by borrowing from the boys. I don’t know whether she actually plays any sport, but does it matter?
For me the look works because it’s comfy but also cuts a dynamic silhouette. From her hair, expensive Hollywood blonde, which she fixes like a bow on a box, to the baggy baseball shorts billowing in the fictional winds of E20, it’s borderline uniform. And the good news is that it’s easy enough to poach elements of it in your day-to-day summer wardrobe. Eugenia Kim sells expensive, straw baseball caps. American Apparel sells homage-y unisex baseball tops. Nike Respect have the shorts and provided you pull your socks mid-calf high, you can ally yourself with any brand (I prefer Nike socks).
It’s the first time a soap character has made me reassess my image – and never more so than now as we enter summer, and out come my oversized vests and sliders. Of course it helps no end that she’s also very fit. Morwenna Ferrier
She mixes classic and new without trying too hard ... Kangana Ranaut. Photograph: Yogen Shah/India Today Group/Getty Images
Kangana Ranaut: ‘In a world of Rita Oras, she’s the Rihanna’
Bollywood is a great source for style inspiration, but mostly for an imaginary mood board. For your imaginary wedding. Funded by your imaginary billionaire oil magnate father. But, sometimes there are notes to be taken for smart casual summerwear, too. Kangana Ranaut is a rare act – in a climate where the mash of “traditional” and “western” looks are often overthought and styled to death, Ranaut shines without trying. In a world of Rita Oras, she’s the Rihanna.
I’m particularly obsessed with her salwar kameez styles. Whether it’s a mono-colour tunic and salwar or a long summery kameez with black trousers, she’s understated enough to mix classic and new without trying too hard. When you’re not skinny and/or rich, it can feel futile taking inspiration from willowy, preened actresses, but the beauty of a salwar suit is that they suit virtually everyone. And they are cheap. Around this time of year, all the styles are lightweight enough to be worn on hot days. You don’t need to worry about not having Pilates arms, or Spanx lines, or any other body paranoia – just whack on some sunglasses, drape your dupatta liberally, and you’re a confident Lahori socialite. Sara Ilyas
The first full show from the New York brand brings us womenswear, a skate ramp and all kinds of awesomeness. Here are five things we learned from Coach’s menswear spring/summer 2016 show.
The sliders
Furry and camo: sliders at Coach Imogen Fox Photograph: Imogen Fox
Coach designer Stuart Vevers is a key player in the world of sliders. Last summer’s deliciously orthopaedic versions were eclipsed this season by chunky sliders covered in loud acid-tinged print with a shearling strap. These may be an early contender for the shoe of Spring summer 2016, people. A really, really nice bit of fluff.
Girls in boys’ clothes
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Binx Walton modelling in Coach’s menswear show Photograph: Imogen Fox
Mixed in with the men were a few well-chosen female models, including Binx Walton. The show was more about girls wearing boys’ clothes rather than womenswear sprinkled in with men’s. Backstage, Vevers said he was inspired by girls he knew, wearing men’s clothes and it “looking really cool.” It’s all about effortlessness, in other words – something we can all get behind.
Zebra print-lined hoods at Coach Im Photograph: Imogen Fox
Animal prints, lawn chair patterns, bright line green and pink appeared on the catwalk, sometimes in the same outfit and layered up in a way that worked for our post-seasonal world. A highlight was the back view of parkas, which were lined with a faux zebra fur fabric. Vevers said he wanted to do “pieces, you know, but I’m trying to do something different with them so they could only come from Coach.” Mission accomplished.
The 1960s vs 1990s references
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Kennedy-meets-counterculture on the Coach catwalk Photograph: Imogen Fox
Vevers also said he wanted to mix up the “old money Kennedy thing, with counterculture” which has to be one of the best fashion combinations in recent years. He also said the Coach man needs to “have some slouch”, which we like. To get the look, you’ll need a boxy shirt with a Stan Rizzo-approved look, teamed with an oversized mac and skate shorts.
The set
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The Skateramp set at Coach Photograph: Imogen Fox
The 1990s appeared in the set too, which was made up of a series of wooden veneer skate ramps. They were decorated with the requisite stickers that anyone who (mis)spent their youth doing ollys - or watching others do ollys - would understand. Add a frow that included London Collections Men regulars like Tinae Tempah and Lewis Hamilton, along with models Dree Hemingway and Sam Rollinson, and the view on and off the catwalk was good stuff.
