FOUR SEASONS OF LISA
FOUR SEASONS OF LISA
FOUR SEASONS OF LISA
PHOTOGRAPHED BY INEZ & VINOODH
STYLED BY GENESIS WEBB & HUNTER CLEM
INTERVIEWED BY MATHIAS ROSENZWEIG
BVLGARI
FIRST SPARROW OF SPRING
MARIA KLAUMANN
PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD BURBRIDGE
BY NICOLA FORMICHETTI
EVERY SHADE OF YOU
Your favourite colour. That’s a tricky one. Depends on the day, the light, the season, your mood. Chances are you have more than one. That’s why you should consider the Seamaster Aqua Terra Shades collection. There’s a dial for every shade of you. Here’s one of many. We call this colour Sandstone. You can call it what you like – and wear it whenever you please.
Creative: Beatrice Dupire
Photography: JC Dhien
Model: Ambar @ NY Models Make Up: Mark Edio @ See Management
PUMP IT UP
EDITORIAL
ADVERTISING & SPECIAL PROJECTS
Eleni Gatsou Bureau
(Advertising Office for France and America) Eleni Gatsou eleni@elenigatsou.com
Marie-Loup Faggioli marie-loup@elenigatsou.com
+33 (0)1 42 72 02 19
Mediaberna S.r.l.
(Advertising Office for Italy and Switzerland)
Luciano Bernardini de Pace luciano@bernardini.it
Grazia Mortari mortari@bernardini.it
Mariolina Siclari mariolina@bernardini.it
For inquiries about foreign editions or special projects, please contact charles@vmagazine.com kevin@vmagazine.com
PR & EVENTS
Purple PR Andrew Lister andrew.lister@purplepr.com
Remi Jiang remi.jiang@purplepr.com
ADMINISTRATION
Business Manager Todd Kamelhar
Financial Office Manager Crystal McGhee
DISTRIBUTION MU Inc.
David Renard david@muinc.com +1 (917) 207 6091
For current or archive issues: orders@vmagazine.com +1 (212) 274 8959 visit shop.vmagazine.com
SPECIAL THANKS
Clément Condat Patrick Sandberg Art + Commerce Thomas Bonnouvrier, Stanley Judge SN37 Steven Chaiken VLM Studio Kim Pollock, John Nadhazi, Michael Gleeson, Marc Kroop, Brian Anderson The Lions Ali Kavoussi, Benjamin Goldenberg IMG Luiz Mattos Women Management Aleesha Woodson
CLM John Van Alstyne, Nick Drew Medina Streeters Amy Jeong, Tyler Williamson
M+A Angelo Benkaddour, Leah Thierry, Léa Duboin Lalaland Artists Amber Janik, Mimi Small now open Victoria Pavon Jones Management Courtney Jones, Chance Jarvis NEIGHBORS Felix Cadieu Tess Management Tori Edwards
The Only Agency Andrew Bruggeman, Kent Belden, Shara Fishman, Jose Duarte Error Juliette Peyrat, Jessie Caron, Mathieu Cacheux Call My Agent Elodie Le Gal Opus Tori Aiello PRTNRS Marissa Alfe, Ariel Resnick Saint Luke Artists Louise Porter-Judd Greg Foley Alice Kang The Logical Choice Interns Ha Chu, Mizu Matsuura, Nora Walid, AJ Grove, Angelina Khachaturyan, Alice Almeida
INYOUR STEP
Cover
Each year, Earth completes one full trip around the sun. This 584 millionmile journey takes 365 days, each broken into 24 hours, or 1,440 minutes, ultimately forming our calendars and daily schedules. When Louis Vuitton tells you to tune into their live stream on October 1, 2024, at 6:30 PM CEST, what they are saying (in an astrological sense) is that their latest collection will hit the runway once Earth has traveled its 440,931,326th mile that year. And don’t be late!
You don’t have to care about zodiac signs to know that our planet’s position at any given point shapes our daily lives. This position dictates the seasons, all four of which our first cover star—the inimitable Lisa— embodies in her photoshoot with powerhouse duo Inez & Vinoodh. These seasons mean everything to the fashion world, which reinvents itself several times a year to keep stylish people well-dressed whether there’s snow on the ground or a burning summer sun in the sky. But while Lisa provides the metaphorical soundtrack for the issue, she’s joined by the one and only Iman, who walks our readers through the magazine’s 25-year history in the limited edition anthology of which
she graces the special cover (in couture, nonetheless). Lastly, Brazil’s freshest model on the scene (and our final cover star for this issue), Maria Klaumann, introduces our readers to the best looks and coveted accessories from the SS25 collections, reminding us of the famous Henry David Thoreau’s “first sparrow of spring!”. Together, this season’s three muses are ringing in a beautiful, powerful, and hopeful new year. And yes—the phrase “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.” might send a shiver down the spines of individuals within the fashion industry— like those featured in this issue’s “V PEOPLE”. Yet, the connection between certain elements or motifs, like rain or flowers, and specific times of the year, dictated by the Earth’s position relative to the Sun, is a tradition as old as time. This year’s first issue delves into the relationship between fashion and the Earth, examining everything from the planet’s place in the solar system, like the seasons and their respective elements, to the materials it provides—corn, peppers, eggs, fish, and more. Bon appetit.
MR.V
Photography INEZ & VINOODH Fashion GENESIS WEBB & HUNTER CLEM
CREAMY DREAMY SANDALWOOD
"HYPE BEAST OF PERFUME." SUE NABI, CO-FOUNDER
Whether it’s through Walter Van Beirendonck’s anarchist yet wearable collections of color and fun, or Sharon Smith’s star-studded collection of in-your-face party polaroids from the early 80s, this new year, we’re finding inspiration in world-builders
Text SAVANNAH SOBREVILLA
SHARON SMITH
THE DISCO DOCUMENTARIAN PUT THE PARTY IN PRINT
As the 70s bled into the 80s, New York was in a bind. The city had narrowly avoided bankruptcy in ‘75 and was dealing with an increasingly terrifying existential crisis brought upon the queer community via the AIDS epidemic. The Son of Sam killings had women constantly looking over their shoulders, and for a healthy percentage of New Yorkers, the rise of newly elected President Ronald Reagan contributed to a general sense of defeat and malaise. Creatively, the Big Apple’s underground scene was thriving, but overall, society was in disarray—sound familiar?
“I think there are a lot of parallels in terms of culture right now,” party photographer Sharon Smith tells V over Zoom. “Sometimes, when there’s a repressive political situation, culture can thrive, actually. I’m kind of looking for that to happen again. I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I wish for that.”
Camera Girl, Smith’s new book, features a collection of party polaroids taken at iconic dance clubs of the era like The Ritz, Area, Red Parrot, and the Palladium. It’s star-studded, sweat-slicked, and supremely inspiring to any young partygoer in despair today. “I really wanted to express that creative joy and fun that happened in the middle of what some people would have called a bleak time,” she says with a comforting, toothy grin. “I hope they’re going to be inspired by what they see in terms of the creative expression of that particular period and how it can be an inspiration for the present moment.”
Growing up on a Virginia farm in what she described as an “unintentional community,” Smith was exposed to photography by one of her fellow community members. When she left the farm, it was to attend a photo course at a community college just outside of Washington, D.C. There, Smith studied under photographer Frank DiPerna. (“Who actually also ended up using a lot of Polaroids in his work,” Smith points out.) One day, she spotted a flier for Apeiron, an artists’ workshop in upstate New York.
“There was an image by Ralph Gibson. He’s a black and white art photographer who was sort of surrealist in his vision,” she says of the
flier’s artwork. “I went to a workshop with him, and my mind was totally blown. It was like, ‘Okay, I’m a photographer. I’m going to go on this path.’”
Smith stayed at Apeiron for three years—in that time, she landed on the Polaroid as her weapon of choice—before deciding to move to the city. “Like a lot of young people, I wanted to come to New York to be an artist,” she says with a downtown been-there-done-that romance. “And, also like a lot of young people, I had big dreams and very little money.”
At the beginning of 1978, Smith made the big move to New York. By May, she had a gig photographing high school prom sweethearts at the Copacabana. By July, the regular photographer returned, and Smith was out of a job. Soon, though, she picked up a position as a camera girl at The Ritz —one of the most cutting edge clubs of the 80s. “It was the first place that had music videos and that was the year that MTV really came alive,” she says. “So it was kind of a hot place in that way.”
The dozens upon dozens of namedroppy photo subjects featured in Camera Girl include Andy Warhol, Prince, Madonna, Grace Jones, and Debbie Harry. When asked if there was a particular pinch-me moment while working at the clubs, Smith says, without pause, “I mean, seeing David Bowie was a thing, of course.” The whole point of the camera girl role was to approach partygoers and offer them a memento of the evening in exchange for cash, a solicitation that had the potential to go sideways. “He was very gracious; he turned his head, and I took a beautiful picture of him.” A gentleman.
As an on-the-ground documentarian of party culture, we’d be remiss if we didn’t ask Smith what she thinks makes a party into a banger. “You really need to have good people at a party,” she says. “And the willingness to forget what you carry in with you at the door. Just let it go.”
Grace Jones by Sharon Smith
David Bowie by Sharon Smith
Madonna by Sharon Smith
WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK
THE BELGIAN BIKER WITH A FLAIR FOR TEAMWORK
In 1997, Irish rock band U2 embarked on a world tour of their ninth studio album, Pop. Hitting all seven continents, the group’s styling was under the watchful, zany eye of Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck. Throughout the tour, Bono was frequently photographed in a Walter Van Beirendonck muscle tee—no, not a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, but a skin-tight long-sleeved top with a bulging torso printed onto it—and his signature wrap-around shades. This is kind of Van Beirendonck’s thing: creative collaborations that are pulpy with a purpose. Macho, always, but with a wink. “Working with Bono on the PopMart tour was like going to another level,” he tells V. “When you are really working together with somebody strong, it gives you many awakenings. You can do more than you can actually do by yourself. That’s what I like about collaboration.”
Collaboration has been a priority for Van Beirendonck ever since he was a young punk at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Alongside fashion mainstays like Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, he was part of the infamous design troupe, the Antwerp Six. From his work with hypebeast behemoths Dover Street Market and Comme des Garcons to international lifestyle brands like IKEA and, most recently, G-Star, the cartoonish tastemaker’s Midas touch is unmissable. Even through some more corporate-leaning projects, Van Beirendonck has managed to comment on the state of the world through his colorful designs in an approachable yet thought-provoking way. Everything he touches—and recruits others to touch, too—turns to bold.
The mise-en-scene as we chat with him over Zoom from his Antwerp studio communicates the playful giant’s dual sensibility in an almost perfect way. To his right, a bright doll and trinket collection. To his left, a “beautiful garden”. At the center, Van Beirendonck; a burly Belgian with a 30-year long beard and a hardcore, furrowed-brow that breaks every so often to reveal a cuddly (and mischievous) boyish inner mind.
“Humor in my collections is important to keep a good balance,” he says, referring to his storied oeuvre. “Also to keep it light because a lot of the topics I’m approaching are rather heavy. I’m talking about war, I’m talking about peace, I’m talking about problems, but I do it in a colorful way, with slogans and humor.” Van Beirendonck’s collection titles are incredibly outre, from SEXCLOWN (Summer 2008) to BANANA WINK BOOM (Fall/Winter 2024). This February, in cahoots with the denim demigod, G-Star, Van Beirendonck released Denim With Balls, a distinctly sculptural, all-denim collection with no stitching. Yes, no stitching.
For this project, G-Star gave Van Beirendonck their blessing to do whatever he wanted with their fabrics. “We truly believe in this ‘carte blanche’ idea because it always leads to unexpected outcomes,” Gwenda van Vliet, G-Star RAW’s Chief Creative Officer, tells us. “We bring our denim expertise, collaborators from different areas of expertise bring theirs—and that is where the magic happens.” Like Van Beirendonck, G-Star loves a creative partner. From master milliner Stephen Jones coming in with a 12-layered raw denim bucket hat to furniture designer Maarten Baas creating a life-sized private jet made of recycled jeans, van Vliet says, “It’s all a result of offering our denim expertise as a starting point and asking that simple question: ‘What would you (like to) do?’”
For Van Beirendonck, the answer was to redefine the way we put clothes together—which, for the past two centuries, has been mostly thread. “It’s really old fashioned—that kind of stitching machine with the yarn and the thread,” he says, expressing his particular frustration. “Looking back to the 60s, there were suddenly things happening with fashion designers like Courreges and Cardin making rubber garments that you easily could make short. (Pieces that) were formed, but not really stitched. I hoped that something like that would happen over the years, but really, the stitching machine just moved around to keep prices down, and the technology is not really evolving.”
The result, which showed at Paris Fashion Week this past September, was exactly that—clothes held together not just by stitching, but by gluing, embossing, and taping—infused with Van Beirendonck’s splashy color preferences and avant-garde tailoring. “If anyone has been challenging the norm in the industry, it’s him,” van Vlien says. The collection will hit stores in February and, until then, Van Beirendonck is working on his own brand’s collection and keeping his DMs open for an olfactory opportunity. “Still waiting for a perfume project,” he says, brimming with chaotic fragrance ideas. “Hopefully, one day.”
Illustrations Walter Van Beirendonck for Draw The World Awake
V NE W S
At V, we believe that a New-Year-New-Me haul is a style of shopping unbound by rules of who can receive what—and from who. Whether you’re motivating for yourself, a loved one, or a furry friend, V’s got the skinny on what you need (or don’t) to start the year off right
Photography CHARLES BILLOT
Fashion ANNA TREVELYAN
Text KATHERINE MARIA ROJAS
Celine Beauté’s latest objets-de-jours are for the ritualistic recipient with a penchant for reducing inflammation. For a face sculpted by the gods, get your manicured fingers on a handheld tortoiseshell mirror with an obsidian gua sha set from the collection. We’d argue these are staples in any beauty lover’s toolkit. However, if Felix from Hinge already has these in his bathroom, run—we suspect Patrick Bateman-like play.
Acetate hand mirror CELINE by Hedi Slimane
Sure, gourmand had its moment. You might argue that, well, it is still having it. But what about the weirdos among us with an earthier olfactory palate? Enter Loewe’s latest candleholdershaped candles, in true Loewe fashion. One—evoking the scent of a portobello mushroom as it would mingle with patchouli; another smells of tomato leaves, brightened and flowered with cassis berries—make for an unexpectedly grounding home scent for the most fun-gi in your life.
Tomato leaves wax candle holder LOEWE
Boss decided to follow up last season’s corp-core collection with an off-duty inspired line filled with chic and modern accessories for your off-the-clock needs. Featuring everything from sleepwear and sneakers, to sportier paraphernalia like yoga mats, and our personal favorite, a pebbled leather tennis racket bag, Boss is dedicated to dressing your day-to-day, regardless of whether or not you’ve logged onto Slack.
Tennis raquette bag BOSS
Jacques Marie Mage’s latest accessorial offerings are a breath of fresh air. In partnership with Yellowstone Forever, the collection contains glasses and jewelry designed to raise awareness of the beloved national park’s studies on wolfpacks. It also offers a gorgeous sterling silver and brass lighter case, and an ashtray supported by brass eagle talons, well-suited for activities like running (or smoking) with the wolves.
BOSS, OFF THE CLOCK AND ON THE COURT
LOEWE CANDLES FOR SOPHISTICATED WEIRDOS
Eyrie catch-all JACQUES MARIE MAGE
JOIN JACQUES MARIE MAGE’S WOLFPACK
CELINE BEAUTÉ REFLECTS ON NARCISSISM
ALL-IN-ONE MOISTURE WITH DIOR ADDICT LIP GLOW
For their latest release of the cult lippie product loved by everyone and their mother, and their mother’s mother, Dior has released their most naturallyderived version of Lip Glow to date. PH-enhancing technology, perfected over decades, made with moisturizing cherry oil and shea butters, will save your lips from winter crack, crash and burn. Go ahead, grab one for mom or for bestie— so they stop stealing yours!
MAKING A RACKET WITH HERMÈS
New hobbies need not be expensive, but they can be if you want them to be. Designed by Irish architect Nigel Peake, Hermès has just gifted us with woodprinted and cork beach racket options for playing Kadima with our nearest and dearest. A pioneer in the most opulent version of (insert everyday item here), Hermès has us covered for February beach days in Miami, Los Angeles, or Mexico City. Phew!
Beach rackets HERMÈS
A BRUSH FIT FOR A MCQUEEN
McQueen’s SS 2024 whisks us into an ageless world where the inner child and the inner hag hold hands and frolic as one. Banshees, serving as the canvas, reveal themselves as beasts wrapped in soft fabrics, a juxtaposition that mimics the hard and soft design elements woven through the collection. Particularly, a silver hairbrush brooch, with ornately whimsical and identifiably British design sensitivities, holds a special place in the collection, acting as an amulet to hold secrets behind blazer lapels. Nab one, if you dare, and channel your inner bruja.
For sale: two Chanel Petánque Balls, hardly thrown. A re-issue from their 2010 Saint-Tropez Cruise Collection, you can now get your hands on a set. Made of stainless steel and engraved with our favorite interlocking Letter C’s, this unique collector’s item will have you singing Bocce, Bocce, Bocce, all the way home.
set CHANEL
Pétanque
Banshee chain brooch MCQUEEN by Seán McGirr
Lipstick DIOR BEAUTY Dior Addict Lip Glow
DON’T BUST CHANEL’S BALLS
We’re taking a step away from the stage and into our community this season with fashion tastemakers in and around New York. Whether we’re talking to a set designer, jewelry maker, podcaster, or archivist, these stars’ contributions to our era of fashion are bound to be history-making
Photography ANNA HENDERSON
Text SAVANNAH SOBREVILLA
JACQUES AGBOBLY FASHION DESIGNER
At the height of the pandemic, designer Jacques Agbobly founded Agbobly, a destination for Black, immigrant, and queer designers to showcase their work. With a dedicated focus on West African techniques, Agbobly’s output is colorful, intentional, and proud—we can’t wait to see what he does next.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
JACQUES AGBOBLY: My work is a love letter to Togo, an exploration of identity through the eyes of an Afropolitan. My debut collection at New York Fashion Week was “Bienvenue à Bord” (“Welcome Aboard”). The collection metaphorically situates itself at the departure gate of the airport in Lomé, where I embarked on the plane that would take me away from Togo, my only home, to reunite with my mother in the cold city of Chicago. Dedicating this collection to reflect on that experience has been incredibly generative. In my collections, color often captures their attention; it’s my chosen medium to deepen and illuminate each story. Every hue is carefully curated, a call to fellow Afropolitans, inviting them to recognize something familiar, something that feels like home.
V: What makes it possible for you to do what you do?
JA: What makes it possible for me to do what I do is community—my unbreakable circle of support. Growing up, I was surrounded by a family that leaned on each other through every season. My grandmother and my aunts were my teachers
in the art of togetherness, instilling in me the knowledge that life is a shared experience. When I moved to Chicago, I lived in a housing community that continued to foster those same values I had learned back home in Lomé. My roots are in a housing community where bonds were built out of necessity and love. We all looked out for one another, forming a network of “cousins” and family-like ties, connected by shared spaces and shared lives. It’s these early connections that taught me what it means to belong, to support, and to uplift.
V: When you decided to pursue this passion, was there anything that surprised you?
JA: I quickly realized that dreaming about it was so different from actually living it day to day. The vision I had—the excitement, the creative flow, the freedom—was real, but it didn’t account for the full spectrum of experiences. There are moments of exhilaration, but also ones of exhaustion, unexpected challenges, and self-doubt. I sometimes find myself needing to reconnect with the original dream, to lean back into it as a kind of survival. That initial vision reminds me
why I started, and it keeps me grounded and inspired when the reality of the work feels overwhelming.
V: Take your flowers. What’s something you’re proud of that you did this year?
JA: This year, I’m most proud of releasing a collection that has been my labor of love for three years. I lost my brother while working on my most recent collection, and clawing my way out of grief to create something joyful and meaningful was no small feat. The last collection was a dedication to him, honoring his spirit. The next one will be a love letter full of whimsy, heartache, and healing—a reflection on the journey of grieving and growing that I have lived through over the last year and a half. A year ago, I was overwhelmed with questions. I was unsure how I could move forward with my brand and my art. But now, having worked through it, I feel like I’ve reached a place with more answers than questions. I’m ready to continue, with my brother always in mind.
Jacques wears sweater AGBOBLY Trousers talent’s own
MILENA GORUM SET DESIGNER
If you’re open to it, you can learn a lot about yourself on set. Take Milena Gorum. For her, modeling at 15 forged the road for a thriving career in set design. Now, her projects fall anywhere on a fabulous spectrum that ranges from Olivia Rodrigo’s stage design for the singer’s SNL performance last year to Rosalia’s Vogue Plus cover this past August.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
MILENA GORUM: I’m a set designer, art director, and prop stylist. I design and build sets for commercials, fashion shoots, and music videos. I collaborate with other creatives to flesh out ideas and create real life solutions for conceptual design.
V: When you decided to pursue this passion, was there anything that surprised you?
MG: Realizing the sheer amount of hard, manual labor it takes to do set design was humbling when I first started. Modeling is grueling and relentless on your body in its own way. But I had never experienced what it was like to build out an entire room, then tear it down the same day. I cried after the first job I art assisted on, I couldn’t believe this was the career I was so sure I wanted to pursue, yet it felt like I couldn’t possibly go in the next day. But I did, and now that impossible job was just another job.
V: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
MG: Director of photography forsure. It’s emotive, world-building, and challenging. It’s arguably the most important role on set.
V: Who should everyone know about?
MG: Crystal Geller, she is an incredible designer. Everything she decides to put out is thoughtful and inspiring. I can’t think of anyone else whose vision is more defined.
V: What is a singular work of art that everyone should experience?
MG: Read The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran or watch Nils Frahm performing “Says” live for BBC, see the first light of sunrise sneak through the cracks in the bathroom of Berghain, sit on the bench in front of a Joan Miró painting at the Pompidou.
V: What possession of yours do you feel best captures your essence?
MG: Years ago, I thrifted a small bracelet, probably from the 70s. It’s a clear plastic band with rusted jingles; it has a small inscription that reads “disco bells.”
V: If you could, what would you say to yourself 15 years ago? What about you 15 years from now?
MG: 15 years ago, keep saying yes to everything. 15 years from now, please learn when to say no.
V: Take your flowers. What’s something you’re proud of that you did this year?
MG: In May, I had five jobs in three days. It was the most back to back, zero turnaround I’d had in my career. Monday: Thom Browne Met Gala Video. Tuesday: Vogue China cover with Rosalia. Wednesday: Sandy Liang campaign while the Invasive Modification lookbook was shooting simultaneously while I sent my assistants in for a Vogue Taiwan cover. (I had to split my time between these two sets driving back and forth from Red Hook to Bed Stuy.) The workload was overwhelming, but it ended up being a new threshold for myself.
ETIENNE BOLDUC FASHION ARCHIVIST
Etienne Bolduc figured out a way to integrate his fanatical love of Japanese design, deep-fried internet irony, and physics schooling into a single platform: My Clothing Archive. Profiled by GQ, the New York Times, and Business of Fashion, Bolduc, also known as the Digital Cowboy, is the guy to know if you’re into pleats and obscure-yet-objective fashion history.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
ETIENNE BOLDUC: My work is hard to describe. I can’t even describe it. I used to say I was a fashion collector, but now I say that I’m more of a fashion historian, because I think collectors are mostly people that buy expensive stuff, and they don’t really do much with it. Before doing fashion research, I was actually in physics—condensed matter physics, more specifically.
V: What makes it possible for you to do what you do?
EB: Frustrations. I see problems or I see things that require research, and I try to figure them out because I love solving problems. From an exterior point of view, you might think that my approach is very clinical and very cold and factual and very methodical—which is true, but at the same time, by doing things this way, it makes it clear that I focus on the facts. The way I find these things, I try to honor people’s legacy and the memories of the people that were actually there at the time.
V: When you decided to pursue this passion, was there anything that surprised you?
EB: Every day, I’m surprised. But I will say, the one thing I was most surprised by is that as a single individual, you can have a big impact. Sometimes I find things that no one else has found. Simple things. I found a picture of Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, wearing an Issey Miyake piece. I know the designer who was there at the time, so I sent him a message. I was like, hi, Naoki. I just found a picture of the creator of Pokemon wearing one of your pieces, did you know about this?
V: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
EB: I’m thinking about maybe going back into physics a bit more. I like doing research. Honestly, I would research any subject. And I would have the same process and the same respect. I also build tech tools. For example, I mostly collect three brands: Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, and Comme des Garcons. And for the three brands, I’ve created identification software. If someone doesn’t know how to identify their piece, they can go on my website, enter their information, and get the exact collection of the piece. It’s super useful for people who’ve just started collecting.
V: Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
EB: Someone told me it’s important to be brave. And I really thought about what it means for me to be brave and take risks. I don’t do it as much as I think I do it. It’s simple, but it’s important.
V: This is a new year’s issue. What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
EB: Maybe one thing I would do is be even more behind the scenes. I would like to be a ghost and do great things without anyone knowing. It’s hard to describe, but I just want to do good work and use my years of research and knowledge in these decades of fashion to help push forward design. Because I collect the past—and I’m fully aware that these things are from the past—I want to build on the past. People often copy the past, but they don’t build on it. They create a cheaper version of it—like a pastiche of the past. So, I think that’s the thing. To help push design further than that so that it’s not pastiche, but so that we’re actually building on top of the past.
Etienne wears vintage suit MY CLOTHING ARCHIVE
Milena wears button down, tie, skirt SANDY LIANG On lips NARS Afterglow Lip Shine in Turkish Delight
MARTINE ALI JEWELRY DESIGNER
After launching her eponymous jewelry brand in 2010, Martine Ali’s signature silver pieces have been spotted on everyone from Bad Bunny to Bella Hadid. Last year, Ali ventured into shoes, via multiple collaborations with Converse. Given the warm reception that collection received, we suspect 2025 will be a shining year for the raucous designer.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
MARTINE ALI: It feels somewhat familiar… chunky silver with a hint of nostalgia, but interrupted with an unexpected and completely unnecessary, oversized infusion of hardware. I love the contrast of the familiar with the unexpected.
V: What makes it possible for you to do what you do?
MA: The few people in my life who have encouraged me to forge my own path. Also, a craving for individual style over following the pack has created this space where we need pieces to help us all tell our own story with what we wear.
V: When you decided to pursue this passion, was there anything that surprised you?
MA: No one knows what they’re doing. We’re all faking it ‘till we make it.
V: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
MA: A hair stylist, or something in interiors… maybe a hairdresser with a sick salon, or an interior designer with sick hair.
V: Who should everyone know about?
MA: We should all seek to know ourselves more.
V: What is a singular work of art that everyone should experience?
MA: Reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho changed my life. Experience that, please.
V: Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
MA: Follow your heart—my godfather Denver Doggy gave me that one.
V: What possession of yours do you feel best captures your essence?
MA: This giant bag that’s in the shape of an egg. It fits everything. One should always be a giant endless well, where things just keep coming out. Like just dropping insane shit, never ending over and over again.
V: If you could, what would you say to yourself 15 years ago? What about you 15 years from now?
MA: I would tell myself 15 years ago to save all your cool shit because it’s coming back. Sign and date all your work. Become your own archive. My future self, I would tell them to accept all the growth and trust the losses and experiences as crucial to your own experience.
V: Take your flowers. What’s something you’re proud of that you did this year?
MA: Slowed down. Pulled back. Edited who and what’s part of my life. I did a lot of internal work. It’s harder to see, but really important. I’m very proud of that.
V: This is a new year’s issue. What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
MA: Intentional movement… staying five steps ahead. Wear less clothes, and crazier looks. Please and THANK YOU.
ANDREW DAHLING MAKE UP ARTIST
Last summer, Chappell Roan went viral after she performed at Gov Ball as Lady Liberty. It was Andrew Dahling, makeup mastermind, who not only coated the popstar in a verdigris hue, but he also gave her an impeccable rich green contour to match. Inspired by the cartoonish club kids of yesteryear, this artist is bringing a fresh, yet informed, take on glam as we know it.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
ANDREW DAHLING: I’m a ‘take it as far as you can possibly go’ type of artist. I incorporate a lot of color, texture, crazy shapes, and color blocking. My work is very inspired by the early 90s, late 80s club kid era in New York and in London. The 70s London punk scene is really cool. The new Romantics and all those kids were just so revolutionary and rebellious. I like to keep that spirit going and infuse it into what I do as well.
V: What makes it possible for you to do what you do?
AD: Having the right products is key. My favorite product to use ever is the Danessa Myricks mix color fix, because it’s super high impact, super colorful, and it stays on so well. There are also meticulous techniques that require you to be intuitive—like how to hold a brush to get the line right. Because a lot of times when you do graphic shapes—your face isn’t a flat surface, obviously—you think it’s gonna look a certain way, but when you look at yourself straight on, it doesn’t create that shape that you wanted. It’s a lot of trial and error.
V: Who should everyone know about?
AD: I would say Susanne Bartsch, for sure, everything she’s done for the community. Leigh Bowery… I mean, his looks alone were so iconic, but he was such a performer and took up so much space and was absolutely hilarious. I think he’s the pinnacle of authentic self expression. I love watching his old videos. I also love John Waters and his films. Those are fabulous.
V: What is a singular work of art that everyone should experience?
AD: Anything Alexander McQueen. When I was in high school, I came to New York and visited The Met. At the time, his exhibit Savage Beauty was showing. I got to see a lot of the iconic pieces in person. There aren’t many things I remember from that era, but I feel like I could just go through my memory and clearly re-walk it, because it’s singed into my brain.
V: What possession of yours do you feel best captures your essence?
AD: This is gonna sound bad, but I was in a vintage shop in Milan and got this vintage arctic fox fur from the 80s. When I put this coat on, it just gives me the life that I need. It invigorates my soul with audacity and fabulousness. I feel like the queen that I am, you know what I mean?
V: If you could, what would you say to yourself 15 years ago?
AD: I would say you don’t have as much time as you think you do. There’s always tomorrow, yes, but tomorrow doesn’t exist. It’s all about what you do now. Calm down, do some breath work, meditate, bitch, and don’t focus so much on having to heal your traumas before you do things. Just do them anyway and let the fear move through your body. Girls, be brave. Don’t wait.
V: This is a new year’s issue. What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
AD: I want to be sitting front row at fashion week looking absolutely insane—next to Doja Cat or Kylie or somebody really big—and I just randomly found myself there. I don’t belong there. I don’t know how I got there, but somehow I’m there. And I look, I don’t want to say better than everyone, but like I can confidently say that my look is the most iconic in the room. All of a sudden, the pictures surface, and people are like, ‘Who’s this?’ And I’m like, It’s me. It’s always been me.
Martine wears bracelet, rings, earrings MARTINE ALI Camouflage mini dress talent’s own On lips
SUMMER FRIDAYS Lip Butter Balm in Vanilla Beige
Andrew wears sparkly catsuit and chains talent’s own On lips
BYREDO BEAUTY Colour Stick in Kumato
After years in the fashion design space, Recho Omondi decided to turn her savoir faire and love of the trade into a media platform called The Cutting Room Floor. Now entering its sixth season—with several covetable industry interviewees under her belt like Law Roach and Tonne Goodman—Omondi is feeling optimistic about her team and the year ahead.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
RECHO OMONDI: My name is Recho Omondi. I’m a fashion designer and pattern maker by trade. For the last six years, most people would consider me a podcaster in the fashion media space.
V: What is a singular work of art that everyone should experience?
RO: Everyone should experience seeing a Pina Bausch show. She has a lot of shows, but Rite of Spring is a must. It will completely transform the way you see choreography, the way you think of dance, the way you think of movement and storytelling through movement in a way that’s not related to a musician or musical or movie. It’s just going to see choreography for the sake of choreography. I think that’s why she’s one of the best choreographers of all time. Rest in peace.
V: Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
RO: I don’t know if it’s advice, but it was a statement that kind of acted as advice. It was from the esteemed retired fashion journalist Teri Agins. She said, “The hardest person to be is the person you say you are.” Ever since I heard that, which was like five years ago, it really stuck with me. It just speaks to keeping your promises, doing what you said you would do, being the person that you think you are, or that you say that you are. It’s really simple, but it’s actually really challenging.
V: If you could, what would you say to yourself 15 years ago? What about you 15 years from now?
RO: Oh, my God, pray for her. I would have cut off my friends and gotten more serious about life way sooner than I did. I think I let myself socialize longer than I wish I would have—nothing wrong with socializing, but I had a lot of the wrong people around me. 15 years from now, I’ll be 52. First of all, I think she’s gonna be so cool and so fucking chic. I think she’s gonna be cooler than I am now. I’m hoping to have some really amazing wrinkles. I think she’s gonna be a mother. I think she’s gonna be a wife. I think she’s gonna have amazing jewelry. I think she’s gonna have a lot more wisdom. I think she’s gonna have a lot more to offer. I feel like I’m still in the stage where I’m taking a lot and I want to get to a place where I’m giving away more, whether it’s advice, wisdom, time, or energy. The way I envision her, I think she’ll be more of a well.
V: This is a new year’s issue. What do you want to accomplish in the new year?
RO: The best part about my job is getting to meet people, and I do have a dream interview. However, you should include this caveat. Most of my dream interviewees are people who are press averse. Like an Olsen twin—I would take one, but I’d prefer both. I think the people that I really love are people who don’t feel like they need to talk, because their shit so good. Ann Demeulemeester… Sean Stussy… Phoebe Philo… Those are most of my icons, people who don’t want to talk. I would like to have built a career that is known for getting people who don’t talk to talk, for them to trust this platform enough to come talk to me would be like the greatest honor. That’s really the goal, especially for the 52 year old self.
SAM FINGER FASHION DESIGNER
After a sleazy SS25 presentation held at a Manhattan strip club—featuring New York icon Sophia Lamar and VMAN star Jonah Almost—New York born and bred designer Sam Finger has amassed a dedicated following of downtown adorers.
V MAGAZINE: Tell us about your work.
SAM FINGER: My work is very personal, and really is about uplifting, celebrating, supporting the communities that I am a part of, but also all marginalized communities. And always repping New York City too, since I was born and raised in the East Village. Like, the look I’m wearing, it started as this idea of a fallen star. That’s how that piece started, and it was originally going to be presented with the angel wings because I wanted to give it an element of hope. I think it’s an integral part of change—whether it’s in your professional life or society at large—there’s a certain level of faith that you need to get out of hardship. The wings are actually made of Tesla car parts. To me, it was about taking this very “capitalist America” idea, especially with the controversial guy that owns it, and creating something hopeful out of it, which gives it many meanings as a brand that celebrates queer and trans identity.
V: What makes it possible for you to do what you do?
SF: Vigor. Relentlessly saying I’m going to keep doing it, regardless of whatever comes my way. And the confidence of knowing that I have a message that I want to say—and that feels like the most important thing at the end of the day.
V: When you decided to pursue this passion, was there anything that surprised you?
SF: I have a theater background, and I didn’t expect to use so much of those performance skills in the brand. It’s one thing to make the clothes, but to cast models, figure out what you want a show to look like, how you want that to be expressed, how the lighting and video affect that, is something else. The clothes are integral, but they’re just one small element of this moving piece, and that’s what really excites me. I love production. I love storytelling.
V: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
SF: Robin Hood. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.
V: What possession of yours do you feel best captures your essence?
SF: My grandmother gave me a gold clock made out of wood by a Mexican artist; it’s in the shape of an angel and the clock is in his chest. I have him right where you enter my apartment. My grandmother was an artist, and she was the one who supported me as an artist since I was a kid, so I feel a connection to that piece. And honestly, everything she’s ever given me.
V: If you could, what would you say to yourself 15 years ago?
SF: You’re worth it, and what you have is special and important and worth doing. There are so many moments in life where you tap into your authentic self and artistry, and somebody shoots it down, or makes fun of it, or doesn’t get it. It’s scary to put yourself out there. The only thing I regret in my life is the time I spent not trusting that feeling. But I also feel like that’s part of my journey, and I trust the story.
Recho wears bandana, shirt, belt, trousers, middle necklace and earrings talent’s own Top and bottom necklace BVLGARI
Sam wears star top, boxers, pants and wings SAM FINGER Bracelet and hat talent’s own
S E T T L E S W H E N
T H E D U S K
Expect to smell like warm amber and opulent flowers, or one of the five fragrances in the Dusk assortment of INFINIMENT COTY PARIS, a conceptual fourteen-fragrance collection by Sue Nabi and Nicolas Vu. In an exclusive interview with V, Nabi, beauty expert and CEO of COTY, gets into the molecular structure and sci-fi inspiration behind the deeply personal parfum project
Photography ADAM FRIEDLANDER
Interview ALEX MEDINA SANTOS Set Design Jenna
Tedesco
Photography assistant
John Miller
Production assistant Ha Chu
V MAGAZINE: Congratulations on the launch of INFINIMENT COTY PARIS! When did you begin to think about this collection of scents? And what did starting this process look like for you?
SUE NABI: Thank you so much! It has indeed been a long journey. In 2017, Nicolas Vu and I co-created Orveda, a Bio-Tech skincare brand specializing in longevity, drawing its inspiration from science with no cost limitations on formulas and ingredients. As early as 2014, we started laying the groundwork for our vision of INFINIMENT COTY PARIS. Our goal was to create fragrances of unparalleled quality and exceptional longevity, well before the trend of long-lasting perfumes emerged. After ten years of development, our project finally came to life last March, and I am incredibly proud of this collection of fourteen fragrances.
When creating the perfumes, we began with notes that were meaningful to us. Each of us brought our personal touch to this collection. Nicolas crafted several notes that were close to his heart, especially for Aristo Chypre, his signature scent, which he wears daily. On my side, I worked on notes that were significant to me, like Soleil D’Ikosim, a perfume reflecting my childhood in Algeria. I wanted a fragrance that evoked an overdose of orange blossom, reminiscent of the aroma my mother used in cooking, in our home in Algiers, surrounded by orange trees. This is how it all started, with four
or five core notes. Gradually, the project took shape, and we expanded our creative play.
V: This collection explores seven human emotions: awakening, self-esteem, tenderness, sensuality, relaxation, fun, and pleasure. How did you decide what emotions to focus on?
SN: Each fragrance is linked to a specific positive universal emotion proven and measured by neuroscience. This involves a complex analysis of verbal and non-verbal responses, combining declarative emotions claimed by the tested panel, crossed with analysis of their rhythm, melody and intonation of speech. Or, prosody. For INFINIMENT COTY PARIS, all the seven emotion families are represented in the collection.
We linked each parfum to a singular one. As an example, we have noticed different shades in happiness, from the glee of Encore Une Fois to the bliss of Atomes Crochus, same happens for tenderness, while Les Mots Doux can evoke a soft tenderness, Soleil D’Ikosim is more about a tender reassurance.
V: This collection also mirrors the structure of an average day. Dawn, Day, and Dusk. Focusing on the Dusk scents—what about this assortment’s composition evokes the feeling of Dusk?
SN: For this collection, the goal was to group perfumes into families while preserving the unique personality of each fragrance. I’m a big fan of science fiction, and I had the pleasure
of encountering this idea in a series I recently watched. These imagined categories Day, Dawn, and Dusk, represent a cycle, a stage of life, reflecting different facets of a great personality. The collection goes beyond simply categorizing perfumes into separate groups. Instead, it portrays life moments, taking a poetic approach to existence. Each perfume is an expression of these experiences.
The Dusk collection is composed of our intense notes: nocturnal and powerful flowers, sacred woods, and warm ambery scents. Infinitely sensual, it includes fragrances like Après l’Amour, which captures the scent of skin after making love, and an amber vanilla note dear to Nicolas. This fragrance embodies his perfectionist nature and obsessive quest to redo things repeatedly, almost to the point of exhaustion.
V: Last question—what scent are you wearing today? And out of the 14 scents in the line, which ones would you include in your discovery set?
SN: Today, I’m wearing Entre Genres. It’s a cloud of clean musks that envelops like a cocoon, a second skin—sensual without being overpowering. Like olfactory lingerie for a gentle awakening. For a discovery set, I would include Entre Genres, Soleil D’Ikosim, Aristo Chypre, Encore Une Fois, and Noir Encens.
UN PARC DE ROSES EN ALABAMA, SANTAL À LAVIDA, OR DE MOI, APRÈS L’AMOUR and L’AMOUR POURPRE from the INFINIMENT COTY PARIS Dusk Collection
SPRING
Vernal Equinox, March 21st to June 20th
Serpenti Viper earring, ring, bracelet, High Jewelry Serpenti necklaces and bracelet, Serpenti Tubogas bracelet BVLGARI
Antler corset with feathers SEKS
SUMMER
Summer Solstice, June 21st to September 22nd
Zipped short jumpsuit and Rivage BB handbag LOUIS VUITTON
FALL
Autumnal Equinox, September 23rd to December 21st
Tied top, flare dress, shoe LOUIS VUITTON
WINTER
Winter Solstice, December 22nd to March 20th
High collar coat LOUIS VUITTON Serpenti earring BVLGARI
FOUR SEASONS OF LISA
As captured by timeless photography duo Inez & Vinoodh, global sensation Lisa Manobal is always in season
The word “versatility” is perhaps best exemplified by the seasons. Each year, winter’s mornin g frost, s p rin g ’s showers, summer’s lon g day s, and fall’s chan g in g of the leaves set four ver y di ff erent sta g es. These shifts in scener y —informed by Earth’s p osition to the sun at any g iven time—can p rofoundl y a ff ect the way s we act, think, and of course dress, summonin g di ff erent p ersonas within all of us to ste p into the s p otli g ht for an allotted time.
27- year-old Lalisa Manobal, p rofessionall y known as Lisa (as if you didn’t know), is exploring her own versatility with a forthcoming, highly-anticipated debut album Alter Ego. But this is a continuation of an existing theme; Lisa has been harnessing her versatility for years, a q ualit y that hel p ed her rise to p rominence within the g loball y renowned K-Po p p henomenon BLACKPINK. The Thai p erformer can dance, ra p , sin g , and act, and she can do the latter three in Thai, En g lish, Korean, Chinese, and Ja p anese. For the record, it’s estimated that less than 1% of the world population speaks five or more languages. In addition to her polyglottal skills, Lisa’s fluency in fashion has made her an ambassador for some of the bi gg est luxur y houses like Celine, Bvl g ari, and now Louis Vuitton.
“It’s my first full solo album,” Lisa says about Alter Ego over a video call. It’s a Sunday night in Los Angeles, one day before her cover shoot with V Magazine. The reflection of a fire’s flames dances in the window behind the sofa upon which she sits, wearing clearframed glasses and wrapped in a cozy blanket. “I released an EP a few years ago, just two songs, but I wanted to branch out now and experiment with different types of sounds and to have that creative control.” That EP, Lalisa (2021), consisted of two hit tracks— “Lalisa” and “Money”—and solidified Lisa as a powerhouse solo artist, with the former receiving half a billion streams on Spotify and the latter surpassing one billion plays.
At the time of the interview, Lisa had alread y released “Rockstar” and “New Woman” featurin g Rosalía, both of which will be on the new album. But these tracks were just the cherry on top of a whirlwind year for Lisa. She performed at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and MTV Video Music Awards, plus made her solo festival debut at the Global Citizen Festival in New York Cit y ’s Central Park. In Jul y , Louis Vuitton named her its newest house ambassador. Addin g to the excitement, Lisa launched her own mana g ement com p any , LLOUD, si g nalin g a bold new cha p ter where she takes g reater control of the business side of her career.
“I’m p roud of ever y sin g le thin g ,” Lisa say s while refl ectin g back on the blockbuster year. “But if I reall y , reall y have to p ick a favorite, I would say the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.” And that’s with g ood reason—last year’s show, held on October 15, marked the brand’s return after a six- year hiatus. Nearl y 3 million p eo p le tuned in to watch the spectacle live. Alon g with Tyla, Lisa’s p erformance and music helped set the sta g e for some of fashion’s bi gg est names—Kate Moss, Gi g i and Bella Hadid, Ty ra Banks, and Candice Swane p oel—to sashay down the runway .
But while 3 million VS lovers mi g ht feel like a lot of p eo p le, it’s but a small fraction of Lisa’s respective audience. The multi-talented artist has over 105 million followers on Insta g ram alone and is widel y considered the most-followed K-Po p star in the world. The music and fashion arenas thrive on numbers, and Miss Lisa’s g lobal reach and im p act are totall y un p recedented. Thou g h meetin g all her fans would be a lo g istical im p ossibilit y , she treasures the moments she can connect with them. “While on the BLACKPINK tour, I met so many of them, but I didn’t have time to sit and reall y listen to them,” she shares. “So this time, there was more of a connection. I went to five di ff erent cities and reall y had time to hear whatever the y wanted to share. The y also came on sta g e and ex p ressed themselves. It was g ood q ualit y time to g ether.”
Another reason Lisa can’t get as much face time with her fans as she’d like is because of her insanely packed schedule. She is, perhaps, one of the hardest-working women in the entertainment industry, a characteristic that has propelled her to try different (and versatile) ventures, such as acting. In 2024, she stepped farther out of her comfort zone with her first foray into television. What was, for most of us, the covetable part of “tree #2” in The Wizard of Oz , Lisa’s fi rst role has been, instead, that of a character named Mook on the much-buzzed-about third season of HBO’s wildl y p o p ular The White Lotus series, which is set to take p lace in Lisa’s beloved mother countr y of Thailand.
“This was my fi rst actin g g i g , so when I started, I had to p re p are so many thin g s. It’s a whole new world to me,” Lisa says. “I was all over the place. But on the fi rst day of the shoot, everybody was so supportive. Mike White…oh my God, I love him. He was super chill and told me I was doing a good job. I couldn’t believe it.” White told Entertainment Weekl y that this season would be “lon g er, bi gg er, crazier,” fannin g the fl ames of excitement for what’s to come.
That Lisa loves Thailand and was thus thrilled to hear about the new The White Lotus location is no secret. “Thai p eo p le are p roud,” she say s. “I love Thai culture. Some people already know how incredible it is, but I feel like [this show] is a chance to let the world know more about Thailand and its beaut y …and it was reall y fun to shoot. M y mom came to set and I had a nice time with her, too.” The show will be released in 2025.
As if those p ro j ects weren’t enou g h, Lisa will also p erform at Coachella in A p ril, a festival at which she performed with BLACKPINK in 2019 and then headlined with the g rou p in 2023. Their fi rst p erformance made histor y as the fi rst K- p o p g rou p to ever perform at desert festival, while their second made history as the first K-pop group to headline it.
When asked about other plans or goals for next year, Lisa gets slightly overwhelmed. “Right now I’m living on a month-by-month schedule, or every day by day. So I haven’t even thought about what next year is going to look like,” she says. “But of course, I just want to focus on the release of this album first, and then White Lotus is coming up as well.
Of course, Lisa’s future is a lot less formulaic now than it once was. The K-Po p industr y is famous for rules and re g ulations, g uidebooks on exactl y how to be or act. But Lisa’s career has now su p erseded K-Po p , and p revious by laws are out the window for this “New Woman.” Gifted with the aforementioned versatilit y and sha p eshiftin g ability, the pop music veteran is no longer restricted to “black” or “pink”—she now gets to ex p lore all the seasonal colors in between.
S P R I N G ’S
O F
C A B I N E T
C U R I O S I T I E S
Feathered hat and floral gown
VALENTINO
On lips
VALENTINO BEAUTY Rosso Valentino Refillable Lipstick IN #201A Red Fiesta (Satin)
SEASONAL BLUES
Panthère de Cartier bracelet in white gold with emeralds, onyx, diamonds CARTIER
A TIGHT GRIP
A GLIMMER IN
EYE
A HEAD CASE
Maria wears embroidered Trapeze mini dress and Teen Celine Josephine bag
CELINE by Hedi Slimane
Makeup Jezz Hill (CLM) NYC Hair Junya Nakashima (Streeters) NYC talent Osman Ceesay (Marilyn Agency) NYC Set Design Lane Vineyard (Saint Luke’s Artists) NYC Digital Technician Nick Barr
NYC Market Editor Olivia Vitale NYC 1st Photo assistant Jesse Allan NYC 2nd Photo assistant Ashton Herman NYC Makeup
assistant Chelsea Rachel NYC Hair assistant Tyler Williamson
NYC Production NEIGHBORS Paris Hair Tomohiro Ohashi (MA+ Group) Paris Manicurist Sylvie Vacca (Call My Agent) Paris talents Maria Klaumann (The Lions Management), Mahany Pery (IMG Models) Paris Digital technician Victor Gautier (D-Factory) Paris Production NEIGHBORS, Error Management Paris 1st Photography assistant Jesse Russell Paris Makeup assistant Emilie Mattei Paris Hair assistant Miki Sato Paris Manicurist assistant Delphine Aissi Paris Styling assistant Merveille Malaki Retouching IWonderU Studios Retouching IWonderU Studios
WHAT V WANT
The ultimate tools to accomplish your Y2K look this season? Say hello (again!) to Louis Vuitton’s Re-Edition Collection with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami
Whether it be for safeguarding prized tchotchkes from the antique store or organizing tools for home projects, Louis Vuitton is letting our creative minds (and hands) go wild with a vibrantly-hued, much-awaited, Takashi Murakami toolkit. Perfect for keeping our workspaces tidy and encouraging us to make cute, iconic messes. They say a bad workman blames his tools, but we believe a fashionable one knows exactly which tools to hang from his Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami leather hardware belt. (Plus, casting such aspersions on this exclusive, nostalgia-trip-of-a-release would be a fashion crime.) In a relationship rekindled from 2003, Murakami has joined forces with the Maison yet again, for a 20th Anniversary re-edition collection of over 200
everyday items and accessories that continue the legacy of delectable early-aughts nostalgia, for industrious collectors with a penchant for utility as it meets frivolity. Sure, people are *doing* Y2K, but are they *doing* the era-defining collaboration that kicked off a century of sartorial experimentation and play? Though the collection spans handbags, silk scarves, sunglasses, belts, and more, the selection piquing our interest most currently is a playfully practical toolbox, with instantly discernible, vibrantly-colored kawaii design features. With removable compartments for utmost organization and design motifs evocative of Louis Vuitton’s history, this particular project has given us fashion fodder for the next century over.
Photography CHARLES BILLOT
