This is Issue 37.

SAINT LAURENT - END OF AN ERA

Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent after a decade as creative director, bringing one of luxury fashion’s most consistent creative partnerships to an end. Since taking over in 2016, Vaccarello developed a highly recognizable visual language built around sharp tailoring, sensuality, dramatic silhouettes and a carefully controlled interpretation of the house’s Parisian identity. Rather than reinventing Saint Laurent every season, he established a coherent universe that extended across collections, campaigns and the brand’s wider cultural presence. His departure arrives during a period of significant creative restructuring across the luxury industry, where long-standing relationships between designers and fashion houses have become increasingly rare. For Saint Laurent, the challenge now lies in finding a new creative direction without losing the strong identity developed over the past decade. For Vaccarello, the departure opens the question of what comes next after one of the defining creative directorships of contemporary luxury fashion.

KIM JONES - THE RETURN

Kim Jones is preparing to return to the fashion industry with a renewed focus on his own namesake label, following his influential tenures at Dior Men and Fendi. Having spent years shaping the identities of established luxury houses, Jones is now exploring the opportunity to build a creative universe under his own name. The project is expected to move beyond traditional runway collections, incorporating a broader lifestyle approach and a stronger emphasis on direct relationships with consumers. Plans for a substantial flagship retail space suggest an ambition to create something more permanent than another seasonal fashion label. Throughout his career, Jones has demonstrated an ability to connect luxury craftsmanship with streetwear, music and contemporary culture, helping reshape the relationship between high fashion and a younger generation. His return to independent design raises an interesting question about the future of established creative directors: whether building their own businesses may become more attractive than moving between the industry’s largest fashion houses.

MATIÈRES FÉCALES - FASHION’S MOST-WATCHED

One of the most surprising developments following the Spring/Summer 2027 fashion season came from Vogue Runway’s audience figures, where independent label Matières Fécales reportedly emerged as the most-viewed show, ahead of some of the industry’s largest luxury houses. Known for its provocative imagery, unconventional beauty ideals and uncompromising visual identity, the Paris-based label has developed a distinctive position between fashion, performance and underground culture. Its growing visibility reflects a wider shift in how audiences discover and engage with contemporary fashion. Rather than relying exclusively on established brand recognition, younger audiences increasingly respond to designers who offer recognizable worlds, strong cultural identities and something genuinely unexpected. The attention surrounding Matières Fécales demonstrates how independent labels can compete for cultural relevance even without the resources of global luxury groups. In an industry often dominated by commercial scale, originality remains one of fashion’s most powerful currencies.

FASHION GETS PHYSICAL AGAIN

As artificial intelligence continues transforming the production and circulation of fashion imagery, designers are increasingly exploring the qualities that digital perfection struggles to reproduce: physical presence, sensuality, imperfection and human emotion. Across recent collections, houses including Mugler and Tom Ford, alongside designers such as Glenn Martens, have revisited the relationship between clothing and the body through more provocative silhouettes, tactile materials and heightened expressions of sexuality. The movement reflects more than another seasonal return to revealing clothing. It suggests a growing interest in experiences that feel immediate and unmistakably human at a moment when visual culture is becoming increasingly artificial. Fashion has always used the body as a space for experimentation, but the contrast between physical reality and digitally constructed perfection gives that relationship new significance. Rather than rejecting technology entirely, designers appear to be emphasizing the emotional and sensory qualities that make fashion something more than an image.