THE
INSTIGATOR
Art & Culture magazine
/NEWS
WILLY
CHAVARRIA
MENSWEAR
2023
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAST
NEW YORK
Photos © Courtesy of Ruven Afanador for House & Country USA
At 55, Willy Chavarria is the most anticipated designer in the American fashion industry.
“My message has always been about empowering the people who inspired me,” Chavarria says. “With the credibility and the notoriety comes this ability to take broader steps. There’s a shift happening culturally, and for me getting bigger also means being able to raise more of my people up.”
“What the designer brings to the job,” says Valerie Steele, Curator and Director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, is “this sense of dignity and self-presentation that understands how clothes take up space in the world. His message is ‘See me, take account of me, show me respect.’”
Images taken by Ruven Afanador for House & Country USA
/ The Instigator
In Arabic, Rihla means journey, but not any kind. A voyage is not always measured by distance but imagination. It’s physical, as well as metaphysical.
Eau Rihla evokes both.
We tested Diptyque’s most mysterious, and protective perfume Eau Rihla created by Fabrice Pellegrin, that was released during the 60th anniversary of the company. It’s sensual, discrete, powerful and aspirational.
The scent’s characteristics will touch your inner senses, and will take you on an unforeseen voyage.
Read the article below ...
EAU RIHLA
DIPTYQUE
PARIS
ONE OF THE LATEST AND MOST SIGNIFICANT PERFUMES BY DIPTYQUE PARIS
Photo montage © Courtesy of Zoltan Alexander
"Eau Rihla" bottle by Diptyque Paris / Photo © Courtesy of Malin Oredsson
"Tank Française" by Cartier starring Catherine Deneuve and Rami Malek - directed by Guy Ritchie / Video © Courtesy of Cartier
CARTIER
TANK FRANÇAISE
CATHERINE DENEUVE
RAMI MALEK
PARIS
Cartier's new commercial is a tribute to the French cinema and to creative freedom. The movie is embodied by an international cast: Rami Malek, one of the most singular actors of his generation, and Catherine Deneuve, the French legend of cinema. It is a meeting between French style, symbolised by Catherine Deneuve and Cartier’s Tank Française, and with the avant-garde that Rami Malek so brilliantly conveys.
Deneuve and Malek present an expression of the free spirit of French cinema, connecting us to Paris, its flamboyant freedom, culture, creativity and spontaneity that once was captured by the Novelle Vague. For the commercial, it was only natural for Guy Ritchie to capture it on film, halfway on the bridge Alexandre III, between the Rive Gauche and the Rive Droite of the Seine.
Full article will be published shortly.
/ The Instigator
BEAUTÉ
BEAUTY
Hair by Pierpaolo Lai / Photo © Courtesy of Lucrezia Ganazzoli
PIERPAOLO
LAI
THE GENIUS HAIR
MILAN
Björk, Lady Gaga, and endless Vogue covers.
Hair Stylist Pierpaolo Lai untwines the history of beauty, and reminds us of the broken, imperfect and messy things in life we live in.
“We, Italians are great in artisanship. We always do things with passion."
"I enjoy looking at people. First, they want my blood because I stare. I’m simply curious!” Pierpaolo Lai
/ The Instigator
Video © Saint Laurent
YSL
ANTHONY VACCARELLO
FALL/WINTER 2023/2024
PARIS
PARIS, February 28: Saint Laurent Fall/Winter collection hits Paris catwalk with broad-shouldered glamour.
The show opened with models wearing sharp, extra wide-shouldered double-breasted jackets over slim silk tops and knee-length pencil skirts, some with scarves trailing behind. Designer Anthony Vaccarello moved in perfect confidence with YSL’s signature pieces, mixing ultra-feminine and more assertive masculine styles.
There was a standing ovation for him who brought his audience into a dark, radically contemporary black-box setting with a chandelier-lined runway, recreating the famous ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental, Monsieur Saint Laurent’s favourite venue for his Haute Couture collections between the late 1970s until early 2000.
“Darling, it was beyond beauty, divinity, infinity, exquisite sophisticated chic, epic, sensual, and sensational. J'adore!” Catherine Baba
/ The Instigator
Photos © Noir
NOIR
KEI NINOMIYA
FALL / WINTER 2023/2024
PARIS
NOIR Kei Ninomiya's shimmering FW23 presentation at Le Marché des Blancs Manteaux was Paris Fashion Week’s centre of attention.
There are few designers who stood out for their ability to create sculptural runway pieces this fashion week and NOIR was one of them. Experimental materials with glimmering and metallic finishes sent models gliding down the runway like fluorescent particles in the air.
Particularly the iridescent pieces, which bounced gently as they caught the light, conveying a feather-like weight I am sure they did not possess. Various nets and knots layered the body yet it was not constrained as the sheerness and holes allowed room for a very relaxed movement.
Notably, Ninomiya’s iconic harnesses remained a statement yet stepped away from typical black leather grunge through a mixture of pink metallic bows, braided laces, and bright fuzzy intertwinements.
Ninomiya certainly gave his collection a floral feel with an apocalyptic twist through the seemingly microbic, molecular shapes. These shapes are intended to open Ninomiya’s mind to ‘new worlds’ as well as the viewers, who are transported through both the garments as well as the unique makeup and headpieces.
Talking backstage to makeup artist Amazing JIRO, the seemingly paint-splatter-like splashes on the model’s faces are a ‘thick gelatine,’ again creating an other-worldly feel of deformation. Suddenly, the rules of proportion and human features no longer apply, as though NOIR’s floating, bacteria garments have contaminated its wearer. The expressionist beauty of these blue, yellow, and pink marks offers a fresh take on the apocalyptic fashion trend, Ninomiya’s hopeful message for the future of our post-pandemic world.
The headpieces were also fitting, evoking crashing meteors or modern-day spaceships. Uniquely, each piece was made through burning plastic, Ninomiya’s reference to environmental issues and the need to look outside this world into the next. His intricately constructed garments versus the spontaneity of the make-up and headpieces are perhaps a nod to the fast-paced fashion world that beckons designers to maintain their craftsmanship whilst also urging the creation of Instagram-worthy, spectacle pieces. Embodying the spirit of fashion today, the models’ looks are well thought out with the illusion of a last-minute, thrown-together ensemble.
NOIR’s show confirms there is still room for extreme sculptural design in fashion, an art that must surpass the need for trends. Ninomiya’s experimentation with materials, forms, and processes opens up the necessary conversation about sustainability in the industry, looking towards a future that is both bright and only partially but not entirely noir.
Music: Original composition by Setsuya Kurotaki
/ The Instigator
MAISON
MARGIELA
JOHN GALLIANO
FALL/WINTER2023/2024
PARIS
Maison Margiela FW23 by John Galliano, held at Margiela HQ, paid homage to Vivienne Westwood during Paris Fashion Week.
No one does storytelling better than Galliano. In his concoction of tartan, veiled hats, crystallised Tabis, and skirts tucked into fishnet stockings, Galliano’s collection screams teen with a mission as Margiela’s models’ power walk with purpose down a blindingly lit, white, mirrored runway.
An indulgence into a young Westwood and Galliano’s lives in London, during the 80s, the contrasting textures of tulle, organza, lace, velvet, and woolly tartan mimic the revolutionary attitudes that have now become an iconic political and artistic movement. Only a month after Westwood’s memorial in London, the models re-imagined as her loyal followers, continue mourning by wearing veiled hats and sunglasses. They clutch bags as though they were shields, their weapons being the clothes and the attitude that wears them, determined to carry on the punk legacy.
Galliano’s punk uniform is completed by his trademark tailoring, occasionally adorned with chains and badges, maintaining an intentionally unfinished look, as though it were ripped from a dad’s musty closet before leaving the house for that evening’s rave or protest, depending on the agenda.
Once again, Galliano has created a collection, rebellious to the core, that is nothing short of intellectual extravagance, nostalgic yet boldly relevant today.
/ The Instigator