Model/musician Matilda Dods on high school, guitar chords and Australian fashion

Meet the double threat.

Matilda Dods began modelling in January 2013 and by October, was in Vogue Australia. Byron Bay-born Dods was profiled along with four other rising Australian models in the October 2013 issue of the magazine. At the time, she had already met with Hedi Slimane of Saint Laurent and seen agents in Paris and New York.

The 17-year-old is still in high school and already following a double career path into modelling and music. “I’m about to start my final year of school, so it’s difficult to get the grades that I know I’m capable of when I’m missing school for work,” she says. “But it’s worth it in the end.”

Obviously, it was worth signing out of class to shoot the Strand Arcade’s spring/summer ‘14/’15 campaign. Dods will also perform an acoustic set of two self-penned songs at the Strand’s Evening With Our Designers on August 13 to a VIP crowd.

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“I’m really inspired by lyricists like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Ryan Adams. I’m also a huge Bowie fan,” Dods says of her musical inspirations. “Artists such as Debbie Harry from Blondie, Joan Jett and Lana Del Rey have also really influenced the sound of my music.”

Dods has inherited her talents in equal parts from her parents; her mother was a model for two decades, while her father is very musical. “When I was 11, I demanded that my dad teach me to read chord charts so that I could teach myself guitar and start writing songs. And I’ve been writing ever since!”

But back to fashion and Dods is already showing signs of a model-off-duty style that’s suitably rock ‘n’ roll. “I wear a lot of a brand called Afends, out of Byron. They were the first brand I ever modelled for and are like family to me. I live in their faux leather Rock and Roll leather jacket,” she says.

As for her favourite piece on the Strand Arcade Shoot? “I love the red Alex Perry gown. It was the perfect Jessica Rabbit red. I felt like such a vixen in it.”

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Agent Provocateur's creative director on what not to do when buying lingerie

And how to wear underwear as outerwear.

Sarah Shotton, creative director of Agent Provocateur, started as a shop assistant (or as they call them ‘Agents’) in the lingerie label’s Soho, London, store 10 years ago. She then moved into the head office where she worked her way up through the design team to creative director. With her decade in the business and love for lingerie, Shotton has our full attention when it comes to underwear shopping advice.

What is the most common mistake people make when buying lingerie?

“People often buy lingerie in the wrong size as they don’t have time to try anything on. Our lingerie items are investment pieces and so it’s worth it to take time out of your day to find the perfect fit. You’ll get much more wear out of something that fits you like a glove.”

What are your top tips for being confident in lingerie?

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“Find a set that flatters your figure. My advice would be to try on as many styles as possible; you never know you may find something that looks amazing that you would never have picked up.”

What is the most seductive way to style lingerie?

“We put our signature Agent Provocateur mules in all of our changing rooms so our customers can try on our lingerie with heels on, as even the smallest amount of height elongates the leg and flatters the body. I’m also a huge fan of suspenders and hold ups. I don’t think any set is complete without hosiery.”

What is your attitude towards the underwear-as-outerwear trend? Are there any rules?

“I don’t think there are any rules. I’m a big fan of wearing a waspie over a white shirt and pencil skirt in the office. We also have girls that wear our bras under sheer open shirts that look fantastic. It just depends on how far each individual wants to go with it.”

Why did you cast Missy Rayder in the Le Salon campaign (above)?

“I always wanted to work with her. For me, she is one of the most iconic models from the 90s. We were looking for someone who would fit the dark smouldering character of the campaign.”

Where did the hedonistic theme for this shoot come from?

“Lately I’ve been obsessed with the 1970s. I started thinking about Studio 54 and all of the glamourous people that centred around that luxurious world of excess such as Jerry Hall and Antonio Lopez.”

What is your biggest indulgence?

“Alaïa. I love it all.”

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Whatever Happened to Shoulder Pads? Spoiler Alert: They're Kind of Feminist

Shoulder pads: You either love them or you hate them, right? JUST KIDDING, OF COURSE YOU HATE THEM. Who likes shoulder pads? Oh, you’re “kind of into them”? Geez, I’m sorry… I just thought we were all sort of on the same page here.

Sure, the shoulder pad is one of those items that’s intended to convey all the right things: Power! Capability! Confidence! Unfortunately, in real life, the shoulder pad often looks like all the wrong things: Clunky. Unflattering. Totally ’80s. But no matter how many awful fashion mistakes have been made with shoulder pads in a starring role, there’s one thing they have going for them. Believe it or not, shoulder pads have something of a feminist history — in that they’ve always been used to help women keep up with the guys.

Technically, shoulder pads were invented in 1877 by a Princeton football player named L.P. Smock. But shoulder pads for sports are so different than shoulder pads for fashion — unless you’re wearing that jacket with the padding to protect yourself from injury? — that’s it’s pointless to compare the two. The Fashion Shoulder Pad sprung to life, fully cushioned, in 1931, championed by designers Marcel Rochas and Elsa Schiaparelli. A year later, when Joan Crawford wore a massively shoulder-centric dress in the movie Letty Lynton, the verdict was in: the shoulder was the new EVERYTHING.

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As World War II came crashing through the annals of history, shoulder pads became more than just a fashionable look. They became a confidence-booster, a way for women to signify that they were leaving the home and going to work and doing it all for their country. Suddenly it was hipper than ever to dress courageously, defiantly, boldly, and what better way to signify boldness than the mannish silhouette of the shoulder pad?

After the war ended, the shoulder pad’s time was up. People no longer wanted to dress the way they had during wartime, and Dior’s “New Look” of 1947 celebrated all things anti-shoulder pad: slinky silhouettes, drapy fabrics, and sweeping skirts. “We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers,” wrote Dior — referring, we can only assume, to the ubiquity of shoulder pads. His New Look was all about the ultra-feminine, and shoulder pads have always conjured up the man (just like “broad shoulders” is always compliment when referring to a man, but can be an insult when used to describe a woman).

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Shoulder pads fell out of mainstream fashion for a couple of decades, and when they resurfaced, it was once again to help women assume — or overcome — the role of men. It wasn’t pretty, but prettiness was the enemy. The ’80s power suit, shoulder-padded within an inch of its life, was an embodiment of the “dress for success” mantra, and during the ’80s, dressing for success meant dressing like one of the guys. And what better way to convey power and in-charge-ness then a silhouette with broad, strong shoulders?

Like women smashing through the glass ceiling, shoulder pads no longer felt confined to the suit, either. They leaped onto dresses, blouses, and casual jackets, making everyone in the ’80s look a bit more broad-shouldered. No one was safe.

Post-’80s, shoulder pads fell back into oblivion in in favor of, uh, anything else. But you can’t keep an odd-looking piece of shoulder jewelry down, and the trend is making a third comeback, of sorts, today. Stars like Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, and Victoria Beckham have all been adopting the powerful silhouette, and decorated shoulders — that’s epaulettes, FYI — are also fairly popular these days as a sort of shoulder pad-lite look.

Why now? This time around, shoulder pads aren’t designed to bring confidence in wartime or masculinity to the working girl. What do they bring, today, to the women who wear them? Hard to say exactly, but my money’s on outer space. The shoulder pads of right now are studded, twinkling, and a little bit sci-fi. Until now, shoulder pads have been a weathervane of the times, embodying women’s fears, aspirations, and futures. Maybe the first person on Mars will be a woman, and maybe shoulder pads are telling us that right now.

Your New Wardrobe Staple Is Hanging in Your Boyfriend's Closet

I will admit that I looked like something of a crazed bag lady. It was around 11 p.m. on Sunday evening, and I was digging through heaps of mangy cutoff band tees at my boyfriend’s apartment, attempting to find a shirt suitable for the office Monday morning. The reason for this last-minute race to create some sort of bootleg, work-appropriate ensemble? My boyfriend and I live in different boroughs (which in New York is comparable to living in different states) and with the lull of the weekend still hanging over me, I was way too lazy to make the trek back home. The challenge: The only clothing I had with me was a bleach-speckled oversize tank and a pair of blue skinny jeans. The only semisuitable garments he had? A pair of button-downs in white (complete with coffee stain) and faded denim. Even though I don’t feel quite confident that I’ve yet mastered the art of denim-on-denim, I picked the latter. (Desperation drives people to do crazy things.) And yet, the next day at work, two editors complimented me on my outfit, with it’s air of “undone chic.” Little did they know how undone: I had scrapped the prized quasi-rag out of a closet of dog fur–covered, beer-splattered, once-worn pile of laundry.

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And I’m not the only person who creates makeshift looks out of my boyfriend’s clothes. Comedian Chrissie Mayr has a bit that relates to one-night stands (also applicable to those in committed relationships who neglect to plan ahead): Her solution? Open up a store that sells women’s workwear at 5:00 a.m. And Mayr, if you’re listening, I’d invest: When I blasted a social media message out asking if any women wore their significant other’s shirts to work, my inbox was flooded with responses. A banker pairs her boyfriend’s collared shirts and sweaters over trousers while a designer wore her father-in-law and husband’s button-ups with skirts. One of my acquaintances wore a full suit pilfered from her boyfriend’s closet. Their reasons varied: One mentioned that they enjoyed blurring gender lines, another that she enjoyed the comfort and looseness of a men’s fit—they all mentioned being often short on time. (But long on style!)

There’s more to infusing your wardrobe with your beau’s leftovers than efficiency. Take a cue from the French street-style stars who have mastered the look: Every Fashion Week, Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt is seen in a loose-fitting men’s button-up tucked into skinny jeans, topped off with a pair of heels. The key to making the look “your own,” according to Vogue Market Editor Kelly Connor (who, it bears noting, was wearing her fiancé’s shirt while we spoke) is to focus on accessorizing. “The boyfriend shirt should be worn buttoned a bit lower with a great gold necklace,” says Connor. “I think a bit of wrinkle gives it personality, and also a good roll to the sleeves and pushed up around the elbows,” says Connor. “Otherwise the silhouette can overwhelm.”

And for those without sticky fingers (or male love interests with a lenient lending policy), there’s no shame in investing in some great menswear pieces for yourself. It’s the perfect laissez-faire late-summer staple. And trust us, the look isn’t going out of style anytime soon.

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Lynn Yaeger Travels to Provence for a Fashion Master Class with Creatures of the Wind at SCAD

Fashion writer Lynn Yaeger joins Creatures of the Wind designers Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters in the rolling hills of Provence for a master class in fashion at Savannah College of Art and Design Lacoste—and a vintage shopping adventure.

Day One

It is 9:00 p.m. at the Café de Sade in Lacoste, it is still blazingly light outside, and Pierre Cardin, who is the unofficial mayor of this village in the south of France, is at a corner table. I am nursing a glass of rosé, awaiting the arrival of the Creatures of the Wind boys, as everyone calls them, who have just tumbled out of the SCAD van. They scramble up the stone steps, order drinks, and stare in stunned wonderment at the view.

We’re at the Provencal campus, nestled in a medieval village so idyllic it is almost ridiculous. (The Marquis de Sade, who once lived in a castle overlooking the village, liked it here, too.) The Creatures are in town to teach a master class to fashion design students; I am tagging along and mostly begging everyone to take me to brocantes, the flea markets that fill the streets of local hamlets.

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Day Two

In SCAD’s glorious sixteenth-century Maison Basse, an atelier that was once a silkworm farm (there are still holes in the walls where mulberry leaves resided) Gabier and Peters meet the students. It’s an all-female group, organized into seven teams of two. The Creatures guys give a brief history of their brand—the name comes from a Johnny Mathis song—and then move on to their main topic: the unleashing of creativity; the pursuit of your influences; the task of opening your mind, regardless of whether this leads immediately to the clothes you create. This kind of deep thinking is a challenge to the students, and as Peters reels off the line’s recent influences—Conan the Barbarian, hokey sci-fi epics, the outsider artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, star maps—the kids looked frankly stunned. “A collection is about emotional nebulousness,” Gabier tells them. “In the end, it’s greater than the core of components you bring into it.” Peters adds: “Fashion is an idealized version of your world.”

Day Three

Every time we pass a highway sign advertising the Cirque Landri, I turn into a demented seven-year-old screaming, “Circus! Circus!” So on Tuesday night, we go to this one-ring affair in the middle of a field near Coustellet—the juggler, animal wrangler, and rope-trick artist are the same guy; the aerialist and doggie trainer is the same sullen young lady (am I nuts, or did I see this wench wrapping her legs around a rope in a similar act a few months ago at the Box in Dubai?); the clown is also the stagehand; the bird lady sells cotton candy during intermission. At the sight of recalcitrant pups jumping through hoops, Peters laughs so hard he cries. In any case, everyone is in a very good mood tonight because earlier in the day, on a visit to L’Isle sur la Sorgue, we discovered a Valhalla called La Fripe Chic, an unassuming vintage store with (not lying here!) Balenciaga frocks for 60 euros, red leather Marni coats for 50, Margiela pullovers for 20, and Rick Owens cardies for 15.

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Day Four

We’ve settled into a pattern, and it is insanely pleasurable. We spend mornings at the brocantes and vide greniers (French for garage sale)—today the fair is in Bédoin, where Creatures find a pair of vintage Rochas sunglasses in the case for 20 euros that they plan to gift to their friend Liz Goldwyn. A dealer gives me a silvery bracelet when he finds out I am American (maybe something about my French tipped him off?) in thanks, he tells me, tearing up, for the allies who arrived near here 60 years ago and saved France. In the afternoon, we stop at the studio and see how the class is coming along. The Creatures’ recommendations have apparently sunk in—the students’ boards, once crowded with sunny pics of Grace Kelly and lavender sprigs, have become darker, more abstract, more mysterious, more personal—dreamy views of the countryside have been replaced variously with smoking nuns, menacing cicadas, Pina Bausch, and mad houses.

Day Five

Can this be our last day in Provence? How quickly the time flies when you are hanging with cool students, banging around markets, and gorging on poulet fumé. Gabier and Peters look approvingly at the students’ work and the progress they have made. “Never worry about how perfect something is,” Peters reminds them. “Explore what’s special, what’s close to you!” he says, as the Provençal light streams through the windows, and the supermoon, not in a hurry to leave—and nor am I!—still faintly visible in the morning sky.

Alessandra Rich on going west, long hemlines and never having enough denim

Alessandra Rich has been into long hemlines well before it became one of the biggest trends in fashion. In 2010, she launched her namesake label, the majority of which is made up of sheer-and-lace dresses that skim the ankles. With her capsule collection for Net-A-Porter launching today, Rich talks to Vogue about fashion’s ‘more brains, less legs’ motto and her muses from the 70s.

Your approach to formalwear is incredibly modern, while still being reminiscent of a time when women dressed up more frequently. Do you believe we have lost the art of dressing up?

I don’t think so. Women today are more self-confident. I think there is a link between what a woman thinks about herself and what she chooses to wear. It’s not about how many long dresses you have in your wardrobe but about your attitude. A clever woman knows how to mix modernity with tradition, without being nostalgic.

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It seems like everyone in fashion is adopting longer lengths now. Have you noticed a shift towards length since you launched your label?

Fashion changes fast, I try to be out of the trends but sometimes ‘being out of the trend’ can become a new trend. I noticed a shift towards ‘more brain, less legs’ in fashion. I think fashion can be clever and funny, in the same hemline.

Despite being long in hem and sleeve length, your dresses still reveal the body beneath through lace and fit. What tips do you have for layering undergarments beneath your dresses?

I love transparency and lace is essential to make it; it’s super feminine. I really cannot do without it. I don’t like to give too much advice; I think each woman knows how to feel good in her dress.

Where did the Western vibe come from for your Net-a-Porter collection?

My Western vibe comes from Western movies. I thought of Charlotte Rampling’s fabled look, Lauren Hutton’s smile, everything belongs to a 70s energy. I imagined an elusive muse, femme fatale and tomboy, fresh and wild.

What pieces in your wardrobe are on high rotation now?

My wardrobe is very basic, even boring. But in the rotation now there is a chambray body shirt from the capsule collection.

What is on your fashion wish list at the moment?

A new pair of jeans, because I can never have enough.

If you could dress anyone in the world, who would it be?

Going back to the past, Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar.

What have you learnt about fashion since you started your label?

That fashion must be fun.

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Alice Fisher on style: the magnificent 70s

You don’t often get to quote serial killers in fashion columns, but Hannibal Lecter was right when he said that we begin by coveting what we see every day. My start was in the 1970s, and I am besotted with the decade’s style. Not glam or disco or decadence, but the fashion I saw every day on the streets of Derby, where I grew up, and on the telly we watched every night.

Thinking about what it means to be a grown-up woman still triggers a Flipagram in my head of Meryl Streep in Kramer vs Kramer, Linda McCartney singing “Mull of Kintyre”, Margaret Thatcher becoming leader of the Conservatives, Angela Rippon, Ria from the sitcom Butterflies, and my mum. They’re the women who first made me aware of work and power, feminism, environmentalism, the news and, you know, made my tea. Though my mum did that after finishing her full-time job and before she got her Singer sewing machine out, as she made her own clothes. What a star. Their look, a very muted glamour, will always be dear to me.

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This sort of 1970s style is a subtle influence this summer. Full calf-length skirts, slim-fitting shirts with cuffs, aviator shades and vivid-patterned dresses teamed with clumpy-heeled sandals or platforms are dotted through spring/summer collections ranging from Hermès to Etro. American designer Michael Kors’s whole show was a linen, khaki, leaf-printed paean to the 1970s all-American woman. Matthew Williamson – best known for his 1990s boho chic dresses – had a big dollop of 1970s fashion in his show, too. He said it was because the Williamson woman is maturing and needs clothes that reflect that: “She has kids, a job and responsibilities.” He’s the same age as me, and I can’t help but think that’s why he equates the 1970s with grown-ups.

If you’re looking for something closer in price to the original 1970s versions, & Other Stories has shirts with the right buttoned-up feel. They’re silk, which beats the polyester my mum had to wear. Most British stores have a classic beige summer mac at this time of year, and the best I’ve seen is a double-breasted one by Marks & Spencer. Super cheap. If you have money to invest, buy a brown bag. It’s suitably 70s, and there were loads of brown handbags at the autumn/winter shows, too, so it’ll make you feel fashionable until about this time next year.

You’d think that the clumpy sandals and platforms would be the easiest part of this look. They’re everywhere, from Office to Asos. I tried some wooden-soled clogs, my mum’s favoured footwear once her work shoes came off. These were Swedish Hasbeens, a label whose designs are based on original 70s shoes found in an old Swedish clog factory, and they defeated me. I hobbled like I had bad pins and needles or really needed a wee. So please wear them for me. It makes me so happy to see 1970s women back on the streets. Do I sound a bit obsessed? Well, don’t worry. I promise not to eat you.

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Amy Sedaris Dresses Like a Scarecrow, Looks Good Doing It

Today on Style, Amy Sedaris, author, comedienne, former Strangers With Candy star, and bona fide rabbit expert advises readers on how to care for their fashion bunnies. But when I spoke with Sedaris in her cozy Greenwich Village apartment, she had some fashion tales to share, too. For instance, last year, at her good friend Adam Selman’s debut presentation, Sedaris made an onstage cameo as a photographer (left), directing models as they posed in their silk shorts and swimsuits on set. “The other photographers thought I was a real photographer,” laughed Sedaris, who met Selman while the pair was working on a Dolly Parton video. “So they were mean to me—you know, pushy, bossy, aggressive. One photographer asked me what I was shooting for, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s no film in this camera.’ Cuckoo!”

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Selman, who made Sedaris’ late rabbit Dusty a custom awning to sleep under, designs a number of the actress’s dresses. “He’s great, and he’ll help me pick out shoes,” she noted. While her custom Selman wares are decidedly more demure than that infamous fishnet-and-crystal number Rihanna worked at the CFDA Awards, Sedaris insists that she wouldn’t shy away from a similar ensemble. “I’d do it for a laugh,” she chuckled. “I’d just wear it out every day. To the gym even. Everywhere.”

That would be a bold move (and one we’d fully support). But Sedaris admits that the other night, while preparing for an evening out on the town, she was at a loss for what to wear. “Adam was here, and I was being restless, so I Googled how you’re supposed to dress when you’re over 50. And it was, like, stuff I would never wear in a million years! Not ever!” So how does Sedaris, who at this particular moment was donning some Junya Watanabe-esque patchwork jeans and a white T-shirt, describe her personal style? “I usually dress like a scarecrow,” she deadpanned. Well, Ms. Sedaris, if that’s the case, it’s working for you.

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Growing Up With Chanel: The Stylish Ascent of Franco-Spanish Actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

“When I work on a film, I pay attention to the way my characters dress, because it’s a big part of the creation process,” says 28-year-old Astrid Bergès-Frisbey. The Franco-Spanish model and actress, whose first English language role was the mermaid Syrena in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, often imagines a thread weaving through her assigned ensembles. For her turn as Sofi in this summer’s molecular-biology thriller I Origins alongside Michael Pitt and Brit Marling, she and director Mike Cahill focused on pink, blue, and orange set against a black silhouette. “I’m not going to tell why,” says Bergès-Frisbey, “but we wanted something recognizable and special,” though subtle enough to notice Sofi’s spirit, and not her outfit. “It’s always a delicate point . . . finding the balance.”

Bergès-Frisbey’s daily uniform is unostentatious as well: a T-shirt (her sister, and roommate, teases her about her ample collection of white tees) under a tweed jacket, jeans, flats, and a hat. She explains, “When I’m in between shoots, I need to feel [like] myself . . . and [not] think, ‘Is this right or not?’ in the morning.”

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Despite her sought-after gamine style, she marvels at New York City women. “Probably the most beautiful thing about New York is [that] it’s a city with four seasons, and there’s something very playful about [that] . . . Right now, you can dream of the day that you will put on a winter hat,” she says, dubbing Paris “a city where everybody dresses kind of the same.” She avers Parisians are critical of those who are bizarrely attired—or too done-up. “[In] New York, people accept one another. How you dress doesn’t matter; it’s who you are and what you do, and [whether] you’re good at what you do.”

Being at ease is paramount even on the red carpet (“You can find haute couture that is supercomfortable,” she insists) and allows for the actress to present herself apart from the silver screen with a sense of effortless chic. “Half the time, I live under [the guise of] my characters, so if I start to create an ‘official character’ for myself, it would be exhausting,” she sighs. She remains loyal to a small group of designers, mentioning Maxime Simoëns, and Rupert Sanderson for his feminine shoes, and of course, Karl Lagerfeld, for whom she has modeled—a professional relationship she came by honestly, thanks to her mother, a Chanel employee.

“I know pretty much any branch of [the] brand and I love to be able to see the couture salon [along with] the back of the shop where my mom works,” Bergès-Frisbey says. “I’m just impressed by how Karl reinvents Chanel again and again and again, and for so long, using the same codes, but reinventing it [for] fashion now,” she continues, noting that she was photographed for The Little Black Jacket book. “I have such respect for him. He does [everything] with the same eyes and the same energy as a kid.”

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Emma Balfour on "daggy" style, Kate Moss and why she said yes to Ellery

Emma Balfour in conversation with Vogue.

Emma Balfour exchanged the life of a 90s supermodel for the one of a mother when she returned to her homeland at the end of the decade to raise her children in Sydney. However, fashion still beckoned and at times Balfour returned to modelling, always accompanied by the inevitable ‘comeback’ headline. Lately, she is “trying to say yes more often”, which for Australian label Ellery has resulted in her fronting their pre-fall 2014 campaign. Here, Vogue chats to Balfour about backstage beauty tricks and writing poetry.

How would you describe your style?

“In real life? Daggy, a bit arty, a bit dippy and practical. Sad but true.”

What influences your style?

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“My contrariness. Trying not to look like everyone else.”

Everyone keeps saying the ‘90s are back. Do you agree?

“They seem to be. It’s terrifying when your own era haunts you again so soon!”

How do you think your style fits in with the Ellery aesthetic?

“I think the uniqueness of Kym’s pieces really fits with me. They are clever, bold and different.”

You seem to be quite selective with your work. Why did you decide to do this Ellery campaign?

“Her clothes are great, and she’s the real deal; full of energy and ideas. I respond really well to people who are passionate and authentic.”

Is there a fashion job or person you could never say no to?

“I’ve been trying to say yes more often lately. It’s a bit of an adventure and I’ve been travelling a lot more as a result, which I love again now that my kids are old enough to barely miss me. I have luckily worked with almost everyone on my wish list, but I’d love to work with Juergen Teller again.”

Who is your favourite model?

“I’ve always had a soft spot for Kate [Moss] but I find Julia Nobis a bit fascinating these days. She looks so cool and above it all.”

What is the best beauty tip you picked up backstage or on a shoot?

“Mixing lip balm and eyeliner to make a great messy smudgy eye.”

You’re also a poet. Where is your favourite place to write poetry?

“In bed. Or on a plane. I seem to actually write best when I’m away from home with my fresh eyes in.”

What questions are you tired of being asked in interviews?

“Current designer questions. Cause seriously, what do I know? I rise horses and look after kids for most of the time!”

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How One Ukrainian Designer Is Winning the Hearts of Soccer and Fashion Fans Alike

It didn’t take much for RCR Khomenko’s pants to turn my head. And to be fair, they turned everyone else’s too. “Yo, mami, I love your pantaloooons!” a leather-clad biker screams to me as I walk to work in the cartoonish, cropped trousers. “Thanks, man!” I call back. A few blocks away, a young tourist asks to take a photo of me—specifically, my legs—and I cheerily strike a pose. I’m halfway to my desk when two of my colleagues leap up, pointing at my lower hemisphere with exclamations of sartorial love and desire. When I go to pick up lunch, one of the salad bar employees cheers, “I love that team!” pointing to the emblazoned logo across my ankles and making a hockey-stick swinging motion. I skip out like a child, practically beaming.

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First, keep in mind that my preferred trouser shade varies along a gray scale. These pants are anything but gray: quasi-motocross-inspired, similar to the bad-ass, logo-heavy trousers from Marc by Marc Jacobs for fall 2014 these are red, white and blue and regularly mistaken for promotional garb from The New York Rangers hockey team, largely due to a grapefruit-size Rangers logo at the hem. Much to what I imagine would be that salad bar employee’s chagrin, the pants actually have their roots across the Atlantic: Their colors and insignia are from the Rangers Football Club, a Glasgow-based soccer team. The Ukrainian designer Yasya Khomenko created the trousers out of children’s sheets and curtains procured on a trip to London. After showing them at London Fashion Week in her spring 2014 collection, a photo of the runway look quickly ended up on message boards for soccer enthusiasts. Responses ranged from one user’s succinct “WTF” to another’s calm retrospection: “That is made out of a Rangers bedspread. My wee boy has that set.”

A few months later, more than 1,800 miles away from Glasgow, I visited Khomenko’s apartment turned showroom in Kiev. Khomenko, whose collection was inspired by children’s play clothes (“I just wanted to make costume superheroes from home textiles,” said Khomenko) discovered the sporty curtains at a London bazaar. They were loud. They were reminiscent of an infant’s pajamas. They were very far off from my uniform of black skinny jeans and gray tops. And yet? I had to have them. I bought the trousers, took my first step out of a monochromatic wardrobe box, and I haven’t looked back yet—sometimes, all it takes is the right pair of trousers to make wearing something out of the ordinary mere child’s play.

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Warsaw, an undiscovered fashion hotspot

From bespoke tailoring houses such as Zaremba, which remained a favourite during the Communist era by stashing outlawed "bourgeois" fabrics for clients, to newly graduated designers, Warsaw has a surprising diversity of fashion talent, both old and new. My recent visit to Poland coincided with the graduation of Warsaw Art Academy's first ever fashion diploma students, a talented bunch, including womenswear designer Kasia Skórzyńska, whose vivid prints, inspired by the films of Wong Kar-Wai, showed accomplishment and international appeal.

Also in early June, outside of any official week or season, national (fashion) hero Robert Kupisz drew an impressive crowd to a vast warehouse space across the river from the city centre, for a show that was deliberately commercial and relaxed in style, the soft denims and especially the oversized flannel shirts pushing Kupisz's design into more high-fashion territory through tactile fabric treatments and proportion.

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Another of Warsaw's most-established designers is Ania Kuczyńska, whose beautiful boutique at Mokotowska features minimal though supremely elegant designs for men and women, accessories (including a unisex bestselling bag inspired by a trip to Shanghai, over 3,000 of which were sold last year) and housewares. Kuczynska's aesthetic is very distinctive, revealing often mystical yet subtle inspirations – evident whether you are looking at a beautifully draped shirt or pair of trousers, a simple bag or a gorgeous ceramic plate.

Some of the most covetable designs I encountered were by Mariusz Przybylski, a designer with an appealing minimal aesthetic offering clothes at Zara-level prices but designed by the man himself and produced in Poland (in a factory known for producing brands such as Burberry), beautifully cut and using high-quality materials. His pared-back separates for men and women (this season's menswear included light wool/moleskin cotton biker jackets, chunky cotton knits and texturised sweatshirts and joggers) is best experienced at his boutique, located in one of the chicest neighborhoods in Warsaw to stroll in.

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As with many cities, Warsaw's fashion community forms a branch of its wider artistic network; many of the graduate designers cited films as their main inspiration. While I was there the Zachęta National Gallery of Art had an exhibition of work by legendary Polish graphic designer and poster artist Henryk Tomaszewski, whose designs have featured in menswear by Comme des Garçons.

If you find yourself on a weekend break in Warsaw, besides eating outside at one of the city's al fresco dining spots (residents are well provided for, thanks to the city's long hot summers), I recommend checking out the city's fashion boutiques and independent stores. There is a growing sense of excitement about the city's design, building on Warsaw's history of producing fine artists and film-makers.

A Look Back at the iPhone in Vogue: Kendall Jenner Selfies and More

As of today, the groundbreaking smartphone turns seven. Can you believe it’s been that long? And don’t you feel like we always had them? Well, we didn’t. Introduced at a time when flip phones were at the helm of mobile technology, the sleek iPhone, with its large touch screen and finger navigation, sent shockwaves throughout the industry.

Everyone remembers his or her first iPhone experience. Mine was in my hometown in Dominican Republic, as we were rehearsing for a school dance (don’t ask), when my friend brought it over. I was immediately obsessed. Who could go back to a flip phone after that?

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Fast forward to 2014, and the iPhone is still the quintessential smartphone to have. From working on our phone at the wee hours of the morning, to falling asleep next to it and being woken up by it, to using it to surreptitiously see what our friends (or frenemies!) are up to, or making impulse purchases or impulse dates or finding our way home at the end of the night (thank God for Google Maps!)—what would we do without it? I personally don’t know where I would be without Instagram and Spotify—plus, how else would I FaceTime my mom to show her my latest Barneys purchase (and, really, to see if she offers to reimburse me)? Without Instagram, how else would I know exactly what Mindy Kaling is doing at any given time? Or how Beyoncé is feeling today?

Lest we think the iPhone was made solely for us, don’t forget how revolutionary it has been in the fashion industry as a whole. Cara Delevingne used an iPhone to take the first runway selfie video this past February at Giles’s fall 2014 runway show during London Fashion Week. Burberry captured its entire spring 2014 collection live—with an iPhone. And let’s not forget Vogue’s first-of-its-kind Instagram shoots—you guessed it! Shot with an iPhone.

So here’s to the iPhone, the device we couldn’t live without, for the first lucky seven generations, and the many more to come (one every year, right Apple?). iPhones in Vogue—it’s iconic, no?

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A First Look at Duro Olowu's New Pop-Up Art Show “More Material”

Although he shies away from the term curator, London-based designer Duro Olowu stands more comfortably on the border of art and fashion than many of his peers; a position that seems all the more apparent with the launch of his second group show and pop-up boutique at Salon 94 Bowery tonight.

Titled “More Materials,” the installation is just that: a continuation of the work he started back in February 2012 with his first pop-up shop and exhibit during New York Fashion Week, an eye-catching collection of objet trouvés from the designer’s personal archive. “You grow, and like most things, you find more things, you discover more things. But what is really relevant now is just this concept of fashion, art, and objects, and really showing how women are perceived,” he says. “And how they perceive themselves.”

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Tapping into the work of artists who often use fashion to explore self-identity, Olowu calls upon some of his favorite modern artists like fashion photographer Juergen Teller, sculptor Rachel Feinstein and creative polymath Hassan Hajjaj to articulate his vision. Placed alongside dizzying patterned capes from Olowu’s spring 2014 collection, Teller’s raw silkscreens of model-of-the-moment Ajak Deng, Feinstein’s original sculptures, and Hajjaj’s never-before-seen video of a woman reclining, which greets you at the door. This combination of art follows the patchwork energies of Olowu’s own designs, where seemingly mismatched prints live together in harmony. “That link with clothing and fashion is still very strong with this show. You look left and you can feel the emphasis on textile and clothing and jewelry and objects, and at the same time you are not overwhelmed by the art in the show,” he says. “It all seems to form one huge cabinet of curiosities.”

Show-goers can shop the wares of Olowu’s current and past collections, while connecting with the work that inspired them like Antonio Lopez’s sensual instamatics of Grace Jones and Pat Cleveland, or a rare collection of Nigerian Yoruba “bubas.” And while “More Materials” is a selling show, Olowu and the artists involved don’t see it as a big advertisement; it’s much more about mutual admiration than anything else—an admiration Olowu understands all too well: the designer is married to Studio Museum of Harlem’s director Thelma Golden, after all. And with the new exhibition he’s putting the wide-ranging artistic sensibilities of the stylish women who wear his clothes into the frame. “The woman changes, she gets older, she gets wiser, more comfortable with herself,” he says “and that has to permeate the show.”

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Three Under-the-Radar Menswear Brands That Break the Mold

Last week’s Spring 2015 Pitti Uomo in Florence was overflowing with young international labels working with small ateliers to create high-end, limited-edition collections. Sweden’s Jimi Roos produces his embroidered shirts in Florence, where he now lives; Period Features’ Masakatsu Tsumura, a Japanese furniture designer, recently launched a range of men’s shirts made from rare sari fabrics from India; and Studiopretzel’s Emiliano Laszlo is a passionate advocate of local Tuscan design.

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Laszlo, 35, was one of the finalists for this year’s Who Is on Next menswear prize. His eclectic, pattern-filled collections are shaped by the fabrics he finds rather than the season. For instance, his waiter’s jackets in balloon ascension and feather-motif tapestry are actually more suited for Fall than Spring. His bright cotton jujitsu pants and shirts with Isola d’Elbe patches, however, are suited for warmer temperatures, and are dedicated to the island next to Tuscany where he likes to vacation. “I wanted to do something really personal,” said Lazlo, who launched his label in 2011 and now sells at almost a dozen stores in Italy.

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Jimi Roos, 42, moved to Italy from Sweden when he was 20, and while living in Florence, where he freelanced for houses like Chanel and Valentino, he became fascinated by embroidery. Thanks to the uneven loop stitch used to create comical embroideries (fat lips, Band-Aids, and flamingos, to name a few), his embellishments seem like arty mistakes. Roos is doing brisk business in Asia and Italy.

Period Features’ Masakatsu Tsumura, 57, is an established furniture designer, but a lifelong love of sari fabrics that began during his honeymoon in India twenty-five years ago convinced him to return there to gather rare Indian silks. He turned them into shirts and jackets whose quality met the highest Japanese standards. “This brand represents my life,” said Tsumura, who sourced fabrics and production for three years before launching his brand this season. “India is in a subtropical zone, and all the fabrics are for warm weather, which is why I produce only one Spring collection per year. There really are no trends. It’s a timeless business.”

Prada's 2015 menswear collection is conservative, seeking to be radical

"It was kind of conservative," said Miuccia Prada of her latest menswear collection, "because I thought that was the only new thing possible." It is a testament to the designer's skilful and relentless boundary-pushing that such a deliberately contrary declaration was met with sage nodding backstage.

For this is the label that sets the agenda at Milan fashion week. If Prada says that classic clothes with a whiff of the early 70s and a sombre colour palette are modern, her track record indicates that she will be proven right.

The deliberate awkwardness which defines the brand was evident as soon as guests arrived at the show on Sunday night. The catwalk set featured a cobalt-coloured ankle-deep pool with a brown carpet at the water's edge. Carpets and pools aren't a natural pairing but in the hands of Prada the set looked sleek.

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If guests were expecting the Prada pool to feature hunks in trunks they were in for a disappointment as the brand sent out a collection heavy on car coats, denim and shrunken knitwear. "The pool is a classic for summer," said Prada backstage. "It was a joke and an irony on what was classic."

The clothes themselves were what could be termed sombre occasion wear. The sort of clothes that feature in family photos with curved corners from the late 60s and early 70s. Brown car coats, moss-green trousers neither skinny nor wide which stopped at the ankle, shrunken V-neck jumpers, buttoned-up blue shirts and no ties. The colour palette of Wes Anderson's film costumes and charity shop silhouettes, as worn by that family friend with the side-parted, slicked hair in that old photo.

But to dismiss this as a retro collection that could be aped with charity shop bargains is to miss the point. It wasn't about recreating a trend from a bygone era, it was about taking classic and familiar products, injecting a touch of haute awkwardness and making undesirable clothes desirable.

Take the chunky visible parallel stitching on the pockets and trouser seams, which were reminiscent of cut-out paper dolls' wardrobes. Some featured real pockets, some merely meant to look like pockets – the "stitches" were actually embroidery. Stitching isn't usually seen as desirable but nothing is obvious when it comes to Prada.

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This was a collection that provided a wide-angle view of the Prada brand – its lack of rules, its agenda-setting, its international scope and its focus on defining moods not throwaway trends.

Sunday's catwalk also featured womenswear – buttoned-through dresses and heeled loafers. It is a tactic increasingly used by designers to showcase in-between, resort collections that make up the bulk of a brand's sales. But backstage, Prada dismissed the notion that the womenswear amounted to a resort collection, saying: "I don't like resort."

Indeed, the designer is not one for rules. Nor is she constrained by seasons – coats were often paired with sandals and bare feet, showing scant regard for practicalities and even seasons. But when you consider that Prada is an international brand selling to various climates at the same time it makes sense. Besides, coats and boots doesn't look half as modern.

5 Fool-Proof Tricks For Cleaning Summer Whites

Is there anything chicer than wearing all white in the summertime? The only problem is, there’s also nothing more likely to get dirty than your summer whites. Ice cream, sunscreen, grass, iced tea: All the best things about summer are also the most likely to cause a stain. So how do you keep your whites clean without leaving them threadbare by the end of the season? To find out, we called up the experts: Gwen Whiting and Lindsey Boyd, who cofounded the eco-friendly line of detergent and home-cleaning products The Laundress, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. And since they have a decade of fabric-care wisdom, we decided to pose an even trickier challenge: What if you want to keep some of the dirt and wear in your whites? How do you hold on to, say, the beautiful, dusty look of white jeans worn in the sand while still removing the smell of seaweed? Once you’ve earned that live-in look, isn’t it only natural that you want to keep it? Here, Whiting and Boyd offer their best tips for washing summer whites, from removing pit stains (they happen to everyone!) to making your best white button-down last for more than one summer. But deep-wear lovers be warned. When we asked these two pros what stains they thought could actually be beautiful on white (berries? tea? a nice grass mark on the rear?) they proudly declared: none!

1. The basic clean

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Whiting and Boyd always wash white shirts, pants, and denim in hot water (think kettle-hot) with the combo of The Laundress bleach alternative and Whites Detergent. The idea of whitening a shirt without a bleaching agent might seem like a hard sell, but their eco-friendly formula will brighten and remove any stains gently. “Delicate whites won’t disintegrate,” they say.

2. Never balk at pit stains

“Don’t throw out shirts with pit stains—you can get them out!” they say. According to them, removing pit stains is all about the pour. After you apply stain solution to the underarm, work it into the area with a brush. Then, pour hot water from a height and let it soak overnight. “Repeat the process until the stain is lifted (and it will be!).”

3. Pretreat to keep your whites white

Pretreating areas such as under sleeves, collars, cuffs, and hems with a enzyme-based remover before every wash, even if there is not a visible stain, will prevent any buildup. “Pretreating is key to helping your clothing stay white and bright,” they say.

4. Removing summer odors

To remove odors, prewash or presoak with vinegar—some are formulated for clothing so there’s no unpleasant smell. “Apply vinegar directly on odor areas and work stain solution into the fabric. Soak well,” they say.

5. Remove stains without making your perfectly-worn piece look brand new

The Laundress Wash & Stain Bar is good at removing soil, oils, sunscreen, and sunless tanner stains. For spot-treating: Wet the bar and the stain, working the soap directly into the stained area. Then, soak in hot water with bleach alternative. “If you want the garment completely clean, change the dirty water halfway through,” they say.

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Olivier Theyskens to leave Theory

The artistic director at Theory is leaving to pursue other design projects.

Olivier Theyskens has announced he will leave his post of artistic director at the contemporary New York label.

Theyskens has been with the brand since 2010 when he designed the successful Theyskens Theory capsule collection and stayed, creating his first runway collection for Autumn/Winter 2011. This year he showed his first collection for Theory after his Theyskens Theory line was discontinued.

The designer is making a quick exit, with plans to pursue other projects after showing his final collection for Theory for resort 2015 later this month.

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“I am grateful for Olivier’s extraordinary contribution to Theory over the past three and a half years, and I am particularly excited to see what he does next," Andrew Rosen, chief executive officer of Theory, told WWD. "While he has already accomplished so much, I am confident in the power of his artistic skill and believe his future will be very bright."

Theyskens said, “It has been an amazing opportunity to work with Andrew and to benefit from his knowledge in this dynamic segment of fashion. I will always cherish our friendship.”

Theyskens and Theory was initially thought to be an unusual pairing but the Belgian-born designer worked magic on the tailored, minimalist sports brand with his moody, gothic aesthetic. Rosen, a third generation New York apparel executive, who Anna Wintour has compared to LVMH, was the perfect partner for creative Theyskens.

The designer famously created his first collection in 1997 with no intention of selling it and turned down the fashion director of Barney's New York who wanted to buy the entire line. Shortly after, Theyskens was shot into the spotlight by Madonna who wore his black satin gown to the Oscars in 1998. After success with his own label he became creative director for Rochas for four years then artistic director at Nina Ricci for two.

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Rick Edwards on style: summer to a tee

It is 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I am sitting in my flat with all the lights on. Two of my coats are hung on a door drip-drying. My cat is looking solemnly through her flap and thinking better of venturing outside. It is, to be perfectly honest, bloody horrible. A platter of grey with a side of spitting rain. Nevertheless, we are entering summer. I know this because I double-checked my calendar. So it must be time to start thinking about T-shirts.

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My favourite is the plain white tee. While wearing one I fancy myself to have a hint of the brooding Marlon Brando about me (I obviously don't, but indulge my pathetic fantasy, please). Unfortunately there is an ethical conundrum with this wardrobe staple. As soon as I pull a white tee on, something happens to my co-ordination. If I'm wearing a dark top, I never spill food. Or dribble orange juice down my front. Put me in a white tee, though, and I develop the food and drink-wrangling skills of a newborn. It's embarrassing. And no matter what these washing-powder makers say, it is never easy to get stains out of white clothes. There will always remain, in my experience, a faint ghost of where I dropped a bit of chilli con carne or pea soup or whatever on to my chest. And that won't do.

Consequently I tend to buy cheap white T-shirts – I favour Uniqlo crewnecks – and then get new ones every time I ruin them. And that's the ethical worry. Of course I'd much rather buy one or two lovely high-quality tees which would last for ages. APC and Alexander Wang do some beautifully soft, well-fitting ones. But I don't trust myself. Perhaps the thing to do is invest in a bib. Does anyone make adult bibs? And if not, why not? There's a clear gap in the market. Note to self: start business producing Trendy Adult Bibs. TABs. Potential angel investors feel free to get in touch.

Beyond the pale, there is a multitude of options. Stripes seem to be "in", although to be fair, stripes have been in for, and this is not an exaggeration, all of living memory. I wouldn't be surprised if Neolithic cave-dwellers went nutty for a bit of furry Breton. Floral patterns are also blooming (thank you) everywhere. If you must wear a floral-print tee, at least have the decency to team it with plain everything else. Clashing prints give me a headache.

A quick word on fit and style: never wear tight T-shirts. Never wear plunging V-neck T-shirts. If you obey those two simple rules, you will look fine. If you do not, you will look like a berk. A berk from Towie.

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Chinti and Parker Teams Up With Liberty

When it comes to designer collaborations, it doesn’t get much better than Liberty. From floral-printed Nikes to paisley Acne Studios moto jackets, Liberty is constantly finding cool ways to rework its heritage prints. Next up for the storied London retailer? Chinti and Parker, whose playful cashmere sweaters have earned a cult following of its own.

Designers Anna Singh and Rachael Wood dove into the archives to design Liberty-printed elbow patches, linings, and pockets for their best-selling sweaters. “We wanted to do something iconic Liberty. There were lots of meetings, lots of swatches…Obviously they’ve got an enormous archive dating back to the 1900s,” they told. “We decided to use the classic shapes we always work with, as they really allow the prints to shine.” Crewneck pullovers, preppy cardigans, and striped tees all got the Liberty treatment with ditsy florals in complementary hues. A first look at the collection debuts exclusively here.

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A collaboration with Liberty was the ultimate for Singh and Wood, who were born and raised in England. “It’s definitely part of every English girl’s dream. It was very aspirational,” Wood said. “For us, when you visited London, part of it was going to Liberty to explore the fabrics and see all the different designers.” Housed in a 19th-century Tudor revival building, Liberty’s contemporary selection makes for an incredibly unique shopping experience. “Liberty is really having a moment over here. I think they have a cool mix of brands, and they’re working on getting iconic Liberty out there,” Wood added. The Chinti and Parker x Liberty tees will retail for $140 and sweaters for $495.

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