According to Mariah Carey, it’s tiiiiime! However, we still can’t get over the omnipresence of gay Halloween this year, which has given us some of the most niche, creative, and fun costumes of the year. In less exhilarating news, Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant announced that Coperni SAS is ceasing operations after failing to reach an agreement with Tomorrow, raising questions about the viability of independent brands and designers in today’s landscape. But there’s more: things we look forward to, and profiles we recommend. Take a look at this week’s rundown of all things fashion.
What we're loving
“I hate gay Halloween wdym you’re…”
We loved Halloween, and we love it even more in the chronically online world. Costumes and dressing up are all well and good, but we’re tired of seeing the same sexy nurse and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho every year. The real fun, the real brainpower and the real content were in the hyper-specific costumes worn by people who know their pop culture references inside out and, as true experts in catching those references, we had a great time scrolling through social media. Hands and hand-related costumes seemed to be trending among celebrities, and, if we’re honest, we enjoyed Alex Consani’s hilarious Thumb-Thumb costume from Spy Kids far more than Heidi Klum’s bloody severed hand.
It seems Halloween has shifted for younger generations: the aim is no longer to be the scariest person at the party, but the most unserious. Just type “I hate gay Halloween wdym you are…” and you’re in for a good time, scrolling from pop culture references like Addison Rae washing her car, the tennis ball from Challengers or Cynthia Erivo’s acrylic nail, to more fashion-specific ones, like a stressed Jonathan Anderson smoking by the Seine or Björk’s iconic swan look, but reversed with Björk hanging from the swan’s neck. This was a pretty nice Halloween.
What we're hating
Coperni ceasing operations
Yesterday, Coperni announced something we could feel coming, but had hoped wouldn’t happen: after eight years in operation, designers Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant have taken the difficult decision to close their label. The news follows their failure to reach an agreement with distributor and shareholder Tomorrow, another business-versus-creativity conflict in which the latter seems to always get the short end of the stick. It brings to mind what happened early last year, when Y/Project had to close its doors after failing to find an investor.
For the good and for the not so good, Coperni was a fitting representative of this generation of young designers’ labels. At its best, it was an inventive, curious and restless brand, with a group of creators who never stopped finding new ways to push fashion forward, bringing scientific fields into the design process and delivering some of the most memorable moments and pieces of the past decade. At its not so good, its pursuit of the impressive, the never-before-seen and the spectacular sometimes drew attention away from the saleable designs and pieces that should provide the ground from which creativity can grow safely, something very common in our generation, generally seeking more of an effervescent attention than an everlasting impact.
We’ll look more closely at Coperni’s particular case soon. In the meantime, we feel hopeless and sad about the closure of a brand, any fashion brand, but especially one that is young, independent and promising. This is not just another unsuccessful business. It’s a sign of our times, when having ideas, being passionate and caring deeply about something is not enough if someone bigger, more powerful and better resourced can always have the final word, and that word does not necessarily serve the people who create.
What we’re looking forward to
The Six movie by Reiner Holzemer
We’re looking forward to The Six, the new film by Reiner Holzemer. This is a big year of celebrations marking forty years since the Six—Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee and Dirk Bikkembergs—took the fashion world by storm in the eighties and put the little Belgian country on the map of fashion capitals. It seems that the definitive exhibition at MoMu, which you can still see but you better hurry to catch before it closes on 17 January, and the impressive coffee-table book that accompanies and complements it are not quite enough. We’re now also getting a documentary.
Directed by the one and only Reiner Holzemer, whom we may know best as the man behind the camera on essential fashion films such as Dries and Martin Margiela: In His Own Words, the film takes one of the most interesting success stories in this industry and dives deep into an unseen side of it and its protagonists.
Sharing their personal stories, exploring their connections with one another and reflecting on their impact and legacy, the film becomes not only another unmissable movie from this director, but also a source of inspiration for everyone who cares about and loves fashion. For now, there are select screenings in Antwerp, so unless you’re planning to take the opportunity to visit the exhibition and see the film while you’re there, we’ll have to wait until more details or screenings become available. We can’t wait.
A recommendation
The new book Tina Barney: Fashion
With autumn in full swing, days are getting darker and colder, and nothing beats a cosy afternoon at home. Picture yourself wearing something extra comfortable, on the sofa or armchair, being fully immersed in what you’re reading. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? If you’re out of ideas, here’s a book you should add to your “want to read” shelf: Tina Barney: Fashion, which traces the renowned photographer’s decades-long career. Described as “part memoir, part career survey”, this new volume published by Aperture traces the role of “sartorial expression” across her body of work — she’s shot for big publications like The Face, W, Vogue, and Arena Homme Plus.
