IN THE CARDS

TRACING OUR OBSESSION WITH TAROT.

Tarot has been around since the 1400s, but the prototypical modern-day deck hit shelves in 1910. A true classic, the RIDER- WAITE tarot deck features gorgeous illustrations by British artist Pamela Colman Smith, and, after more than a century, this OG is still the deck on which most others are based.

Maybe it was destiny? RACHEL TRUE, who played Rochelle in the ’90s teen-witch flick The Craft, is now a tarot reader in L.A.

CHRISTIAN DIOR was said to consult his tarot reader before couture shows, and COCO CHANEL’s deck still sits in her Paris apartment turned museum. Meanwhile, taking a cue from Monsieur Dior, MARIA GRAZIA

CHIURI has worked tarot into several collections (most recently Resort 2018) in the form of embroidered motifs on handcrafted coats, lambskin bags and gauzy gowns. Nods to tarot are both a reference to the founder’s interest in the cards and a distinctly Chiuri-esque moment, reflecting her vision of a powerful Dior woman.

The coveted WILD UNKNOWN deck, created by artist Kim Krans, is a favourite of fashion lovers. Its first edition is a collector’s item; this charming deck is so soughtafter that there are even knock-offs online.

The Insta generation is reinterpreting traditional cards with imagery that reflects a greater range of experiences, cultures and ethnicities. Among the most popular? AYLA EL- MOUSSA’s minimalist portraits (she posts them online every moon cycle), JAMES R. EADS’ Prisma Visions Tarot, which feature an extra card (“Strawberries”) and interlocking illustrations, and NOEL ARTHUR HEIMPEL’s ink and watercolour deck, the Numinous Tarot, designed to “show the infinite ways that all people can experience magic and mystery, especially those who are often excluded from it.”