Editor’s Letter
The headlines are heavy. And fashion today is very much defined by the news, at times even more than the actual collections. In this challenging era where economic decline, climate change, health threats, and other complex anxieties of the world have usurped the spark from our positive spirits, it appears that a seismic shift is taking place. We are experiencing a certain growth in consciousness; call it philosophical or spiritual but it’s a fresh approach to creativity, one with mindfulness and meaning. No longer New Age—because we are literally in the new age—this thinking has imbued fashion with certain intellectual ingenuity that elevates its aesthetic sense. Finally, fashion is recouping its feel-good-factor.
Echoing the green movement loud and clear, sustainability was the main theme at the Spring/Summer ’20 runways where exotic jungles, fantasy forests, and romantic gardens made many a show set. Maria Grazia Chiuri who is strengthening her voice for social concerns planted new ideas on feminism with Catherine Dior as inspiration, and then re-planted 100 of the “show-trees” around Paris after transforming the Longchamp racecourse into a verdant garden. On recycling came upcycling, where Miu Miu played a kitschy tribute to its signature vintage style with “improvisation” as its theme; to which Sarah Burton re-appropriated sumptuous fabrics from seasons yore with artisanal, homespun materials and old paper patterns that she worked on with Alexander McQueen himself to create the most incredibly beautiful and innovatively sustainable collection of the season. With that, each collection and its beauty had a powerful message, be it a feminist mantra or championing diversity, even a commentary on the state of mental health at Gucci. Read the headlines of The Collections on page 46.
On cue, this month opens with International Women’s Day, which we celebrate with a portfolio of groundbreaking Malaysian women. The progressive young artist Kara Inez whose artworks of body hair and diseased “cut-outs” make for compelling conversation on the taboos that bind us; the Asian poet Lang Leav talks about her new book Sad Girls that addresses feminism in our evolving cultures; while Tiara Jacquelina presents the iconic feminist characters in history she has played, reprising Puteri Gunung Ledang with a blockbuster show at Istana Budaya opening mid-2020. Meanwhile, somewhere in the galaxy, a new fantasy heroine emerges, played by this month’s cover star Daisy Ridley, who we shot exclusively in London, and aptly so, in Dior. “I think the most important lesson I've learned from playing Rey is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” said the actor, reminding us that we all have a collective role in saving the Earth, our Brave New World that we once created, to not destroy.