After a year of musical chairs in the fashion industry, September is poised to be one of its biggest show months ever, with debut collections from 15 creative directors.
Rather than waiting for the catwalk, over the past 10 days brands including Chanel and Dior have given themselves a head start at the Venice film festival, using its starry red carpets and even gondolas to soft launch looks from their newly installed designers.
Unlike the Oscars, which is one night of intense red-carpet scrutiny, or the Cannes film festival, which comes with strict rules, the focus at Venice is very much on notable art house films.
With the pressure off, it allows designers, stylists and their Hollywood clients the opportunity to have a bit more fun. Amanda Seyfried even borrowed the same Versace look from Julia Roberts. A triumph for sustainability or a marketing stunt? Either way, it was front-page news.
Jonathan Anderson, who took over at Dior in June, teased more than a dozen looks on actors including Greta Lee and Alba Rohrwacher before his womenswear debut in Paris next month. Lee wore a deconstructed minidress that riffed on the brand’s signature bar jacket, while Rohrwacher wore a navy gown with a padded bustle.
Meanwhile, Tilda Swinton hinted at what we can expect from Matthieu Blazy, the French-Belgian designer who recently landed the top job at Chanel, when she stepped off a water taxi wearing loosely cut white trousers and a short-sleeved blouse featuring tiny shimmering interlocking CC buttons.
Henrik Lischke, the senior fashion features editor at Grazia, likens this new preview strategy to the press tour of the Barbie film in 2023. “That proved that the more hype you create, the more attention you get. These fashion brands are giving us a glimpse of what to expect,” he said. “It gets people excited long before a look even hits the catwalk.”
It can also catapult relatively unknown names into the spotlight. In April, when it was announced Dario Vitale would be taking over from Donatella Versace, he was a designer only industry insiders were familiar with. But this week he was the talk of the lido, thanks to that sneak peek via Roberts and Seyfried.
Pop stars such as Taylor Swift are known for planting Easter eggs, hidden clues about future projects for fans to decipher. Paparazzi shots of actors on set are used as unofficial teasers. And now it appears fashion designers are embracing the art of the promotional sneak peek too.
Fashion’s new soft launch was first embraced by the actor Timothée Chalamet, who wore Haider Ackermann’s first outfit for Tom Ford to the Golden Globes, two months before the designer’s debut show. He also wore Sarah Burton’s first menswear look for Givenchy, a butter-yellow suit, to the Oscars days before her inaugural Paris show. Vicky Krieps and Julianne Moore have also worn previews of Louise Trotter’s Bottega Veneta.
But similar to how on-set images have been blamed for ruining movie magic, could these early teasers backfire? Some online users have accused Versace of becoming boring, while others say Anderson’s purposefully chaotic pieces for Dior do not exactly scream Hollywood glamour.
Amy Odell, a fashion commentator and author of Gwyneth: The Biography, says while designers will be aware of early criticism, it is important to remember “not every look is for everybody”. As for disclosing too much, Odell is not worried. “I don’t think a whole lot is given away by one or two looks at a film festival – I view it as a nice teaser of what’s to come, an amuse bouche versus a big spoiler.”
Best looks
When the Hollywood stylist Elizabeth Saltzman posted a photo of Julia Roberts in a striped shirt, straight jeans and blazer from Versace on her Instagram account, Seyfried gushed: “Please let me wear the same outfit.” Two days later, Saltzman granted her wish, thanking Roberts for her “generosity and sustainability. Sharing is caring!” as she posted a photo of Seyfried in the same look, albeit with different shoes. Roberts wore black pumps; Seyfried chose strappy sandals.
The internet was quick to chime in, placing photos of the stars side by side and debating who wore it best. Some are even calling it the most memorable look of the festival. But while it has cemented the idea of the BJT (blazer, jeans, top) as a form of modern power dressing (see the front row and the “girl boss” portrait era), it wasn’t the festival’s greatest red carpet hit. Here are three looks I would have borrowed instead.
Ayo Edebiri in Chanel
For her Venice debut, rather than going for a classic red carpet dress, Ayo Edebiri chose a white two-piece from Chanel. It hints at the direction Blazy wants to take the house. He was the designer who masterminded Bottega Veneta’s trompe l’œil pieces, including flannel shirts and jeans that were made from leather. Edebiri’s look riffs on Chanel’s spring 1999 collection, which featured asymmetrical jackets and cuffed trousers. It instantly feels more relatable than a tulle gown, although who but a Hollywood star can realistically wear an all-white look without the fear of spilling their lunch down themselves.
Jacob Elordi in Bottega Veneta
OK, so Jacob Elordi in an all-white look from Bottega Veneta isn’t exactly novel, but hey, it’s not a suit, which for a man on the red carpet is kind of a big deal. It also marks an end to method dressing, a painful red carpet trend where actors felt the need to reference their characters. Although, given that Elordi will next be seen in Emerald Fennell’s sexy adaptation of Wuthering Heights, I am now thinking those sideburns and that billowing shirt are in fact quite Heathcliff.
Greta Lee in Dior
During Anderson’s tenure at Loewe, Lee starred in numerous campaigns for the brand and was a regular on the front row. Now the Irish designer has hot-footed it to Dior, it seems Lee has followed. The Past Lives star has worn almost exclusively Dior throughout her stint at Venice. This look is Anderson’s take on the label’s new look – the silhouette that emerged during Christian Dior’s debut in 1947. For anyone bored with stunt dressing, it is a nice palette cleanser. I would have liked a more playful shoe – after all, Anderson created those broken egg Loewe heels and viral pigeon bag – but maybe the witty accessories will come during his official hard launch at Paris fashion week next month.
