2024 will be an exciting year for fashion drama. Brand launches, integration, courtroom clashes, and much more will be served this year.
LV’s Vibe Check
Louis Vuitton has partnered with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama once more for the first major collection of the year, and it’s a doozy ten years after their first time working together. A sea of logos is covered in hundreds of items of LV merchandise, including shoes, slides, bags, bikinis, bucket hats, coats, skirts, and jeans for men and women, all adorned with multicolored, metallic, and just about any other combination of dot imaginable.
Gucci’s Style Shift
Alessandro Michele, the designer who changed Gucci from a gold-plated, python-skinned avatar of hard-core aspiration into a big-tent jumble of emotion, product, and identity, revealed in November that he was stepping down. This news shook the world’s fashion elite.
What will happen next—more of the same or a radical about-face—leaves a sizable hole at a luxury megabrand, not to mention in pop culture in general?
Whoever succeeds will have some responsibility for reviving the industry’s spirit.
Most Likely, Phoebe Philo Will Return At Last
An adult female population that had been struggling to decide what to wear ever since Phoebe Philo left her position as creative director at Céline about five years ago shrieked with delight when Philo, also known as the Greta Garbo of fashion, announced in July 2021 that she would return to fashion with her own brand under her own name. After all, it was at Céline that Philo adopted the softly complex luxury minimalism that made her the patron saint of intelligent, mature women everywhere.
She was returning right now and on her terms.
Style-Setters for Large and Small Screens
It is impossible to overlook that movies and streaming services have evolved into massive events for watching and fashion and that costume designers frequently have as much sway as fashion designers.
Two premieres will, therefore, almost certainly end up in closets worldwide.
The first is “Daisy Jones & the Six,” an Amazon Prime Video original series based on the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which will premiere on March 3—right in the thick of Paris Fashion Week.
Then in July, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” with costume design by Jacqueline Durran, will be released. This film has been slowly creeping into collections since the first screenshots surfaced last year.
Neon pink and yellow will be prominent this summer, along with a postmodern reinterpretation of the traditional colour palette.
More dramatic royal dressing
The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla will take place on May 6. While the ceremony is expected to be less elaborate than that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, it will still serve as a chance to reset the royal agenda following the Prince Harry and Meghan revelations (which will continue this month with the release of Harry’s memoir).
Be prepared for at least a dash of pomp and circumstance, some major bling, and some historic image-making by the immediate royal family, which includes William, the Prince of Wales, his wife, Catherine, and their three perfectly timed children.
The stakes in fashion will be considerably higher considering that Prince Harry and Meghan are invited.
The Courtroom Clash
Although the fashion industry avoids publicizing legal disputes in public, two potentially significant lawsuits will be heard in the Southern District of New York early this year.
Opening arguments in the Adidas v. Thom Browne trademark infringement and unfair competition case were held on Tuesday. Adidas is suing the fashion company owned by Zegna, whose founder also serves as the new president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America because it claims that Thom Browne uses four and five stripes on its sportswear is too similar to the Adidas three-stripe logo.
The case, which will continue for the next week or two, may have been avoided had it not been for the growing overlap between the high fashion and sports industries.
