Alessandro Michele Exits Gucci and Raf Simons Closes Namesake Label in This Week's Top Fashion News
Stay up to date on the latest industry headlines.
This week, fashion made some changes at the executive level. At the top of the week, Raf Simons announced the official closure of his namesake design label; and on Wednesday, Alessandro Michele confirmed his exit from the helm of Gucci. Amidst the chaos, Balenciaga went under fire for an inappropriate campaign that featured children holding plush bear bags with BDSM-inspired harnesses and handcuffs, and the brand subsequently apologized for the advertisements’ offensive nature. On a lighter note, Supreme and The North Face joined forces for a second Fall 2022 collaboration, and Louis Vuitton shared an internet-breaking campaign featuring Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Below, Hypebeast has rounded up the top fashion stories of the week so you can stay up to date on trends in the industry.
Alessandro Michele Exited Gucci
Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
Alessandro Michele‘s time at Gucci has officially come to an end, Kering announced on Wednesday. The Roman visionary achieved massive success during his almost-eight-year run at the helm of the storied Italian label, injecting new life into the heritage House — and fashion, at large.
The designer took to Instagram to bid farewell, writing, “There are times when paths part ways because of the different perspectives each one of us may have. Today an extraordinary journey ends for me, lasting more than twenty years, within a company to which I have tirelessly dedicated all my love and creative passion.”
Reflecting on his time at Gucci, Michele concluded, “During this long period, Gucci has been my home, my adopted family. To this extended family, to all the individuals, who have looked after and supported it, I send my most sincere thanks, my biggest and most heartfelt embrace. Together with them, I have wished, dreamed, imagined. Without them, none of what I have built would have been possible. To them goes my most sincerest wish: may you continue to cultivate your dreams, the subtle and intangible matter that makes life worth living. May you continue to nourish yourselves with poetic and inclusive imagery, remaining faithful to your values. May you always live by your passions, propelled by the wind of freedom.”
Gucci plans to continue producing collections until a successor is announced.
Raf Simons Closed His Namesake Label
Peter White/Getty Images
Raf Simons sent a shockwave through fashion on Monday afternoon, announcing the official conclusion of his namesake design label. In a brief letter, he confirmed that his recently debuted Spring/Summer 2023 collection was the imprint’s last effort, before expressing his gratitude for all those who adored and worked with the fashion brand over its almost three decades of path-carving work.
“The Spring/Summer 2023 collection is the conclusion of an extraordinary 27 year journey and the final season of the Raf Simons fashion brand,” the designer wrote.
“I lack the words to share how proud I am of all that we have achieved,” he added. “I am grateful for the incredible support from my team, from my collaborators, from the press and buyers, from my friends and family, and from our devoted fans and loyal followers.”
He concluded, “Thank you all, for believing in our vision and for believing in me.”
While the news seals the conclusion of Raf Simons as a brand, it does not mark the end of Simons’ career as a designer. He will continue working as co-creative director of Prada, a position that he has held since 2020, alongside Miuccia Prada.
Balenciaga Pulled an Ad Campaign Featuring Children Holding Inappropriate Plush Bear Bags
Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images
Balenciaga pulled a controversial holiday campaign that pictured children holding plush bear bags with BDSM-inspired harnesses and handcuffs.
The Gift Shop campaign, shot by Gabriele Galimberti, swiftly earned the ire of the internet, with one image showing a child with the aforementioned teddy bear bag, surrounded by inappropriate accessories, including a chain leash and a dog collar choker.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” the company wrote in a statement posted to its Instagram Stories on Tuesday.
The campaign initially launched earlier this month to broadcast Balenciaga’s latest objects, claiming that the shoot iterated on Galimberti’s Toy Stories series, which explores “what people collect and receive as gifts.”
Louis Vuitton Dropped a New Campaign With Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi
Annie Leibovitz/Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton revealed a massive campaign featuring soccer (or football) legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, titled “Victory is a State of Mind.”
Arriving just in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the campaign, shot by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, sees the two of the sport’s best players face off against each other in a game of a chess, played atop a Louis Vuitton Damier attaché case. The campaign centers the French luxury label’s longstanding reputation of top-class, travel-trunk craftsmanship.
Aside from honoring Messi and Ronaldo’s unequivocal legacies in soccer, the campaign celebrates the FIFA World Cup. Notably, at the opening ceremony, the FIFA trophy was presented inside a Louis Vuitton case.
Supreme and The North Face Returned With a Second Fall 2022 Collection
Supreme
Supreme and The North Face reunited for a second Fall 2022 collaboration.
This time, the collection is winter-ready with a number of weather-resistant pieces. Among them, there’s the Taped Seam Shell Jacket, which includes a waterproof three-layer nylon shell, and the 800-Fill Half Zip Hooded Pullover, which features water-resistant quilted nylon ripstop. The former silhouette arrives in three colorways, black/grey, black/yellow and one that reimagines New York City’s Time Square in an all-over print, and the latter jacket arrives in the same iterations, with an additional all-black version.
The Supreme x The North Face’s second Fall 2022 collaboration will see a global release, via the streetwear imprint November 25, 11 a.m. EDT in the United States and November 26, 11 a.m. JST in Japan.
The 2023 International Woolmark Prize Finalists Were Announced
The Woolmark Company
The 2023 International Woolmark Prize finalists were announced earlier this week. With a roster that features Robyn Lynch, RHUDE (Rhuigi Villaseñor), Lagos Space Programme, BLUEMARBLE, A. ROEGE HOVE, Paolina Russo, MAXXIJ and MARCO RAMBALDI, this year’s finalists are tasked with create a “letter to, and for, the next generation,” under the larger theme of “Dialogue.”
“This group of finalists represents the next generation of creative game-changers, who all want to design fashion for a better tomorrow,” said The Woolmark Company managing director John Roberts. “As the fashion and textile industry continues to evolve amongst an ever-changing landscape, we hope that our support throughout the International Woolmark Prize will inspire and propel design and business strategies of our eight finalists. I would personally like to congratulate these finalists on behalf of the Australian woolgrowers and also thank the Advisory Council for helping decide our final eight.”
Finalists will have to create six Merino wool looks for their FW22 collection or standalone IWP2023 capsule. The prize includes an award of $60,000 AUD (approx. £33,500 GBP or $40,000 USD), along with mentoring from fashion leaders including Holli Rogers, Chief Brand Officer, Farfetch; Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Global Fashion Editor-at-Large, Vogue and Stylist; Sara Sozzani Maino, Scouting and Educational Initiatives Advisor Vogue Italia and International Brand Ambassador Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana; Sinéad Burke, Educator and Advocate; Shaway Yeh, Founder YehYehYeh and Group Style Editorial Director Modern Media Group; and Tim Blanks, Editor-at-Large, Business of Fashion.
Palace Revealed Its Full Holiday 2022 Collection
Palace
Following a football-centric capsule with Umbro and a freshly-minted, Clare Shilland-shot Holiday 2022 lookbook, London streetwear imprint Palace returned with a start-to-finish look at everything dropping this upcoming season.
Between the classic Triferg emblem, the Palace “P” and the brand’s italicized moniker, Palace’s signature branding captivates the entire effort. Landing across top options — including jackets, crewnecks, hoodies, knitwear, button-down shirts and T-shirts — and bottoms alike, the Holiday 2022 collection is just as much a celebration of the British label’s streetwear recognition as it is of the cheerful season.
Like previous Palace collections, GORE-TEX plays a key role in jacket constructions for Holiday 2022, while sweatshirts put the label’s classic iconography at the fore. In the lighter top categories, longsleeves riff on Panasonic branding with a VHS emblem reading “Very Heavy Shit,” across a slew of muted tones. In T-shirts, all-over spider web motifs encapsulate several standard logo tees, and number of silhouettes feature an x-ray-style image of human hands above the phrase “Working Together To Connect People.”
Explore the full Holiday 2022 collection, here.
Moncler Revealed a Maya 70 Jacket Designed by Pharrell Williams
Moncler
Honoring Moncler’s 70th anniversary, Pharrell Williams has crafted a sleek iteration of the brand’s Maya 70 silhouette, out November 26.
Marking the seventh and final launch in the brand’s Maya 70 Collaborations series, Pharrell transforms the Italian down jacket with his signature, inventive design ethos. To start, the visionary revitalizes the coat with a molded polymeric material, providing the silhouette with a smooth, black surface area; to finish, he dots the entire jacket with miniature, three-dimensional logo branding.
“How do you define the last 70 years? Getting to design the iconic Maya jacket with my own twist was a total honor. I knew from the beginning I wanted it to be all rubber,” says Pharrell, who selected rapper and singer Tobe Nwigwe to wear his design in Moncler’s campaign. “I’m a huge fan of Tobe, and the way he combines music and fashion to make his own unique style. He’s the only person I know that could rock a rubber jacket and make it look even better.”
The Moncler Maya 70 by Pharrell Williams will release at select Moncler stores and on Moncler’s website on November 26. Take a look at the celebratory silhouette above.
