The Fine Craft of Fashion
A Greek Revival
Gucci's Alessandro Michele is the reigning king of fantastical gear, and this all-over sequined sweater, featuring motifs inspired by the Hellenistic period, doubles down on his appreciation for all things historic, gilded, and extravagantly crafted—remixed as only Michele can.
A Bomber That Breaks The Mold
How do you make a shattered-glass jacket that doesn't require a paramedic on standby? If you're Balmain's Olivier Rousteing, you invent custom film-printed and laser-cut plexiglass wedges to mimic the real thing and have them sewn one by one onto a bomber-jacket base decked out with sequins, crystals, and (actual) glass beads.
The New Nudie Suit
To some, “urban cowboy” means denim shirts and western boots; to Anthony Vaccarello, it conjures up this kaleidoscopic tailored jacket that's been intricately stitched, beaded, and bedazzled in the most badass way imaginable.
The Featherweight Champion
Kim Jones tapped into Dior's storied history of whipping up otherworldly women's creations and applied it to the humble men's dress shirt. It took 15 people at Lemarié (Paris's last couture feather house) 900 hours to handcraft the pièce de résistance of his first collection: this impossibly lightweight button-up—hand-embroidered with 2,000 individual feathers.
Louis Vuitton Begins To Bloom
Virgil Abloh's debut collection for Louis Vuitton generated an Internet-breaking level of hype, but behind harnessmania is LV's tradition of craftsmanship. The “Dorothy in the poppies” motifs (the collection was inspired by The Wizard of Oz) on this vest and blouson were created using glass beads, each painstakingly applied by hand.
A Bucket Hat For Peacocks
Luckily, you can own a slice of Pierpaolo Piccioli's wondrous one-off creations for Valentino haute couture, which every season rub off on his men's ready-to-wear collections. This time it's in the form of bucket hats feathered with dyed goose, peacock, and pheasant plumage.
Liberace Suitting For A New Era
Givenchy's Parisian ateliers spared no expense to conjure up the season's most killer red-carpet look. It took a team of 30 artisans around 1,134 hours (that's about 50 full days) to hand-embroider this suit's pants with countless silver sequins—and another team of 10 to construct the jacket.
A version of this story originally appeared in the April 2019 issue with the title "The Fine Craft Of Fashion."
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photographs by Arnaud Pyvka
Prop stylist: Sinan Sigic
Photo assistant: Arturo Astorino
Digital operator: Tan Senez
Production by Workingirl
Studio: LA Factory
Retouching: D Factory
