18 April 2025 |
Plus Gucci hosts a Mother’s Day luncheon, Diptyque’s city candles are back, and more.
They say three is a trend and if you go by that rule of thumb, then this week the theme is all things seaside, at least as it relates to the brand’s high summer campaigns. Prada dropped a big clue last week, with their Saks Fifth Avenue takeover featuring multi-colored boats. Those same vessels popped up in their Days of Summer Collection starring Hunter Schafer, Troye Sivan, and Kendall Jenner. As for Balenciaga, their images took on a surreal quality, with their dark and sporty designs contrasting against an almost too blue to be real ocean. And for Loewe’s fragrance campaign, they looked to the beaches of Portugal where brand ambassadors Gisele and Enzo Vogrincic basked in the golden glow of sunset.
Read on to learn more and catch up on what else you might have missed.
From left: Yara Shahidi and Keri Salter-Shahidi, Jessica Chastain and Jerri Hastley, Louisa Jacobson, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Dora Fung, and Nikki Ogunnaike
Gucci Celebrates Mother’s Day
Technically Mother’s Day isn’t until May 11 but Gucci decided to celebrate a little early. Yara Shahidi, the current face of the brand’s Gucci Together ads, along with her mom, Keri Salter-Shahidi hosted a luncheon in honor of both the holiday and the campaign. Guests gathered at Borgo, an elegant Italian trattoria transformed into a lush garden as a nod to the brand’s flora print. Guests included Jessica Chastain and her mother Jerri Hastley, Louisa Jacobson, stylist Kate Young, and of course, our editor-in-chief Dora Fung.
Prada’s Lazy Days of Summer
It turns out Prada’s takeover of the Saks Fifth Avenue windows was one giant clue about their summer campaign. For the brand’s Days of Summer collection the dreamy seaside escape first seen in the display is brought to life with a cast that includes Kendall Jenner, Hunter Schafer, and Troye Sivan. The surreal images, as shot by Oliver Hadlee Pearch, imagine a place where the waters are still, the skies are perfect, and the clothes are stylish. Set atop a gozzo, an Italian boat, the brightly colored vessels serve as a counterpoint to little shorts, floral tops, and rope-accented nylon totes. Consider us inspired for warmer temperatures.
Balenciaga Hits the Beach
Speaking of idyllic seaside views, Balenciaga is diving into summer with their High Summer 2025 campaign, photographed by Roe Ethridge. With an air of vintage luxury holiday ads, the images contrast fabricated backdrops of idyllic seaside views with modern pieces. Models embody the carefree spirit of summer in bikinis with BB buckle hardware, velvet swimsuits, and jersey dresses, styled with accessories like the raffia-crafted Le City Basket and Carrie Bowling Bag. From sunlit imagery to CGI-enhanced visuals, Balenciaga reimagine summer as both a relaxing escape and a time for fashion.
Jasmine Paolini Golden Goose’s True-Star Sneaker Campaign
Tennis fans will love this news: Italian shoe and ready-to-wear brand Golden Goose is launching a new sneaker inspired by tennis champion Jasmine Paolini. Called the True-Star, the stylish, low top features deliberate scuffs and creases, symbolizing life’s journey with all its imperfections and signs of self-expression. Paolini, who is both Polish and Italian, was ranked fourth in the world in 2024 and serves as the perfect face for a design that mirrors the ups-and-downs that come with professional sports. Made in soft leather and available in muted colours, it comes with two colored sets of shoestrings made for mixing and matching. Shop it here.
Everyday, the Valentino Way
Summer hasn’t quite started but Valentino is already looking ahead to pre-fall with their newest campaign. Called The Poetics of Everyday, it’s a celebration of the beauty found in life’s quiet, overlooked moments. Featuring a cast including Kai Scheiber, Scarlett White, Amelia Gray, and Sophie Thatcher, the static, intimate shots transform routine into something special and encourages the viewer to embrace being present. Whether it’s a door ajar, a parrot perched on the shoulder, or a seemingly inconsequential photo in front of an ice cream shop, what is life but a collection of these memories?
Summer Smells Like Loewe
They say three is a trend and this week is apparently all about the beach. It’s a fitting concept for Loewe Perfume’s Paula’s Ibiza collection. In a picturesque campaign shot by Gray Sorrenti, musician Giselle and actor Enzo Vogrincic show the collection’s free-spirited energy along the Portuguese coast. Highlighted are three signature fragrances: the Paula’s Ibiza Cosmic, with fruity-woody notes of mango and cedarwood; the Paula’s Ibiza Eau De Toilette, blending coconut and vanilla; and the floral Eclectic, featuring jasmine and black pepper. Paired with home scents like the Beeswax Candleholder and Tomato Leaves Candle, this collection transforms any space into a sunny escape.
A Tote Can Be Avant-Garde
Tote bags are the functional workhorses of the accessory world, hardly exciting or edgy. Or so you’d think — Maison Margiela introduces The Dress-Age tote, a style first seen as a part of the brand’s spring-summer 2025 Avant-Première collection. This deconstructed bag blends bourgeois elegance with modern versatility, featuring adjustable handles that drape over its edges. Crafted from pebbled calfskin with suede-lined interiors, it showcases the brand’s ability to transform the mundane into the avant-garde. Available in a range of silhouettes and colour combinations, find it here.
Diptyque’s City Candles Are Back
Scents can immediately transport us back to a moment in time, which makes the argument that a candle makes for a fantastic vacation souvenir. That’s the thinking behind Diptyque’s City Candles, a series that pays tributes to locations across the world. Missing Tokyo or looking to be reminded of a trip to Paris? Or perhaps you’re from New York and looking to give someone a reminder of the city that never sleeps? There’s an elegant fragrance for every spot. The only catch — most of the year you can only buy them in the actual city itself. But from now through April 21, they’re available, regardless of where you are. Add to that the new kid on the block: Milan. The Italian fashion capital joins the lineup and features notes of geranium, cardamom, and wood. Shop them all here.
Grover Rad Releases Collection 007: Venus Envy
What does being a powerful woman mean? Historically, it’s an existence based on contradictions. She is both revered and reviled, admired and envied, a saint to some and sinner to others. These dichotomies inform Grover Rad’s seventh collection, Venus Envy. For designer Lizzie Grover Rad, women like Sappho of Lesbos, Susanna of the Bathhouse, and Medusa are figures who defied oppression and claimed their own narratives. This translates into imagery like Théodore Chassériau’s 1849 painting of Sappho serving as the basis for a screen printed denim dress. Another series takes classical depictions of Medusa, snakes and all, emblazing the Gorgon onto a billowy cotton dress as well as a slip. For fans of Georgia O’Keefe, her signature florals become a breezy linen set while Venus, the namesake behind the collection, turns into the design on a dramatic floor length coat. Wearable yet unique, the pieces are available now online.
From left: Woldy Reyes, Woldy Reyes & Alex Tieghi-Walker, Peter Som, Martin Romero, Woldy Reyes, & Rafè Totengco, Isiah Magsino, Jian DeLeon, Woldy Reyes, & Kim Shui, Brianna Lance & Isolde Brielmaier, and Blake Abbie & Woldy Reyes
Woldy Reyes Celebrates His New Cookbook
One of our favorite chefs, Woldy Reyes, can now also call himself a cookbook author. With over 100+ vegetable-forward recipes, In the Kusina: My Seasonal Filipino Cooking also recounts Reyes’ upbringing in Southern California as first-generation Filipino American and his journey through food as a way to connect with his heritage. To celebrate, Reyes hosted a celebration at NO BAR at The Standard, East Village earlier this week, bringing together his community for a night of drinks and of course, delicious snacks With the likes of fellow chefs Tara Thomas and Maryah Ananda as well as artists like Brianna Lance and designers including Kim Shui and Peter Som, in attendance, it was definitely a weeknight worth leaving the house for.
