It’s hosted by Celeste Barber, better known for her comedic takes on celebrity instagram posts Supreme Coup of the United States Shirt, who discusses with many iconic Australian designers and fashion insiders all about the clothes we have chosen to wear over the past 100 or so years. It’s a fascinating documentary that points out that what you wear is a political statement as well as a personal one. If you worry that caring out what you wear is shallow, watch this to discover just how impactful your outfits may be on both yourself and society. As part of the 2023 NGV Triennial, French couture house Maison Schiaparelli presents a selection of eight dramatic and impeccably crafted garments designed by artistic director Daniel Roseberry. Drawn from recent couture collections, the works are displayed alongside an eye-catching selection of Schiaparelli surrealist jewellery and accessories. Since his debut autumn-winter collection for Schiaparelli in July 2019, artistic director Daniel Roseberry has been at the forefront of contemporary fashion culture. The NGV Triennial presentation highlights Roseberry’s interest in pushing the boundaries of couture practice, his belief in fantasy and his view that art and fashion can question, shape and address the concerns of contemporary life. The works on display reflect the intersections between his contemporary vision for the Maison Schiaparelli and the design codes and legacy of founder and namesake Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973). Highlights include Look 25, Nuage (cloud) dress from the Transformations autumn-winter 2019 collection. Meters of billowing and ballooning fabric defy physics to create a cloud-like illusion. Aided by an internal hand-forged metal structure, the material hovers above the wearer before morphing and torquing the body to from a minidress. For Roseberry, the collection was an exploration of ‘volume and freedom and [a] celebration of the body’.

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Milan witnessed a big change, too. Gucci’s new creative director Sabato De Sarno held positions at Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino before taking on this role, Supreme Coup of the United States Shirt which catapulted him and his first collection for the brand into the spotlight last September. Buyers, editors and celebrities descended upon the Italian city to take in the spectacle—ask any fashion devotee without a ticket and they would likely have told you they’d give away their Birkin to have a front-row seat at this show. There’s no denying that De Sarno’s predecessor Alessandro Michele kept Gucci on the fashion map with his geek-chic sensibilities; an aesthetic that would define a moment in fashion history. Still, moments pass, and we saw De Sarno usher Gucci into a new era, one that places more value on essentials over eccentricities—a notion we’re seeing across the rest of the industry. A business built upon the customer’s desire to be seen in shiny new things will always have its issues. However, the thing that felt “new” this season was that some things just didn’t change at all. Perhaps the most noteworthy takeaway was that trends don’t seem to hold the same power that they used to. I’m generalising, of course—things get meta real fast if you so much as take a peek into the no-trends-actually-being-a-trend rabbit hole—but it feels as if creating trends for the sake of it could be a thing of the past. “The spring/summer 2024 collections have shown a continued commitment to 1990s nostalgia and the extraordinary everyday, where everyday items are elevated to exceptional levels of design and style whilst remaining chic and comfortable,” observes Net-a-Porter’s market director Libby Page. And she’s right. The market has experienced a shift of tectonic proportions in recent years where a genuine focus on quality over quantity and investing in things that last has become a priority for previously frivolous shoppers. The latest collections reflected this.