Hello, Open Thread. Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. Here in Paris, flyover practice in preparation for Bastille Day has begun. You’ll be strolling toward Place de la Concorde, and suddenly supersonic jets are streaking by. It’s something. Meanwhile, the designer debuts are gaining momentum. At the end of the men’s shows, Jonathan Anderson unveiled his first collection for Dior Men. Then, just over a week later, Michael Rider held his first coed Celine show. A few days after that, it was Glenn Martens’s turn at Maison Margiela, and much as I admired Dior and Celine — the Celine is bound to inspire hundreds of high street copies — I have to say it was Margiela that knocked me off my feet. That very same day, Demna had his farewell Balenciaga show, a boon I wish more designers were granted — especially the ones who make a difference to how we all dress — rather than simply being unceremoniously shown the door. Next week, Demna is off to Gucci, and Pierpaolo Piccioli, formerly of Valentino, takes over at Balenciaga. In other words, it’s all change in fashion land. Speaking of change, I was really struck by the novel solution Mr. Anderson came up with for how to maintain JW Anderson, his namesake brand, while devoting himself to the ravenous beast that is Dior. Especially since he will be in charge of both men’s and women’s wear. Rather than put JW on hold to better serve the behemoth brand, or let it persist as a pale shadow of the bigger line — no one can have that many ideas! — he decided to transform it. Rather than being a fashion brand, JW Anderson is going to become a taste-making brand, with each store essentially transformed into a cabinet of curiosities of Mr. Anderson’s favorite things. Like … honey! From Lord and Lady Cholmondeley’s estate. Cool early 20th-century metal watering cans. Argyle sweaters from Pringle of Scotland. Paintings by his favorite artists. And archival JW Anderson looks, given just a bit of an update. Going into the store will be like going into the gallery of his mind. The result casts him even more as an aesthetic kingmaker and reflects how very canny he is about the state of the fashion industry today and his own ability to think creatively about solutions, as well as preserving his exit options. I respect that. It’s a model I think other designers may follow. Still, some things stay the same. The celeb of the week was Cardi B, who made her grand entrance at Schiaparelli with a raven on her hand before popping up at Balenciaga and Margiela. My favorite sighting, however, was Lauren Sánchez Bezos (NOT in a corset), who slipped into Balenciaga presumably to support her BFF Kim Kardashian, who was walking the runway. Anyway, you can read all about the couture week that was here. Then check out the record-breaking sale of the original Hermès Birkin bag, catch up with the most Styles-ish people of 2025 thus far, and get an inside look at a day in the life of Rick Owens, the dark lord of fashion, who is an absolute delight to talk to. Then have a good, safe weekend. Wear sunscreen!
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Your Style Questions, AnsweredEvery week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
Are two-piece matching sets still trendy? I wanted to find one for a casual summer event, but then I wondered if that look had passed its prime. — Yael, Bronx, N.Y.The coordinated “set,” known more colloquially as the co-ord set, that perfectly matching combination of top and bottom, has been part of the standard wardrobe for decades. What, after all, is a suit but a set with different vowels? It has, however, taken many forms over the years and ebbed and flowed in the public consciousness. The last time sets really became a thing was in the fall of 2021, after the Miu Miu show during Paris Fashion Week. That’s when Miuccia Prada showed matching khaki or gray pleated micro-miniskirts and cropped jacket tops or cable knits, like a (yes) suit gone Britney Spears rogue. Before you could say “social media catnip,” the Miu Miu set had gone stratospheric, worn by Nicole Kidman on the cover of Vanity Fair as well as influencers by the truckload, reinforcing Mrs. Prada’s position as the most powerful female designer in fashion. It was not, however, the first set, and it certainly won’t be the last. The Juicy Couture tracksuit, beloved of Los Angeles denizens and celebrities everywhere in the early aughts, was a set. The fact that the aughts are currently enjoying a style renaissance, along with the whole set concept, is probably not a coincidence. Before that, Cher Horowitz’s yellow plaid suit in “Clueless” was a set. The playsuit that rose to popularity in the 1960s was a set. In the 1920s, Coco Chanel loved a knit set, a coordinated cardigan and skirt inspired by clothing worn to play tennis and golf. Some historians trace the origins of the set back even further, to the 16th and 17th centuries, when men started wearing matching doublets and hose. As to why the set concept lasted so long, it’s pretty simple. As the stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson told me when I asked, “it makes life easier.” You don’t have to worry about coordinating your clothes because they are already coordinated. It makes you look pulled together with pretty much zero effort. And it makes packing simpler because each look is essentially three or more in one since you can wear the top and bottom together or apart. One drawback to the concept, Ms. Karefa-Johnson said, is that it can become a crutch of sorts, a way of ceding responsibility in the morning that can atrophy the taste muscle. And since dressing is in part about showing others who you are as an individual, it can act more like camouflage than self-expression. Samira Nasr, the editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, said she tended to stay away from sets because she preferred looking “as though something is a little off” and giving her clothes an idiosyncrasy that is uniquely hers. And judging by recent debuts of new designers at big brands, like Michael Rider at Celine, with its mismatched classics, that kind of idiosyncrasy may be on the rise. But here’s the thing about sets: You can always disaggregate the pieces and turn them into separates — you can always mix and unmatch them — and then re-aggregate according to taste. In that light, investing in a set is not being trendy. It’s being smart. |
