LONDON — The Queen Victoria Memorial, centerpiece of the plaza that fronts Buckingham Palace, is possibly the most bombastic of this city’s monuments to British grandeur. Beside Victoria, queen and empress, glowering toward the Mall, is a cascade of allegorical statuary representing Courage and Constancy, Truth and Justice, Manufacture and Agriculture, Peace and Progress, and…
PARIS — This should have been Sonia Rykiel’s moment. It was, after all, a brand founded by a woman half a century ago. A brand practically synonymous with female liberation and empowerment through clothes. A brand so embedded in the history of French women that a year ago Mayor Anne Hidalgo inaugurated the Allée Sonia…
Forever 21, the California retailer that helped popularize fast fashion in the United States with its bustling stores and $5 tops, said on Sunday night that it would file for bankruptcy, a sign of the eroding power of shopping malls and the shifting tastes of young consumers. The private, family-held company capped months of speculation…
PARIS — The Yellow Vests are back in France — albeit not quite in the same numbers as the social and economic inequality protesters once rallied. The world’s oldest travel company just closed in Britain, putting about 21,000 people out of work. There’s so much nervousness about a looming recession, the ’70s seem to be…
Valentino will debut its Spring/Summer 2020 collection live from Paris on Sunday, September 29 at 11am EST. Catch the show here. Savannah Walsh Editorial Fellow Savannah Walsh is an Editorial Fellow at ELLE.com.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. PARIS — Jacques Chirac will be remembered by many people for his refusal to join the American war against Iraq in 2003 and his failure to revive a weak French economy. I remember him for…
For decades, Debbie Harry has been saving her fan art, hundreds of versions of that familiar siren face, rendered by admirers of all talents. There are children’s drawings in markers and crayons (“Happy Birthday Debbie Love Miyuki”) and ink portraits by skilled illustrators. There are dolls and T-shirts, works on canvas, wood and in mosaic.…
Roberta Bayley was a 19-year-old freshman at San Francisco State University when she bought a bubble gum pink jersey tank minidress for just over £2 (about $5 at the time) from the catalog of Biba, the London emporium that trafficked in 1930s glamour. When Ms. Bayley moved to New York City in 1975, the Biba…
Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain The king and queen of Seattle grunge, Kurt and Courtney were more or less the most influential couple of 1990s fashion. The Nirvana singer arguably started the entire grunge trend, with his mismatched, oversized outfits and shaggy mop of hair. Similarly, the Hole frontwoman was known for her torn, sheer…
Teeny tiny bags were the biggest things to come out of the fall/winter 2019 Paris Fashion Week circuit, thanks to Jacquemus’ now-famous Le Chiquito purses. But if Nina Ricci has its way, the latest cult-fave accessory just might be a literal bucket worn as a hat or bag—you choose. On Friday, Nina Ricci presented its…