Fashion magazine created by Rachel Rubi

1. RUBÍ

2. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 20181 2
Fall/Winter 2018
RUBÍ
10
BREAKING
THE
INDUSTRY
Diversity and the
Rise of the New
Guard Were the
Big Stories at
New York Fashion
Week
6
STREET
STYLE
The Biggest Street
Style Trends of
2018
8
RUNWAY
The Top 12
Collections of Fall
2018
12
GET THE
LOOK
14
BACKSTAGE
Beauty: Pat
McGrath’s
Flashing Foil Lips
Steal the Show at
Maison Margiela

3. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 20183 4
Rachel Rubi
Editor in Chief
Creative Director, David Sebba
Fashion Director, Tonne Goodman
Features Director, Eve MacSweeney
Market Director, Fashion and Accessories, Virginia Smith
Executive Fashion Editor, Phyllis Posnick
Style Director, Camilla Nickerson
International Editor at Large, Hamish Bowles
Fashion News Director, Mark Holgate
Creative Digital Director, Sally Singer
Creative Director at Large, Grace Coddington
FASHION/ACCESSORIES
Fashion News Editor, Emma Elwick-Bates
Bookings Director, Helena Suric
Accessories Director, Selby Drummond
Menswear Editor, Michael Philouze
Associate Fashion Editors, Taylor Angino, Yohana Lebasi
Associate Market Editor, Madeleine Swanson
Market Manager, Caroline Griswold
Fashion Writer, Rachel Waldman
Fashion Market Assistant, Naomi Elizee
CREATIVE
Design Director, Aurélie Pellissier Roman
Senior Art Director, Martin Hoops
Art Director, Fernando Dias De Souza
Associate Art Director, Nobi Kashiwagi
Visual Research Editor, Daria DiLello
Visual Director, Nic Burdekin
Senior Visual Editors, Liana Blum, Emily Rosser
Visual Editors, Samantha Adler, Ruben Ramos
RUBÍ

4. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 20185 6
Photographed by StyleDuMonde
favorite shade!
Like pastels, florals are no longer reserved for spring. In fact, we
have a new theory: As the weather gets colder and grayer, your
florals should get brighter. Most of the prints we saw on the streets
this season were super-vivid, graphic, and even neon. If you’re not
sure where to invest in the trend, we suggest a floral coat like the
Prada and Miu Miu ones above. If you’ve noticed that Veronika
Heilbrunner has been glowing, you aren’t seeing things. The
former fashion editor and founder of Hey Woman! is about eight
months pregnant and has a radiant aura—and a killer wardrobe
to go with it. In fact, Heilbrunner and her boyfriend, SSS World
Corp’s Justin O’Shea, announced the pregnancy on Instagram in
quite the double tap–worthy format, posting a street style photo
that showed her wearing a tight Chanel dress and an 032c
bomber jacket.
“I knew fashion month was going to be quite long, and that I
wouldn’t be able to wash my clothes all the time. So I switched
to tracksuits. I thought that would be really cool with nice jackets,
such as a combination of an oversize tracksuit or sweatpants and
a Chanel coat. I think it is important that you have something chic
when you go full-on couch look.” The right bag size can balance
out the baby bump. “I was always into no bags or really small
cute bags, and I realized it’s better when you are pregnant and
getting really big, it is better to wear a bigger bag because of the
proportions.” Balancing your outfit helps your look be cohesive
and well put together. You will be able to conceal the baby bump
if that is the look you are going for. Mixing prints might further aid
the process. Particularly stripes help slim the body figure in ways
unimaginable. You can make yourself appear longer or shorter
than you are. In way it is shapeshifting, by using an optical illusion.
Especially by one that you can feel most comfortable in. It’s not
about disregarding your true body type but enhanconcing it with
your creative eye.
“I was never a high heel girl. I was never one of those super
tough moms who are highly pregnant and still in high heels. I
have no idea how they do it and it is impressive. I still wear flats,
boots, and sneakers. I was looking [to] even more heavier and
chunkier shoes to even the silhouette.” A regular tee turns into
a crop top thanks to the bump—so focus on length.“ Even long-
sleeved T-shirts need to be longer [lengthwise] because the
belly is bigger. There is a really good Danish brand called Mads
Nørgaard. He has a really cool concept store in Copenhagen
and he also makes the long sleeves in two different lengths that I
wear with really baggy jeans in men’s sizes.” Whittling down the
wardrobe becomes a blessing when it comes to packing.“ I don’t
have many variations [of my looks] so packing is really quick. Also
for your shoes, your feet get a little bigger and expand. That can
be annoying for the wardrobe. Many of my shoes were too small
so I have five or six pairs of shoes that I feel comfortable with. So
here comes pretty quick packing.” Instead of hiding the bump, try
body-con clothing that shows it off.“ I’m not so comfortable with
the [maternitywear] construction. I went to mass-market stores
that do pregnancy clothing and I found that I am not really into it.
I like to find normal clothes that adjust to my body shape, which
isn’t easy. I have some [dresses] from Acne Studios, Totême, and
Wolford. They are body-con, which is flattering when you’re
pregnant. Plus, they are super comfortable.”
“Wear your favorite coat, or even better, borrow your
boyfriend’s or husband’s coat. I think we are lucky because at the
moment of streetwear and everyone anyway is in oversize T-shirts,
baggy jeans, tracksuit pants, and sneakers so it is no problem.
Photographed by StyleDuMonde
“Focusing on high-low mix goes a long way.”
“For footwear, think flat and chunky.”
“Don’t be afraid to add menswear.”
The Fall 2018 shows ended last week in Paris, where editors,
buyers, and models faced some of the lowest temperatures in
recent memory. For street style photographers like Vogue’s Phil
Oh, inclement weather is usually a recipe for disaster—but we
were pleasantly surprised this season. Scrolling through his photos
from New York, London, Milan, and Paris (a whopping 787 of
them!), we discovered a wide range of new trends to try, from the
practical to the fantastical. Several women dealt with New York’s
rain showers with waterproof PVC accessories and trenches, while
others seemed to anticipate a few of the season’s top runway
trends: ultra-miniskirts (sans tights!), rainbow motifs, and colorful
plaids. Below, we’ve distilled a month of street style photos down
to the trends you’re about to see everywhere in 2018.
Buckets of rain gave New York women an excuse to rip the tags
off the PVC hats, totes, and boots from Chanel’s Spring 2018
collection. Clear plastic trenches were popular, too; armed with
one of those, you almost don’t need an umbrella at all—and
everyone will still be able to see your outfit underneath. Street style
gold.
Skeptical of the flashy logos you’re seeing on the runways? Us,
too. But you can’t go wrong with heritage logos and motifs, like
Fendi’s interlocking F’s, Burberry’s classic Nova check and ’80s
crest, and Coach’s stacked C’s. All of these made appearances on
the streets, along with canvas Gucci G’s and a few Tommy Hilfiger
flags. And though her options have naturally become somewhat
limited, Heilbrunner’s maternity-minded uniform has also provided
relief.
Flipping through these photos of Laura Harrier, Teddy Quinlivan,
and Sora Choi out of context, you might not realize they were
taken during winter. Despite the subzero temperatures, we saw
tons of women in ultra-miniskirts and frocks like these, which feel
pretty daring after years of flow-y maxi dresses and midi skirts.
Leopard coats have been a street style mainstay for years now,
and designers like Victoria Beckham, Raf Simons, and Tom Ford
put them on the runway this season, too. On the streets, the look
has evolved into head-to-toe animal spots and stripes—they’re
better mixed together—from leopard slips to zebra-striped pants
and men’s tiger coats. Think of them as your new neutrals. No
doubt that the baby en route to being a very stylish tot. Here, see
Heilbrunner’s honest, funny, and useful insights into pregnancy
style. Mixing animal prints has been a trend for quite some time.
While it was a roaring trend in the 2000’s it has definitely made a
comeback. And in a good way.
Is winter pastels an oxymoron? A few years ago, pale mint
and lavender might have felt toothache-sweet in the middle of
February. But in 2018, we’re seeing Easter-egg hues everywhere,
from powder blue to chiffon yellow and Creamsicle orange. On a
puffer, they’re unexpected; on thigh-high boots, they’re downright
subversive. Women are reclaiming these “girly” colors at a time
when head-to-toe black doesn’t feel quite right; find your new
The Biggest Street Style
Trends of Fall 2018
BY EMILY FARRA
Photographed by StyleDuMondePhotographed by StyleDuMonde
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
LEGS FOR DAYS
NOT YOUR AVERAGE PASTELS
WILD FLOWERS
STREET STYLE
ANIMAL HOUSE

5. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 20187 8
“Anderson had almost everything
covered, from upgraded utilitywear
to shirred taffeta dresses. Canvas
handkerchief-hem skirts had a touch of
Girl Scout–camping about them for girls;
for boys, it was a case of softened-up
army and navy militaria. Anderson is very
good at isolating items and showing how
they can be worn together in an offhand
way. Grounded by his latest collaboration
with Converse and an array of chunky
leather ankle boots, it all looked as if the
models could walk off into the street, turn
heads, but not be pointed at as freaks. Just
enough fashion, but not too much. That felt
it hit the mark of the times.” —S.M.
“Rocha’s following is a broad church—
women of all ages and many sizes who, at
a guess, love the access to the special kind
of feminist femininity Rocha offers. This
season, they had some entrancing things
to look at in the shape of pale golden
flowered brocades, ‘like a Constable
landscape,’ explained the designer. There
were ribbon ties flowing from voluminous
sleeves, lace and net dresses trimmed
with goat fur, a gazillion black Victoriana
coats, and swathes of gold tinsel-fringed
grid-patterned netting to layer on top of
tailoring at will. The outstanding moments
were the surprise of slick laminated tweed
coats in what Rocha called ‘sick-y’ red
and the exquisitely beautiful collages of
white lace and brocade at the finale.” —
S.M. “
‘Adele Astaire was Fred’s elder sister
and the much more talented one. She
was completely independent and then
married into this very formal aristocratic
family,’ Erdem Moralioglu related. ‘It
wasn’t [something that was done] then,
but she even delayed her engagement
so she could do one more show. She
gave up her career and disappeared
into Lismore Castle in Ireland. I became
obsessed with this girl, and I kept coming
back to the idea of her—such a showgirl—
imagining her in her tweed and her glitzy
star-spangled capes, traipsing the moors.
Or, if she wore her flapper dresses with
something belonging to her husband.’
Nothing sets Moralioglu’s creative
wheels whirring faster than a historical
romance.effervescence of eccentricity,
and a shadow of psychological distress.
If the sparkly Adele hadn’t existed, he
would almost have had to make her up.
The imaginary wardrobe he made in her
image was a delight, from sensible day
to dreamy night.” —S.M.“ If elsewhere,
protective dressing has been part of a
dystopian urban vision—The End Is Nigh,
But We’re Going to Look Really Cool
When We Go!
showgirl-in-tweeds wardrobe for his show
in the halls of the National Portrait Gallery,
while Simone Rocha had looked at John
Constable’s portraits—both ideas within
the defined aesthetics Moralioglu and
Rocha have carved out for themselves.
“‘It was really me, aged 15,’ laughed
Christopher Bailey as he was being
body-hugged and kissed by friends and
well-wishers at the end of a show that
was the grand finale of his 17 years at
Burberry. In so many ways, it was the most
autobiographical and heartfelt collection
of his career—an honest, symbolic
revisiting of the place of his first fashion
awakening, a dive club in a basement in
Halifax, Yorkshire, and all the DIY teen-
tribe styles that rolled through British street
culture in the ’80s and ’90s. For a man
who has often spoken about being driven
to make Burberry a ‘democratic’ brand,
and who’s now lived to see all the things
that a working-class, homosexual boy
like him would once have been bullied
or looked down on for brought out in the
open, accepted, and admired? Amazing.
That is surely why Bailey chose to wave
farewell to Burberry in the way he did:
with a collection full of the symbolism of
gay pride and with a large donation to
youth charities that support LGBTQ+ rights
and mental health.” —Sarah Mower
BURBERRY
JW ANDERSON
SIMONE ROCHA
ERDEM
It’s fitting that just as the Fall 2018 ready-
to-wear collections were coming to an
end, celebrations around the world for
International Women’s Day were starting.
This was the first women’s season since
the Time’s Up movement began, and it
has affected designers and fashion labels,
just as it has makers and companies in
other industries. Issues of safety and
protection on the one hand, and inclusion,
acceptance, and diversity on the other are
dominating the cultural conversation, and
fashion’s most intuitive talents are picking
up on it. We could fight the power—and
the apocalypse—in Raf Simons’s Mylar
and hazmat gear for Calvin Klein . . . and
face down all manner of social adversity
in Rio Uribe’s DIY blazers, cargos,
and deconstructed denim at Gypsy
Sport. Marine Serre, the Paris upstart
who nabbed last year’s LVMH Prize,
tackled these topics with conviction and
eloquence, and addressed the pressing
subject of sustainability too, via fabulous
dresses pieced together from upcycled
scarves. For me, hers was the show of the
season—conceptual and commercial in
exactly the right combination to make the
spine tingle.
Donatella Versace, Sacai’s Chitose Abe,
and Simone Rocha, though they are at
different stages in their careers, are three
women utterly in command of their brands.
Coming off the Spring 2018 tribute to
her late brother Gianni, Donatella has
never been better, capitalizing on the
skyrocketing interest in archival Versace
prints and pumping up the glam factor.
The hybrids Sacai’s Abe pioneered years
ago are the sine qua non of fashion today,
but hers remain more convincing than
anybody else’s. And for feminist femininity,
as my Vogue colleague Sarah Mower has
dubbed it, Rocha is London’s go-to girl.
This was also the season that activism
took the fashion spotlight. There will be
naysayers who pooh-pooh the brands
who tout their good works, the thinking
being it’s more dignified to keep big and
little acts of compassion private. On the
contrary, it’s essential for design leaders
to be thought leaders in 2018, and as
Gen Zers turn ever more away from
consumerism and towards altruism, it will
only become more so. So, let’s cheer
Gucci, Burberry, and Balenciaga, who
have promised large donations to March
for Our Lives, international LGBTQ+
charities, and the World Food Programme,
respectively. Their actions will precipitate a
groundswell of fashionable good deeds, I
feel sure of it.
Paco Rabanne and Loewe are on our list
because they represent exactly how the
women here at Vogue want to dress now:
effortlessly, yet artfully, in comfortably
statement-making shoes and with a killer
bag. We would also very much like one of
Karl Lagerfeld’s beaded evening puffers
for Chanel; in a season of statement coats,
his will top many a list.
And since today is International Women’s
Day, here’s a plug for Vogue’s American
Women: Transformers portfolio, a
beautiful-to-look-at and inspiring-to-read
collection of stories about women in all
walks of life making change happen. A
London Fashion Week that ended with
Queen Elizabeth II attending a NewGen
designer’s show is one for the history
books—and for the future hopes of British
fashion. Richard Quinn’s exuberant
collaging and clashing of chintzy English
florals was fully within this backwards-
forwards mindset, a very British creative
design trait. It was also exactly the
energy that fueled Christopher Bailey’s
epic exit collection at Burberry in many
ways, a self-portrait of his teenage self
and his hometown in the ’80s, but also
a rainbow flag–flying statement about
LGBTQ+ freedoms now and for the future.
Erdem Moralioglu, too, went into the past
and pulled out Adele Astaire’s flapper,
The Top 12
Collections of
Fall 2018
BY NICOLE PHELPS
RUNWAY

6. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 20189 10
Jacob Abrian and executive president
Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud sent
the invitations in February, and editors,
buyers, and models began booking their
travel. But just a few days before we
were set to depart, we received news
that the shows had been postponed by
two weeks, allegedly due to visa delays.
The reshuffle meant several brands could
no longer participate in Riyadh’s shows;
Roberto Cavalli creative director Paul
Surridge had planned to fly out for a trunk
show, but couldn’t make the new dates
work. Even with an extra two weeks to
finalize the plans—the new dates were
April 11–14—there was a fair bit of
chaos once we arrived in Riyadh. The
AFC built a massive tent on the grounds
of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where everyone
stayed, but on Wednesday, as editors
and guests prepared for the first night
of shows, rumors began circulating that
the tent couldn’t withstand an oncoming
sandstorm. Less than an hour before
showtime, we received news that
everything was being pushed back one
day—which meant several guests only
saw one or two days’ worth of shows
instead of three. Poor communication from
the AFC left many designers and editors
worried that there wouldn’t be any shows
at all, but on Thursday evening, those
fears were put to rest. We sat down in the
(exceedingly large) tent to see collections
by Tony Ward, who flew in from Lebanon;
Bibisara by Asem Altynbekova, who is
based in Kazakhstan; Arwa Al Banawi,
who grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,
and now works in Dubai; Asory House by
Rana Yousry, based in Egypt; Naja
Saade, based in Lebanon; and Jean
Paul Gaultier, who wasn’t in attendance,
but shipped his Fall 2018 collection to
Riyadh for the occasion. In between
shows, advertisements for the new Harvey
Nichols flagship in Riyadh played on giant
screens, along with a BMW commercial
with glamorous women in abayas and
head scarves getting behind the wheel.
(The car company is one of many flocking
to Saudi Arabia to show its luxury sedans
and SUVs to a brand-new fleet of drivers.)
Despite the women-only audience,
there was a ban on social media to avoid
leaked photographs of women without
abayas—floor-length, usually-black
robes—or head scarves. While there is
no official law stating that women must
wear abayas, it’s long been the unofficial
uniform of Saudi women. (For men, it’s a
white linen thobe, or long shirt, with white
pants and a red keffiyeh scarf draped
loosely on their heads.) With no men
present, the women at the shows could
wear whatever they liked, with most of
them sticking to elegant, modest gowns
and jumpsuits. Some didn’t bother taking
their abayas off. As a first-time abaya-
wearer, I can attest that it feels chic and
relaxed, in some ways akin to the silky
robes and duster coats we’ve seen on
New York and Paris runways for a few
seasons. “To me, the abaya is like what
a kimono is in Japan. It’s just part of our
culture,” designer Arwa Al Banawi told
me. “Being in an Islamic country, we do
need to respect our religion and dress
conservatively, and a lot of women do
love wearing the abaya. But it doesn’t
have to be a black abaya—I’ve worn
a silk coat before, and in Jeddah, you
see women in bright colors and different
silhouettes.” In fact, in a recent 60
Minutes interview, the Crown Prince made
headlines around the world when he
said the abaya is no longer necessary.
“The laws are very clear and stipulated
in the laws of Shariah—that women wear
decent, respectful clothing, like men,” he
said. “This, however, does not particularly
specify a black abaya or black head
cover.
The decision is entirely left for women
to decide what type of decent and
respectful attire she chooses to wear.”
Perhaps that’s a long-sleeved, floor-length
dress, which is just as covered-up. Or
a pantsuit, or a tunic over trousers. “It’s
just nice to have a choice,” Al Banawi
said. “What’s empowerment without
choices?” In fact, her collection didn’t
include a single abaya; instead, she
designed a long velvet tuxedo jacket,
which had the look of a structured abaya,
as well as silk shirtdresses inspired
by men’s thobes.Alrajhi’s collection,
shown on Friday, was a deft mix of
streetwear, couture embellishments, and
traditional Saudi silhouettes. It didn’t
include an abaya, either. Instead, she
showed long, flowing pin-striped jackets
spliced with ruffles or tulle, and in lieu of
sky-high stilettos (the impractical shoe of
choice for other designers), she styled
every look with Nikes stamped with
the Arabic word for leadership on the
ankle. “People always ask me how I feel
about the abaya, and I never complain,
actually,” Alrajhi says. “I feel good in it.
It feels really relaxed, and it’s a cultural
thing—it’s not related to religion. It’s really
just about layering, and what I think is
good is that if I’m wearing the abaya,
you only focus on my face—you aren’t
distracted by my dress. Even for men,
they wear all white, so you focus on what
they’re saying,” she continues. “I compare
it to yoga. It’s like a meditation for the
mind.”
That’s the thinking behind plenty of other
“uniforms” we know of: Steve Jobs and
his black turtlenecks, Joan Didion’s White
Album packing list, a fashion editor’s
jeans and Céline sweaters. It’s all relative.
But out of 16 shows, Al Banawi and
Alrajhi’s shows were the only ones with
real “daywear” to speak of. Eveningwear
is a major fascination for women
in Saudi Arabia; the country’s upper
class attends a lot of black-tie parties and
galas, though the concept felt a bit dated
to the New Yorkers and Londoners in the
crowd. A few Saudi and Lebanese women
in attendance said they believed fashion
would skew more casual in a few years,
mirroring how the West has become more
dressed-down. But with Ramadan coming
up, many local women are shopping
for a brand-new wardrobe of gowns
and dresses for the slate of iftar dinners,
parties, and other events. Al Banawi
designs an entire collection just for
Ramadan—it’s comparable to a New York
designer’s Resort collection, or a special
capsule for a retailer.
Of the dozen eveningwear lines, the
Beirut-based Basil Soda stood out,
particularly its clean, flowing gowns with
tasteful embroidery and embellishments.
The brand launched in 2000, so it has
several years on younger designers
like Aiisha Ramadan and SWAF by
Alya Alsawwaf. Their collections had a
few standout gowns, but others didn’t
look quite as refined as Soda’s. Other
designers, like Maison Alexandrine,
Bibisara, and Gaultier, showed evening-
appropriate twists on the traditional
abaya: drapey, monastic silk gowns;
velvet robes with sparkling embellishments;
neon tulle wrapped artfully around the
body. They weren’t unlike the gowns we’ve
seen on Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino
runways in recent seasons, and maybe The
Row’s, too. Women globally are favoring
that long, lean look; there was some
crossover between Eastern and Western
tastes. Despite a few communications flubs
and multiple postponements, Riyadh’s
first Fashion Week was a positive step
forward—and could serve as a catalyst
for other fashion, retail, and entertainment
opportunities in the country. There was
a palpable feeling of change in the air,
and while there are still a few hurdles
for women to clear—male guardianship
laws are still in effect, for instance, as are
gender-segregated gyms, pools, spas,
and restaurants—things could be different
in a matter of a few years (or less). The
impression among the twentysomething
men and women I met was that those are
old-school, Old World ways of thinking.
IMPACTFUL COLLECTIONS
ANDROGYNY
This was meant to be the New York
Fashion Week that wasn’t, plagued as
it was from the outset by a rash of high-
profile defections to Paris and London,
a slew of retreats from the runway to the
showroom, and the usual confusion over
which season one should be showing
anyway. Add to that the more persistent
and meaningful confusion about the fate
of our democracy, and the fate of the
earth generally (and specifically in the
Caribbean/Florida), and it becomes darn
hard to muster the usual enthusiasm for
front row scenesters, backstage beauty
antics, paparazzi hordes, and (of course)
yet more new clothes.
All that aside, it was an interesting eight
days with many small triumphs. And so, I
guess I want to focus on where New York
got it right. Cynicism is so easy these days;
so much chicer to rise above, no?
So, first, this was the season where a
newish guard of young, artsy, clever,
ambivalently commercial designers and
brands came to the fore. I’m thinking here
of Eckhaus Latta (brilliant collection!),
Telfar, Vaquera, Maryam Nassir Zadeh,
even Shayne Oliver’s single collection for
Helmut Lang. It is not as though we haven’t
seen these often unisex, often one-size-fits
literally anybody, post gender, invariably
asymmetric, inevitably deconstructed
impulses before. But right now, it just feels
right, and has that curious magical power
to make everything else seem just a tad out
of touch. To put it bluntly: At its best, New
York Fashion Week felt a smidgen like
London Fashion Week, and who’d have
thunk it? (For those who can’t dress like a
Bushwickian, there are gorgeous dresses
at Brock and chic trouser ensembles at
Derek Lam. . .)
Second, this was the season of the best
castings—most diverse, most beautiful,
and most relevant—of any city, period.
This was partly due to the friends and
family casting strategies of the label’s
listed above (Eckhaus ruled here as well),
but even the major brands with the major
girls looked farther afield than before.
Michael Kors had the most diverse lineup
imaginable: sans tokenism, he mixed ages,
sizes, ethnicities, and everyone looked
utterly dazzling.
Third, designers were finally thinking
creatively about how and where and why
to show. Let’s not dwell on the week’s
time-wasting, money-draining, near-
parodic gaffes. Let’s remember instead
Telfar’s White Castle dinner on the roof
of the Americano, The Row’s intimate
breakfast at the Carlyle, Christian Cowan’s
afternoon soiree at Indochine, Maryam
Nassir Zadeh’s guerrilla show on an
East River field (with a performance by
Solange), Tory Burch’s garden party at
the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design
Museum. It was an insane schedule from
a travel POV—uptown to Brooklyn and
back again—but it also felt like something
to see fashion in the context of the city and
not simply a few white boxes in Chelsea
and Tribeca. Inconvenience can have its
rewards.
And now, in closing, a quibble. At a
time when engagement with the
present moment means everything, when
relevance is the greatest asset a brand can
offer, can we please cut the nostalgia for
the New York of yore? There is no question
in my mind that Raf Simons at Calvin Klein
and Stuart Vevers at Coach did two of the
best collections of the season. Period, end
of discussion. And yet, I can’t look at one
more nod to Warhol, Haring, Basquiat,
or any other artist who once embodied
cool, or theorized about cool, or died
in some way that is now being woefully
misinterpreted as cool. Tired of the Joy
Division references everywhere, much as
I loved that band. Sick of the Black Flag
tees (ditto). I feel passionately that to move
forward culturally we need to stop looking
back to prior provocateurs; their power is
necessarily muted by so many nostalgic
lenses. We survived Reagan and Thatcher
and that whole fascist groove thang. But
will we survive Trump? Surely not with
Heaven 17 . . .
Amidst Sweeping Social Changes and
Women’s Rights Reforms, Saudi Arabia
Hosted Its First-Ever Fashion Week. If
you’re looking for a travel guide or culture
story about Saudi Arabia, make sure the
time stamp says 2018. In the past year
alone, the country—widely considered
one of the world’s most conservative,
closed-off places—has transformed to
the point where the information you’d
find in a two- or three-year-old article
is essentially useless. It wasn’t long ago
that women couldn’t sit with men in
cafés, travel without the permission of a
male guardian, attend sporting events, or
drive cars. Concerts and cinemas were
forbidden (for everyone, not just women).
And fashion shows, with young women
strutting down a runway in high heels and
potentially-revealing clothes? Totally out
of the question. Which is all to say that last
week’s Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh—
the first of its kind—was nothing short of
historic.
“From one month to the next, you
can’t imagine the changes happening
here,” Mashael Alrajhi, a Riyadh-based
designer, told me. “I’ll travel for a week,
and I come back and new things have
opened, there are new opportunities, new
rules—and most of them are good for
women.” The first movie theater is opening
this week, debuting with Black Panther,
and the country will reportedly host more
than 5,000 shows and concerts in 2018.
Last Thursday, many women spent the first
night of Arab Fashion Week attending
a football game, and in June, women
will be granted the right to drive. (For
decades, the common fear among the
ultra-conservative was that men would
be distracted by women driving next to
them on the road, while others claimed,
incredulously, that driving hurt women’s
ovaries.) All of the changes can be
attributed to 32-year-old Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz
Al Saud—also known as MBS—who
is considered the “power behind the
throne” of his father, King Salman. The
prince has outlined his goals for the
kingdom in his Vision 2030 plan, which
he admits is “ambitious.” It focuses on
modernizing Saudi Arabian culture;
moving the kingdom towards a more
tolerant form of Islam; diversifying its
economy away from oil; attracting new
global investments; and supporting small
local businesses. The Crown Prince writes:
“We are not dependent solely on oil for
our energy needs . . . Our real wealth
lies in the ambition of our people and the
potential of our younger generation.”
Spurred by the changes MBS has
implemented, the Arab Fashion Council
(which is based in Dubai, but recently
opened an office in Riyadh) took the
opportunity to plan Riyadh’s first Fashion
Week, originally scheduled for March
25. After a few months of planning, CEO
Runway Diversity
and the Rise of
the New Guard
Were the Big
Stories at New
York Fashion
Week
SOCIAL CHANGES
BREAKING THE INDUSTRY
BY SALLY SINGER

7. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 201811 12
GET THE LOOK
Sara Blomqvist and
Alana Zimmer in be-
tween fashion shows in
New York.
Abigail Gurney-Read
between the fashion
shows in London.
Alexandra Carl stroll-
ing through the streets
of Paris in between
fashion shows.
Linda Tol walking
along the streets in
Milan in between the
fashion shows.
Brie Welch and
Annina Mislin in Paris
during fashion week.
Viktoria Rader in
Milan during fashion
week.
JAQCUEMUS fall/winter ready-to-wear 2018 Advertorial
GET THE LOOK
Photos courtesy of Vogue Runway.

8. RUBÍ Fall/Winter 201813 14
Holding court at Maison Margiela’s headquarters in
the 11th arrondissement of Paris, designer John Galliano gave
showgoers a raw, inside-the-atelier view of his Fall 2017 couture
collection. At the presentation, scraps of fabric were still strewn
across cutting tables and unfinished designs hung off mannequins.
The show’s deconstructed perspective was also echoed in the
designer’s beauty inspiration: The art of expeditiously—yet
glamorously—getting ready.
“It’s a lip that’s ‘thrown on,” Galliano told Vogue’s Hamish
Bowles of the makeup look prior to the show. For backstage
collaborator Pat McGrath, this direction translated into a variety
of abstract, multi-colored mouths stamped with structured foil. For
each interpretation, the shiny material, which came in a variety
of jewel tones and metallics, was layered over whisper-light
transparent paper and a swipe of McGrath’s richly-pigmented Lust
MatteTrance lipstick in “Elson,” a bright, blue-based red that was
customized for English model and musician Karen Elson. Many of
the lip looks were accented with either a silver-tipped cupid’s bow,
or artfully fastened face jewelry for a lip-ring-like effect.
Driving the slapdash feel home, hairstylist Eugene Souleiman
dreamed up a slew of wet hair looks, ranging from a halo of
styling foam floating around the hairline to simulate mid-shower
suds, to glossy glitter-sprayed and star-stenciled manes. Though
a far cry from how most women roll out of their homes in the
morning, through Galliano’s whimsical eyes, it all made perfect
sense.
Holding court at Maison Margiela’s headquarters in the 11th
arrondissement of Paris, designer John Galliano gave showgoers
a raw, inside-the-atelier view of his Fall 2017 couture collection.
At the presentation, scraps of fabric were still strewn across cutting
tables and unfinished designs hung off mannequins. The show’s
deconstructed perspective was also echoed in the designer’s
beauty inspiration: The art of expeditiously—yet glamorously—
getting ready.
“It’s a lip that’s ‘thrown on,” Galliano told Vogue’s Hamish
Bowles of the makeup look prior to the show. For backstage
collaborator Pat McGrath, this direction translated into a variety
of abstract, multi-colored mouths stamped with structured foil. For
each interpretation, the shiny material, which came in a variety
of jewel tones and metallics, was layered over whisper-light
transparent paper and a swipe of McGrath’s richly-pigmented Lust
MatteTrance lipstick in “Elson,” a bright, blue-based red that was
customized for English model and musician Karen Elson. Many of
the lip looks were accented with either a silver-tipped cupid’s bow,
or artfully fastened face jewelry for a lip-ring-like effect.
Driving the slapdash feel home, hairstylist Eugene Souleiman
dreamed up a slew of wet hair looks, ranging from a halo of
styling foam floating around the hairline to simulate mid-shower
suds, to glossy glitter-sprayed and star-stenciled manes. Though
a far cry from how most women roll out of their homes in the
morning, through Galliano’s whimsical eyes, it all made perfect
sense.
Season after season, the Maison Margiela runway kicks off Paris
Fashion Week with a spectacular beauty message. And today,
inside the city’s Grand Palais, the lips had it. Playing off the
collection’s color-blocked trenches and puffer coats, makeup
visionary Pat McGrath saturated a handful of models’ mouths in
matte, richly pigmented jewel tone shades of cobalt blue, atomic
orange, deep purple, and emerald green. Often peeking out
from underneath protective hoods, the vivid, stamped-on hues
packed even more of a punch. But it didn’t end there—McGrath
took model Alyssa Traoré’s pout to another dimension. Serving
as a mesmerizing extension of the model’s iridescent skirtsuit,
her ultraviolet lips were slicked with glitter and high-shine gloss,
beaming on the runway like a holograph (and echoing the
sparkle found in the fire-engine red helmet of sequined lengths
and chromatic skullcap devised by hairstylist Eugene Souleiman
for models Teddy Quinlivan and Duckie Thot, respectively).Much
like designer John Galliano’s tailored gray wool coat over a
floor-sweeping yellow anorak, it was a runway showstopper that
seemed destined to make its way into Instagram feeds and street
style photos alike—possibly, before the day is over. Holographic
lips! 24-karat eyes! Shocking red hair! Fashion month has drawn
to a close, but the transportive hair and makeup looks that
emerged on the runway have already left a stamp on the collective
consciousness.
This season, transformation was a theme that informed many
above-the-neck statements. There were the dramatic Vidal
Sassoon–style cuts and neon dye jobs at Marc Jacobs, which
rendered models unrecognizable to a watershed-moment effect,
while Giambattista Valli’s glitter-bombed skin and Louis Vuitton’s
subversive, MoMA-worthy gazes proved you can slip into an
entirely different character just for the night. And serving as a
counterbalance to these moments were the reimaginings of the
classics, from Dolce & Gabbana’s individualized red mouths
to Alexander McQueen’s powerful serpentine braids.
Pat McGrath’s Flashing
Foil Lips Steal the Show at
Maison Margiela
BY LAUREN VALENTI
BACKSTAGE
Photos courtesy of Vogue Runway.