it’s the end of my favourite season. if September is the new “January”, then August has to be December. August feels exactly like December, we start to reminisce about the whole year (summer), there is a nostalgia that arrives before the year (summer) has even ended.

here is my whole summer in pictures. I may have had too much fun and forgot that Substack exists (im back).

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xo,

JV

VACATION

Currently there is only the sound of birds and the smell of the sea and sunscreen and salty hair. As someone who was practically raised on the beach, this is basically my natural habitat. Imagine a penguin trying to live in Madagascar, that’s me every time I return to Western Europe after spending time by the sea.

This is supposed to be a guide on how to become a mermaid this summer. Not a literal mermaid, unfortunately. More like: how to survive the heat without melting, keep your skin and hair from turning into straw, spend less time staring at a screen and more time looking at the sky.

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after-sun moisturiser

first of all, the Caudalie after-sun moisturiser!!!!! Always bring an after-sun if you’re going on a beach holiday. ALWAYS. Besides feeling incredible after a day in the sun, it helps keep your skin hydrated and makes your tan last longer.

hair oil

my current favourite is from a Brazilian brand, mostly because Brazilian hair products are basically a national treasure, that being said, use whatever works for your hair. The sea, chlorine, wind, and sun are trying to fight your hair every single day of your holiday so hair oil is your defence system.

Leave the expensive shampoo at home

Do not bring your Kérastase. I know, but if you’re swimming every day, you’ll probably wash your hair every day too, save the luxury products for normal life and bring something simpler for vacation.

Flip-flops

No further comments.

Beach Survival Tips

do not forget to freeze your water bottle

Listen, freeze a bottle of water completely before leaving for the beach, as the ice melts throughout the day, you’ll always have cold water waiting for you. Basic tip I know, but it is easy to forget.

carry salt and sugar

This sounds dramatic, but heat can affect your blood pressure and hydration levels, I always keep a packet of sugar and a packet of salt in my beach bag, those little ones that they give you in coffee shops or restaurants. Sometimes water alone isn’t enough after hours in the sun, I speak from experience, unfortunately.

a beach bag with a zipper

I know the basket bags are cute but they let sand into absolutely everything and make me irrationally stressed. A zippered beach was the best thing I bought for the beach, keeps your belongings together, and prevents you from spending thirty minutes digging into the Sahara.

The Fashion Section

tank tops are your best friend

A simple tank top can do absolutely everything. Throw it over a bikini during the day, pair it with a skirt at dinner, wear it after a swim, wear it while getting ice cream, wear it literally everywhere.

gel pedicure

If you’re considering getting your nails done before a trip, gel lasts longer and survives beach life much better. One warning: white polish looks beautiful but can start looking slightly beige after repeated encounters with sand and seawater, white toes require commitment, if you want them to look neat.

face sunscreen

Please use a proper face sunscreen, not the spray one, every summer I see people spraying half the product into the wind instead of their faces. Sorry but, creams and sticks are superior.

freckles are cute but sun damage is not.

just put on the damn sunscreen

At least once, let me repeat this because people act like sunscreen and tanning are mutually exclusive:

You will still tan if you wear sunscreen. i start every morning by applying sunscreen all over my body and then reapply to the areas that need it most throughout the day because like the goal is to come home bronzed, not crispy.

The Important Things

eat the ice cream

Every beach holiday requires ice cream, because eating ice cream with wet hair, sandy feet, and absolutely nowhere important to be is peak human existence.

forget about how your body looks like for one second

so this is a reminder that from the moment we’re born, we’re all moving forward, so guess what? We’re all getting older!!!! and literally no one is getting younger, and every body will look different.

Wear the bikini. Take the picture. Jump into the sea. Play volleyball badly. Read the book. Watch the sunset, you will remember those things far longer than you will remember whether your stomach looked good enough.

do a karaoke night

yes, singing badly in front of people that you don’t know can be embarrassing and that’s exactly why you should do it. Some of the best vacation memories come from doing things that are slightly ridiculous.

Embarrassment isn’t real anyway

observe the sea life

If you’re somewhere with caves, rocks, or tide pools, spend some time just watching, look at the tiny crabs running sideways, watch the fish move between rocks.

Sit by the water and observe. We spend so much time trapped in our capitalist bubble, trying to escape our own lives through screens and purchases, that we forget we're part of nature too.

Ahhhh one last thing

bring a good towel!!!!

Not one of those giant heavy towels that weighs five kilos once it’s wet, choose a lightweight towel. Mine is from a Portuguese brand, it’s medium-sized, dries quickly, and has survived more summers than some relationships.

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FIM!!

My complete guide to becoming a mermaid this summer.

Now close your damn phone.

The sea is waiting ;)

xo,

your fav mermaid

The faces and bodies may have changed, but the question hasn’t: who gets to define beauty?

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That question stayed with me as I walked through Bozar’s twin exhibitions, Bellezza e Bruttezza and Picture Perfect, what I expected to be an exhibition about bodies and beauty turned out to be a story about power, identity, and the surprisingly long history behind our obsession with the “perfect” body.

in my latest piece, I explore how these exhibitions connect the Renaissance to the age of AI, showing that today’s beauty standards aren’t new, they’re simply the latest chapter in a centuries-old story.

To read the full article: LINK 🩷

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xo,

JV

The artist expressed her opinion on an interview:

“What’s really disturbing is I feel like I have worn outfits that are revealing on stage. Like, I’ve been on stage in like a sparkly bra, little shorts, which is my right. That’s fun. I felt cool and comfortable in that. And that wasn’t ‘inappropriate”

“I think it shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture”

Sit down because I am about to cook.

Pointing a finger at a singer and saying she is “sexualising children’s clothing” misses the real problem: pedophilia is so deeply embedded in our society that we’ve learned to see children’s clothing itself as something sexual.

The term exploded into popular culture after Baby Doll (1956), the deeply controversial Southern black comedy-drama written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Elia Kazan. The film follows Baby Doll Meighan, played by Carroll Baker, a 19-year-old bride married to a significantly older man, Archie Lee Meighan. The movie explores how young women were treated as products to trade within a patriarchal society, pushed into adulthood for the benefit and desires of others before they were emotionally and physically ready for it.

A babydoll dress is, at its core, just a garment: loose, playful, feminine, often associated with youth, the disgust begins when adults project sexual meaning onto it, and that projection reveals something darker about the culture we live in. We love to constantly romanticise youth in women, don’t we? the beauty industry is practically built around the idea of reversing age: erase wrinkles, remove body hair, soften features, stay “fresh,” stay “young.” Women are encouraged to maintain a state of artificial girlhood for as long as possible, hairlessness, smooth skin, wide-eyed innocence, tiny silhouettes, the aesthetic ideal imposed on women often overlaps disturbingly with traits associated with adolescence.

Not because youth itself is inherently sexual, but because society has conditioned femininity to orbit around innocence, softness, submissiveness, and youthfulness, and yet, at the same time, we panic whenever women visibly engage with symbols of girlhood in fashion: a ribbon is “Lolita-coded”, a babydoll dress becomes “creepy”, knee socks become “bait”, suddenly, objects that should be neutral are interpreted through a sexual lens.

But the question is: who made that lens sexual in the first place?

Children do not sexualise themselves and I’m pretty sure clothing does not sexualise children, ADULTS DO. And guess what? the problem was never about a woman/child wearing something associated with youth, the issue is that people have become so accustomed to viewing femininity through a SEXUAL FRAMEWORK that even references to childhood become contaminated by it, it CIRCLES BACK. Because when you immediately connect children’s aesthetics to sexuality, they unintentionally expose how deeply sexualisation has embedded itself into the collective imagination.

A woman wearing a babydoll dress is not inherently performing for predatory desire because clothes should not be sexualised in the first place. But unfortunately when the female body is trained to be read through a sexual framework, it is hard not to make that connection, IT CIRCLES BACK. Everything associated with femininity gets pulled into that same interpretation loop, aesthetics tied to girlhood are no longer seen as neutral. The problem was never the dress; it is the way society keeps projecting sexuality onto the body, until even what is not sexual becomes read as such, and IT CIRCLES BACK again.

What concerns me more is how quickly society jumps to sexual interpretations. Why are we so unable to separate femininity, youth, and sexuality?

We live in a culture where girlhood has long been commodified, fetishised, consumed, and then moralised against, it is all just a game an a women body is still the global product.

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^{images from Pinterest.}

JV

Welcome to my unprofessional guide to Paris. These are my recommendations based on what I’ve seen, bought, eaten, places that are actually WORTH IT (to eat in mostly). I’m not a local though, I just love Paris, it’s like a situationship but with a city, you know?

The air gets heavier when summer hits Paris, so be prepared for dry skin and dry hair. Bring a good hair oil (NUXE) plus a good moisturiser for your skin (Frudia Gel). Next: buy bottles of fresh water from the supermarket and keep them in the fridge of your hotel or wherever you’re staying. And lastly, bring comfy shoes and high heels so you can switch depending on the plans.

Sands Coffee at 4 Rue des Apennins, 75017 was the first place we ate, and honestly it set the tone for the whole day. Their portions are BIG and since we were absolutely starving, it felt like a very necessary kind of overcompensation. I ordered the pancakes, which came in this interesting sweet-and-salty balance, the space itself had a fresh, airy ambience.

After eating, we went to Montmartre, and it had been a while since I last stepped foot there, it was absolutely PACKED that day, still a beautiful view though. We also tried the famous Glace Bachir, a Lebanese ice cream place, and personally I found it not sweet enough for what I expect from ice cream. It’s also overpriced- it came to a total of €9, I got pistachio flavour with pistachio toppings and, for me, not worth the money. But if you enjoy desserts that are more subtle and less sugary, maybe you’d love it.

I also bought an orange soap for my mom but somehow lost it at a restaurant (I almost cried).

We went to this photobooth to collect some physical memories, and after that we got an Uber near the place where we were going to eat, called Le Nesle (22 Rue Dauphine, 75006 Paris). Super friendly staff, the food was surprisingly good, and overall it struck a really nice balance between price and quality. Besides that, the view felt incredibly Parisian-summer-night coded- dim lights, people talking outside, warm air.

I also saw a girl wearing an outfit that looked exactly like something I would wear. Turns out I’m not weird, I just don’t live in Paris.

Next day, we went out and ate at this breakfast place called Approach. It’s a Korean café that serves a variety of dishes, from breakfast to lunch, and because it doesn’t stick strictly to Korean cuisine, it ends up creating this really interesting blend between Korean and European flavours, the space itself was clean, the ambience felt calm and curated, everything tasted amazing, and nothing felt overly heavy.

My friend kept teasing me about how I always know how to pick good food places (I genuinely think I’m just Portuguese).

After that we walked soooo much, took some pics here and there, and stopped at a pharmacy, which is basically mandatory if you use French skincare (La Roche-Posay, Bioderma, etc.). I spent €40 but only bought things I was already running out of back home. After that we grabbed more water and walked around Les Halles because my friend wanted to buy Havaianas.

That day we ate somewhere I genuinely don’t remember the name of BUT it was your very classic, underwhelming French restaurant. The fries were insanely good though.

After that we showered at the hotel (2nd shower of the day btw) and headed to see the Eiffel Tower at night, which is when she has the most charm and, in my opinion, when it’s actually worth getting close to. We walked around for a while and eventually ended up at another café eating a Nutella crêpe!!! (I also don’t remember the place - worst guide ever).

The next day we tried to go to Jardin du Luxembourg, it had also been a while since I’d gone there, but we got off earlier and ate at this AMAZING vegetarian place called Maslow. I’m definitely not a picky eater, but I know what tastes refined, comforting, or straight-up trashy- and that was refined in the best way possible. The falafel was perfect, the sweet potato was so well seasoned I almost forgot I don’t usually enjoy sweet potatoes, literally nothing to complain about besides the fact that they desperately need a better air conditioner because it was H O T.

And that was it!!!

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xoxo,

Joana

Think of it as a very subjective London spring guide, it is more like a visual diary made out of outfits, bookstores, galleries, coffees, strawberries, design stores, and places that feel real.

2 bags, 1 pair of sunglasses, 4 shoes, 3 jackets, 4 bottoms, 4 upper parts, 1 dress. That’s essentially all you need.

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London is super amazing when it’s not raining, it doesn’t really shout, it kind of murmurs. And this is an amazing way to spend your trip if you want to follow the right echo.

These are all of the places that mean something to me when I go to London, outside of just trending, algorithmic places.

EUROPA YELLOW

For: Kuro Coffee, Tenderbooks, Design Museum, Future Present

Walking through London while pretending you live there.

At Kuro Coffee, the coffee is amazing, but the atmosphere matters more, it’s calm and precise. Tenderbooks feels like entering someone’s private reference archive.

Marc Jacobs - Tweed Backwards Lady Jacket - €425

Chloé - Sandales à talon Junie, Marron - 820€

FLORE FLORE - Dewi Tank in Yellow - €85

COS - Marais Bowling Bag, Suede - €149

ALÄIA - White Pants - €1.290

THE GALLERY UNIFORM

For: Maximillian William Gallery, Carl Kostyál Gallery, Serpentine Galleries

Serpentine Galleries is always a must-stop place when it comes to London, especially when you need to remember that fashion exists beyond product. Maximillian William Gallery, as well as Carl Kostyál Gallery, feel more connected to the now.

Ann Demeulemeester Elya Heeled Sandals - €950

COS - Marais Bowling Bag, Suede - €149

UNIQLO Shirring Skirt - €50

Pleats Please Issey Miyake

Prada Sunglasses - €390

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NIGO’S LONDON

For: Design Museum, Donlon Books, spiritually adjacent to Climax Books

Nigo’s exhibition is currently on at the Design Museum, and you can kind of travel back into his world, or at least to when he was a child growing up addicted to The Beatles and denim jeans. There’s a story about him lying to his mom about how much money he spent on a pair of vintage jeans, super vintage, sometime in the 50s, maybe 1953? And honestly, it just shows how much you can love something, and how far that something can take you.

Donlon Books and places spiritually adjacent to Climax Books carry the same energy, they remind you that subculture used to require effort. Remember if you become obsessed with something enough, you actually build a personality around it.

COS - Marais Bowling Bag, Suede - €149

Jil Sander - Black Mule - €1150

COS - Cotton Tank Top - €25

Pleats Please Issey Miyake

Francisca Nabinho Jacket

AFTER DARK

For: Bambi, Cafe OTO, Planque, Stullen, Secret Sandwich Shop

Bambi and Planque have a type of intimacy that touches the cinematic. Stullen, Secret Sandwich Shop and Cafe OTO are places that don’t feel manufactured for TikTok.

Stella McCartney Tailored Jacket - €1790

Chloé Paddington Bag - €2490

Isabel Marant Jeans - 395€

Prada Sunglasses - €390

Chanel Heels - 1300

IN SPRING

For: The River Cafe, Kyoto Garden

Whenever I need to feel like Phoebe Philo, I’ll just tube to Fulham and get the freshest strawberry picks at The River Cafe. Kyoto Garden gives the same kind of emotional silence.

Béhen Studio - THE MINI DRESS - €1800

Chloé Paddington Bag - €2490

Jil Sander - Black Mule - €1150

Francisca Nabinho Jacket

(all pics are from google reviews)

xo,

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This week I watched The Devil Wears Prada 2 and it is not worthy it, just a big PR moment. On my casual walk to the gym, trying to romanticise cardio, I watched a YouTube video called The Devil Wears Prada 2 PR Strategy by Val and the girl explained how the merch surrounding the movie gives buyers a feeling of proximity to something that was originally built to exclude them. That sentence kind of unlocked something in my brain because isn’t that what luxury has been doing recently? Selling access to exclusion itself, maybe the gatekeepers suddenly opened the gate a little bit and invited you in for content purposes, it’s funny. Like yes buy this mug and feel the dream, but know that the dream is unreachable.

Anyways, I’m not trying to dismiss Anna Wintour because her impact on fashion culture is undeniable, from transforming American Vogue into what it became to turning the Met Gala into one of the most globally anticipated events of the year, her achievements are there. What confuses me is this recent obsession powerful people have with wanting to appear relatable. Because the entire mythology surrounding Anna Wintour was built on distance, authority and control, on this idea that she was untouchable and impossible to please. The Devil Wears Prada 2 was literally a satire, we were supposed to laugh at how absurd this world is, how ridiculous the power dynamics are, how emotionally detached everyone becomes in the pursuit of taste and status. There is this new dynamic of people laughing with her instead of at her, the villain became iconic enough to become lovable?

On another topic, which is intrinsically related to the other, is how much the perception of the Met Gala has changed in the last few years. Since 1995, Anna Wintour has basically gathered celebrities, designers, models, athletes, billionaires, influencers and anyone culturally relevant into one room to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. On paper it sounds almost noble, fashion funding art, celebrity culture feeding the museum world, and for years people watched it almost like a global holiday because there’s genuinely something fascinating about seeing fashion perform at that level. In its whole the met gala is a couture runway mixed with reality television, they try to portrait the same glamour of old Hollywood but also the messiness of internet gossip culture. Because yes, people remember Zendaya dressed as Joan of Arc in Versace and Rihanna in that enormous yellow gown by Guo Pei, but people also remember awkward interviews, weird celebrity interactions, exes ending up in the same room, the body language analysis, gossip. Who doesn’t remember Emma Chamberlain interviewing Jack Harlow like it was a live fan-fiction moment for the internet? The Met Gala became both a fashion archive and a dating show, high culture and tabloid culture melting into the exact same thing.

But at the same time, there’s another side growing louder online, especially after the pandemic, where people are starting to look at these events with genuine discomfort. In my opinion social media changed everything because now the distance between the public and these people disappeared, before, fashion fantasy existed in magazines and unreachable campaigns. Now billionaires post “get ready with me” videos while normal people can barely pay rent. So when people online joke “I’m watching the Met Gala from District 12,” referencing The Hunger Games, it’s funny but it’s also not entirely a joke. Because there is something dystopian about watching people walk up museum stairs in outfits worth more than apartments while the comment section is full of people stressed about groceries and global instability. The spectacle starts feeling less aspirational and more surreal.

Which brings me back to this whole “relatable billionaire” phenomenon because I genuinely think it comes from fear of non-admiration for wealth. So instead of intimidating the public, luxury culture is trying to emotionally manipulate the public into feeling included.

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xoxo,

Joana V

(yes, its the most basic white denim skirt but it just fits me like a glove and it makes my booty look cute.)

One day, my mom was in her aunt’s closet and saw the jeans, which didn’t fit her anymore, so they got passed down to her. But because my mom was younger and thinner, my grandma, who is very skilled at sewing, stepped in. She decided to reuse the fabric and turned the jeans into a mini skirt so my 20-year-old mom could wear it.

And she did. She wore it all through her twenties, and eventually it got passed down to me, I asked recently where it was from, and apparently it is from a Spanish brand, nothing special, around 30€. I’m not even sure that matters, but at the same time, it kind of does because it proves that clothes used to have quality, which was considered normal and not a luxury. You didn’t have to pay a lot for something to be good, things were made to LAST LONGER.

And we’re talking about a white denim skirt, you know how good the fabric has to be to survive all those washes, all that sun, all those years, different bodies, different lives?

I’ve had things lose shape after one summer, T-shirts that twist, skirts that stretch out, fabric that just gives up after a few washes and we’ve all kind of accepted that as normal. But it’s not normal, we’ve just adjusted our expectations. I kind of want to do a small experiment, buy a white denim skirt now and see how long it actually lasts. Like really track it: how it holds after washing, if the colour changes, if the shape stays, because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t even come close.

Social media and brands also sell this idea that the only clothes worth preserving are expensive ones, like your The Row shoes need to be in the box, clean soles after usage, polished twice a month, of course the item is gonna last longer, you take care of it. But why can’t that be applied to “normal” (affordable) clothes? The truth is, if you buy a tank top for 7€, you’re not thinking about keeping it for years, you already know you’ll replace it. Maybe next year it goes up to 8€, but it doesn’t really matter because it’s still so cheap. And it’s exactly this way of thinking, and the behavior that comes with it, that fast-fashion brands profit from, year after year. That’s their business model.

The fabrics play a role, how you treat them as well, but these brands are fundamentally built on the idea that clothes are supposed to be temporary. Let me break it to you, they’re not.

At what point did we decide that “affordable” clothes don’t deserve to last? Because they should, at the very least, survive two full years of actual wear. That should not be a HIGH STANDARD, it should just be THE STANDARD.

xo,

Joana V

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Now let me tell you something: EUROSTAR SUPREMACY over any airline. Being on the ground will always win over being in the air, got on the train and I was in London in less than three hours.

Still on the public transportation topic, THE TUBE, it was lovely because I was there for 4 days but like are you telling me that after a long day at work, you get into that black, hot, crowded hole and wait an hour until you get home? EVERYDAY. no hate just genuinely impressed because I think I would walk 2 hours home instead, in fear of getting a panic attack.

WELCOME TO LONDON, I guess.

Anyways, now the bookstores, they may be my favourite places in London. There is nothing quite like the smell of books to bring me back to myself and make me more present. AND EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH. Daunt Books and Hatchards were my favourites, Hatchards, how beautiful their bookstores are. Also, a LOTS of second-hand bookstores, a must, because they sell books for 2-4 pounds.

This is a the total of what I got:

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote

• What Artists Wear – Charlie Porter

• What Writers Read – Pandora Sykes

• Sofia Coppola Archive

• EE72 Magazine

Notting Hill and Holland Park are beautiful on a Sunday because the buildings are short, so if it’s sunny, you get A LOT of sun, and everyone is strolling around buying fruit for £1. There is a beautiful garden, and the houses are white and clean. The best matcha I’ve had was at How Matcha, it was the Iced Matcha Spanish Blossom something, except for a very snobbish man saying that the matcha was “too green” to the lady, everything was fine.

London has a charm of its own, I would say. Old men are so incredibly polite-they hold doors for you, carry your suitcase up the stairs at Holborn station, and say “no worries, dear” when you thank them. It’s so refreshing, I talked about Jane Eyre with a lady at Notting Hill Market who had read it for the first time this year at 45 years old.

Sephora, Boots, and SkinNK are the beauty chaos, I only managed to buy something useful at SkinNK, which was a Glossier liquid blush to substitute my Rare Beauty one, and then a body mist from this Los Angeles brand.

I also played The Smiths on the Central line, canonical event. It was sunny all weekend, which also happened when I was in London in 2019.

Now, places I ate: Chinatown (I don’t remember the name, but the rice with vegetables was delicious), Breadstall in Soho, which is kind of this NY-style pizza, very filling and delicious. 42 Bar, it was nice, but not chaotic enough for me. The Oak on Westbourne Park Road, I was starving, so I just got a pizza, but I think I should have had some fish because it looked good. Very cozy place, and it’s a good spot between Notting Hill and Portobello Market. Jusu Brothers, also in Notting Hill I suppose, it had a nice brunch vibe. Those were my favourites.

The Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, I fear it might be my favourite and also Holland Park station in general. The sound of water falling down the cascades is refreshingly peaceful. There were these benches, and on almost every one of them there were phrases from people who have died. One of them said: “to live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.” It was my absolute favourite because it brings the question of immortality into human life again, which is something we’re always pushing against, even though the only certain thing is that we are not forever. Forever doesn’t exist in human life, and that acknowledgment made my trip so much more joyful because it brought me back to the moment again.

The 42 Bar you see on social media is cool, but I’ve been to cooler places, a bit dystopian, not gonna lie. It was silent because every girl was on her phone checking her pictures, and don’t get me wrong, I love taking pictures as much as the next girl, but like… There comes a point where you kind of question the purpose of going to a bar, right? Are you really going to spend more than two hours on your phone when you’re with your friend? I don’t know, people do what they want, but I just felt weird. I would rather be in a more casual pub because I would probably have had more fun and better conversations. The bar itself is nice.

The JW Anderson store in Soho was everything I hoped for. It made so much sense to be in that corner of Soho-the smell of pizza, the beeps from the Uber drivers, not so far from the other high-end shops, but it’s far enough that you can feel the distinction, and retail is seriously so much more than the inside of the shop, it’s also where your property is located, it’s real estate. Anyways, I bought EE72 magazine featuring Kate Moss at the Good News shop on the same corner.

Another place I went to was Réalisation, a clothing shop that has this famous photo booth. You can genuinely find a really nice dress there for a wedding or a special trip/event, the thing is, a lot of people go just to take pictures in the photo booth, so now they kind of make sure you at least get a sneak peek of the shop or try something on before you get to enjoy the space, which makes sense, because if people only use the space and don’t buy anything, how are they supposed to pay the rent? nice space, very sexy dresses, mostly silk.

It was such a pleasant trip because it pushed me out of my context. That’s one of the things I love about travelling—it makes you get out of your context and see how other people live their normal lives that are different from how you live yours and that makes you start romanticising your life again.

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xo,

Joana

The immediate question is obvious: why? Why would a designer who built his name in haute couture want anything to do with a mass-market behemoth?

From my perspective there is relatively simple answer to that question, beyond the fact that it represents a challenge, and a different kind of market for Galliano (who loves challenges), we have to look at the numbers. At the end of fiscal year 2025, Inditex reported €39.86 billion in sales, with Zara alone accounting for €28.05 billion (including Zara Home and Lefties). That kind of money is almost impossible to picture in a room, what is easier to picture are the mountains of discarded clothes… often cited as the physical aftermath of fast-fashion.

Zara is the mother brand of Inditex, carrying both the most weight in revenue and the most ambition in branding. Over the years, it has been repositioning itself toward something closer to “affordable luxury,” trying to exist in that in-between space: not quite fast fashion, not quite luxury.

But that raises the real question: is Zara actually becoming something more elevated, or is it still, just fast fashion?

These are the top six traits for a brand to be considered: fast-fashion.

And this is not just about low prices; it’s about speed, scale, and disposability. Zara can design, produce, and distribute collections across its global network in a matter of weeks, not months, it reacts to trends rather than leading them, and it depends on volume and turnover instead of long-term customer relationships. That, more than the price tag, is what defines it.

And this matters, because if you don’t see Zara as such, you miss the tension at the core of this collaboration.

Now, looking at Galliano, not just as a designer, but as a persona. An established figure in fashion, and arguably one of the most recognisable designers alive today, his trajectory runs through Givenchy, Dior, and Maison Margiela, always leaving a distinct imprint on each house he touches.

But he’s also deeply controversial, frequently labelled the “enfant terrible,” his public image is built on a mix of theatricality, excess, and an almost obsessive commitment to storytelling. Galliano doesn’t just design clothes; he performs them, without him, there is no explosive decade at Dior, no revival of Margiela as we know it.

Challenge has always been part of his language, so what happens when two giants unite? If you can’t fight them, do you join them?

And yet, it’s not entirely surprising to see a fast-fashion company align itself with a luxury designer. We’ve seen it before, Karl Lagerfeld x H&M in 2004, set the blueprint, what feels different now is the timing, the scale, and the context, because, realistically, fast fashion isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s evolving. It has to. It needs to innovate, restructure, and blend into a world that is increasingly aware, at least on the surface, of its environmental consequences.

Thinking back to the Cristóbal Balenciaga on Disney+, there’s a pivotal moment: the birth of prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear). As ready-to-wear rose, Cristóbal Balenciaga closed his house, the system shifted, despite resistance. Younger consumers wanted something faster, cheaper, more aligned with modern life, and that demand reshaped fashion entirely, arguably forever.

And now, here we are again. Another moment that feels like a shift, or at least the suggestion of one, the industry, once again, is being pushed to adapt and reshape itself, to respond to a different kind of consumer, a different kind of awareness. Whether that leads to a genuine restructuring of how clothes are produced, or simply another segmentation of the same system, remains unclear.

So is this collaboration an attempt to redefine production? To genuinely move toward better practices? Or is it simply a way to aestheticise the same system, to make it look more considered, more “designer,” while still relying on the same supply chains, the same outsourcing and the same invisible labour in the Global South?

To anyone who can answer that, the comment section is open.

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xoxo,

Joana Valente

Besides the incredible curation of runway archived pieces and invites, two other striking things defined this exhibition: the dark rooms and the perfectly curated playlists. The exhibition is a tribute but also the story of how The Antwerp Six came to be.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s some context. Antwerp is one of Belgium’s most important cities, in that city stands the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, one of the oldest art schools in Europe. Between 1980 and 1982, six remarkable fashion designers studied there and eventually rose to international fame. They became known as The Antwerp Six.

Their names?
Ann Demeulemeester
Marina Yee
Dries Van Noten
Walter Van Beirendonck
Dirk Bikkembergs
Dirk Van Saene

What made them different was their strategy, they joined forces economically but flourished creatively as individuals. They set a new standard for young designers everywhere, there was something so refreshingly humble about them, a kind of quiet Belgian confidence, the opposite of the flamboyant French approach (has it was said on the documentary at the exhibit). Their focus was on creation, on tailoring, not spectacle.

I mean, how often do you see six brilliant minds moving together like that? Their real secret was unity, they understood that collective strength could amplify individual genius.

Back to the exhibition itself: your first steps feel like walking through a chronological time machine, the timeline is stamped on the walls, the lights are low, and the sounds come from small TVs projecting past shows and interviews. There’s a mystery in the air, you don’t quite know their faces, and that’s the point.

Then you start to enter the rooms of each designer’s mind.

Dirk Bikkembergs comes first. His sport couture aesthetic takes the lead, as does his focus on the male form. Summer 1994 was a career highlight, a perfect blend of sport and tailoring.

What I find utterly funny is how the short bio ends by noting that he sold his company at the peak of his career. Bold move, it’s like you leave when you leave there is no perpetuation of the real brand without you.

Have you ever watched or read Alice in the Wonderland? Because Walter Van Beirendonck room was like falling into a rabbit whole and ending up in Beirendonckland. Which is fun and colourful and modern, futuristic. Nothing makes sense and yet everything is blending into the same world.

Dirk Van Saene brings surreal humour. His optical illusions and experimental tailoring treat clothes as if they were part of a surrealist painting. The curation and specifically the way they put out a small runway show where everyone was wearing the clothes (both the audience and the runway models). It felt “on topic” especially now that we talk so much about the democratisation of fashion.

Onto Dries Van Noten, before entering his room, there was a space with a documentary that featured relevant voices in the fashion business, including Raf Simons. I can’t recommend it enough: go in, stay there, and watch the ENTIRE thing because it’s THAT good, I sat on the floor and just enjoyed it immensely.

Disclosure: every time I step into a MoMu exhibition, it feels a bit like an escape room, there are videos, texts, sounds, little windows showing something unexpected. In Dries’s section, a tall vertical display case showcased accessories in perfect detail (I forgot to take a photo) but there were necklaces, bracelets, earrings, headpieces. Minimalism simply doesn’t exist in Dries’s world.

At Marina Yee, there was a room inside a room. They recreated her studio, which felt refreshing because you got access to more private details. It made sense, she was against the commercial fashion model, probably one of the reasons she teamed up with Martin Margiela to begin with. That also explains why there’s no runway, no models, no obvious references to the fashion system, it’s purely her second home, a studio where ideas flowed freely and no rules had to be followed.

“Nothing ever existis in a vacuum” said Yee on an interview with 1 GRANARY, on June 16 2025.

Finally, stepping into the last room, I heard Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door drifting softly (the Bob Dylan version). The room was dark, lit only by low spotlights. This was Ann Demeulemeester.

A long black bench faced a row of mannequins dressed in over fifteen archive pieces. I sat there for about fifteen minutes, just watching, black garments on white mannequins, music whispering in the background. Whatever magic Ann Demeulemeester conjures, I felt it completely. There’s structure and there’s wildness, leather, fur, restrained power, it’s almost primal yet stylistically modern, something both the wearer and the viewer can feel.

It’s a full lesson in craft and the recent SS26 debuts show that Antwerp alumni now shape around sixty per cent of top luxury creative roles, according to MoMu’s analysis.

Matthieu Blazy at Chanel
Pieter Mulier at Versace
Raf Simons at Prada
Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent
Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela and Diesel
Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten

The Antwerp Six might have started as just a union, but they became a legacy, a revolution stitched into fashion’s timeline and still moving towards the future.

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au revoir,

Joana Valente

There is an interview that seems to be stuck in my brain since I watched it a couple of weeks ago, and it is my starting point for the topic I want to explore briefly here.

In 1981, Jean-Michel Basquiat, then a young, emerging Neo-Expressionist African-American painter, was offered a studio in the basement of the Annina Nosei Gallery in SoHo, New York. He couldn’t afford his own space or materials, and Nosei provided both, helping him transition from graffiti artist to gallery-recognized painter. This basement was not a prison, but a crucible: here, Basquiat produced some of the work that would establish his early voice as a painter, moving from street art into the international art scene.

A myth grew around that period: the story that Basquiat was “locked in a basement and ordered to paint.” In a 1981 interview (link here), Basquiat himself corrected the narrative:

Interviewer: “Let’s talk a bit about the story that you’re always locked in the basement and ordered to paint.”
Basquiat: “Ah, that’s just... has a nasty edge to it, you know? I mean, I was never locked anywhere. Ah Christ, man. No, no... it’s just if I was white they would just say ‘artist-in-residence’ rather than other...”

If you watch the video, you can see how visibly angry and uncomfortable young Basquiat was, as the interviewer focuses not on his work or rising career, but on rumours that reveal little more than the biases and discrimination he faced.

This is a small, almost casual remark, but it’s striking in its precision. Basquiat was not just correcting a rumor; he was pointing to a structural truth about how culture frames stories of creativity and labor through the lens of race. As the book JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT by Foundation Louis Vuitton notes:

A white artist in the same circumstances would be described by the interviewer as disciplined, ambitious, or innovative. Basquiat, by contrast, was described as exotic or trapped; the emphasis was on his lifestyle, personality, and race.

The narrative itself became part of the cultural lens through which his work and his identity were understood. Only later, after his death, did critics take a closer look at his technique and meaning this as was the culmination of both a revolutionary artist, which creates criticism, and the tension of entering the white-washed art world of the 1980s, where he was repeatedly confronted with being the only Black person and reminded that his position was a rare opportunity rather than a given right.

This observation has little to do with fashion directly, but it has everything to do with culture, how power shapes the stories we tell and who gets to be framed as legitimate or exceptional. And this leads to one word: accountability. In 1981, these narratives could circulate largely unchecked; myths about Basquiat’s “imprisonment” were repeated and unexamined, as was his work. But today, audiences hold institutions (galleries, brands, media) accountable for the stories they tell and the people they include or exclude. We can sit here and criticize social media for being overflowing with opinions, but Basquiat walked so that others could sprint forward.

Now coming to the fashion scene of today, take the Dolce & Gabbana 2026 menswear show as a recent example. The runway featured no Black or Asian models, a choice that sparked widespread conversation online, unlike in Basquiat’s time, this absence could not go unnoticed. Social media amplified it, critics dissected it, and the brand’s historical patterns of tone-deaf campaigns were brought back into the conversation. Where previously homogeneity could slide under the radar, today it is interpreted as a conscious decision, carrying both cultural and commercial weight.

Basquiat’s reflection on how his race shaped the narrative around his early career reminds us that representation is not only physical presence but also context, framing, and interpretation. Being on a runway, in a gallery, or on a billboard is not enough if the surrounding narrative casts someone as an exception, a curiosity, or an outsider. Inclusion must be intentional, and it must be integrated into the cultural story being told.

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In many ways, Basquiat’s experience prefigures the challenges of modern fashion and art, both his story and D&G’s 2026 show reveal that the question isn’t only who is visible, but how their visibility is interpreted by culture. The difference between 1981 and now is clear: audiences are demanding accountability. History does matter, patterns are noticed, omissions are interpreted, and narratives shape perception as much as presence.

Ultimately, whether it’s a young painter in a gallery basement or a global fashion house on a runway, the lesson is the same: culture never forgets, and the stories we tell about inclusion or the lack of it, resonate far beyond the immediate moment.

xo,

Joana Valente

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Now that fashion month is over, let’s wash our hands of it and stare at some art.

Sanam Khatibi’s work is strikingly beautiful but also dangerous, emotionally charged, and full of tension between tenderness and destruction. It draws you in with its mystique, while something darker quietly lingers, waiting to break free.

I had the chance to dive into her world in my latest interview, “Landscapes Of Power: Inside Sanam Khatibi’s World,” just out in Teeth Magazine. We talked about instinct, power, and the strange fascination humans have with desire and danger.

If you want to get lost in her art and thoughts, you can read the full conversation here.

Anyways, hope you enjoy and honestly, take a break.

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xo,

Joana Valente

And in media there are now more publicists than journalists, which leads to a very simple question: who is actually reporting truthful information?

You’re not reading fiction, but it sure feels like a dystopian movie.

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Gucci.

Gucci felt flat. I’ve read a couple of things about the core idea and the social references, and I understand what they were trying to do, but right now references alone don’t feel like enough. Like how far a brand is willing to go to stay relevant? Reinvent the codes, disrupt the archive, burn the house down if necessary? But the real question is whether constant reinvention actually produces meaning, or just noise.

Matieres Fecales

Matieres Fecales pushed politics, it felt… dystopian just like how today feels. The collection is called “one percent”, it references power figures, capitalism, opera gloves dyed blood-red in the palm of their hands, people blinded by money… This runway became less about clothes and more about power, but who has it? who performs it? and who gets crushed beneath it? (we know the answers).

Bottega Veneta

Bottega was chic (a bit tacky, but this whole season was). And by tacky I don’t mean distasteful, I mean flashy for what Bottega usually represents. There was more volume, more visual noise, more desire to be seen.

Dior.

DIOR. very LADY. Jonathan Anderson is opening Dior up like the petals of a rose. The second show reassures what the first one suggested, this idea of “the lady” takes on a different weight in a moment where conversations around femininity, power, and visibility feel especially charged.

Marni.

Marni was the collusion of MiuMiu & Acne Studios. Very individualistic and very raw, what struck me most was that I didn’t even realize men and women were walking. The clothes were so cohesive that gender almost disappeared.

Pauline Dujancourt.

Walking into your bfs funeral like you’re not the one who poisoned him: Pauline Dujancourt. Funny enough this collection was a tribute to women persecuted during historical witch hunts which makes sense when you look at most of the looks = mythical combinations of textures. The witch has been one of fashion’s favourite metaphor for female power: feared, misunderstood, punished. In this political climate we are living, where women’s autonomy is still contested across the world, that symbolism feels way less historical and much more contemporary.

Anna Sui.

Minimalism is afraid of Anna Sui.

And maybe that’s why her work feels refreshing right now. When the cultural mood leans toward austerity and restraint (CBK would never), Sui doubles down on excess: patterns, colour, texture, nostalgia!!!! Not everything has to be quiet, efficient, optimized to be chic.

7 FOR ALL MANKIND

This is exactly how I imagine women in NY. Silk dress with wool tights, mixed patterns, chunky knits thrown over everything. 7 FOR ALL MANKIND

I would call it urban practicality: clothing that feels tactile, layered, real. Suddenly that kind of dressing becomes appealing again, precisely because we are human and increasingly exhausted by the pressure to perform perfection. Perfection, after all, isn’t human.

I grew up middle class (a species in extinction from what I’ve heard) and my mom worked in corporate finance. She was my Carolyn Bessette, not because she looked like her, but because she embodied the same discernment. She carefully chose what she wore, what she ate, how she expressed her ideas, how she spoke to others, what type of car she bought, what type of furniture she decided to have (with my father, but you get the point). Her taste wasn’t loud; it was deliberate, it was restriction, choice, and intelligence.

As another Substack writer said, “style, if it is anything at all, still cannot be purchased into existence.” Being chic is an embodiment more than it is a specific aesthetic, even if you achieve today’s definition of “chic” - slick buns, tailored black pants, short clean nails, that niche designer brand, staple jewellery - you’ll still lack the embodiment of the things you surround yourself with if you haven’t lived in them, loved them.

And I’m going to hold your hand when I say this: buying things for the sake of fitting into this chicness absurdity bubble isn’t going to make you chic. You cannot buy it, you have to embody it.

Anyways, back to my personal perceptive, I remember a blue marine set my mother had, flow pants with a tank top, I remember her makeup bag and the same lipstick she wore and the way she dressed me, matching my socks with my skirt. And I remember my dad having this taste in music and CD’s, mainly from the 80’s and I remember the pile of books, mostly from Nicholas Sparks, that my mom use to read. I remember her painting her nails red watching a movies sitting on the floor of our living room (chic) and I remember the taste of fresh fruit salad my dad made in the summer (chic). You see how curation is what leads a person to be chic?

I’ve seen people wear a lot of jewellery and look incredibly chic because it fit them, it made sense within their lifestyle. I could do the same, right? But I don’t, because I have no patience for stacking bracelets every morning. I’d rather spend that time doing my hair because I enjoy it more. See how I made a simple decision based on what I like, what works in my routine? Through these daily choices, I’m building taste and making certain objects, or ways of living, my own. Taste isn’t copying, it’s editing.

“If your attitude is about how you relate to the world, your taste is how you interpret it,” says Kiki Agbor in his video The 4 Stages of Chic.

When was the last time you bought something because you actually liked it? I mean no ads, no social media virality, something you found while walking into a random store, or stumbled across online. A fragrance brand. A hand cream. An author you’d never heard of. A magazine you discovered by accident. I’m not saying don’t take recommendations from the internet. I’m saying think them through. Ask yourself: Is this worthy of being within my life?

Your taste starts with that question. Besides, life is so much more fun when you actually try new things and you forget what chic even means.1

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xo,

Joana Valente

With the curtain closing on NYFW, it felt fitting to shift the focus inward this week.

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I recently had a conversation with Riley Hundley Woodell, a New York–based model, she’s walked for Jane Wade, Leo Prothmann, and Melitta Baumeister. Between jobs, she juggles emails, spreadsheets, and runway prep, free time is afraid of her!!!

Here’s what she had to say about being different, surviving, and thriving in an industry obsessed with perfection

Have you ever felt pressure to change your appearance to fit what the industry wants?

People will tell you you’d be more successful if you changed something. At one point, I bleached my hair for a job. As soon as I did, my agent told me everyone wanted my dark hair again. You can’t please everyone, if a client really needs a different look, they can use a wig.

Do you feel like you get boxed into a specific aesthetic because of your features?

Yes. I usually get booked for edgier work, commercial and beauty work has been harder for me, irregular beauty could be a bold statement for them, but commercial work still leans heavily into the status quo. This year, though, I really want to move more into beauty. Something like Dior Beauty would be a dream!!!

Do you feel a difference between who you are and how you’re perceived through your work?

Yes, there can be a big difference. I try to accept jobs that align with who I am, because if I don’t like the work or the designer, I don’t feel proud when the images come out. Styling choices can really affect how people see you, even though they don’t reflect who you are as a person. That’s why I research brands and casting directors carefully. If something feels off, I usually trust that instinct.

Do you ever step into an alter ego when you’re modeling?

Only when the project really requires it. Editorial work, especially, can involve more character-building. Makeup plays a huge role for me but for the most part, I try to stay true to myself.

Have you ever had to protect yourself emotionally in this industry?

Absolutely. I’ve had castings where people were brutally honest in ways that weren’t constructive. Once, a casting director told me I wasn’t “chic enough.” That’s just one person’s perception, and you have to remind yourself of that.

How do you negotiate pay when since you’re not a celebrity model yet?

Usually, your agent presents the rate upfront. If it feels too low, you can ask them to negotiate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Occasionally, brands will sweeten the deal with products if they can’t raise the fee. Rates vary wildly. I’ve done runway shows for $50 and others for $1,000. It depends on the brand, sponsorships, and budget. Research is key.

Did becoming a model change how people perceive you?

Definitely. Professionally, if you’re still working a day job or in another industry, people can treat you differently once they know you’re successful in fashion, sometimes positively, sometimes not. There’s a tendency to underestimate modelling, like people forget how business-minded you have to be.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start modeling but feels too ‘different’?

Don’t sign with just any agency. It’s better to have no agency than a bad one.

Research who you’re working with.

And above all, stay true to yourself. If you change, let it be for you, never for someone else.

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xo,

Joana Valente

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Guess what?

They arrived on the 14th of February at the shop where I always pick up my packages (the guy there knows me). So today I went to get them… and of course, as I’m walking there, it starts snowing. Very cinematic.

And when I finally arrive?

The guy can’t find my package. :)

Now, helping someone search for a small box in a corner filled with more than 400 other boxes is genuinely a form of emotional labour. We spent 30 minutes digging through piles like we were in an archaeological excavation, and nothing. At this point I’m starting to spiral a little, because no offence, but I did not mentally prepare myself for a Gucci disappearance story (first world problems).

Then the guy looks at me and goes, super casually:

“It’s okay, I’ll call you once I find it. Or if they lost it, they will refund you.”

And I looked at him dead serious and said:

“But I don’t want the money. I want my Gucci flats.”

Maybe I was to emotional (my life story) but I’ve waited for so long to find the perfect pair that fits my wardrobe and besides I already promised my mom a private unboxing.

Of course he didn’t care if it was Gucci or Primark (which feels illegal to put in the same sentence… can they sue me for this?). But I swear, for a second, I felt like I was in one of those movies where the girl is fighting fate in the snow for something extremely unnecessary but emotionally important.

Anyway, after a bit more searching…

We found the package.

To top it all off with a thoughtful gesture, he gave me one of those fake single roses, the ones an old man tries to pressure your date into buying at those tourist-trap restaurants in Paris or Rome, because apparently, it’s Valentine’s Day!!!!

I’m not sure what he was thinking tho, but my date is safely tucked inside that box he gave me…

So I guess I ended up finding my valentine, or more I found him.

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xo,

Joana V

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Not “wearing Zara” in a casual airport way and also not “wearing Zara” like a last-minute emergency outfit. Zara, in one of the most televised cultural events on Earth, a stage built for myth-making, branding, and the kind of spectacle that turns a look into a global reference point overnight.

I’m honest, I didn’t know what to do with that information.

Because in theory, it’s just clothes. In practice, it’s never just clothes. The Super Bowl halftime show isn’t a concert, it’s a cultural billboard, a costume moment and a performance where the outfit becomes part of the narrative, and the narrative becomes part of the industry.

Which is why Zara being there feels… confusing.

As Jaime Martinez wrote in FashionUnited, “For Inditex, this was more than a styling credit; it was a strategic flex.” And the word flex is doing a lot of work here., Zara is a major player in America and, business-wise, it makes sense: the brand has been growing, making money, and entering the spotlight without needing traditional marketing.

But let’s rewind for a second.

Custom design is more than clothes that fit a body. It’s the intersection of a brand, a performer (artist, singer, actor), and culture and also a visual language designed not only to be worn, but to be read.

In cinema and performance, costume design functions almost like propaganda: it sells us an image of a world, an archetype, a lifestyle. It shapes what we desire, what we recognise as glamorous, and what we associate with cultural authority.

So the question isn’t whether Zara can dress Bad Bunny. Clearly it can.

The real question is: what culture, branding, and storytelling is this fast fashion giant bringing to the table? And what does it mean when custom design, a discipline built around narrative and symbolism becomes another space for fast fashion to occupy?

Because if custom design is storytelling, then Zara showing up at the Super Bowl isn’t neutral, it’s a statement. This isn’t just about one outfit. It’s about whether fashion has reached a point where every cultural moment must be monetised, and whether brands like Zara can move beyond being a reflection of luxury to becoming a producer of cultural meaning itself.

Because if a company often accused of replicating runway logic enters the most iconic stage in America, we have to ask: can fast fashion ever have an original voice? Fast fashion may be able to dress someone, but can it storytell?

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xo,

Joana V

Believe it or not, this is a Benetton campaign:

And this too:

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I’ve come across 100 Ideas That Changed Fashion by Harriet Worsley at the library twice now, and both times I somehow ended up stuck on the same pages: Benetton’s ads. So consider this my formal invitation into one of the most scandalous visual eras of the 90s: when Benetton decided shock was a branding strategy, and somehow got away with it.

The name of the photographer was Oliviero Toscani, the Italian photographer behind Benetton’s most controversial ads of the 90s. He was unapologetically fearless in the way he approached brand communication, almost to the point of being reckless but that was the whole point. Toscani believed advertising should reflect the state of the world, not just the face of a model with a symmetrical jawline and perfect lighting. He didn’t want ads to distract us from reality, he wanted them to shove reality directly into our line of sight.

And obviously, Benetton got in trouble. Constantly. Over the years, the brand received endless warnings, backlash, and scandal headlines because of how shocking the campaigns were.

But the question is… why were people so disturbed?

Well, everything revolutionary carries a drop of truth, doesn’t it?

It’s easy to walk through a city and want to see something glossy, dreamy, and unreal, comfortable and digestible. But it’s much harder to casually turn a corner and be confronted with brutal realities like AIDS, war, crime, racism, discrimination, staring back at you from a billboard.

It leaves a sour taste in your mouth, because suddenly you can’t pretend the world is fine.

Toscani’s made advertising impossible to ignore, in a way, Benetton was wildly ahead of its time. Their communication wasn’t built around a product but values, provocation, and cultural tension. It was one of the first times a brand sold clothing without showing clothing at all. The branding spoke without speaking, and it basically pre-launched the kind of strategic ads we see today, the ironic shocking ones.

Because really… does the product even need to be desirable if the brand becomes a cultural conversation?

Benetton ads worked exactly like modern social media campaigns: designed to trigger outrage, emotion, debate, and free press and today this is literally the formula some brands use on TikTok and Instagram. They drop something “controversial,” get reposted, let people fight in the comments, and suddenly they’ve earned millions of impressions without paying for them.

Benetton did the same thing, just through newspapers and billboards instead of algorithms.

You might think these are “just photographs,” but at the time, putting real suffering and real people into an ad space was radical (even offensive). Especially because Benetton wasn’t a charity or a news outlet it was a clothing brand. That’s what made it feel almost intrusive but maybe that was also the point: the discomfort was part of the message.

Now fast forward to 2026, and look at brands like Oatly.

Oatly is basically Benetton’s modern, funny cousin, the one you only see at Christmas, and honestly… you’re glad it stays that way. They sell morality, not milk, but instead of scandal, it leans into humour. The function is the same but the tone is softer, more ironic, more digestible (literally).

“It’s like milk but made for humans” is the perfect example of modern branding selling ideology, not product. Suddenly, cow’s milk feels outdated, and Oatly positions itself as the smarter, upgraded choice so the ads aren’t meant to be pretty, they’re meant to make you feel something, to make you think, to make you conscious, just like Benetton did decades ago.

So both brands operate with the same underlying logic: sell a view, an idea, not a product, so that consumption feels like a statement and buying feels like belonging.

Because let’s be honest, the real product isn’t a sweater or oat milk.

It’s identity.

And that was something Toscani understood early.

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(I also invite you to search for more pics of other campaigns from Benetton because I didn’t put the most controversial ones in here)

xoxo,

Joana V

Now, opposing to that, I’ve been discovering that in my attempt to write about fashion, it seems to be leading me to write about art. So imagine my surprise when the first stand I decide to step in, I stumble across his art work?

But lets unwrap the experience first.

While menswear fashion week and couture are happening on one side of Europe, on the other, one of the oldest and most prestigious art fairs on the continent is quietly hosting more than 140 galleries. BRAFA runs from 25 January to 1 February (2026 edition), open to the public, and feels like it exists in a completely different rhythm than fashion’s usual calendar.

At the entrance, where you show your ticket, you’re handed a physical map, very old school (I adored it). Most people were dressed exquisitely. The heater was on and so were the champagne bars scattered across the labyrinth of stands.

Now back to the first work I came close to: Grey Steps by Martin Margiela (2023), made of carpet and tape on canvas mounted on a wooden frame.

I had a short conversation with one of the gallery assistant, who mentioned that Margiela is doing very well in the art world. That didn’t surprise me but it did make me think: wow, this might actually be the closest people are meant to get to him now. His step away from the fashion system into the art world feels expected, I would argue.

He began showing work in selected galleries around the world, and when you look closely, the materials make sense, fur, fabric, texture, you are the output of your experiences, right? But more than that, it brings me back to an idea that feels central to his entire practice: IDEAS OVER IMAGE. I think the same conceptual rigour drives both practices, Margiela’s art isn’t a departure from his fashion but a continuation of his interest in how ideas shape perception and how material embodies thought.

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One of my favourite paintings at the fair was Untitled by Andrea Ventura (2023), acrylic on canvas, priced at €4,400. What drew me in immediately was the raw way geometry is built through light and dark, one of the most basic techniques used to make something feel three-dimensional and alive. Simple, but not empty.

I also want to mention this small painting by Sanam Khatibi, A Few More Crimes (2018), made with oil, pastel, and pencil on panel. The level of detail immediately caught my attention, especially the landscape, a mix of greens and blues under a brown sky. It feels like you’re entering a world built by the artist and yet, when you’re standing in front of it, you don’t question how much of it isn’t reality.

To finish off, I want to mention these vases by the American artist Brian Rochefort, which were shown on the same gallery stand as the Margiela canvas. From what I understood, they’re inspired by volcanic activity, a process that makes them uneven, imperfect, and almost brutalist in feeling.

One thing I noticed was the diversity of works: to think that a portrait by Pablo Picasso is hung across from a Keith Haring canvas feels simultaneously incredible and completely natural in that context. There’s a gap in years, a stretch of time between them, but no real distance in space, which I think is a beautiful way of understanding art, not for what it is, but for what it shifts. Like fashion, art is political, social and most important - a mirror.

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xoxo,

Joana V