The Journal
House stories, portraits, long reads — written by our editors.
Tom Ford: a house, in brief
The velvet jacket Tom Ford wore to the 2004 Oscars — midnight blue, peak lapel, singlebutton, cut so close it looked like upholstery — wasn't from his own label. It was from the Gucci archive, from his own tenure there. He'd left the house...
The Le Smoking tuxedo from 1966 does not sit in a vitrine
The Le Smoking tuxedo from 1966 does not sit in a vitrine. It walks. It crosses a threshold—restaurant, gallery, boardroom—and the room recalibrates. Before that jacket, women in formalwear wore gowns. After it, they wore power on the shoul...
There is a nylon backpack, triangular logo affixed, sitting in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
There is a nylon backpack, triangular logo affixed, sitting in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. One can debate whether it belongs there — plenty have — but the fact remains: Prada convinced MoMA that industrial fabric,...
The quotation marks came first
The quotation marks came first. Not as punctuation but as graphic device—white Helvetica on black cotton, bracketing words that didn't need emphasis but got it anyway. "SCULPTURE." "FOR WALKING." They appeared on the tongue of a sneaker in...
The white label has four stitches at each corner
The white label has four stitches at each corner. The garment number is handwritten in a circle. The label itself is blank — no logo, no name. This is the signature of a house that spent its first decade refusing to put its name on anything...
Louis Vuitton: a house, in brief
The flattopped trunk sits in a climatecontrolled vitrine on the second floor of the Asnières workshop, twenty minutes northwest of Paris. Grey Trianon canvas, brass corners, a lock mechanism that still turns. Built in 1858, the year Louis V...
The 1963 Amazona bag sits in the archive like a problem no one has solved since
The 1963 Amazona bag sits in the archive like a problem no one has solved since. Single piece of calfskin, no lining, handstitched seams that disappear into the leather itself. It weighs almost nothing. You can fold it flat and post it thro...
The Chiquito measures eleven centimetres across
The Chiquito measures eleven centimetres across. You can't fit a phone in it. You can't fit keys. You can barely fit the idea of utility. When it arrived in 2019, it wasn't a bag so much as a provocation—miniature, structured, absurd in the...
The Kelly bag does not close with a zipper
The Kelly bag does not close with a zipper. It closes with a strap, a turn, a buckle, and the understanding that haste has no place in luxury. That motion — deliberate, manual, requiring both hands — is a statement of intent. Hermès has bui...
The double-G hardware on a 1970s shoulder bag sits heavier in the hand than one expects
The doubleG hardware on a 1970s shoulder bag sits heavier in the hand than one expects. Not ostentatious, exactly — the interlocking initials are smaller than memory suggests — but present. Unmistakable. That weight, one suspects, was the p...
Givenchy: a house, in brief
There is a photograph from 1957 in which Audrey Hepburn stands in a Givenchy salon wearing a white satin column gown, her arms raised, her expression somewhere between concentration and delight. The dress is not yet finished. Hubert de Give...
There's a fur coat in the Fendi archive with sleeves that unzip completely
There's a fur coat in the Fendi archive with sleeves that unzip completely. Not decoratively — functionally. Commissioned in 1965, it predates the modular wardrobe trend by three decades and the sustainability conversation by five. Karl Lag...
The corset is black, boned, and sits over a white cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled
The corset is black, boned, and sits over a white cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled. The skirt is pencilcut, ending midcalf. The model wears her hair pinned at the crown, a few tendrils loose. It is 1987, and Domenico Dolce and Stefano G...
The mannequin wears a jacket with shoulders so sloped they look like they might slide off the form entirely
The mannequin wears a jacket with shoulders so sloped they look like they might slide off the form entirely. Waist cinched to the diameter of two hands. Skirt blooming from the hip in pleated wool that weighs, according to the placard, four...
The suit jacket is open, the skirt falls just past the knee, and the woman wearing it can raise her arms above her head
The suit jacket is open, the skirt falls just past the knee, and the woman wearing it can raise her arms above her head. That was the point. Before Chanel, a welldressed woman in 1920s Paris couldn't do that without a maid and twenty minute...
There's a camel coat from the 1968 collection still circulating in the resale market
There's a camel coat from the 1968 collection still circulating in the resale market. Straightcut, notched lapel, no belt. The kind of thing that doesn't announce itself. Celine made thousands of them, and they wore into the wardrobes of wo...
The trench coat at the Imperial War Museum in London hangs behind glass, khaki gabardine still stiff at the shoulders
The trench coat at the Imperial War Museum in London hangs behind glass, khaki gabardine still stiff at the shoulders. It is dated 1918. The label inside reads Burberry. The garment does not explain itself. It was made to repel rain and all...
Brunello Cucinelli: a house, in brief
The cashmere is dyed in a palette the house calls naturali: twentyeight shades between sand and charcoal, none of them loud. The colour cards sit in a vitrine at the Solomeo headquarters, arranged by tonal increment. Step back and you see a...
There is a photograph from 1978 of a woman boarding a flight to Milan
There is a photograph from 1978 of a woman boarding a flight to Milan. Her bag is soft, woven, cognaccoloured, and carries no logo. The leather is Nappa, the construction is intrecciato — a tight basket weave that requires a skilled hand an...
There's a photograph from 1951: a woman in a black coat, standing very still in the Place Vendôme
There's a photograph from 1951: a woman in a black coat, standing very still in the Place Vendôme. The coat has no waist. The shoulders drop an inch lower than anatomy would suggest. The sleeves taper but refuse to cling. She looks like som...
The skull is still there
The skull is still there. Cast in silver, pressed into leather, embroidered on silk, rendered in crystal pavé. It appears on scarves, belt buckles, cufflinks, evening bags. The memento mori that Lee Alexander McQueen put on the runway in 19...
The jeans came first
The jeans came first. Not as fashion, exactly — more as a birthday gift Jonny Johansson made for friends in 1996. Raw denim, cut straight, with a red stitch running down the outer seam. One hundred pairs. The fact that they sold, and kept s...
The first Miu Miu show happened in a basement
The first Miu Miu show happened in a basement. Spring/Summer 1995, beneath the Palais d'Iéna in Paris. No one had asked for another Prada line, but Miuccia Prada wasn't asking. She was testing something — a register she couldn't fit inside...
## The Archive Returns, Edited
The Archive Returns, Edited ZUZWA is reissuing pieces from its 2018 through 2021 collections — not as nostalgia exercise, not as capsule drop, but as working inventory. The house confirmed last week that sixteen styles will return to prod...
Versace has opened the vault
Versace has opened the vault. Not in the vague way brands talk about "inspiration" — actual reissues. The Medusa '95 bag returned last autumn. The safetypin dress got a Spring 2024 iteration. And now the baroque print blouses from 1992, the...
## The Red Room Opens Again
The Red Room Opens Again Valentino is reissuing pieces from its archive. Not as capsule collaborations or museum exhibitions, but as production runs available through the house's own boutiques. The first wave includes six dresses from Pie...
Tom Ford's archive comes back
Tom Ford is reissuing pieces from the Gucci years—not the greatest hits, but the secondtier looks that only people who were paying attention remember. The velvet hipsters from fall 1996. The satin shirts with the exaggerated point collar fr...
## Saint Laurent Is Reissuing Its Own Back Catalogue — And It Knows Exactly Which Parts
Saint Laurent Is Reissuing Its Own Back Catalogue — And It Knows Exactly Which Parts Saint Laurent is pulling specific silhouettes from the Hedi Slimane era and putting them back into production. Not as capsule moments or anniversary nods...
Prada has opened the vault
Prada has opened the vault. Not metaphorically — the house is reissuing garments from 1995, 1998, 2000, and 2008 under a programme called ReEdition. These are not tributes or reworked themes. They are the same bags, the same nylon jackets,...
Off-White's archive comes back
OffWhite is putting pieces from its Virgil Ablohera archive back into production — not as commemorative capsules or museum collaborations, but as part of the mainline offering. The Industrial belt with its yellow stitching and sansserif typ...
## The Corolle Skirt Returns — And It Brought Friends
The Corolle Skirt Returns — And It Brought Friends Miu Miu is reissuing pieces from the archives. Not capsules, not anniversary nods — actual production runs of styles first shown between 2006 and 2014, sold through the maison's own chann...
Maison Margiela's archive comes back
Maison Margiela is reissuing garments from its archive in numbered batches, not as a capsule or collaboration but as part of the main line. The pieces arrive with their original season codes intact—S/S 1997, A/W 2001—printed on the care lab...
Louis Vuitton is reissuing pieces from its archive — not as capsules or collaborations, but as part of the mainline
Louis Vuitton is reissuing pieces from its archive — not as capsules or collaborations, but as part of the mainline. We're talking about the Speedy in its 1930 proportions, the Keepall from 1924, the Alma from 1934. These aren't reinterpret...
## Loewe Is Selling Its Own Past
Loewe Is Selling Its Own Past Loewe has begun reissuing pieces from its archive — not as capsules, not as collaborations, just as product. The Flamenco bag, originally designed in 1996, returned to stores last autumn in its original draws...
Jacquemus is reissuing pieces from its archive
Jacquemus is reissuing pieces from its archive. Not as capsules or collaborations, but as direct reproductions: the asymmetric knit dress from Le Souk (Spring 2018), the straw hat with the thirtycentimetre brim from La Bomba (Spring 2019),...
Hermès is pulling pieces from the eighties and nineties — not as inspiration, but as actual reissues
Hermès is pulling pieces from the eighties and nineties — not as inspiration, but as actual reissues. The Constance bag in its 1959 proportions. The Evelyne in canvas weight not seen since 1978. Silk twills with archive prints from 1987, re...
Gucci's archive comes back
Gucci is reissuing pieces from the Frida Giannini era — specifically, the 2006–2009 window when the house leaned into a kind of controlled bohemia that didn't yet know it would become reference material. The programme started quietly in Jan...
## Givenchy Returns to the Vault
Givenchy Returns to the Vault Givenchy is reissuing pieces from its 1996 through 2001 archive — the Alexander McQueen years — and the selection is specific. No ball gowns. No runway spectacle. Instead: tailored trousers with a midrise and...
Fendi is reissuing the Baguette
Fendi is reissuing the Baguette. Not a version of it, not a descendant — the actual silhouette from 1997, in fabrics and hardware configurations that Silvia Venturini Fendi designed before most of the people buying them were born. The bags...
Dolce & Gabbana's archive comes back
Dolce & Gabbana has started reissuing pieces from its Spring/Summer 1992, 1996, and 1999 collections—not as tribute capsules or anniversary stunts, but as part of the mainline offer. Corset tops in black stretch poplin. Lacetrimmed slip dre...
## The Return of the Bar Jacket
The Return of the Bar Jacket Dior is reissuing the Bar jacket from the 1947 New Look collection. Not an interpretation. The jacket itself: nipped waist, rounded shoulder, peplum that sits just below the hipbone. It arrives in February as...
Chanel is reissuing pieces from its archive — not as capsule nostalgia, but as part of the mainline
Chanel is reissuing pieces from its archive — not as capsule nostalgia, but as part of the mainline. The quilted flap bag from 1955. The boucle jacket from 1954, cut close to the body with patch pockets and no lapel. The twotone slingback f...
## The Reissues Celine Won't Call Reissues
The Reissues Celine Won't Call Reissues Celine has begun pulling pieces from the Philo years back into production. Not as a capsule. Not as an anniversary drop. Just quiet reentries into the permanent line, appearing first in the Brussels...
Burberry is reissuing garments from its archive, not as capsules or collaborations but as permanent stock
Burberry is reissuing garments from its archive, not as capsules or collaborations but as permanent stock. The pieces come from the 1990s and early 2000s, when the house was still making technical outerwear in Yorkshire and before it became...
## Brunello Cucinelli Is Reissuing Its Archive — And Choosing Very Carefully
Brunello Cucinelli Is Reissuing Its Archive — And Choosing Very Carefully Brunello Cucinelli has started reissuing pieces from its archive, and the selection tells you everything about what the house thinks will last. Not the cashmere hoo...
Bottega Veneta is pulling styles from its 2004–2009 archive and putting them back into production
Bottega Veneta is pulling styles from its 2004–2009 archive and putting them back into production. Not as capsules, not as collaborations — as mainline stock. The Knot clutch returns this spring. So does the Cabat in its original openweave...
Balenciaga is reissuing pieces from its archive
Balenciaga is reissuing pieces from its archive. Not facsimiles. Not inspiredby. Actual garments: the motorcycle jacket from Nicolas Ghesquière's autumn 2001 collection, the City bag in its original 2001 proportions, the knife boots from sp...
## The Archive Returns
The Archive Returns Alexander McQueen is reissuing pieces from its own history. Not in the diffuse, inspirationboard sense — actual garments, remade from the original patterns, sold under the house's main line. Spring 2025 brought back th...
Acne Studios is reissuing pieces from its own archive
Acne Studios is reissuing pieces from its own archive. Not as capsule nostalgia—full seasonal runs, available through the studio's webshop and select stockists. The first drop landed in February: the 1996 raw denim jean, the 2006 Velocite s...
ZUZWA Against the Field
The midrise tailored trouser is back, and it is not forgiving. Waistbands sit two centimetres below the navel. Legs taper without clinging. The slouch that dominated menswear from 2021 through last spring—pleats pooling at the ankle, drawst...
Versace is putting a waist back in evening dressing
Versace is putting a waist back in evening dressing. Not the corset cinch that's been cycling through red carpets since 2019, and not the dropped hip of the biascut slip. A waist that sits where a waist sits — at the natural break between r...
Valentino is pushing a clean shoulder line and a fitted bodice against a field that still wants volume
Valentino is pushing a clean shoulder line and a fitted bodice against a field that still wants volume. The house showed tailored jackets with defined armholes and darts at the waist for Autumn/Winter 2024, while Chloé and Giambattista Vall...
## The Return of the Covered Shoulder
The Return of the Covered Shoulder Tom Ford showed tailoring with a natural shoulder line for Autumn/Winter 2024. Not dropped, not built up, not extended. The jacket sits where the arm meets the torso, and the sleeve head follows the bone...
## The Trouser Is High Again, and Saint Laurent Made It Inevitable
The Trouser Is High Again, and Saint Laurent Made It Inevitable The midrise tailored trouser is back, sitting two inches above the hip bone instead of pooling at the pelvis. It showed up in numbers at Saint Laurent's spring 2025 show in P...
Prada against the field
Prada's autumn proposition arrives in the form of a midcalf Aline skirt—not circle, not pencil—paired with a boxy jacket cropped at the natural waist. The silhouette reads as 1995 by way of 2025, which is to say it borrows the proportions o...
Off-White is showing mid-weight cotton again
OffWhite is showing midweight cotton again. The maison's Spring 2025 collection returned to fabrics that hold a crease—twill, broadcloth, canvas—after three years of jersey, mesh, and technical synthetics that moved like liquid. The shift i...
The micro-mini is back, but it's not arriving alone
The micromini is back, but it's not arriving alone. It's bringing a whole silhouette with it: abbreviated hemlines paired with knee socks or tall boots, worn with boxy jackets that hit at the hip, often in wool or technical fabrics that hol...
## The Artisanal Heel Is Back, and Margiela Wrote the Brief
The Artisanal Heel Is Back, and Margiela Wrote the Brief Tabi is no longer a signature. It's a category. Walk the floor at any midtier department store and you'll see splittoe ankle boots from labels that six months ago wouldn't have tou...
## The Shoulder Returns
The Shoulder Returns Louis Vuitton brought back the shoulder. Not the padded exaggeration of the eighties, but the defined line that sits where the arm meets the body and holds its place without apology. The spring 2025 collection showed...
## The Return of the Gathered Sleeve
The Return of the Gathered Sleeve The sleeve is doing something again. Not the exaggerated puff that dominated 2019, not the dropped shoulder that refused to leave for the last four years. This is gathered volume at the bicep or forearm,...