Hello, Open Thread. It’s New York Fashion Week. I know it’s hard to focus on clothes in the wake of an event like Charlie Kirk’s assassination. But it is worth remembering that what we put on every morning is part of what helps get us through the day. And sometimes a fashion show can be a moment of escape and a gesture of belief in the future, at a time when the world seems frighteningly grim. Fashion isn’t just about frivolity. It is also about resilience and self-determination, qualities that matter right about now. To that point, things officially started yesterday, though they really started the day before, with the semi-debut collection of Rachel Scott at Proenza Schouler. Ms. Scott, who was named creative director of Proenza only last week, has actually been working as consultant for the label since the beginning of the year. This collection, which was shown as a presentation rather than on an official runway, was a joint effort between her and the team created by the brand’s former designers, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Still, the collection more than suggested she was the right woman for the job. I particularly liked a brown stretch-jersey dress draped on the bias over some very slick bell-bottom pants in a woodcut print, and the laser-cut coated cotton used in a strapless dress and skirt that looked as if it had been made from flower petals — or teeth marks. That Ms. Scott seems interested in confronting such tension bodes well for what comes next. The fashion week action wasn’t limited to the official schedule, though. Around the same time the Ralph Lauren show was taking place, New York County’s Surrogate’s Court hosted “Style Across the Aisle,” a fashion show featuring 30 New York politicians coming together to model the work of local designers. Imagine names like former Representative Carolyn Maloney in work by Batsheva Hay and Mel Maxi (Dapper Dan’s nephew), and you’ll get the idea. The standout model of the evening had to be Andrew Cuomo. Yup, the former governor and current mayoral candidate was strutting his stuff in a blue suit by Bond & Bari. My colleague Sandra Garcia was there to record the moment. As it happens, he was the only one of the three people running for office who took the organizers up on their offer to pose. (Apparently Curtis Sliwa, also a candidate for mayor, showed up, but he didn’t walk the runway.) It’s strategy, baby. Whether it’s effective strategy or not is a different question. Further afield, Zero Waste Daniel, my favorite upcycler, has teamed up with Hellmann’s Mayonnaise for a collaboration. Yes, you read that right. Imagine a limited-edition collection of mayo-toned deadstock pieces (a worker jacket, cap and wide-leg pants) made from cotton denim in New York’s garment district that will be sold on a dedicated website. Kayvon Thibodeaux of the New York Giants wore the whole shebang during his first tunnel walk of the season, and I’ve got to say he looked good. This reminds me of the times when Telfar collaborated with White Castle, and Crocs with McDonald’s. And you know what three examples of anything equals: trend. After film and fashion and sports and fashion, food and fashion may be the next big frontier. Think about that. Then get a comprehensive view of all the designer changes happening in fashion this season and what they could mean for your wardrobe; find out how a Met Gala look ended up on the RealReal; and plunge into the story the entire front row can’t stop talking about: the ugly split between the Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet and her partner of 14 years, Erik Torstensson. And if you are looking for something to read, I recommend “The Geek of Chic,” a new memoir from the Yoox founder Federico Marchetti, one of the pioneers of etail, with an intro from Giorgio Armani. It’s like two historic souvenirs in one. Have a good weekend.
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Your Style Questions, AnsweredEvery week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
These days, between the perma 5 o’clock shadow, the lonely soul patch under a man’s lower lip and general scruff, it seems as if the cleanshaven man no longer exists. When did male facial hair become de rigueur? — Mary, ChicagoBeards, mustaches and the like, as with most hair trends, go in cycles, and this one, while increasingly ubiquitous, is nothing new. Over much of the last 50 years, being cleanshaven was the dominant style in facial hair — JD Vance was the first major party nominee on a presidential ticket with facial hair in 75 years — but it is far from being a historical norm. According to a popular beard blog, there have been four great beard movements in history: in the second century, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the late 19th century. We are currently in the fifth. Just think of some of the many famous bearded figures scattered throughout the above eras. Henry VIII was a committed beard man, as was Shakespeare (and Moses, for that matter). The 17th-century painter Anthony van Dyck even had a style named after him. Then there were Abraham Lincoln, Karl Marx and Charles Darwin — to name a few. Traditionally, beards have signified virility, though in the 1960s and ‘70s — the last Great Beard Renaissance — they came to symbolize rebellion, literal and cultural, against the establishment. (See the movie “Hair,” as well as Fidel Castro.) The man in the gray flannel suit was, after all, almost always a man who shaved every morning. Then, with the rise of Wall Street, the power pendulum swung the other way as the prevailing corporate ethos held that men with beards looked as if they had something to hide, and facial hair became the provenance of mountain men, professors and grandpas. Now it is moving once again. You know we are in an Age of the Beard when the leading candidate for New York mayor has both a beard and a mustache, and the New York Yankees change their corporate policies to allow facial hair (albeit of the “well-groomed” variety, whatever that means). Disney, which had prohibited facial hair on theme park workers since the 1950s, led the way in 2012. Back then, condoning some kind of beard was, like most changes in dress codes, a reflection of a shift in the balance of power to allow individual identity to be more of an expression and a way to signal nonwork tastes. Now, however, the new facial hair renaissance seems intrinsically connected to the current discourse around masculinity and the manosphere. There is little, after all, more redolent of manliness than facial hair, the visual expression of testosterone. It’s no accident that JD Vance is not the only member of Team Trump to have a beard. So do Donald Trump Jr., Commerce Secretary (and tariff warrior) Howard Lutnick and Senator Ted Cruz. In other words, beards are once again mainstream, which suggests their meaning is changing once again. Or even dissipating. As my colleague Jacob Gallagher, whose own look includes a perpetual 5 o’clock shadow, said, the scruffy look “loses that masculine oomph when every guy seems to be doing the same thing.” Male facial hair, he noted, has become a cliché. Once that happens, he said, “it’s inevitable that people will start moving in the other direction.”
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