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CR FASHION BOOK ISSUE 18 SPRING/SUMMER 2021 AIR CR
President and Chief Executive Officer: VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD Founder and Creative Director: CARINE ROITFELD Special Guest Editor: HONEY DIJON Creative and Editorial Consultant: ÉDOUARD RISSELET Managing Director: MEGAN WRAY SCHERTLER Editorial Director: NATALIE SHUKUR Art Director: OLIVER SHAW Graphic Design: CATALOGUE Executive Producer: SASHA BAR-TUR Casting Director: PIERGIORGIO DEL MORO, GIULIA MASSULLO Talent Director: CREATIVE CASTING AGENCY Market and Accessories Co-Director: MARIE CHEIAKH Market and Accessories Co-Director: JULIAN ANTETOMASO Illustrator: JAMES LACEY Copy and Research Editor: EMILY JENSEN Production Coordinator: ERIC GUBNITSKY Digital Editor: VIENNA VERNOSE Digital Assistant: CHRISTOPHER AKINTONDE Executive Assistant to the President and CEO: ANNA WELLS CROWLEY Executive Assistant and Paris Office Manager: ELISA THERRIAUD Interns: EMAN ALAMI, ALYSSA DAVIS, ANA ESCALANTE, REBECCA JOHNSON, CAROLINE KLOSTER, POLINA KUZNETSOVA, MAYA LAYNE, AYESHA LE BRETON, MICHELLE LEE, MAVERICK LI, WILLOW MALSCH, CATHARINE MALZAHN, JACQUELINE NAVAS, OMOKANYISOLA ODUSANYA, KENNEDY ROESE, KENNEDY SMITH, MATTHEW VELASCO Special Thanks: BENEDICTE BATAILLE, CLEMENT CAMARET, DOLLY COHEN, SAM HOLT, YOUSSEF MARQUIS, JIM SCHACHMES, JEFFREY SCHNABOLK, EMILIE URBANSKY, ALEXANDER WERZ Publisher: FABIO MONTOBBIO, ROCK MEDIA Advertising Manager: PAMELA SIRONI, ROCK MEDIA International Editions Publisher: JEANNETTE CHANG Managing Partner: ODIS MANAGEMENT Press and Communications: NIKE COMMUNICATIONS Pre-Press: THE LOGICAL CHOICE GROUP rwills@thelogicalchoicegroup.com Print Production: THE LOGICAL CHOICE GROUP gscott@thelogicalchoicegroup.com Distribution: THE LOGICAL CHOICE GROUP along@thelogicalchoicegroup.com Controlled Circulation: THE LOGICAL CHOICE GROUP jmccarthy@thelogicalchoicegroup.com
“CR Fashion Book” is used by CR Fashion Book LTD. under license from its owner. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Printed in the UK. CR Fashion Book (BIPAD 29799) is published biannually by CR Fashion Book LTD. Postmaster: Send address changes to ICN, CR Fashion Book, 2900 Veterans Highway, Bristol, PA 19007. For subscriptions, address changes, and adjustments, please contact ICN, CR Fashion Book, 2900 Veterans Highway, Bristol, PA 19007. Tel: +1 215 788 7112. Email: crfashion@icnfull.com. For press inquiries, please contact Full Picture. Tel: +1 212 627 0001.
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EDITOR’S LETTER Honey Dijon
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UNDER SURVEILLANCE Somebody’s always watching at the airport
TSA APPROVED Show it off at security check
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DOES TRAVEL HAVE A FUTURE? Fear of flying Kyle Chayka
HONEY DIJON IN CONVERSATION WITH KIM JONES We’re not gonna be shady, just fierce! Natalie Shukur
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GUILTY PLEASURES Indulge in fine jewels and decadent treats at 30,000 feet
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BUCKLE UP Nine designers create their fantasy cabin crew uniform for AIR CR
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FASHIONING THE AIRLINE UNIFORM The history of runway couture Pierre A. M’Pele
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IN-BETWEEN FLIGHTS Barbie Ferreira as an off-duty air hostess
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BARBIE FERREIRA In real time Vienna Vernose
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A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS Souvenirs and sheet masks are essential carry on
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Welcome aboard AIR CR. Fasten your seatbelt as we celebrate the joys of travel! Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was introduced to the world of fashion by my uncle Bob, who was a tailor. My dad would take me with him for his fittings for custom-made outfits and I would read all the fashion magazines he had laying around. I obsessively studied the images of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, the illustrations of Antonio Lopez and Tony Viramontes, and the designs of Azzedine Alaïa and Willi Smith. My obsession with magazines had been unleashed. I discovered the runways of New York, Paris, London, and Milan, and one day dreamed of going to all of these fashion capitals to experience the excitement firsthand. I collected everything. Luckily, my mom worked for an airline and our first family trip abroad was to Rome. This was very exceptional for a middleclass Black family, and I have been bitten by the travel bug ever since. I have my parents to thank for that. Flying then was a formal affair and we would actually go shopping for our outfits just for the plane. For me, travel and fashion have always gone hand in hand, and dressing for comfort as well as for style has always been just as exciting as the flight itself. As an international DJ, my childhood experiences have served me well, because many times I have had to jump straight off the plane and
right into the DJ booth, so what I wear has to have as much impact as possible. Social media has also changed the way we dress for flying. Storytelling from our homes to the mile high club and onto our final destination has given us all a chance to have fun with fashion while traveling. I am so honored to be the captain and guest editor of this issue of CR. I have been a fan of Carine’s work ever since I saw her editorial in French Glamour with Mario Testino and Nadja Auermann. I have collected every issue of Vogue Paris under her tenure and her eye continues to inspire me. It’s been a joy to sit in on weekly Zoom meetings with the editorial team and curate fashion shoots and layouts with all the amazing artists, models, and photographers that celebrate beauty and style while traveling. Even though COVID-19 has put most travel on hold for the moment, we can still dream and fly in our imagination and look forward to how fun and how glamorous it will be to travel again. Until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Boarding is complete!
—HONEY DIJON, SPECIAL GUEST EDITOR
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Honey wears Bra MARQUET K. LEE STUDIO Earrings GIVENCHY
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UNDER SURVEILLANCE
From paparazzi to CCTV, somebody’s always watching at the airport. What better excuse to roll out your best look. CRFB18_Side_B_Master_V1_converted 35
Photography THOMAS LOHR Fashion CARINE ROITFELD 15/02/2021 21:31
Leonce wears Sweater (and sweater in the bag), poncho, jeans and bag CELINE Jacket CELINE HOMME BY HEDI SLIMANE
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Britt wears Top, short and coat MIU MIU Skirt and scarf AREA Stockings FALKE Shoes and bag PRADA Suitcase RIMOWA
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Kennah and Anania wears Sweater, pant and jumpsuit BALMAIN Suitcase RIMOWA
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Kennah: dress, tights, shoes, earrings and bag BALENCIAGA Anania: coat, earrings and sunglasses BALENCIAGA Suitcase RIMOWA
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Hair OLIVIER SCHAWALDER Makeup AURORE GIBRIEN Nails CAM TRAN Production CLEMENT CAMARET Location MUSEÉ DE L’AIR ET DE L’ESPACE Models : MAO XIAOXING, BRITT OOSTEN, KENNAH LAU, ANANIA ORGEAS, LEONCE GOUTET, DUSTIN MUCHUVITZ, NAOMIE BROWN AND YLANG MESSENGUIRAL
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DOES TRAVEL HAVE A FUTURE? For many decades now, the culture industries have relied on travel to bring an air of glamour to any proceeding. Whether a runway show, art biennial, or music festival, the very fact of getting on a plane and landing somewhere else made any event more serious: anyone who was there was worth importing. Travel brought new voices to new places; you could have a little bit of New York City in Bali, or vice versa. Plus there were the hotels to think about—boosting local business and giving the visiting dignitaries a vacation. Travel was a fundamental part of culture, the thing that enabled exchange, even though everyone was already talking on the internet all the time. We followed each other on Instagram but wanted to hang out in person. That’s how creativity happened, through the randomness of real-life interaction, in a bar, at a party, hand-to-hand. It’s a glamour captured by William Eggleston’s famous 1978 photograph,
Untitled (cocktail on a plane), of a sparkling drink on the seat back tray of an airplane. Blue skies dotted with clouds are out the window, the sun is casting a long shadow through the glass, and a slim hand stirs the drink with a straw. The possibilities seem both endless and elegant: who can tell where the plane will land? Here’s how things used to work: In 2016, I was invited to a conference in Berlin. The hosts paid for my flight from New York City, five nights in a hotel, and any incidental expenses along the way. In exchange, I gave a brief presentation on my writing as a critic and hung out at the conference’s parties, which other people bought tickets to. Both sides were more than happy with the arrangement. I stayed at the Michelberger Hotel near Kreuzberg, a spot known as a bunk for DJs playing sets at Berghain. The hotel had a cafe open twenty-four hours, a restaurant serving Black Forest specialties, and its own signature brand of coconut water: a
perfect mix of local and international, for the local and international scene it sought to cultivate. At the end of the week I left the city like slipping out of one of the hotel’s bathrobes; one easy plane ride and I was back in my usual New York routine. In 2021, we have a much different perspective. We knew flying was bad for the environment, with each flight costing its own chunk of melted Arctic ice, but in the COVID-19 pandemic, its consequences are even more blatant. Travel was part of what caused the pandemic in the first place, with conferences blamed as superspreading events. Mobility was the first thing to stop: in China, Hubei province sealed itself off from the world and soon other countries followed suit. Airports emptied and then subways did, too. Quarantine brought an eerie feeling of stillness everywhere at once. Travel stopped, particularly the indulgence of travel for cultural events. We have an uneasy relationship with travel right now. Essential travel is still
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As the world has grounded to a halt, so too has the way we move through it. KYLE CHAYKA ponders our newfound uneasy relationship with travel, the environmental ramifications of a jetset world, and whether virtual escapism will ever replace the real thing.
happening, whether to help family, carry out job responsibilities, or go on the odd vacation. But the pandemic has changed the future of travel, it seems permanently. While we don’t have the creative benefits of in-person conversation and open-bar collisions, the lack of travel has opened up new possibilities both for the planet and for our culture. Studies over the course of 2020 have shown that the lack of travel during the pandemic has actually helped the environment to bounce back and recover from some of the damage done in previous decades—such a radical shift meant an immediate drop in greenhouse gas emissions, oil consumption, and carbon footprints. Water quality improved, wildlife returned to less occupied habitats, urban air was cleaner, and noise pollution decreased. While some memes that showed utopian scenes like dolphins returning to canals in Venice were too good to be true, the pandemic did have a real effect, such as decreasing the number of cars on the road. Human mobility is a big part of why climate change happens in the first place; stopping movement could help fix it. But we do need something to take its place, to help make culture happen. During the pandemic, Zoom has come to the rescue, providing a facsimile social life to the point that we’re all sick of it. Now, Zoom is also the way we consume the culture that we used to attend out in the physical world, presenting bookstore talks with authors, live-streamed movie screenings, interactive fashion shows like Balenciaga’s video game, and even life-drawing sessions. We travel through our screens, hosting and attending conversations that we perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise if we were stuck by geography. In some ways this could be freeing: I went to book launches that were theoretically taking place in New York City though I stayed in my apartment in Washington, DC. The internet is a smorgasbord of content because everyone still wants to connect and communicate in the absence of physical meeting or movement. And culture is what happens when people connect. Though I couldn’t go anywhere, I had virtual studio visits, participated in panels, and conducted discussion groups over FaceTime. Travel means something different, I found, when you can only do it online. It
meant finding people in places different than my home: I got on TikTok and discovered that it was a great way of traveling without having to go anywhere. The app’s minute-long videos provide perfect containers for any kind of content, but my favorite are daily routines and apartment tours, especially the ones that take place in an unfamiliar city or country: clips of getting coffee in Berlin, sitting on the beach in Bali, or walking a dog in the Arctic Circle archipelago of Svalbard. TikTok accounts serve up daily video diaries from users all over the world, offering glimpses that enliven our own surroundings. The streaming platform Twitch has grown as a place for video game live streamers—people who put themselves on camera while playing video games, narrating the action and interacting with a digital chatroom of viewers. It’s not mainstream quite yet, but I found watching a friend play hours of the Tokyo-set video game Yakuza transporting, both because of the scenery of the game and because it was a form of ambient socializing, the kind of experience that you only have being in a different place passively, immersed in it. Can travel be virtual? It’s a dream as old as virtual-reality goggles, to suddenly feel like you’re in another place, to be able to gaze out at distant mountains or transport yourself to a tropical island. But I think we’ve found that virtual travel is best when it’s contained to worlds that are also digital. During the pandemic, a new edition of the video game Animal Crossing became particularly popular. The game is a “life simulation” in which players create their own tiny island communities populated with cutesy animal villagers; once developed, you can visit other people’s islands and give them tours of your own, trading items or sending letters. My own chosen form of virtual travel was the video game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. During the spring, when pandemic fears made any kind of outdoor excursions difficult, its digital landscape was the widest view of nature I had. In the game, players can traverse a world that feels huge, with environments that react to your actions: rocks crumble, rain makes paths slick, snow drifts. It provided a sense of travel without any of the danger—the landscape’s breadth and interactivity lent my virtual journeys some of the surprise
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of actual travel. I never knew quite what would happen. When the pandemic recedes, we’ll be faced with the question of how to travel going forward. Some changes are already happening: The persistence of remote work means that we can travel for longer periods at a stretch or even continuously, without a home base. Artists, curators, and designers have already been accustomed to creative residencies and working from anywhere, but that lifestyle is expanding. It’s easier than ever to spend a month in Mexico or Thailand as long as you have your laptop. This lifestyle of so-called digital nomadism—working remotely while traveling—had already been growing, with new hotels and communities popping up to serve the hypermobile demographic. But the pandemic actually normalizes it. Without the demands of office life, why travel for less than a few weeks at a time? This new mode of travel is bringing people to different destinations—less dense cities, more rural areas. Airbnb has seen a boom in requests for cabins and accommodations for entire families. Pieter Levels, a digital nomad tastemaker and entrepreneur who founded the website Nomad List, told me that people begin to develop tastes for living in particular areas and build communities that way, creating new relationships that might take the place of those originally centered on the office. “You get favorite places you keep going back to and match with other people who have the same personality as you,” Levels said. Yet virtual communication is still very important, because nomads tend to keep moving, seeking new inspiration or just a change of scenery. It’s a lesson the pandemic has taught us, too: don’t take your community for granted, because it could change. “It’s as if the human spirit is making it work; it has to work because otherwise we’ll lose these relationships,” Levels said. It seems unlikely that we’ll return to the previous decades’ version of travel, undertaken on a whim, as a kind of casual pleasure. And perhaps it’s better that way, given the long-term threat of climate change. Travel should be a commitment, not just a mode of escape for a few days. Otherwise, we now know that quite a lot of our cultural conversations can happen through virtual space instead of physical.
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Photography DEVYN GALINDO Stylist CHRIS HORAN
Jacket and tights MUGLER Corset MIAOU Shoes AMINA MUADDI Hat PIERS ATKINSON Necklace and rings BULGARI Suitcase and bag RIMOWA
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Dress VERSACE Shoes ROGER VIVIER Earrings, bracelet and rings TIFFANY & CO.
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Clothing VERSACE Scarf stylist’s own Earrings and watch CARTIER
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Top and skirt OTTOLINGER Necklaces DARIUS
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Hair ROB TALLY Makeup KALI KENNEDY Nails NATALIE MINERVA Set Design EVAN JOURDAN Production THE QUADRI GROUP
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BARBIE FERREIRA
The Euphoria and Unpregnant star found fame in the digital sphere. But she’s made her mark by staying true to life. Barbie Ferreira closed out the last decade with a bang. In the summer of 2018, the then-twenty-one-year-old actress and model was cast in her breakout role as dominatrix cam girl Kat Hernandez on HBO’s hit series Euphoria. Since its release in 2019, the show has become a cultural phenomenon. Gossip Girl on steroids, if you will. As the first teen drama series HBO has ever made, the sex-and-drugfueled bacchanal became an overnight smash hit, drawing 577,000 viewers for its initial showing, accelerating to more than 2.3 million viewers in its first few weeks. “It’s not like there weren’t these roles for people, it just wasn’t fleshed out,” Ferreira says of the show’s success. “They weren’t meaningful roles. They could easily be like, ‘Kat is the fat best friend who is submissive to all her skinny gorgeous friends.’ It’s fleshing out these characters and not playing into such a literal stereotype . . . exploring the psyche and giving them the correct depth, as you would a thin, white, cis, straight male character.” It’s safe to say, we fell a little bit in love with the unapologetic Kat, whose story was loosely based on Ferreira’s own growing pains as a teen. “No, I didn’t cam at seventeen years old,” she says. “But I did have this revelation, this sexual awakening, like: Oh, I can be hot. I’m not this dowdy, ugly person. I’m not sentencing myself to a life like that. So, my past and
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being made fun of by people . . . a lot of small things that were really personal went in [to that role]. I think that’s what makes the show so great.” For someone named Barbie, Ferreira is as real as they come. She answers our Zoom call wearing a topknot bun and rounded glasses, clutching a Virginia Tobacco-podded Juul. “So, I got a cat during the pandemic,” she says, tilting the camera to show her pet calmly nestled between her crossed legs. “She was in a bush outside an elementary school and my friend texted me and said: ‘Can you foster a kitten?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” With her welcoming, ear-to-ear smile and raspy giggle, Ferreira instantly makes you feel like you’ve known her forever, one of the many reasons she’s enchanted a generation. The Queens-born actress is part of a new era in Hollywood, one that has swapped refinement for realism and captured the spirit of today’s youth who desire to see faces and stories that resonate with them on the big screen. Ferreira’s mere presence in Hollywood is the product of a move to dismantle societal pressure to look a certain way in order to have a certain job, but this isn’t a narrative narrowly focused on body positivity. Her self-made success story is of the zeitgeist; one that doesn’t start with agents and scripts and auditions, but on the internet. Like many children of the digital age, Ferreira found solace in the online
world. “I found my voice through it and I felt accepted by a community,” she says. “I wasn’t very popular at school. Shocker! I was a theater gay! So no one really liked me. Growing up on the internet was vital for me; I don’t think I would’ve made it here without it. I wouldn’t have had the confidence.” At age 12, Ferreira entertained an audience of around 20 who would watch her pierce herself on the live-streaming service, Stickam. She went on to garner a massive following in her teens, chalking up reblogs and likes on Tumblr and Instagram via her pouty selfies under the username barbienox. “I’ve always wanted to be an actress, but I was just like, ‘No way, me? I don’t know anyone in the industry.’ My mom is a private chef, my grandma cleans houses, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a modest job, and [being an actress] is a very grand job. I think the internet really gave me a support system and I got confidence and was like, ‘Oh, I can do this. I can pivot this to do whatever I want.’” Ferreira began modeling professionally at sixteen after sending photos of herself to an American Apparel casting call. “When I started, I was a plussize model and I felt like that was my lane and that was something I was expected to talk about and expected to embrace,” she says. She quickly became the poster child for body positivity, booking campaigns with mass fashion brands, hosting her own
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IN REAL TIME
Words VIENNA VERNOSE award-winning Vice series on presentday etiquette called How to Behave, and landing herself a spot on Time magazine’s “30 Most Influential Teens of 2016” list. “I still have a lot of thoughts on body politics, but as you get older and you’re in this kind of body-positive world, you start to realize that it’s not. These companies are not speaking from truth, they’re speaking from a marketing standpoint,” she says. “The more we normalize it and don’t have to put these words and labels on people, the more the world can change and find actual equality.” This past year has been one of growth for Ferreira. She purchased and renovated her first home in Los Angeles, where she goes on daily hikes with her girlfriend Elle and occasionally plays Animal Crossing for fifteen hours straight. And she scored her first leading film role in HBO Max’s Unpregnant, in which she plays Bailey Butler, the angsty high school misfit who supports her holier-than-thou former friend Veronica Clarke (Haley Lu Richardson) in handling an unplanned pregnancy. The Thelma & Louise-style road trip film is as lighthearted as it is raw and emotional, following the estranged besties as they set out on a cross-country journey of a lifetime to find an abortion clinic, learning a few lessons along the way. It’s the kind of movie you wish you could’ve seen when you were growing up, or maybe
even been shown in school instead of those uncomfortable informational sex-ed videos. “It’s the feel-good movie formula that’s kind of been taken through a loop,” says Ferreira. Indeed, Unpregnant puts a modernized spin on the teen film genre, ditching polished plots and characters for storylines extracted from real life situations. “If I’m watching something and everyone is extremely boring and it’s something I’ve seen before, it just doesn’t catch my eye, it’s not memorable,” she says. “It’s not even about forcibly diversifying something; it’s not about creating these PSAs and these stereotypes—I just think people don’t like that anymore. I don’t like that anymore. If you gather a bunch of ten girls, they’re going to look different. They’re not all going to look like supermodels.” Recently, Ferreira and Euphoria’s writer and producer Sam Levinson had a renewed conversation about the highlyanticipated release of the show’s second season, which has been put on hold for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19. “If you thought season one was going for it, we’re going to really go for it in season two,” teases Ferreira. “I think season two is going to be even more rambunctious and in-depth, more fantastical and trippy—all that good stuff.” The new season hints at expanding on the struggles of the East Highland High
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School students in their truest and most unbound form. “In the beginning, I was like, I think it’s so good that it’s going to become a cultural classic, but people aren’t going to get it until the future, because they might be scared off by it and how intense it can be,” she says. “But people got it!” While eighteen-to-thirty-fouryear-olds account for two-thirds of the show’s viewership, HBO’s push toward a more realistic and informative show for young people has also resonated with an older generation. “I didn’t think the average person could handle seeing that, but everyone has angst at all ages. And that’s what I really learned from Euphoria,” says Ferreira. “There are parents who are obsessed with it. I was at the airport and there was this mom who was like, ‘I watched your show, you scared the shit out of me. I love it!’” Yes, some parts of Euphoria do in fact scare the shit out of us, but for all the right reasons. Real life is more often than not uncomfortable, no fluid story arcs here. It’s the antithesis of Hollywood, with Ferreira and her peers highlighting a new and important narrative in the media we consume. “People want things that are interesting, and that’s what I look for in projects,” she says. “It has nothing to do, necessarily, with the attention of making something that is powerful. It’s more about making something that’s real.”
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FROM LEFT: Sscopeta wears Overalls ISSEY MIYAKE Tank RANDOM IDENTITIES Binder (underneath) Sscopeta’s own Sunglasses GENTLE MONSTER Chiderah wears Tank GIVENCHY Bra FIGURE S Pants and belt GMBH Boots RANDOM IDENTITIES Sunglasses GENTLE MONSTER Slim wears Top ISSEY MIYAKE Pants PULL&BEAR Shoes stylist’s own Jonathan wears Top HUGO Pants and boots RANDOM IDENTITIES Sunglasses GENTLE MONSTER Belt stylist’s own
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FROM LEFT: Jonathan wears Jacket, tank, pants, boots and necklace RANDOM IDENTITIES Shirt GMBH Earrings his own Rings GIVENCHY Chiderah wears Vest FENDI Top GMBH Pants and boots RANDOM IDENTITIES
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FROM LEFT: Jonathan wears Jumpsuit and mask TAKAHIROMIYASHITA THE SOLOIST Tights stylist’s own Boots RANDOM IDENTITIES Suitcase RIMOWA Sscopeta Wears Dress TAKAHIROMIYASHITA THE SOLOIST Top (underneath) BOSS Tights stylist’s own Boots RANDOM IDENTITIES
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FROM LEFT: Jonathan wears Top MAGLIANO Shorts LOUIS VUITTON Pants GIVENCHY Chiderah wears Clothing VALENTINO Sscopeta wears Clothing LOUIS VUITTON
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FROM TOP: Bag LONGCHAMP Shoes GIVENCHY Phone case RIMOWA Belt RANDOM IDENTITIES Shoes and rings GIVENCHY Necklace RANDOM IDENTITIES Sunglasses GENTLE MONSTER Bag BOTTEGA VENETA Suitcase RIMOWA
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Bag BOTTEGA VENETA
Hair DUSHAN PETROVICH Makeup KENNY CAMBELL Production JANNIS BIRSNER
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HONEY DIJON in conversation with KIM JONES Honey Dijon grew up on the South Side of Chicago and came of age in the clubs that birthed house music, which, she points out, has its true origins in queer Black culture. Mentored by seminal Chicago house DJ Derrick Carter and, later, Danny Tenaglia in New York—synthesizing influences along the way from Grace Jones and Sade to John Waters and Detroit techno—she developed the signature sound and striking visual presence that has shaped her into an internationally sought-after performer and producer. Splitting her time (pre-pandemic) between New York and Berlin, Honey could be found jetting across the globe on a weekly basis to play the world’s best venues, including Berghain in Berlin, Output in NYC, Space in Ibiza, and Smartbar in Chicago, as well as festivals and fashion parties from Paris to Tokyo. Honey, whose next album Black Girl Magic drops later this year, has also remixed tracks for artists including Jessie Ware and Lady Gaga, and has a clothing line in partnership with Comme des Garçons, Honey Fucking Dijon, now in its third season. She is a furious creator, likening herself to Fran Lebowitz in the sentiment that work is her vacation. It was through fashion, and a mutual appreciation for Paris Is Burning, that she befriended designer Kim Jones, whose runway soundtracks she has worked on from his tenure at Louis Vuitton menswear to his current position as artistic director of Dior Men, and now at Fendi, where he was recently appointed artistic director of the women’s collection, debuting with the Spring 2021 couture collection in January this year. Natalie Shukur got the longtime friends on the phone—Honey in Berlin and Kim in London—where they talked about their affinity for researching and collecting subcultural ephemera, their disdain for inspiration-zapping internet “like” culture, and their love of small clubs and loud music. Natalie Shukur: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you both meet? Kim Jones: We were in New York in 2003 at a presentation KCD had organized for me. Honey came with Andre Walker, and at the end of the night we ended up rolling around on the floor drunk together! Honey Dijon That’s about right. My introduction to Kim was, I was going to DJ in London with my best friend Derrick Carter. There was a store called The Pineal Eye and we just happened to walk over there, and there was this installation of all these very influential, historic Chicago house records and flyers. Derrick and I looked at each other and were like, “Who the fuck knows about this other than us?!” I wasn’t aware of Kim at that time, and I saw that it was him. After that I started to see his name pop up because I was always buying i-D magazine. Then I was in New York and I kept talking to people about Kim Jones and this exhibit, and one of those people was Andre Walker who told me about your presentation, and that’s how we ended up meeting. KJ: That was actually my 2002 graduate collection from [Central] Saint Martins, and the two people I met through that were you and Michael Stipe, because he bought quite a lot of the collection, and you and Derrick got into it, and then John Galliano bought half the collection as well. And that’s how I started. I never wanted to do my own brand, I just wanted to get a job, and then I sort of did it for eight years. Honey, I think you started doing the music in 2005. HD: Yeah, we have such a long history. It’s so funny because you’re always the same Kim to me, but to see how much you’ve achieved is just so incredible. You were so generous in the beginning of our friendship when I would come to London, you’d let me stay at your house, and we would both geek out because
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I’m such a collector and a research fiend. We’re really like soulmates in that way. We became such good friends through that and then Paris Is Burning [laughs]. KJ: [laughs] Which I first saw on VHS and actually wore the cassette out because I literally watched it on repeat, and I’ve got all the ephemera and extra footage and everything. I got so obsessed with that film. It’s the bravery of those people; it completely opened my mind to a different world. And I remember my first show in Paris I got Willi Ninja to do the casting. HD: I don’t know how other people work, but Kim is so well versed and so knowledgeable about music, from pop culture to underground dance music to soundtracks to punk or new wave. He’s so clear about things and it’s mostly just about how we can interpret his vision for what he’s doing at the moment. KJ: Quite often, the music is the thing I think about at the beginning of the collection, and even if we do have other people involved, Honey still does the mixing, like with Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder or Michael Stipe when he came over to your house. . . HD: Oh my God, I will never forget when Michael Stipe came over to my small studio apartment and we had to put a stocking over a microphone because it was not a proper studio. And he redid the song. When I tell people that, they’re like, “You had Michael Stipe at your house singing on the microphone with pantyhose?” But it just seemed completely normal! Nellee Hooper and Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder—for someone that’s been a part of house music culture since the beginning, working with these pioneers is just like a dream come true. And now just recently having Lady Miss Kier do the vocals for Dior. . . KJ: Exactly. And Honey introduced me to Kenny [Scharf] and to Kier for that, because obviously she’s a New Yorker and Kier is quite elusive now. But Honey tracked her down. HD: And she’s not an easy pickle to track down, either! But it’s been fun—especially working in fashion, which can be really esoteric—to bring all of these things just from a place of being a fan of those people and that music. How I found out about fashion was from house music culture. You know, these Black kids from the South Side of Chicago or these gay kids would read L’Uomo Vogue and look to what was happening in New York and they would come to the club in Ferré and Montana and Versace. That was my form of education before I even bought magazines—seeing Black kids in the clubs. KJ: The Music Box scene and just reading about all the different types of style that people wore was the inspiration for my first graduate collection. HD: I want to do a project that celebrates all the different dress codes that were subcultures from house music because there were so many. And that’s the thing I struggle with today in fashion. I always love fashion from an inspirational instead of an aspirational point because I love it when people use clothing to express themselves and find their people and find their community. KJ: I like to go right to the original source, always. Music is such an important part of the show and I think very carefully about what’s chosen for it. I mean, that Supreme Louis Vuitton show with Chez Damier, the “Can You Feel It” track, which everyone freaks out about still. HD: I think my favorite was your last runway show for Vuitton, “We’re Not Gonna Be Shady, Just Fierce!”, because it felt like the most honest soundtrack I’ve done with you. KJ: It’s just that mixing of everything. I’m obsessed with
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WE’RE NOT GONNA BE SHADY, JUST FIERCE! New York in the ’80s. You look at the downtown scene and how the art, the music, the fashion was just one thing together. What I really admire about that is no one was doing it for the money. Money is a byproduct of success; they were doing it for the love of what they do. HD: It’s so funny you say that. I haven’t been able to buy things from that time within the last five years. I mean, up until five years ago I didn’t have any fucking money that I was able to surround myself with all these artifacts from that time, from Chicago and New York, and London, too. There’s this book that I really want to get but it’s out of print, of all the club kids from the early ’80s, and it’s super hard to find. KJ: The Chicago thing, it’s impossible to find anything. I’ve got some pictures of the Music Box and that’s it. And then the flyers, which I got on eBay years ago, and that was by chance. HD: Well, that’s the problem with a lot of subcultures. A lot of the New York gay scene—Black gay scene—was undocumented, too. I don’t see any pictures from Tracks, very few pictures from Better Days. There’s only a few pictures really even from the Garage. If you think about it, that was from 1977 to 1987, and in that ten years you really don’t see that many pictures, other than the Keith Haring stuff or the Tina Paul stuff. KJ: Yeah, or in The Booth. HD: Or Bill Bernstein from The Booth. I think the difference between now and then is that people were living it and not documenting it, like they are today. Every second is documented today. I think people now are living with the image of the experience instead of living the experience. KJ: I do think that is what’s a bit sad. It’s like the fun goes because people can’t let their hair down because they’re worried about how they look. It seems to have almost stopped inspiration happening, in a way. HD: If the only reason for doing something is to get liked, it’s pretty sad [laughs]. As someone who is around a lot of famous people, I wish I could tell people, some of your mates are more exciting than the people that are famous. I like people that achieve fame through merit or contribution. KJ: Yeah, I just don’t think to see it any other way. I graduated twenty years ago in March, and that feels like a second. And I think about all the things I’ve done in that time and I still can’t believe what I do for a living. But I really appreciate it and I enjoy it. HD: This pandemic has really brought into focus how lucky I am. When people ask what success means for me, I say, one: I survived as a trans person of color, and two: I have been able to live my life as an artist. Money and other stuff are nice perks, but the fact that I can get up every day and choose my day and not have my day chosen for me, and that people respond to what I love and what I want to put out in the world, and to be able to collaborate with people like yourself and Kenny . . . that’s the success, not the stuff that comes after. And now, to be the first trans woman of color to guest edit an international fashion publication, it’s just so great for my community. KJ: That’s a lasting legacy—it’s historic. I can’t wait to see what else you’ve done. HD: I can’t wait to see what else I’m doing too, cause this pandemic needs to stop! [laughs]. NS: Obviously you’re both in industries that really rely on a lot of travel and showmanship and an audience. How has that adjustment been for you both? KJ: For me, we went from doing proper shows to digital. I didn’t
want anyone to get sick from working, that was for sure. You have to really just go with the flow. It must be harder for Honey, because you need that reaction! I get that reaction a few times a year, you’re like that virtually every night! HD: That instant connection to people has been completely wiped away. Not only for DJs but every live artist that relies on touring to live, and not just financially, but for sustenance as an artist. I highly doubt someone’s going to look back at this time and say, “I had the most incredible stream of my life with my friends,” [laughs]. I didn’t stream for a long time because I have a problem with everything being so consumed. And in today’s age, most people don’t want to pay for art, they don’t want to pay for music, they don’t want to pay for movies and so, it was a constant struggle: how do I stay modern as a musician without having it be so consumable and disposable? Because clubs—these are where people meet life partners and have life-changing experiences and make memories that last forever. KJ: I have a lot of information in my house, which has made it fine for me to do research for my collections, because I’m working on about six at the moment. Fendi is actually quite a hard brand to research because there’s not so many books on it. The Italian Vogue archive is amazing but trying to do research in lockdown. . . I’m missing Tokyo; I’m missing going to places that make me think in different ways. HD: It’s really hard as a musician too. When I was in London earlier this year, I went to some jazz clubs. Hearing different music in different environments or going to hear different DJs. . . it’s really difficult because you can’t push music forward or your art forward from a bubble. To feel the bass or to see how other people’s bodies react to different frequencies in music, you just can’t get that in front of a fucking computer looking at YouTube. KJ: And also with loud music, you hear different parts of the music. And I like music loud. HD: I love music loud. I like everything loud [laughs]. Except loud people. NS: Honey, is there a favorite outfit of Kim’s that you’ve worn? HD: I can tell you a favorite thing that Kim has gifted me and there’s only one that exists in the world. When we did the Supreme show, he made me a Louis Vuitton 12-inch record bag. And I remember when Helmut Lang did one for Frankie Knuckles back in the day. So, the fact that I have my own—because I was super envious that Frankie had one from Helmut Lang that he had made at Vuitton— Kim made me one. It has a red handle, and it’s my most treasured thing. NS: Being friends all these years, is their specific stuff you go to each other for? KJ: Anything, anything, anything that has to do with life. HD: Ditto. KJ: It’s weird the lives that we live, and it’s good to have other people who live the same lives that you can talk to. I’m very proud of everything I’ve achieved in my life and I’m proud of everything Honey has achieved in her life. We’ve both overcome a lot of stuff. Honey has dealt with a lot more as I always tell her, and I think that it’s a support network. And that’s really important to me. HD: It’s just pure friendship. And trust. honest, pure friendship, which is priceless. We go to each other for friendship. And comfort. And support. And love.
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Flexible Clash de Cartier necklace in pink gold CARTIER
GUILTY
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Panthère de Cartier double loop watch CARTIER
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Panthère de Cartier bracelet in yellow gold with tsavorite garnets and onyx CARTIER
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Bohmi necklace CARTIER
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Nivalis earrings CARTIER
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Nivalis necklace CARTIER
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From turbulence to emergency landings, flight attendants must be ready for anything. We asked nine designers to create their own inflight fantasy for AIR CR’s cabin crew uniform.
BUCKLE
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UP
Photography BRIGITTE NIEDERMAIR 15/02/2021 21:33
LUDOVIC DE SAINT SERNIN EST 2017, PARIS
THE LOOK: “Our suits are quite relaxed and don’t have too much construction, and they feel good. I think airline uniforms should move to knitwear. A full knit look that can be as elegant as it is comfortable. And of course, the LdSS airline outfit wouldn’t be complete without its signature tank top with a Swarovski crystal logo and matching Swarovski crystal scarf!”
“After everything that we have all been through, I think escapism is so precious and traveling is essential. I love traveling, and I didn’t realize how much I loved it until it was taken away from us.”
Clothing LUDOVIC DE SAINT SERNIN Hat MAISON MICHEL Gloves CAUSSE Bag RIMOWA Tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR
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THEOPHILIO EST 2016, BROOKLYN
“I feel there should be a lot more thought in the design of airline uniforms today. Many uniforms do not represent their country of origin as they should. Representation causes visibility. I feel cultural references should be considered in airline uniforms.”
THE LOOK: “I wanted to share my country’s culture and its imprint on the airline industry, from Air Jamaica to Caribbean Airlines. This was a nostalgic look for me, inspired by my juvenile days in Jamaica and my many airport visits. The khaki brown really resonates with Jamaica’s uniform community, from schooling to law enforcement to the country’s flight attendants.”
Clothing THEOPHILIO Gloves CAUSSE Bag and tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR Bag RIMOWA
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MASHA POPOVA EST 2020, LONDON
THE LOOK: “I didn’t want to make anything overly functional or too rigid; I wanted to create something playful, exciting, and free. Butterflies first came to mind as I reminisced about the freedom of flying and was envious of their freedom in these tough times.”
“Sadly, modern airline uniforms are quite undistinguishable. It wasn’t always like that . . . the late ’60s and ’70s were the best era for the uniforms, especially those by Emilio Pucci for Braniff and by Pierre Cardin [for Olympic Airways]. Flying was a glamorous experience and everything from the uniform to the interior design was taken into account. We need to make flying special again.”
Clothing and shoes MASHA POPOVA Gloves CAUSSE Tights WOLFORD
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SEVALI EST 2019, PARIS
“I have always been attracted to uniforms and garments that people can relate to easily. I have been traveling since I was a kid, and consequently, air travel and airports are one of my earliest sources of fashion inspiration.”
THE LOOK: “We wanted to remain faithful to our sustainable values. Through our collections we have developed a deconstructed aesthetic and our look is fully upcycled. We created a dress made out of vintage flight attendant suits from the ’90s and we sourced two airplane seat belt buckles that became a harness. The interaction between the dress and the harness is a reflection on the ‘fasten your seatbelt’ moment on the plane, which for me is still the most exciting part.”
Clothing SEVALI Gloves CAUSSE Suitcase AIR FRANCE Tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR
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MAISIE WILEN EST 2019, LOS ANGELES
“I actually always joke that I want to be a flight attendant for the uniforms! I love the very traditional retro-ish ones. I assume they’ll get more casual over time, which I guess is good for the employees but a little sad aesthetically.”
THE LOOK: “I was inspired by The Fifth Element and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I went to my archive racks and started making pairings. The latex blazers instantly jumped out at me.”
Clothing MAISIE WILEN Tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR Bag RIMOWA
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CHARLES DE VILMORIN EST 2020, PARIS
THE LOOK: “This project inspired me with a pretty narrative look. On the jacket we printed a psychedelic butterfly, symbol of freedom and lightness. On the skirt, we printed clouds and birds. Flowers start from the shoes and wrap around the leg as if they came out of the earth, so you don’t forget to keep your feet on the ground.”
“I think that this period has made it possible to reconsider the way we work, and people will perhaps travel less regularly and less automatically. We will hopefully regain a certain taste and charm of air travel.”
Clothing CHARLES DE VILMORIN Tights WOLFORD Gloves CAUSSE Shoes BY FAR
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RICHARD QUINN EST 2016, LONDON
“The world has changed so much, it’s interesting to reimagine every code we have at the moment, including travel!”
THE LOOK: “I wanted to make a striking, impactful look with a dark, beautiful aesthetic: full latex to accompany the look with a matching crystal-trimmed hat. It’s a signature puffsleeved silhouette with a light, airy point that reminds me of looking out the airplane window.”
Clothing RICHARD QUINN Shoes BY FAR
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HED MAYNER EST 2015, TEL AVIV
“Growing up, I was inspired by uniforms, military clothing, and workwear, so in a way, it was always in my subconscious. If you truly examine the history of airline uniforms, nothing has drastically changed, and all of them more or less look alike. I would like to see them adopting new silhouettes and shapes.”
THE LOOK: “I wanted to find a different identity for the people who would wear the uniform and differentiate them from the travelers onboard. I aim to blur identity and gender through the clothes, and create a sort of a shell that provides comfort and protection for the body.”
Clothing HED MAYNER Suitcase AIR FRANCE Gloves CAUSSE Tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR
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ANDREA GROSSI EST 2020, FLORENCE
THE LOOK: “It represents a leap into the future, in which human beings choose who they want to be and what they want to become, and go on a journey in search of the best version of themselves.”
Hair YOANN FERNANDEZ Makeup TOM PECHEUX Nails BEATRICE ENI Set Design LILY MARTHE EBENER Production TOBIAS BRAHMST
Clothing ANDREA GROSSI Bag RIMOWA Tights WOLFORD Shoes BY FAR
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“I believe that, like all transport, flying must go through a process of technological development that we reinvent in a sustainable way.”
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FASHIONING THE AIRLINE UNIFORM Flight attendants have served as everything from inspiring war-time heroes to space-age girlfriends of the sky—all at 30,000 feet. It’s no wonder they’ve also played a part in the fashion imagination for couturiers from Cristóbal Balenciaga to Karl Lagerfeld.
Words PIERRE A. M’PELE In the world of aviation, there has long been a fantasy around the female flight attendant: always dressed to impress, hair styled in beautiful chignons, edges laid, and face beat. In other words: snatched. They are the first line of hospitality welcoming passengers onto airplanes, and if the job takes a strain on those who choose to globetrot thousands of feet in the air, appearances keep the ostensibly glamorous profession intact. According to a recent MIT study, 78 percent of flight attendants today are women. But as diversity and inclusion are fostered across large corporations, airline companies need to follow suit by expanding employment opportunities to more equally represent people of all genders and backgrounds. Cebgo Airlines in the Philippines took a step in that direction in 2019 when it became the first airline to enlist two trans women, Jess Labares and Mikee Vitug, in their flight attendant program. Flight attendants are specially trained employees whose role it is to look after passengers in all situations. In the 1930s, each of the 300 stewardesses in the US were in fact registered nurses who could attend to travelers troubled with airsickness. The first female flight attendant, Ellen Church, wished to become a pilot, but was instead convinced to accept a job deemed more fit for women at the time. Indeed, the outfits worn by flight attendants are a broader marker of society’s evolutions. In the early days of commercial flying, they
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wore blazers and culottes on the Condor, the first European airliner to have a stewardess. The look was practical and comfortable even though high heels were part of the dress code. As World War II was coming to an end and the commercial aviation industry took off, uniforms continued to evolve. Airline companies’ executives also quickly understood that the elegance of their female staffers provided added value. In 1944, the Trans World Airlines (TWA), a major airline in the US, bet on this notion by hiring fashion and costume designer Howard Greer to create outfits that would be both functional and glamorous. Greer introduced a satin and rayon blend undergarment called the “blou-slip,” stiff enough to keep the wearer’s pristine ensemble in place. In the 1960s, as the sexual revolution continued to reshape Western society, stewardesses oozed va-va-voom in colorful outfits. Those employed by Texan airline Southwest sported miniskirts, hot pants, tight tops, and go-go boots, giving them celebrity status that resulted in a surge in ticket bookings. Writer Bruce Handy once stated that “stewardesses in the 1960s were to glamour what firefighters and cops have more recently been to heroism.” Airline companies held on tight to a set of excluding criteria such as weight, height, age, leg appearance, and overall beauty, to sustain the fantasy. In fact, they were so objectified that women flight attendants were motivated to form the
Stewardesses for Women’s Rights (SFWR) organization in 1972. For four years, its members challenged sexism within the aviation industry until a lack of funding put its actions to an end. But the voices of these women helped amplify the feminist cause. Women flight attendants stopped being referred to as “sky girls” or “girlfriend of the skies” and became generally known as air hostesses, a small if not ideal consolation. The first notable fashion name to associate themselves with aviation was Russian aristocrat Oleg Cassini who designed chic skirt suits for TWA in 1955 in the company’s iconic green. Later, in 1965, sportswear pioneer Don Emilio Pucci created rainbow color-blocked coats and dresses, plastic helmets, and signature Pucci print boots for stewardesses on Braniff flights. Pucci’s fructuous relationship with Braniff led him to update the uniforms the following year. The newer version still featured plastic helmets and boots, with the addition of colorful geometric motifs on hats and dresses. The first line of hospitality on planes quickly became high fashion’s new playground. Marc Bohan of Christian Dior presented uniforms for Air France in 1962, while in 1966 Coco Chanel dressed stewardesses for Olympic Airways, owned by Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis, in her signature jacket with peter pan collar, blouses with neck bows, and pillbox hats. Pierre Cardin, too, collaborated with Olympic, designing a
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minidress, cape, and bonnet hat combo for its air hostesses. Cardin’s futuristic aesthetic was immensely popular at the time and added great panache to the look. Paris-based couturier Pierre Balmain designed outfits for Singapore Airlines in 1968, which are the longest-serving airline uniforms today. The iconic sarong kebaya (only worn by women) features a batik print emblematic of Southeast Asia’s welcoming culture and customs. Each outfit is tailored to its wearer as the couturier initially prohibited standardized sizes. Haute couture was certainly in the air during the ’60s, so much so that revered Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga designed Air France’s next uniforms. More than a style exercise, Balenciaga, who understood the importance of an impeccably cut
one hundred looks, from jolie madame ensembles to Japanese robe-style dresses. Gianfranco Ferré, affectionately known as “the architect of fashion,” was called upon to dress Korean Air flight attendants in 2005, in a revamp that ushered the company’s female employees into modernity. Vivienne Westwood unveiled a line of red skirt suits, vaporous blouses, and trench coats for Virgin Atlantic in 2014. And in 2018, American fashion designer Zac Posen designed uniforms for Delta. “Designing their uniforms was a great honor for me and my company,” says Posen. “I had a blast!” But the laborious process took about three years to go from conception to completion. “I had to do job-shadowing and hopped on airplanes to learn as much as I could about the different disciplines and what they
create their own aviation-inspired fantasy. In January 2012, the fashion crowd congregated at the Grand Palais in Paris to discover the Chanel Spring 2012 Couture collection by Karl Lagerfeld. The Kaiser staged his grand event in a mock aircraft interior—aviation was a reoccurring theme during the German designer’s thirty-six-year-tenure at Chanel. In May 2019, Nicolas Ghesquière collaborated with artist Es Devlin and invited guests to attend his Louis Vuitton Cruise 2020 show staged in the Eero Saarinen–designed TWA Flight Center, at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Call them stewardesses, air hostesses, flight attendants, or cabin crew, but one thing’s for sure: beyond the synchronized onboard choreographies, this seemingly glamorous job can also be
“The first line of hospitality on planes quickly became high fashion’s new playground. Marc Bohan of Christian Dior presented uniforms for Air France in 1962, while in 1966 Coco Chanel dressed stewardesses for Olympic Airways…” silhouette, created sophisticated and comfortable navy ensembles. At the end of the decade, as a growing number of women dreamed of becoming air hostesses, it is said that TWA had a lower acceptance rate than Harvard—only 3 percent made it to the airport terminal. While stewardesses appeared on magazine covers, more women made it their mission to break the glass ceiling by operating airplanes. Figures such as Helen Richey, Emily Howell Warner, and Janet Bragg paved the way for aspiring young girls. In the twenty-first century, many more fashion designers followed in the footsteps of Balenciaga. Christian Lacroix’s long-standing relationship with Air France began in 2000. The vast collection of uniforms created by Lacroix in the past two decades showcase over
required,” he says. The challenge of designing airline uniforms resides in the merging of two distinct aesthetics. “I brought my own aesthetic to a brand that had a strong branding language. At the beginning, it was very important that the uniforms stood out on the international stage,” adds Posen. “It’s almost impossible to please a community of 6,000 people, so I was proud of the result.” Posen accepted Delta’s offer due to the airline’s modern, progressive values regarding their employees. “At Delta, they foster a value system of unity and diversity. There were focus groups made of cross-sections of employees. We had to address different ages, body types, different skin colors — and that was powerful.” When fashion designers don’t design uniforms for airlines, they can still
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tedious and challenging. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, flight attendants spend seventy-five to one hundred hours a month in the air, as well as over fifty hours on the ground preparing flights. They’ve played the part of nurse and seductress, but cabin crew members are professional, valuable assets for airline companies, keeping passengers safe and sound while walking the aisle in uniforms that contribute to understanding the zeitgeist. Today, considering Elon Musk’s interplanetary ambitions and the development of space tourism, companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin will certainly call upon fashion designers to infuse future spacesuits with a little bit of style or pizzazz. When it comes to fashion and aviation, the sky is not the limit anymore.
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