Thoughts on Copenhagen and Couture, Grammys fashion, and a sale at Martine Rose.
Welcome to The HALO Report — HALOSCOPE’s new weekly digest, an of-the-moment mix of news items, opinion pieces, and sale announcements designed to keep you posted on the nitty-gritty of the fashion world and all of its tangents without having to keep a constant eye on your feed.
This week, we look back at this year’s coolest (and corniest) Lunar New Year fashion campaigns, the Grammys’ most obnoxious fashion moments, highlights of Copenhagen and Couture fashion weeks, sales on It-bags and techy shoes, and more.
The latest long-ish reads from the brightest minds in fashion.
Lunar New Year was exactly a week ago, so The HALO Report just missed fashion writer Viv Chen’s analysis of several brands’ bids for commercial tie-ins to the holiday, “is it lunar new year...or is it just red?” In her newsletter, The Molehill, Chen considers Bottega Veneta’s attempt at a Wong Kar-wai-esque campaign video that landed more in the realm of Gossip Girl, Sandy Liang’s always-darling offerings, Acne’s surprising It-bag candidate, and more.
The under-discussed decline in body diversity on the runway and in mainstream fashion campaigns is placed under the magnifying glass of Refinery29’s Tyler McCall in “What Happened To Body Inclusivity In Fashion?” McCall makes the salient point that it’s not necessarily a bad thing that the industry has gone “mask off” again after a few weak attempts at “inclusion” in the years before the pandemic — perhaps designers will actually consider the human body’s potential shapes and sizes if we meet their current practices with enough contempt.
Writer Hunter Harris’ “Grammys Recap: ‘Genres are a Funny Little Concept, Aren’t They?’” for her newsletter Hung Up is the quintessential info dump on last Sunday’s bacchanal, replete with screenshots from the publication’s chat that highlight many of the same fashion moments that made me stand up and walk around the room in a rush of adrenaline: Chappell Roan’s dunce/princess cap, Gaga’s MasterCard sell-out (outfitted beautifully, courtesy of Chappell’s stylist Genesis Webb), Taylor’s grim figure-skater-ish dress (featuring a “T” thigh charm — certainly not for “Trans Rights”) and conspicuous lack of awards (which everyone was grateful for), and more.
In her newsletter As Seen On, genius writer and trend forecaster Ochuko Akpovbovbo shared that she “woke up this morning with nudity on my mind,” regarding, of course, Bianca Censori’s unsettling and uninvited nudity on the Grammys’ red carpet. The consensus in the comments is that if Kanye wants to cause a scene, as seems to be the rationale of this sloppy move, HE should drop trou himself instead of, apparently, forcing his ever-silent wife to be his shock proxy.
“The Runway Looks We Want to See During the 2025 Awards Season,” by Hannah Jackson for Vogue, calls out some of the couture we’ve seen in the past half-year, from Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s extra-laced corset dresses for Jean Paul Gaultier to Saint Laurent’s sharp-shouldered SS25 suiting, as prime red carpet fodder for the likes of newly-minted stars Mikey Madison and Cynthia Erivo.
What to keep in mind — and look forward to — in the past and coming weeks.
Copenhagen Fashion Week seems to have been an understated affair this Fall/Winter season, but Laird Borrelli-Persson still sussed out the emergent trends and stand-out brands: sculptural caps, chocolate brown, and neckties shone, as did labels like Caro Editions, Nicklas Skovgaard, and Anne Sofie Madsen, though more than a glut of new styles, CPH’s focus, as per usual, was on creating sustainable wardrobes to last through countless seasons.
The Spring 2025 Couture shows are surprisingly well-received for a time of economic strife, which usually elicits plenty of comparisons with the Hunger Games Capitol’s fashion — mushroomy pleats at Schiaparelli and liquid-like silks at Armani Privé were widely acclaimed. However, Chanel’s gratuitous use of bleak black belts (credited to its current lack of a Creative Director in the run-up to Matthieu Blazy’s appointment) and Valentino’s tone-deaf technocratic aesthetics did not impress.
The stand-out amongst couture shows was Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s turn as resident Creative Director for Jean Paul Gaultier, a “test” of sorts that many say the young designer passed with flying colors, delivering fanciful, sensual takes on the legacy house’s nautical motif, with nary a navy stripe to be found (blessedly). A rope-bound white gown in the vein of mermaid Ariel’s iconic makeshift frock dominated social media for days after the show.
Underrated European brand La Fetiche releases its first Pre-Spring collection, laying out red, navy, and pink as colors to watch in the coming months, taking shape in stripy knit T-shirts, sculptural sweaters, oversized trousers, and more pieces that strike the perfect balance between weird and wearable.
Pre-orders open this week for many SS25 collections, most notably Bevza’s, with warm-weather wares like sub-$200 swimsuits featuring plunging necklines, and Christopher Esber’s, full of embellished suede shorts and ruched, flowy-skirted sundresses.
Less about impulse buys — and more about tracking discounts on the pieces already on your wishlist.
Luar’s end-of-season sale combines Luar’s traditionally “It” sensibilities with a techy undercurrent bolstered by collaborations with brands such as Moose Knuckles that offer gear like Luar’s iconic Ana bag in practical black nylon and padded, armor-like bomber jackets, all for up to 50% off.
The business-casual market might as well be cornered by the Tibi winter sale, which offers up satin slingback pumps, convertible pleated trousers, and plenty of upscale knitwear, every piece with some sort of abstract twist, whether it’s the shrunken crop of a button-up vest or a layered double waist on a pair of dress pants.
Canoe Club’s seasonal sale now includes a new slew of pieces from underrated designer labels like Marni and MM6, plus great deals on tons of footwear from outdoorsy brands like Merrell and Hoka.
This might be our actual last chance to shop a Puppets and Puppets sale before its ready-to-wear pieces are archived… forever. My personal picks are the Puppets logo sweater and a slip dress with faux wine stains on the chest.
Use SOFINE10 for a 10% boost on the discounts already available on Martine Rose’s past season, including camo jeans, trippy-patterned blazers, nubby logo scarves, and more.
Take up to half off a trove of Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s past few seasons, with plenty of options for both warmer and cooler seasons, until the seasonal sale ends next week.
Helpfully divided into categories depending on the percent taken off each piece, the Moda Operandi sale offers upwards of 70% off pieces from Sea New York, Erdem, The Row, and other labels ranging from affordable casuals to the cream of the luxury crop. 🌀
Em Seely-Katz is the creator of the fashion blog Esque, the News Editor of HALOSCOPE, and a writer, stylist, and anime-watcher about town. You can usually find them writing copy for niche perfume houses or making awful collages at @that.esque on Instagram.