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☆ Does She Airwrap? How Dyson’s $600 Hair Styler Became a Sensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The U.S.—land of pageants, cheerleaders, Hollywood, and, now, self-care and YouTubers—has always been a hotbed of perfectly groomed hair. Even at that prohibitive price, the Airwrap, launched in 2018, continually sells out. On TikTok, a seemingly endless stream of Airwrap-focused videos—from tutorials to takedowns—have been viewed over four billion times. Horses, babies and luscious-locked “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness have all gotten the Airwrap treatment. On Etsy, you can choose from hundreds of bespoke racks to store your Airwrap.

☆ From Rihanna to Chloë Sevigny, Fashion Week Prioritized Charisma Over Clothes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In “Iron Man 3,” superhero Tony Stark is haunted by the existential question of whether the suit makes the man or the man makes the suit. The fashion industry depends on the former—selling clothing that it promises can transform and complete you. And recently, garments have continually trumped their wearers, with interchangeable influencers modeling attention-grabbing trends like micro-kilts, Big Red Boots and bra tops. But these past few days at New York Fashion Week, the message is that, though fashion can help, ultimately it’s the wearer that elevates a look. Even larger-than-life Rihanna in a notably casual, yet punchy, Super Bowl halftime look echoed the theme from afar.

☆ How a 27-Year-Old Designer Is Reviving Your Grandma’s Favorite Shoe Brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Rory Satran | Photography Joshua Woods For Wsj. Magazine | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

“Honestly, it’s a huge machine,” Davis continues, referring to the company that Ferragamo launched in 1927. Ferragamo had six children with his wife, Wanda, a powerful matriarch who oversaw the company after her husband’s death in 1960. The Ferragamo family is still involved, owning about 65 percent of the publicly traded company’s shares, with the couple’s son Leonardo serving as chairman of the board. On that first day, Davis met his new assistant, who showed him around and introduced him to the different teams he’d be working with. “Obviously, I had trouble remembering everyone’s names because I think it’s 17 designers, but it was exciting,” he says.

☆ Flight Attendant Uniforms Ditch Gender. How Does That Fly in the Air?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When Tyler Curry joined JetBlue in 2022, he was surprised to learn that the airline offered its employees the choice to wear whichever uniform they wanted, regardless of gender. The New York-based in-flight crew member had not worn dresses before, but, intrigued, he asked a female colleague if he could try hers on. He liked the way it looked, so he “took a leap of faith” and ordered the dress. “I used to be one of those people that would walk through work with my head down, just keeping to myself, and when I wear the dress, it makes me feel more confident,” he said. “Now I walk through the airport with my head up.”

☆ ‘The Last Taboo’ in Fashion: Showing Off Your Belly Button
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Has fashion reached Peak Belly Button? Recently, we’ve witnessed the rise of crop tops for men, children, dolls, puppies and pregnant women, as well as super low-rise jeans and miniskirts from designers such as Miu Miu. Swimsuits and dresses now feature so many tummy and side cutouts they can resemble Swiss cheese. As midriff exposure has become almost humdrum, a new style is emerging: the belly-button-focused diamond-cutout dress. “Showing the belly button is the last taboo,” says New York designer Michael Kors, who created a black diamond cutout gown for entrepreneur and model Lori Harvey to wear to the 2022 Met Ball.

☆ They’re Cover Girls. They’re in Their 70s.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Ninety-year-old Frances Dunscombe only began modeling at age 82 after the death of her husband. Now, several years into her modeling career, she’s done lingerie pictures, worn Prada in Hunger magazine and been on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar UK. Ms. Dunscombe, who lives in Surrey, United Kingdom, sees her mission as inspiring and advocating for older women. “I get extremely irritated when fashion editors promote the most frumpy of clothes for the older age groups,” she said. “Aren’t they aware of what is going on at the moment?

☆ Golden Globes 2023: See the Most Exciting Looks from the Red Carpet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Rory Satran | Kevin Huynh | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rory's commentary: Wednesday-Core Comes Out of the ShadowsThe buttoned-up goth style of Netflix’s mega-hit “Wednesday” appears to be influencing the red carpet. Jamie Lee Curtis looked like she was channeling Morticia in her black Valentino jumpsuit and floor-length lace cape. Daisy Edgar-Jones, also in black lace, admitted her look was “very Wednesday Addams.”Rory Satran is WSJ's Fashion Director and writes the "Off Brand" column.

☆ Meghan Markle’s Neutral Cashmere Is ‘Power Casual’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

When Meghan Markle first rose to minor celebrity on the show “Suits,” she was wearing the buttoned-up wardrobe of a young lawyer: pencil skirts, strict button-ups and yes, suits. When she then reached unimaginable heights of global fame as Prince Harry ‘s girlfriend and then wife, she dressed impeccably for the endless public appearances in coat dresses, high-heeled pumps and even fascinators. With her upright daughter-of-a-yoga-teacher posture and seemingly endless supply of camel wrap coats, she has, until recently, dressed for a relentlessly public life. But in the six-part series “Harry & Meghan,” currently the number-two show on Netflix in the U.S., the duchess of Sussex presents a cozier, quieter, more intimate style. Ms. Markle’s message appears to be: I am grounded, sincere, and down-to-earth, but refined.

☆ Set to the Strokes, ‘Y2K Style’ Hits Luxury Fashion At Last
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A few men’s looks appeared on the runway at Celine’s fall/winter 2023 womenswear show, which summoned the indie-rock spirit of the early 2000s. LOS ANGELES—Hedi Slimane of LVMH fashion brand Celine waved his (skinny, black) magic wand Thursday night, transforming Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theater into a portal to the early 2000s. For his fall/winter 2023 womenswear show (which included some men’s styles), the brand’s creative lead sent 87 looks oozing with the debauched, indie-rock spirit of that period down the runway-cum-stage, set to a looped version of “Hello Operator” by the White Stripes, co-produced by the polymath Mr. Slimane himself. After the fashion show, the real show began: performances by Iggy Pop, Interpol, the Kills (as DJs) and the era’s ultimate mascots, the Strokes, now in their 40s.

☆ Kate Middleton’s Style Stays on Message Amid Ongoing Royal Turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

From the moment the Prince and Princess of Wales’s (commercial) flight touched down at Boston’s Logan International Airport this week, Kate Middleton ‘s style set a clear agenda: She did not come to play. Each element of her strategically chosen outfits seemed selected to signal a message, from the value of British tailoring and design, to the environmental consciousness of certain pieces, to a connection to the past—in the form of the jewelry of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

☆ I’m (Way) Over 30. What Should I Wear to a Concert or Party?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Mary J. Blige, who is headlining a stadium tour this year, is one of the many women breaking style rules into her 50s. The “Don’t Worry Darling” director joined the throngs of fans dressed in their Styles-jubilant best, with a strong contingent in Ms. Wilde’s age bracket and well above. They text, they email, they flag me down in our newly hopping office. What does a non-Olivia-Wilde woman over the age of 30—and all the way up to, say, 101 (here’s looking at you, Iris Apfel! )—wear to a concert or similarly raucous nighttime party?

☆ ‘Where’s the Rest of Your Pants?’ Designers Churn Out Sheer Bottoms.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Remember slips? Your mother or grandmother likely wore those fusty, lace-trimmed polyester or silk skirts and dresses underneath their clothing, so that no trace of the human body could be detected. These days, slips are more likely to be worn as cheeky clothing on their own, and lingerie pieces designed to be worn out, such as bra tops, are widespread. But until now, pants or skirts with some level of coverage have remained de rigueur for a stroll around town or a trip to the market.

☆ Ralph Lauren Goes West
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘Los Angeles is a unique place,’ said Ralph Lauren of his first show on the West Coast. ‘Like any place, you bring something to it, and you build something even better.’Ralph Lauren, at 83 one of the world’s most successful fashion designers, still has dreams to conquer. His latest one? California or bust. For Mr. Lauren’s first show on the West Coast, he hosted friends, clients, celebrities and editors at the palatial Huntington estate in San Marino, Calif. More than half a century after starting his company, Mr. Lauren is still selling “the dream of a better life,” as he puts it.

☆ Why Women Are Chopping Their Hair for Iran’s Mahsa Amini
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Donya Dadrasan, an Iranian pop star with over 2.5 million followers on Instagram, moved to Australia when she was 12 years old, but she remembers her female family members being terrified of the authorities back in Iran. They worried that if their hijabs did not sufficiently cover their hair that they would be fined, arrested or even hit. “All the women around me were always scared and stressed when they saw the morality police,” she said in an interview. Ms. Dadrasan, 24, who sings in Persian and is popular among young people in Iran, made a music video earlier this year, “Amoo Hassan,” that showed an imagined interaction with Iranian security forces. So when the singer heard the news on Sept. 16 that Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman, died in police custody after allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code, she was outraged.

☆ At Milan Fashion Week, Kardashians and Low-Rise Jeans
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A tequila bottle. A skeleton. A martini glass. Often, a fashion show’s makeup artists will cover models’ scrappy tattoos with body makeup—but in the body art peeking out from under the polished clothes at last week’s Max Mara show in Milan, a larger picture emerged. Even at a show as resolutely grown-up as Max Mara, with its perfectly cut suits and soothing neutral palette that endear it to well-heeled clients like Nancy Pelosi, the weirdness and messiness of real life could not be contained.

☆ Is a Bra a Shirt? These Women Say Yes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Blogger Caroline Daur wears a black bra top at Milan Fashion Week in June. The piece has become as foundational as a T-shirt for some women over the past couple years. NBC executives, willing to go so far as a risqué bra, bolero and harem pants, considered revealing the navel to be one step too far. Now, 50 years after Jeannie paved the way for bra tops in public, non-bottle-dwelling women of all ages and shapes are trying the style. “The bra top is the new T-shirt,” said Eli Mizrahi, the designer of Paris brand Mônot, which launched in 2019 and makes sleek bra tops that first became an unexpected hit during the pandemic.

☆ Rory Satran — Fashion Director at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Off BrandAs seen in the latest season of “Industry,” compliments between female colleagues about clothing and looks can be fraught. Are they ever advisable?

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