Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law & Technology

Bam! Pow! Wow! What If Rather Than Useless Comics-Inspired Capsule Collection We Would Get an Intriguing Fashion Comics?

Comics have always proved inspiring for fashion designers, but, you may argue, fashion also played a role in the developments of comics, both for what regards narratives and characters.

In the past we have often seen more obvious links between these two worlds with designers releasing licensed products and launching fashion collections integrating drawings and illustrations or artists portraying their characters in designer clothes and turning their illustrations into fashionable works of art.

Yet we also saw more subtle connections, from the fierce attire of superheroes proving inspiring for exhibitions, to correspondences between comics and fashion or artists borrowing ideas for their covers from fashion photography.

In more recent years some designers pushed the boundaries by having their portfolio illustrated by prominent artists.

Earlier on this year Jimmy Choo released a capsule collection inspired by Sailor Moon, the famous Japanese manga written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi to celebrate last year's 30th anniversary of the anime; "Astro Boy", the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka, inspired instead MSCHF's ubiquitous red boots that soon turned into the must-have footwear of the year on social media.

Christian Louboutin recently announced a Marvel capsule collection of footwear, bags, and caps as part of Disney's 100th-anniversary celebration. Known for his love of comics, the Paris-based shoe designer drew inspiration from strong characters, vibrant colors, the onomatopoeic words found in comic books, as well as the original 1960s "Batman" TV series.

The designs, set to hit stores and online at the beginning of October, incorporate elements from the Marvel universe, with Infinity Stones adorning heels. Other inspirations include Moon Knight's mummy-like wrappings turned into gladiator sandals in iridescent leather, and the fish scales of Namor, also known as the Sub-Mariner, reinvented as spikes.

Louboutin previously worked on different Disney projects, creating the styles for the 1996 live action remake of "101 Dalmatians," and developing other collaborations throughout the years for "The Muppets," "Maleficent" and also "Star Wars." This isn't also the first time the designer turns to comics for inspirations: last year, he introduced a children's range accompanied by a comic book.

This new collection actually continues this tradition as it comes with a limited-edition book entitled "The Loubiverse Explodes!" (only 1,500 copies of the comic book will be produced exclusively for the designer's top clients).

In this story Louboutin is an Egyptian archaeologist endowed with creative powers, like that of embellishment. The comic takes Louboutin on an adventure alongside Marvel characters such as Black Widow, Shuri, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Avengers, highlighting the extraordinary in the everyday. The moral of the story is celebrating the superpowers possessed by ordinary people.

However, the collaboration raises questions about its target audience: comic enthusiasts may not necessarily be interested in purchasing high-end fashion items (prices range from $1,195 to $3,995 for shoes; $2,390 to $3,490 for bags; and $545 to $595 for children's styles), while luxury fashion consumers may not have a strong affinity for comics. Furthermore, there's a twisted sense of irony in the comic book's celebration of beauty found in everyday life and the extraordinary qualities possessed by ordinary individuals while the limited edition comic is primarily targeted at affluent customers, which may not align with the portrayal of "ordinary people" that it champions.

Yet this collaboration and this limited edition comic book should maybe prompt us to wonder - is there room for a new fashion comic? Alan Moore's "Fashion Beast," originally commissioned by the late punk impresario Malcolm McLaren, explored the world of fashion in a 200-page script in 1985, which remained largely forgotten for nearly three decades. The project, a story that developed in a dystopian future, was then adapted by writer Antony Johnston and artist Facundo Percio and published in comic book format by Avatar Press released in 2012.

Similarly, "Fashion in Action," a fashion-forward, female-led comic written, drawn, colored by John K. Snyder III in 1985, was re-released in 2017 after a Kickstarter campaign.

Originally published as a strip by Eclipse Comics in the magazine Scout, the comic was a blend of action, horror, violence and glamour, all rolled into one and with a style that looked incredibly different from the vast majority of comics of the time.

The story starts in 2086 and revolves around Frances Knight and her squad, "the world's highest priced and best dressed celebrity protection agency." The girls guard the world's rich and beautiful and work in their base, the refurbished Statue of Liberty.

Frances and her team fight against Dr. Cruel, and his accomplice, the violently unpredictable Roxanne, Frances Knight's nemesis. Cruel and his psychopathic protege replace late night talk show host Johnny Mars with a robot doppelganger, complete with a toxic serum in his palm to turn anyone he shakes hands with into an ape during a celebrity-filled wedding.

Style-wise Frances Knight is a blend of The Eurythmics' Annie Lennox and David Bowie with just a touch of Catherine Deneuve in "The Hunger" and the iconic eye-patch from The Man in the Hathaway Shirt (1950s menswear ads by British advertising executive David Ogilvy, known for his emphasis on creative copy and campaign themes; in the ad the eye patch was an expedient that allowed Ogilvy to turn a product, the humble shirt, into a mysterious story View this photo).

Frances favours the power suits that were fashionable in the '80s (think Armani or Ralph Lauren); but she looks stunning in a simple black pencil skirt matched with a pristine white shirt (a look reminiscent of designer Anne Klein View this photo) and long flowing coat.

The wardrobe of her team is tailored to each character, but Snyder had a passion for functional and practical clothes, so he put emphasis on sensible clothes or glamour designs that still allowed his characters to fight. Therefore you will never see in this comic book scantily dressed heroines fighting in thongs and bras.

We do see Roxanne, a sort of proto-Harley Quinn who uses her makeup and clown-like appearance as a means of challenging the established order, in a red body-suit covered in words traced in black. This garment may appear provocative at first glance, but it is actually a fashion reference as it was inspired by Stephen Sprouse's Fall 1984 graffiti collection (View this photo). Another reference to those times is the hairstyle sported by Mr Sydman, Johnny's manager, unmistakably reminiscent of Klaus Nomi's distinctive look

While some may highlight this was still a product of "masculine feminism", a girls' comic about women made by a man, it was still a breath of fresh air.

Having grown up surrounded by strong women, the author didn't dress the women in ridiculous ways, but opted for diversity and functional yet stylish clothes: his women - Frances, Kelly, Sarah, Ursula and Talia - came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with skin tones ranging from dark to light, and could move, walk and run, while still looking stunning. Way more stylish and active than Charlie's Angels (and led by a woman, not by a man who told them what to do...), these fearless young women were trained in security but were not supposed to be superheroines.

In Snyders' words, the series reflected "the times we were then living in by projecting it onto a futuristic society where the cult of celebrity and personality would become the status quo. It only seemed natural at the time to cast a group of strong-willed women as a symbol of reason and security in the middle of an ego-driven world full of social and political unrest. It was a creatively rewarding experience that was born out of the height of the creator-owned alternative market of the early / mid-80's, but was a short-lived series that I have always hoped for the opportunity to re-introduce and return to and continue."

More stylish than "Tank Girl" and characterized by more complex pages with an overwhelming number of word balloons, the comic book also included a reference to the '40s. Snyder accompanied indeed his stories with paper doll pages reminiscent of those you may have found in comics such as "Jane Arden," "Flyin' Jenny," "Brenda Starr," "Patsy Walker", and "Torchy Brown".

Snyder's pages dedicated to his diverse cast may have been compared to these early experiments to paper dolls, or to Bill Woggon's Katy Keene comics that also featured her friends (one design originally donned by Katy's friend Lucki Red Lorelei in one of the doll pages, a red dress with the word "Lucky" scribbled all over it, may be a further link to Snyder's Roxanne's look). Comic book artist Trina Robbins wrote a feature about the paper doll pages in "Fashion in Action" that was included in the 2017 edition of the book.

"Fashion in Action" wrapped up in the late '80s, a period when fashion comics had lost their appeal. But Snyder's tales featuring his spirited and dynamic women, remained a testament to the potential transformation of this genre with an infusion of vibrant energy and rich artistic and fashion references.

John Ostrander, co-creator of Amanda Waller and the 1980's Suicide Squad), states in the foreword to the 2017 edition of the comic book, "John K. Snyder III's Fashion In Action was a unique strip when it first came out and is still a striking visual story today."

You can bet that this will probably get a film adaptation or a Netflix series at some point. Till then, grab a copy of it, and dream about a fashion comic that we would like to read, full of intriguing stories, dynamic characters and glorious styles, a fashion comic for all and not a limited edition exclusively dedicated to wealthy consumers with a penchant for luxury accessories.

The Victorian Age as a Time of Chromatic Possibilities: "Colour Revolution" @ The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK

We often envision the Victorian era as a period dominated by one color, black, due to Queen Victoria's prolonged mourning period,  those 40 years spent wearing black following Prince Albert's death in 1861 cast inded a somber shadow over this time.

We also tend to associate this era with industrialization, bleak landscapes and cities shrouded in smog, as vividly described in Charles Dickens' novels and depicted in Gustave Doré's engravings from "London: A Pilgrimage" (1872).

However, Queen Victoria herself used to don vibrant attire before her husband's passing, and this era was, in fact, quite colorful, thanks to new discoveries in dye technology that sparked fresh fashion trends.

The painting "A Decadent Young Woman, After the Dance" by Ramón Casas (1899) perfectly captures this idea. The artwork features a young woman, the red-haired beauty Madeleine Boisguillaume, a model for Toulouse-Lautrec, wearing a black dress, resting on a green sofa after returning home from a night out, holding in her right hand a book with a yellow cover. Green and yellow create striking contrasts in this painting, but they are also very symbolical.

This painting is part of the "Colour Revolution: Victorian Art, Fashion and Design" exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford (from 21st September 2023 to 18th February 2024).

Organised by Matthew Winterbottom, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Ashmolean Museum, and Prof Charlotte Ribeyrol, Sorbonne Université, Paris, the Ashmolean's autumn exhibition wants to prove that, rather than being a monochromatic era, thanks to new developments in art, science and technology, the Victorian age was a visually vibrant period of time with colour being embraced by artists and designers.

The exhibition presents a variety of artworks, costumes, and designs - 140 items in total from international collections - each of them exploring an aspect of this colour revolution.

Art fans will enjoy John Ruskin's studies, Joseph Mallord William Turner's paintings of Venice, James Abbott McNeill Whistler's colour experiments and Morris & Co.'s intricate designs, but fashion and interior design fans will find even more items to explore, borrowed from Victorian wardrobes and residences in Britain and Europe.

The exhibition opens with Queen Victoria's mourning attire, embodying the preconceptions we all have about this period of time as being bleak.

But curators soon introduce us to a world in colours, showing us how people embraced the innovations of the Industrial Revolution.

When aniline, a by-product of coal-tar, arrived on the scene, new possibilities entered the Victorian wardrobes as proved by the vivid purple dress, crinoline, and shoes dyed with the first aniline colour, Mauvine.

It was an 18-year-old chemistry student, William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), who discovered the synthetic dye in 1856. While attempting to synthesize quinine from aniline, a coal tar derivative, Perkin stumbled upon the vibrant purples produced by this otherwise colorless chemical. He promptly established a factory and his new creation, that he dubbed mauveine, soon sparked a surge of interest among chemists across Europe in finding more synthetic colours.

Alizarin, a synthetic colorant derived from madder root, a traditional source for vegetable red, pink, and brown dyes, was successfully created by Perkin in 1867. This led to the use of new anilines in various applications, including postage stamps, inks, pigments, paints, and even food.

Until then only wealthy people may have afforded more colourful designs made with natural dyes: Empress Eugénie of France, was known for her some extravagant purple gowns and Queen Victoria had worn an expensive mauve dress to her daughter's wedding.

However, within a few short years, colours once achieved with costly natural dyes became readily and inexpensively available. Aniline dye production expanded, becoming more affordable and making bright colours accessible to the masses.

In September 1859, Punch ironically stated that the "Mauve measles" trend had gripped the nation: "One of the first symptoms by which the malady declares itself consists in the eruption of a measly rash of ribbons, about the head and neck of the person who has caught it. The eruption, which is of a mauve colour, soon spreads, until in some cases the sufferers becomes completely covered with it..."

Soon also working-class women had access to colorful dyed stockings and undergarments (before the advent of synthetic dyes, undergarments typically came in white or blue). A writer for the Lady's Newspaper and Pictorial Times praised the "rainbow-spanned ankle" in 1861, but this trend had some drawbacks, as striped socks caused rashes due to toxic anilines. Yet also men embraced the newfound possibilities, indulging in colorful smoking jackets and slippers within the privacy of their homes.

These scientific achievements were celebrated at the International Exhibition of 1862, a significant cultural event of the 19th century that showcased British, colonial, and scientific products to a global audience, marking the first international presentation of synthetic anilines. Among the highlights were vivid pink aniline colours, Magenta and Solferino, which had recently been named.

Colour was also added to interior design pieces and painted furniture became popular as epitomized by the works displayed at the International Exhibition produced by the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. such as William Burges's Great Bookcase, a polychrome work of art, inspired by a Gothic cathedral, blending Byzantine, Pompeiian, Egyptian and Japanese influences.

The bookcase incorporated exquisite details and panels painted in eclectic styles and with new materials, such as aniline green, by 13 young artists including Edward Burne-Jones, Simeon Solomon, Edward Poynter and Albert Moore, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Besides, the fascination with nature and Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, led to an interest in colours borrowed from the animal kingdom and in particular from hummingbirds and beetles.

Previously, only feathers were incorporated in a dress or accessory, but Victorian fashion and jewelry designers often integrated entire bird and beetle bodies in their creations. The results were often unsettling (but they find echoes in designs spotted during the '90s on Alexander McQueen's runways) as proved by Harry Emanuel's hummingbird necklace (1865).

A diamond merchant and jeweller, Emanuel mounted three decapitated short-tailed emerald and four ruby-topaz birds on gold backings and integrated them in a necklace; their beak was covered in gold leaf, their eyes replaced with gemstones.

While this is an extremely disquieting oddity for us, Victorians felt hummingbirds were among the nature's most colourful animals, their iridescent feathers were indeed irresistible and this piece perfectly represented the taste of the time.

The hummingbird craze reached its peak in 1888, when 400,000 of bird "skins" were auctioned. This craze for feathers and birds eventually ended also thanks to women who campaigned against it.

Etta Lemon, an anti-suffragist and anti-feminist bird conservationist ended up pushing women's suffrage in Britain, when she stated in a pamphlet, "If women are so empty-headed and stupid that they cannot be made to understand the cruelty of which they are guilty in that matter, they certainly prove themselves to be unfit voters."

Iridescent beetles also proved quite popular during Victorian times: one of the earliest use of the Buprestidae shells as decorations occurred in the late 1800s when actress Ellen Terry wore a gown covered in 1,000 Buprestidae wings when she played Lady Macbeth in 1880. John Singer Sargent painted Terry wearing the gown (the Buprestidae briefly reappeared in art and fashion around ten years ago).

Besides, in 1884 the Portuguese ambassador to London presented Foreign Secretary Lord Granville with a piece of jewellery made of the bodies of 46 iridescent green South American weevils. Granville had these mounted on a tiara and necklace (1885; part of the British Museum's collection) for his wife. This trend extended also to interior design pieces as proved by a decorative vase with a beetle designed by Christopher Dresser for Minton & Co.

Despite injecting a healthy dose of joie de vivre into the Victorian wardrobes, colours also caused death. Skin rashes were indeed only one of the effects of the new dyes.

Fashionable trends often came at a cost (bizarrely, this statement finds correspondences in our time – how many fashionistas suffer from fashion-related illnesses? Ponder about this theme, fashion design students...): the use of certain dyes, such as arsenic-based green dye in artificial flowers, had indeed deadly consequences.

We tend to smile at Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter, but in reality milliners who employed a toxic substance, mercury nitrate, as part of the process of turning the fur of small animals, such as rabbits, into felt for hats, suffered from mental health issues. The exhibition recounts of a factory girl who died in 1862 from poisoning while making artificial flowers for women's headdresses. Before dying she was said to have vomited green slime and had green tinged eyeballs. The killer was the main ingredient of the new green dye - arsenic.

The incident was even reported in the USA prompting a review of the use of green in fashion and homeware and green wallpaper soon earned the nickname of "walls of death."

Debates on colour theory and the moral attributes associated with different colours followed and the exhibition showcases artists with contrasting views, such as John Ruskin, advocating for natural colours, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, known for his philosophy of "colour for colour's sake."

Whistler's extravagant use of colour was facilitated by the invention of collapsible metal paint tubes. Besides, "unnatural" colours found favor with the Decadent movement, symbolized by the dyed-green carnation worn by Oscar Wilde.

Yellow, another Decadent favorite, is epitomized in the exhibition by controversial risqué French novels with distinctive yellow covers (as seen in Ramon Casas's painting) that also inspired the avant-garde periodical, The Yellow Book.

Characterised by a yellow cover designed by Aubrey Beardsley that alluded to the yellow jackets of French novels as well as to the themes of sickness (think also about Eugène Samuel Grasset's painting "La Morphinomane" [The Morphine Addict]), this publication defined the decade as the "Yellow Nineties" (fashion design students, can we attribute just one colour to our times? Yes? No? Why? Think about this question and ponder on controversial colours in our times and what they represent in society).

The exhibition also looks at the revolutionary impact of photography and electricity on Victorian culture: innovators like Anna Atkins, one of the earliest female pioneers, used for example cyanotypes to create ethereal photograms of British algae.

The exhibition concludes with another pioneer, Loïe Fuller, the vaudeville performer who became an overnight sensation with her "Serpentine Dance" in 1892. Colour played a central role in the performances of the "electric fairy" and her voluminous costumes made from diaphanous silk and illuminated by electric lights projected vibrant colours all around her.

The exhibition even offers a recreation of her performance using a Victorian illusion device known as Pepper's Ghost (the same technique employed by video maker Baillie Walsh during Alexander McQueen's Autumn-Winter 2006-07 catwalk show to conjure up a dreamy image of model Kate Moss wrapped up in an ethereal and billowing dress).

"Colour Revolution" is accompanied by a rich programme of events and a catalogue jam-packed with information and inspirations, that also features essays about the return of Medieval hues, natural colours in art and design, the British orientalists, and queer colours in the Victorian age, with particular reference to a Wilde's green carnation.

The exhibition is one strand of the European Research Council funded Chromotope: The 19th-century Chromatic Turn project. An international, cross-disciplinary investigation into the chromatic turn of the 1850s in the arts, science and technology throughout Europe, the research is an illuminating journey into the fascinating world of colours during a pivotal period in history.

Images credits for this post

1. Ramon Casas (1866-1932), A Decadent young woman, After the dance, 1899. Museu do Montserrat, Barcelona

2. Queen Victoria's mourning dress, c. 1898. Historic Royal Palaces, London

3. Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute, c. 1835. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

4. John Ruskin (1819-1900), Study of a Kingfisher, with dominant Reference to Colour, 1871, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

5. Day dress, English, late-1860s, aniline dyed silk and glass beads, Manchester Art Gallery

6. Woman's boots, English, 1870s, Manchester Art Gallery

7 – 8. Folders of dyed woollen samples, The Berline Aniline Company, 19th century. History of Science Museum, University of Oxford

9. The Great Bookcase, 1859-62, designed by William Burges (1827-81), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

10 – 13. Details from The Great Bookcase, 1859-62, designed by William Burges (1827-81), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

14. Frederick Sandys (1829-1904), Vivien, 1863. Manchester Art Gallery

15. Minton vase with beetle design, England, 1870-90. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

16. Lady Granville's beetle parure and case, 1884-5. British Museum, London

17. Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98), front cover of The Yellow Book, published 1894-97, Trinity College, Oxford

18. Exhibition catalogue spread

19. Chromotope logo

Washington AI Forum: Will Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated One Day in Ways that Truly Benefit People?

We have explored in multiple previous posts the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but we also took into consideration one significant concern - AI systems were released without proper regulations and a complete understanding of their potential impact.

This has meant that many companies started using AI as a means to reduce jobs rather than enhancing them. Embracing the technology and using AI as a tool should instead facilitate - rather than destroy - jobs and enhance existing operations.

Yesterday we have looked, for example, at a fashion collection in which a designer moved from Artificial Intelligence to find inspirations, but then, obviously, turned to her team to adapt some of the solutions suggested by AI.

In other posts we examined how AI-driven solutions can help healthcare professionals producing swifter cancer diagnosis or assess an individual's risk of heart disease just by scanning their eyes. Yet this still implies training medical figures to use the systems/software or pairing them with technical experts who can offer their assistance to health professionals. In brief, companies should strengthen their workforce through AI, not reduce it thinking that a machine can do the work of a human. 

There is actually another issue about AI that is also proving challenging for governments all over the world and for developers of AI systems - establishing laws and norms that regulate it.

To this end the US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), organized yesterday the AI Insight Forum. The closed-door meeting was attended by influential figures, including tech leaders like Microsoft's Bill Gates, Alphabet Inc. and Google's Sundar Pichai, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.

The forum discussed the rise of AI, its potential and need for regulation. Attendees generally supported the idea of regulation, but there was little consensus on what these rules should entail.

Some ideas explored during the forum included the possibility of creating an independent agency to oversee AI development, enhancing transparency within companies, and maintaining the global competitiveness of the US compared to China and other countries.

Among the solutions, the forum discussed "watermarking" AI-created content, but not much else. Issues related to political elections, destabilization and the spread of disinformation were also raised.

The AI forum was preceded by Microsoft President Brad Smith and Nvidia Chief Scientist William Dally testifying on Tuesday alongside Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law at Boston University School of Law, in Senate AI hearings concerning the regulation of AI.

Microsoft developed its in-house AI tool, Copilot, but also launched a series of collaborations: it invested $10 billion in OpenAI, then worked with Meta to launch and support the open-source large language model LLaMA 2. On the other hand, Nvidia is one of the primary beneficiaries of the AI surge, with its chips employed in numerous prominent AI applications, including ChatGPT.

Both Microsoft and Nvidia, commended Senate efforts to create a legal framework for certifying high-risk AI but stressed the need for robust enforcement mechanisms alongside ethical considerations. Besides, while acknowledging Congress's positive steps, Nvidia's Dally debunked fears of AI becoming uncontrollable, emphasizing human control over AI models.

Senators in general raised concerns about disinformation, deepfakes, data privacy, and child protection: Senator Richard Blumenthal advocated for a risk-based approach to AI regulation and introduced a bipartisan framework, that he co-authored with Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, aiming to establish an independent oversight body that would be tasked with licensing high-risk AI technology (the full text is not available yet, but Hawley urged Microsoft to raise the age limit for AI system use beyond 13). 

Yet, despite the calls for regulations, it's evident that both the government and tech companies aren't too sure about what to do.

Politicians lack a clear understanding of how to approach AI, while tech companies often issue press releases or statements in which they claim they may have created powerful systems capable of unleashing Armageddon on humanity, but then openly make clear that these regulations should align with their interests.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has so far often displayed an ambivalent approach: a few months ago he was among the signatories of the Center for AI Safety's statement affirming "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war", but he also criticized the European Union's announcements regarding AI legislation as "over-regulating”.
  
The problem with these forums and discussions, is that they do not produce any decisions, besides the main mistake in the United States is that the government consistently seeks support from the same tech companies that are beyond these systems and that in turn ask for help, but then end up collaborating with the government to write regulations that prioritize their own interests (in 2020, Washington state passed the country's first bill regulating facial recognition; however, the legislation was authored by a state senator who also happened to be a Microsoft employee).

Wednesday's forum in Washington included representation from labor and civil liberties groups and also Elizabeth Shuler, the president of the labor union AFL-CIO; Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights; Meredith Stiehm, the president of Writers Guild of America (WGA), on strike since May for reasons also related to the use of AI in the film industry (members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined them in July), and Randi Weingarten, the president of American Federation of Teachers.

Yet some senators, but also campaigners and digital rights activists considering the impact of AI on vulnerable populations, believe tech executives should testify in public, suggesting more transparency is needed.

What is indeed the point of having a round table or a forum without the people who have actually been negatively impacted by new technologies, but including the founders and CEOs of some of the social media platforms who in turn have already caused major disruptions by spreading disinformation and influencing the outcome of elections and referendums around the world? (politicians seem to be worried about deepfakes, but have we forgotten the Cambridge Analytica investigation?).

AI systems are already unintentionally contributing to biases in various domains and mainly hurting vulnerable groups and communities: biased algorithms can indeed discriminate against Black and brown individuals, immigrants and people with disabilities in sectors that go from banking and employment to surveillance and policing. These issues have been highlighted by the European Union, currently working on the AI Act.

The European Union has so far adopted a more proactive approach compared to the United States. In June, Margrethe Vestager, the EU's Competition Commissioner, also emphasized that discrimination represents a more immediate and substantial threat posed by Artificial Intelligence, outweighing the potential risk of human extinction.

At the Washington forum, Musk mentioned to reporters that companies need a referee, but this term remains abstract, as companies seem to want some kind of regulator who pretends to control things, but doesn't address the inherent biases within AI systems, while the debate about AI should be an open dialogue among governments, tech companies, advocacy groups, and the public. As AI technology rapidly advances, it is indeed crucial to strike a balance between innovation and ethics and make sure that the voices of those directly affected by AI are heard.

The Earth's on Fire, Why Are We Here: Collina Strada S/S 24

It is undeniable that, when prompted in a stimulating way, Artificial Intelligence can generate in just a few seconds extraordinary images of human beings dressed in the most fantastic creations.

We do also know that such images are often the result of collages and combinations of existing designs, borrowed, stolen and repackaged by Artificial Intelligence systems from millions of other pictures found online. Besides, AI also tends to play tricks on you, making you think you have suddenly produced a genuine work of art, only to discover 5 minutes later that, because of mode collapse, another user has just produced an image very similar to what you may have generated.

Yet there are ways to create more original materials, especially if you're a fashion designer. One of them is feeding these systems with your own images and then refining the visual input with a tailored prompt or blending together several different images from your portfolio.

Beware, though, as you may hit another conundrum then: once the system has generated for you the most extraordinary image of a model dressed up in a uniquely extravagant creation, maybe a combination of your previous collections, you will still have to find ways to actually make that design. And that may not be terribly easy, considering that AI is prone to incredible flights of fancy.

This is essentially the challenge that Collina Strada's Hillary Taymour faced while working on her new collection. The brand showcased the S/S 24 collection last Friday in Brooklyn during New York Fashion Week with a presentation that was in some ways linked with technology and social media. The inspiration came indeed from the "everything is fine" meme (think about the iconic dog blissfully drinking a mug of coffee while being surrounded by threatening flames…).

We are surrounded by catastrophes, from the war in Ukraine to climate change triggering the beginning of what may be Armageddon with heatwaves that have turned our summer days into endless scorching nightmares, followed by torrential rains; last week there was a devastating earthquake in Morocco, followed by deadly floods in Libya (what's the point of watching the next apocalyptic series on your streaming services when you can just turn on the news?). Yet, in the face of it all - fashion shows, having somehow survived even Covid-19 and the temporary end of fashion weeks IRL - have resumed unperturbed, pretending that things are simply fine.

The mood was replicated in Collina Strada's show, entitled "Soft Is Hard" and accompanied by show notes that stated, "The Earth's on fire; why are we here?"

During the show models walked down the runway with forced smiles; at times they looked extremely convincing; at others their smiles seemed frozen in a disturbing, almost maniacal rictus. Their tightly clenched fists symbolically suppressed their real feelings as the smiles disappeared when they turned their back to the audience, a metaphor for a personal awakening or a reality check.

The solution to the problems for Taymour is reconnecting with Mother Earth, but, to do it, the designer turned to the very technology that is causing the most debates, fears and anxieties at the moment - Artificial Intelligence.

Using it as a tool rather than a rival, five months ago Taymour started strategizing the new collection and fed images of all Collina Strada's previous collections into an AI system.

Blending, clashing and combining the images, Artificial Intelligence came up with some intriguing solutions. But then followed months of working and reworking, a phase users of text-to-image AI systems know pretty well, a long, time-consuming and frustrating process that consists in fine tuning your prompts and allow the system to progress and learn what you like and what you dislike, tweaking the images till you manage to come up with something that aligns to your vision.

After this stage you may hit another challenging phase: turning the image from fantasy into reality. In the case of Collina Strada, Artificial Intelligence actually produced something interesting, but with a lot of draped elements and constructions that posed a series of sartorial issues and dilemmas. So, while Taymour seemed pretty satisfied with some of the ideas proposed by AI, together with her team she had to understand how to simplify some of these suggestions and turn them into wearable and functional designs.

The results embodied the quintessential Collina Strada aesthetic, with a hint of eccentricity best described by the definition Federico Fellini once gave about his film 8½ - a "beautiful chaos". The same thing can be said here: the collection was chaotic, but in a Collina Strada kind of way, it featured indeed draped, asymmetric, ruffled, fringed and ripped whimsical, layered slip dresses, distressed T-shirts, tops and boxers.

Unusual solutions prevailed with a vest with a hook-and-eye closure under the left breast; patchworked boxer shorts adorned with cascades of lace ruffles; hoodies with a star made with a drawstring to alter its shape; floral ball skirts; minidresses with layers of lace peeking out from underneath or with panniers; capri pants with a half-ruffled lace skirt attached to a belt; corsets in pastel shades matched with (or attached to) densely draped skirts or, for the evening, black velvet corsets with a flowing white jersey skirt and a sheer black ruffled lace slip (worn by King Princess during a post-runway performance).

There were obviously references to Vivienne Westwood in the corsets that showcased a blend of Haute Couture aspirations and a punk-inspired diversion.

Taymour's ethos echoes The Slits': the latter didn't know how to play their instruments, but still managed to make great tracks thanks to their unorthodox approach to music. Taymour does the same - at times she seems unsure and amateurish, but quite often her collections end up exuding a sense of disheveled freedom reminiscent of Cindy Lauper's romantic yet rebellious style in her early '80s videos.

This collection in particular featured designs that allow the wearer to move around freely, dancing, partying and generally misbehaving, but, in some cases, these clothes may double up also as more formal attires - an example was the pink satin suit with a jacket characterized by a relaxed silhouette with trousers decorated with hand-applied white lace appliqués and white tulle ruffles held together by silver ball chains worn cross-body style across the chest – remove the latter and you will be able to go from a party to a formal meeting.

Accessories included alien star necklaces, while the footwear, a collaboration with Ugg, featured platform laced-up sandals and Mary Janes sprouting spiky studs. All the shoes invited wearers to abandon high heels in favor of more dynamic options.

This shift reflected a broader trend, as evidenced by Birkenstock's impending IPO (it was just announced that Birkenstock has filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission…), something almost expected, especially after the brand's resurgence in Greta Gerwig's Barbie. 

Party on, Taymour seems to say, with or without AI (but while Taymour admitted the use of AI in this collection in a creative way, how many brands and designers will not to do so in their collections? food for thought...) and embrace the eccentricity in your everyday life, however, don't forget transgender and general human rights, as noted by Taymour in the show's accompanying materials, which, she feels, are currently "under threat." Encouraging a sense of community is important and Taymour did it with a diverse cast of models, in all shapes, sizes and ages, with able and disabled bodies. 

Collina Strada will now have to find a new way forward after 10 years in fashion (some models carried the brand's book featuring images from this past decade, a way to take stock and think about the next chapter…). Maybe a socially oriented project expects Taymour, as her creations go beyond fashion and are more about nurturing a sense of community, raising two fingers to the establishment and affirming one's existence. That's why she's here, while the Earth is on fire.

Underwater Seascapes, Hand-Made Crafts with an Apocalyptic Twist & a Little Artificial Intelligence Magic: Jason Wu S/S 24

Nothing marks more eloquently the end of summer than the sight of a deserted beach. The joyful voices of children playing in the waves, once resonating in the salty air, have now vanished.

A lone stranded barrel jellyfish, heavy with seawater and stripped of its ethereal qualities, has washed ashore, its beauty still intact, its frilly tentacles unfurling beneath its purple-edged umbrella that, white and blueish, shimmers under the September sun.

If you work in the fashion industry, you can extend summer throughout September and the first week of October. Well, you don't actually extend it, but you immerse yourself into the upcoming one as these weeks are dedicated to the Spring/Summer shows for the following year.

On Sunday afternoon, for example, Jason Wu brought on the New York Fashion Week runways some underwater seascapes: jellyfish and octopuses appeared on coats and dresses characterised by a black, red or green print in the style of 19th-century etchings. In some cases, the motifs were replicated as sequined embroideries.

Models sported wet, wavy hairstyles reminiscent of mermaids. Amidst prints of seascapes, flowers, and plants, Wu also integrated a portrait of the first Chinese Hollywood movie star, Anna May Wong.

Leather dresses offered an alternative, even though the fitted bodices and full skirts had hints of Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton (who, as announced yesterday by Kering, will leave the fashion house after two decades).

As a whole, the collection revolved around American sportswear, and featured quite a few ivory and military green designs, including long dresses and separates, made with hand-distressed fabrics and featuring unfinished edges.

Hand-shredded textiles and thready tweed tops evoked decay, scraped paint, and worn-out walls. The ripped fabrics weren't the result of a punk gesture, though, but pointed more at clothes you may be wearing in the aftermath of an apocalypse.

This section of the collection was indeed a departure from embellished eveningwear, an exploration of imperfections and versatile clothes. Flat platform sandals, as seen in other designers' collections in previous seasons, such as Gabriela Hearst, emphasized dynamism and ease.

The green designs didn't necessarily evoke uniforms but hinted at the consistency of algae, at Scheele's Green (the yellow-green poison pigment of the 19th century), and invasive toxic fungi.

This reference in particular alluded to the HBO drama "The Last of Us" - the tall grass along the runway also seemed directly taken from the scenes in which characters move around urban spaces partially reclaimed by nature.

Adapted from developer Naughty Dog's acclaimed eponymous video game from 2013, the series, taking place in a dystopian 2023, portrays a society devastated by a pandemic induced by the "cordyceps" fungus that transforms its victims into aggressive, zombie-like beings solely driven to propagate the contagion.

Yet, beyond the apocalypse portrayed in the series, Wu drew attention to another endangered species: independent designers, many of whom are struggling with debts and corporate takeovers.

The evening segment of the collection continued the underwater theme with feminine denim designs and seaweed-like ruffles and transparent layers on bias-cut fluid slip dresses that moved like floating jellyfish.

The show's location, Isamu Noguchi's Japanese Sunken Garden at the Chase Manhattan Bank Building in the Financial District, had architectural significance. 

Built in the early '60s, the garden was private and people could only admire it looking down from street level. But the show took place in the basement, at garden level, behind a glass wall (on his Instagram account Wu posted an aerial view of the garden that, from above, resembles a petri dish).

The collection was accompanied by an Artificial Intelligence-generated underwater film, a collaboration between the designer and artist Matthieu Grambert.

You may prefer seeing a real Rhizostoma pulmo blissfully floating in the sea, rather than an AI generated jellyfish swimming around alien-like algae, but, one thing is certain, you can bet that we will spot other Artificial Intelligence interventions on further collections in the next few weeks as the technology is gradually becoming a prominent collaborator in the creative world.

If you abhor the idea, use this collection to contemplate the themes behind "The Last of Us" and maybe wonder who will prevail in a dystopian future - humanity or machines?  

Will CAA's Majority Stake Sale to Artémis Unlock New Synergies Between Luxury & Entertainment?

Quite often, rumors of stake sales and acquisitions materialize into reality shortly thereafter.

In July, speculations circulated that François-Henri Pinault, the Chairman and CEO of Kering, might have acquired a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which also represents his wife, Salma Hayek.

Founded in 1975, CAA stands as a prominent entertainment and sports agency, boasting global expertise across various domains such as filmed and live entertainment, digital media, publishing, sponsorship sales and endorsements, media finance, consumer investing, fashion, trademark licensing, and philanthropy. The company represents some of popular culture's most influential figures, both established stars and emerging talent.

CAA recently completed a successful acquisition and integration of International Creative Management (ICM), a global talent and sports agency, as well as CAA Brand Management, a leading brand development and management firm for the world's most iconic brands.

Just last week, it was officially confirmed that Artémis, a holding company established in 1992 by French entrepreneur François Pinault, had agreed to acquire a majority stake in CAA from the American private equity firm TPG.

Artémis manages a diverse portfolio of companies and holds interests in various sectors, both in France and internationally. Notably, in addition to being the controlling shareholder of the global luxury conglomerate Kering, Artémis also owns renowned auction house Christie's.

"As a leader in its field with an outstanding management team, a crystal-clear focus on providing world-class service to world-class clients and a tremendous track record of growth, CAA has all the relevant characteristics to be part of the Artémis family, adding increased diversity, both in terms of geographical footprint and business activities, to our other assets," said Francois-Henri Pinault, Artémis CEO, in an official statement published on the TPG site. "CAA's exceptional insight, relationships, and access across key sectors, combined with their widely regarded level of collaboration and innovation, gives the company a formidable role in driving global opportunities for its diverse and culture-defining clients."

Under the agreement, CAA's Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane, and Richard Lovett will continue as co-chairmen. Lourd is anticipated to assume the role of CEO upon the transaction's completion, and Jim Burtson, who led the CAA deal team, will retain his position as president of CAA. Singapore-based global investment firm Temasek will remain a minority investor in CAA, while CMC Capital remains a strategic partner.

The transaction is anticipated to be finalized later this year, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions. Although financial terms were not disclosed, according to Bloomberg, CAA's valuation was reported to have soared as high as $7 billion, up from $5.5 billion the previous year when it acquired ICM Partners.

So, why is this acquisition significant for the fashion industry? While CAA has assured that it will preserve its independent management under the Artémis umbrella, it's clear that this move aligns with the ongoing trend of fashion conglomerates expanding into various sectors. Fashion is no longer solely about selling garments and accessories; it has evolved into a strategic game for powerful entities to acquire the endorsement of the most renowned and respected cultural ambassadors (think about Pharrell Williams and Louis Vuitton, Kering's rival).

In a way, Kering doesn’t even need to be associated with CCA to win its spot in Hollywood as it has already firmly established its presence in the film industry through substantial sponsorships and initiatives. As highlighted in a previous post, the group plays a major role in supporting the Cannes Film Festival, and its Women in Motion program spotlights female actors, filmmakers, and producers. Furthermore, Kering's brand Gucci has long been a sponsor of the prestigious LACMA Art + Film gala in Los Angeles. Another brand under the Kering umbrella, Saint Laurent, has ventured into film production under the guidance of artistic director Anthony Vaccarello. Their debut production, "Strange Way of Life," directed by Pedro Almodóvar and featuring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, won the attention in the film industry (all the films produced by Saint Laurent will feature costumes by Vaccarello, which means they will also become an advertising opportunity…).

Moreover, with the ongoing labor strikes within the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America, actors have paused their involvement in productions, including red carpet appearances and promoting their work on social media. However, actors can still engage in fashion campaigns, brand partnerships, fashion events, shows, and dinners. So, while official plans for collaborations with CAA clients remain undisclosed or are firmly denied, the majority stake sale to Artémis may still open the path to lucrative deals and ambassadorships, further cementing the connections between the fashion and Hollywood industries.

Time will tell if the two entities will remain separate or if this strategy will open a new channel between Kering and Hollywood. It's hard indeed to imagine that the Kering association won't lead to some form of synergy in the realm of celebrity endorsements that may go from red carpet sponsorships to the development of unique films for fashion or costumes for films.

What Would a Woman Be, If She Were Able to Start from Scratch: "Poor Things" by Yorgos Lanthimos Wins Golden Lion @ The Venice Film Festival

Around 20 years ago, while studying in Glasgow, I went to a reading featuring Alasdair Gray, James Kelman and Tom Leonard. It was an ordinary event with three iconic local literary icons, definitely not a rare evening in Glasgow, yet it was an intimate night in a pub.

After the reading, while people were chatting and relaxing, I finally found the courage to ask Gray why his novel Lanark, that he had originally published in 1981, hadn't been translated yet in my home country, Italy.

Gray, in his signature baggy trousers and disheveled jumper, ran a hand through his unruly hair, adjusted his glasses on his nose, and simply replied, "Maybe it's not good enough!" Then he shrugged and started laughing loudly in that peculiar and infectious laughter he had. I joined him, but deep down I knew it wasn't true. Lanark was simply excellent as I had discovered at the end of the '90s when a lecturer at Glasgow University had included it in our reading list. But that answer remained hilarious for me – the best reply in the world. An ego-maniacal writer may have answered you with a long tirade, blaming publishers who didn't understand his art, but not Gray.

Time passed, things changed and, between 2015 and 2017 Lanark was eventually translated into Italian and published in four volumes. Gray didn't change, though. He remained a prolific artists and writer. Every time I saw him at readings, he was the same - humble, restless, and generous with his readers (he never behaved like a star, never refused to answer a question you may have had for him or to sign a book). Sadly, he died in 2019.

Gray often claimed in interviews that he was "unfashionable". This definition didn't obviously refer to his attire - his trademark baggy trousers matched with a jumper with a casual hole here and there; his messy hair and crooked glasses. Gray's definition referred indeed to his writing and drawing/painting style.

Yet Gray has become suddenly extremely fashionable: yesterday evening "Poor Things", the film taken from his 1992 eponymous novel, won indeed the Golden Lion at the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film features Emma Stone as Bella Baxter (Stone is also one of the film producers), Willem Dafoe as Godwin Baxter, Ramy Youssef as Max McCandless and Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn.

Gray's novel revolves around Bella Baxter, a woman with a mysterious past. Her husband, Archibald McCandless, writes a distorted autobiography entitled "Episodes from the Early Life of a Scottish Public Health Officer" in which he claims Bella was a resurrected corpse with the mind of an infant, a creation of the scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.

Reassembled in a lab with the aim of being turned into Baxter's companion, Bella grows up as a liberated woman. Her sexual adventures lead her into relationships with McCandless and lawyer Duncan Wedderburn, with whom she elopes and embarks on a journey around Europe, Northern Africa, and Central Asia.

However, Bella (writing as Victoria in the novel) refutes these events, suggesting her husband constructed a sensationalized narrative based on the gothic and romantic themes of the era, echoing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

The narrative is constructed from fictitious historical documents discovered by Glasgow-based researcher Michael Donnelly and introduced by Alasdair Gray (his introduction in the book was also a critique of Glasgow City Council's treatment of culture and heritage and briefly mentions Glasgow's time as the European Capital of Culture in 1990).

The book reflects Gray's rich universe in which gender, identity, philosophy, politics, and in particular Scottish nationalism, are combined together, something that truly fascinated Lanthimos.

"Alasdair Gray's novel is immediately something very visually striking and complex – the themes, the humor, and the complexity of its characters and language," Lanthimos explains.

"I've never read anything like it before, I was very taken by it. Gray was a painter and he'd done illustrations with the text. It was, overall, a story about a woman's freedom in society. The path was open to tell a story like this."

Gray's son, Andrew, remembers how his father had turned down other offers to adapt the novel for the big screen, but things changed when he met Lanthimos.

"My father and Yorgos met in Glasgow and toured the city, visiting locations associated with the novel," he recalls. "Alasdair was impressed that Yorgos had taken the time to meet with him personally. It was my dad's favorite way to converse - walking and showing the city he lived in all his life." According to Andrew, it was watching the "Dogtooth" DVD that convinced his father that Lanthimos had the talent to adapt Poor Things.

Lanthimos' film doesn't have strong connections with Scotland as the story re-shifts its attention on Bella. Tony McNamara who penned the script for the film defines it indeed "Bella's coming-of-age story".

At the beginning of the film Bella, almost dead and rescued by Dr. Baxter after she attempted to take her own life by throwing herself from London's Tower Bridge, is trapped at home, looked after by Baxter, his housekeeper, Mrs Prim (Vicky Pepperdine), and Baxter's assistant, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). 

McCandles falls in love with Bella and Baxter consents to his proposal to Bella, under the condition that the newlyweds continue to reside with him in his peculiar townhouse.

Things don't go as planned, though, when Bella elopes with solicitor Duncan Wedderburn and a journey of discovery - touching Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris - starts for Bella. During it Bella discovers and starts exploring her sexuality (the film received an R-rating for its sexually explicit scenes and full-frontal nudity and required the presence of an intimacy coordinator during production).

So what starts like the story of Frankenstein's monster, turns into a story of liberation in which a woman gets a second chance at her life and, free from society's restrictions, turns her fate around.

"Bella doesn't have any shame or trauma, or even a back story," Emma Stone explains about her character.

"She's not raised by a society that is putting these confines on women. That can be incredibly freeing, and there is really no research you can do for something like this. Bella draws things from the men she meets, from the women she meets, from the environment she's in, from what she's eating. She's like a sponge."

Bella embodies a storm of emotions, hurtling forward like a monorail: "The male characters are trying to control Bella in their own various ways, and she doesn't even entertain it. She is just too autonomous," adds Stone.

Bella's perspective reshapes the world around her, a world filled with authoritative men whose power pales in comparison to hers (consider someone like the narcissistic, self-centered, and misogynistic Duncan, but also the mentally and physically scarred troubled anatomist Godwin Baxter).

The key in unlocking her character lies in her complete indifference to others' opinions of hers: Bella doesn't care about what people think about her and this indifference not only enables her to reveal the vulnerabilities of the men she encounters, but also exposes something deeper - "the fear men have of women," as emphasized by Willem Dafoe, who plays Dr. Baxter. It's important to note that it's not only men who attempt to exert control over her, but also women like Swiney, the brothel's matron.

Bella's fashion and style choices play a pivotal role in asserting her dominance over the other characters. The hair, makeup, and prosthetics, crafted by Nadia Stacey (known for her work in "The Favourite" and "Cruella"), played a significant role in this transformation. Stacey observed that in Victorian England, long hair was considered a symbol of femininity and attraction to men.

However, women typically wore their hair up in public, only letting it down in the privacy of their homes. Stacey made a deliberate decision for Bella to never wear her hair up, particularly when she was in Lisbon, fully embracing her freedom and doing precisely as she pleased.

The film holds additional symbolic elements that viewers will gradually discover. Swiney, for example, consistently dons conservative attire. However, beneath this modest exterior lies a hidden secret, inspired by the picture of a Victorian woman covered in tattoos - a revelation that adds depth and surprise to the character, akin to the layers of symbolism woven throughout the film.

The film's costume designer, Holly Waddington ("Lady Macbeth", "War Horse"), will probably be responsible for relaunching supersized leg-of-mutton sleeves.

While we've witnessed the resurgence of this style on runways over the years, Bella's costumes take it to another level. Waddington's design choices not only reflect Bella's transformation but also elevate these iconic sleeves into a contemporary fashion statement. 

The sleeves of Bella's outfits expand indeed in tandem with her evolving mindset, filling the space typically occupied by male characters and symbolizing her social and sexual awakening.

At the film's outset, Bella is confined within the house and wears blouses reminiscent of the Victorian era, but she never wears a complete outfit, something that symbolically hints at the fact that she is still incomplete and imperfect.

As the story unfolds, her clothing becomes more elegant and refined, with a modern twist.

At one point, Bella seems to channel the aesthetic of a Prada or Miu Miu ad, donning long boots, knee-high socks, and a short coat.

But there are more interesting symbols to discover: when Bella sees the impoverished slum dwellers in Alexandria, she is wearing a formal outfit, underscoring the stark contrast with the destitution around her; Bella's wedding dress, as described by Stone, is instead "sheer and delicate, but also incredibly strong," serving as a metaphor for the nature of sex, where "vulnerability and confidence" coexist harmoniously.

Notably, the only instance in the film where Bella wears a restricting Victorian corset is when she returns to Alfie Blessington and dons a dress from her previous life as Victoria Blessington.

But the vivid costumes, fabrics and accessories, at times garish and extravagant, at others dark and almost poisonous (but so powerful to have turned into an inspiration also for Jerskin Fendrix's textured musical score...), aren't the only fashionable connection in the film: there were two production designers in this film, James Price and Shona Heath and the latter is well-known for her collaborations with renowned photographer Tim Walker.

Heath and Price created extremely detailed sets characterized by a wide range of references: art and film fans will note inspirations going from the satirical drawings of Albert Guillaume during the Belle Epoque era in Paris, to Federico Fellini, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. 

Not everything was built (the sea behind the characters and the skies while on board of the ocean liner, for example, are LED screens), but, at the Origo Studios in Budapest, the production designers built instead multi-layered, epic and composite sets, going from the intricate worlds of London and Baxter's House (inspired by the fluid and open designs of architect John Soane) to the ocean liner ship, the Paris square and brothel and the Alexandria hotel and slums. For the city of Lisbon, they used the largest sound stage in continental Europe at Korda Studios in Budapest.

The colours are also very symbolical: early parts of the film are shot in black and white, but the most colourful scenes and the parts in which Bella's journey and her discoveries become more powerful were shot on ektachrome.

In July, many women held hopes of finding liberation through Greta Gerwig's "Barbie", only to be disillusioned by the blend of feminism and consumerism stamped with the approval of Mattel. Perhaps they will be vindicated by Emma Stone's portrayal of Bella.

In the film's production notes, Stone ponders, "What would a woman be, if she were able to start from scratch?" The film offers Bella and women in general another opportunity at life, a chance to potentially rediscover themselves both sexually and as complete human beings, free from the perpetual constraints imposed by society. 

"Bella's representation of female sexuality is more in line with today's landscape rather than thirty years ago," Andrew Gray says. "She is able to explore sex without feelings of guilt, which makes her a modern heroine (...) I want audiences to understand that this is a political film, and recognize the feminist and socialist aspects. The endeavor of the novel and the film is to make the world a better place by not accepting the evils we have come to regard as normal."

"The story is so relevant today, maybe more so than when we started writing it," agrees McNamara. "The idea of patriarchy and of young women liberating themselves from being objectified has become so important in society. I hope that comes through."

It would have been a delightful sight to witness Gray alongside the film's director in Venice. Would he have opted for a formal tuxedo or would he have worn his usual humble uniform for which he was famous in Glasgow's West End where he lived? Who knows. And who knows what he would have said about the new life of Bella on the big screen rather than on the page.

As his artistic legacy endures, what's for sure, though, is that the intricately allegorical world of Lanark (for who among us is not afflicted by the same metaphorical maladies that plague Unthank?) will be the next adaptation for the big screen.

All images in this post courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. As the members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and of the Writers Guild of America (WGA; on strike since May) are still on strike in the USA and are therefore unable to promote the films they have worked on, the comments provided in this post are taken from the official Production Notes given to the press.

The World (or an Inspiration) in a Petri Dish

Amid growing concerns about food security due to climate change, scientists in New Zealand are pioneering lab-grown fruit tissue. In the past we heard about lab-grown meat, but experiments with fruit are less common.

Researchers from the Food by Design program at the government-backed Plant & Food Research institute in Christchurch are working instead to cultivate fruit tissue from plant cells from various fruits (blueberries, apples, cherries, feijoas, peaches, nectarines and grapes) that may be able one day to mimic the taste, scent, and texture of real fruit. This initiative seeks to enhance food security in New Zealand, particularly in light of population growth, urbanization, and climate change challenges, but also in case of pandemics and wars.

By producing only the edible part of the fruit and eliminating the parts that are usually discarded (think about the apple core and the rind of an orange), this approach also tackles food waste.

In a press release Dr. Ben Schon, scientist and leader of the Food by Design program stated, "Cellular horticulture currently has a smaller profile than cellular agriculture and aquaculture, but we believe this is a really exciting area of science where we can utilize our expertise in plant biology and food science to explore what could become a significant food production system in the future."

However, lab-grown foods, including fruits, are still in early development stages, facing regulatory approvals and consumer acceptance hurdles. Researchers highlight that their hope is to create an end product that is nutritious and has a taste, texture and appearance that consumers are familiar with, but are also investigating approaches to deliver a fresh food eating experience.

Lab-grown fruit tissue could also reduce transportation costs (as fruit may grow within cities) and carbon emissions and may help offset growers’ food losses caused by extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent due to an unfavorable climate.

Researchers acknowledge that creating nutritious and enjoyable lab-grown fruit may take years or may not be achievable, but, as stated above, it could be a solution for a growing population, considering also the limited arable land and an increasingly adverse climate.

Now, if you're a fashion design student reading this piece of news consider the multiple inspiration in this story: from micro and macro plays on proportions (what about micro prints of vegetables or fruit? or micro designs turned into conceptual projects to take the piss out of the fashion industry?) to the concept of reducing waste (can we reduce garments and accessories to minimal modular parts and exchange them? in which ways?).

Last but not least, can we grow garments and accessories in a lab (well, there are already some experiments revolving around growing mycelium-based materials in labs...)? To do so you would need a Petri dish or an agar plate, commonly used in laboratories for various scientific and medical purposes, primarily for the cultivation and observation of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and other small organisms. The humble cell-culture dishes can indeed provide us with some wonderful inspirations (petri dishes recently inspired also the interior decor of a store).

If you have a friend studying biology and science or working in these fields, you can take some pics of microbial growth and develop with them a unique print (a while back the Wellcome Collection in London did a window display with petri dishes of bacterial colonies, even though they didn't contain real bacteria, but photographic representations).

There are fascinating images in the Wellcome Collection archive (that always offers us precious inspirations) - such as a photograph of a petri dish containing a growth medium on which Escherichia coli (E.coli) is growing. Obviously, as soon as you mention E.coli, our minds conjure up diarrhea, but the Escherichia coli is expressing a striking fluorescent red protein in this image. 

But if you prefer, you can opt for a  tower mutant colony of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (a species of yeast commonly used in baking, brewing and wine making) growing on an agar plate surrounded by normal colonies (in red, while the yeast cells are the ones growing upwards).

For those who want to push the inspiration further there are other alternatives instead, including joining the community of DIYbio.org, a prominent online organization that caters to DIY biologists and that comprises artists, researchers, and enthusiasts alike, all driven by a shared passion for playful explorations in biology.

Another option are the spaces and community labs around the world that embrace a similar ethos such as Biomakespace, a nonprofit community lab within the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (currently closed for relocation, but they have a Club and they organise meet up events if you're in the UK).

Most of these labs or communities engage in research fueled by curiosity and by the possibility of connecting different fields and expanding the possibilities of biotechnology in a variety of disciplines (community members have so far launched projects about waste management, agriculture and food, but also the beauty industry). Their collective dedication to innovation encourages indeed scientific experiments beyond traditional labs, much like a dynamic and ever-evolving petri dish of human creativity and ingenuity.

Case Study: How to Counterclaim a Copyright Infringement Claim from Copytrack

We are aware that copyright lawsuits are on the rise within the fashion industry and among influential brands. However, what happens when you find yourself at the center of such legal disputes for an image you used in a post? Let's take the following experience as a case study that can benefit owners of non-commercial websites or blogs.

On August 16th 2023 I received an email from Copytrack. You may have heard about them as, since 2015, they have helped creatives and brands protecting their copyrighted images. In the "About" section added at the end of the email they sent me, they claimed, "As one of the leading digital licensing and copyright agents in the world, we have helped manage, license, and enforce over 200.000 cases of image theft. Though most cases settle peacefully, we reserve the right to proceed legally where necessary through our global network of partner law firms in order to protect the intellectual property of our customers."

In the email they explained they were conctacting me on behalf of their client, WENN Rights International Ltd, whose license and image rights, limited to the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany they were protecting (abroad they are represented by local lawyers and partners).

According to the email, I had used on my site, Irenebrination.com (which, I would like to highlight, was founded as a non-commercial blog and continues to operate as a non-profit venture) an image without permission and they were investigating the case for their client.

The image in question illustrated a post published on March 5th, 2009 and portrayed a model wearing a design by Gareth Pugh; the photograph was taken during the designer's S/S 2009 runway show. The image illustrating my post showed the head and shoulder of the model, not the full figure, and was included in the email they sent me.

I was requested to answer within a week (August 23, 2023) and I was told that if I didn't have a valid license, my use of the image may have constituted a a copyright infringement in the Federal Republic of Germany, and I would be legally obligated to compensate their client for the damages caused by this infringement.

I was suggested to resolve the case amicably visiting their portal and providing proof of my license by uploading it, or, if I didn't have a valid license, I could have purchased a license for past and future use for one year. The image license (valid for 1 year from date of purchase) amounted to €293.29, while the compensation costs (past usage) to €260.00 (payments, due by September 14, 2023, could have been made online at https://portal.copytrack.com – they accept PayPal, credit card, and bank transfer). As an alternative I was also offered to pay compensation for past usage and delete the image. The email contained a link to my post but no links to the client's database proving the image genuinely belonged to them. 

In their email Copytrack added: "Failure to provide proof or pay for a valid license may result in additional fees. Ignoring this matter may lead to legal action in the United States [because their client is in the USA? But shouldn't it have been a German court if they were conctacting me on behalf of a client whose license and image rights they represented limited to the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany?], including claims for lost licensing fees, profits from the unauthorized use, statutory damages, costs, and attorney fees. Each copy or reproduction may be considered a separate violation. We urge you to consider this letter and attached evidence carefully, consult with your legal representatives, and respond promptly. We look forward to a timely resolution to avoid further legal actions." The email was signed by Marcus Schmitt, Copytrack CEO.

I logged on their portal and found that, while in their email they correctly showed the allegedly copyright infringing picture, in their online claim form they pointed to an image showing a full-figure version of the model (sorry, I didn't take a screenshot of their portal, I should have done it - my fault). The image looked squashed, but you could still see it was the same model/picture and the size of the picture was different.

Before replying them, I decided to do my personal investigation: I checked all the images on Wenn's site but couldn't find any relating to that particular runway I had used. The only images I found on their database were pictures (318 in total) of the designer Gareth Pugh at red carpet events or of celebrities wearing his creations and models from other Gareth Pugh shows.

I had taken my image from Zimbio when I did that post, and the original source wasn't available anymore, so I kept looking into the matter. In the end, I found the full figure version of the image they claimed belonged to their client at this link on Pinterest where the user who uploaded it stated it was taken from Zimbio, but was attributed to Flynet Pictures.

I also found another version of the same pic on the site of Hard + Shiny (at this link), the creative studio founded by Gareth Pugh and writer/director Carson McColl. In none of the instances the image was attributed to Copytrack's client. 

I went onto their portal to explain the situation and to ask for further clarification. But, after I filled in their forms and tried to submit them, a red banner appeared saying "ERROR TRY LATER" (sorry again, I didn't take any screenshot of this as well, but always remember to do screenshots when you're working on legal cases).

I tried on two different computers and two different connections, but I kept on getting the same error message. So, in the end I sent them an email to explain how. while sourcing for clues I found different sites pointing at the same image that wasn't anyway attributed to their client.

In my email I added: "It is important to highlight that in your message there is no tangible evidence provided indicating that the image indeed belongs to your client, WENN Rights International Ltd. Your client's website predominantly features images of Gareth Pugh, people on the red carpet wearing his creations, and limited runway show photographs from other seasons than the one indicated. If the image is indeed under the ownership of your client, you should provide me with evidence."

I added that I had removed the post and image from any archives on my site to show my commitment to their request, highlighting that the fees requested were more expensive than what I pay to maintain my site (so purchasing the license wouldn't have been convenient).

On August 18th they got in touch to let me know they had reviewed the case and closed the claim. They didn't provide further explanations. So, in the end the situation was solved amicably.

That said, on August 21st I sent them an email to thank them for their cooperation and understanding. But I also asked them if, for my personal records, they could have provided evidence that the image belonged indeed to WENN Rights International Ltd.

They haven't responded yet, but I'm sure they will do so and, when they do, I will provide an update in this post. It's important to clarify that my email is not intended to question the integrity of their undoubtedly solid legal work. Rather, it is aimed at ensuring that I do not inadvertently engage in any further infringements against their client. Additionally, this may help me informing other users on how to avoid similar claims in the future by correctly attributing the images to their client.

In conclusion, while I'm happy the case closed without further issues, I'm also left wondering if the image genuinely belonged to their client (maybe their client acquired an image archive from another provider, and now they seek copyright payments for the use of images that originally belonged to someone else... I'm not sure). Because, while you want to show your client your are a professional entity, you should also treat the person you're asking to pay for copyright infringement with respect and prove them they have used their client’s materials without permission.

I'm also wondering what kind of actions they may take in future against users who upload images allegedly belonging to their clients on Artificial Intelligence systems to rework them (think users who upload images they want to transform adding a text-based prompt or who want to create new ones by blending several different images on systems such as Midjourney...how will they manage to track these pics? Will they resort to suing the site owners? Well, they're not responsible for what their users upload onto them,so things may become tricky there...).

My advice, in case you run a non-commercial site or blog and you get such an email, is always to try and remember where you got the image you posted and, rather than panicking, doing your little investigation before replying the email to try and find an amicable solution.

If you're not confident in your legalese when responding, consider writing a basic email explaining your situation or presenting your counterclaim. Then, use ChatGPT to assist you in transforming it into a formal email instructing the system to employ legal terminology. This approach will not only save you time and money (especially if you don't have a friend who is a lawyer), but will also demonstrate your are willing to cooperate in finding a solution.

Battle Over Stripes Continues as Adidas Appeals Jury Verdict in Thom Browne Case

Sotheby's auction of items from Freddie Mercury's estate featured quite a few striped costumes and catsuits worn on stage in the late '70s, and several pairs of Adidas high-top sneakers from the 1980s.

The latter became the singer's favorite stage footwear as they allowed him to move freely on stage and yesterday, the most famous pair of Adidas high-top trainers that belonged to the rockstar soared to £127,000 at an auction at Sotheby's in London.

Stripes and Adidas are back in the news not because of Freddie Mercury's memorabilia, but because the Adidas vs Thom Browne saga may continue as the sportswear company appealed to the verdict of the jury issued earlier on this year.

In 2021, Adidas filed a lawsuit against American designer Thom Browne in a New York court, alleging trademark infringement and dilution of Adidas' three-stripe mark. Adidas sought injunctive relief and damages totaling $867,225 (licensing fees) plus over $7 million in alleged profits from the sale of striped apparel and footwear, claiming that Browne's "Four Bar Design" created confusion among consumers.

The case did not favor Adidas, as the two parties had reached an agreement over a decade ago. Adidas had indeed proposed adding a fourth stripe to Browne's three-striped trademark in 2007 to avoid confusion with their products, a suggestion that Browne accepted in 2008. Adidas did not object to the use of four stripes in Browne's garments until 2021, possibly due to Browne's growing success, expansion into sportswear and athleisure, and partnerships with sports teams like F.C. Barcelona and the Cleveland Cavaliers, which Adidas had ties to.

In the trial that began in January 2023 at Manhattan's Southern District Court, researcher Hal Poret, hired by Adidas, presented survey results showing that 26.9% of 2,400 consumers believed Thom Browne's striped products were made by Adidas when shown images with the rectangular label removed. However, the participants didn't physically touch the products. Thom Browne's defense reiterated that his four parallel horizontal bars and grosgrain tag were distinct from Adidas' three vertical stripes.

They argued that "Adidas does not own stripes" and highlighted and presented Adidas' internal branding guidelines that state the brand's designers can only tilt the stripes 20 degrees and use them vertically, but not horizontally (the stripes were used horizontally on socks in an Adidas / Gucci capsule collection).

The price difference between items was also noted, highlighting how consumers wouldn't assume that a $600 pair of shorts were produced by Adidas, so confusion between the two companies' designs was unlikely because they operated in different markets (luxury and athletic wear), catered to distinct customer bases, and offered products at vastly different price points. Ultimately, after an eight-day trial, the jury found that Thom Browne did not infringe on Adidas' trademarks and was not liable for damages or profits.

However, Adidas has since appealed the verdict, contending that Judge Jed Rakoff had provided the jury with incorrect instructions regarding potential confusion during the purchasing process. According to Adidas, confusion "need not occur at point-of-sale but can also occur either during the 'initial interest' or 'post-sale' phase" (regarding this point, Adidas argues that without clear identification as Thom Browne on social media or when worn in public, there could be a risk of confusion; yet it is frankly hard to understand where is the harm here…). To support the statement, the brand referenced the Polaroid Factors (Polaroid Corp. v. Polarad Electronics Corp., 287 F.2d 492, 495, 2d Cir. 1961). These factors encompass the strength of the plaintiff's trademark, the similarity between the two marks, the proximity and competitiveness of the products, the potential for the senior user to develop a competing product in the market of the alleged infringer's product; evidence of actual consumer confusion, bad faith adoption of the mark by the defendant, the quality of the defendant's products, and the sophistication of consumers in the relevant market.

The company also claimed that Judge Rakoff made an unfair decision in January to exclude testimony from one of its experts while permitting an expert from Thom Browne to testify about the use of stripes on apparel. As a consequence, Adidas called for the judgment to be vacated and a new trial to be ordered due to the district court's "prejudicial errors."

In response, Thom Browne's attorneys argued that the jury instructions were not misleading and that their expert witness did not harm Adidas' case. They requested the appellate court to reject Adidas' attempt to revisit the issue, stating that Adidas' arguments contained inaccuracies and missing facts. According to Thom Browne's rebuttal, the jury was well aware that it would not be considering point-of-sale confusion, but only initial interest and post-sale confusion, as Adidas wanted and argued.

It is obvious that Adidas is trying to subvert the jury’s decision in this case, hoping to obtain the same results they got in 2008 for the Adidas America, Inc. v. Payless ShoeSource, Inc. That case started in November 2001 when Adidas filed its original complaint against Payless ShoeSource for trademark infringement over the use of a similar striped logo on athletic shoes.

Adidas argued that Payless' cheaper shoes could harm its brand and dilute its logo's value. Payless was found guilty of willful federal trademark and trade dress infringement, trademark and trade dress dilution, and state-law unfair and deceptive trade practices as a result of its sale of footwear bearing confusingly similar imitations of Adidas' famous Three-Stripe Mark and Superstar Trade Dress (between 2001 and the verdict in 2008, so throughout the pendency of the litigation, Payless continued to introduce new, similar footwear models that Adidas would accuse of infringement). In that case the jury sided with Adidas (267 Payless lots were accused of infringement, of which the jury found all but one to infringe and dilute Adidas' trademark and trade dress interests), awarding them $305 million, which at the time was considered one of the largest verdicts in a trademark case.

There is one item that may have saved Browne a lot of hassle in this case and that probably the designer doesn't want to reference because that would put in jeopardy the original inspirations for his trademark motif.

Browne has always maintained that his red, white and blue three-striped trademark was inspired by varsity and collegiate sports uniforms, but in the archives of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum there's a pair of 1967 Lycra men's briefs designed by Ruben Torres with a red, white and blue striped edge that may have proved Adidas how this motif was already popular then (and at the time it didn't cause any copyright infringement case). Yet this very item may have put into question the genuine originality of Browne's own red, white and blue striped designs.

While an appeal is not surprising in such cases, appellate courts are generally reluctant to overturn a jury verdict, so it will be interesting to see what will happen in this case. The next steps involve each side submitting additional briefs, followed by oral arguments before the appellate court decides, a process that may take a significant amount of time.

The outcome of this case case was intriguing because it implied that possessing a trademark registration does not guarantee an absolute and unchallengeable monopoly for brands. These endless legal sagas are becoming so fascinating that, as discussed in previous posts, they could easily serve as a plotline for a legal drama or a dramedy series centered around the most intriguing fashion law cases.

You must admit though that Adidas' unwavering determination and commitment in protecting its stripes is verging towards the obsessive: in March, Adidas also attempted to challenge the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's trademark application featuring a yellow three-stripe design, by arguing that it might create confusion with their own iconic three-stripe logo, potentially jeopardizing their brand recognition.

One can only hope that, when the world faces its final moments, there won't be any celestial beings designated to judge humanity donning striped robes, because you already know that an Adidas attorney, rising from the debris of Armageddon, may file a lawsuit against them over consumer confusion.