Fashion Conversations Bronwyn Cosgrave

Melissa Battifarano was once known as “Rihanna’s right hand.” That’s how Vogue has described her work helping to establish Fenty Corp. as a fashion player with Rihanna. On the episode, Melissa unpacks how she created Fenty X Puma and Savage X Fenty with the diamond-drenched performer.  She talks about how rising through the ranks of labels like Sean John, Champion and Tory Sport, she worked with the teams that merged athletic garb with fashion and created athleisure and sport luxury. The downtown New York designer shares how she now balances her work producing Tony 1923, her own luxury sportswear line inspired by her late father, with a new role ideating Diesel’s first activewear line under the brand’s creative director, Glenn Martens.

Timothy Han, the London-based Canadian founder of Timothy Han / Edition, reveals how his passion for literature, and his time assisting one of fashion’s greatest storytellers, John Galliano, inspired him to build his brand. To commemorate the passing of André Leon Talley, Tim harks back to a special moment during his Galliano days when he spent six weeks assisting American Vogue’s legendary editor-at-large. 
 
The pandemic prompted Tim to expand his brand to include fashion and considering this, he explains how his training at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and his friend, the model, Cecilia Chancellor, guides his clothing design process. Contemplating the urgent need to move toward a sustainable future, Tim shares why his ethical methods are informed by his Canadian identity.

Anastasia Ivchenko and Eugenia Skibina, founders of the boutique PR agency, Public Kitchen, explain how they helped to establish their city, Kyiv, as the most vibrant fashion capital in Eastern Europe. From Latvia’s capital Riga, where they are temporarily settled, they also share their heartbreaking story of escaping Ukraine in late March, a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of their country.

The Brooklyn-based artist, Patricia Treib, talks about her experience contributing to Valentino Des Ateliers Haute Couture. This is the critically acclaimed autumn/winter 2021 couture collection produced as a cultural exchange by Valentino's Creative Director, Paolo Piccioli, his Rome atelier and 17 international contemporary artists, including Patricia. 
The conversation begins by exploring Patricia’s background. She explains why she pursued painting, after growing up in a small town in Michigan. She then reveals the creative process of working with Piccioli and his studio. She delves into why working on the collection surpassed collaborating and proved to be a meaningful exchange. Doing so, she recalls her total experience - from receiving the text message that started it all - from the project’s curator, Gianluigi Ricuperati - to the studio visit she conducted via Zoom for the Valentino team and the intricate workmanship with them transforming her canvases into finery. Patricia also describes her 11th hour decision to travel from New York to Venice to observe the collection’s July 15 blockbuster debut.

Alexander Fury is the men's fashion critic of the Financial Times newspaper and the fashion features director of AnOther magazine. He comes back on the show to discuss being front row at what he describes as the “first big return of physical fashion shows.” That is, the live presentations showcasing the Spring/Summer 2022 men’s ready-to-wear collections and the Autumn/Winter ‘21 Paris couture. 
Alex offers a rare insight to the critically acclaimed debut of Azzedine Alaïa’s creative director, Pieter Mulier, and also the extraordinary reveal of Demna Gvasalia’s inaugural Balenciaga couture collection. This includes details of Gvasalia’s olfactory collaboration with the Norwegian artist, Sissel Tolass. 
Alex’s view from Venice includes his thoughts on how Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello and Valentino’s Pier Paolo Piccioli “interacted” with the art world.
Amidst all of this, he talks about the sort of Covid-19 protocols he encountered during fashion’s return to “business as usual” plus the reported demise of the glossy magazine “super editor.”
His ultimate takeaway? “The couture shows very much sent a message about the resilience of fashion,” states Alex. “And they sent a message about the kind of joy of fashion, the joy of dressing up. When people ask for a justification for the existence of couture….you know, couture is really about joy, and about exuberance, and creating clothes that can really make people dream. And I think that was a message that you drew away from these shows. Absolutely.”
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The film director Karam Gill talks about spending four years making Ice Cold: The Untold Story of Hip Hop Jewelry. This is the first ever TV series exploring the culture and importance of jewelry in the world of Hip Hop music. It premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and it is airing now on Youtube Originals as well as the Youtube channel of the hip hop trio, Migos. Karam explains how Ice Cold contextualizes the culture of hip hop jewelry by delving into the deeper meaning and purpose of fine jewelry and how the hip hop community forged their own identity in the world of luxury and fashion. He talks about securing Migos and the record label, Quality Control, to be executive producers and enlisting the dazzling roll call of hip hop royalty and inventive independent jewelers who star in Ice Cold.