40 of Tomorrow: Rejina Pyo

Korean-born, London-based Rejina Pyo quietly came onto the fashion scene following her Central Saint Martins graduation in 2011, but it wasn’t long before she was making waves at retail.
She become known for her collections of voluminous, color-blocked coats and over the past six years has gone on to develop elegant, yet fuss-free clothing that women can breathe into, including mididresses in bright colors, wide-leg jeans and loose shirting.
Along the way, she has gained a legion of supporters, from retailer Mariam Nassir Zadeh to Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine and fashion director Lisa Aiken, who subscribe to her female-friendly approach and have helped usher her into the spotlight.
“I do think about how my designs will integrate into the life of the women wearing them. I want them to feel strong and to be comfortable,” said Pyo. “It helps that I am my own customer.”
The designer has been a pioneer in the contemporary category, choosing the accessible luxury route for her label and attracting such retailers as Net-a-porter, Selfridges and Nordstrom.
She has introduced her own footwear, handbag and jewelry ranges and her sculptural heels and Olivia bag in particular have gained cult status among the street-style set.
Retail is Pyo’s next big project. She has

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The economics of operating a first-class cabin no longer make sense to air carriers or consumers.

After decades of field research, photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have finished a book documenting Africa’s waning way of life.

CALENDAR GIRLS: Violet Chachki and Ellen von Unwerth have joined forces for a 2019 calendar, with each month bringing a new character.
The cross-discipline drag queen and photographer became friendly through fashion week parties and shows. “I am totally fascinated by Violet as a person, personality and of course how she looks. I’m also fascinated by the whole gender and transgender, transvestite movement,” von Unwerth said.
She said “inventing a little story for every month of the year is always an exciting challenge.” The calendar concept stemmed from “classic pin-up ideas, classic cheesecake photography, but I made it more true to today, edgier, a bit more fetish and dark,” von Unwerth said.
In Goa, India, for a private event performance Friday, Violet said the calendar cover image was inspired by one of her tattoos, reminiscent of a cover from John Willie’s fetish magazine, which was based on a René Gruau illustration. The drag queen wore archival pieces from Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier couture, as well as custom pieces from Prada and Miu Miu. “I hope my work and what I do provides a form of escape for certain people. Especially now politically or whatever you could be going through, it’s important

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PARIS — Design duo Viktor & Rolf have unveiled a capsule collection with historical French lingerie house Aubade.
“In couture, you think in terms of meters. For this, we were forced to think in millimeters,” Viktor Horsting said at a press presentation on Wednesday. “The challenge was really to scale down the design gesture.”
Horsting and Rolf Snoeren merged their signature — a cartoonlike bow that even became a perfume bottle for the brand’s Bonbon fragrance — with the French lingerie house’s celebrated artisanal techniques.
The collection consists of the nine-piece Bow collection, presented in two colors, the pink Bonbon set and the sultry Soir black set.
Tiny lace bows — laser-cut for a graphic finish — are embroidered on mesh bases, culminating in an allover motif on the black T-shirt that is also part of the collection.
Bras come in three styles: Aubade’s best-selling half-cup, a plunging high apex bra and a nonwired triangle bra, with matching briefs. Sizes go up to 90G, with sets priced around 169 euros.
The designers, who show their collections in Paris during couture week, paid particular attention to the back of each bra, a part of the product that is generally overlooked. Two signature bows decorate the fastening and all

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LOS ANGELES — Lee Spielman is nothing if not efficient.
He’s direct and doesn’t waste time on formalities, and that’s no surprise given how busy he is with Babylon. That’s the Los Angeles label he started with Garrett Stevenson some three-and-a-half years ago. The two have a steady flow of collaborations in the works, going as far ahead as 2020, and plans to reopen a store in the L.A. area next year.
They recently wrapped a pop-up at Undefeated on La Brea Avenue, doing a collaboration with Venice brand Born x Raised. Past collaborations for the brand have ranged from Off-White to skate brand Spitfire. This places it in the enviable position of sitting alongside Maison Margiela in some stores and F—ing Awesome, a core label, in others. Distribution is discerning, with some 25 accounts globally, doing business with accounts it sees eye-to-eye with, Spielman said.
“It’s finding the common thread [as to] why that all makes sense,” Spielman said. “So Virgil [Abloh], he’d actually come to the shop and pull up and talk with kids….We definitely live in a wild place where we sell clothes to fashion kids and we sell clothes to dirty kids at the skate park, which is a

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The work of artist Lucio Fontana will be back in New York next month — 58 years after the late artist made his only visit to the city.
When “Lucio Fontana: On the Threshold” bows at the Met Breuer Jan. 23, it will be the first major survey of his work in more than 40 years. The show will examine his work including sculptures, paintings, drawings and environments. Creator of the art movement Spatialism, Fontana’s slashed paintings became symbols of the postwar era. The Met’s show, which runs through April 14, will include examples of this series, known as “Cuts,” or “Tagli.”

The catalogue references Fontana’s own take on the work. “When I sit down in front of one of my Tagli [Cuts], to contemplate it, I suddenly feel a great expansion of the spirit,” he explained in 1961. “I feel like a man liberated from the slavery of the material, like a man who belongs to the vastness of the present and the future.”

The artist’s oeuvre is admired by some leading members of the fashion crowd, including Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. The pair showcase Fontana’s work among the artists on view in the Fondazione Prada. Fontana’s work has attracted the

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STRONG GIRL: Selena Gomez has been tapped by Puma to design a collection of shoes, apparel and accessories, launching Dec. 12.
The American starlet, who has one of the highest Instagram communities with 144 million followers, had already teamed with Puma to design two sneakers, the Phenom Lux in March and the DEFY in September, but it’s her first try at creating apparel for the brand.
Named “Strong Girl,” a riff on the singer’s initials, the collection is made up of sports pieces with a nod to the Nineties — Gomez was born in 1992. Striped leggings, a crop top with mesh details, button-up skirts and a PVC tracksuit set are delivered in black, white and gray, with occasional pops of red.
Gomez also designed a new sneaker, the SG Runner, a hybrid between the classic Puma court shoe and a running sneaker.
Additionally, the singer-turned-designer came up with a revamped version of the DEFY sneaker. The DEFY Mid x SG training shoe features a black metal buckle and a rose-gold plated chain with a textured knitted upper.
The collection was unveiled via a video posted on Puma’s Instagram account, in which Gomez and five of her close friends state the keywords that inspired the collaboration.
“I

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The collegiate outfitter is bringing a taste of British sartorial style to Lexington Avenue.

This rare baseball is adorned with a who’s who of Golden Age Hollywood signatures obtained at the Dodger’s Hollywood Stars exhibition games.