"Weekend Reading" is a weekly rundown of our favorite stories from around the web.

A Titanic Moment: How Celine Dion Became the Fashion Ccon 2017 Needs
"Céline Dion: Canadian, excessively enthusiastic, big warbling voice. This much we know. But are you aware that the voice of the 90s has latterly become the poster girl for avant-garde fashion label Vetements?
Riding high after her first appearance at the Met Gala this year, to which she wore a deconstructed Versace gown with a higher-than-thigh-high slit, this week Dion has been fraternising with Anna Wintour on the frows in Paris, given the Giambattista Valli’s haute couture show a standing ovation and been photographed naked for US Vogue’s Instagram account."

via: The Guardian

Inside the Biggest Dior Exhibition Ever Staged in Paris
"'Christian Dior never set out to be a revolutionary. He wanted to be retrograde. He was looking to the more distant past, when Paris was the center of good taste, in order to restore beauty, femininity, and harmony, not to mention French pride, after the war,' noted fashion historian Florence Müller during a preview of “Christian Dior, Designer of Dreams.” The main event of this couture season, the exhibition opens to the public on Wednesday, July 5, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris."

via: Vogue

Why Grace Wales Bonner Is The Future Of Men's Fashion
"You know you are living through an emergency when you can't stop talking about leaders. Like the efforts of good parents, politicians' actions should mainly be invisible, only requiring constant scrutiny when something is wrong. We grew up thinking that progress and populism were tied together and that liberal values became the natural order. But it seems we were wrong: we are in a Hobbesian state of nature, where the life of man is 'nasty, brutish and short', where British politicians go against their principles to stay in power. When egotistical men and women create a revolution in manners and call it freedom, you begin to look away."

via: Esquire

​New Report Reveals Fast-Fashion Retailers Like H&M and Zara Are Linked to Devastating Pollution
"By now, it's common knowledge that there are several ethics issues at play when it comes to fast-fashion retailers, including popular stores like Zara, H&M, ASOS, and more. It's because of problems like unjust conditions for garment workers, for instance, that more and more industry insiders are urging for progress. And now, thanks to a new troubling pollution report, we have yet another reason to rally for change.
According to Buzzfeed News, the report — published by The Changing Markets Foundation — claims that fast-fashion brands like H&M, Zara, and ASOS are contributing to local waterway pollution and the emission of "noxious gases" because of the factories they work with in China, Indonesia, and India. A week after publishing the report, The Changing Markets Foundation launched a petition aimed at putting a stop to this, and it's now garnered over 129,000 signatures."

via: Teen Vogue

U.S. Garment Production Wouldn't Be A Thing Without Immigrants
"When it comes to politics, a subject that the fashion community has grown slightly more comfortable addressing recently, there are a couple of major issues that directly impact U.S. fashion brands. One is border taxes on imports, which the current president has said he intends to increase as a way of punishing those who don't produce in the U.S.; the other is immigration, which the president intends to make even more difficult than it already is — a move that would actually result in deeply damaging consequences for U.S. manufacturing. Not only is this contradictory, but it's also concerning for local fashion businesses of all kinds."

via: Fashionista

Dirty laundry: Are your clothes polluting the ocean?
"OK, let’s face it – fashion isn’t exactly the best at diverse representation. As an Asian woman working in media – and, within that, fashion too – I’m very often aware of how little I see my experience reflected in what surrounds me on a daily basis. From endless examples of Hollywood whitewashing Asian stories and characters, to the irony of Karlie Kloss, as opposed to an actual Japanese model, dressed as a geisha in what American Vogue plugged as a diverse issue, I’m unfortunately used to the industry I’ve always wanted (and worked hard) to be a part of getting this so wrong – if they even bother to tackle it at all. That’s why, though, when Kenzo’s Humberto Leon and Carol Lim sent out an all-Asian cast onto their catwalk in Paris earlier this week, I couldn’t help but smile despite my cynical heart."

via: BBC

Fashion’s Full Disclosure — or Not
"Imagine you’re reading a review of a new fashion collection recently unveiled in a far-flung destination. Living vicariously through the writer’s words, you’re flown first-class to Rio de Janeiro or Kyoto, Japan, or Florence, Italy. The lush hotel room described in the article is stocked with small leather goods and flowers. You, again channeling the writer, enjoy a helicopter tour of the city, cocktail parties and dinners, and outings to famous landmarks. And then you get to a description of the collection itself: beautiful, wearable and perfect for anyone’s holiday sojourns."

via: The New York Times

Greg Lauren Talks Through His ‘Collide’ Collection With Moncler
"Moncler continues to trail-blaze in the luxe outerwear space with a new deconstructed collection with American west coast designer Greg Lauren. Born on the Alpine ski-slopes, Moncler’s world is far removed from that of the sunny beach climes and palm tree vibes of Lauren’s own creative space in the City of Angels. But that didn’t stop the two collaborating, and the result is one of the most exciting experiments in we’ve seen."

via: Highsnobiety

Beauty Got so Basic That the Only Place for Fashion to go Was Ugly
"One misconception about fashion designers is that they’re all in the business of making beautiful clothes. But beauty, in the sense of design that is graceful and harmonious, that seeks to please the eye and strives toward the exalted and sublime—is not always the goal.'Nothing is so boring as something beautiful,' the designer Dries Van Noten said in a 2012 interview. 'I prefer ugly things, I prefer things which are surprising.' He’ll often start a collection by identifying colors he doesn’t like, he explained, and then putting them to use."

via: Quartz

Diehard Supreme Fans Talk Louis Vuitton, Hype, Addiction, and Collaboration
"'You can't have the conversation of New York menswear without Supreme right now, because it's such a massive global phenomenon,' Kim Jones explained back in January after he presented the Louis Vuitton x Supreme collaboration in Paris. 'I just feel that the strength of their graphic versus the strength of the Louis Vuitton graphic, and that kind of Pop Art feeling — it works together perfectly,' Kim added. Given that the Paris-based luxury house once sent a cease-and-desist letter to the New York-based streetwear upstarts over its use of Vuitton-like monogram prints on skateboards back in 2000, it shows just how far the balance of power has shifted in the last 17 years. In fusing his fall/winter 17 collection with the hype that is stitched into Supreme's seams, Kim Jones made Louis Vuitton, arguably fashion's most sought-after luxury brand, even more covetable. 'This was the establishment bowing low to the anti-establishment and taking a leaf out of their intelligent streetwear book,' i-D Fashion Features Director Anders Christian Madsen noted in his show review. For the release, Louis Vuitton took another leaf out of the streetwear book and followed Supreme's lead."

via: i-D

Tags: weekend-reading