"Weekend Reading" is a weekly rundown of our favorite stories from around the web.
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Design Icon Jony Ive Talks to Style God Hiroshi Fujiwara
"Fujiwara met Apple’s Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in California to discuss the launch of Apple’s three new phones – the iPhone X, IPhone8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Ive himself is a legend, having revolutionized tech culture since joining Apple in 1992, constantly innovating and striving to create new worlds in an ever-evolving information age."

via: Dazed

Donatella Versace: "My brother was the king, and my whole world had crashed around me”
"Men – particularly wealthy, powerful ones – are often described as becoming more attractive as they get older. You rarely hear it said of a woman, but it is true of Donatella Versace. I am watching her sit for her portrait and marvelling at a face that has the bones of a Roman emperor and the lashes of a Fellini leading lady. Her three-quarter profile could – should – grace a stamp, or a gold coin, or a slope of Mount Rushmore. Her skin, the colour of the terracotta rooftops of Milan, spread out outside the window, is luminous. Vanilla-blond hair falls in a soft wave, lopped off at shoulder blade height. The high slit in her floor-length black dress reveals legs toned so taut that they ripple as she moves. I am watching from the back of the room and when she breaks from posing to greet me, she moves with a lissom grace that belies the seven-inch platforms on which her tiny frame is jacked up."

via: The Guardian

Is Bally More Interesting Than Gucci? Depends Who’s Tweeting
"No good story begins with a tweet — or, good lord, an abandoned one — but bear with me. By that point, Gucci fetishism had become parodic and comical. Alessandro Michele’s rebrand had infused the company with flamboyance, joie de vivre, whimsy and sass, but looking at some outfits suggested Ed Hardy’s sophisticated older cousin, Édouard. Bally, by contrast, is buttoned-up, quiet, peacockish only in its deep inner core. It has been that way for years. Thanks to hip-hop, Bally was one of the first brands I coveted in the 1980s. There’s a guy I follow on Instagram who sells vintage sneakers and last year posted several gorgeous dead-stock pairs but, agonizingly, none in my size."

via: The New York Times

Where Does Streetwear Belong in the New York Fashion Industry?
"Fashion Week is so weird. Watching runway after runway, flipping your head over and over from left to right, you begin to think think things like: "People are really betting on bare butts for Spring 2018." There were bare butts at Tom Ford, bare butts from the weirdos at Linder, and bare butts at the Richardson x Pornhub party."

via: Garage Magazine

Here’s How Sneakers Are Taking Over Fashion Week
"In the midst of a designer exodus and one of the weakest luxury apparel markets in recent history, many wondered if this September’s New York Fashion Week could still keep its luster. Yet, where others saw weakness, some sensed opportunity. As an army of journalists chased fashion shows all over New York City, a single idea drew them (and the eyes of the world) back again and again to just one location: sneakers."

via: Highsnobiety

Can Levi's Make Life Better for Garment Workers?
"It’s 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, and a section of Linea 1 has left their stations to form a ring on the factory floor. As their supervisor stands in the center, the workers toss a ball of blue yarn back and forth across the circle, each holding on to a segment of string to create an elaborate cat’s cradle. As they pass the ball, they take turns making promises, telling each other the things they plan to say and do later. One says she’ll spend more time with her family. Another says he’ll speak up when he feels he’s been treated unfairly."

via: Fortune

How Calculated Was Vans' Newfound Chicness?
"While men's sneaker culture has always been a thing, it's a more recent development for women. Among the fashion crowd at least, having the right athletic shoe has become akin to having the new "It" bag — except there's a good chance the sneaker has been around for at least a couple of decades, while the bag likely hasn't been on shelves longer than a couple of months. From Adidas Stan Smiths to (maybe) New Balance 990s, it seems that every season, fashion collectively decides to resurrect another classic, old-school sneaker with which to accessorize both their on- and off-duty outfits. And one brand that has enjoyed a notably long run in this trend cycle is Vans."

via: Fashionista

What Pierre Bergé Taught Me About Fashion
"Timing is everything in life, and so it is in journalism. I had the good fortune of becoming a fashion writer in 1986, when the industry was still dominated by privately owned houses founded by extraordinarily tough but generous individuals — men like Yves Saint Laurent and his lifelong business partner Pierre Bergé; Valentino; Giancarlo Giammetti; and Oscar de la Renta. There was a second ring of designers whom I adored, and relied on for gossip and insight, like my friend Fernando Sánchez; and there were the editors who were a school unto themselves — no one more so than the late John Fairchild, whose family owned and ran Women’s Wear Daily during the prime fashion decades of the 20th century. I never worked for John, but we became friends later, after he had retired. Because these people were part of my development as a fashion writer, it doesn’t take much for a memory to be triggered, and then out rushes a whole series of them. But here I want to tell just one story, about Bergé, who died this week at age 86. It not only illustrates an aspect of his personality perhaps not addressed in the tributes to him, but it also spotlights a crucial difference in journalism and the fashion world between then and now."

via: The Cut

Parsons MFA Fashion 2017: Full Line-Up
"Yesterday, the sixth generation of the MFA Fashion Design & Society of the Parsons School of Design presented their final collections. The nine graduates explained their inspiration behind the concept, struggles during the year and visions for the future."

via: 1 Granary

Oscar de la Renta’s New Designers Have a Hillary Clinton Story to Share
"In the latest installment of our video series that goes inside the private working worlds of designers, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, co-creative directors of Oscar de la Renta, talk about taking over the corner office, their arguments over waists, and how Hillary Clinton helped them at an emotional time. And that’s what didn’t make it on screen. This interview has been edited and condensed."

via: The New York Times

Tags: weekend-reading