The Run-Through with Vogue

Nicole Phelps and Luke Leitch have touched down in Paris and are eager to attend the many shows that comprise fashion week in the City of Light. But before they check out shows from the likes of Julie Kegels, Matières Fécales, Rick Owens, or the latest collaboration between John Galliano and Zara, the pair of reviewers sat down to talk about the highlights and critical moments that emerged during Milan Fashion Week.

They started by talking about the Diesel show, which ended Glenn Martens six year run at the brand, before he devotes himself fully to Maison Margiela. “Martens has always been very inclusive, very sex positive,” Luke observed, “it’s quite punk.” The sex positive energy at the show manifested in a young couple making out at the show. “I really felt my age and like a slightly disapproving old dowager,” he laughed.

There was the Prada collection devoted exclusively to the skirt as a central garment. Mrs. Prada has given several interviews (including on our very podcast) about seeing the skirt as similar to a tee in its capacity to be a canvas for expression. The skirts were paired with these barely there bras, possibly as a styling point against the skirt to accentuate it all the more.

Luke wrote about the Emporio Armani presentation (not a runway show), which was the last to be overseen by Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani before Dario Vitale helms the brand. The show was about time. Luke at first interpreted this with some heaviness, but it became clear that the intent was about the accrual that time allows and the layers that are added in an innovative interregnum moment. “There was the addition and the encrustation of salt crystals on garments and bags, which is not something I'd wanna wear in this Parisian rain because I'd be melting,” Luke noted, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Nicole and Luke were both “Sanderistas”—great fans of Simone Belloti’s Jil Sander collection. Maria Grazia Chiuri's second ready-to-wear collection for Fendi also made a splash. “She didn’t make it very easy for us to see the collection,” Nicole commented, which arguably is a metaphor for fashion at large. Meryll Rogge’s Marni has been finding her footing and community. “You can really feel—call them Gen Z, call them what you will—but young people coalescing around her,” Nicole said, “the way she's collaging references and whipping them all together in her own way really speaks to how people who are 30 or so, are looking at the '90s or the early 2000s.”

Demna had a big moment at Gucci following his divisive February show, and he showed in his beautifully realized store. “It was a fabulous vehicle for saying Gucci is not necessarily just for one person or just for one style,” Luke noted. Demna imagined a whole universe of people coming to his store which included the horse girl, the glamour puss, and the punk prep school kids. Paris Fashion Week, here we come. Allez!

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

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October cover star Mikey Madison joins Chloe at her hotel room in Milan ahead of Vogue World to discuss her role as Frances Haugen in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, out October 7. The film is a follow-up to 2010's The Social Network, focusing primarily on the whistleblower and the journalist who exposed the rot in Facebook's infrastructure.

Madison does not physically resemble Frances Haugen, so she had to embody the character in other ways. " For this one, I feel like it's more of an intellectual transformation that I needed to try and pull off. There was a lot of restraint involved in this character and how she processes emotions, and so that was something that was intriguing to me. Also, a little bit scary in a way."

Aside from the film, Madison spends most of her time baking and with her family and pets. She recently acquired two donkeys and spends as much time as she can giving them cuddles and grooming them. "There was one point where I was like, 'I wonder, is this too crazy and unhinged and too many horse, pony, Chihuahua things? And, like, are people gonna think that I'm crazy?' And then I was like, "You know what? This is me."

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

Special thanks to Nothing Tech.
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On today’s episode of the Run-Through podcast, presented by Prada, Chloe sat down with the two co-creative directors of Prada: Mrs. Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons in their first ever joint podcast interview. They covered everything from the Prada show earlier this week that prominently featured skirts to their respective design philosophies, favorite soups, and everything in between.

They started with the latest collection which debuted hours before Vogue World Milano. Mrs. Prada spoke about the parallels between t-shirts and skirts in the sense that “usually in a T-shirt you put your ideas” but you are less constrained with the skirt being further from the face.

Then, they went back to the beginning. "I became a fashion designer because I didn't find anything to wear,” Mrs. Prada explained sincerely, “I don’t dedicate a lot of time to dressing.” She dresses swiftly and usually wears skirts. Simons countered that by stating that while that might technically be true, "It never looks like a fast decision to me. It always looks very sophisticated."

Already, the Prada of Mrs. Prada and Simons has left an indelible mark but their legacy is still in the making. In reflection, Mrs. Prada commented that “if I have to say what my contribution was to fashion, it was reality. Fashion is only about glamour and beauty and actually life is so much the opposite.” Reality is a grounding principle in this moment of societal upheaval with politics and artificial intelligence throwing so much into turmoil. When asked about what she makes of the present fascination with vintage and style of the previous decades, she had some wisdom. “ I think that in this moment people are very interested in the past because the present and the future are so scary. No one is able to envision a future.  People are scared and want to be bound to something, otherwise you are lost. It's an instinct of survival, probably.”

Mrs. Prada has long had an affinity for the word useful. She sees it as her obligation to make useful clothing and to design with utility at the forefront. “At the end of the day, I work for a commercial company that has to sell, so I am not an artist. In our field, you have to try to be useful and creativity for the sake of creativity if it’s useless is really not good.”

Towards the end of their conversation, Chloe asked Mrs. Prada if she was familiar with the concept of a meme. “Anything you people ask me now, I have no idea” was her response. But Chloe proceeded to explain to her the recently circulating meme of her skeptical facial expression reacting to the robots at Vogue World. “You were a hero!” Chloe exclaimed.

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

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Mere minutes after Vogue World Milano wrapped, Chloe, Nicole, and Head of Editorial Content at Vogue Italia Francesca Ragazzi gathered in a nearby ristorante to recap what they just witnessed. After a long day following the Prada and Diesel runway shows, the pageant continued at the Galleria, bringing together Italian designers from across time. The clothes, the models, the dancing, the singing—not a detail was missed in celebrating the best of Italian fashion and craftsmanship!

As Chloe pointed out, Francesca has functionally been working as the Mayor of Milan for the past few years in preparation for this massive event. In order to book the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, she had to speak to every stakeholder, every restauranteur, and every shop owner to make this magical evening come to fruition. “It’s all about being curious about their stories. I could write a book,” Francesca told them, “Believe me—the secrets and the mysterious things…”

While this event truly took years to plan, some of the crucial details only came together in the last couple of days before the show. She spoke about going street casting with Anna for some of the roles. “We plan too much, Chloe! It was curated chaos, we say.”

The group then identified their highlights from the show. For Nicole, seeing the designers sitting in the front row was a standout moment. “It was really fun to watch everyone watching their designs in the show. And it's a unique situation for them, because usually when they put on a show it's all their own clothes, and this time it was all mixed.”

Chloe was a big fan of the song and dance, and in particular the La Scala choir, Alicia Keys, and Roberto Bolle’s performance. Fran couldn’t help but express utter gratitude for the many teams of people that worked together to make tonight’s event happen. “I've never seen such harmony and teamwork,” she noted.

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.
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Dakota Johnson’s iconic bangs are usually maintained by her hairstylist Mark Townsend, but this week she showed up to The Run-Through podcast with ones she cut herself. “They're a little lopsided. One side's a bit longer. But we'll fix it later,” she told Chloe.

Johnson’s reason for the self-inflicted cut is from the need to do something tactile herself. “Sometimes if I've had a cocktail, I'm like, "This is a good idea." And then other times it's, it's, it's telling of having some sort of existential crisis. Before I was going on this press tour, I was kind of like, I haven't been very public, and it's hard to be under a microscope and scrutinized. Like everything is watched, and now everyone is a spy, and everyone is the press.”

Coming from a long line of famous blondes (her mom is famously Melanie Grittith, her grandmother is Tippi Hedron, and her dad is Don Johnson), Johnson grew up practically on set. Her first role was the 1999 comedy-drama Crazy in Alabama directed by her stepfather Antonio Banderas and she starred alongside her mom and her younger sister Stella. She didn’t pick up acting again until she was cast in David Fincher’s The Social Network eleven years later. Now she will star in the new horror film Verity opposite Anne Hathaway out October 2 and she’s excited about Three Incestuous Sisters which she recently wrapped in Rome that is still anticipating a release date.

Johnson’s life outside of work often consists of reading books with her book club TeaTime, watching movies that she can’t help but judge under a critical lens, and also trolling her friends. “I think Jennifer [Lawrence] and I could be the ultimate internet trolls if we, A, had the time and, B, the interest.”

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.
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