Diane von Furstenberg’s Favorite New Textile Artist Is Reinventing a Turkish Tradition

Desire Moheb-Zandi only started weaving a few years ago, but she’s been hooked on textiles since the moment she first set her hands on a loom. The Berlin-born, Brooklyn-based artist, who was raised in Turkey by her mother and grandmother, has always been surrounded by this type of handiwork—her grandmother knit everyday items like washcloths for Desire and her mother when Desire was growing up. “The idea of making a cloth is so traditional, but with the materials, it became more about experimentation and material research,” she says. “I’m kind of rough with the loom,” she says, explaining that a professional weaver would never put the materials she does through the age-old process. Moheb-Zandi crafts tapestries that combine unconventional, upcycled fabrics like rubber or shiny plastic vinyl with more loom-appropriate materials like natural wool.

Moheb-Zandi’s tapestries have been included in various feminist group shows in New York, including the upcoming Indira Cesarine–curated exhibition at Untitled Space titled “One Year of Resistance.” Her work is also on display at Diane von Furstenberg’s Soho storefront. In conjunction with New York Textile Month, Moheb-Zandi crafted two original tapestries for the brand’s DVF Studios campaign (which hang alongside a third one that she had already created). Moheb-Zandi has incorporated some of the brand’s iconic prints into these new works. She was particularly drawn to DVF’s Elsden print due to its half hand-drawn, half digitally manipulated composition. “I went to their fabric store, which is in Midtown, with their patternmakers and ateliers, and I picked a few fabrics, some sequins, some more different things, and then I manipulated them. I wrapped some around a sponge that I wove into the loom.”

Moheb-Zandi’s colorful, highly textured pieces, which will be up in Diane von Furstenberg’s Soho store until the end of the year, are a perfect encapsulation of her experimental approach to a traditionally feminine medium. “The things that I weave are almost like violence against the loom. I’m kind of rough with it. Sometimes I’m very poetic and I like to do more details and sometimes it’s just a raw piece sticking in there.” Catch Moheb-Zandi’s wonderfully raw yet refined works of art at DVF while you still can.

Meghan Markle’s Stealth Shopping Style Is All the Black Friday Inspo You Need

Meghan Markle might not officially be a member of the British royal family just yet, but she already has stealth off-duty princess style down pat. Yesterday the American actress was seen shopping in London dressed in a look that would be perfect for a Black Friday outing across the pond. Markle is used to combating chilly temps with puffers and parkas in Toronto where she’s been filming the USA series Suits, and her most recent outfit was a study in winter layering.

To contrast her all-black ensemble, Markle topped things off with an elephant gray flight jacket. Her Smythe ruffle trim knit was an elegant twist on the standard cozy cardigan and was a nice match for her tailored Mother jeans. As for accessories, Markle opted for Stuart Weitzman’s round-toe shoes, footwear that easily toed the line between chic and cozy.

Make Friends With Ami: The Cool French Guy Label Launches a French Girl Capsule

Often during the Paris womenswear shows, I encourage female editors, especially those who stay in the Renaissance, just opposite the shop on Rue d’Alger, to strike up an acquaintance with Ami. Yes, it’s an all-menswear label, so a good place to pick up a present before heading home. But also . . . it looks amazing on women, too.

Since launching in 2011, Alexandre Mattiussi’s Ami has become a firm favorite on the Paris menswear schedule plus built an impressive but un-shouty retail, e-tail, and wholesale business to boot. The 37-year-old alum of Givenchy, Dior, and Marc Jacobs specializes in totally unpretentious pieces—from suiting to sportswear, usually all seamlessly mixed up—that are lent a dash of elevated extra-specialness via thoughtfully unconventional beaux gestes in cut and fabrication. It’s not rocket science: It’s just great French guy menswear.

For several years now, Mattiussi has featured women on his menswear runway—Caroline de Maigret was the first—wearing sized-down versions of his masculine collection pieces. He reckons 1 in 4 of his customers are female—many of them, of course, buying for men. And a few years ago the Paris department Le Bon Marché began semi-surreptitiously stocking smaller size Ami pieces on its womenswear floor.

At last Mattiussi has taken the hint. Today sees the launch of Ami’s first-ever dedicatedly feminine offering, a tightly curated capsule collection created exclusively with 24Sevres.com, the LVMH-backed digital arm of Le Bon Marché. For this Ami habitué, the star pieces are the wool charcoal suit jacket and matching pants, cut specifically for women at last, as well pretty much all the outerwear.

Speaking over the phone from Paris, where he is preparing to show the label’s first pre-collection in Milan soonish, Mattiussi said: “I’m not making a full womenswear collection—not yet, anyway. But there are a lot of women who work in the studio who love to wear Ami and the number of female customers is increasing, too, especially thanks to the trend for oversize. Le Bon Marché has been stocking our smaller sizes in the department for a while now, so when they started 24Sevres.com and said do you want to do a real womenswear capsule, I thought, Why not?”

According to Mattiussi, he asked those Ami-wearing women in his studio which pieces they would love most to see translated to a gender-specific cut and went from there. He was also sure to export a white-on-red polka-dot shirt that featured in last June’s menswear show because, “I’ve noticed so many girls here are wearing polka dots as they hang out drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes on the terrace.”

As I’ve urged so many others, why not try making friends with Ami? My hunch is that you’ll end up loving it.

How to Wear Head-to-Toe Plaid in Style

Plaid has been a tried-and-true print for a while now, as in, for centuries. In fact, checked fabric can be been traced back almost 3,000 years. But despite its rich historical traditions, plaid has been a favorite of experimental dressers ever since Cher Horowitz of Clueless proved the look could have leg-baring edge. Take Gigi Hadid, who last week stepped out in a saccharine plaid look from Jeremy Scott’s Fall 2017 collection, or Emily Ratajkowski, who wore a matching citrusy retro crop top and high-waisted trouser set a month ago.

Lately, plaid has been picking up speed on the runways too. For Fall 2017, Tommy Hilfiger rendered it into long, grungy mohair coats and slinky slip dresses with punk appeal. That same season, even Burberry—whose heritage check is so distinctive that it’s trademarked—had fun with the theme: Christopher Bailey made the print into head-turning trenches and kicky jackets. And at his most recent London show for Spring 2018, Christopher Kane whipped up a pared-back plaid pleated skirt and charming coat with an embellished collar for classic schoolgirl flair. The takeaway? This age-old look has a new lease on life—so don’t be afraid to step out in it head-to-toe.

Only Bella Hadid Could Make A Preppy Style Signature Look This Cool

Bella Hadid is hardly what you’d call a preppie. Quite the contrary, the supermodel is known for championing edgy street style and oozes dark glamour on the red carpet. But when she does work a geek-chic piece, she does it in a way that looks surprisingly cool, and at times, even hot. See the denim biker shorts she wore earlier this summer or the chain-link wallet she strapped onto a pair of khakis at Couture Fashion Week, an accessory that managed to look punk even when worn with a sweet little cardigan draped over her shoulders. Hadid test-drove a similar knit look today when she stepped out in New York, only on this occasion she swapped her slacks for jean shorts cut up to there.

 The marigold hue of her sweater coordinated nicely with the side stripes decorating her Off White daisy dukes. The shorts, too, featured an unexpected drawstring waist, which when coupled with a body-skimming white tank (a longtime supermodel signature that’s popular thanks, in part, to Hadid herself), had a particularly figure-flattering effect. Hadid had a fanny pack slung around one shoulder, extra proof that she can school us in how to rework more than one preppy piece at a time.