Issue #52 August 2026

Week of 2 August 2026

Lisa’s take

I was twenty-two when I got my first fashion job. I knew a lot about clothes and very little about how the industry actually worked. Here is what I wish someone had told me.

The industry is smaller than it looks

Your reputation travels faster than your CV. The person you are difficult with as a junior will be making decisions about your career ten years later. Be easy to work with. Be reliable. Deliver what you say you will.

Learn the commercial side early

The creatives who last are the ones who understand margin, intake, and sell-through. You do not have to love the spreadsheets. You have to understand what they mean and why they matter.

Ask more questions

Nobody expects a graduate to know everything. They do expect curiosity. The question that reveals you have been paying attention is worth more than the silence that hides that you have not.

Your first job is not your career

It is one step. The skills you build there, the people you meet, the mistakes you make in a relatively safe environment — those are the real output. Take the job that teaches you the most, not necessarily the one with the best title.

I am still working out some of this. But twenty years in, those four things hold.

Anyway, here's your week in fashion.

The week in fashion

LVMH's fashion arm just grew for the first time in two years. The reason isn't a new bag. It's Dior.

LVMH's fashion division finally turns a corner

Q2 2026 numbers landed this week. LVMH's fashion and leather goods division posted its first sales rise in two years, and Dior did the heavy lifting. After eighteen months of blaming Chinese consumers, tariffs, and the weather, luxury brands are left with one uncomfortable truth. Strong creative direction still sells more than any marketing budget. Watch what the rest of the group does next.

Nike and COMME des GARÇONS go full metal

Nike's Air Max Dolce lands in a mirror-silver colourway this week, built with COMME des GARÇONS HOMME. It's loud. It's slightly ridiculous. I mean that as a compliment. Sneaker collaborations have gone stale lately, all safe colourways and no ideas. This one at least commits to a bit.

Balenciaga bets on newsletters

Balenciaga has signed a sponsorship deal with Substack. The house's name now sits behind independent fashion writers, not another influencer campaign. It's a small move, but it says something. Brands are finally paying attention to where the real conversation about fashion happens now, and it isn't the feed.

Richard Prince, still needling the industry

The Albertina in Vienna has a major Richard Prince exhibition up until 16 August. If you're anywhere near the city, it's worth the detour. Prince built a career from appropriation before that was even a word people used about art. Fashion has been quietly stealing his tricks for decades. Go before it closes.

Yves Saint Laurent would have turned 90 this month

Dazed marked the anniversary with a look back at seven moments YSL used fashion to provoke. Think Le Smoking, or the sheer dresses that got shops picketed. Worth rereading. Half of what passes for daring on today's runways is a paler copy of something he did fifty years ago.

The new guard clocks in

i-D has profiled the wave of designers taking over creative direction at sixteen houses this year. It's the biggest reshuffle the industry has seen in a decade. Matthieu Blazy at Chanel gets most of the headlines. The list runs much deeper than that, and it's worth knowing these names before everyone else does.

That's the week. More next Sunday, hopefully with fewer men in silver trainers.

← All issues Subscribe →