Chad Muska

>> The second installment of Swedish magazine Intermission is jam-packed with interviews: Gaia Repossi, Isabel Marant, Joseph Altuzarra, Tabitha Simmons, Waris Ahluwalia, Victoire de Castellane, and Vogue Paris art director Johan Svensson among them — and all are translated from Swedish into English at the back of the issue.

John Scarisbrick photographed and Keegan Singh styled the two covers — one with Hanne Gaby Odiele, and the other Vanessa Traina, who inside talks to Stephanie LaCava about going to high school with Alexander Wang ("He used to cut up these vintage jeans and make us denim skirts. I still have them — and he’d make us T-shirts.  We used to place orders every season with him."), consulting for Joseph Altuzarra ("Our relationship is different than most because Joseph and I are so close.  As friends, we hang out at least four times a week."), and her boyfriend, Chad Muska ("I was with some girlfriends and he was with a friend of one of my girlfriends and we met at a restaurant one night in LA.  That was eight years ago and it slowly evolved into a relationship.  He’s a street skater. We live together in the West Village, but he also has a studio in Union Square.  He’s always been into photography, but he’s been playing around with it a little more and doing some large-scale work, a mix of photographer and painting.  I have his pictures hanging in our bedroom.  It’s a photo series he did of Kate Moss manipulated and painted different shades of pink.").

A peek at the issue, out this week at Opening Ceremony and Colette, below.

>> Joseph Altuzarra may have gone with an intimate presentation at Milk Studios last night, but his guest list packed a lot of punch.  The Roitfeld clan was well-represented: Carine, Vladimir, and Julia were all there, with Vlad greeting his sister with a kiss on each cheek; his girlfriend, Giovanna Battaglia, and Julia von Boehm showed up, too.  The Trainas were also out in full force: Victoria and Samantha sat next to Chad Muska (there to support girlfriend Vanessa Traina, who walked in the show for the second time and was listed in the program notes as an "advisor") and Alexander Wang, who was relaxing with his show behind him, enjoying a glass of white wine, and chatting to close friend and interior decorator to the models Ryan Korban.  And then there was Anna Wintour, attending Altuzarra's show for the first time, who arrived early to have a chat with the designer backstage pre-show; after she took her seat, Carine smiled at Wintour as she passed.

Needless to say, Altuzarra did not disappoint.  The designer, who pushed a looser silhouette last season when everyone else was hanging onto the hard-edged look interestingly decided to veer back that way now that everyone else is moving away. Inspired by Edward Scissorhands — the film's theme was played during the show — and the current sexualization of vampires, Altuzarra started out with a stream of black leather — accented with goat hair, slashed and then stitched up suture-style, belted multiple times across the waist, chest, back, wrists, and even thighs; Abbey Lee Kershaw was even suited up in a Catwoman-style leather bodysuit.  Then came the blood red gowns, sparkling with Swarovski crystals and ending with Natasha Poly in the sophisticated version of a Little Red Riding Hood cape.  The ankle-slashed boots were done in collaboration with Gianvito Rossi, and former Vogue Paris editor (and Carine's former assistant) Melanie Huynh did styling honors.  Perhaps Bryanboy put it best when he said of the collection: "It's like raiding Carine's Closet."