Issue 20: I Watched 'Kingdom of Dreams' and I Have Some Thoughts
HANDBAGS AT DAWN // After binging it on a particularly heavy hangover, the new fashion docu mini-series brought back many memories and produced even more opinions.
Handbags at Dawn (@h4ndbagsatdawn) is (meant to be) a fortnightly newsletter that lands into your inbox every other Thursday. However, time is a construct and I’m busy atm so you’re getting it when you’re getting it. :)
Well, shit. Days and days of putting off writing this newsletter, and boom: it’s been over a month since the last one went out. And it’s not like I didn’t have anything to write about, especially with so much kerfuffle going on in the world. But I guess it’s in those moments of noise that some silence can also appreciated, right? Please make my schedule-loving self feel better about missing several appointments…
Have I been so busy I couldn’t squeeze in a bit of writing about purses? All the incredible achievements I’ve accomplished in November include: starting the new season of White Lotus (as good as the first one so far), watching Candy starring Jessica Biel (creepy but entertaining), going back to Croatia to see my family and watching the first few episodes of The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel on the plane there and back (underwhelming, not gonna continue), finishing season four of Drag Race UK (finally a winner I was rooting for), and obsessing over Strictly Come Dancing (Kym & Graziano for the win). So yes, you could say I’ve been busy this month, trying to cure my insecurities by staring at screens while taking a break from staring at screens. Amongst the plethora of shows I watched during this hiatus (LOL) is Kingdom of Dreams, a four-part, Sky docu mini-series on what they defined as the “golden age of fashion”. The very problematic, culturally insensitive, undiverse and totalitarian “golden age of fashion” that is the period from early nineties to late noughties.
The narrative of the show splits evenly between the clothes and the business side of things, with just as much focus put on the quartet of “creative geniuses” in John Galliano, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Alexander McQueen, as on the tycoons leading the luxury industry – LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and François Pinault of Kering (formerly Gucci Group). At about 50 minutes per episode, the show is a fascinating and informative yet digestible viewing which explores the kind of conversations usually only privy to those who have a desire to spend a subscription fee and 28 minutes of their day reading an op-ed in Business of Fashion. Aka fashion students and critics.
With input from a wide range of thinkers, including Fashion TV’s beloved Jeanne Beker and her British, equally-charming counterpart Caryn Franklin, Kingdom of Dreams demystifies many of the questions I remember asking myself back in the day. For example, what was the relationship between McQueen and Ford like? Or why was everyone obsessed with Tom Ford’s Gucci? How were all those ridiculously lavish Galliano for Dior shows ever created? And why did McQueen leave LVMH and join Kering? Things I couldn’t – and didn’t need to – understand when I was a little gay boy obsessing over Style.com in my bedroom with dial-up internet. In a way, the show reminded my very jaded self of a time when I was excited – no, euphoric about being even remotely involved into this mythical world of fashion. Over the four episodes I binged while on a heavy hangover, I felt mostly anxious and disturbed by the Game of Thrones-level drama (seriously, the score is a bit much), yet that turmoil somehow brought back a sense of enthusiasm I completely forgot I could feel about all this… stuff.
And there was ample exciting facts I never really knew about. For example, Tom Ford was more than just a designer at Gucci – he played a crucial role in reviving the business alongside then-CEO Domenico De Sole, after being plucked from the knitwear team and named creative director. In a lot of ways, I began to understand some of Tom Ford’s broken ways of working as a designer today – someone whose authority seems to still be stuck in a time where shaving a woman’s vagina in the shape of a logo brought you notoriety. When talking about Tom’s first shows for Gucci, editor & stylist Carine Roitfeld reminisced on how many of the looks were built around the handbags, rather than showing the purses as add-ons. As a result, the baggage quickly became the bread and butter of Gucci’s offering. Arguably, this move also set a precedent for what was to come in the late nineties, early noughties and beyond – the era of the IT bag. A particularly poignant moment in the show comes in the final episode, as Monsieur Pinault talks about ousting Tom Ford. “He just didn’t understand, he thought Gucci was his,” Pinault says with a blank expression. I wonder how many parallels Alessandro Michele might find in this show after being kicked out while on top by Pinault’s son himself, just 18 years after Tom.
A lot of the show unearths the unspoken tensions between the executives’ expectations and the designers’ creativity. In the Marc Jacobs chapter of the story, we are taken to the American designer’s first show for Louis Vuitton which happened to also be the French luggage brand’s first ever foray into ready-to-wear. Quite shockingly, yet as you might expect from a rebel like Jacobs, the collection had absolutely no bags or luggage in it, making it a flop, both commercially and with critics. His turning point came only a few years later, for Spring 2001. Can you imagine such a major brand allowing a designer to find their footing for six or so seasons? That could never happen in 2022. But this was a different time, we’re constantly reminded, pre-9/11, pre-economic crash. And so Marc Jacobs produced arguably one of the most iconic collections of accessories of all times, all with a little help from artist Stephen Sprouse. This collaboration, one of the first at such a major scale, offered a cultural reset that brought excitement back into the game. Vandalised in neon letters, the LV monogram became sexy and desirable, in a move that set the standard of reinvention that continues to echo today.
Unafraid of tackling controversy and labelling its stars, the series was created by the team behind McQueen’s own biopic from 2018, and it shows – this designer is shown in a particularly positive light and with the most love and respect out of all protagonists. In contrast, Tom, John & Marc are mostly seen as eccentrics whose mix of creativity and ego was just too much for the world – and themselves.
I don’t know if you’re into bags or if you just subscribed to this newsletter out of hate, just to be able to roll your eyes and point out all my spelling mistakes. But if you have even an inkling of an interest in fashion (i.e. you have seen Devil Wears Prada), you won’t regret investing four-ish hours (I’m counting wee breaks) into revisiting a time that was neither golden or perfect, but will remain undeniably inspirational. Though I initially thought I would find watching Kingdom of Dreams strictly nostalgic, I went away from it thinking about more than just the past. How can I get more excited about finding my place in the industry today? Has that much really changed? Is the £9.99 NOW TV membership truly worth it? xxx
*PEEK OF THE WEEK*
This week, we have the pleasure of welcoming a true ray of sunshine. With a constant rotation of haircuts and colours with outfits to match, Yu Masui (@yumasui) has consistently been one of fashion’s biggest fans. A writer and consultant, Yu continues to present joy through the art of dressing up and always finds a way to bring a smile to my face with his choices. Covered in everything from lurex Gucci unitards and vintage Westwood shirts to loads of pieces by indie brands from around the world, his Instagram unravels the kind of eclectic wardrobe I can’t ever imagine in one place. For this special occasion, Yu emptied the contents of his fabulously camp Puppets and Puppets cookie bag.
What does the inside of your bag say about you?
Yu: “That I’m hungry… I always love items with food motives! This Puppets & Puppets bag is perfect, especially when it comes to the realness of the cookie. I often put in emergency snacks – like the slim choc cookie from Pret. The bag is small but still practically accommodates two mobile phones and a power bank, as well as my extra contact lenses, jewellery and a random sample size perfume I got in a goodie bag – a perfect fit for Yu’s collection of mini purses!”