A gorgeous shoe will make you weak at the knees in the best possible way – better still, change the way you move through the world. My earliest childhood memory, a shopping trip with my father, is a testament to that. Picture four-year-old me: chubby-cheeked, bow-legged, with a neatly cropped ’fro, running amok around the shoe department at John Lewis. I’m screaming the words “shiny shoes” at the top of my lungs in the hopes that my dad will buy me a pair of black patent-leather Mary Janes. Mortified by my feral behaviour, he caves almost immediately. When I finally slip said shiny shoes over my frilly white socks, the magic is such that I will prance around on my tiptoes for weeks. Cinderella could never.
I experienced a vivid flashback to that moment just a few weeks ago on the shop floor of Chanel’s iconic flagship boutique on Rue Cambon in Paris. Like most of the other frenzied shoppers, I’d come to get my hands on a piece of Matthieu Blazy’s first collection, specifically his ingenious reimagining of the house’s classic two-tone pumps. They were flying off the shelves. Lifelong high-heel devotee Olivia Singer was among the other fashion editors who managed to score a pair. In the issue she unpacks the politics of the prim and proper court shoe that is making a major comeback this season.
This month we’re also celebrating designer Erdem Moralioglu, whose eponymous brand is turning 20. “It’s all very easy with Erdem,” Kristin Scott Thomas tells Vogue’s Alice Newbold. “You do up the zip and you’re transformed.” The beloved British actor is among several of the designer’s fabulous friends who we gathered together, dressed in signature romantic pieces from the Erdem archives, in Dress Circle. In For Every Occasion, meanwhile, you’ll find that designer and model Susie Cave, who returns to the fashion scene this spring with Susie Cave Weddings & Funerals, her new appointment-only shop in London, is her own best muse. The images, shot by photographer Venetia Scott, are an exquisite slice of Cave’s eccentric personal style.
Across the pond in New York, the world’s best dressers are limbering up for what is arguably the most closely watched red carpet on the planet this season, otherwise known as the Met Gala. Entitled Costume Art, the new exhibit examines and celebrates the dressed body, featuring clothing and artworks from a majority of the museum’s 19 collecting areas, a selection of which have been photographed in the Costume Institute’s new Condé M Nast Galleries, named for the publishing magnate who, in the first half of the 20th century, took Vogue, Vanity Fair and other magazines to global renown. Between fashion obsessives and art lovers, the show is bound to be a smash hit.
When it comes to new music, however, our cover star, Charli XCX, is poised to reign supreme this summer. “For Charli, life is art,” writes Laura Snapes, who interviewed the musician for this issue, as she prepares to shift her zeitgeist-defining Brat aesthetic into an entirely new gear. Born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, the 33-year-old British megastar has been making music since the age of 14, and has the kind of self-possession and fearlessness that’s been forged by years of grit and determination. The new rock album she has in the works – her first exploration of the genre – is truly a bold step forward. I hope you’ll agree that the pictures of Charli, shot by Rafael Pavarotti and styled by Kate Phelan, capture the fullness of her spellbinding power.
Cover look: Charli xcx wears hand-woven coat, Dior Haute Couture. Make-up by YSL Beauty. Skin: All Hours Foundation, £42. Lips: Loveshine High Shine Lipstick in Rosy Sand, £38. Eyes: Couture Mini Clutch in Palmeraie Skies, £50. Brows: Dessin Des Sourcils in Dark Brown, £26. Hair by Kevin Murphy. Body Builder Volumising Mousse, £30. Hair Resort, £30. Touchable, £29. Hair: Eugene Souleiman. Make-up: Ana Takahashi. Nails: Lauren Michelle Pires. Tailor: Ian Hundley. Set design:
Ibby Njoya. Photograph: Rafael Pavarotti. Styling: Kate Phelan.