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Capsule #117 ft. Pynch
There's a lot to discuss from the past month!
Holly Beddingfield
October 10, 2025
Hello hello,
We’re still on Beehiiv! I bit off more than I could chew and made a promise I could not keep. It turns out the Substack migration is a bigger job than I anticipated, and I don’t want to mess it up. In due course!!!
Until then, we’re on regular programming. This week is a sum up of some of the big chats in and around fashion month. Turns out there’s a lot to talk about! You could say fashion media won with all the clicks…
It’s worth clicking to read this issue online/in browser if it gets clipped - the images are worth it!
Have a great weekend,
Holly x
Fashion month has drawn to a close and there’s so much to talk about. Some of the big conversations and themes are a great bellwether for where we’re at right now as a culture, and so here are some things worth thinking about…
The creative director debuts gamified fashion week
We were braced at the start of fashion month to enter the so-called “Great Fashion Reset.” That’s because of all the creative director debuts, yes, but also because luxury fashion as an industry so desperately needed the tide to turn. For years luxury has been in decline, and reports show that the next generation of consumers aren’t so enthralled with the big brand names and think shopping second hand is quite cool actually. This is rough for the likes of Kering (Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen) and LVMH (Dior, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Givenchy, Celine, Loewe), who really need high fashion to be seen as cool.
Without unpacking each debut in detail, one of the biggest shifts has been the inquisitive, playful energy ushered in by having so much change. Commentators and regular people have been weighing up each collection like it’s an Olympic sport, and publications are crowning their winners. Business of Fashion gave it to Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, 1Granary chose Louise Trotter’s Bottega Veneta, and Style Analytics ran a sentiment analysis on Instagram, to find Chanel and Jonathan Anderson’s Dior in the top two. I said a few weeks ago that all this change would make fashion feel like a reality TV show we were all watching, and I think that’s pretty accurate. I haven’t seen interest like this since starting Capsule, and the very fact these conversations are happening en masse is very good news for the maison owners.
What made Chanel so great?
Chanel is the first designer fashion brand most of us learn by name. Young children can recognise the logo, and if asked to name a famous fashion designer in history, I think 90% of us would say Coco Chanel. That counts for a lot. But for the past few years, the clothing hasn’t matched up to the reputation. People will always covet the leather ballet flats and the quilted handbags but it pretty much stopped there.
Chanel SS26
I think Blazy’s Chanel was different for quite simple reasons: it felt modern and cool, two things much easier said than done. Suits leaned masculine (cool), tweed became looser and crocheted (modern), and showstopper gowns were full of life and texture, the type of thing you simply cannot replicate without exceptional craft. The energy was fully realised with the closing walk from model Awar Odhiang, who came out strutting, beaming, and willing the crowd on to cheer. Let models smile!!!
The elephant in the room: thinness
That smiley model moment wasn’t the norm, though. It feels wrong not to mention just how thin fashion week looked this time around. The odd plus size model popped up here and there (although it feels like even they are smaller these days?) but the majority were uber thin, wearing clothing designed to accentuate that thinness in a very 2000s way. This look at McQueen was one of the most lauded from the collection, for example, but it’s hard to see beyond the protruding hip bones, which for so many women are not the norm but a result of chronic under eating.
McQueen SS26
Stella Bugbee from the Style section of the New York Times put it well on her Instagram stories:
SS26: Balenciaga, Tom Ford, Stella Bugbee’s comments. (Photos added by me to illustrate comments).
She said she’d never had so many replies to her story as she got on this day. So many of us are seeing the same stuff and feeling the same way. It’s not normal! I can appreciate the beauty in that slinky Tom Ford look, but against our backdrop of Ozempic, dramatic weightloss, and #skinnytok as the norm, it doesn’t hit in the same way.
Microtrends that aren’t so micro after all
Things we saw on the SS26 runways that we might have categorised as a fleeting microtrend: funnel neck jackets, polka dots, bandanas, sheer skirts, low-rise everything, hip belts, pendant necklaces, big sunglasses, ties. Designers are continuing with things we’ve already brought into our wardrobes and it felt like a bit of a relief. It’s okay to carry on, we actually can slow things down. And part of this is on us too, to keep wearing the stuff we like regardless of how long they’ve been in our rotation. I do think we’re past the peak of the micro trend madness.
Polka dots at Altuzarra, funnel necks at Khaite, sheer skirts at Susan Fang, bandanas at Anna Sui, pendant necklaces at Tory Burch
But there were some fresh motifs
Including: military jackets, with shoulder pads and ornate chest stitching. Very Michael Jackson, very Napoleon.
SS26: McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, Enfants Richés Deprimes, and Greta Lee in Dior menswear by Jonathan Anderson for Vogue’s Hollywood issue
Also: bralette tops. Two things: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Charli xcx spent all summer performing in bras, and Thank God for the casting at Givenchy.
Prada, Givenchy, Margot Robbie at the Chanel show
And finally, lots of TEXTURE. Feathers, 3D sculpted rosettes, real tangible bumpy materials. A lot of this stuff doesn’t translate so well to the high street, but that’s kind of the point. It’s luxury craftsmanship, it’s making a loud, physical statement when so much of our lives are mediated through screens and AI, it’s capital F fashion.
SS26: Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Stella McCartney, Luar
And finally: kitchens and tradwifery
There were a lot of aprons on the runway at Miu Miu, and also aprons at Eckhaus Latta. Those Nara Smith cooking in high fashion videos have finally shaped the runway… But for real, the trad wife stuff is not just an online buzzword. It’s strange time for women when a lot of fashion is either leaning conservative, or evolving into barely there pieces of fabric quite blatantly designed for thin bodies. You can be skinny or you can cover up and cook. That’s reductive, but the signals are so clearly there.
1-2: Miu Miu, Eckhaus Latta, Nara Smith cooking in Miu Miu
And finally…
News from the Capsule universe this week:
Greta Lee is never not serving
Turns out Kylie and Timmy didn’t break up after all
Ayo got a Vogue cover!
Gap has collabed with Sandy Liang
Condé Nast mags will no longer feature animal fur in any editorial or advertising
Amelia Dimz has a new YouTube show
Nicole Kidman is having another iconic post-divorce moment
Speaking of iconic, simply obsessed with this woman
Addison Rae says trust yourself :)
Really enjoying the evolution of Clairo’s style
We’ll watch this won’t we
Guess who’s playing Linda to Paul Mescal’s Paul McCartney
And this is the coolest girl in the world
This week, Pynch popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅♀️ …
Pynch are a DIY band from London who have been chasing dreams together for the last 6 years. In that time, they’ve released their debut single on Speedy Wunderground, supported The Libertines, toured the UK and Europe in a Skoda Fabia, set up their own label (Chillburn Recordings) and released their debut album. Their music is a mix of new-wave, dreampop and lo-fi indie, and their second album Beautiful Noise is out now!
🔥🔥🔥Hot🔥🔥🔥
Skoda Fabias, Arthur Russel, Murakami, Brockwell Park, house parties, photo albums, Hi8 cameras, Dale Cooper, cycling to work, fish from the fishmonger, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the cool embrace of autumn, balconies, friendship, hiking, cash, Malcolm in the Middle, raccoons, finding sunglasses on the floor
Hot Not… 🙅♀️🙅♀️🙅♀️
Vaping, sharks, jorts, sunburn, commuting, QR menus, plastic, Cava, ketchup, parking tickets, norovirus, EDM, Marvel, wasps, mushrooms
📺 Watching: I Swear in the cinema. Also Ayo Edebiri’s 30th birthday scavenger hunt with Vogue, Gracie Abrams sharing the story of ‘That’s So True,’ and there’s bias here but this is a must-watch performance.
📖 Reading: This article in Dirt on AI slop, arguing that this sort of content is just the culmination of how humans have been using the internet for years. And this interview with fashion critic Rachel Tashjian for Passerby from earlier this year, found after looking her up after she announced her move to CNN. Love this quote:
“When I talk to my mom about something, she’ll say, ‘Do you want to vent or do you want me to give you advice?’ That’s a skill that very few people have. I need to learn to do that — I give way too much advice to people who don’t want it. But I do ask her for advice. Lloyd and I want to have children, and I was talking to her about that yesterday and she said, ‘People always told me that after I had children, I wouldn’t care about my work, and I just didn’t find that to be true at all,’ which was helpful for me to hear from her.”
🎧 Listening to: Fancy Some More?, the PinkPantheress Brat-esque remixes album, Fatal Optimist, the new Madi Diaz album, ‘Azimuth,’ a new song by Danny L Harle and Caroline Polachek, and trying out I Barely Know Her, the sombr album.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺
See you next week 💋