Labbeye

L'Abbeye Issue I : the first chapter of the archive is now open for pre-order

A 400+ page coffee-table object documenting avant-garde fashion as philosophy, not trend. Standard edition 55€, Collector x Isaac Sellam 395€, 200 numbered copies.

The Avant-Garde Fashion Rite

When Fashion stops presenting clothes and starts staging ceremonies.

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BEAUTIFULLY BIZZARE AND UNFORGETTABLE: 5 ARTISTS TO DISCOVER

If you are into the surreal and the macabre, this list might be for you.

Art| Design| Fashion Theory| Grotesque Beauty

PROTECTION FROM SOME ETERNITY

HOW JAPANESE DESIGNERS SHAPED THE FUTURE OF AVANT-GARDE FASHION

Japanese designers redefined avant-garde by merging tradition, philosophy, and innovation. From deconstruction to minimalism, their influence reshaped Western fashion and continues to inspire a generation seeking authenticity over perfection.

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory| Japanese Designers

PETRA FAGERSTRÖM RE-INTERPRETS HOW CONDITIONED DYNAMICS IMPRINT ON WOMANHOOD

The Swedish designer presented her first London Fashion Week collection as an independent brand at Studio Smithfield.

Emerging Designers| Fashion Theory

POST-HUMANISM: THE LESS HUMAN THE BODY BECOMES, THE MORE SACRED IT FEELS

The body disappears, distorts, expands. Not to become something else, but to escape being human at all.

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory| Grotesque Beauty

HOW MCQUEEN MADE THE FASHION INDUSTRY DESCEND INTO MADNESS

A retrospective look at Alexander McQueen’s ‘Voss’ Collection.

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory| Grotesque Beauty

REMEMBER ME WHEN I LEAVE

Editorial| Japanese Designers

THE INFLUENCES OF SUBCULTURES IN RICK OWENS' ART

Rick Owens draws from the shadows of musical subcultures, transforming their raw energy into a sculptural aesthetic. His work carries the spirit of underground movements, rebellious, ritualistic, and imbued with a dark romanticism. These influences do more than just inspire him; they form the backbone of his language. So what are they?

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory

NIKOLAS SCHRECK - THE RENAISSANCE MONSTER

Artist, writer, filmmaker and former Radio Werewolf frontman, Nikolas Schreck has spent decades exploring the intersections of music, ritual, cinema and mythology. In this in-depth conversation, he reflects on the legacy of Radio Werewolf, his collaboration with Christopher Lee, the controversy of Charles Manson Superstar, and his vision of art as spiritual transmission in an age of digital distraction.

CAROL CHRISTIAN POELL: AGAINST FASHION, THROUGH FASHION

For those stepping into the avant-garde realm of fashion, Carol Christian Poell is an essential figure. Though now retired, his legacy endures. Through radical construction, cryptic processes, and garments that confront both the body and time, his influence continues to shape the fashion world.

Art| Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory| Grotesque Beauty

FIVE UNDERRATED BRANDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

These five underrated brands are quietly reshaping fashion with bold ideas and unique visions. Discover who’s flying under the radar and why they deserve your attention now.

Eco Fashion| Emerging Designers

MAINSTREAM DOWNSTREAM

In June 2003, along the quiet waters of Milan’s Naviglio Grande, Carol Christian Poell staged one of the most haunting fashion presentations of the 21st century. Far from the conventional runway, his Spring/Summer 2004 show unfolded on the surface of a canal, where garments and models alike drifted in silence, part procession, part apparition. Echoing the spectral stillness of Millais’s Ophelia, Poell’s vision transformed fashion into ritual, decay into desire, and garments into relics. This article revisits that unforgettable moment, where control gave way to current, and fashion, freed from speed and spectacle…

Art| Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory

IN LIKENESS

UPCOMING AVANT-GARDE JEWELLERY DESIGNERS YOU NEED TO KNOW !

Meet the Next Generation of Avant-Garde Jewellery

Accessories| Emerging Designers| Futuristic

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS SHAPING THE AVANT-GARDE FASHION NARRATIVE

Once confined to galleries and runways, experimental fashion now thrives in pixels, posts, and the digital underground.

Dark Fashion| Emerging Designers| Fashion Theory| Futuristic

TOP 10 ARTICLES :

1

INTERVIEW : VICTOR CLAVELLY'S SURREAL FASHION LORE

2

CORROSION AS CRAFT: RETHINKING FASHION THROUGH DECAY

3

THE GOTHIC REBIRTH OF MINIMALISM

4

THE EVOLUTION OF AVANT-GARDE IN FASHION

5

THE PASSERBY

6

HOW MCQUEEN MADE THE FASHION INDUSTRY DESCEND INTO MADNESS

7

WHAT "AVANT-GARDE" REALLY MEANS IN FASHION

8

EXPLORING THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF FISH SKIN FOR FASHION: INTERVIEW WITH ISABELLE TAYLOR

9

LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH: 6 TIMES DAVID CRONENBERG INSPIRED RUNWAY DESIGNERS

ARCHIVES :

The Avant-Garde Fashion Rite

When Fashion stops presenting clothes and starts staging ceremonies.

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory

Untitled, Untethered, Undefined

The new Dover Street Market brand was launched in June with the SS 26 collection of DSM Kei Ninomiya.

Neo Gothic and Neo Futurism

One aesthetic mourns the past. The other imagines the future. Between neo-gothic and neo-futurism, contemporary fashion continues to seek meaning anywhere but in the present.

Dark Fashion| Futuristic| Soft Goth

THE SUMMER IS COMING AND SO IS THE LAST JUDGMENT DAY: HOW TO DRESS "PROPERLY" ?

In summer, the body is no longer concealed. And dressing becomes a ritual of what we chose to elevate.

NIKOLAS SCHRECK - THE RENAISSANCE MONSTER

Artist, writer, filmmaker and former Radio Werewolf frontman, Nikolas Schreck has spent decades exploring the intersections of music, ritual, cinema and mythology. In this in-depth conversation, he reflects on the legacy of Radio Werewolf, his collaboration with Christopher Lee, the controversy of Charles Manson Superstar, and his vision of art as spiritual transmission in an age of digital distraction.

FLESH AS ARCHITECTURE

Flesh As Architecture explores the human body as a constructed form rather than a living subject. e body is treated as a site of erosion - a ruin shaped by time, weight, and stillness. Through restrained movement and sculptural poses, flesh becomes structural. Limbs echo columns, joints resemble supports, and skin carries the surface of decay. What remains is not emotion, but form. The body no longer performs; it stands, monumental and silent, a ruin transformed into a statue.

ANN DEMEULEMEESTER AW25: ROAD TO NEVER

MAINSTREAM DOWNSTREAM

In June 2003, along the quiet waters of Milan’s Naviglio Grande, Carol Christian Poell staged one of the most haunting fashion presentations of the 21st century. Far from the conventional runway, his Spring/Summer 2004 show unfolded on the surface of a canal, where garments and models alike drifted in silence, part procession, part apparition. Echoing the spectral stillness of Millais’s Ophelia, Poell’s vision transformed fashion into ritual, decay into desire, and garments into relics. This article revisits that unforgettable moment, where control gave way to current, and fashion, freed from speed and spectacle…

Art| Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory

RAGS AND RICHES

Between memory and marketing, fashion has learned to fake its scars. As luxury brands sell dirt, rips, and wear at a high price, the Dirty Fit trend raises a deeper question: can authenticity be manufactured, or must it be lived? From inherited jewelry to torn runways, this article explores why real wear carries meaning and why pre-damaged fashion often rings hollow.

Eco Fashion| Fashion Theory

QUEERING THE UNIFORM : SUBVERSION, KINK AND THE MILITARISATION OF STYLE

Uniforms were meant to discipline bodies and erase individuality. Yet in the hands of avant-garde designers, they become something else entirely: instruments of desire, rebellion, and identity play. From the fragile adolescent tension of Raf Simons to the hyper-queer provocations of Walter van Beirendonck and the sleek militarised sensuality of Helmut Lang, the uniform is no longer a symbol of obedience but a stage where power, vulnerability, and eroticism collide.

Dark Fashion| Fashion Theory

See all the archives editorials