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Editor’s Letter: Why Our September 2022 Issue Celebrates Post-Pandemic and Circular Fashion

Manuel Arnaut

Vogue Arabia editor-in-chief Manuel Arnaut. Photo: Ziga Mihelcic

It is a well-known fact that the September issues of glossy monthly magazines are traditionally dedicated to the new trends in fashion. This has, above all, an economic explanation, as September is the month when the latest collections have just arrived at retailers, and you need an updated wardrobe for the social and work season ahead. However, this idea of buying for the sake of novelty doesn’t resonate anymore – neither with us at Vogue, nor I imagine with our readers. Personally, I’m craving long-lasting and beautiful clothes that I can wear longer and bond with. On p34 (in Arabic), don’t miss our special portfolio that combines pieces from the current season with vintage finds borrowed from names such as Mona Zaki and Nora Attal, who joined us in a celebration of circular fashion.

This feeling of holding on to clothes that matter got amplified in July, during the last couture presentations in Paris. It was in the City of Lights that we witnessed the rise of the mood that inspired our September issue, and what I like to call the rise of post-pandemic fashion. Houses such as Schiaparelli, Armani Privé, Zuhair Murad, and Balenciaga transported guests to a place of old-school glamor, with dreamy (and often maximalist) silhouettes carefully reinvented for today, as a form of silent manifesto for a better world. Many of these looks are celebrated in this edition, worn by a disruptive and timeless group of individuals, ranging from fresh new faces on the runway, to 74-year-old model Maye Musk, Arabic singer Natacha Atlas, actress Razane Jammal, or even Lebanese comedian Bassem Feghali. Yes, you read that right: Bassem Feghali.

Sharon Stone wears Rami Al Ali Couture. Photo: Eric Michael Roy

It is interesting – and not a coincidence – that the two fashion titans we profiled this month, Rick Owens and Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry, shared that this season they opted to showcase collections that are unapologetically beautiful, as an antidote to the ugly times that we are living in, punctuated by instability and war. This idea was even highlighted by the soundtrack of the shows, with Rick Owens swapping the usual techno for Gustav Mahler, and Roseberry selecting the score of Jurassic Park.

This month’s cover star is Oscar-nominated actor Sharon Stone, who at 64 is a timeless icon. In conversation with the celebrated Syrian-American news anchor Hala Gorani, who pens her first story for Vogue Arabia, Stone gave her most intimate interview to date. She shared unfiltered comments on the demise of women’s rights and how after 45, women become invisible in a world ruled by ageism and sexism. “I think I can probably speak for you and the rest of the female planet when I say that there’s a giant effort to make us not feel free and to feel oppressed. And I don’t go for it,” she confides on p160. Nevertheless, Stone says that she is living one of the happiest periods of her life. Similar to what we witness in the latest collections, even in a world that seems so angry and dark, the actress, who just adopted a fourth child, and unleashes her creativity in a new-found love for painting, was able to find a path to contentment. Like Henri Matisse once wrote, “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

Read Next: Sharon Stone on Aging, Sexism, Women’s Rights, and More, in Her Most Unfiltered Cover Story to Date

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