Scarlett Newman

Welcome to Cult Closet. This season, we talked to Fashion Month show-goers in New York, London, and Paris about the brands whose aesthetics define them to find out what makes it worth going all in on one look.
When Christopher John Rogers (CJR) showed his Fall 2025 ready-to-wear collection in February, the anticipated return marked his first time on the official New York Fashion Week calendar since 2019. (For the past couple of seasons, CJR had been presenting off-schedule, with one-off shows...

On the eve of Black History Month, Pratt Manhattan Gallery debuted “Black Dress II: Homage,” a ten-year anniversary and expansion of the original exhibition, “Black Dress.” That first exhibit, co-curated by Pratt fashion educator Adrienne Jones and curator Paula Coleman, focused solely on Black fashion designers. But “Black Dress II” has expanded to include costume designers, beauty entrepreneurs, hair stylists, makeup artists, models, and journalists. Over the past decade, in the lead-up to ...

Even if you don’t know the costume designer Sandy Powell by name, there’s a good chance you’ve seen any number of the iconic films she’s marked with her singular visual stamp. For the past 40 years, Powell has worked with some of the greatest modern auteurs—Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman, and Yorgos Lanthimos among them—to costume films like The Favourite and The Irishman. Now,SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta is celebrating Powell, who is of OBE designation, and her l...

Luar feels good on your lips. The brand’s SS25 show was titled EN BOCA QUEDÓ, a phrase that roughly translates to: “In your mouth, my name stays.” “I thought about it, and it’s true,” says Raul Lopez, the brand’s founder, says on a video call. No matter which way you slice it, the people are talking.
Luar – that’s the designer’s name backwards – first launched in 2011. After a forced two-year hiatus from 2019 to 2021 (attributed to financial struggles and burnout), the brand has shown six col...

The abstract painter Mary Heilmann’s geometric works and visual interpretations of her life have served as inspiration for generations of artists—particularly women—since the 1960s. And today, at the age of 84, Heilmann is still hard at work. She paints often with vibrant colors, drip techniques, and malleable geometries, for a minimalist result that is slightly off-kilter. The new documentary Waves, Roads, & Hallucinations (available for streaming on July 30) from director Matt Creed chronic...

“I’m literally copying Janet — the whole outfit. If I’m gonna come to this concert, I gotta show up.”
On Wednesday, Janet Jackson’s Together Again Tour touched down in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. Doors opened at 7:00 p.m., and little by little, Jackson fans made their way into the venue, decked out in an expressive array of concert fashion. Among the crowd were homeages to Janet in every era: iterations of her militaristic Rhythm Nation style, homages to the sexy Janet era and bright loo...

The Chicago artist examines the dynamics behind the historic Houston municipality built in 1865 by newly freed Black people.
May 28, 2024
Theaster Gates’s latest exhibition came about at the very moment the artist decided to overhaul his approach to mounting shows. The Chicago native—whose installations and sculptures have been shown worldwide over the course of his nearly two-decade career—was interested in tackling longer-term projects, dialing back the pace, and taking on a challenge that ...

It’s hard to believe that multi-disciplinary artist Yvette Mayorga had never visited an art museum until she was 18 years old.
Instead, the rich and colorful world that surrounded Mayorga, a Mexican-American artist known for her highly-decorated, confectionary inspired work, provided enough inspiration and visual stimulation to inform her practice. That inspiration is on full display in her latest exhibition, Dreaming Of You, which is now on show at The Aldrich. The small survey includes the ...

It’s been over a year since Lauren Haynes joined the Queens Museum as director of Curatorial Affairs and Programs, guiding the overall vision for exhibitions and public programs. Prior to arriving at Queens, her storied art career included posts at the Studio Museum in Harlem (where she claims to have really cut her teeth as a curator), the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. This past April, President Biden appoint...

Cookbook author Klancy Miller’s culinary journey didn’t originally involve food writing. Her story started in Paris, where she attended school to specialize in baking, with dreams of opening a French bakery upon her return to the States. Miller quickly realized, however, that running her own shop wouldn’t be sustainable for her—the work is often thankless, and the ...

It’s only been five months since Sasha Colby, a.k.a. “your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen,” was crowned the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, but the reign has felt eternal for the beloved queen. Colby was already well known within the world of drag before competing on the popular reality series. She most notably won Miss Continental, an annual drag beauty pageant, in 2012, but this new level of fame has afforded her opportunities that have landed her front row at some of the...

Journalist Scarlett Newman sat down with Awet Woldegebriel to discuss his path to the fashion industry and our new collab at The Standard.
“The funniest part of all of this is, it was by chance,” says Awet Woldegebriel of his journey to becoming the designer of the brand ÁWET.
The “livewear” designer, (a term he coined with his team to represent timeless pieces that seamlessly integrate into the customer’s daily life) was working as the Deputy Director at the United Nations before he shifted ...

In partnership with RAISEfashion, The Standard selected two of this year's honorees from the org's Designer Spotlight collective. One of these incredible emerging fashion voices is Clarence Ruth of Cotte D'Armes, who created a custom varsity jacket interpreting The Standard's take on New York City. Journalist Scarlett Newman sat down with Clarence to chat creativity, growing a fashion business and what the future holds for Cotte D'Armes.
I know that you have history in the industry and have w...

Historically, luxury fashion has had a long-standing, fraught relationship with the hip-hop world. Despite its contingent past, the connection between the two is something that has existed since the inception of the genre 50 years ago. Image, self-presentation, and perception are an integral part of hip-hop. Image-makers like Misa Hylton (Lil’ Kim’s longtime stylist) and June Ambrose (creative director and stylist to a roster of hip-hop legends) tapped into that special connection early on an...

The highly anticipated “Africa Fashion” exhibit is now at the Brooklyn Museum, examining the continent’s significant contributions to fashion and textiles from the mid-20th century to the present day, through the lenses of popular culture, art, and politics. The exhibit, open through October 22, shows the continent’s long-standing involvement to haute couture, sustainability, and technology, all of which have been deeply embedded into the creative practices of African artists.
The layout is o...