🌍 The geopolitics of fashion week

Why’d the US defence secretary just summon generals to a rare meeting?

Hundreds of US generals and admirals are due to fly in from around the world to meet Secretary Hegseth in Virginia next week. It’s unclear what this unusual gathering is about, with speculation ranging from messaging and motivation, to lay-offs or something else.

Everyone’s dressed weird, taxis are a more jealously-guarded resource than rare earths, and it’d be easier to sneak into Putin’s bunker than find a barstool for post-work drinks. This can only mean one thing: fashion week is here.

Every year, twice a year, thousands descend on four cities (NYC, London, Milan, and Paris) to see the newest designer creations at the forefront of a $1.7T global industry. 

We know. We know. Why write about how to style the Pantone colour of the year (Mocha Mousse for those wondering) when the geopolitical Super Bowl (UNGA) is on next door?! Fear not, we’ll likely do an UNGA wrap-up on Monday once that dust has settled. 

But in the meantime, let’s take a quick look at the geopolitics of fashion week: 

There are two ways to score a front row seat at a major fashion show: either be a celebrity, or spend a fortune to become a fashion house’s ‘very important client’ (VIC).

Brands live off that symbiotic relationship with influential clientele, but it can backfire. Most initially withdrew from Russia in solidarity with the Ukrainians after Putin went all-in, for example. But then… what about all those high-paying Russian clients?

Brands publicly distanced themselves at first, but that didn’t last long. As early as 2023, Tatyana Naryshkina (the wife of Putin’s sanctioned foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin) was back rolling around Parisian couture spots like it was nbd.

And now at fashion week events this year? It’s oligarch wives and ex-wives galore, with names like Perminova and others all lounging in the front row.

Like any cultural output, fashion can help countries burnish their brand abroad: urgggh, it’s just so darn tough being this effortlessly hip and sophisticated all the time, non?

That’s why, for example, Italy’s foreign ministry has launched an initiative mobilising its diplomats to showcase Italian fashion abroad, with events at Dubai’s fashion week and beyond. It likely also helps diversify the sector’s revenues as China sales plateau.

But that mix of soft power and cash also explains why every global city — whether Hong Kong, São Paulo, Lagos, or Delhi — now has its own fashion week, too.

Fashion isn’t just something most world leaders lack a sense of. It’s a major industry accounting for 5% of the economy in Italy, 1.8% in the UK, and 3% in France.

And while it might sound cooler than, say, the US Packaging Association’s big annual cardboard box conference in Illinois, or the UK’s gathering of the Society of Bookbinders over in Kentish Town, fashion week is at its core still just a trade show like the others.

So in addition to filling hotel rooms and bars, the big purchasing decisions emerging out of fashion week have a long tail across local economies, and drive tourism year-round. 

Of course, no gathering of creatives is complete until one of them weighs in on a political or geopolitical issue — aside from the merits of any particular cause, it also consistently generates massive brand awareness as legacy talking heads yell at each other in response.

Just us, or does that last one seem a lot like Derek Zoolander’s Derelicte?

The term ‘fashion diplomacy’ sometimes gets bandied about, and it can seem like an excuse to legitimise foreign ministers hanging around red carpets while the world burns.

But wittingly or not, there’s substance under that oversized camel coat with exaggerated lapels over a sheer black turtleneck, paired with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers in deep burgundy. Sorry, got side-tracked there… where were we? Ah yes, substance.

One big issue evident in all these front-row Russian billionaires is the question of tourist visas. The EU kept dishing out a half million Schengen visas to Russians last year, even as Russia waged a war on Europe’s doorstep. And it points at the disunity within Europe:

But ultimately, the EU’s approach seems more about the same thing greasing the wheels of fashion week every year: money. Tourism-heavy nations like Italy, Spain, France, and Greece still like those sweet rubles.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Minderoo Foundation

AI, War & Humanity: We Still Have a Choice

As the world watches UNGA, the future of AI in conflict zones hangs in the balance between technology and empathy. 

That’s why Minderoo Foundation launched a bilateral USA-China dialogue in 2019, which grounded a historic agreement: humans, not AI, must remain in control of nuclear weapons.

In partnership with the Brookings Institution, the Centre for International Security and Strategy, and Tsinghua University, we’ve shown what dialogue can achieve.

But dialogue alone is not enough. As Minderoo founder Dr Andrew Forrest explains: “As the world sits atop the head of a needle, it is vital those who can act, do so.”

Global leaders must act now to protect future generations.

Intrigue’s weekend recommendations

That unassuming red clay building above? It’s none other than Frida Kahlo’s former home in Mexico City’s beautiful old neighbourhood of Coyoacán. Okay, she technically only lived there for months while her more famous blue house (now run as a museum under the supervision of Mexico’s central bank) was getting renovated around the corner.

But this lesser-known red house above? It’s stayed in the family for four generations and is now opening to the public for the first time tomorrow (Saturday), apparently revealing a different side to the famed artist, including a cellar studio she’d hunker down in for days.

Moldova is holding parliamentary elections on Sunday.