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The 2026 WSJ Innovator Awards, now in their 16th year, filled the Museum of Modern Art on Thursday evening with pop stars, actors, writers and fashion designers. By most accounts, the biggest photo magnet in the room was a baseball team on stilts.

The Savannah Bananas, the exhibition baseball team known for its bright yellow uniforms, were this year’s sports honorees. They stood out in a crowd of suits and cocktail dresses, and WWD reported that one guest offered to snap a friend’s picture with the team while Hollywood names milled nearby.

Who Was Honored at the WSJ Innovator Awards

WSJ. Magazine recognized seven honorees across as many fields:

• Fashion: Matthieu Blazy, for his work at Chanel
• Music: Rosalía
• Comedy: Amy Poehler
• Literature: Marlon James
• Film: Martin McDonagh
• Technology: Demis Hassabis
• Sports: the Savannah Bananas

The format was familiar. A cocktail hour was followed by a seated dinner, where honorees were called to the stage one by one for introductions and acceptance speeches. Harper’s Bazaar noted that the evening came amid a run of black-tie events, including the Academy Museum Gala, the Golden Heart Awards and a new Airbnb.org gala held earlier in the week.

The Presenters and the Speeches

Several honorees were introduced by famous friends. Russell Wilson presented the Savannah Bananas, and before dinner he joked around with comedian Marcello Hernández while his wife, Ciara, posed for photos with Ashley Graham and Jordyn Woods. Lupita Nyong’o, in a black Brandon Maxwell gown, introduced James.

Blazy’s award was presented by Dua Lipa and A$AP Rocky, both Chanel ambassadors. Blazy took over as creative head of Chanel in December 2024, according to Harper’s Bazaar, and his arrival at the party reportedly turned plenty of fashion heads.

James, whose new novel The Disappearers is among the year’s most praised, gave the speech WWD singled out. He said the first time he read a book without pictures, at age 5, his “head exploded.” Words, he realized, could build a movie in the reader’s mind. “I write books so I can have more than one life,” he told the room, “and I write books that you can have more than one life as well.”

Poehler had been working the room barefoot before dinner and put her heels back on to go onstage, WWD reported. She began her remarks with a reflection on being present and aware of where your feet are.

Chanel Dominates the Red Carpet

If any label owned the evening’s wardrobe, it was Chanel. Harper’s Bazaar reported that Poehler, model Bhavitha Mandava, A$AP Rocky and Dua Lipa all wore Blazy’s designs. For an event honoring him, that was a fitting show of support.

Other looks drew attention too:

• Rosalía wore a black-and-white Schiaparelli set, an embellished, skin-baring top with a silky maxi skirt.
• Cara Delevingne wore Erdem.
• Jordyn Woods-Towns wore sculptural Christian Siriano.
• Emmy Rossum wore Hermès.
• Irina Shayk wore Issey Miyake.
• Ciara wore LaPointe.

The guest list also included Patti Smith, Seth Meyers, Gayle King, Jordan Roth, Adut Akech, Christian Louboutin, Christopher John Rogers, Jason Wu, Joseph Altuzarra, Reed Krakoff and Wes Gordon.

Why the Mix Works

The honoree list is part of the appeal. A novelist, a playwright-turned-filmmaker, a pop star, a comedian, an AI researcher, a Paris fashion house and a baseball team in yellow all share one room. The WSJ Innovator Awards reward a broad idea of innovation, and this year’s evening, from James’s account of reading to the sight of the Bananas on stilts among black-tie guests, showed how wide that idea can be.

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The best raincoats, it turns out, are rarely chosen by looks alone. In a Guardian fashion feature published at the end of October 2026, three people who work in and around style describe a shared aim: stay dry without looking as though you have dressed for an expedition. Their answers range from a detachable hood to a recycled poncho and a jacket that has lasted two decades.

The case against looking “aggressively practical”

Jess Cartner-Morley, the Guardian’s associate fashion editor, sets out the problem bluntly. Hotel doormen with giant umbrellas are not an everyday option. She also dismisses the umbrella as a solo strategy: good ones are cumbersome, and the flimsy handbag kind are, in her words, “profoundly depressing”. Her approach is to be rain-ready without advertising it, on the logic that a 50% chance of showers is not an emergency.

Her main fix is a coat whose hood detaches, paired with bellows pockets that can swallow the hood when the sky is clear. She says hoods can make coats look juvenile. Her own is an old Barbour, similar to the current Carville style. She also advises setting a Vinted alert, because a similar Barbour appears on the current series of Celebrity Traitors, which she expects to send demand up.

Footwear gets the same practical treatment. She prefers a low block heel to a flat sole, since it keeps jeans hems out of puddles, and a cleated sole for grip and durability. A pull-on M&S Chelsea boot, she notes, works with tights and skirts as well as trousers.

Ponchos, rainbow umbrellas and going low maintenance

Writer and sustainability consultant Aja Barber takes a looser view. She doesn’t want her rainy-day look to differ much from her dry-day one. When it pours, she reaches for a recycled, colourful Ponch poncho, or a rainbow umbrella from Roka. The umbrella, she says, has a social upside: it can be shared with a friend or partner.

She often skips waterproof footwear altogether. In a real downpour she wears a decades-old J Crew rubber Chelsea boot, bought before she gave up fast fashion. She buys much of her wardrobe secondhand, including baggy shorts from Egg, which are expensive new. Her most distinctive tip concerns hair. Since moving to the UK she has dropped blowouts and straighteners, so there is nothing for the weather to ruin.

Longevity over novelty

Author and editor Luke Turner dresses by location. For proper countryside walks he wears a Berghaus Cornice waterproof he has owned for about 20 years. It keeps him dry and breathes well, though he admits it is “pretty ugly”. The company still sells an updated version. In the city he wears an old black rubberised-cotton railway jacket from Levisons. It is solid and waterproof but, he says, a bit like a portable sauna. He also owns a compromise Barbour for occasions in between. The source text cuts off before he finishes describing it.

What the shopping edit costs

The accompanying gallery of this autumn’s gear shows a wide price range. Items credited include:

• a Tretorn rain jacket at £80
• a Lululemon jacket at £198
• a Didriksons hat at £25
• Wellipets wellies at £150
• socks at £14
• a Boden dress at £89

There is even a Barbour dog raincoat at £49.95, modelled by a canine called Percy. The Guardian notes it earns a commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

The takeaway

Across the three contributors, the best raincoats share a few traits: details that adapt, such as a hood that can be tucked away, materials that last, and a willingness to buy secondhand. Cartner-Morley and Turner both favour Barbour, while Turner’s trusty Berghaus shows that function can outlast fashion. Barber’s low-maintenance philosophy may be the most transferable advice of all. Accept that some downpours can’t be avoided, and dress so you’re not upset when one arrives.

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Painters, sculptors and long-overlooked illustrators are everywhere on the spring 2027 runways, and designers are increasingly happy to name them. Vogue’s runway team went looking for explicit art references across more than 400 spring 2027 reviews, and the range they found is wide, running from Dadaism to 18th-century-inspired contemporary work.

Why art and fashion keep colliding

“Is fashion art?” is an old argument, and the sources suggest the more interesting shift is in who gets to join it. Amelia, a 32-year-old Columbia student who posts as Meelz on Art on TikTok, has been seated at Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Dior on the strength of her art-historical analysis. Dr. Elizabeth Way, curator of Art X Fashion at the Museum at FIT, goes further, calling art “probably the largest, most influential cultural movement on fashion designers.”

The big houses have leaned into that. Louis Vuitton staged a cruise show at The Frick this year, and Dior did the same at LACMA. Museums are no longer just a source of inspiration for these brands. They are the venues.

Opposites that land in the same place

Some of the most striking pairings on the spring 2027 runways involve wildly different source material that produced similar results. Lii drew on the graphic flair of Alex Katz. Loewe looked to 17th-century Spanish painters Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez, and Zurbarán is currently on view at the Louvre. Both collections still ended up as visions of futuristic sportswear.

Amelia found Loewe especially interesting because it was so paradoxical: contemporary and traditional at once. She pointed to bright, saturated pieces with severe, geometric purity, dramatic drapery in the manner of Zurbarán, and courtly embellishment like the clothing in a Velázquez portrait.

Calder, Richter and the classical canon

Dior’s connection was more literal. Jonathan Anderson reproduced an 18th-century wooden chair from his personal collection, and some guests sat on copies of it. In the clothes themselves, Amelia saw airy refinement that echoed the motion blur of Gerhard Richter’s paintings.

Other designers went further back. Bora Aksu referenced 17th-century portraitist Mary Beale, and Nicky Zimmermann turned to the 19th-century natural history illustrators Harriet and Helena Scott.

Alexander Calder was the most popular touchstone. Sarah Burton drew on Cirque Calder at Givenchy, while Michael Kors focused on the mod qualities of the sculptor’s shapes. Elsewhere, Rachel Comey’s 25th anniversary show paid tribute to artist and novelist Rosalyn Drexler. Kiko Kostadinov added an experimental edge with the work of Italian artists Agostino Bonalumi and Nanda Vigo.

Prada’s skirt as canvas

Prada’s reference came from its own history. The show’s 63 skirts nodded to “Waist Down,” a traveling exhibition the house staged in the early 2000s. “We used the skirt as a framework for different ideas, different approaches, like a raw material to express concepts,” Miuccia Prada said in the show notes, adding that the simple shape, “almost like a canvas,” forces designers to reinvent the form within strict limits. The gradient-dyed leather also recalled the emotionally charged canvases of Mark Rothko.

What the references add to clothing

Anne Higonnet, an art historian and professor at Barnard, says art “teaches clothing how to transcend its necessity.” In her view, people use color, shape, texture, composition and rhythm to go beyond simply covering the body, and beyond signaling social position.

The takeaway from the spring 2027 runways is that these references work on two levels. The clothes can be enjoyed without a footnote, but knowing the source, whether it is a Zurbarán drape or a Calder mobile, adds another layer for anyone who wants it.

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Freaky footwear has stopped being a runway curiosity and started showing up on the morning commute. Shoes that split the toes, balloon at the heel or look like a garden tool are now selling in volume, and the numbers suggest this is more than a passing joke.

According to the fashion search platform Lyst, demand for Tabi styles, the cloven-hoof design that separates the big toe from the others, has risen fourfold since 2022. Vibram’s glove-like FiveFingers, which give each toe its own pocket, are up 57% year on year. A few seasons ago, both would have marked their wearer as a committed eccentric. Now they are being worn to offices and even weddings.

From the school run to the high street

The trend’s defining feature is a love of shoes once considered too humble, or too odd, for polite company. Simone Rocha has covered supersized Crocs in pearls and gemstones. Etro has joined Dior and Valentino in reworking the cork-footbed Birkenstock clog, a shoe long treated as the opposite of fashion.

Price is no barrier to the appeal, and nor is it a guarantee of it. This summer, French gardening clogs called Gardanas, which cost £38 and come in an earthworm-like shade, generated long waiting lists, and not only among gardeners. Celine sells a similar mossy-coloured pair for £670, which suggests the look is being priced across a wide range.

High-street retailers from John Lewis to Zara have also embraced hybrids dubbed “Frankenshoes”. The sneakerina crosses a trainer with a ballet flat; the snoafer marries a sneaker to a penny loafer. They are odd, but they are easy to wear, which may explain how they travel so far beyond the fashion crowd.

Even the heel is being reimagined

High heels haven’t vanished, but they have been reshaped. Designers have offered versions that resemble deflated balloons or broken eggs. Tory Burch inverted the heel altogether in her latest collection, creating the look of a flat mule while still lifting the wearer. The most sought-after height is now a stubby half-inch “nipple heel”.

Why strange shoes now?

Dal Chodha, a writer and lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London, calls the shift “thrilling”. He argues it pushes people to embrace “the jolt of something that feels ugly or absurd”, and describes a “liberating place where more people can have fun with their shoes”. He has personal form: as a teenager he wore Nike Air Rift trainers with a split-toe design.

Valerie Steele, chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, offers a practical explanation. Shoes sit far from the face, she says, so wearers can “play with elements of ugliness” and make a statement without committing to a whole outfit. A strange shoe can be a low-risk way to experiment.

She also notes that this is hardly new. Medieval poulaines, with elongated toes, signalled social rank, and some were so long they had to be fastened to the knee to prevent tripping. Towering chopines, worn by women from the 15th century, also indicated status. In ancient Greece, sex workers are reputed to have worn sandals with “Follow me” carved into the soles.

What it means for your wardrobe

The history suggests that unusual footwear has long been a way to signal something, whether power, wealth or a sense of humour. What has changed is access. The latest freaky footwear comes at £38 or £670, from gardening suppliers and luxury houses alike, and is worn on ordinary commutes rather than only in front of photographers.

Whether the fourfold rise in Tabi demand keeps climbing is anyone’s guess. For now, the polite pump and the inoffensive trainer have company, and it is wearing split toes.

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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.

‘Tis the season for cozy blazers, and the Talbots Shetland blazer has been one of my favorites for ages. If you’re looking for a classic herringbone pattern that will hold up for years, Talbots has your back. I have one in my closet that I’ve been trotting out on chilly fall days for the past five Octobers.

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I love this purple color, but it also comes in green, burgundy, ivory, and burnt copper.

The blazer is $199-$219 at Talbots and comes in sizes 2-18, 0P-16P, 14-24, and 14P-22P. Right now you can get 25% off select regular-price styles, and this one is included!

Sales of note for 10/23 (ALSO, friendly PSA – check any NAS or Amazon Prime Day purchases for the return policies…)

• Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase + $50 off your $200+ purchase
• Brooklinen – Friends & Family – 20% off sitewide and 50% off select bundles
• J.Crew – Up to 40% off select fall styles. Also, donate any gently worn coat in one of their stores and get $25 off your next purchase of $125+.
• J.Crew Factory – 40% off new arrivals + extra 15% off orders of $100+
• M.M.LaFleur – 72 hours only, save 20% on jardigans (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
• Nordstrom – 5840+ new markdowns for women, up to 40% off
• Talbots – 50% off one regularly-priced item, 40% off everything else
• Theory – End of season sale is on with extra savings (new prices are marked)

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Gigi Hadid leads in the Miu Miu Holiday 2026 campaign. It’s a mischievous take on holiday dressing set inside a …

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A hairline transplant is a surgical procedure that moves healthy follicles to the front of the scalp. It can rebuild a receding hairline, fill the temples, or improve frontal density. Surgeons plan the new hairline around your facial features, age, existing density, and future hair loss. Results appear gradually because new growth takes several months […]

The post Hairline Transplant: Procedure, Cost, Recovery, and Results appeared first on IFB.

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Meg Stalter style can be summed up in a phrase she offers herself: “There are no rules, really.” The comedian, who has turned up to events this year as an astronaut, an Emmy statue, an orange latex-clad Kylie Jenner and a BDSM-lite Carrie Bradshaw, spoke to British Vogue in London about why getting dressed should be as playful as her work.

A year of costumes and a Halloween dilemma

Halloween has become almost as competitive as the Met Gala, with celebrities trying to outdo each other. For someone who is “always wearing costumes,” that raises an obvious question about what comes next. Stalter’s answer was unexpected: “Sometimes the answer is… no costume at all.”

She was in London as a guest at False Idols, billed as the city’s biggest queer Halloween club night, held at the Tottenham venue Drumsheds. Her look there was low-key by her standards: jorts, a tank top, ankle socks and Mary-Jane flats. She added hair in rollers and skinny, ’90s Madonna-style brows, so it was still hardly a standard jeans-and-T-shirt outfit.

Why the red carpet should be fun

The principle behind Meg Stalter style is that creative work should carry over into how she dresses. “Our jobs are so fun and exciting and silly, why wouldn’t we take that to the red carpet and not be so in a box?” she says. Her one condition is that people respect others and be kind. Within that limit, she argues, artists should be free to “go off.”

The same attitude shapes her career. A veteran of Chicago comedy and improv, she built her profile with viral Instagram sketches during the pandemic. She then joined HBO’s Hacks in 2021 as the deluded talent agency assistant Kayla, and later played the lead in Oh, Mary! on Broadway. Her latest move is music. Her debut album, Crave, arrives with the lead single “Prettiest Girl in America.”

She says even the idea of her making music is “out of the box,” and in the next breath insists she has “always been a pop star.” Her influences include Britney Spears, Dolly Parton and Addison Rae. She also lists herself, without apparent irony, at the top. Watching Spears’s 2000 Live in Hawaii performance of “Baby One More Time” was formative, she says, because it showed how much could happen on a stage.

Chic Brits, beans on toast and the perfect scare

London is familiar territory. Last year she starred opposite Will Sharpe in Lena Dunham’s Too Much. She says she has had little free time here because of the shooting schedule, though she compares the city to “a less chaotic, cleaner New York.” On Britons, she is complimentary: “absolutely chic and fabulous,” with “beautiful voices.” She also says they are kind, whereas “Americans are loud and can be obnoxious.” On stage at Drumsheds she announced that she “loves beans on toast.”

Her test for a good costume is whether it makes people a little nervous. She knows an idea is right when her team is excited but slightly anxious about pulling it off. “Something that scares everybody a little bit,” she says. Her Hacks co-star Paul W Downs, who has been involved in some of her best-loved red-carpet moments, may feature in whatever she does next. Judging by this year’s run of costumes, Meg Stalter style will keep surprising people, and the surprise this Halloween was a toned-down outfit of jorts and rollers.

Fashion Bomb Daily was on the scene at the Culture Bowl murder mystery dinner in Atlanta, hosted by celebrity stylists Bryon Javar and Kim Blackwell.

The evening brought together some of the city’s most stylish names for a night of mystery, fashion, and fun, and guests came dressed to slay.

The dinner was Bryon Javar’s idea, created as a fun way for guests to interact. We caught up with him to talk about the concept, and he also shared his best tips for aspiring stylists.

Co-host and Culture Bowl creator Kim Blackwell wore a YSL look with Fendi boots. She spoke with us about the night and shared her highlights from The Culture’s Coldest Icon Honors.

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Actress Danielle Brooks spoke about the importance of women supporting women.

Actor Jacob Latimore shared that he’s relaxing after eight seasons of The Chi.

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Celebrity stylist Elly Karamoh, the stylist behind Steve Harvey and Mike Epps, wore an Oyeleke coat and shared his secrets to being an amazing stylist.

Celebrity hairstylist Alonzo Arnold talked all things Atlanta fashion.

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Stay tuned for more from Culture Bowl!

Video: JayNextDoor

Photos: Rodney Pointer

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Fashion Bomb Daily was on the scene at The Culture’s Coldest Kick Back in Atlanta, part of a weekend of events curated by marketing executive Kim Blackwell. Now in its inaugural year, The Culture’s Coldest is rooted in impact, celebrating the icons shaping culture while connecting creators with brands and giving back to the community.

Sponsored by Procter & Gamble and Sprite, the Kick Back brought guests together for an evening of karaoke, games, and plenty of style, and guests came to slay in their flyest fits.

We caught up with Kim Blackwell to talk about her mission of connecting creators to brands. The weekend also included a community food drive, extending the celebration beyond the guest list.

Marsai Martin, who hosted The Culture’s Coldest Icon Honors earlier in the week, stopped by to talk about her look and reflect on the weekend.

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Yandy Smith shared her thoughts on Atlanta fashion versus New York style.

With karaoke on the menu, we had to ask guests about their go-to songs. From “Just Kickin’ It” by Xscape to “Weak” by SWV, there was range. The segment featured Miss Lawrence, Yandy Smith, Kenny Burns, and more.

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Of course guests tipped through in style! Take a look at some stand out ensembles:

The Culture’s Coldest Weekend was the bomb! Many thanks to Kim Blackwell for having Fashion Bomb Daily cover the festivities.

Check out even more reasons to love Kim Blackwell below:

Until next year!

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To have FBD cover your next event, email Book@clairesulmers.com

Interviews: Claire Sulmers
Photos and Video: JayNextDoor, Caz

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