Is rugbycore the new blokecore?

Mouthguards at the ready! Aries and Umbro have joined forces to celebrate the mud soaked nostalgia of the rugby pitch. Is it time for rugby to tackle football to the ground as fashion's favourite blokecore sport du jour? But, of course, that’s not the only fashion news this week. From Chanel’s LA extravaganza to Diesel’s slinky new staples, the Resort collections are in full swing. In the weeks to come, some of fashion’s biggest names will be jetting off to far flung destinations like Seoul, Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro, and more. Meanwhile, Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour wardrobe – replete with custom Coperni, Loewe and Mugler – is a fashion girlie's dream and British Vogue has published its latest print issue in braille for the first time in the magazine's 107-year-history, a landmark moment for inclusivity in fashion. So, here’s all the feel good fashion news from this week you might have missed.

Rugby fashion is coming for football’s blokecore crown

Damp fields, mud splattered shins, the rush of going in for a tackle. These were the inspirations behind the new Aries x Umbro collab. Striped shirts, sports socks and track pants give the classic rugby kit a chic upgrade while the Elaine Constantine shot campaign captures the raw, frantic energy of the game. This begs the question: is rugbycore the new blokecore?

Blokecore emerged as a football-adjacent trend on TikTok in 2021 and exploded offline during the Men’s and Women’s Euros of the past two summers. Vintage football shirts and Adidas Sambas are the foundation of every blokecore wardrobe. Rugby, while still incredibly popular, has sometimes existed in the shadow of football. Aesthetically, it's associated with Jack Wills-clad preps in their ubiquitous pink and navy stripes, or PE lessons cast out in the rain, neither of which is a particularly glam image.

But all this is about to change. Loewe’s cropped wool rugby shirt has become a cult celeb fav as both Rihanna and Hailey Bieber have been spotted in the blue and red striped staple earlier this year. Meanwhile, last autumn, queen of cool herself, Chloe Sevigny rocked a spliced vintage rugby shirt with black lace trousers and crossbody bag to attend a Knicks game.

After two summers jam packed with football and royalty related celebrations – blokecore often riffs on patriotic aesthetics too, albeit ironically – perhaps it's time for the next iteration of blokey fashion. Rugby style is full of contradictions. It’s rough, messy and chaotic, but also associated with the collegiate fashions of privately-educated prepsters.

Ultimately, rugby fashion is the epitome of effortless style. Preppy, yes, but tough and edgy too, as the Aries x Umbro collab shows. It’s carefree and cool with a laidback, grungy appeal. After all, you can throw a baggy rugby shirt over pretty much anything. This year’s Six Nations might be over, but the rugbycore trend has just started tackling its way to the top.

Chanel lands in LA

This week, Chanel headed out to LA to showcase its Resort 2024 collection, staging a blockbuster show at the Paramount Studios lot. It was as if Virginie Viard had been listening to our pleas because the collection’s pastel colour palettes and playful hemlines harked back to the ‘90s Chanel collections that we’re all obsessed with. Margot Robbie sat front row, perhaps taking note of the bubblegum pink looks for the lead up to the Barbie awards season. The collection conveyed a slightly more youthful spirit than what we’ve come to expect from Viard, complete with balletcore leg warmers. A synergy of sparkling embroidery, seasonal motifs and not so quiet luxury Chanel branding figured on tweed two pieces, floaty summer dresses and skirts of every length. The ensemble was dedicated to the Venice Beach sunbathers as well as the brand’s long standing relationship with the City of Angels and coterie of A-list Hollywood celebs who reside there. Let's just hope they'll start dressing them in better outfits soon.

Diesel delivers a stripped back Resort collection

Typically, when it comes Glenn Martens’ Diesel, we now know what to expect: sleek metallics, utility denim, lashings of sex appeal. These have become his signatures. His latest collection for Resort 2024, released this week as a lookbook, opened with a metallic sweatshirt with matching pants, signals a more simple and wearable incarnation of this vision with an added dose of Y2K futurism. The co-ed pieces told a colour story in blue metallics, grey denim and black with bursts of orangey pink and pale yellow thrown in for good measure. T-shirts, hoodies and denim were coated with a rainbow mirror effect to show a spectrum of colours. Menswear offerings included baggy cargo pants, multi-pocket jackets, hoodies and soft tailoring. The collection ended with a slouchy whatevercore T-shirt, cap and baseball shorts. From start to finish, versatility was the focus. The sex appeal was still there, just dialled down a notch. They’re still giving out 300,000 free Durex condoms in store, after all.

Peter Do heads to Helmut Lang

Since launching his eponymous line in 2018, Peter Do has become a cult brand beloved for their structured, modernist designs. Do cut his teeth at Phoebe Philo’s Céline, learning from her desirable, minimalist aesthetic. He has since cultivated his own understated cool appeal that’s made him a menswear a hit among the likes of Moses Sumney, Jeremy O Harris and Jeno from K-pop band NCT. This week, it was announced that Do would become creative director at Helmut Lang while continuing to work on his own brand. Both Lang and Do reject the notion of designer as celebrity, shunning the limelight in order to focus on their craft. Do’s first Helmut Lang collection will be shown at New York Fashion Week in September.

Beyoncé’s tour wardrobe is everything

Beyoncé is in her fashionista era and we’re so here for it. Before touching down in our very own Tottenham later this month, she kickstarted her Renaissance World Tour in Stockholm this week, serving some serious looks, from custom Courrèges to archival Mugler. Ever the performer, Bey's tour wardrobe is bursting with holographic, colour changing and bedazzled designs. Creating an on-stage look for a superstar of her stature is surely what designers dream of, so rather than working with just one brand, she counted several names, big and small, among her roster of collaborators: Courrèges, Loewe, Balmain, David Koma, Anrealage, Coperni. But the standout moment came with the custom Mugler bumblebee antennae inspired by the label’s SS97 couture collection. Bow down to Queen Bey.

British Vogue just published its latest issue in braille

When it comes to disability representation, fashion is still greatly lacking so when British Vogue released its May issue in honour of disabled talent across fashion and other creative industries it felt like a special moment. The covers included activist Sinéad Burke, models Aaron Rose Philip and Ellie Goldstein, actor Selma Blair and Justina Miles, who performed Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show in American Sign Language. To further this vision of inclusivity, the magazine have released their first ever braille edition along with an audio format so blind and partially sighted people can read the full print magazine for the first time in its 107-year history. Readers can receive the audio file for free and register their interest in being sent a physical braille copy. More of this please!