From digital outsiders to front-row fixtures, Hanan Besovic (I Deserve Couture) and Luke Meagher (HauteLeMode) have built influential platforms that approach fashion from distinct angles – Hanan with his community-driven, emotionally honest commentary, and Luke with sharp, performative critique rooted in cultural analysis. As brands increasingly seek their approval, both remain committed to unfiltered opinion and fashion-first discourse. Here, they reflect on access, burnout, and the responsibility that comes with being watched.

Marta Represa: What is your relationship with fashion week like these days? Is it important for you to be present?
Luke Meagher: I always do New York, Milan and Paris. I did London once and realized four fashion weeks back to back is too much for me. In a way, fashion week is a necessary evil. It’s important to see most of the collections first-hand to have a full understanding of them. That said, I have taken a bit of a backseat this season and I’m not as obsessed as I once was with being at every single thing. It’s tiring and it’s hard to simultaneously do the job of sitting down and figuring out proper storylines, narratives and edits for my videos.
Hanan Besovic: We started outside the fashion ‘club’ and we kind of made our way in, so it’s great to be part of the room, especially because it’s the only way to really feel the show; to have direct access to the designer without having to wait around for show notes. But it does get tiring to run from show to show on your own. After all, me and Luke don’t get any help with organization and don’t have a car waiting for us at every venue’s exit.

What felt truly memorable and new this season?
Hanan: I think Tom Ford. I didn’t see it first-hand but it blew my mind. Chloé, as well. Chloé’s shows are some of my favourites to attend because I always feel like I’m seeing the growth and evolution of the Chloé woman. Other than that, Vivienne Westwood was a very pleasant surprise, and [Roberto] Cavalli was really good. Overall it was a good season.
Luke: I don’t think it was the most wow fashion week, but there were some good elements. There’s something I find more interesting than shows themselves…
Hanan: The front row?
Luke: Yeah, but no. As much as I care about the celebrities, it’s the clients who’ve been catching my eye the most. At the end of the day, they are the true reflection of the brand. There were so many of them at Valentino, and I really enjoyed sitting in that sweltering room for 35 minutes because they were there – really embodying Alessandro’s vision with that vintage, maximalist look, with the sequins and the feathers. Same thing with Prada and Chloé.
Hanan: They wear clothes in a more organic way. With an influencer or a celebrity, you can always tell they went in for a fitting and have a stylist. With clients, it’s just true love for the designer’s aesthetics.
Luke: That’s also why I think it’s important to pay attention to those more commercial 45-50 looks in every collection: that’s the heart of what the clients will go for.

Which young or emerging designers caught your eye this season?
Luke: I went to Hodakova for the first time, and I enjoyed that weird cello dress bodysuit. It was funny and freaky.
Hanan: Not enough people are talking about Matières Fécales. To me they are the best out of the up-and-coming designers. You can see how much they love fashion, and that they 100% stand behind their designs, wear their own clothes and get all the weird and admiring looks because of it. That show was great; very McQueen-inspired. The other one people are going to mention is Duran Lantink. It’s good to see emerging designers getting traction.
Luke: Maybe it’s because I didn’t go to a lot of emerging designer shows, which was bad of me, but I don’t think there are so many of them. Even New York felt a bit scant in terms of young brands. Of course there are a lot of them who can’t afford to plan out a whole show every single season.
Hanan: That’s the thing really, it’s so tough, and the industry is not accommodating. When it comes to New York, I think emerging designers should all be grouped in one spot, so that people can see them all at once. Same with London: if they are all in the same space, even people who don’t want to see them will end up seeing them.
Luke: As it is, a lot of designers are unsure what to do. My advice? Don’t prioritize the show! Build your business, the hype of fashion week doesn’t pay the bills. You don’t have to have a show just because the fashion industry says so, because, no offense, but most of the time people just yap; it’s just talk. I barely understand the struggles of being a young designer, but I do understand having a business, and if something doesn’t benefit me as a business, I simply won’t do it. Plus, think about it: if the biggest brands get lost in the noise of fashion week, you just don’t stand a chance, unless you do something big and gimmicky, and that gets tiring after a few seasons.

How do you approach commentary in order to stand out?
Luke: I’m a very numbers-oriented person, so if I do a review and it doesn’t have 100,000 views, I will beat myself up over it. But I understand in this day and age it’s not as much about numbers as it is about the general vibe of a media brand. Brands care about whether or not they’re getting press that is reflective of what they’re trying to do, even if it’s bad. And I think it’s important to keep the spirit of fashion criticism alive.
Hanan: For me it’s more about finding something interesting to talk about that my audience will appreciate, but I’m also very keen on sharing my opinion, good or bad… even if brands would prefer it if it’s always good. It’s how I create but also how I consume media: I follow more fashion commentators and less influencers, because I’m more attracted to an opinion than to mere aesthetics.

Which commentators do you follow?
Luke: I’m a Rachel Tashjian stan.
Hanan: You do love a Prophet Pizza!
Luke: Because that woman writes! She writes about the clothing!
Hanan: If I had a dollar for every time you mention Rachel, I swear to God.
Luke: Listen, you know me. I don’t say willy-nilly ‘Wow, this person’s good.’
Hanan: You’re right.
Luke: She’s funny, and her criticism is culturally relevant; it tells us about society today. Just think of her recent piece about the Rowdents in The Washington Post [in it, Tashjian talks about brands emulating The Row’s quiet-luxury aesthetic]. Other than her, I have to say I never read anyone’s work until after I put out my review of a show, but then I will sometimes check Cathy Horyn just to be sure that we’re aligned.
Hanan: I’m always curious to see what Alex Fury has to say. And Angelo Flaccavento. I like his takes because they are often the opposite to mine, but always so interesting. And Vanessa [Friedman]! I’m very much like you, though: I will give my opinion first, then contrast it. But I do like to back it up.

How do you feel about the public nature of your job?
Hanan: I think it would be pretty unfair for us to be upset over someone having an opinion about our opinion. My platform is opinion-based, and that goes for everyone. I like the fact that it’s a place where we can all debate in a respectful manner. Plus, no one made us do this.
Luke: It is what it is. People can put out the kindest content in the world and someone will say something awful in the comments; but hey, if you can’t take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. I know I can come across as not the nicest person online and I’ve said some horrible things that I’m sure people want to smack me across the mouth for. And you know what? I understand. People are allowed to have an opinion on me and what I do.
Hanan: We say things that can rub people the wrong way, but it’s never out of malice. It’s just an opinion on someone’s work. We’re talking about fabric, not being mean to people…
Luke: Well, I can be mean. But a lot of the time, within fashion, people are not free to publicly express themselves. I sometimes have people come to me saying, ‘Oh my God, you’re my intrusive thoughts; these are the things I would like to say but I’m not allowed to.’
Hanan: People will come to you at the end of a show and give you their honest opinion, and then that opinion will have nothing to do with the one they share on social media. I remember the day after the Dior show. I had kind of read it to filth on a video, and somebody came up to me and said, ‘You are Leonardo and that video was your Mona Lisa.’

You mentioned the solo aspect of your work earlier. What are the pros and cons of not belonging to an organization?
Luke: The greatest thing is not having to answer to anybody. I mean brands can take issue with my work, but if they do, what can I say? Un-invite me; I still have access to the show’s photos, and I will use them in the ways I see fit. At the end of the day, it’s better if you allow me to the venue because that way I can at least have a 360º view of what you’re trying to get at. Even so, no one is going to yell at me for falling out of favour with a brand. The con is that for the first five years of HauteLeMode, every door slammed in my face. And I mean every one of them. It was very dismissive. Then Covid hit and everyone was forced to go online, and things started to change. But that journey – not having the prestige of an organization – was difficult.
Hanan: What brands don’t get is that they’re not achieving anything by not inviting us to the show… We’re still going to see the show. We’re still going to form an opinion about it.
Luke: My reaction now is also to go like, ‘Oh, you don’t think I’m important enough to be there? That’s OK, I just won’t cover it.’ I don’t have to cover anything and everything. It saves me work.
Hanan: I don’t like the way people won’t value your opinion at some point, but then when they need you – and it’s generally because they are in deep waters – they suddenly do value your work. When things are not good for them, they reach out.

How does your work stay unfiltered as brands take more of an interest in you?
Luke: That’s a great question, because I’ve been struggling with that for the past two seasons, as I’ve been given the kind of access I didn’t have before. I have to remind myself that a career is a marathon, not a sprint. That way I stay focused on what matters. You have to be OK with being banned or blacklisted by brands. But there is also a financial reality: I’m paying to go to Milan and Paris, so it’s important to me to make as much money as I’m shelling out.
Hanan: A return on investment is the bare minimum.
Luke: Yeah. And I’m not staying at the Ritz or anything. I’d be lying if I said I’m not grappling with it right now. But, at the end of the day, my deference is to my audience. If they think I’m throwing them to the side, that’s not great for my career. You don’t just use and abuse the people who put you where you’re at.
Hanan: Oh, absolutely. The people who follow our accounts don’t get enough acknowledgement, but they are the reason we get to do this. In fact, my primary concern is answering messages, building a community, meeting up in different cities… I don’t just want to be a face behind a screen, I want a conversation. When it comes to brands, generally the ones working with me are the ones that understand what I’m about. Recently someone came to me with a proposal, and when I said there were parts of the brand’s campaign I didn’t like and I planned to talk about it, they were very receptive. There has to be an understanding coming from both sides to make things work.

Coming back to this latest fashion week, what was the conversation everyone was having?
Luke: The main one? Gucci. People were very receptive to the idea of a studio collection, then the Demna news broke and upended everything. The other one was the return of Silvia Venturini Fendi. I mean, the Silvia era was always fantastic.
Hanan: In Paris it was all about Duran Lantink’s breastplate. It really marked the week. But the most-asked question was: ‘What did you think of Sarah Burton at Givenchy?’ I actually really liked it. I mean, she’s not going to give us all her greatest hits in a debut collection; she’s easing into it. She has been doing this since 1997, had one of the best mentors fashion could offer and did a great job continuing his legacy. And we need more women at the helm of brands! This anti-women movement in fashion really irritates me.
Luke: The lack of women designers makes no sense, because the girls are doing it! I mean, The Row’s vision?
Hanan: And on top of it, there is an understanding. I love Daniel Roseberry but he can’t know how a woman feels in a skirt. Most male designers have an ideal ‘woman’ that’s all about aesthetics but not comfort and functionality.
Luke: I don’t believe in that conversation around women and functionality, though. I mean, look at Rei Kawakubo and Comme Des Garçons. People were leaving her latest show moved to tears, and it was all about fashion as sculpture, not about functionality.
Hanan: True.

What were your thoughts about the Loewe exhibition?
Luke: It was beautiful, haunting, sad… We all knew he was in the process of moving on. Was I sad that it wasn’t a show? Yes, but at the same time it was great to see pieces up close.
Hanan: It was, in my opinion, one of the best if not the best collection of the season. I do think there should have been a farewell show, especially after he ushered the brand into a golden age. Talk about a tough act to follow!