Issue 23 Whole Lotta Love

Editors' letter

« Among Lotta Volkova's many idiosyncratic qualities is her ability to fuse the often intangible powers of the stylist with the cold facts of the industry's bottom line. On one hand, the normally level- headed British newspaper the Guardian once labelled Lotta, "The coolest woman in the world?" ("That's psychotic", she drolly retorts, during her conversation with writer Alexander Fury). On the other, the work she does for Miu Miu, in close collaboration with the brand's founder Miuccia Prada, has resulted in the kind of eye-watering financial growth that doesn't so much buck the current market slump as rip it up entirely (possibly into a fraved micro mini-skirt): as of Q3 2024, sales had increased a staggering 97% year on year.

System was simply keen to hear Lotta's own take on what it is she does, and why it's so successful, hyperbole and sales figures aside. In a career that continues to be (sometimes lazily) defined by her geographical and cultural backstory, we were also curious to understand how even today she remains largely unclassifiable, beyond pigeonholing, singular.

As we put the final touches to Lotta's cover story, she - as well as Lauren Sherman, the brilliant fashion reporter at Puck - was among the many faced with the catastrophic scenes of fire sweeping across their hometown of Los Angeles. Our thoughts are with all those, in fashion and beyond, whose lives and livelihoods are affected. »