The View Ahead

By KRISTINA O'NEILL

Illustration by Alejandro Cardenas

METAMORPHOSIS | Meet Bast (here wearing Balenciaga) and Anubis, Egyptian gods imagined by the artist Alejandro Cardenas. Follow their adventures every month.

WELCOME TO THE NEW WSJ. Magazine—our biggest fashion issue ever and my first at the helm. In reimagining the magazine, we decided to celebrate what makes WSJ. exceptional—innovative thinking about the people and ideas shaping our world, presented with simplicity and elegance.

Avid readers will clock the introduction of a few Wall Street Journal hallmarks throughout the issue. The newspaper inspired our newly redrawn logo, which adopts the Journal's own font, Escrow. The new What's News section plays off of the paper's own daily hit list of headlines. And for The Columnists, we couldn't resist seeing our contributors rendered in hedcuts, those wonderful stipple drawings that the Journal used for years in lieu of photography.

The Shift—a feature that sheds light on significant cultural sea changes—became something of a mini-mantra as we put this issue together. We weren't changing things just for the sake of change. Each transformation marks a shift toward content that will help you on your path to creating enviably full lives.

Nothing shifts as fast as fashion, which can create wardrobe upheavals by the end of an eight-minute runway show. But every season something strides forward that leaves an enduring mark. This spring, it was white, a shade so pure and simple it strips craftsmanship to the core. Never have clothes been so in focus—like the white cutout dress model Kati Nescher wears on our cover. It was designed by New York wunderkind Alexander Wang who will soon be taking the reins at the French house Balenciaga (a change no one saw coming).

In this issue we get the inside story on a few others leading their fields in new directions. Delphine Arnault, the daughter of LVMH (MC.FR) head Bernard, was the catalyst behind one of the biggest fashion shifts last year: the appointment of Dior creative director Raf Simons. After enjoying a new chapter of her own—a baby girl—she's back at work and ready to usher the house into its new era. Fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez has endured more than his share of shifts, but with a brilliant spring collection and a new CEO, his path forward looks less rocky. And Alex Atala—the Brazilian chef who is so punk rock he uses herbs that numb your mouth— whose restaurant D.O.M. is now ranked the fourth best in the world.

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Change is exciting—it's inspiring to witness new ideas taking shape, whether in the kitchen, on the runways or between the glossy covers of a magazine. It's the future in real time.

Kristina O'Neill

Editor in Chief

k.oneill@wsj.com