(Image:evening gowns uk)Paris signals the end of a whirlwind fashion month and the pinnacle for an international caravan of press and buyers, some of whom have crossed continents to critique and purchase the autumn-winter 2014-15 collections. These clothes will hit stores in September, as our spring arrives.
In years past nothing could have seemed more incongruous. Duffle-coats and pleated wool for that beach getaway? Forget it. Today, however, designers are ever conscious of their global clientele, and it showed in the trans-seasonal wardrobes of the Paris runways this week.
For one, an unabashed use of colour has made for lively Instagram fodder, as the catwalks have streamlined the wild collage of dressing that befits street style’s Birds of Paradise. At the Christian Dior show, designer Raf Simons sent out models in pairs, their cashmere overcoats in hot pink and electric blue draped over one arm, worn with menswear-inspired pantsuits and moulded, pointy pumps. His message was of a woman’s synergy with her urban environment, an idea that he translated best when those coloured coats were laced up the side like sneakers, or when Dior’s hound’s tooth signature was quilted into the bodice of flouncing cocktail frocks.
The Belgian designer Dries Van Noten did double time this season, showing an Op-art and rave-inspired collection beneath the chandeliers of the Hôtel de Ville and then inviting his friends and followers to celebrate the opening of his exhibition Dries Van Noten: Inspirations at Les Arts Decoratifs museum. Van Noten’s fashion show bloomed with hothouse florals and the psychedelic touch of spiralling silkscreen prints like the work of Bridget Riley, his silhouette touching on the dropwaist or picking up tailored and sporty men’s touches, such as the bomber jacket and overcoat, rendered precious by metallics. For Paris-bound travellers, his exhibition runs through August 31, celebrating his 25-year history via ethnic and thematic capsules – a journey of garments complemented by rare and important artworks and objects from the museum’s archives and abroad.
At Céline, Phoebe Philo toned down the joyous tribalism of spring, returning towards the house’s luxurious minimalism shot through with the long lines of the 1930s and the inspiration of a handful of surrealist female artists. Her show opened with five declinations of a fluted overcoat in black felt, the last of which came short, fitted and peeled off around the shoulders. Those shapes recurred throughout in mottled ocelot-print wool or a static weave, with gauzy blouses or pooling, knit trousers worn underneath for a softer take on the pyjama trend. Models wore a single, giant earring that felt vintage and precious.
Another soft touch came from Riccardo Tisci’s tender, butterfly-inspired collection for Givenchy. His modern maidens wore wispy braids and a hair elastic red-taped to their temples as they paraded demure, floating dresses or boxy tailoring in shades of mint green and blush popping against athletic straps in white, yellow or lipstick red. The butterfly and its wings were a delicate leitmotif woven through in both subtle and direct treatments, like mottled downy prints paired with brown furs or as a bristling rainbow-sequined tank worn with sheer pleats for evening.
While the above talents are established names evolving their own work within a house, there are others whose talents, one may say, are still on trial. When Alexander Wang began at Balenciaga last year, first thoughts were of his New York touch and the commercial saviour that may bring, as well as a loosening of the futuristic rigor of his predecessor, Nicolas Ghesquiere. The results have been varied, and opinions divided, yet his autumn-winter show was the best yet – marrying his own sports-tech athleticism with the curvilinear codes of Cristobal Balenciaga. He did that with bonded tape, splits and zips across round-shouldered wool tees and shifts, or coated cable knits in dark, hot colours like petrol blue and magenta. He’d made a marked effort in the handbag department too, making so many shoppers that some models carried three at a time.
Hedi Slimane’s approach to Saint Laurent, however, has been markedly different, where he has curated a holistic visual universe worshipping youth culture and rock’n’roll. His rotating, mechanical sets are iconic architectures for his band of misfit glamours, and for autumn that meant gilded rays that arced skywards before an equally metallic collection where even tartan mini’s were done in sequins. Elsewhere, attenuated schoolgirl silhouettes were Mod-ish (even geeky) and came layered through with a feast of pattern and print from houndstooth to leafy jacquard, polka dots and the graphic of a pistol-wielding hand. It must be said that Slimane’s skinny, I’m-with-the-band threads are easy to label as vintage gone valuable, but are the result of tireless research and embellishment. Although fashion’s die-hard set is quick to dismiss his pastiche, it has a wider cultural significance that should not be ignored.
All this talk of revival and rebranding, it is intriguing to consider this autumn as a season of debuts, just as spring was one of departures. Alessandro Dell’Acqua unveiled his take on Rochas (the previous designer Marco Zanini left for Schiaparelli couture) and a day later it was revealed Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester’s collection had been designed by her atelier staff (with a trio at the helm) after she retired in November. Both collections were awash with the signatures of their respective predecessors (Ann’s black draping, Rochas’ eclectic jacquards and a beaded shoe). Such talk of signatures and respecting codes is a design language that, however comforting and familiar, speaks not of forward motion in creativity.
One designer still to show was Nicolas Ghesquiere, with his first Louis Vuitton collection in the Louvre’s courtyard. This show’s gossip quota is rivalled only by guesses of Karl Lagerfeld’s next set design for Chanel. After his pre-autumn showing in Texas, this invitation’s only clue is an octagonal blue and red sign that reads CHANEL SHOPPING CENTRE stamped on its front page.Also read here:vintage prom dresses