Paris fashion shows – Style – Kommersant

A fashion marathon has ended in Paris – nine days filled with shows and presentations, like in the old days before the pandemic. Debuts of Ludovic de Saint-Sernin and Harris Reid in Ann Demeulemeester and Nina Ricci, shows of Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Dries Van Noten… Everything you need to know about the main catwalks of the season is in our material.

A new beginning

All fashion insiders were looking forward to the two shows of the season – Nina Ricci, performed by London unbaby Harris Reid, and Ann Demeulemeester, led by the king of Parisian sensuality, Ludovic de Saint-Sernin. If the first show disappointed with Reed’s lack of precise cut and technical skills (despite Florence Pugh, Adele and Beyoncé on the catwalk), then the second pleasantly surprised with its simplicity. Maybe Ludovic didn’t take risks on purpose, but he managed to show his vision of the Belgian house Ann Demeulemeester and give it new energy – with the help of floor-length silk skirts, leather trench coats and a bandeau with a decorative feather in white and black.

Several new names have been added to the calendar this season. Take Daniel Rosebery’s Schiaparelli, for example, who has finally launched a more accessible line filled with references to Elsa Schiaparelli’s legacy. And Peter Dundas demonstrated in the halls of the Paris Opera that he can make not only sexy floor-length evening looks, but also well-tailored pea jackets and coats.

Much ado about nothing

The new season will be remembered for shows where every brand wanted to grab attention and create a hype moment. In the wake of Bella Hadid’s magical white dress, the Coperni duo attempted to surprise this time around with Boston Dynamics robot dogs ripping off Rhianne Van Rompuy’s coats.

The duet Heliot Emil from Copenhagen set fire to one of the models in the middle of the show, and the Japanese Kunihiko Morinaga from Anrealage came up with a trick: under the “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel, the white coats and dresses on the models were stained from contact with the rays of a thermal lamp. At Courreges, models walked the runway without looking up from their phones.

Virginie Villard for Chanel dedicated the show to the camellia, Mademoiselle Chanel’s favorite flower. Viyar filled the setting with huge flowers and generously decorated the collection with them. She may have followed the lead of the marketing team that launched a new line of beauty products with red camellia extract last summer. A Acne Studios built a fairy tale setting, like in a magical forest, but did not show a single image that could be remembered.

In the end, the winners were those who either used the play to their advantage or abandoned it altogether, deciding to focus all their attention on clothing. Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga chose to recreate a minimalist setting in beige tones – exactly like in his showroom on the Left Bank. The show itself took place in the lower rooms of the Louvre Caroussel du Louvre (here, in the 1980s, all Fashion Week shows were held).

Dries Van Noten presented the theatrical production at the Porte de Villette concert hall. Models walked between the rows with the audience to the drum beat of Lander Gieselink, and the audience saw themselves and the whole performance in the reflection of the mirror. The collection is dedicated to the images in which we live every day – all attention was riveted on clothes, and the performance only emphasized this. Rick Owens had a similar idea: he showed a wardrobe with an abundance of sequins, which even in a pink tint looked rocker, with transforming down jackets, skirts with slits and knitwear. It was also the first time Owens himself walked the runway in the final look.

Nicolas Ghesquière invited guests of the Louis Vuitton show to the Musee d’Orsay and dedicated the collection to the style of French women with perfectly fitting blazers and coats. True to herself, Isabelle Maran staged a show-party with knitwear, sparkly dresses and the best casting of the season (Natasha Poly, Liya Kebede, Anna Selezneva and Sasha Pivovarova) to the live sound of Lulu Van Trapp.

And a bow on the side

One of the main stylistic devices of the season is bows. Maria Grazia Chiuri replaced belts with them for Dior – this technique was used by Christian Dior himself in his collections. Ribbons with bows instead of a belt were also worn by Balenciaga evening dresses and in the performance collection with tailoring from GmbH. And Sir Paul Smith suggests fastening blazers with a small bow instead of buttons in the new season. The same technique was used by Lucinda Chambers and Molly Molloy in their collection for AZ Factory. They dedicated the line to the main lover of bows, Alber Elbaz, and generously decorated the images with knotted ribbons.

To the office in new tailoring

The end of the pandemic marked a return to the office. Miuccia Prada masterfully played with this theme in her collection for Miu Miu, where her characters go to work with a hairstyle “just out of bed” and wide-cut blazers. Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent proposes to return to the 1980s and also wear wide shoulders. Natalia Alaverdyan for A. W. A. ​​K. E. Mode plays with proportions and comes up with strict blazers with studded wide trousers. Gauchere offers off-the-shoulder suits that feel a little off-figure, yet have the perfect fit.

Gabriela Hirst for Chloe works with blazers with gold buttons that will look great in any situation, from the office to the party. Yun Takahashi for Undercover reminds us how precious every day is, the designer added slogans about the importance of the moment to the backs of his tailored suits. Glenn Martens for Y/Project, in turn, rethought the concept of denim and created from it a uniform for every day, which all fashionistas will dream of. And Sera Burton for Alexander McQueen goes one step further and offers in the new season not only perfectly tailored blazers, but also jumpsuits and sculptural dresses created from men’s suiting fabrics.

Lidia Ageeva