Paris has been in fashion fever the last few days, hosting celebs, editors and designers from all over the world. Ingenious catwalks were on the programme this season, featuring Hollywood superstars, an elaborate French brasserie and artistic muses. Saint Laurent dressed punks for the prom and Stella McCartney embraced a fur fake out.
Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller don’t particularly spend time on catwalks, but made an exception for Paris Fashion Week. The Valentino show turned into a publicity stunt (ingenious marketing platform) for "Zoolander 2," the sequel to the popular 2001 film in which this pair plays “really really ridiculously good-looking” male models. Wilson was good for an Instagram moment in his light blue pyjama print outfit with flashy white sneakers and an eggshell blue trench coat. Stiller on the other hand, gave us Blue Steel all the way down the runway. This was definitely a game changer and a major fashion highlight on the season.
Legendary German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is a staple at Paris Fashion Week. His Chanel show took place in an extravagantly reconstructed French brasserie. Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner posed as customers and models lounging in booths reading the daily news (in super chic Chanel ensembles we might add). The long, embellished, textured jackets, pencil skirts and checked dresses took on a retro feel. Lagerfeld also brought out the black-and-white 50s block shoe from the Coco Chanel archive library for the first time!
Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli banked on a trompe d'oeil effect with their tight-waisted black geometric dresses. Later, long robes in brightly coloured Gustave Klimt-like patterns paid tribute to the symbolic artist's confidant, Emilie Louise Flöge. Artist David Hockney's inspiration, Celia Birtwell was also referenced with lace A-line outfits.
If there were an award for originality, it would go to Dutch wunderkind Iris Van Herpen for merging textile technology with bold style in a poetical show which merged organic shapes and geological micro-formations with unnatural-looking metallic textures. She developed a see-through steel material that lent a futuristic flair to a number of looks. And she implemented a kind of instant liposuction by wrapping the weave around the models waists. Iris Van Herpen stayed spot-on with the tech theme all the way down to the toes. There were “killer heels” that were made out of jagged shard of crystals, tied with leather bands, with no heel – and produced using 3-D printing! Impressive.
Designer Hedi Slimane has explored deep into Mr. Saint Laurent’s drug-tormented period of the 70s, for the attitude and philosophy that drives this label. Updated to 2015, it’s about frothy wickedly debauched pink prom dresses and black leather rock-n-roll mini dresses that start out incredibly short and pile on a high slit. This time, parents do not want their daughters to be a Saint Laurent girl. From torn fishnet stockings to tulle party dresses paired with fitted blazers worn with pert booties. Flushed dance frocks and skinny black suits, Saint Laurent brought out the rebel in all of us.
Stella McCartney, who is passionately anti-fur and leather, presented fuzzy, fake-fur coats for fall, with a hint of disco period when done in all white. Her energetic yet audacious collection is about real women with hectic lives. Long, comfortable wide slacks, some with massive cuffs, and half sweaters that concealed just arm, gave her fall collection a stress-free, relaxed luxury. Curved, chunky heels marked her booties which were still in the ’70s glamour vein.
Hollywood actors Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller don’t particularly spend time on catwalks, but made an exception for Paris Fashion Week. The Valentino show turned into a publicity stunt (ingenious marketing platform) for "Zoolander 2," the sequel to the popular 2001 film in which this pair plays “really really ridiculously good-looking” male models. Wilson was good for an Instagram moment in his light blue pyjama print outfit with flashy white sneakers and an eggshell blue trench coat. Stiller on the other hand, gave us Blue Steel all the way down the runway. This was definitely a game changer and a major fashion highlight on the season.
Legendary German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is a staple at Paris Fashion Week. His Chanel show took place in an extravagantly reconstructed French brasserie. Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner posed as customers and models lounging in booths reading the daily news (in super chic Chanel ensembles we might add). The long, embellished, textured jackets, pencil skirts and checked dresses took on a retro feel. Lagerfeld also brought out the black-and-white 50s block shoe from the Coco Chanel archive library for the first time!
Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli banked on a trompe d'oeil effect with their tight-waisted black geometric dresses. Later, long robes in brightly coloured Gustave Klimt-like patterns paid tribute to the symbolic artist's confidant, Emilie Louise Flöge. Artist David Hockney's inspiration, Celia Birtwell was also referenced with lace A-line outfits.
Kenzo was in step with this season's layering trend, featuring high-volume draped looks. The spectacle took place on the borders of Paris and included an extraordinary setup of mirrors in a warehouse. Asymmetry and juxtaposition were the common thread in the vivid collection: Models presented lop-sided poncho hoods and ethnic prints were dissonantly mixed. The duo changed up their usual boxy silhouette for fall, layering light woven bias-cut fabrics, spicing up suits with bold stripes of colour that ran across jackets.
If there were an award for originality, it would go to Dutch wunderkind Iris Van Herpen for merging textile technology with bold style in a poetical show which merged organic shapes and geological micro-formations with unnatural-looking metallic textures. She developed a see-through steel material that lent a futuristic flair to a number of looks. And she implemented a kind of instant liposuction by wrapping the weave around the models waists. Iris Van Herpen stayed spot-on with the tech theme all the way down to the toes. There were “killer heels” that were made out of jagged shard of crystals, tied with leather bands, with no heel – and produced using 3-D printing! Impressive.
Designer Hedi Slimane has explored deep into Mr. Saint Laurent’s drug-tormented period of the 70s, for the attitude and philosophy that drives this label. Updated to 2015, it’s about frothy wickedly debauched pink prom dresses and black leather rock-n-roll mini dresses that start out incredibly short and pile on a high slit. This time, parents do not want their daughters to be a Saint Laurent girl. From torn fishnet stockings to tulle party dresses paired with fitted blazers worn with pert booties. Flushed dance frocks and skinny black suits, Saint Laurent brought out the rebel in all of us.
Stella McCartney, who is passionately anti-fur and leather, presented fuzzy, fake-fur coats for fall, with a hint of disco period when done in all white. Her energetic yet audacious collection is about real women with hectic lives. Long, comfortable wide slacks, some with massive cuffs, and half sweaters that concealed just arm, gave her fall collection a stress-free, relaxed luxury. Curved, chunky heels marked her booties which were still in the ’70s glamour vein.
