Finally ! I’m sorry for being so long, but I must say Paris was really rich of surprises and beautiful, moving shows. Perhaps not new trends or new ways to think fashion, but well done and meaningful fashion. I can’t really decide which show I liked the most, so the order is kind of random. Bonne lecture !
p.s: I’m off to Athens this week and then to Madrid the next one, so there will be a lack of post and commenting. Pardon me please !
Balenciaga: Balenciaga was probably my favorite show of Paris fashion week. And perhaps of the entire fashion month. It has fascinated me because of its incredible novelty. You’ve never seen that before, which is a very good point. And then, it’s visually striking and quotes tons of things I like very much. Talk about history of architecture and art: Dudù from modainsegni points the De Stijl reference. I agree, but it’s at the same time pre and post-Mondrian, pre-modern and post-modern, pre-futuristic and post-futuristic. You could think all this is just a linguistic blabla, but it’s striking to observe the atemporality of this show. It reminds me a lot of Blade Runner, but more of the toys J.-F. Sebastian builds in it than anything else. Hoffmanian dolls, intriguing vertical objects: Ghesquière’s volumes are very tight, unlarge, also very geometrical. The idea of toy is everywhere, in the robotic aspect as in the color blocks, which could be blocks to build with. The experience of looking at this show is therefore very strange, because it looks like a memory you never really had. The dramatic use of make-up, orange especially, enhances that fascination for an unexpected construction which you also feel very dreamy, very close to you. This is the sweet, almost positive interpretation. You could also see these girls as automates – Hoffmann, tenebrous presences of an industrial ( but here again, post-industrial ? pre-industrial ? ) world, a very cold product. It’s not only sci-fi constructivism, these Balenciaga silouhettes have an enigma-quality in them which makes it a very interesting and complicate show.
Comme des garçons: Rei Kawakubo’s superironic fashion show is also very, very subtle. Think Gillray in an alternative gladiator universe… pastels and orange and polka dots become clear, playful, sweetly childish. War-dresses, because made of/from different shoulders… but also escape-patchworks, oniric visions aiming for white purity. The processus of collage is of course very dangerous in fashion, but Rei manages to balance it very well with the calm stability of the bottom. Strawberries shoes, mint hair: fruity nature brings disorder to the army of impossible soldiers, which may vaguely remember a Maupassant tale. Irony, caricature, parody: as style.com’s reviewer noticed, Rei is having lots of fun paroding other designers almost plagiarist approachs… You want a wonderland-military world ? Only she can give you the perfect oxymoron response. Arena has never been so close to playground.
Alexander McQueen: I guess De Betak did the production ? I’m all very De Betak these days, I’ve seen tons of Dior Couture ancient shows, Rodarte shows, etc. etc. But anyway. SHOW. You could be sure to have one with the… great Alexander. And the name is well deserved, because this time he plays with smart mythological and greek references. He quotes Plato’s Atlantis, but it’s also an Odissey, it’s also an ode to the four elements, ending with the ethereal air. Heavy shoes – litterally, because they’re also steampunk inspired – symbolising earth, aquatic shiny dreams symbolising water. I especially adore the ‘cake’-shoes, they could be perfect even in a post-Hoffmanian fairy-tale. Yes, because McQueen’s greatness is in his talent of historian: he mixes periods with such ease and grace: of course you can see the Satyres, the devious creatures of greek mythology, the depth of the ages ( remember ? L’âge d’or and such stories… ), but it’s also very, very, very Middle Age. Knights, here again, from an alternative universe: the ‘fantastic’ Middle-Age, the futuristic past. It’s just like technology ( very modern technology ) was here to enhance past dreams, to make ancient legends alive again. It’s not very new perhaps, nor very diversified, but it has the great capacity to make dreams come true. And dream is often a mistaken word in fashion sense.
Givenchy: Mythology again ! The form is here the one of the phrygian hats, often related to Dionysos, and generally to what’s distant, foreign. Tisci’s tale is an harmonious mix of his Couture’s marvellous efforts ( the Pina Bausch collection ! ) with his pragmatic and beautiful resorts or rtw ones. The result is that you have meal and you have fish, but still in a very coherent mix. Minimalistic psychedelic blazers, structural black & white… and then delicate pastels or nudes or whites ( Tisci’s talents ). The fil rouge ? It’s the sense of adventure, of travel. But here again, it’s probably a spatio-temporal travel, following psychedelic roads, which means twisted roads. The genders, in pure Dionysos style, are confused. There you have the ultrafeminine dresses – and then the almost man-alike ensembles. Playing with subtle references and draping of great quality, Tisci sure knows how to achieve a beautiful collection.
Viktor & Rolf: Another unique show: pursuing last spring’s effort, V&R manage to do a spectacular show, which could metaphorically be named a ‘tart’. Or a cake, or a gâteau, or as you want. But it’s pâtisserie, it’s fun, it’s preciosity, it’s an overdose of pastels and tulle to eat, to break, to cut as slices of cake. Almost a parody of nuptial dresses, an overdose of kitschy rococcò meeting surrealism. A rather intelligent product, in fact, because it questions fashion itself but it’s still having – lots of – fun. There’s also an optimistic message in these impossible dresses: impossible doesn’t mean the end of fashion. It means accept experimentation and offer a product to… savour. Because of course you have to digest that amount of roses and trickling sentimentalism. Worse than St-Honoré, much worse than macarons… It’s a baroque digression, creating caves and architecture of the laugh in mountaigns of tulles. It’s almost landscape fashion, playing with perspective and perception, cutting the edges, ‘cultivating’ the flowers of the dresses. Viktor&Rolf’s clothes, which are probably unwearable for the most, are alive. They also remembers comic books magic, impossible things, superheroes with large wings, perhaps evoking a V form. V as victory, and this was definitely one.
Miu Miu: In Paris much was about the child in us. But at Miu Miu Miuccia managed to create an unbelievable ambivalent product. Take these fabrics: these are baby sheets. I may even have some in the closet, somewhere, full of dust. Baby sheets for an adult woman: here is the décalage of a scaring Lolita, wearing nude and flames… with cats. Cats very similar to the Aristocats, weird products of bourgeoise fantasy. The preppy necks of the clothes enhance that curious sense of je ne sais quoi that makes these outfits scary and somewhat unappropriate. Pink panthers seeming to escape from the clothes, ’sweet’ playing cats on innocent braids… But the excess of prints, the use of red also evoke something rather dangerous. Sweet and spice and everything nice, but also lunatic as a cat. Miuccia plays with the very essence of the line, the “baby” line of Prada, accentuating the kitschissime aspect. But in doing that, she somehow manages to find great tailoring ideas on a very disturbing theme. It needs further ponderation !
Valentino: Beauty: finally Chiuri + Piccioli are claiming Valentino as theirs. And it’s working: whereas first shows were painful Valentino’s – bad – revisitations, here you can clearly find the quality of the accessories they did before: a subtle romanticism, very Rock n’Rose Couture, a sapient use of ruffles and transparencies and soft fabrics. The palette is beautiful, from nude to grey to black, the details are simply awesome: it’s beautiful to see couturiers taking Valentino’s heir. Even if the conceptual beauty, the supreme beauty of it isn’t as spectacular as Facchinetti’s, the magic seems to happen. Enjoyable clothes with an almost carnivalesque – but as in venetian, melancholic Carnival – atmosphere: delicate, soft, feminine, subtle. And very, very beautiful. Which was after all the first quality we looked for at Valentino.
Haider Ackermann: Paris was great, but I also missed Theyskens very much. So it was kind of nice to see Haider Ackermann take a little Theyskens-y turn ( even if sometimes too obvious ). ‘Passage to India’ is an ode to the new Botticelli beauty. The column look Ackermann is so good at was omnipresent, in greys especially. But the intricate ‘bowing’ and draping gave to it a very statue-like quality. It has the dramaticity of Bernini’s statues, but also the postcolonialistic India look: safran and beige-pearl tones. Fabrics moirées, knotted to the neck, full of holes and ‘fluid’ voids: there’s an expressivity on the body in Ackermann’s work that is quite extraordinary. I can certainly say that I want to buy every clothing piece in the collage. And that is not quite often the case.
Ann Demeulemeester: Remember Fall’s trend about birds ? Well it’s back. And it’s actually better. I loved Demeulemeester’s simple and efficient rhetoric. Two main themes: cages and passion. As in Jesus one. But it’s fun because it’s treated in a very protestant way, with retenue. Black and white, white and black: you can discern lots of moral, or psychological references in this show. I love how the ‘caging’ begins on the head but continue… to the shoes. Burdens, showed as spined crows, could be interpreted in many ways ( most obvious and boring being the recession-cages-fashion one ). But what’s also extraordinary is the beauty of the clothes themselves, which are very basic after all. All the pathos comes from the prints and the accessories: litter-y ( thanks to Leslie for the comparaison ) chain necklaces, remembering here again medieval knights. And this is very fall 2009. You could also spot a spring 2010 trend in here, a.k.a the sport one: aren’t these ‘chain masks’ similar to rugby ones, for example ? Isn’t this leather very sporty ? There are many levels in this show, and it’s gonna take us more time to explorate them all.
Yohji Yamamoto: Fontana. Arte Povera. Nouveaux Réalistes. But also Dario Argento. Polanski. Legend ( Ridley again ! ). Frankenstein. Etc, etc, etc. The Yohji Yamamoto is a very smart divagation on the horror theme. The gun holes on the clothes look so very Argento in their ironical effect. The green hair is sooooo creeps. And of course the paroxysm is in the Polanski-esque Legend-esque white ‘Wendy’ long dresses. Creepy but very very cool. Never before the ‘eaten by the termites’ grand-ma’s old dress has been so fashionable. But thanks to Yamamoto it becomes conceptual. Even artsy. Everything is black & white, but he litterally shoots on the basics. Smart little details, spoiling these clothes, making them more interesting. I love the asymettrical cutting of one dress, the unexpected leather jacket matched with violet eye make-up. It’s dramatic, it’s fun, it’s intense. And it looks just like on a movie set. So, well done.
Rick Owens: Told you I didn’t classified shows. Because Rick Owens is sure one of my very favorites. It has everything I love: minimalism with a twist, futuristic references, edgy cuttings. The bracelets in themselves are pure art, remembering me a loooot of futuristic fascist art. I know, this sounds oxymoric but in fact it exists, at least in Italy. Fascism managed to create beautiful architectonic ensembles, such as the EUR ( one of my favorite places in Rome, it is an entire district built for an expo, I don’t remember which year exactly ). Well, I see much resemblances between Owens’ show and the EUR. This may sound not really like a compliment, but it is. The way everything is straight and perfect and geometrical and lighty remind me of the ‘organized’ architecture I love – I do admit – very much. Then of course it’s Owens, so the shoes are here to trouble the geometrical effect a little bit, but you still have the feelings these clothes are made with a square. The fantasy ‘wing’ element is also very beautiful because it escapes from this ‘tidy’ trend. There’s place for imagination, dream, even a little fantasy. But still, this army of perfect black-grey-black knights remain a little bit troubling. Masks for perfect -architectural- robots ?
John Galliano: I spoke about Gillray before – Rei K. seemed to evoke him. One that does love him for sure is Galliano. But this time it’s a twisted Gillray-ish product he sent on the runway. A cacophonic micro-apocalypse, surrounded by an awesome production (and here I could swear it’s De Betak). As usual at Galliano make-up and hair are one of the most striking aspects of the show. Sad faces, almost clownesques, lost between historical periods. There’s Gillray’s world, than it looks like what, war-times ? And everything is worn together, which makes it even quirky. The product is ugly, but the interesting thing is it’s clearly meant to be ugly, disturbing, overly kitsch and de mauvais goût. It’s like Gillray depicted the Hell: everything is the wrong way, upside down, colors aren’t matching and textures either. It’s perhaps the most personal psyché of the woman that appears here: cahotic, confused, but in a certain way beautiful. A melancholic ” bellezza brutta “, striking and difficult to forget.
Tim Hamilton: Remember those super scaring nurses or sick people pictures from…. well I’d say 19th century ? They had these glasses precisely. And they were SUPER scary. And troubling. And Tim Hamilton’s show impresses me because of that. Because of this consecration of the sickness-theme (we’ve seen it before in N-Y, London, Milan and it’s indeed an intriguing and revealing trend). White nurses, or red patients. Even if those sunglasses only symbolize extraordinary travels the connotation is still super strong. Here again, it has a little bit of a steampunk inspiration – but in an aseptyc, monochromatic world. The setting is interesting, the clothes are beautiful. That makes an enjoyable show…
Lanvin: I found this show marvellous at first sight. Then I have to admit I’m almost bored with it. I mean, it’s really beautiful, it’s great, it’s plenty of different beautiful elements, it’s very Elbaz whilst remaining totally wearable but… I weirdly haven’t much to say – or should I say to write – about it. Colors. Draping. Volumes. Orientalism ( remember Aqui+Ri? ). Transparencies. Beautiful use of black. Great hair. Then ? It’s perhaps a little bit disappointing that Elbaz seems to stick at beautiful clothes, and that’s all. It’s still a very beautiful show, don’t get me wrong, but…. what’s gonna happen next time ? Because this feels very repetitive after all.
Gareth Pugh: And finally Gareth: he does a beautiful silver army. He seems to exasperate Alex Wang’s try – Snejana’s outfit mixing sporty shoes with apocalyptical deep fantasy clothing. Crows and triangles are everywhere, very strongly ‘cabalistical’. It’s a dark vision of angels or birds, perhaps with broken wings, perhaps only fallen ones. An ode to quirkiness that looks kind of good after all.
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As you may know I’m from Sicily… actually from a place very, very close to Messina. So I’m deepely shocked by what happened there, and I hope it won’t be rapidly forgotten as usual. There is such an amount of tragedies these days, there are no words to describe my sense of anxiety and sadness.
Mia of Un ago nel pagliaio has written an important article on the subject here – but I can give you the count the city of Messina has given:
C.C. IBAN IT 91Y0102016598000300034781; C.C.P. N. 1406398
You have to intest it to “Comune di Messina – Servizio Tesoreria”, the cause being: “pro-alluvionati”.
On another matter, because this is still a fashion blog despite all the tragedies of the world – perhaps to forget about them ? – here’s a little preview of my Paris impressions – the Polanski quote isn’t ironical, I assure you: incredibly beautiful shows ( Balenciaga, Ann Demeulemeester, Haider Ackermann, Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Lanvin, unbelievable ones ( Viktor & Rolf !! ) . . . Givenchy looks also very promising, so: chapeau, Paris !
Going to Athens. I am actually in Athens now that you’re reading my article. Athens gave me envy of summer and beach again, partying, wear only dresses and dresses. I’ll sing ” Vamos a la playa ” all the time, I guess. Plus did you know it’s actually an italian song ?
