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Fashion designers gone wild
July 21, 2013, Sunday
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DESIGNERS at Paris Haute Couture Week for fall/winter 2013-14 provided a great deal of food for the imagination. From Hollywood glam to globe-trotting designs to feline eccentricity, it was an extraordinary week.
With a delicious purr, Jean Paul Gaultier pounced back into top form on Wednesday (July 3) of the fashion week in a feisty, feline-infused couture collection, proving that despite having a couple of off seasons, the enfant terrible of the Paris fashion world still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
This fall/winter's muse was the female panther, which inspired a slew of fresh ideas, including plenty of new ways to wear leopard and how to dress in feathers to look like a cat.
If it sounds eccentric, it was.
Leopard print was featured cheekily on tights below one stylish all-black crepe dress, and there were several incredible couture coats. At first glance they looked like fur, but were made entirely of feathers, speckled like a big cat pelt and with white feathers at the edges to resemble skin.
Gaultier, ever the showman, had 43 looks file by to the infectious theme of "The Pink Panther," showcased on models who clawed as they walked.
Paris Haute Couture Week was surprising and, at times, extreme.
Versace made some provocative statements with front panels of dresses flapping down with white crystals to expose the bustier, as if the model had been interrupted midway through her strip-tease.
One dress embroidered with blue and black sequins was so long it had a 1.8-meter woman hobbling and nearly tripping all the way down the catwalk.
But among all the wanton razzmatazz, the Atelier Versace show did pack some hidden surprises. Several of the looks were highly wearable and combined Versace's exuberance with some tailoring.
Christian Dior's Raf Simons broke through the venerable walls of Avenue Montaigne to send the Parisian fashion house's couture on an exciting journey across the globe. From the purity of Asia to the bold Americas to the bright stripes and patterns of Africa's Masai, this show had it all.
Images projected on the make-shift show walls inside Paris' Invalides visually summed up the message: A carpeted salon of Dior's Right Bank headquarters fused into scenes of exotic red flowers and beautiful images of black and Asian models. With one full year as creative director under his belt, Simons has found the confidence to go beyond the weighty heritage of the 70-year-old house codes.
"This collection evolved to be about Dior not just being about Paris and France, but about the rest of the world and how many fashion cultures impact on the house and on myself," said Simons.
While the iconic bar jacket popped up in one belted gray wool outfit, its several peplum flaps mirrored the layers of a Japanese kimono.
But while this globe-trotting show was one of Simons' most creative, the 53 looks were so diverse, it also was his hardest to make sense of. Next season, a more focused vision might help sharpen these great fashion ideas.
"Austere, but sensuous," were the words the program notes used to describe Stephane Rolland's dark and luxuriant fall-winter couture display that continued in the elegant footsteps of last season.
Deep midnight blue produced a classy silk crepe jumpsuit with a billowing black satin module that evoked the fuzzy brushstrokes of a painter.
Indeed, the Spanish royal court's master painter Diego Velazquez was one of the inspirations behind this collection.
Thirty-three creations saw Rolland using black, flowing capes to get this regal message across, as well as hanging lengths of rippling silks that conjured up the idea of nobility or time-old queenliness through the material's simple and natural luxury.
Giorgio Armani seemed to strip the body bare on the third day of the fashion week in a classic couture collection that came with a twist and was entitled simply, "Nude."
The runway, in pearly hues of yellow, pink and beige, set the mood for the nude-toned musings.
The Armani Prive show made its statement in skin-colored fine organzas, lace and tulles, which exposed much skin. At times, the material seemed to simply melt into the models' flesh.
But the show, for the most part, remained relatively classical. Several of the creations had the refined look of old-school Hollywood glamor. Loose, pleated pants combined with high shoulders in marabou feathers cut a striking 1930s silhouette along with the models' short wavy hair.
One look that had a soft floppy bow tied on the top of high-waisted trousers could have been worn by Katharine Hepburn. Elsewhere, a series of black lace creations evoked the 1950s, and with it the spirit of silver-screen sirens such as Rita Hayworth.
As guests arrived at Valentino's show, they glanced inquisitively at the zebra heads and gold-rimmed fisheye mirrors mounted on the walls of the "Hotel de Rothschild," transforming the 19th-century mansion into a vintage-style cabinet of curiosities.
"Enchanting, encyclopedic couture," the program notes promised revelers.
Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli pulled off their most eccentric and imaginative show to date.
Oriental motifs and arabesque patterns fused with Scottish herringbone tweeds and Renaissance capes were thrown into the creative cauldron. This appeared alongside embroideries of lion's heads, bees, beetles and dragonflies, often to luxurious effect.
Not all the looks worked. Some were too austere, and on the more elaborate silhouettes, the patterning at times seemed busy.
With a delicious purr, Jean Paul Gaultier pounced back into top form on Wednesday (July 3) of the fashion week in a feisty, feline-infused couture collection, proving that despite having a couple of off seasons, the enfant terrible of the Paris fashion world still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
This fall/winter's muse was the female panther, which inspired a slew of fresh ideas, including plenty of new ways to wear leopard and how to dress in feathers to look like a cat.
If it sounds eccentric, it was.
Leopard print was featured cheekily on tights below one stylish all-black crepe dress, and there were several incredible couture coats. At first glance they looked like fur, but were made entirely of feathers, speckled like a big cat pelt and with white feathers at the edges to resemble skin.
Gaultier, ever the showman, had 43 looks file by to the infectious theme of "The Pink Panther," showcased on models who clawed as they walked.
Paris Haute Couture Week was surprising and, at times, extreme.
Versace made some provocative statements with front panels of dresses flapping down with white crystals to expose the bustier, as if the model had been interrupted midway through her strip-tease.
One dress embroidered with blue and black sequins was so long it had a 1.8-meter woman hobbling and nearly tripping all the way down the catwalk.
But among all the wanton razzmatazz, the Atelier Versace show did pack some hidden surprises. Several of the looks were highly wearable and combined Versace's exuberance with some tailoring.
Christian Dior's Raf Simons broke through the venerable walls of Avenue Montaigne to send the Parisian fashion house's couture on an exciting journey across the globe. From the purity of Asia to the bold Americas to the bright stripes and patterns of Africa's Masai, this show had it all.
Images projected on the make-shift show walls inside Paris' Invalides visually summed up the message: A carpeted salon of Dior's Right Bank headquarters fused into scenes of exotic red flowers and beautiful images of black and Asian models. With one full year as creative director under his belt, Simons has found the confidence to go beyond the weighty heritage of the 70-year-old house codes.
"This collection evolved to be about Dior not just being about Paris and France, but about the rest of the world and how many fashion cultures impact on the house and on myself," said Simons.
While the iconic bar jacket popped up in one belted gray wool outfit, its several peplum flaps mirrored the layers of a Japanese kimono.
But while this globe-trotting show was one of Simons' most creative, the 53 looks were so diverse, it also was his hardest to make sense of. Next season, a more focused vision might help sharpen these great fashion ideas.
"Austere, but sensuous," were the words the program notes used to describe Stephane Rolland's dark and luxuriant fall-winter couture display that continued in the elegant footsteps of last season.
Deep midnight blue produced a classy silk crepe jumpsuit with a billowing black satin module that evoked the fuzzy brushstrokes of a painter.
Indeed, the Spanish royal court's master painter Diego Velazquez was one of the inspirations behind this collection.
Thirty-three creations saw Rolland using black, flowing capes to get this regal message across, as well as hanging lengths of rippling silks that conjured up the idea of nobility or time-old queenliness through the material's simple and natural luxury.
Giorgio Armani seemed to strip the body bare on the third day of the fashion week in a classic couture collection that came with a twist and was entitled simply, "Nude."
The runway, in pearly hues of yellow, pink and beige, set the mood for the nude-toned musings.
The Armani Prive show made its statement in skin-colored fine organzas, lace and tulles, which exposed much skin. At times, the material seemed to simply melt into the models' flesh.
But the show, for the most part, remained relatively classical. Several of the creations had the refined look of old-school Hollywood glamor. Loose, pleated pants combined with high shoulders in marabou feathers cut a striking 1930s silhouette along with the models' short wavy hair.
One look that had a soft floppy bow tied on the top of high-waisted trousers could have been worn by Katharine Hepburn. Elsewhere, a series of black lace creations evoked the 1950s, and with it the spirit of silver-screen sirens such as Rita Hayworth.
As guests arrived at Valentino's show, they glanced inquisitively at the zebra heads and gold-rimmed fisheye mirrors mounted on the walls of the "Hotel de Rothschild," transforming the 19th-century mansion into a vintage-style cabinet of curiosities.
"Enchanting, encyclopedic couture," the program notes promised revelers.
Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli pulled off their most eccentric and imaginative show to date.
Oriental motifs and arabesque patterns fused with Scottish herringbone tweeds and Renaissance capes were thrown into the creative cauldron. This appeared alongside embroideries of lion's heads, bees, beetles and dragonflies, often to luxurious effect.
Not all the looks worked. Some were too austere, and on the more elaborate silhouettes, the patterning at times seemed busy.
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