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Looking ahead to the past
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
March 10, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DESIGNERS had evidently brushed up on their history for Paris Fashion Week, with collections featuring everything from medieval manuscript flourishes to 1930s furs, 1940s satins and 1990s grunge chic - with body armor and dragonflies thrown in for good measure. Which looks will win over the public this fall-winter? Time will tell.
Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney did some spring cleaning for her fall-winter show in Paris, replacing her old wardrobe standbys with a ready-to-wear collection that was more textural and sculpted than usual.
With exaggerated lapels, it was the British tailoring staple - the dark pinstripe suit - that was reimagined.
"I wanted a refresh in a classical way," the designer said backstage at Paris' neo-baroque Opera Garnier. "Women have a masculine side and if you tap into that, you find another part of yourself."
But for McCartney, the most feminine of designers, the menswear allusions were only hinted at. The signature remained relaxed, with soft silhouettes and circular cuts in silk duchess and silk cloquet jacquard.
Vivid hues of fuchsia on oversize dresses and coats sported voluminous fronts which tipped for forward the balance of the silhouette.
Bands of sporty elastic were sewn into looks - what one fashion editor called "elastic fantastic" - to produce a pear-shaped silhouette.
Jean Paul Gaultier
Clothes as body armor was the concept behind Jean Paul Gaultier's rather dizzying Paris show.
A play on voluminous layers of leather, fur, silks, chiffon and even knits - both hanging and enveloping the body- constructed a protective silhouette over models. It all made for a varied collection with some great looks, but one that was frustratingly hard to pin down.
Graphic 1980s elements, such as Polaroid-type prints, followed a long sheer chiffon dress in eggplant with 1970s pleats. Long stripy scarves accompanied a tartan dress. And studded leather bustier tops with 1950s peplums could easily have come from another collection altogether.
Gaultier explained backstage: "It was also the idea of patchwork."
Indeed, patchwork - the mixing contrasting styles or fabric - did show there was a method in the madness.
When interpreted literally, it made for one of the show's high points: a sumptuous patchwork fur coat in panels, with a stylish cinched waist-strap. But the collection remained elusive.
Saint Laurent
Fall-winter saw creative director Hedi Slimane move from the 1970s boho of spring to "California Grunge," with leather miniskirts, oversized plaid shirts, biker jackets and baby doll dresses, crystal-clad body stockings and combat boots; thrown together almost indifferently with adolescent nihilism.
Slimane was trying to provoke - and his message of rebellion was loud and clear. It seems that Slimane was trying hard to go to the opposite end of the style spectrum: an anti-YSL, grungy anti-fashion. And the looks were very young.
But the collection had trouble going beyond that great initial message.
Like in October's show, here there were some highly saleable items such as a gray duffle coat, a black tuxedo jacket and an oversized black sparkly sweater.
That alone means that all's not lost.
Vivienne Westwood
Medieval references were interpreted with signature zest in Vivienne Westwood's flowing feminine silk silhouettes. Sublime silk-wool jacquards with medieval images of birds, flowers and strawberries mixed with capes and puffed Juliette sleeves.
"I have a book of reproduced medieval illuminated manuscripts," explained Westwood backstage.
Patterns such as rings, interrupted lines and squares sought to evoke medieval manuscripts.
But Westwood, who turns 72 next month also showed futurist styles - such as suits with tiny waists and peaked shoulders.
Some of the best combined both periods: like a white knee-length skirt with medieval motifs.
Without sacrificing flamboyance, Westwood has produced a supremely wearable collection.
Lanvin
Designer Alber Elbaz took the Lanvin guests on a typically encyclopedic journey for fall-winter.
The Lebanese designer's imaginative show in 52 diverse looks saw references that spanned from the furs of the 1930s, the satins of the 1940s, the full skirts of the 1950s - right up to the inflated sleeves and shoulders of cutting-edge trends.
Several satin looks even fused the flora and fauna of the garden, with dragonflies, moths, beetles and butterflies.
With the myriad references, it's little wonder several of the model worn gold necklaces with featuring the word "help."
There were some sublime furs, dip-dyed jackets and the seemingly endless boas really conjured up pre-World War II glamor.
If one thing Elbaz used to hold this all beautifully together it was this: femininity.
Dior
Following his acclaimed Christian Dior debut last year, the pressure has been stacked on Raf Simons to deliver again in what is only his second ready-to-wear show in one of the most influential jobs in fashion.
Fall-winter 2013-14 saw a parade of "memory dresses," that delved into the iconic houndstooth, peplums, and Monsieur Dior's original 1940s designs. Elsewhere, blown-up houndstooth had a surreal quality, in vertical slices down column silhouettes. It was a great re-working of the pattern first used by the house in the 1950s.
There was plenty of imagination, like prints and embroideries of surreal eyes and tears that resembled ants, reminiscent of Salvador Dali. However, the show could have done without motifs by Andy Warhol, which jarred as overly adolescent, and a tad tacky.
Overall, the show was a success; one step further on in Dior's mission statement for the designer, to "propel its iconic style into the 21st century."
Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney did some spring cleaning for her fall-winter show in Paris, replacing her old wardrobe standbys with a ready-to-wear collection that was more textural and sculpted than usual.
With exaggerated lapels, it was the British tailoring staple - the dark pinstripe suit - that was reimagined.
"I wanted a refresh in a classical way," the designer said backstage at Paris' neo-baroque Opera Garnier. "Women have a masculine side and if you tap into that, you find another part of yourself."
But for McCartney, the most feminine of designers, the menswear allusions were only hinted at. The signature remained relaxed, with soft silhouettes and circular cuts in silk duchess and silk cloquet jacquard.
Vivid hues of fuchsia on oversize dresses and coats sported voluminous fronts which tipped for forward the balance of the silhouette.
Bands of sporty elastic were sewn into looks - what one fashion editor called "elastic fantastic" - to produce a pear-shaped silhouette.
Jean Paul Gaultier
Clothes as body armor was the concept behind Jean Paul Gaultier's rather dizzying Paris show.
A play on voluminous layers of leather, fur, silks, chiffon and even knits - both hanging and enveloping the body- constructed a protective silhouette over models. It all made for a varied collection with some great looks, but one that was frustratingly hard to pin down.
Graphic 1980s elements, such as Polaroid-type prints, followed a long sheer chiffon dress in eggplant with 1970s pleats. Long stripy scarves accompanied a tartan dress. And studded leather bustier tops with 1950s peplums could easily have come from another collection altogether.
Gaultier explained backstage: "It was also the idea of patchwork."
Indeed, patchwork - the mixing contrasting styles or fabric - did show there was a method in the madness.
When interpreted literally, it made for one of the show's high points: a sumptuous patchwork fur coat in panels, with a stylish cinched waist-strap. But the collection remained elusive.
Saint Laurent
Fall-winter saw creative director Hedi Slimane move from the 1970s boho of spring to "California Grunge," with leather miniskirts, oversized plaid shirts, biker jackets and baby doll dresses, crystal-clad body stockings and combat boots; thrown together almost indifferently with adolescent nihilism.
Slimane was trying to provoke - and his message of rebellion was loud and clear. It seems that Slimane was trying hard to go to the opposite end of the style spectrum: an anti-YSL, grungy anti-fashion. And the looks were very young.
But the collection had trouble going beyond that great initial message.
Like in October's show, here there were some highly saleable items such as a gray duffle coat, a black tuxedo jacket and an oversized black sparkly sweater.
That alone means that all's not lost.
Vivienne Westwood
Medieval references were interpreted with signature zest in Vivienne Westwood's flowing feminine silk silhouettes. Sublime silk-wool jacquards with medieval images of birds, flowers and strawberries mixed with capes and puffed Juliette sleeves.
"I have a book of reproduced medieval illuminated manuscripts," explained Westwood backstage.
Patterns such as rings, interrupted lines and squares sought to evoke medieval manuscripts.
But Westwood, who turns 72 next month also showed futurist styles - such as suits with tiny waists and peaked shoulders.
Some of the best combined both periods: like a white knee-length skirt with medieval motifs.
Without sacrificing flamboyance, Westwood has produced a supremely wearable collection.
Lanvin
Designer Alber Elbaz took the Lanvin guests on a typically encyclopedic journey for fall-winter.
The Lebanese designer's imaginative show in 52 diverse looks saw references that spanned from the furs of the 1930s, the satins of the 1940s, the full skirts of the 1950s - right up to the inflated sleeves and shoulders of cutting-edge trends.
Several satin looks even fused the flora and fauna of the garden, with dragonflies, moths, beetles and butterflies.
With the myriad references, it's little wonder several of the model worn gold necklaces with featuring the word "help."
There were some sublime furs, dip-dyed jackets and the seemingly endless boas really conjured up pre-World War II glamor.
If one thing Elbaz used to hold this all beautifully together it was this: femininity.
Dior
Following his acclaimed Christian Dior debut last year, the pressure has been stacked on Raf Simons to deliver again in what is only his second ready-to-wear show in one of the most influential jobs in fashion.
Fall-winter 2013-14 saw a parade of "memory dresses," that delved into the iconic houndstooth, peplums, and Monsieur Dior's original 1940s designs. Elsewhere, blown-up houndstooth had a surreal quality, in vertical slices down column silhouettes. It was a great re-working of the pattern first used by the house in the 1950s.
There was plenty of imagination, like prints and embroideries of surreal eyes and tears that resembled ants, reminiscent of Salvador Dali. However, the show could have done without motifs by Andy Warhol, which jarred as overly adolescent, and a tad tacky.
Overall, the show was a success; one step further on in Dior's mission statement for the designer, to "propel its iconic style into the 21st century."
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