Paris Haute Couture Week: Designers celebrate love through fashion
A case in point being the Chanel show which celebrated nature, wide-open spaces and romance. Rahul Mishra had Sufism on his moodboard and exhibited through his 30-plus looks the evolution of love through seven stages: attraction, infatuation, surrender, reverence, devotion, obsession, and finally, death.
This couture season also marked the end of an era at Balenciaga. After 10 years, Demna stepped away from his role as creative director, and at his final show in Paris was a love letter to his own work at the brand.
Here are some of the key trends that emerged at the Paris Haute Couture Week.
Also read: Paris Fashion Week: A menswear show of designs inspired by India, the 90s
Classics with a twist
Chanel's latest collection revisited major winter classics and featured suits in natural shades of ecru, ivory, brown, green and black. Staying true to the house DNA, their proportions were borrowed from menswear, ensuring complete freedom of movement. The tweed in the collection took on a knitted allure for a white coatdress with embroidered braids, a suit whose jacket seemed to be a jumper, and two mohair suits in autumnal hues of green or plum. A bouclé tweed gave the impression of sheepskin for a straight-cut coatdress in black and white, a skirt suit and a long gilet, as well as a pair of ivory short trousers that were painted and embroidered.
Armani Privé's collection, Noir séduisant, played out every shade of evening black. From luxurious inky velvets to charcoal soigné numbers peppered with crystals to raven-toned plume boas, the show embodied after-dark glam but with Giorgio Armani's exacting minimalist approach. One of the key highlights of the show was a model carrying an opera cigarette holder.
Interplay of textures
The Chanel show exemplified the tactile appeal of feathers. The tweed pieces also created the illusion of faux fur with a trouser suit, a long coat, an embroidered over-cape and a short blouson jacket.
The closing bridal look saw a veiled Chanel bride carrying a sheaf of gold wheat ears symbolising good luck. Armani Privé's final look was a shimmering, corseted suit jacket gown accessorised with a dramatic diaphanous fan covered in sequins.
Embracing his core metier, Rahul Mishra yet again extrapolated traditional techniques of aari threadwork, zardozi, naqshi, dabka, and fareesha embroidery. Alongside resham threads, embellishments include beads, freshwater pearls, kundan, salli, and sequins, were all woven onto silk organza, tulle, velvet, and satin fabrics.
Art inspo
The Armani Privé show got off to a glamourous start with a trio of sculptural black trousers paired with forest green and cobalt blue tops that referenced Monet's Water Lilies.
While Mishra's collection had some pieces inspired by the work of Gustav Klimt, Schiaparelli's show was punctuated with archival surrealist influences—whether it was the sculpted torsos or mechanical hearts. What's more, the padded faux skeleton details and molded torsos in duchesse satin recalled Man Ray's Venus Restored of 1936. The Apollo de Versailles motif, an embroidery of the chateau's fountain famously worn by actress and interior designer Elsie de Wolfe in a cape from 1938, was recontextualised on a transparent tulle cape.
Manish Mishra is a Delhi-based writer and content creator.
Also read: Milan Fashion Week: Designers offer luxury PJs, softly tailored suits
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