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Catwalk tour: the top women's fashion week venues from A/W 2014

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Fashion building with white trees on a patch of grass in the middle of the room

(Image credit: Hugo Boss)

By Grace McCloud

last updated 7 October 2022

in Features

Large warehouse with a pretend store setup in the middle — **Chanel:** The Chanel shopping centre inside Paris' Grand Palais was the talk of the town during fashion week. Models paraded down aisles fully stocked with a rainbow of jars, bottles and groceries - yet this was no ordinary supermarket run...

Large entrance to a supermarket sweep within a warehouse — **Chanel:** With typical Lagerfeld panache, everything down to shopping baskets (transformed into quilted metal masterpieces) was given the Chanel treatment. The post-show scrum of pillaging was perhaps inevitable, but certainly not very 'Chanel'

Long hallway with large gold door frames, chandeliers and art on the ceilings — **Dries Van Noten:** The designer's collection of graphic prints and 1960s geometry offered an emphatic contrast to the historic setting of Paris' Hôtel de Ville. Acid brights clashed surreally with the crystalline chandeliers of the lavish space, suggesting that pomp and splendour can find an expression in every era

Grey image with window frames and a couple of houseplants — **Barbara Casasola:** The bright colours of the Brazilian-born, London-based designer's collection were offset by her pared-down, monochromatic set. Designed by Mathias Renner to resemble an imagined interior scene, the showspace in London's Dairy Studios came complete with windows and houseplants

Dark room catwalk with photographers either side. A watery painting of Londons skyline as the background — **Burberry Prorsum:** Inside a new custom-built space within Kensington Gardens, a watery London skyline reinforced this house's fierce loyalty to its British roots. With music from English singer Paloma Faith, and clothes that channelled the Bloomsbury Group, Christopher Bailey poetically reminded us that we were on his home turf

Christian Dior: Parisian production company Bureau Betak created an urban garden of big city lights and clean white lines for Dior's show, once again staged within the Musée Rodin. The collection's power suits and strong tailoring were certainly right at home beneath the show's electric cityscape

Long straight catwalk runway with empty seats either side. One long light panel directly above the runway. — **Givenchy:** Reflecting a collection that explored themes of femininity, elegance and early twentieth-century glamour, Givenchy kept its setting classic within the 1920s-built Halle Freyssinet. Three rows of black chairs were simply lined up on either side of a slender, moss-coloured runway, which was illuminated by an intense, overhead lighting strip

A ward with a brown sofa in the middle. A door with the word psychotherapy above. — **Dsquared**2: The python and mink-clad girls at Dsquared2 found themselves in a disturbingly realistic vision of a psychiatric ward in Milan - where models at the house's menswear show were similarly incarcerated. From mustard walls to kitsch paintings, it was a delightfully unnerving set for such a decadent collection

catwalk-cum-spaceship. Metal benches either side and ceramic ceiling. — **Diesel Black Gold:** The denim giant offered up a catwalk-cum-spaceship for Diesel Black Gold's New York show. As black as outer space and with sleek finishes, it was the ideal venue for the brand's futuristic silhouettes and magic metallics

A catwalk decorated with futuristic murals, with the words 'Made in Italy' and overhead drone cameras — **Hermès:** The grand, neoclassical Palais Brongniart once housed the Parisian stock exchange. For one day in March this year, it was also the home of another, perhaps more glamorous icon of French providence. Draping the interior in dark, heavy velvet, Hermès played on the notion of wealth with a decidedly decadent set

**Gucci:** The Italian house gave us stark minimalism in Milan's Piazza Oberdan - its usual fashion week haunt that was this season defined by a plain white room and industrial silver benches

**Hunter Original:** Deep in the bowels of the University of Westminster, another great British institution staged a wet and wild debut show. Models splashed down a waterlogged runway dotted with birch trees, while well-heeled guests were led over bridges to get to their seats

**Jason Wu:** The Bureau Betak team reflected the designer's classical offering in the show's set design, with a white moulded archway framing the models' entrance onto a cream runway. Set upon aged wooden flooring, only the catwalk itself was lit, leaving the rest of the room in brooding darkness

a tiered runway lit with pastel light. Block benches all the way around — **Jil Sander:** Models paraded around a tiered runway lit with pastel light at Jil Sander's Milan show, while guests sat on block benches. The juxtaposition of hard lines and soft light made the setting feel anything but predictable

**Kenzo:** Magic mirrors and a huge morphing skull were just two of the weird and wonderful visions dreamed up by film director David Lynch for his eerie set design for Kenzo inside Les Docks. Villa Eugenie produced a show that expertly veered from the bizarre to the beautiful

minimalist stepped pyramids with lights above — **Louis Vuitton:** Unlike the drama-fests of Vuitton's fashion weeks past, Nicolas Ghesquière's debut show got down to business, and fast. A Prouve-esque louvered building was built within the Cour Carrée de Louvre, while inside the space's Venetian blinds blocked out all natural light. To signal the start of the show these louvers were then opened, with the models walking around the set's minimalist, stepped pyramids. It neither overtly complemented nor contrasted the collection; instead simply providing a neutral and contemporary canvas for Ghesquière's girls

Stacked blocks formed Tetris-like seating, concrete pillars and a salmon coloured floor — **Marni:** Stacked blocks formed Tetris-like seating for Marni's catwalk show, which faced a salmon pink laminate runway that provided a striking contrast to the room's raw concrete pillars. Unusual and surprising, it was redolent of a new phase in Marni's story

Large Room with Storm clouds hanging heavy in the air — **Marc Jacobs:** Storm clouds hung heavy in the air at Pier 36 for Marc Jacobs' New York show, as the voice of Jessica Lange tolled out, proclaiming that 'happy days were here again'...

individual 'marshmallow' cylindar stools, the soft clouds of the set above them — **Marc Jacobs:** As guests perched on individual 'marshmallow' cylindar stools, the soft clouds of the set - designed by Stefan Beckman - blended with the pastel hues of Jacobs' dream-like collection

Birdseye view of a small runway with a dozen chairs either side — **Maison Martin Margiela:** The avant-garde fashion house once again chose the palatial Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris for its A/W presentation. The building's grandeur was smartly in keeping with Margiela's use of Harris Tweed and Prince of Wales check this season

**Mary Katrantzou:** Guests at this catwalk show, inside Phillips auction house in London, faced a diagonal cruciform runway, projected onto the floor in celestial light. While Katrantzou's collection coruscated with Byzantine-like icons and symbols of spirituality, Bureau Betak's production channelled a more ascetic atmosphere, providing plain benches on bare floorboards

**Missoni:** Backlit curtains were dip-dyed in shades that ranged from rust to royal purple at Missoni, casting a sunset-like glow over the space. With mini chocolate mousses and a 'Missoni Moments' newspaper offered to guests, the show was playful and relaxed, much like the boyishly sporty collection presented

Industrial runway space — **Miu Miu:** Plastic-lined and rainproof, Miu Miu made sure its industrial runway space was as watertight as its models' high-shine outfits for A/W

Raw industrial scaffolding set the runway scene with benches for seating — **Miu Miu:** Raw scaffolding provided both the set's backdrop and the bench seating, which was again finished with industrial strength cling film

**Peter Pilotto:** Designers Christopher De Vos and Peter Pilotto added some colour to the business-like interiors of London's Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Tinted mirrored pillars and a wet-look runway served to enhance the bright sports-inspired clothes, while ensuring the show space was as dynamic and intense as the collection itself

Silver benches in a room with an industrial feel to it — **Paul Smith:** The British designer treated us to a spot of seventies nostalgia with the sultry sounds of Fleetwood Mac blaring during his London catwalk show, which had an industrial feel inside Central Saint Martins' Granary Square

warehouse-like space with lights for the show — **Prada:** Miucca Prada invited us back to via Fogazzaro's felt-covered warehouse-like space (also the scene of her last menswear show) for her A/W 2014 collection, inspired by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1972 film *The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant*

mesh scaffolding, orchestra equipment in hollows in the floor — **Prada:** Inside the mesh scaffolding, models marched to the tune of an orchestra - seated within hollows in the floor - that was accompanied by Fassbinder protégée Barbara Sukowa's vocals

Large windows, two chandeliers hang over a wooden flooring — **Pringle of Scotland:** With crisp spring light flooding in through large windows, the models at Pringle walked on wooden floors beneath the clouds painted on the dome of London's Savile Club

Comme des Garçons: Rei Kawakubo's A/W show put a spotlight on knitwear, quite literally. Comme collaborator Thierry Dreyfus created an intricate lighting project for the show that tracked the runway on cables, illuminating each look, while the rest of the Espace Vendôme was left in total darkness

a room surrounded by glass windows and simple benches in the room — **Proenza Schouler:** The boxy shapes and abstract industrial prints at Proenza Schouler were expertly framed within Gavin Brown's eponymous gallery in New York's Soho, where floor-to-ceiling windows illuminated the raw concrete space. Simple benches were provided for spectators and not much else; guests were instead invited to feast their eyes on the lively show to come

a circus styled room, with a ring of fire — **Roberto Cavalli:** The designer turned Milan's Arco della Pace into a circus for the day, with a ring of fire setting the scene for an equally blazing collection

An apartment dining room with table set and woman stood next to the huge painting filling the wall — **Paule Ka**: The French house's founder Serge Cajfinger hosted Paule Ka's A/W show within his own Parisian apartment, set against a backdrop of works by Idris Khan (pictured), Peter Zimmerman and Bert Stern, and in this room a dining setting by Knoll

**Reed Krakoff:** The designer's space at 537 West 27th Street was restrained and sophisticated, just like Krakoff's collection. Slim cushions on wooden boxes served as benches, while accents of strip lighting illuminated the venue

**Rodarte:** The Rodarte girls invited us aboard the Battlestar Galactica for their New York show. Bureau Betak created a ring of neon lights on the floor resembling a celestial star map as models in dresses emblazoned with the faces of Luke Skywalker and Yoda circled round it like orbiting planets. A fun, folky soundtrack brought things back down to earth

Giant metallic beams that lined the runway in the air — **Saint Laurent:** At Le Carreau du Temple, one of Paris' 19th century covered markets, creative director Hedi Slimane again proved himself the master of surprise, and also engineering this season...

Giant metallic beams that lining the runway — **Saint Laurent:** Giant metallic beams that lined the runway magically rose in the air with the help of some serious hydraulics, framing the models path like a man-made *allée*, only to then majestically close at the show's conclusion

A white room with white benches and flooring. — **Salvatore Ferragamo:** The Italian house brought us out of the dark and into the light this season in Milan. Scrapping the blanket of black it usually opts for, Ferragamo created a clinically clean show space in the Piazza Affari - delineated with panels punctured with angular holes - that was as close to a blank canvas as is possible

Big Hall with benches and huge cast iron beams as reinforcement — **Simone Rocha:** The cavernous grandeur of the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, site of this season's Topshop Showspace, became a fitting venue for Simone Rocha's subversive, Elizabethan-inspired collection. The hall's soaring walls and exposed, cast iron reinforcement were the perfect backdrop to Rocha's *tour de force* A/W collection

Two models on the runway made up of English moor-scape with an early morning sky, eerily glowing in the background — **Alexander McQueen:** The training stables of the Garde Républicaine hosted Sarah Burton's poetic *Wuthering Heights* collection that was set against a mossy, English moor-scape with an early morning sky, eerily glowing in the background

Squishy grey sofas, a spot-lit runway and mirrors everywhere — **Tom Ford:** Squishy grey sofas, a spot-lit runway and mirrors, mirrors everywhere, beneath the arch of London's Lindley Hall, reminded us that nobody does urban glamour quite like Tom Ford

**Tod's:** Returning to Milan's Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Tod's invited us back into its Italian salon, complete with a bespoke designed carpet under foot, a pair of 'Lady' chairs by Marco Zanuso for Arflex and Giovanni Boldini portrait watching over proceedings

miniature mountain village, snow capped trees and seating all the way around — **Tommy Hilfiger:** The American designer took us on an alpine excursion for A/W, building a miniature mountain village in his show space in the Park Avenue Armory, drawing from the adventure-inspired collection. A snaking path, snow-capped trees and a stack of skis in the corner told us that with Hilfiger, even the coldest winter needn't be depressing

A tree-lined avenue, embellished gates and gold set — **Versace:** A tree-lined avenue, embellished gates, and gold, gold and more gold, set the tone at Versace

Light glowing down onto the rows of softly-cushioned benches — **Valentino:** Valentino once again opted for the Espace Ephémère Tuileries for its Paris show, and no wonder; the collection's ephemeral florals and punch-packing prints seemed like a completely organic extension of Paris' most romantic garden. The space itself was sparse with just the softest rosy light glowing down onto the rows of softly-cushioned benches

white background with white flowers at the base of the set — **Vionnet:** Etienne Russo of Villa Eugenie worked with W* contributor Robert Storey on Vionnet's frozen tulip-filled dreamscape, housed within the Espace Ephémère Tuileries. The romantic idea was sealed with a solo white bloom, left on each guest's seat

A runway styled like a road with a lamp post next to it and seating down both sides. — **Viktor & Rolf**: The Dutch duo once again collaborated with Studio Job on their 'Highway to Hell' set that showcased a Surrealist streetscape of intertwined roadways, inspired by a dusty and deserted car trip that Studio Job's Nynke Tynagel and Job Smeets once took with the designers

60 people in stacked booths at the back of the stage, a full crowd of people watch on as around 10 people are on a pedestal centre stage — **Moncler Grenoble:** Maestros and models took to the stage for Moncler's show in New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. Sixty model choristers (dressed in Moncler, naturally), stacked in booths at the back of the stage, created a chequerboard backdrop for more Moncler-clad warblers - a pendulum a-capella voice orchestra providing the ultimate soundtrack to a collection that hit all the right notes

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Grace McCloud

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