English designer Roland Mouret always pours his heart out in his press notes, making for a sincere experience during a fashion week that is as a whole anything but. 'It took me over fifty years to get here today, this morning, in this abandoned bank in Paris,' he wrote for his Winter collection. 'And what have I learnt? Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.' This season, he said, was not about presenting a look or an outfit but rather about advancing his skills as a designer. As such, he took his signature vacuum-sucked, three-quarter length dress silhouette and began cutting away from it piece by piece, collaging it back together with a mixture of materials. Mouret employed snake skin, leather, sheer netting and wools, cutting and pasting them into new vertical stripes or panels across the bodies of dresses and skirts that were yanked left of centre. There was a slight tribal quality to his patterns this season, as he introduced graphic, feathered arrow formations in woven black and white panels, or real feather appliqués across the fronts of dresses. The techniques the designer explored were all of top calibre this season, including the thick wool or printed jersey ribbons of fringe that fell to the floor like hula skirts. But when piled all together, including the leather collars that looked like scrolls of paper, at times his collaging took on a cumbersome effect. Mouret's work is lovely; it just needs a little more room to breathe so that he can truly fly.
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
-
Watch dance, music and film collide at a unique event at Abbey Road StudiosIn this exclusive film, watch Abbey Road’s first Artist in Residence, Jordan Rakei, collaborate with industry-leading creatives to produce a dance performance in the hallowed Studio One
-
Frances Elkins gets her dues at Christie's this JuneYou can soon take home a piece of the legendary American designer’s legacy…including a $3 million Alberto Giacometti sculpture.
-
The new Phone 2 Pro from CMF combines generous scale with true affordabilityWe explore the ins and outs of the CMF Phone 2 Pro, the newest device from the Nothing sub-brand that focuses on bold design and carefully honed value engineering
-
Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
-
Louis Vuitton A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Chanel A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s -
Y/Project A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Sacai A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Alexander McQueen A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
