Paco Rabanne S/S 2018

Scene setting: A blackened Salon d’Honneur was the venue for this season’s Paco Rabanne show, in stark contrast to last season’s all-white décor in the Musée d’Art Moderne. Benches were disposed in a multitude of hexagons, with another hexagone inside each of them where standing guests watched the show, creating an unsettling human background. Seen from above, the seating plan must have been reminiscent of Paco Rabanne’s trademark ’Cotte de maille’, the metallic mesh that made the Spanish designer famous and which Julien Dosséna reprises with gusto season after season. It was an intriguing set for a new era in the brand, after a few months ago a new CEO was named to take things into a new direction.

Mood board: If last season was all about brightness and sportswear, this time nightlife and glam were on the menu. While the brand’s signature chainmail silhouettes do have a mechical and space age slant, for S/S 2018 they were drenched with dazzling, discotheque flair, focused on human movement, dancing and frivolity.

Best in show: The brand’s new direction was visible from the first look: any hint of street or activewear was gone, and replaced with an ultra glam aesthetic with disco references. A mini dress in metal mesh imitating python gave way to a sheer organza romper, then to a profusion of dresses with strategically placed slits, cutouts and fringes, the kind that makes editors sigh and exclaim: ’if I only had the kind of body that one needs to rock those clothes’.