Paris Fashion Week S/S 2016 womenswear editor’s picks
Lanvin: We went inside the house of Lanvin via Maison Européenne de la Photographie’s Alber Elbaz/Lanvin: Manifeste exhibition, which played out in 350 intimate images. The ’introspective’ show runs until 31 October, 2015
Louis Vuitton: A close up of the Louis Vuitton set revealed endless rows of what appeared to be the backs of TV sets – a pattern later recreated on the leather looks on the runway
Ellery: Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s monumental 1969 art project entitled ‘Wrapped Coast’, which wrapped 2.4 kms of Sydney’s coastline in one million square feet of fabric, was the starting point for Aussie designer Kym Ellery’s S/S 2016 collection that experimented with scrunch metallic fabrics (reflecting ripples on water at night) and abstract Australian floral prints. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Malone Souliers: English footwear brand Malone Souliers took over a chic, colour-shot Parisian loft in the Marais for their latest presentation
Dior: We popped into the Dior showroom for a close-up on Raf Simons’ right-off-the-runway designs
Vanessa Seward: Argentine designer Vanessa Seward made her Parisian runway debut at the enchanting Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris
Pallas: Crisp, pressed lines and a palette of navy, baby pink and white was the spring message from Pallas
Chanel: The latest inbound arrivals from Chanel airlines
Chanel: Checking in is a rather swift, high-tech and above all chic affair at Air Chanel
Moynat: The French heritage luggage brand’s intricate leather marquetry technique on display among the archive that creative director Ramesh Nair has been building since relaunching the brand in 2011
Iris Van Herpen: This season the designer looked to the convergence of nature and architecture, inspired by India’s living tree bridges, which resulted in the textural fusion of hand weaving, laser cutting and her signature 3D printing. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Tsatsas: Ex-industrial design duo Tsatsas showed their expanding collection of leather accessorise within Paris’ Kvadrat showroom. New boxier additions for the spring collection came in navy, burgundy and grey perforated leathers
Kit X: When it came to starting over again after her forced exit from her Australian brand Willow, designer Kit Podgornik wanted to do something that meant more to her, her loyal customers and the planet, than just adding more clothes to the world. Her new line, Kit X, was therefore founded on the sustainable high ground. Working with artisan weavers in Varanasi, spring’s hand woven Indian silk textiles have been thoughtfully juxtaposed with the designer’s sharp tailoring skills to dress the modern urbanite who still harbours bohemian-aspirations
Hermès: Left to right: Inventive dessert design, original Hermès watch and new Apple Hermès watch come together at a peachy Paris dinner celebrating Hermès’ collaboration with Apple
Heart Heart Heart: Creative director Iracema Trevisan teamed up with American artist Miranda July on Trevisan’s second collection Dream Sequence, which pieces together the duo’s dialogue of a post dream haze
Akris: The fantastic Akris show set designed by architect Sou Fujimoto
Ports 1961: The house debuts its new Paris store under the creative direction of Natasa Cagalj. Located on rue Saint-Honoré, it’s the first shop dedicated purely to the brand’s clean-lined, rigorously cut womenswear
Marimekko: A graphic line up of girls at Marimekko’s clothing label designed by creative director Anna Teurnell
Acne Studios: Jonny Johansson’s spring guitar motifs, blazers-cum-mini dresses and velvet textures fused Rock ’n’ Roll and rave culture for the particularly lithe or game
Pierre Hardy: The designer always creates terrific artwork that inspires the creation of his footwear collection. This season it was graphic, optical dots
Loewe: Jonathan Anderson’s spectacular collection for Spanish leather goods house Loewe was installed inside the brand’s elegant St Sulpice HQ
Mulger: David Koma won S/S 2016’s war on military with his body-con interpretation that began with a navy and white naval assault before heading into the red zone
Neil Barrett: The designer’s Keffiyeh camouflage print jumped from the collection to the carpet
Aquazzura: So many people are now knocking off Edgardo Osorio’s designs for Aquazzura that the Colombian designer now prohibits photography of his shoes during fashion week. We did however manage to snap his deluxe suite at the Westin Hotel
Yohji Yamamoto: Japanese maestro Yohji Yamamoto wrapped, twisted and tied his clothes this season into artful compositions that bound his flame-haired models into swaths of black and intermittent splashes of hot colour. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Hussein Chalayan: Utility was the opening idea at Chalayan’s spring show that drew upon a range of uniform classics from the boilersuit to sailor’s collared jackets and all cut in a heavy cotton drill and lavished with a variety of patch pockets. Chalayan next moved into a surprisingly feminine floral and plisse dress series (the later featuring pie-chart prints - perhaps tracking global warming?), before a transformative power shower washed two of his models’ day looks away into jewelled eveningwear right in front of our eyes. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Lancel: The house maybe gearing up for its 140th anniversary celebrations next year but for S/S 2016 they got the festivities started with a graphic block party for the house’s Bianca and Sam styles
Caterina Gatta: Rome based designer Caterina Gatta repurposed the artwork of Vanessa Bell (the half-sister of Virginia Woolf who illustrated the covers of most of her sibling’s books), including this silhouetted head motif printed onto luxurious pink silk sable
Delvaux: S/S 2016’s presentation was all about optical illusions for Delvaux (who cited the work of artist Martyn Poliakoff as inspiration) in addition to introducing its classic bag styles, which had been updated in new ’Almande’ (almond) and ’Piemonte’ (rich orange) colourways as well as the especially luxe Varanus skin
Vetements: The cult Parisian brand continued its immersion into underground youth culture with a grungy spring collection that all began with a delivery from the DHL man. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Ana Khouri: The contemporary fine jeweller continued to explore the lines of the female body and her piece’s connection to them with her latest collection that worked mainly with white diamonds and yellow gold. Pave earrings clung inside of ears as rings twisted around fingers, however we were particularly enamoured with Khouri’s molten hair clips that were both minimal and tactile
Balmain: To the tune of a remixed Michael Jackson marathon, Olivier Rousteing’s spring romp of tiered, wildly ruffled chiffon (and leather) party pants, cross hatched stretch tops, suede bustiers and metallic crochet dresses were destined for the stage. Stat. Fierce, strong shouldered and figure skimming - there’s no where to hide on planet Balmain. And especially when it came to the paparazzi who were waiting outside in droves post show for the K clan. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Ann Demeulemeester: This season began and finished with the breast bone as a primal leather choker extended down the middle of the models’ chests binding the collection’s sheer knits, inky tailoring and coloured, yes coloured, chiffon dresses. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Carven: Fusing a whiff of Sixties futurism with an athletic kick of track and field, Carven creative directors, Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud maintained the house’s signature super flared trousers and body jackets with the addition of breezy printed shirting and spacey knits for spring. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Delfina Delettrez: The Italian jeweller’s Ear-clipse collection was inspired by the recent luna eclipse. And as for her genius Paris fashion week presentation? Salvador Dali, of course
Vionnet: For S/S 2016 Hussein Chalayan once again joined the Vionnet design team (a coterie of five took a runway bow this season) who collectively delivered an ethereal collection of plisse gowns that floated from super fine lingerie-inspired straps, all the while tapping into the house’s Grecian roots. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Dušan: Serbian-born, Milan based designer Dusan continues to create some of our favorite under the radar fashion. Here two looks from his spring collection that uses the finest double faced cashmeres and wools
Rochas: The inspiration for Rocha’s S/S 2016 show was Gala Dali, the Russian artist, wife and muse of Salvador Dalí whose flamboyant spirit was channelled in the collection’s giraffe embroidered evening dresses and the juxtaposition of sunset beach motifs layered under frothy silk dresses, just as there were vinyl suits in sorbet hues, and an abundance of slightly surreal sized bows. Best in show were the season’s streamlined slip dresses, which were layered over either a glittery or patent bra top. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Hermès: Antique wooden bird cages brought nature within for Pierre Hardy’s earthy-hued S/S 2016 shoe presentation
Aalto: Tuomas Merikoski’s ’Endless Sun’ collection brought a youthfully quirky take to Scandinavian style. Based on the midsummer culture in Finland, his designs are imbibed with a sense of youth and freedom, of techno and rave music. Loose tailored suits and long dresses over trousers were layered with large jumpers, sleeves slashed to reveal skin beneath
Cédric Charlier: Within the concrete basement of Paris’ dockside Cité de la Mode et du Design, Charlier explored the softer side of utility with raw-edged shirting, ball studded tunic dresses and wrapped fisherman’s pants in a palette of dove grey, powder blue, lolly pink and emerald green
The Row: The Row decided on a presentation in Paris, the second time after a first appearance in 2011, due to circumstances. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen stood by serenely, watching the models glide over the wooden flooring of a Marais space interspersed with wild flowers. Oversized white summer suits and trousers, soft red Japanese wrap jackets with quartz fastenings, black satin slacks, a yellow patent leather coat and even the skintight ruched dresses all carried over one message: this was all about looks that enveloped and wrapped the body, often topped off by broad-rimmed sheer sun hats and pointed slippers
Courrèges: The pantless look may never take off but Courrèges can’t be faulted for not promoting it fervently enough. With ribbed bodysuits as the basis for this collection, the house that embodied Sixties futurism continues its forward-looking approach to dressing. Coperni Femme designers Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant’s first effort took Courrèges back to its stylised basics with slimline silhouettes, graphic patterns and standout colour-blocked jackets. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Jacquemus: It’s not clear whether the big red ball of fabric Jacquemus let a child push through his circular seating arrangement was a reference to Sisyphus’ boulder but it definitely came to mind. His references to France’s national flag, in his ‘bleu, blanc, rouge’ looks and his references to the fashion motif of deconstruction definitely made us think he was playfully rehashing fashion’s clichés but his usual youthful approach made it all feel fresh. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Anthony Vaccarello: The young master of sexy clothes that border on the provocative offered us the familiar tropes of slits, leather and cut-outs, but was innovative with the placing – high above the back, beneath the shoulder pit for a sultry bit of skin, a grille of cut-outs high up the thigh. He broke up his signature dresses with pinstriped versions and pops of red in the form of faces embellishing white dresses in studded metal. Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans