Feature · fashion
Paris Haute Couture Week: Clothes for the 1%, thrills for everyone else
For the super rich, couture fashion is a chance to indulge, to splurge, to flex. For the rest of the world, it’s an opportunity to watch the spectacle, escape into another world and ogle at the excess of it all.
This week in Paris, a series of designer collections featuring handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, eye-wateringly expensive high fashion was once again unveiled during the city’s biannual Haute Couture Week.
For the 1%, couture fashion is a chance to indulge, to splurge, to flex, to enshrine, even. (Some serious couture collectors wouldn’t dream of actually wearing the garments they purchase — they simply want to own a piece of fashion history.)
Meanwhile couture is a chance for a fashion houses to intimately connect with their top clients while showcasing their creative directors’ boldest visions and the skills of their design teams. A couture collection is also about strengthening a brand; it’s often the purest expression of a label’s values. A manifesto of sorts. And it’s a marketing opportunity: A splashy couture collection will boost a brand’s cultural cachet, making people want to buy into it, even if the entry point is a bottle of perfume.
Schiaparelli Credit: Schiaparelli
Schiaparelli Credit: Schiaparelli
CL, Rina Sawayama, Hunter Schafer and Emma Watson at Schiaparelli Credit: Schiaparelli
So what’s in it for everyone else? Why care about clothes that aren’t made for you?
Because it’s thrilling to watch the spectacle, to escape into another world and ogle at the excess of it all. Be it the conversation-driving gowns that end up at the Met Gala or the Oscars’ red carpet, or the theatrical shows — now almost always simultaneously broadcast online — couture has crept into culture because it’s entertaining and because there’s an element of storytelling to it. And we’re all invited to enjoy that.
“All of us who work in fashion know that much of the rest of the world thinks that what we do is silly,” he wrote.
“It’s a boring criticism, and we all argue otherwise, but if you think about it, fashion is silly at times. It’s also provocative, upending, challenging, and meaningful. It’s breathtaking. It’s beautiful.”
Read on for moments that reflected this sentiment at Paris Haute Couture Week.
Balenciaga: Celebrity casting with a bang
Balenciaga Credit: Balenciaga
Balenciaga Credit: Balenciaga
Balenciaga Credit: Balenciaga
Balenciaga Credit: Balenciaga
The brand also unveiled a collaboration with Danish audio firm Bang & Olufsen: A “speaker bag” that is part accessory, part sound system. Who will buy the 20 limited edition bags? The same people shopping for ink-tinted Balenciaga couture face shields, no doubt.
Fendi: A high jewelry debut
For those seeking more traditional accessories, Fendi’s debut high jewelry designs may be the answer. The one-of-a-kind set was conceived by the house’s artistic director of jewelry Delfina Delettrez Fendi (daughter of Silvia Fendi) using an abundance of white and yellow diamonds.
Fendi High Jewlery Credit: Robert Fairer
Olivier Rousteing for Jean Paul Gaultier: Punks with bumps
Since Jean Paul Gaultier stepped back from fashion in 2020, his namesake label has invited a different designer to create its couture collection each season. This time, Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing took the reins, presenting a series of designs that paid homage to Gaultier’s archive. Conical bras, Breton stripes and trompe l’oeil motifs were given Rousteing’s “Balmain army” treatment (exaggerated shoulders and metallic armor).
Olivier Rousteing for Jean Paul Gaultier Credit: Peter White/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Olivier Rousteing for Jean Paul Gaultier Credit: Peter White
Olivier Rousteing for Jean Paul Gaultier Credit: Peter White
The talking point came mid-way through the show when two bump-clad models with nose rings and layers of metal jewelery walked the runway together, an apparent reference to France’s decision to extend the right to access IVF to lesbian couples and single women last year.
Schiaparelli: Flower power
A rash of floral detailing broke out amid Daniel Roseberry’s latest couture collection for Schiaparelli. Whether hand-painted, leather-made, or constructed from stones and metal leaves, the flower motif was complex and striking in vivid blues and autumnal tones. It added an earthiness to the house’s signature metallic embellishments and — to return to Roseberry’s earlier musings — it was beautiful.
Schiaparelli Credit: Schiaparelli
Schiaparelli Credit: Giovanni Giannoni
Schiaparelli Credit: Giovanni Giannoni
Top image: Anna Wintour, Kim Kardashian and North West seated front row at Jean Paul Gaultier.
Source: www.cnn.com