Dior Haute Couture Paris SS2019

It was a circus both outside and inside the Dior show. Inspired by circus depictions in Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Cindy Sherman, and Richard Avedon’s Dovima with Elephants, which he shot in Paris’s Cirque d’Hiver circa 1955 Maria Grazia Chiuri turned her show venue into a circus tent. She even named the designs of circus costume maker Gérard Vicaire as the haute couture that led to this collection. The checked floor matched the theme as well as the collection’s color palette. Even female acrobats were hired to do some of their stunts. It’s showtime! And with all that “distraction” the couture designs still spoke loudly. Harlequin checks, clowneske collars, lots of tulle, lots of glitters, lots of stars. Looks were either black and white or pastel colored. Eithr short and above the knee or long and floor sweeping. Either masculine or extremely feminine (showing skin, showing curves). All models wore sparkling classic caps with a little lace in front or their faces. When all else fails, join the (Dior) circus!

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Chanel Haute Couture Paris SS2019

Snowy Paris outside, sunny Italy inside. A pool, an Italian villa and cypress trees awaited us at the Grand Palais this morning. Inspired by the exhibition “La Fabrique du luxe: Les marchands merciers Parisiens au XVIIIe siècle” which ends January the 27^th Karl Lagerfeld came up with an 18^th century inspired collection. It resulted in models with high hair (and a flower in it) wearing dresses and pencil skirts with a 7/8 hemline. It made them look extra lean and tall. The usual line up of tweed skirt suits all had a special lower part. Either pleated, ruffled or embellished with floral appliques (from dried flowers). Flowers, (a few ostrich) feathers and hand painted sequins gave the delicate designs of organza, chiffon and lace it’s special couture touch. Necklines varied from bateau to origami folded and standing collars. Vittoria Ceretti made a splash when she concluded the show in a silver encrusted bathing suit which she wore with a matching swimming cap with a long veil attached to it.

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Iris van Herpen Haute Couture Paris SS2019

With Iris van Herpen showing her new collection you know you’re in for a treat. And this Dutch designer keeps on amazing us, season after season. This week she litteraly lit up her Paris runway with her latest collection Shift Souls. While many designers look back to former decades Iris looks into the future as early images of galaxies and stars, like Harmonica Macrocosmica by a German-Dutch cartographer published in 1600, representations of mythological and astrological animals and the evolution of the human form and the possibility of engineered human Cybrids were her inspiration. A beyond interesting source of inspiration which led to a breathtakingly beautiful collection of dazzling, voluminous, 3D lasercut, futuristic dresses. Completed with 3-D printed face jewelry and glow-in-the-dark plexiglass, carved by hand, heels infused with two colors of ink this collection was literally out of this world. What else can we say. This show was “otherworldly” and “lit” in more than one way.

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Yohji Yamamoto Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

Yohji Yamamoto today was all black and all coats. How impressive to pull off a collection filled with black coats and not make it a bore. The robe coats had Japanese depictions of women in various states of pleasure, flowers and skulls and they had lots of detail. Buttons played a big part, not just double breasted but diagional, over the shoulder, in two horizontal rows, small and black, chunky and gold colored. Lots of layering going on too as Yamamoto’s models (with their hair carelessly worn in front of their faces) looked cool and collected in every single outfit.  

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Comme des Garçons Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

“Finding beauty in the dark, there is no light without dark” was about all the explanation we got for the Commes des Garçons collection. And dark it was. Models looked rather creepy with their black lips, dark eye make-up and extreme hairdos. There clothes weren’t very cheerful either; mesh tops, leggings with Jesus symbols and crosses as a print, long coats, checks and paisley prints in the mix, harnesses and black leather boots. We’re not sure what to make of it yet. It was a CdG show like any other; peculiar and completely distant and different from what most brands are doing right now. Rei Kawakubo will have us contemplating on what we just saw for days.

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Ann Demeulemeester Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

Ann Demeulemeester was gloomy yet quite colourful at the same time. The brand’s androgynous male models looked like they got dressed exactly how they wanted to, not carrying about what others might think or what would be appropriate, what would fit their gender or what would be in trend. They sported shiny silk printed robes and blouses, airy, off shoulder knitwear sweaters, statement coats, fur stoles and shiny head scarves. Their careless attitude made them look cool, even apart from the clothes they wore. If there’s a lesson to be learnt here it is to be a little more creative. Or as Sébastien Meunier put it: “There’s a uniformity in garments today and I’m sure there are people who want to dream a bit more.”

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Dior Homme Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

Today’s Dior show can be seen as the ultimate style between sportswear and tailoring. Yes, the 49 models looked perfectly dressed, but they still had enough streetcred too. They sported their pleated pants with logo printed sweaters. Suits had stoles/scarves attached to them, which were wrapped around the models bodies (inspired, Kim Jones said, by a 1955 dress from the Dior archive). Classic pants were paired with structured utilitarian tops in the same color palette. Cross body bags and sporty boots added to the urban/youthful feel of the collection. Leopard print details and fur pieces seemed a bit of a distraction, but the collection’s true message came across cleary. Kim Jones has introduced the new way of dressing for men for the upcoming seasons. Not just sportswear, not just suits, but a perfect fresh menswear style approach in between.

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Kenzo Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2019

Influences from Humberto Leon’s father’s Chinese-Peruvian heritage started off the theme for Kenzo’s fw2019 collection. It made up for the traditional garments which were given a modern touch. The show kicked off with the most stunning look of all; an army green coat with turquoise colored fur touches (which made the purple eye shadow look even more stunning). The faux fur remained a theme throughout the show. It popped up in the shape of coats, hats (that looked like wigs at some point), sleeves, gloves, bags, stoles and even a checked fur skirts and tops in red and blue. The palette existed of bright pinks, orange, yellow and blue (with bright eyeshadow shades to match!). They were used in dazzling prints and statement accessories. From denim boiler suits to knitted poncho’s; we’re not exactly sure how to interpreted this fw2019 Kenzo collection. But there’s lots to love for the woman who dares to make that statement.

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Vetements Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

Stuffed animals at the French National Museum of Natural History formed the backdrop of today’s Vetements show. The clothes shown in front of them formed a dark mix of streetwear looks. Oversized jeans paired with a hoodie, a denim jacket and a cap. A floral printed dress worn over a red colored turtle neck paired with sport socks and sneakers. Everything was a bit oversized, backpacks, fanny packs and a few face masks completed the looks. The last few models had their faces and upper bodies completely covered in scarves/pieces of fabric. Fear formed a big source of inspiration for Demna Gvasalia. It wasn’t necessarily a very pretty or optimistic picture, but a realistic one nonetheless.

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Valentino Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2019

Pierpaolo Piccioli set up some collaborations for fw2019. First he joined forces with Jun Takahashi of Undercover. Together they created a series of prints (with time traveler slogans, spaceships, skulls, and a joint VU – for Valentino – Undercover logo) that would appear in both of their menswear collections. In tailoring, like many fashion houses this week, Piccioli moved away from the sportswear and into a more relaxed way of dressing. He said he’d been looking at the fluidity of Italian tailoring in the 1980s. And so he designed easy going suits, comfy woolen coats, the softest sweaters and jackets with the feel of a hoodie. All worn with perfect pleated pants and either sneakers or Birkenstocks, the second collaboration for this collection. And all of a sudden patent red Birks worn with black socks seemed like a pretty good footwear option to wear on a warm October day.

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