Chloe Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Not young girls walked the Chloé runway on Sunday, but grown women, sophisticad and elegant. Women with taste, who know fashion should be fun but wearable too. And so Waight Keller’s Chloé collection full of loose fitting designs seemed appropriate for women of any kind of shape and size. Strong woolen coats (in pastel shades), leather pants (in shades like nude and burgundy), and fur sweaters (in off white and mustard) were true winter pieces. Yet some of the creations (the second ruffled dress, an airy floral printed number with sheer star shaped patches and a printed skirt with sheer white blouse, to name a few) appeared a little too chilly, even for fall. With the brand’s minimalistic highlights behind us the more sober designs remained the strongest pieces out of the bunch. Apart from a rainbow leopard creation prints failed to make a big impression, while a navy dress with golden buttons around the collar seemed a little too forced. No, forget the party dresses and sheer sexiness; the Chloé woman is on top of her game rocking her every day, slightly oversized, wardrobe, which might not scream fashion, but can make any regular day oh so chic.

First View Paris Womenswear FW2014: Fearless

A fearless mash-up of fashion tribes, fetish dolls, couture fascination, safari chic and hip-hop style. What binds these collections it the extraordinary level of artisanship. These designers quote freely from their personal oeuvre and find ways to mix these with fresh tempting inspirations without loosing their identity.
Rick Owens stages his family tribes in futuristic war costumes. This silhouette actually being one of the single patterned items he showed, reminiscent of Star Wars snow patrols. Wearing slick leather pants, super power bracelets and protective funnel neck collars
Yohji shows us power dolls wrapped in densely padded pillows. Soft cocooning stealth-wear, fantastically trippy in happy handprints.
Raf Simons arms Christian Dior models with couture. Power dressing in layered vibrancy, linking seemingly endless side splits with embroidered decorations, rewriting the secret codes of couture.
Balmain’s designer Olivier Rousteing dresses his global army of freedom in a dramatic, military-turned-tribal collection. Here with optical leather weave wrap skirt topped with an electric pop of red lamb’s fur.
A story of love (to quote Rick Owens) – love for fashion.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 4

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Junya Watanabe Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear, FW2014

We started our morning with an all black Watanabe collection (including the strangely cut black wigs the models wore). Dark it was, dull not at all. With every single look the designer managed to portray his strong craftsmanship. He introduced round (and rectangular towards the end) shaped patchwork details and gave his creations a 3D effect by layering multiple textures on top of each other and bundling woolen, leather and fur pieces of fabric. Sequined pieces were in the patchwork mix too, followed by architectural Michelin-like coats, one could live in. Long dresses with straps of ribbon attached vertically onto sheer fabric formed the finale of what appeared to be clothes for a night out. Some looks might come across a little too bizarre for hitting your average night club, although seen independently, without the extreme show styling, some of the tops or bottoms could definitely work in any metropolitan city.

Maison Martin Margiela Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

A sober collection which had British tweeds as a starting point welcomed us at Maison Martin Margiela. First off was a long grey tweed coat, followed by a camel colored sleeveless ensemble. There was a black/brownish tweed suit with strong shoulders and a navy shaded pleated tweed dress worn over a suit in the same color. Midi skirts, overalls and perfectly pleated pants and what looked like a fifties inspired tailored dress were sent out. The focus was on the models’ waists, which was accentuated by small tied leather belts (in camel, red and black). Oh and they sported leather boots, bags and collars too. On perfect pleated pants models sported feminine lace tops, thick Nordic sweaters (again with strong shoulders) and strapless suit jackets. Masculine inspired, but a perfectly feminine collection all together.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 2

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

The overall look and silhouette of the Balenciaga-collection was determined by a strong, rounded shoulder; architectural arcs and folds; slim pants, all with a vaguely futuristic feeling heightened by details such as zippers.

Alexander Wang worked his knitwear premise creatively, delivering it with casual panache and a touch of tough.

He opened with impressive wool coats and jackets, big, horizontal scuba-inspired zippers making for aggressive decoration on their backs. Over each of these he put a beaver “apron scarf” with an attached kangaroo pocket knitted from shoe-laces and rubber cording. Some coats came in a polyester jersey that aped cabled textures; others were knitted and fused to outer shells of latex or leather. Dresses were structured shifts, their graphic quotient intensified with bold zippered strips, a detail used on pants as well.

For evening he tweaked the sweater motif, bejeweling the arc with lavish encrustations of pearls. He paired it with pants and a satin knot-front bodice.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 1

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW20914

Dries van Noten not only presented his fall/winter 2014 collection in Paris, he also prepared an exhibition in the Museum des Arts Decoratifs. His fall collection was audacious and practical, making for powerful, chic-with-a-twist viewing. Op Art graphics and color-centric rave-culture inspired the Belgian designer.

One of Van Noten’s great strengths is his ability to control visually intense motifs, any apparent randomness is intentional. His swirls, overlapping triptych circles and broken-striped grids were applied with bravado executed oh-so-carefully. At times, he went for the contrast of the caustic-on-classic. At other times, he opted for full-on visual shock value. Undulating stripes were another interpretation.
Throughout, Van Noten integrated athletic references — jackets and pants with zippers and parachute details that stood in contrast to the collection’s more obviously polished fare. Either way, he kept his proportions ample, right down to the primary accessories: big, 3-D flowers.

Rochas Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

For his Rochas debut collection designer Alessandro Dell’Acqua ensured he made a true statement. He presented a ultra feminine collection full of voluminous skirts, coats and dresses. Beside elegance the looks breathed luxury too, visible through the rich materials (velvets, jacquards, brocades) and embroidered details, which popped up everywhere. In a sober color palette ranging from baby blue and pastel pink to burgundy, petrol, navy and gold Dell’Acqua introduced fluffy winter coats (in fact two of them worn at the same time), tassled over the knee skirts, woolen fifties dresses, crystal encrusted bodices, embellished blouses, peplum tops, patent leather jackets and a finale of stirdy floor sweeping gowns. To make the oversize silhouettes even more powerful he added bright leather beaded gloves. Dell’Acqua sure had no trouble expressing himself and with so many statement pieces neither will the Rochas woman come fall.

Our review will follow soon, meanwhile enjoy our images.

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