Coming to Paris is the hardest of undertakings for American designers. Why? Generally, nobody really cares, too many great shows are happening here already anyway. Let’s go back, the only American who really succeeded in Paris was Marc Jacobs while he had the Louis Vuitton gig. In the 90’s there were Anna Sui or Victor Alfaro who tried followed by the occasional Proenza Schouler French foray. Nothing really had staying power and while The Row is becoming a commercial juggernaut, the Paris shows are well received but ultimately lack in Parisian verve. Parisians love New York cool, they love to vacation in the Big Apple but when it comes to clothes, they keep their sang froid. So today ACHTUNG witnessed its first Peter Do show and on top it took place in Paris. We have read a few cool magazine stories about him and heard some good buzz. Considering he just took over Helmut Lang, which we didn’t see live but heard bombed pretty drastically, expectations were manageable. Then what a beautiful surprise Tuesday morning when Peter Do opened the Paris schedule with a jewel of a tailored collection with black and white color play and expert draping of fabrics. This designer is clearly a designer’s designer and knows what he is doing. Do also used the runway show to break a new collaboration with Banana Republic which gets them out of their Safari inspired world and into cool capitals. Do does a lot with just clothes.
Banana Republic X Peter Do
Banana Republic X Peter Do
Expert draping
Black and white color play
What was really good?
Do seems to have a hand at creating experimental proportions out of nowhere. His 40’s men’s wear silhouette is very of the moment as it was just seen at Prada men’s and women’s with super accentuated shoulders and narrow nipped waists for cartoonish but elegant shapes. He slashes into fabric with gusto and had some cool split open men’s pants and knows how to cut fabric as his super sexy skin clinging red dress in the finale proved.
Accentuated shoulders and narrow nipped waists
Split open men’s pants
Skin clinging red dress
Cool color blocking?
Do had a very innovative hand at color blocking. His opening leather coat and in black and white where the lapel contrasted was more straightforward as was the slash of red on a shirt that followed. But his look #6 of a see through red mesh top which was covered by a half circle top from the shoulders which ended as an apron in the front, was a show stopper and more Rothko than Mondrian.
Opening leather coat and in black and white
Slash of red
The see through red mesh top was a show stopper
