The Paris season brought back the feeling of normality in the fashion world with lots of shows all over the city of light, first feelings of Spring with occasional sun on our minds and strong shows all over. But all this was dampened by the ongoing war in the Ukraine, which was emphatically addressed by designers like Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino with a pre-show voice over, or more subtly by Virginie Viard at Chanel who played The Beatles song “A Day in the Life” for the finale.
Christian Dior
Brand: Christian Dior
Inspiration: Fusing protection and elegance
Some facts: The house of Dior is on fire and in growth mode. New CEO Pietro Beccari certainly has something to do with this but first and foremost, this is the house of Maria Grazia Chiuri now. Tirelessly dedicating her work to the advancement of women in society she struck a nerve with luxury customers all over the world. This time she explored ideas of protection for women by teaming up with motorcycling equipment maker Dainese.
Look pick: Chani from Dune
Brand: Ottolinger
Inspiration: The introduction of a new sex template
Some facts: Establishing a new silhouette and look is very difficult in our image saturated times. But Ottolinger designers Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient have done just that operating out of their studio in Berlin. It’s sexy, it’s tubular, it’s body collaged, and it feels new. This show was another big step in owning the metaverse sex turf.
Look pick: Burnt plastic bra
Ottolinger
Koché
Brand: Koché
Inspiration: Making collaborations relevant
Some facts: Winning the Andam Grand Prize in 2019 took Christelle Kocher and her label Koché to the next level. Now mentored by Renzo Rosso with her collections produced by his OTB production arms, she hones in on owning the street meets couture territory. Her recent collabs with Puma and Charles Jourdan are spot on.
Look pick: Bourgeois streetwear
Brand: Saint Laurent
Inspiration: Chic for now
Some facts: Anthony Vaccarello has turned out one of his chicest and most relevant collections in a long time. No gimmicks in staging, he offered faux fur clad sans rien dessous and faux fur trimmed women in sexy black dresses with a beautiful coiffed side parting and super sexy coatdresses. All just in the right proportion, nothing archival, everything spot on for now.
Look pick: The height of chic
Read the full review here
Saint Laurent
Dries Van Noten
Brand: Dries Van Noten
Inspiration: Back in the Couture capitol
Some facts: During the pandemic he paid homage to his hometown of Antwerp and now he is back in Paris with an achingly beautiful new collection, which was shown not on a runway, but in a dilapidated and hauntingly beautiful hôtel particulier on rue de l’Université in St. Germain. And god, beautiful it was.
Look pick: Shanghai Express
Read the full review here
Brand: Cecilie Bahnsen
Inspiration: Creating dreamscapes via fashion
Some facts: This name has been whispered about for a while. Our friend Andreas Murkudis in Berlin has been carrying the label from the beginning and now with her first full runway show at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen proved that she has what it takes to make fairytale and color strong clothes that defy the word gown. Modern evening-wear here.
Look pick: Sabrina Fair
Cecilie Bahnsen
Gauchere
Brand: Gauchere
Inspiration: Affirmation via tailoring
Some facts: Growing her business from year to year, Achtung favorite Marie-Christine Statz stands for unfussy tailored looks. There is a chic Parisienne vibe to all her designs, which stems from good taste in fabric selection and color choice.
Look pick: When a jacket becomes a dress
Brand: Chloé
Inspiration: Establishing new feminine codes
Some facts: Trailblazing towards environmentally focused new standards for a fashion company like Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst is a woman on a mission. Nothing can stop her on the messaging front if only the Chloé designs reflected a bit more desirability.
Look pick: These boots are made for walking
Chloé
Rick Owens
Brand: Rick Owens
Inspiration: Beauty for beauty’s sake
Some facts: Rick Owens is more Parisian than American by now. But like a good American, he can not help reacting from the gut, when it comes to his clothes. So while the world is out of order, he lets go of his putting the fashion world out of order mission, and dazzles with couture like designs.
Look pick: Pump up the volume
Brand: Isabel Marant
Inspiration: When fashion is simple
Some facts: While her label continues to be in growth mode and is looked at by all kinds of big investors who are trying to figure out if she is luxe enough, Marant sticks her nose in them by making playful and sexy clothes women crave.
Look pick: Sexy bear
Isabel Marant
Yohji Yamamoto
Brand: Yohji Yamamoto
Inspiration: When cerebral is real
Some facts: While Issey Miyake is mostly showing digitally of late and Comme des Garçons is staying in Tokyo for shows, it is the evergreen fashion rebel Yamamoto who continues to be Japan’s best fashion export. Uncompromising layering to defy reality is his game.
Look pick: Raven’s nest fashion
Brand: Hermès
Inspiration: The show we have been waiting for
Some facts: At Hermès ideas are always given more than ample time to take off. Even while the house is on post pandemic growth fire, the designs of women’s designer Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski have never taken the industry by storm. But Hermès stayed loyal to her and now she exploded with a sexy leather craftsmanship climax.
Look pick: Parisian scooter chic
Hermès
Ann Demeulemeester
Brand: Ann Demeulemeester
Inspiration: Antwerp is so alive
Some facts: This is such a storied and important Belgian label with the founder very much still alive and now making beautiful art de la table objects. But we saw Madame Demeulemeester backstage bestowing her stamp of approval on the current design team. The collection rigorously reimagined maxi tailoring.
Look pick: Tailor statement
Brand: Givenchy
Inspiration: Female stance on Haute Couture
Some facts: The main idea was to keep it simple: street wear and layering was mostly reserved for men’s while women’s was more sophisticated. Williams must have racked up some serious studio time in the Parisian ateliers of Givenchy as his ruffled wool dresses had an extreme chic to them while at the same time infusing his American sportswear driven sensibility. And it needs to be said; the slightly therapeutic looking footwear is becoming more and more of a look.
Look pick: Golden Twenties
Read the full review here
Givenchy
Sacai
Brand: Sacai
Inspiration: Happy to be back
Some facts: What a wonderful highlight backstage at the Sacai show in the Mairie de Paris. Designer Chitose Abe broke out in tears when she saw the usual suspects of backstage reviewers descend on her. Why? She missed the faces of the industry for two years. Her couture shaped collection was worth it.
Look pick: Hybrid-Abe
Brand: Akris
Inspiration: When fashion and art make sense
Some facts: Let’s call him the best art curator among fashion designers. Albert Kriemler picked somewhat forgotten German artist Reinhard Voigt and his geometric and line based 60’s art as inspiration. Needless to say, the pixilated look of Voigt was away ahead of the current seen on screen only times. And Kriemler’s deft application on suits and tunics took his art fashion to the next level.
Look pick: The pixel makes the fashion
Akris
Chanel
Brand: Chanel
Inspiration: The show with a message
Some facts: Virginie Viard at Chanel has to take a lot of criticism ever since she took over after Karl Lagerfeld. Ok, there have been no fashion forward collections yet but nobody executes a theme better than her. And still, she has managed to shave off a few years from the aging core customer of Chanel. This time via a celebration of tweed with great casting.
Look pick: Forever tweed
Brand: Miu Miu
Inspiration: Leather lather
Some facts: Miuccia Prada knows how to keep it simple like nobody else in fashion. For her latest Miu Miu collection she fused tennis and tough leather for unexpected results. Subversive sex is Miu Miu’s calling card.
Look pick: Leipzig leather playground
Miu Miu
