UIt quickly becomes clear what is going on this afternoon. Feminist manifestos are displayed on all four walls on the monumental LED walls: “I m not only mother, wife daughter, I ma woman” or “I am not your doll, I am not your game, call me by my name”. Yellow, pink, bright – the Barbie-like appearance of Elena Bellantoni’s video installation “Not Her” for the Dior show on the second day of Paris Fashion Week raises expectations. Will Margot Robbie have a front row seat? Is the current state of feminism discussed in a striking and humorous way, like in the Barbie film, this summer’s big blockbuster?
The appearance of the first model who walks down the catwalk in front of the bright screen is completely different than expected. She wears a deconstructed black dress with transparent lace – as far from the Barbie look as Ken is from the suit man from the financial district.
Feminism is one of Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri’s favorite themes. Right from her start in Paris, she had feminist messages printed on T-shirts. By sparking social debates, she gave the multi-million dollar luxury liner Dior social relevance, even if in the end it was only about one thing: selling luxury. But young customers have a better feeling when the creative head of a brand also thinks about a few social thoughts, i.e. brings in “purpose”, a type of intellectual marketing that Miuccia Prada in Milan has been doing well for a long time.
It seems the subcultures of the nineties are coming
Part of this recipe for success is playing with the unexpected. What Chiuri ended up presenting on the catwalk for spring and summer 2024 was not pink and bright (and Margot Robbie didn’t come either), but something like a post-Barbie collection. Not only because the color black dominated and the make-up artist Peter Philips painted a broad black line of eyeliner on each model’s lips. The deconstructed dresses, one-shoulder blouses and transparent pendants also went well with this. Dior’s New Look, which characterized the previous collection, was only shown in the variations of the Abandon dress from 1948, with a narrow waist and a wide skirt.
Saying goodbye to white: Gabriela Hearst quits Chloé.
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Image: Helmut Fricke
It’s quite possible that the 1990s will catch up with us again next summer, although not with the broad shoulders and huge logos, but rather with the subcultures that shaped the decade – when, after a long period of super luxury, the dimmer was turned down with the grunge movement , so strong that the era of supermodels was coming to an end, because who wanted to see Cindy Crawford in a tattered sweater?
A bit of grunge, a bit of gothic determined many collections in the first days of Paris Fashion Week. Muted colors will await us next spring and summer, that’s for sure. In addition to black and gray in all shades, there are earthy tones from sandy beige to muddy brown. Bright elements are only present selectively, as are prints, unless you are a playful and fun-loving designer like Francesco Risso, who, in keeping with the spirit of the brand, created an extremely colorful collection for Marni in a city palace that once belonged to Karl Lagerfeld presented with many patterns.
Otherwise, you could see simple, plain-colored dresses like Marie-Christine Statz’s for her brand Gauchere, which, as always, impresses with its particular lightness. Just like deconstructed dresses that pattern artist Dries Van Noten showed: casual and yet extremely elegant, even in combination with the huge blazers that frayed at the hems. Similarly experimental, Johnny Johansson worked for Acne Studios, describing his collection as the beauty of the unfinished.
Gabriela Hearst presents her final Dior collection
The surprise appearance of Matthew Williams, the designer of the rock stars (the peroxide blonde Cher was sitting in the front row). He delivered a cohesive and elegant collection for Givenchy and only used the classic rock star elements of leather and metal in doses; instead, simple evening dresses made of delicate fabrics were shown. One was almost reminded of the brand’s beginnings, when Audrey Hepburn, as Hubert de Givenchy’s muse, made the fashion house shimmer.
Designer Johnny Johansson calls his collection for Acne Studios “beauty in the unfinished.”
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Image: Reuters
Timeless Parisian elegance was also presented by Lanvin, the traditional brand that had become quieter after its high rise in the noughties with designer Alber Elbaz. An unnamed team showed a small couture-like collection in the stately headquarters at Parc Monceau that flashed the magic of a bygone era. In contrast to this was the powerful and expressive collection by Gabriela Hearst on the same day, who presented her last collection for Chloé with lots of leather, western elements and sculptural dresses.
The American’s departure is all the more painful because her unconventional attitude, her view of sustainability and her origins – she grew up on a farm in Uruguay – did the solid image of Parisian fashion well. The fact that she had a samba band perform at the end of the parade and danced down the catwalk in cowboy clothes like a rodeo horse will be one of the unforgettable moments of this Fashion Week. And also shows that in times of AI, in which customers’ purchasing behavior can be analyzed in detail, fashion is still a product based on emotions. And they are only predictable to a limited extent.
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