Photo: Instagram / Rita Ora, Dior
As Paris haute couture week ends Thursday, we look at the five things we learned from the elite fashion extravaganza.
All hail Galliano
Genius is a word that gets thrown around in fashion like confetti at a wedding, but many who witnessed John Galliano’s two shows for Margiela over the past 12 days believed that in his case the feathered hat fits.
The British designer may never live down the notorious drunken anti-Semitic rant that cost him his job at Dior in 2011.
Yet fashion would be far less fantastical without him.
His haute couture collection using transformative fabrics which look completely different to the naked eye than through the lens of smartphone, was not just inspired use of cutting-edge tech, but deft commentary on seeing at the world through the lens of Instagram.
Karl’s beard
Even geniuses make mistakes. Just ask Karl Lagerfeld who is no doubt stroking his chin over whether he will persist with his new wispy white beard. Reaction to the Kaiser’s first major change in image in two decades was generally negative — and almost drowned out his very girly Chanel show. Vogue’s legendary critic Suzy Menkes did her best to soften the blow by referring to the growth as “an exciting facial accessory”.
https://www.herworld.com/style/fashion/trends-and-tips/highlights-paris-haute-couture-fashion-week-karl-lagerfeld-dior-ulyana-sergeenko/
Best of Chanel's Haute Couture 2018 collection
Lagerfeld uses layering and pleats to bring out reinvented silhouettes
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Chanel’s woman of the season blossoms from beneath layers and layers of silk tulle, chiffon and organza pleated or enriched with botanical embroidery composed of sequins, beads, stones and strass.
Kaia Gerber, 16, debuts Chanel Haute Couture collection
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Feminity is expressed through a palette of gentle tones: tender pinks, coral, frosted lemon, mint, grey and pale taupe.
Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Models wore edged leather gloves – very Karl Lagerfeld.
Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Its straight or slightly trapeze cut jacket is defined with a relaxed collar, a newly revised kimono sleeve, a rounded shoulder.
Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Beneath the chest are pockets tempt hands to slip inside, with what Karl Lagerfeld calls “the new attitude” brimming with strength and character.
Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Take a look at the mid-calf boots with transparent wedge heels detail.
Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Coco Chanel's classics with a girly twist
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Feminine tweeds for a modern woman's wardrobe
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Feminine tweeds for a modern woman's wardrobe
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Feminine tweeds for a modern woman's wardrobe
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Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Models wore edged leather gloves – a very Lagerfeld finishing touch.
Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Karl Lagerfeld took classic silhouettes and turned them into a sugar plum fairy
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Sevillian black mesh flower fascinators, bouquets of tiny embroidered flowers lit up a large part of the collection
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Here you see more intense colours including black, sparkling silver, ink, fuchsia chlorophyll green and electric blue.
Sevillian black mesh flower fascinators, bouquets of tiny embroidered flowers lit up a large part of the collection
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Sevillian black mesh flower fascinators, bouquets of tiny embroidered flowers lit up a large part of the collection
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Sevillian black mesh flower fascinators, bouquets of tiny embroidered flowers lit up the collection
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Bubble-gum pink dress glinted with crystals
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Bursts of pink in Karl Lagerfeld's collection
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Feathers caress model’s legs, extending the matte satin.
Karl Lagerfeld's uber-girl couture collection
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Karl Lagerfeld's feminine couture collection
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Karl Lagerfeld's feminine couture collection
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Botanical embroidery composed of sequins, beads, stones and strass
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Botanical embroidery composed of sequins, beads, stones and strass
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Botanical embroidery composed of sequins, beads, stones and strass
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Botanical embroidery composed of sequins, beads, stones and strass
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Feathers caress the shoulders of Chanel woman
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Materials used include silk tulle, chiffon, matte satin and organza
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Drop waistlines in dresses
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Looks with trousers
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Looks with trousers
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A long sheath dress overlaid with lace silk tulle
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Dresses were matched with similarly beaded mid-calf boots
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A long sheath dress overlaid with lace silk tulle
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Dresses were matched with similarly beaded mid-calf boots
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The 'bride' that closes the show wore trousers
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Be careful who you quote
Dior under Maria Grazia Chiuri loves nothing better than a good slogan. She began her reign at the fabled label with her “We should all be feminists” T-shirt and by plastering “Christian Dior J’adore” on just about everything, from bras to sandal straps.
This week she wrote lines from Andre Breton’s “Surrealist Manifesto” across her models’ collar bones as part of a homage to Italian artist and proto-feminist Leonor Fini.
Which was unfortunate, as critics quickly pointed out, because Breton was a notorious misogynist who Fini abhorred for writing that “the problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world”.
Don’t say it with flowers
Never write a note using the N-word and send it to someone who puts their entire life on Instagram. The Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko learned that the hard way this week when she sent flowers to her friend the Moscow socialite Miroslava Duma when she arrived in Paris for the shows. Both women insisted it was meant as a term of endearment between friends, but the fashion world was not in a forgiving mood.
Life is black and white
While catwalks are more and more gender fluid with co-ed shows and androgynous and trans models, they could not have been more binary when it came to colour this week.
Black and white dominated from John Paul Gaultier’s two-tone tribute to Pierre Cardin to Dior’s surrealist checkerboards and Clare Waight Keller’s much-praised debut at Givenchy.
That couture fixture the femme fatale cut a black and silver swathe through the Azzaro, Alexandre Vaultier and Galia Lahav collections, with shoulders exaggerated 1980s-style to emphasise killer glamour.
Chanel and Valentino swam against the austere tide with a sweetshop assortment of sugary pinks and greens, while Viktor & Rolf also went for a bolder palette, giving their quirky creations an extra sheen by making the complete collection in satin duchesse.
ALSO READ: BEST OF CHANEL’S HAUTE COUTURE 2018 COLLECTION
