Paris has hit headlines this July, not for the Haute Couture shows which began on 3 July, and usually grip headlines in the summer months, but for the nation-wide riots which followed the police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk last Tuesday.
There is usually a frenetic buzz thanks to the influx of A-listers and street style types for couture, not to mention the dizzying proposal of gowns which can take hundreds - even thousands - to create, but the mood at the beginning of this fashion week was hindered. After a mourning service for the late teenager on Saturday, the worst uprising France has seen since 2005 continued, luxury brand’s boarded their windows along the capital’s famed shopping street Champs-Elysées, making the usual hub for the high net worth couture clients more danger zone than designer.
But, a day into the week-long schedule, it appears the show must go on. Save a menswear show planned by Celine on Sunday night which was cancelled by designer Hedi Slimane, who said “having a fashion show in Paris, while France and its capital are bereaved and bruised, from my point of view alone, seems inconsiderate and totally out of place,” the Haute Couture schedule has continued. Alaïa went ahead with their Sunday night show on a Seine footbridge, with a turnout including singer Rita Ora, Global Editorial Director of Condé Nast Anna Wintour and model Amber Valletta.
At 10am on Monday, it was rapper Cardi B waltzing up the Petit Palais’s steps to the Schiaparelli show wearing a black velvet column dress with surrealist, tape measure-inspired hem, and huge, woollen tufted jacket that opening the official couture schedule. She arrived alongside Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie and Nicky Hilton to watch a collection in which each look nodded to specific artists, be that Freud, Miro or Dalí.
Later that day, Dior welcomed a mix of European royals and stars of international acclaim to their Haute Couture show, hot off the heels of their global Pre-Fall and Resort show spectacles in Mumbai, India in March, and Mexico City, in May, respectively. Leading arrivals were actors Natalie Portman, Rosamund Pike and Elizabeth Debicki, who mixed with London-based It-girls Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark and rock ‘n’ roll royalty Ella Richards at the event.
US designer Thom Browne also showed on Monday, which prompted an outfit change from Cardi B, who took her seat by actor Diane Keaton, Anna Winour and Elvis director Baz Luhrmann. It was a spectacle; 2000 cardboard cutouts in Browne suits, mimicing a real person, watched the Palais Garnier stage from the opera seats. While the 300-strong audience and models strutted around them.
Tuesday morning kicked off with Chanel, the fashion house took over a side-spot along the River Seine, welcoming the likes of actor Lupita Nyong’o, who was playful in a lilac, tweed two-piece from the brand, and Jenna Coleman, in a pink, striped and printed jersey dress.
Later on that day, it was Giorgio Armani Privé that attracted the most starry faces, including Laura Dern and Kate Hudson. Elsewhere in the A-list crowd: Emma Thompson, in a popping-pink fuschia suit to Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney, who posed with fellow US actor Noah Centineo in a long sleeved, black sequin gown, complete with blonde blowout and rouged lips.
Wednesday’s haute offering properly began with Balenciaga’s collection, who have been known to entice the Kardashian clan to watch - and model - in the past. They were not to be seen this season, instead swapped for the likes of actors Natasha Lyonne and Michelle Yeoh, plus another sighting of Cardi B, who this time was joined by rapper husband Offset.
Jean Paul Gaultier, which was guest designed by Paco Rabanne creative director Julien Dossena, attracted a stellar corwd to take in dazziling chainmail gowns and new feathered takes on the classic JPG sailors bretton pull overs on the catwalk. Heidi Klum lead arrivals in a standout cut-out frock, while drag queen and longtime friend of the house Violet Chachki went full glamour in a fuschia slip dress and black corset.
Saving the very best until last. Closing the shows on Wednesday was Valentino, who took over the magnificant Chateau de Chantilly, an hours drive from the city centre, for a collection of billowing emerald and ivory printed gowns, jeans and crip white shirts - as modelled by Kaia Gerber - and a focus on vast, crystal chandelier earrings. Making the journey to catch the spectacle was Florence Pugh, the new face of the brand, who commanded attention in a lilac chiffon dress which was swept up in the wind. She posed with fellow actor Naomi Ackie, while Donatella Versace had her photograph taken with Anna Wintour and Baz Luhrmann.
