As war rages, illness swirls and economies falter, the idea of celebrities and the ultra-rich flocking to Paris this week to see the bi-annual couture showcase and its dresses with £250,000 price tags may have left some feeling uneasy.
It’s the business of made-to-order for the one per cent, but in this hour of uncertainty, couture designers had a decision to make: deliver transportive creations designed for escapism; or move, as Dior and Chanel did, to an understated – but still eye-wateringly expensive – wearable wardrobe for the super-rich. “Couture has always been an escape,” says Zuhair Murad, a die-hard romantic who stuck to fairytale gowns for another season. “The current climate has set some challenges but has also enhanced my appreciation to beauty and art.”
And Italian designer Giambattista Valli agreed: “Couture is the most beautiful window we have for the external world. It creates this dream, it sparks imagination,” he said. “It’s in moments of uncertainty that it’s most important to support the excellence of the ateliers, craftsmanship and the minor arts. It is the mean to inspire beauty and spread love… People want the extraordinary.”
Introducing the LPBD
Couture tends to go heavy on the sort of full-skirted frou-frou gowns that require a palatial party address and a star-studded guestlist for camouflage, but this week has seen a new, understated couture gown enter the fold. The Long Plunging Black Dress, or LPBD, is the understated way to approach couture evening wear in troubled times, which explains why it appeared so often this week.
Armani Privé and Schiaparelli both offered strapless black velvet gowns with deep v-necklines — Schiaparelli’s plunging well below the navel. Others dressed it down: Alexis Mabille via a scooping v-neck black cashmere sweater dress with a full black tulle skirt embroidered with delicate sequins, Chanel with a black velvet wide-leg suit whose jacket came clasped (sans-blouse) with a gold brooch at the waist, and Alexandre Vauthier via a black slash-neck jersey dress styled with suede knee-high boots. Time to stock up on the tit tape.
Conservative chic
In the stern face of global austerity and conflict, some brands appeared to reign in fabulousness and frippery for a little sense and sensibility. Maria Grazia-Chiuri’s Dior set the pace. Working with Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko, she weaved the war-torn country’s folk costume in her muted palette offering. Conservative, long-sleeve dresses came beige with intricate pleats and stitching, and navy tweeds were cut into shin-length skirt suits.
The same daytime tweed was presented at Chanel, though more light-hearted in pop pink and coral blends and masculine, wide-brimmed tweed hats. There are plenty of couture clients who’ll be hesitant to swirl in vast six-figure neon numbers at Versailles balls for fear of feeling out of touch.
Free the nip (again)
You’d be forgiven for thinking the nipple had long been freed. But this week couture’s head honchos — almost all of them male— zoomed in on the boob to shock or seduce. Belgian couturier Natan paired wide-leg white tailored trousers with a shimmering see-through white net vest, Giambattista Valli teased titties behind layers of bling and Lebanese designer Georges Hobeika offered both a pearl-encrusted sheer crop top and a green see-through beaded cape top.
Olivier Rousteing’s guest appearance for Jean Paul Gaultier riffed heavily on the brand’s conical bra, while barely covered boobs peppered the sublimely surreal Schiaparelli show. Even Giorgio Armani, who traditionally caters to a more conservative customer, offered an entirely transparent top embellished with flowers. Boobs are back, says couture, but will women be titillated?
Eco constructions
Couture has traditionally not troubled itself too much with sustainable construction. But as it readies for a reckoning, could the ateliers be set to adopt better practices? Certainly, Dutch designers Iris Van Herpen and Ronald van der Kemp are leading the charge. The latter has been upcycling since 2014 and his couture 2022 collection was made entirely from deadstock materials.
For her 15th anniversary collection, Iris Van Herpen worked her otherworldly, digital-friendly designs in eco fabrics: a Grecian draped silk dress using a biodegradable fabric made from banana leaf here, a brown rippling mini made from a 3D-printed fibre based on the shells of cocoa beans there. Ultimately, couture is about exclusivity; and what could be more exclusive than a one-off upcycled planet-friendly princess dress?
Who’s who
Call it the year everyone got involved. Usually celebs are just spotted front row but this season the set touching down in Paris made sure not to waste their jets. Kim Kardashian, walked in Balenciaga’s star-studded show to the cheers of her daughter North West. So too did Dua Lipa, who paraded the white carpeted salon in a yellow mini dress with huge ribbon train, alongside Nicole Kidman, Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell, and Selling Sunset’s Christine Quinn.
Idris Elba’s wife Sabrina opened the show for Tony Ward, influencer Leonie Hanne walked for Georges Hobeika and closed for Celia Kritharioti, and supermodel Kristen McMenamy made a sure spectacle at Jean Paul Gaultier as she snogged the designer during her walk, bowed to him, and proceeded to fall head over her white platform boots-cum-trousers. Ouch.
Read more about all the celebrities at Paris Couture week here.
Future-proofing couture
The history of couture is in the handiwork. For your Charles Worth’s and Christian Dior’s, the devil was in the painstaking, embroidered detail. For 2022, does that cut it? A handful of designers are set on future-proofing the art form, which dates back to 1858, and prepping it for the brave new world of Web3. New York-based house Threeasfour chose to present an entirely digital collection, including white, cell-like structures on extraterrestrial bodies.
Digital couture reaches “a whole other level of intricacy, luxury, fantasy and magic,” say founders Gabi Asfour and Adi Gil, whose collection will soon be available to all on NFT fashion marketplace DressX. “The metaverse is the place where you can be whomever you always wanted,” they say, and the place to make elite fashion “attainable and affordable”. Iris Van Herpen, whose alien-esque, sculptural masterpieces are first developed using 3D renderings, also made haute digital the focus for her Meta Morphism collection.
Tin foil fancy
Paris’ creatives seem sure that silver lamé looks are the next big thing. Nicole Kidman led the way in her gleaming mercury shade frock at Balenciaga, but was quickly topped at Jean Paul Gaultier as Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing sent out a model in a tin of beans. Ok, it was actually based on the metallic cans you get your JPG perfumes in, and was crafted into a cinch waist strapless dress complete with a metal feather skirt and kinky O-ring can collar (which Kim K tested on the F’row). The versatility!
Alexandre Vauthier opted for chainmail effect with his silver sequin cape dress, while Giambattista Valli offset his metallic column frocks with pluming pink feathers. A shiny new look, straight out the can.
