Dior Chanel rebel women at Paris Fashion Week
PARIS (AP) — After Milan, global fashion’s spotlight shifted Tuesday to the final stretch of ready-to-wear shows in Paris, as the industry looks to the future with all the final fall trends.
But exhibitions in the French capital will also revisit the past this week, with tributes to the late designers Vivienne Westwood and Paco Rabanne.
Here are some highlights from Tuesday’s Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection with Dior:
Dior’s rebels
A surreal world awaits Dior guests inside the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
An installation suggests a multicolored giant octopus spanning the length and breadth of the circular runway, its fabric tentacles twinkling with thousands of tiny lights. It is the work of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, who sought to explore how organic form interacts with the “feminine realm of artistic savoir-faire”. It made for a spectacular backdrop, especially with paparazzi flashing guests including actresses Charlize Theron and Maisie Williams, model Ellie McPherson and K-pop star Jisoo.
If the decor seemed futuristic, the fabric used the past as a touchstone, resulting in less exuberance but plenty of flair.
Three women — Catherine Dior, sister of the house’s founder, a hero of the French Resistance, as well as French singers Edith Piaf and Juliette Greco, each described as “rebellious, simultaneously strong and fragile” — were the muse for the collection. It channels the 1950s, Christian Dior’s heyday.
A faded black leather menswear coat, crumpled houndstooth skirt and wrinkled wool socks exuded a vintage air. Elsewhere, sweaters and skirts created extra volume at the shoulders or hips with thick post-war fabrics. Stand out pieces included a black textured skirt hung heavily with thousands of embellished flowers that cut a subtle androgynous figure under a white shirt and tie. A bright metallic thread is sewn into the rich fabric, revealing the craftsmanship of Dior’s atelier.
Mame Kuroguchi, Past and Future
Mame Kuroguchi’s Japanese ready-to-wear brand delves deep into the past and present, blending traditional dressmaking with new technology.
It was on full display in the minimalist tech of the fall of the ’80s – as far as a decade that exuberant minimalism could be.
A gray pantsuit with crisp clean lines had a futuristic feel with a diagonal dynamic. A black scarf that clung to the neck like a hand and pulled to the shoulders, complemented a black space age fanny pack that revealed a cummerbund.
A pared down color palette created a sanitized feel that worked well with the ’80s references — wide, flat apron silhouettes, hoods and densely textured top-heavy ensembles.
VAQUERA turns on her kink
“Naughty Dress” read an emblazoned T-shirt in Vaquera’s rather sassy collection. Although the look was the least kinky in a show that was otherwise full of inches of flesh, studded chokers, bare torsos, a piece in bonding gear. The pieces were 90s grunge and denim jeans.
It was the sophomore show in Paris for designers Patrick DiCaprio and Brian Taubensi, who shot to fame six years ago in New York with their iconic US flag gowns. After a more commercial season last year, the talented duo is back to their daring antics.
The black-heavy, concise 12-look display began with a masked headpiece and a patch on one breast of a nude female torso. The other breast was covered by the model’s gloved hand. It would be a tough look to wear on the street, but it got guests’ cameras snapping. Next, a black cotton top made with numerous pieces for volume – and edge. A skirt was deconstructed into flaps to evoke a bondage dress, worn alongside a thermal hat of woolen tech over a bondage mask.
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