The Top 10 Moments of Paris Fashion Week
Two Designers Made a Splash in Paris
Gifts are often left on front row seats at fashion shows for guests. Rarely, however, are they placed on every seat. And they are never black hooded plastic rain ponchos, with the name of a designer across the back.
Such was the case at Rick Owens on Thursday evening. For his eerie, water-soaked show at the Palais du Tokyo, overlooking the banks of the Seine, models dressed in strange silhouettes that resembled alien cocoons and took a trip through fountain mists. The seated audience, bedecked in their ponchos, looked like they were taking a different kind of ride: a high fashion log flume, perhaps, as they were showered from on high.
Five days later, inside the Grand Palais, the elements emerged again, this time at Chanel. Karl Lagerfeld had commissioned a giant replica of the Verdon Gorge in the south of France, which took two months to construct and had six waterfalls, all rushing into a gully below the catwalk. The aquatic theme then continued with the collection, a playful 89-look procession of vinyl rain gear. But even imported Mother Nature can have her unpredictable way; half a dozen hats were blown off models’ heads by the sheer force of the cascades. Nevertheless, waterproofing has rarely looked so chic. — ELIZABETH PATON, European correspondent, Styles
Saint Laurent Had the Venue to End All Venues
A brand’s power and success can often be revealed in its choice of space, and Saint Laurent was a case in point. The French brand, now designed by Anthony Vaccarello, opened up Paris Fashion Week in the most beautiful place imaginable: at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Showgoers sat on a set at the base of the Trocadero, and as models emerged, the Eiffel Tower glittered as if on cue. With such an impressive backdrop, the fashion needed to be powerful, and it was. For the show’s finale, couture-like feather and leather gowns came down the runway, one more beautiful than the next. — MALINA JOSEPH GILCHRIST, style director, women’s, T magazine
A Model’s Progress
In a season in which casting directors appeared at last to be inching toward diversity and inclusivity on the runway — with leaps and bounds still to go — I was most struck by the omnipresence of the beautiful redhead Teddy Quinlivan. She’s been a familiar face for several seasons, but during this one, midway during New York Fashion Week, she came out as transgender. And in a rare cheering moment, the reaction was first celebratory (it was a brave revelation) and then resolutely normal.
Then she resumed her career without incident and swept the shows in Paris — Dior, Dries, Margiela, Chloé, Paco Rabanne, Haider Ackermann, Sacai, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton — not as a token or an example, just another woman with a great look and sixth sense about how to mow down a catwalk. Sometimes, progress comes with a shout. Other times, no less worthy, with a shrug. — MATTHEW SCHNEIER, deputy fashion critic and reporter, Styles
There Were Some Particularly Special Sites
One of the characteristics of shows in Paris is the way they exploit (and reveal) fashion’s relationship to the city. Designers here don’t opt for soulless white boxes but instead race to outdo each other in access to the coolest, rarest, most insider venues. This season, there were shows in the Invalides (Napoleon’s Tomb), the Louvre, the Musée Picasso, the Musée Rodin and the gilt environs of City Hall (to name a few). It was like Fodor’s, but with better clothes.
Even in such vaunted company, however, two spaces stood out, in part because they aren’t included in any tourist handbook. The first was the Palais de Justice, the complex that houses the French equivalent of the supreme court, where Clare Waight Keller’s debut for Givenchy was held; the second the Russian embassy, where Comme des Garçons unveiled its collection. Neither institution had ever hosted a fashion show before, so it was everyone’s first time. — VANESSA FRIEDMAN, fashion director, Styles
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