Dear reader,
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Welcome to our fashion week briefing, compiled with on-the-ground insights from Vogue Business and Vogue Runway editors that you won’t find anywhere else.\xa0
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After a record 108 shows and presentations this season, including Louis Vuitton’s 4,000-guest mega-show celebrating 10 years of creative director Nicolas Ghesquière (with a number of Louis Vuitton collaborators attending the occasion) and Saint Laurent’s 100-guest intimate menswear show closing the curtain on Paris Fashion Week, plus much-anticipated debuts atAlexander McQueen, Chloé and Lacoste,Paris Fashion Week has wrapped.\xa0
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Now, it’s time to digest.
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The key themes of this season? Designers are backpedalling away from quiet luxury and refocusing on their DNA.\xa0
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“Whether it’s the result of the world’s uncertainties, or the end of big fashion cycles — streetwear or quiet luxury — [brands returning to their heritage] was visible across the board,” says Anouck Duranteau-Loeper, CEO of Isabel Marant and president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode Féminine.\xa0
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Chloéwas a case in point, and “[Chemena Kamali’s] celebratory finale pinpointed a mood shift,” says Rickie De Sole, women’s fashion director at Nordstrom. “The playful colour palettes at Miu Miu and Dries Van Noten offer the perfect bridge to mix the last few seasons’ darker, sombre colours with vibrant and pastel tones again,” De Sole added. Meanwhile, Isabel Marant toldVogue Runway’s Mark Holgate: “We do unquiet luxury.”
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At Chanel, creative director Virginie Viard paid tribute to the very origins of the house, namely the resort town of Deauville, where Gabrielle Chanel opened her boutique in 1912. For the collection, the house recreated the Deauville boardwalk with models wearing wide-brimmed hats as if they strolled along the beach.
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Balenciaga creative director Demna “got his mojo back”, asVogue Runway’s Sarah Mower put it, — and referenced Cristóbal Balenciaga along the way. Backstage, he said: “I started with Cristóbal. That dress really is a direct reference to a black-and-white picture of his dress from the sixties... And then there is this evolution of the Cristóbal silhouette and my aesthetic; it’s been 10 years this year since I started, and this show has to represent me and my style.”
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At Schiaparelli, creative director Daniel Roseberry fused the house’s “founder’s beloved iconographies (the anatomy, the measuring tape, the keyhole) and [my] beloved Americanisms (fringe, buckles, and denim),” the designer wrote in the show notes.We shadowed him during the fittings.
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In the face of adversity, Paris’s young designers are carving a path. Emerging brands drew a lot of attention this season. Editors turned up en masse to the shows of Duran Lantink, Marie Adam-Leenaerdt and Zomer, alongside burgeoning labels like Rokh andOttolinger.\xa0\xa0
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Sophie Brocart, Patou CEO and LVMH Prize mentor, says: “There is a growing public interest and support towards the emerging designers, and we see itwith the success of the LVMH Prize, but on the other side, the wholesale channel these designers need to sell to develop their business is in turmoil and cannot support the newcomers as much as before.”
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A famous LVMH Prize alumnus, Simon Porte Jacquemus, received the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on 2 March from the hands of Anna Wintour. In his speech, he thanked the press for their kindness towards him over the years and encouraged editors to do the same with the younger generation: “Look at the young people, go to their fashion shows, tell them it’s great, they need it, be patient, give them time to grow, but be there,” he told the audience, which included Delphine Arnault, Laetitia Casta and Carine Roitfeld.\xa0
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We also unpacked the trend of the season, starting with countrycore. Think clashing plaids at Rabanne and graphics of country scenes at Loewe.By the way, thebrand’s tongue-in-cheek TikTok is a lesson in how luxury players can communicate with Gen Z.
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There were also plenty of chunky knitwear pieces. “Textured knitwear offered a sense of cosy and unexpected creativity on the runways — from Stella McCartney’s slouchy loop knits to McQueen’s exaggerated neck knits, to Sacai’s coherence green knit jacket. Fall’s knits are anything but classic,” De Sole noted.
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Above everything else, Paris demonstrated once again its leadership this season. Asked if there are any risks or limits to this position, Pascal Morand, executive president of Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode said: “The biggest danger would be to rest on our laurels.”\xa0
Thanks for reading.
