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FASHION

Fairy-tale looks from Valentino, Elie Saab at Paris shows

Feathers met tutus in a ballet-themed show by Jean Paul Gaultier on the final full day of the fall-winter haute couture collections in Paris on Wednesday.

Inspired by the film “Black Swan”, Gaultier’s avian creations doubled as a prelude to the post-show launch of Kokorico, a musky men’s fragrance, down the Rue Saint Martin from his atelier in central Paris.

Highlights included a glittering black sheath gown with wing-like burgundy gloves, a long kaleidoscopic bustier dress with billowing hem, and a dramatically volominous scarlet leather trench coat with fur collar.

One of Gauthier’s model muses from the 1990s, Quebec-born Eve Salvail, instantly recognisable with her tattooed shaven scalp, returned to the runway in a “3D corset” that spilled snow-white silk from the bosom.

“I just walked for Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Show in Paris, after 15 Years of not modeling!!! It was exhilarating!!!!” exclaimed Salvail, now a New York-based DJ, on her Twitter account.

Spanish luxury goods group Puig took over Hermes’ majority stake Gaultier’s successful house in May, but the renegade designer — subject of a major retrospective in Montreal this summer — remains its creative director.

Earlier on Wednesday, fairy-tale femininity held forth as Valentino and Elie Saab both introduced elegant refined looks fit for a princess.

Breaking from the sharp-edged modernism seen the day before from the likes of Giorgio Armani and Stephane Rolland, both houses offered their most exclusive clients the most finely crafted examples of high fashion.

For Valentino, designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli kept the cutting simple for Cinderella-like dresses, gowns and coats that required hundreds of hours of embroidery and weaving.

Danish top model Freja Beha Erichsen floated down the runway at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in fine Chantilly lace with golden detailing. Other etheral looks included a black Cossack coat embroidered with gold sequins.

Front-row VIPs included American actresses Anne Hathaway and Amanda Peet.

At the Palais de Chaillot, Lebanese-born Saab stayed true to the classical lines that have made him a consistent favourite of red-carpet habitues from Hollywood to the Gulf.

There was a something of a 1920s glamour to his 41 looks — all dresses, apart from a couple of lace miniskirts — in tulle, chiffon and lace in shades of aquamarine, blush, blue and bronze.

Swarovsky crystals added sparkle to many of the outfits, and Saab clearly enjoyed playing with all kinds of options for bared backs that lent a discreet sense of drama to otherwise angelic silhouettes.

Notable among the front-row celebrities was Russian model and actress Anna Sherbinina, who turned up early with a most peculiar date — a doll dressed in Elie Saab style.

More VIPs were awaited for the evening launch of Saab’s first perfume, produced in partnership with Shiseido unit Beaute Prestige International, for sale in the United States, some European markets and Lebanon this month.

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FASHION

Paris exhibition celebrates 100 years of French Vogue

A new exhibition in Paris will tell the story of 100 years of French Vogue - from the post-war 'New Look' of Christian Dior through the sexual liberation of the 1960s to the dangling-cigarette waifs of the 2000s.

French Vogue celebrates 100 years
French Vogue celebrates 100 years. Photo: Thomas Olva/AFP

But as well as celebrating the magazine’s storied history, the exhibit comes at a time of turbulence for the publication.

Just last month, it was confirmed that its editor of 10 years, Emmanuelle Alt, was out and wouldn’t be replaced.

She was not alone.

Looking to cut costs, owner Conde Nast International has axed editors across Europe over the past year, and put international Vogue editions under the direct control of global editorial director, Anna Wintour, in New York.

New York-based Anna Wintour now has overall control of French Vogue. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Like much of the media industry, Vogue is struggling with tumbling sales and ad revenue in the digital era.

But the latest twist is also part of the endless push and pull between New York and Paris going back to its early days.

“The whole history of French Vogue is one of back-and-forth with Conde Nast in New York – growing more independent for a while, then being reined back in,” said Sylvie Lecallier, curator of the new exhibition, “Vogue Paris 1920-2020″, which opened this weekend after a year’s delay due to the pandemic.

The Paris edition was often the loftier, more bohemian sibling to its more hard-nosed New York version.

But it was also the hotbed in which much of 20th century style and womenhood came to be defined.

“Paris was the place to hunt out talent and content and bring it to New York,” said Lecallier.

The exhibition charts the evolution from art deco drawings of the 1920s through the erotic image-making of photographers like Helmut Newton in the 1960s and 1970s.

Its last peak was under editor Carine Roitfeld in the 2000s, who brought back a provocative Gallic identity by ridding the newsroom of foreign staff and becoming a fashion icon in her own right.

Her successor, Alt, was a quieter presence, though she still oversaw key moments including its first transgender cover star, Brazilian Valentina Sampaio, in 2017.

But internet culture has created “a perfect storm” for Vogue, says media expert Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis.

“The first 80 years of Vogue’s life, it had the market to itself, it was the bible for fashion,” McCabe told AFP.

“But online today, there are so many other ways to get your information. Influencers, Instagram, YouTube — everyone’s a threat.”

In a world where new fashion trends can blow up around the world in seconds, it has become much harder for a monthly magazine to set the pace.

“It’s not that they can’t survive for another 100 years — but they will be differently sized,” McCabe said.

Vogue has tried to branch out into different areas, including events.

“I used to work for a magazine, and today I work for a brand,” Alt said on the eve of French Vogue’s 1,000th issue in 2019.

But the big money was always in print, and Vogue Paris sales are dropping steadily from 98,345 in 2017 to 81,962 to 2020, according to data site ACPM.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the new top job in Paris, redefined as “head of editorial content”, went to Eugenie Trochu, who was key to building the magazine’s online presence.

She declared herself “thrilled to be part of Vogue’s international transformation”.

For the curator of the exhibition, it is ironic timing.

“We had no idea it would end like this when we started work on the exhibition,” said Lecallier.

“Who knows where it will go from here.”

The exhibition Vogue Paris 1920-2020 is at the Palais Galliera in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. The gallery is open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Tickets for the exhibition are €14 (€12 for concessions and under 18s go free) and must be reserved online in advance. 

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