SHARE
COPY LINK

FASHION

See-through clothes and bad taste: Paris fashion week hits

As a hugely eventful Paris fashion week -- overshadowed by the robbery of $10 million of Kim Kardashian's jewellery -- comes to an end on Wednesday, here is a summary sum up on the big catwalk trends.

See-through clothes and bad taste: Paris fashion week hits
A model presents a creation by Stella McCartney in Paris. Photo: AFP
Shiny happy people
   
OK, models do not smile, or almost never do. But Paris catwalks have been shimmering with all that glitters. Shiny vinyl fabrics made a striking comeback, from jackets and skirts to tight 1980s-inspired off the shoulder tops at Mugler, Kenzo and beyond. And on Wednesday Louis Vuitton's Nicolas Ghesquiere followed Dior and Lanvin to give his rock-lux look a gold and silver gleam.
 
A model presents a creation for Kenzo in Paris. 
 
Get your underwear out
   
Remember to check your underwear before you go out next summer. Because that is what people will be seeing. Fashion has never been quite so transparent. Rare were designers who didn't include at least one or two see-through dresses or tops in their Paris collections.
   
And the vast majority of sheer black tops and “Belle de Jour” tulle dresses were worn without bras on the catwalk.
   
But the strongest underwear to outerwear trend was the almost universal profusion of lingerie dresses, reaching even the heights of Chanel, where they ran through almost the entire collection.
  
Lanvin and Agnes b added another layer with their silky pyjama suits, as if to say, “It's summer, why get dressed at all…”
 
A model presents a creation for John Galliano.
 
Bad taste is in
   
In a week in which she has lost much of her bling, Kim Kardashian can at least take comfort from the fact that Paris designers seem to embracing something of her sense of style.
   
Saint Laurent's Vaccarello admitted he was flirting with a bit of flashy “bad taste” — stilettos with the letters YSL forming the heels and mono-boob dresses for women who like to make entrances and headlines.
   
Kardashian is a big supporter Vetements' Demna Gvasalia — who questions the idea of classic, tasteful style — and she was wearing his Balenciaga designs the night she was robbed.
  
Dior unashamedly slapped its “J'adore Dior” slogan on shoulder straps and belts and even the straps of its sandals (that buyers reckon will be a big seller). And Chanel matched its baseball caps with chunky rapper bling diamond jewellery. Nothing tacky mind.
   
Kanye West could do worse if he wants to put the glint back in his wife's eye.
 
 
Empires strikes back 
 
Paris has always been the capital of chic, but for the past few seasons it has also been ground zero of cool. A band of young rebel iconoclastic labels led by Gvasalia's Vetements, Y Project, Jacquemus and Koche have shaken up the old order with Young Turks also taking over a handful of old houses from Nina Ricci to Paco Rabanne.
   
But this week the establishment struck back, hogging the headlines with new creative directors at Dior, Saint Laurent, Lanvin and Leonard. While neither Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior nor Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent are revolutionaries, there is a edgy energy in their spring-summer collections that promises the old stagers could surprise us yet.
 
 
A model presents a creation for Lanvin.   
 
In the pink
   
Some parents of young girls may be running a campaign claiming it “stinks” yet pink was in full blush on the runways. Chanel, Valentino and Nina Ricci gloried in its iridescence while pale ivory pinks ran through the strong trend for lingerie dresses. Celine, oft-copied in high street stores, was not afraid to use it either, cutting its edgy oversized feel with two toga dresses.
   
The summer's other big stand-out colour — and here's something to tweet about — is canary yellow. Just remember your sunglasses for health and safety.
 
A model presents a creation by Céline.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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. 

SHOW COMMENTS