Fashion editors snapped their cameras Friday at Paris Fashion Week as giant leather pumpkins were placed on a brown “soil” carpet.
This bizarre scene was Jonathan Anderson’s creation. It was the prelude to Loewe’s surreal and thought-provoking collection, one of the best this season.
These are some highlights from ready-to-wear shows for fall-winter 2022. They also include how large fashion companies have started to support those who were caught up in the conflict in Ukraine.
LOEWE LIVES TO APPLAUSE
It is possible that kink and quirk would have a lovechild, much like Loewe’s Friday morning runway show.
Anderson, a Northern Irish designer aged 37, presented a fashion encyclopedia filled with surreal and creative looks to the VIP audience in front of Anthea Hamilton’s massive marrow installation.
Along with balloon bras, balloon bras, lip breastplates and molded felt bustiers, there were also fetishistic black dresses. Silver-frothed boots One series of dresses featured the most unique hem in Paris: A car.
It was almost impossible to describe the moment.
The collection was fun and playful, with contrasting textures, colors, styles, and shapes. It didn’t fall into any distasteful pastiche.
It received roaring applause, a sign of good things to come for the house’s direction that has been refocused in recent years.
VTMNTS IS COOL
VTMNTS, or Vetements as it is known by the It-brand VTMNTS (or Vetements) refers to fall and winter in French. The coat is the main focus of the Zurich-based fashion house’s entire collection. It serves as both an art piece and a practical way to keep warm in low temperatures.
Guram Gvasalia, the younger brother to Balenciaga’s creative Director Demna Gvasalia, designed most of the Balenciaga designs. This house is known for creating looks that can be taken directly from the street. These look like East London streets: truncated black puffers with double breasted jackets, half-denim, half–leather jackets, and half-leather jackets.
Pair regular dark vanilla double-breasted jacket with regular jeans and black shoes. The look was considered high fashion by the use of black gloves and a polo collar. Similar subtleties were also at work elsewhere: Below a double-breasted jacket, sheeny baggy royal blue pants had a slit down its leg, revealing a small silver space boot.
UKRAINE
Initial radio silence was observed by big luxury brands about Ukraine, despite vociferous demands from Ukrainian fashion designers, buyers, and Tsum Kyiv department stores to cease trading with Russia.
Balenciaga, Gucci and Kering own Gucci both responded to the crisis by expressing solidarity with the Ukrainians. Balenciaga stated that it had donated an unnamed amount to the United Nations via its World Food Program prior to its Sunday show. It stated that it would “open our platforms in the coming days to report on and relay information about the situation in Ukraine.”
Gucci claimed that it donated $500,000 to UN Refugee Agency for Ukraine. The brand’s parent company went on Instagram to disclose that the company had given unspecified amounts of money to UNHCR. Kering said, “We hope for peace in this conflict.”
Burberry also donated to British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal. OTB Group, which is the owner of Maison Margiela, recently announced that it had donated to UNHCR.
BLACK IS BACK
It seems like fall-winter is seeing a return to the smallest of colors — but is it actually a color?
One thing is certain: Black will be back on Paris’ runway.
Rihanna set the tone for Tuesday’s Dior show as she walked in a black babydoll gown and made her way to the front row. Maria Grazia Chiuri then responded with a collection that heavily relied on black.
There were Saint Laurent’s elegant black dresses, Isabel Marant’s black stripper boots and Balmain’s protective black warrior looks. Friday’s Loewe Show featured a kinky LBD.
Black is a key trend to keep an eye on this season.
ISSEY MIYAKE’S SED
This fall, the Japanese house known for its techno-fabrics took inspiration from the vegetable patch with a series gowns that evoked germinating seeds.
It was sporadic — let’s just call it patchy.
The best looks capture the moment when a seed twists as it rises to life. Literally. Issey Myake used spring technology and a fine knit.
The bustier was a shoulderless, loosely ribbed bustier that was whirled into a black full-length skirt. This gave the silhouette a refined look and was topped off with soft black boot-pumps. On a monochrome black torso, the stylish ribbing was repeated again.
There were occasions when the theme of plants was too strong. Perhaps a thrice-spliced look that evokes a pea pod, dyed using an artisanal Kyoto tie-dying technique called shiborizome, would have been more effective if it had not been created in plant green.
