(Paris) The Spanish designer Juana Martín paid homage to Pablo Picasso on Thursday, with a haute couture collection with unstructured volumes and cubist shapes.
Called “les Fauves”, this collection “is a bit of a tribute to those who claim non-conformism,” the designer told AFP, backstage at the show.
The first Spaniard to be invited to the Parisian Haute Couture week, she remained faithful to her palette: black, white and silver.
Her brother, Manuel, made small sculptures in painted plaster embroidered on dresses and reminiscent of paintings, including Guernica, as the year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s death.
“We pushed the volume to the extreme, to the point of distorting it,” explained Juana Martin.
The bullfighter’s costume is thus transformed into a suit, with shoulder pads that grow to the wrists and become two large faces embroidered with black thread.
The model’s face is also transformed into paint, with a black line cutting through the profile, as in a cubist work.
Another outfit in pristine white recreates a religious halo composed of faces from Guernica, evoking the headdress popularized by artist Frida Kahlo.
“I used silk, crepe, wool, […] very noble fabrics… And also a lot of recycled fabrics” described Juana Martin.
Material was also discussed at Aelis, where designer Sofia Crociani recycled tutus from the Paris Opera for her collection evoking the white ball of the dandelion.
In his collection rich in colors inspired by the Russian painter Paul Chmaroff, known for his qualities as a colorist, the Cameroonian fashion designer Imane Ayissi for his part mainly used natural fibers: linen associated with silk or bamboo viscose.
“Today, no aesthetic research can do without questioning its environmental impact,” argued the designer in the parade note.
