Cathy Horyn is the overall fashion critic for The Cut. Before joining The Cut in 2015, she was a fashion critic for The New York Times (the second person to hold the title) from 1999 to 2014.
Photo-Illustration: El Corte; Photos: Getty Images
If you’re going to announce your return to Paris Fashion Week after a two-year absence, who do you call? Well, Brienne of Tarth, of course. To say that Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie loomed over Thom Browne’s runway at the stately Opera Garnier is an understatement. The actress’s six feet three inches, along with a tent-sized robe of couture silks embroidered in gold, wowed the audience. I would have given anything to see the face of Janet Jackson, the pop star front and center, but I was too busy laughing at Christie’s parody of fairytale glamour.
This has been a completely ridiculous season of Paris, in the best and worst sense. And it’s not over yet: the spring-2023 collections end today with Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu. But, to recap, we’ve seen Demna’s mud show and the dubious delights of Coperni’s spray dress. Just think: one day, she might be able to get her tan and her party attire at a salon near her deli. It is not an impossible dream, as this week has made unexpectedly clear.
There is a great desire among designers to take advantage of change, to be more open, more creative and happier. In fact, the gap between those who took advantage of the post-pandemic moment and those who sputtered clueless (Valentino, Givenchy and Chloé, to name just three) is considerable.
Thom Browne.
Photo: Getty Images
Browne has made clever presentations in the past, like the movie he shot in Utah with Lindsey Vonn skiing in his clothes while the rest of his collection is silhouetted against the snow. But despite Browne’s clever takes on strict sartorial elegance and her dachshund bags, she’s never exactly let her hair down. Monday’s show saw Browne scamper, with Christie’s help, through the Cinderella story and then jump into an American prom and country club segment, complete with pastel polka dot suits and coats, and full skirts. in bright red or green and tight sweaters (and Olivia Newton-John on speakers), before crossing over into punk.
So the corset was loosened and we burst out laughing. That was the change in Browne, not so much with his aesthetic. The show also evoked a rite of passage for me: leaving home. Near the end, a group of men held up a make-believe convertible that a model pretended to drive down the runway. However, it was not an American Graffiti moment. It was Paris, and she was heading towards Christie and a group of dancers in her super fabulous clothes, towards a new life.
Hermes.
Photo: Getty Images
Hermès took the sexy train for spring. Hermes? Unless whips and riding boots are your thing, you wouldn’t normally think of Birkin House for body-skimming sheer dresses drenched in the sunset colors of the Mediterranean. But his female designer, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, is claustrophobic, like everyone else. Or as she put it: “I really wanted to celebrate going back outside and feel the wind, the heat and the sweat on my skin.” Vanhee-Cybulski was based on an image of hiking in a desert, hence the understated use of hiking materials like laces and eyelets (as details on the pants) and the giant pile of sand in the middle of her set. The semi-transparent dresses, some with zippers that could be partially opened, showed off her skills in a fresh way. Other designers would probably show off multiple variations of a two-piece black leather dress with a lace-up set over a bare midriff. Vanhee-Cybulski did it once and let it burn among the separate horse-print garments and scarves.
Stella McCartney.
Photo: Getty Images
Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Koons were in the audience at Stella McCartney, on the cobblestones in front of the Center Pompidou. Some of her baggy pantsuits and blazers, chain-bib tank tops, and worn with skinny pants and jumpsuits were reminiscent of earlier collections, but I bet the clothes are better made now. They looked like it, anyway. This was a smart, no-frills Stella collection, full of color and aimed at a woman more interested in visual sharpness and cool English flair than trends.
Sacai.
Photo: Courtesy of Sacai
Another designer whose clothing struck a fresh chord is Chitose Abe. Sacai’s collections of him often leave me cold; shapes may seem unnecessarily complicated. But I loved its initial barrage of black jackets (with open sleeves in the style of early Comme des Garçons) over pristine white cotton shirts with billowy sleeves and miniskirts or skinny trousers with pleated, flared hems. Military-inspired separates, like a pleated sleeveless top with matching pants or a khaki military jacket with cut-out shoulders, struck a balance between masculine function and feminine cool.
Theyskens.
Photo: Courtesy of Theyskens
“We want to do things the best way we can,” said Olivier Theyskens on the patio of his studio, where he presented his extraordinary collection of handmade dresses in faded mosaics of lamé and chiffon. “And we do it how we want. If there is something that does not look right, we correct it. We don’t think clothes have a place anywhere.”
Theyskens’ refusal to fight for “position” in an industry that once celebrated him—in Rochas and Nina Ricci—is refreshing. Six people made the patch dresses, from bias-cut strips of fabric that were reassembled, stained, or treated, then worked directly into the body, patterns, and colors to produce the most effective results. They bring to mind stained glass windows, in tonality and delicacy. Theyskens also created gorgeous black leather with appliqués of small pieces of irregularly cut leather, and a new type of patchwork dress, with a seam wrapped around the body. “I made a wedding dress for someone with that technique,” he told me. “It’s a way to evolve.”
Ye brought his brand to the Paris shows on Monday night. His brand is Yeezy, of course, but it’s also mayhem, Sunday choir music, provocation, complaints turning into self-promotion, and the ability to trap editors and writers against his better judgment. Although the collection has taken place in the last two months, according to Shayne Oliver, who worked with the Yeezy studio, the show was promoted as a “secret” event. Call it an interruption.
The truth is that most people involved in the industry are curious about a possible development. They go with faith. But for all his visual skills and obviously good instincts, Ye should have done better, on all fronts. She kept the audience there for two hours. Anna Wintour left after an hour, apparently for another engagement, as did John Galliano. Before showing off any clothes, Ye, wearing a T-shirt that read “White Lives Matter” (he later had no explanation why he wore it), performed a five-minute monologue about why he feels he doesn’t get enough respect. of the industry and that he is “the leader”.
And when the many bald models finally appeared, you could barely see the puffy jackets and cropped knit dresses. There was no runway lighting. Still, the clothes looked pretty much like Yeezy’s past, which made me want to see more from Oliver, one of the founders of Hood by Air.
As one guest rightly said, if you’re going to host an outage, it helps to make your stuff visible.
We are not quite at the end of this peculiar season. However, I am giving Seinfeld the last word. He and his wife, Jessica, went out Monday night with some friends at a small comedy club here. He was invited on stage for an impromptu session.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he said. “No need. I’m not changing. I’m fine in America. I came here for Fashion Week.” She glanced over. “You don’t need a whole week.”
Source: news.google.com