Equestrian styles dominated two major collections on day six of Paris fashion week, with horse-riding vestments — some comfortably elegant, some constrictingly racy — the motif explored by Hermes and Givenchy.
The gaucho or Argentine cowboy inspired a cool and confident mix of clothes at the Hermes show, set in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in the heart of Paris’ Saint Germain area. The location seemed to have rubbed off on the collection, with a graceful Left Bank chic softening the edge of ponchos, chaps and coats held like matador’s capes.
Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, meanwhile, turned on the horsepower for a pulse-quickening show complete with retro variations on jodphurs, riding jackets and racing boots.
In other collections, French designer Alexis Mabille revamped the school-girl bow ribbon, and Akris channelled the square silhouette — one of the defining looks this season.
Monday’s ready-to-wear shows include Chloe and Yves Saint Laurent.
Fashion delved into past times for inspiration Saturday, conjuring up nostalgic ready-to-wear collections that journeyed back years to the structured gilding of the Restoration and the high collars of the 19th century via a splash of punk.British fashion icon Vivienne Westwood, whose collection showcased some four centuries of English dressing, said that fashion “builds on the styles of the past in order to move forward.”
But since fashion is a commercially minded industry, could imagining different times just be a way of escape from the present financial woes?
Danish design duo Viktor & Rolf looked at the moon in a strong Victorian-tinged homage to nighttime sensuality with lavish, high-collared furs.
Paris’ enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier, meanwhile, gave a polished offering that revisited the 1980s with a typical array of tongue-in-cheek humor.
Sunday, day 6 of the Paris ready-to-wear calendar, will include shows by Hermes and Givenchy.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD “London,” the title of Vivienne Westwood’s costume-design inspired fall-winter collection, had it all: Elizabethan corsets, Sherlock Holmes tweed, scholars gowns and even a model cycling down the catwalk.
With such dizzying allusions it’s hard to know where to start in describing the rebellious ready-to-wear show. It was said to channel 17th century Britain but saw models stomping around some 400 years of fashion history – all in contemporary black moon boots.
The highly structured silhouettes included some rigid corset bustiers that recalled the embellished crinoline of the Restoration epoch.
Rectangles were also a motif, in small peplum lapels or as a flat patterned square Beefeater dress, whose shape resembled that of the poster boys that stand in London’s Leicester Square.
At times, there was an element of couture-meets-school-play as draped silks sported rough edges or theatrical embroidered beading.
If the show were a play, it would probably have been a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery with several tweed looks channeling the fashion of the fictional 19th century detective, in deconstructed coats with a flat cap.
When quizzed backstage, the 70-year-old designer, who often makes political statements in her work, said she looked to the past to get away from the current “terrible, crashing times.”
It’s an artistic escapism that many designers say they’ve taken up this fall be it in Paris, London, New York or Milan. But of all of them, Westwood has had the most fun: the fashion crowd giggled when a model nearly crashed riding a bike in 10-centimeter platforms.
Westwood quipped that she loves “to put women on a pedestal.”