Agnès B. Fall-Winter 2017

With such a the monumental venue, expectations were already high. Les Invalides is most known as the final resting place of Napoleon. Having a fashion show at such a decadent building, a symbol of France, is both forward and audacious.

War and Fleece

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With that in mind, approaching the venue for the show was a bit puzzling and made me curious of what (if any) the connection would be. Very shortly after the show started, it became apparent.

The collection was centered around long and drapey wartime silhouettes. But you could still feel the luxury. In the interwar period, women’s roles changed severely. Women had to step into the workforce to fill in the shoes of men who were away fighting the war. With pants not yet being the wardrobe norm for women, dresses in heavy fabrics were made to keep women warm and comfortable, with room to work. Old pleating techniques no longer in style were present on dresses and skirts, really recalling a vintage flavor of couture. The collection featured long hemlines, utility fabrics and more somber colors, grounded with a beautiful bold and matte red lip.

Women had to step into the workforce to fill in the shoes of men.

You had the occasional bright color in this portion of the collection, with a jewel-tone green surfacing, and look #2 had a hit of luxe in the elegant silk pants.

The presence of the models was felt through the heavy fabric in skirts and bottoms. It was all about utility, just as it was in the interwar period. Thick wool pants were brought into the new century through a modern silhouette edit, and the ladies were low on the ground with chic loafers and low boots. One personal favorite was the look in which the designer had sewn backpack straps into the jacket to carry easily and add mobility — perfect for expedience.

The Italian gangster suit pops up again here, as it did with AALTO, and makes me wonder if there’s something bigger brewing here.

The coquettish side of the interwar period also saw the light as well, with the small touch of knit cashmere gloves, a buttermilk windowpane skirt suit and an old classic — a velvet dress worn with an arm shawl, with the modern twist here being multiple high slits. It appeared very conventional and translatable.

Then the beat drops. And marching in comes a pair of leather pants and a velvet choker. Here a new girl emerges, bringing with her a city chic feeling infused with some London punk. (There was even a Boy George moment!) The collection catapulted forward about 60 years and carried on with cool bombers and neoprene two-piece suits. Despite an ugly fake fur and a geometric print halter top feeling out of place, the mod portion felt the most trend-affected.

There was even a Boy George moment.

The different sub-collections were hard to follow. Another beat change introduced a third portion. Some chevron pieces and a suede jacket showed a more ’70s vibe, along with a burnt orange baggy pant suit.

My favorite look was an adorable deep purple dress with an ombre effect on its lower hem and back. It looked like it was on fire, sort of how the evening sky looks after it clears from a long rainy day, and the sun is ready to set.

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agnès b.

With love,

FWO

Paul & Joe | Paris Fashion Week Fall 2017

Sophie Mechaly understands the individualistic young girl who shops Paul & Joe — she has a range of lifestyles, where not just one type of look will satisfy. From a casual get-together with friends to an elegant dinner out, she wants luxury, comfort and impeccable style.

The first look — a green corduroy two-piece suit — stuck us right in the ’90s, with a bit of a ’70s feel in shape and shag. The H-shapes in the collection felt reminiscent of Chloe staples.

She kept a few tenets of luxury chic from last season, but brought them more down to earth and onto the city streets, just as fashion has taken a turn to more lived-in looks. Look #11 paired a luxe pink velvet bell-bottomed suit with an oversized cozy knit, nailing the high-low approach. Even the hit of silk lapels added a fleeting moment of splendor.

High-Low Luxe

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Pearls were shown in high and low ways, too — on denim, handbags, and onto lace (younger than Ingie Paris, and easily adapted). We saw Nicholas Kirkwood and Givenchy adding pearls onto shoes last fall, and now Paul & Joe take pearls to the heart of the outfit equation. The pearl Canadian tuxedo is top of my list. J’adore.

Having Olivia Palermo in the crowd draws attention to the fact that Paul and Joe stresses good, clean silhouettes, and likes to have fun while doing it. The perfect example of this is my personal favorite, look #10, a wonderful deep-v magenta dress with flounce and feminine vibes. To me, it’s as though Maison Valentino and vintage YSL had a baby.

It’s as though Maison Valentino and vintage YSL had a baby.

Nothing in the collection was fussy or done in bad taste — and the Paul & Joe girl clearly loves a bit of fusion between pieces that look and feel luxurious, and others that are plainly comfortable and easy to throw on. Look #36 embodied this to the “T,” with the heavy, down, quilted coat layered on top of a velvet midi dress. I also loved the decadent velvet jumpsuit worn with velvet creepers, which showed a shabby but clean look, donned with a nonchalant expression. The few metallics, seasoned reds, and moldy greens seen throughout showed little care for color narrowness, but still presented a cohesive collection.

What an excellent end to another season here at Paris Fashion Week. Now that fashion month is over, we hang up our heels and prepare for the spring — through the weather and our wardrobes.

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www.paulandjoe.com

With love,

FWO

Veronique Branquinho Fall-Winter 2017

(Main image: NowFashion. Full pictures pending)

For Fall-Winter 2017, Veronique Branquinho saw to it that a man’s left-hand twill suit from 1943 was at the very center of the season’s collection.

She deconstructed — and reconstructed — the bare bones of what makes a suit, to reinvent it in a range I haven’t seen before. The first look was a seemingly traditional vest and jacket, with the subtraction of long pant legs — replaced by bermudas, no less. Being a fall collection, she added thick white stockings: the kind as little girls we were forced to wear to church on Easter Sunday.

She deconstructed what makes a suit.

Fables of the Deconstruction

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There were blazers redesigned to a cape and poncho, which really grapples with the reinvention question. A pant is a pant, and you can only change so much. But to reinvent the standard garments a woman wears is the difficult task every designer faces season after season. In that respect, the designer succeeded. She even took the same suiting fabric and deviated into overalls and an accordion skirt.

Something I have seen at many of the shows this week (including AALTO and Ingie Paris) is massive, voluminous sleeves. Here we see them with sleeve garters, to give them extra texture and character, and in a nod to 19th century men’s fashion.

The borderline morose facial expressions some models wore reassured me of the zombie-like, drab, punk schoolgirl vibe the clothes were intended to convey, as with the cowlicked hair we saw with Yohji Yamamoto last season.

There was a massive presence of Swarovski rhinestones, stuck overtop sheer shirts, that recalled a ballroom dancer’s costume. It gave a crazy, incomprehensible contrast to the borderline boyish punk/Victorian message everything else was suited up to convey.

In spite of some mixed messages, one standout corduroy oxblood suit in particular kicked ass and took names, showing that although deconstruction is in Branquinho’s vocabulary, construction is at the core of her talent.

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veroniquebranquinho.com

With love,

FWO

Ingie Paris Fall-Winter 2017

The gold moldings were everywhere, and grounded just a touch with a large assortment of candles on mantles. With windows looking down to Place Vendôme, I wouldn’t have minded staying in this room for days. And so began a story of elegant fall evenings and nights in this beautiful city of Paris, both cruel and loving.

Designer Ingie Chalhoub has always been at the forefront of high-end style, having brought the first-ever Chanel boutique to the Middle East in 1983, even as she continues to work alongside storied houses such as Chanel, Valentino, and Ralph Lauren.

A Night in Paris

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Her Fall-Winter ’17 collection brought out a number of beautiful designs, although looks #5 and #6 might have been my favorites. First, a strong, voluminous copper sarong-like skirt paired with a midnight blue blouse. It showed that excess fabric, done in a sumptuous way, can give a woman strong presence without distracting. The depth of that blue recalled a night in this city, with lights reflecting through the fenêtres françaises into a stunning Parisian salon.

The jacquard suit in the skirt’s same fabric conveyed neatness and cool-girl vibe as if in an afterthought. The jacquard suits were strong, gleaming in that sexy autumnal light.

Look #12 was a sweet, light knit suit that showed simplicity, but mastery in design because of drape and proportion. Its comfort and cut on the bias were two contrasting elements that delivered the experience of Ingie.

Also notable were the small touches of an older elegance in pearls and diamond pins, where the pearl earring felt eerily young, designed for a fresh look, now accessible for a younger crowd.

There was a bit of a weaker black sub-collection sprinkled in, but carefully designed, probably bound for certain segment of Ingie’s target market.

Throughout, the “strong women” message was clear and varied. She even showed some boyish shapes in the looser gowns. The designer makes bold statements in silent, small details like the power sleeves with bows on them, stunning in their ease.

Throughout, the “strong women” message was clear and varied.

There was a small sequin presence in the collection, important because of its rough glamour contrasted with oh-so-gentle silks, especially captured in look #25. The dress looked so comfortable and moveable — easy to wear, but the sleeves posed a constraint of fragility and class.

The winning aspect of this season’s collection was volume, executed with light fabrics that exuded that same decadence and elegance of the venue. The fabric’s light weight didn’t prevent them from having that beautiful, monumental size. Throughout, I felt the presence of the massive shapes she designed, which are only huge in their appearance, and are ever-so light. Unfortunately, the pictures don’t do their sizable presence proper justice, and I am simply so happy to have been in the room for such a moving collection. It felt like a mark in the brand’s history.

I am simply so happy to have been in the room for such a moving collection.

I loved being able to detect the designer’s passion in the collection, delivered in profound packaging. You really have to pay attention to what’s before you and look past the Instagrammable moment. It’s about reading into — and feeling — the passion and hard work that was breathed into each individual garment.

This one is a winner.

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ingieparis.com

With love,

FWO

Manish Arora FW17

The only surprising thing about seeing traditional African style at Paris Fashion Week is that we don’t see it more often.

Africa is, after all, the original home of technicolor textiles in genius combinations.

Up Close

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(Photos: Clara Abi Nader)

The trick is to bring something fresh to the conversation, which is a bit like adding a meaningful footnote to Hume and Kant, or some other venerable dialogue. Although the nature of meaning and existence may not be at stake, the success or failure of it depends on having something real to say in the first place.

Fortunately, fashion expresses itself directly to the senses, so the merit of a collection will be subjectively judged, and transmitted directly to the occipital. (Less chit-chat there.)

 
The Continental

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In the case of Manish Arora’s Fall-Winter 2017 collection, taking Africa (and various Near East inspirations) into outer space is anything but non à-propos. Far from it. A trip to the African continent can be a bit like Star Wars, with people of many cultures co-mingling in a world that’s still a bit like America’s Wild West. It’s a place of endless sky, real danger, and — at its most positive — unlimited possibilities.

As usual, we think anyone who screams “cultural appropriation” is missing a very important larger point: the human adventure is our adventure, just as we belong to one another.

This was a human show. A show that strove for aesthetic perfection in every detail, and executed it at the highest level, with Henri Rousseau-luminosity and magic.

It was a salute to imagination, and a future of endless optimism and possibility.

a salute to a future of endless optimism

Or, as the show program said, “a stellar forecast, full of cosmic love.”

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manisharora.com

With love,

FWO

Pascal Millet Fall-Winter 2017

The world’s fanciest couture will fall flat if the silhouette is off.

If Dior has one legacy in modern fashion, it’s in drawing our attention to silhouette: that ghostly specter that hovers behind, and defines, every outfit.

Gallic Glam

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The French, of course, are masters as it: whether it be a sheath dress with a chunky belt, a wrap dress with a wrap, an X-line with a hat, or any other combination that would look well defined in shadow. Even “hipster” styles rely on silhouette, with their skinny pants, just-so jackets, and clunky shoes.

Like it or not, silhouette reigns supreme: and all the MK- or LV-branded handbags, Swarovski crystals, and rose-gold watches in the world are helpless to improve an ill-defined one.

For Autumn-Winter 2017, Pascal Millet took us on a tour of modern and classic French styling, blending some flapper chic with glammed up boho styling, keeping precise attention to silhouette.

Whereas many designers present collections that live in an otherworldly plane — and may only rarely see the light of day on a consumer — Millet instead created a casual yet glamorous collection: as such, one eminently wearable, and unmistakably French.

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pascalmillet.com

With love,

FWO

Tuomas Merikoski

Intensity.

The “reception music” usually tries to set the stage for what you’re about to experience. I always take a close listen to see if what the designer offers in the form of a preview successfully represents the collection to come.

At AALTO’s Paris Fashion Week presentation, the music was unusual and romantic, which made me think of a dry summer day, driving through the deserts of New Mexico with cast members of Napoleon Dynamite.

Coat of Many Colors

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(Photos: Guillaume Roujas)

Designer Tuomas Merikoski kicked off the show with immediately loveable pieces. As a sucker for menswear and box shapes, look #1 was already an A+. As more models emerged, it was evident that Merioski was creating a Le Smoking-meets-poorly-suited Italian gangster vibe. Only it worked. It was elegant. Sexy.

With the suits, Merikoski showed how a designer can easily recharge those easy, French-style layers and French-style elegance with newness and excitement.

The designer left loose chunks of fabric flying about, suggesting an easy-going, youthful, and decidedly unstiff approach to suiting. They were very career-oriented — in a gloomy way — but with a sort of ironic air, superimopsing easy and nonchalant on traditionally meticulous styles. The color-block stripe suits seemed less successful to me, seeming forced into the collection. One particular detail that stood out under the suiting was a very high collar in a pinstriped shirt, which created an-ever-so brief Victorian moment.

Then there was fur, in conjunction with Saga Furs. Big fur. Fur as dresses, and fur designed exclusively for pockets. There was even fur around necks and elbows. Fur. I typically love anything with fur, but the designer used it in such unexpected ways. It was exaggerated at times without ever being vulgar, and in others, subtle but present.

The designer used fur in such unexpected ways.

Later on we found a bit of that desert fantasy I recognized before the start of the show, in the couple of (godforsaken) cowl necks and an elbow patch. This is where the designer shows his range: from starting with a strong, high statement of a killer suit and fur, — very luxe — to an angsty desert chaser.

Was it too much?

I think the AALTO woman is a traveler looking to take her experiences with her, but there may be some experiences — such as nights in a New Mexican desert — that should stay as a memory. There were some ill-fitting pieces that were just plain awkward. I refer to the dresses that were made with not-so-fabulous ’90s cowl necks in literally AALTO’s #1 color last season. I suppose there is some appeal to them, but it wasn’t immediate for me. It was a bit of a reach. They look a bit frumpy together, but may work if restyled with more focus on proportion.

A personal favorite was look #10, a gorgeous, pinstriped, high-waist velvet pant paired with a militia green blouse, designed with those utilitarian-chic panels. (These same panels are what the designer used to create those ever-inventive exterior pockets in other looks. The designer understands very clearly that women love their pockets. They make us feel at home in an outfit.)

A personal favorite was look #10.

The two closing outerwear looks literally yielded “wows” from the audience. They were so smart: a fantastic winter color, designed to be reversible and gloriously puffy, but dramatic enough for the runway.

The two closing looks literally yielded “wows.”

The collection overall was very conscious of silhouette, and hit the nail on the head in this fundamental factor. They were lean, boyish and young, recalling a woman who lives on the skirts of the subculture but still dresses to kill.

The collection presented a new breath of fresh air in these very noticeable creative details. It was a strong one, though I’d say the color range needed work. I think the designer should have phased out the singular red piece and left the orange-peach of last season’s collection.

Show Credits

Casting: Alexandra Sandberg
Music: DJ Dactylo
Hair: Joseph Puljate for L’Oréal Paris
Make-Up: Karim Rahman for L’Oréal Paris
Set design: Kim Harding

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aaltointernational.com

With love,

FWO