A clear sky. Low 58F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..
A clear sky. Low 58F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Controversial slogans, spray-on dresses and over-the-top glitz and glamor are just a couple things viewers witnessed on runways in Paris, France from Sept. 26 until Oct. 4 for this year’s Paris Fashion Week.
This year’s fashion weeks have shown us that designers are pulling out all the stops, and the more outrageous, the better. This can especially be said of Paris Fashion Week. I am obsessed with fashion weeks. I don’t leave my house for days as I pore over runway shows on YouTube and read about all the fashion drama. Hence, I had to review this Paris Fashion Week and divide it into the appropriate categories: the awesome, the ingenious and the evil.
Valentino’s show — albeit a little behind schedule — brought boxy silhouettes, extremely glitzy fabrics and sheer garments to the runway. The beadwork was gorgeous and not overly obnoxious. Some dresses precariously clung to model’s chests in a way that made the garments sultry but also classy. The show was at a simple exposed-brick venue with no interior decor, so the garments were the main attraction.
Valentino also expressed to us that their favorite letter is indeed “V” as there were entirely “V”-monogrammed dresses and one-piece garments. The “V” emblem was even painted on a few models' faces.
While Valentino’s garments were exquisite, the front-row guests did not seem pleased. The guests had to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the sweaty venue while waiting for the show to start an hour late.
Unlike Valentino’s very prominent “V” theme, Loewe seemed indecisive on what theme they wanted their collection to be.
Loewe’s collection started off with dresses that looked like anthuriums sprouting on the model’s chests. The flower theme slowly transferred to the models’ feet with shoes that looked like leaves and heels entirely adorned with flower petals. Then, models wore babydoll-silhouette dresses under jackets that fell at the exact same length.
As the show neared its end, models strutted across the runway wearing pixelated shirts and trousers that looked as if they were either non-fungible tokens, a.k.a NFTs, or Minecraft characters. Some models also wore dresses that resembled mountain ranges with jagged necklines.
Personally, while anthuriums are my favorite flower, I don’t think I’d ever slip into Loewe's flower dresses. The spadix of the anthurium is interesting to look at, but it looks rather obnoxious to wear, and the garment would make it very inconvenient to walk through a crowd. The venue was at least more comfortable for the front-row guests, and they could stare at a large faux anthurium sprouting from the center of the runway.
Coperni takes the cake for the most inventive show. For the show’s finale, Bella Hadid walked onto a stage in the middle of the runway, wearing nothing but a g-string. Three artists stood off to the side of her and spray-painted her with what appeared to be white paint. The paint materialized into a dress and afterward, a woman ripped a slit into the dress and pulled the sleeves off of Hadid’s shoulders to create an off-the-shoulder look. Hadid walked the rest of the runway in the white dress as audience members gave her a standing ovation.
The spray paint the artists used was actually Fabrican, which is a liquid fiber made from polymers. The fabric feels like suede and can be manipulated much like woven fabrics. While spray painting on a dress at a runway show isn’t a new idea, the final dress was so alluring it opens up the possibilities for other garments to be created from spray paint.
On Monday, Oct. 3, Ye — formally named Kanye West — surprised the fashion crowd with a Yeezy fashion show. The day before his surprise show, Ye walked a mud-filled runway for Balenciaga and hinted to audience members that he would show his newest Yeezy collection at Paris Fashion Week the next day.
The show was in a simple cement venue and the collection consisted of puffer coats styled as crop tops and technical two-piece sets. His simple show was shown with the background noise of honking horns and his daughter, North West, rapping.
Ye is known for his controversial stunts, so it comes as no surprise that while the show wasn’t chaotic, on the other hand, it got a lot of attention. Ye, one model on the runway and Candace Owens wore a t-shirt with “white lives matter” emblazoned across the back. Many people were angry at the phrase, which is a play on the Black Lives Matter movement that brings support to the Black community for the injustices they experience. Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Vogue’s global contributing fashion editor, was the first to call out the message. Ye lashed back at her with a series of Instagram posts that undermined her position in the fashion industry.
This caused angry people on social media to call out Ye for his unjust antics. Vogue also issued a statement saying that they stand with and support Johnson for her decision to speak out against Ye’s designs. Since then, Ye has posted multiple pictures of screenshotted text messages where people are supporting his t-shirt design. It makes you wonder who is in charge of Ye’s social media.
All in all, a fashion week wouldn’t be complete without some drama, and Paris Fashion Week did not disappoint.
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