A million miles away from the front row, I usually spend the month of fashion week refreshing Style.com and posting angry tweets about collections that I hate. This time around, I thought I'd compile 5 Unforgettable Shows from Paris Fashion Week, at least in my eyes.
1. Dries Van Noten
The thing I love about Belgian designers is their consistent attention to detail and the precision with which they cut and tailor their garments. Designers like Van Noten and Ann Demulemeester always create with the female form in mind, but toy with different concepts and design elements such as masculinity, intricate patterns and fabric. The outcome is a string of stunningly audacious and seductive collections that beg desire to look a little closer at the details. This collection was no exception. Simple fabrics such as cotton and linen in cream were embellished with touches of gold ruffle or lace. Injections of colour were rich without being garish and there's texture through layering delicate fabric onto simple silhouettes, which gives the whole collection a sense of romance and opulence.
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| The stand out look from Dries Van Noten's Spring 2014 Collection |
I have no words for what Hedi Slimane sent down the runway this season. Actually I have a few: atrocious, tacky, vomit-inducing...
(Yves)Saint Laurent has always pushed the conventions of what is acceptable in the lucrative world of high fashion. Yves was one of the first designers to incorporate 'street' with luxury in the 1960s, throwing leather jackets into the mix of haute couture. It's made the brand one of the most revered fashion houses in the industry, but sadly, Hedi Slimane seems to be pushing the aesthetic of Saint Laurent away from an ingenious era of innovation and more towards a disastrous trainwreck, disillusioned by a tiresome regurgitation of 1990s grunge.
The looked that screamed out to me - for all the wrong reasons
3. Chanel
I've heard mixed reviews about Karl Lagerfeld's Spring collection for Chanel, but I actually quite liked it. Generally...in most parts...that didn't look like a catalogue collection for dowdy Mums in the 80s. Sometimes there were too many colours, clashing fabrics and excessive layers, but for once, I wasn't bored by what was coming down the runway - maybe because it was conceptually driven by the art world, the set like a commingling of Warhol, Mondrian and Picasso celebrated in one exhibition. Considering this was such a huge collection, I'll cull some of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good: Clean, adaptable pieces in classic and simple colours
The good: I like the playful fluidity of this look
The bad: This is just too excessive and looks frumpy/sloppy
The ugly: I think this one is pretty self explanatory.
4. Celine
Phoebe Philo is probably up there with Miuccia Prada as one of my favourite womenswear designers. I might be a little bias because Celine is a brand that emulates my own personal style, but Philo has mastered minimalist design. Whenever I envision a Celine woman, I think of someone strong and self-aware, subdued in her expression of style and gets shit done without taking any prisoners. What was unforgettable about this collection was the more diverse colour palette and and different silhouettes that Phoebe Philo has experimented with in the design process to create more striking statement pieces. It's worked.
Rich colour, bold print, simple silhouette.
Sharp lines, sleek fabric and vibrant colour - minimal elements of design that come together to pack a punch.
5. Valentino
Valentino is incredibly feminine and romantic in equal measure. However, I channel my fellow fashion bloggers' rage (oh God, that sounds disgustingly pretentious, doesn't it?) and frustration each season when we see the same tired concept walk down the runway. This time around Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli remained reverent of the ornate romanticism of the Valentino aesthetic, whilst incorporating beautiful embellishment, stunning hints of colour and tribal patterns, the origins of which remain obscure and all the more intriguing. I love the elegance and gracefulness of Valentino and so this was a definite highlight of Spring 2014. I'm not even going to caption some of my favourite looks from the runway, I think they speak for themselves.
(All images credited to Style.com)
