Paris

Grandiose. Saint Laurent SS18

| Design & Culture by Ed

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The passing of Pierre Bérge, Yves Saint Laurent’s partner in private and business life, wasn’t meant to be reflected as a mourning in Anthony Vaccarello‘s third collection for Saint Laurent. Rather, the spring-summer 2018 collection was a celebration of the ‘l’amour fou’, the crazy love that the two shared. And that was a show that matches one word: grandiose!

From what should I start? The venue was an open-air platform situated in the most precious viewpoint in the French capital – yes, the twinkling Eiffel Tower was the runway’s backdrop! THAT’S PARIS, and Vaccarello loves to highlight that Saint Laurent is the most Parisian label you can think of, in terms of style and its faces (for Yves that was Catherine Deneuve; for Anthony it’s Charlotte Gainsbourg). Second, the collection with an impression that was just as strong as of the venue. It was divided in three parts, the women’s ready-to-wear, menswear and ‘modern-day’ couture. The first part was very lace-y, very bohème and Courtney Love / Lenny Kravitz-cool. In other words, that’s what you see a Parisienne wear on the streets, no bra, just pure confidence. Menswear was simple and chic. However, the couture-ish part was my favourite. What a contemporary ode to Yves and his memorable appreciation for the ‘custom-made’. Puff skirts and very, very mini-dresses of huge volumes (one of them was so short that the model’s panties were visible – they were elegantly embellished with a rhinestone Eiffel Tower). Use of feathers, that referred to YSL’s autumn-winter 1987 and his costumes for Zizi Jeanmarie, was killer. Can’t get enough of all these boas, feather-y shoulders and thigh-high boots covered in plumage. That was so over-the-top. A fashion moment I anticipated so much, but thought will not happen in this decade. With his best collection up-to-date, Vaccarello really proves that Saint Laurent is the perfect place for him. Bravo.

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Collages by Edward Kanarecki.

Sport De Luxe. Koché SS18

| Design & Culture by Ed

L’Église Saint-Merry, one of the most liberally oriented churches in Paris, was the show venue for Koché‘s spring-summer 2018 collection. But that’s not the first time when the brand chooses an extraordinary venue for their show – once it was an old passage, another time a huge city mall. Mostly places that don’t attract these fashionable Parisians, but certainly do breath with the ‘real’ Parisian air. But Koché isn’t just about unusual venues. Christelle Kocher‘s label rotates around the idea of twisting streetwear with couture sensibility – and her offer keeps on growing organically, from season to season. What’s new this time around from that emerging, talented designer? The most genuine idea of reusing football shirts and jerseys for a high fashion statement I’ve seen so far. Emirate Airlines logo and Chantilly lace were all there, in a spliced-together mid-length dress. Comparing to her last seasons, Kocher looks forward to more feminine silhouettes, adding more elegant gowns in geometrical silhouettes (the black one was especially very Cristobal Balenciaga) to her brand. Going new directions and experimenting is always a fine idea – but I think keeping true to Koché’s primary aesthetic sense is a good decision to take for the designer, as she progresses.

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Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

 

La Bombe. Jacquemus SS18

| Design & Culture by Ed

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‘La bombe’ is the way Simon Porte Jacquemus thinks of his late mother, Valérie, who is the designer’s lifetime inspiration and muse. It’s  a popular saying for beautiful, confident women in the Soe uth of France – the region, where the designer was born and which he continues to celebrate in his collections. The spring-summer 2018 show was like a sun-drenched fashion poetry, that took place in an extraordinary location – at Musee Picasso in Paris (no other fashion show took place here before). A special place requires special clothes, and Jacquemus’ pieces will be exactly what you’re going to demand when the summer comes – mini-dresses kept in sultry lengths, curved straw hats (slightly different from the ones from the memorable spring-summer 2017 La Santons de Provence collection), polka dots and lots of eclectic, Lacroix-like jewellery, but kept in a more minimal, sweet-candy style. This season, the textures feel softer than usual at Jacquemus. The young designer is keen on experimenting and he felt like draping and shaping the silhouette with the textiles, rather than keeping it stiff and statuesque. Simon had also been thinking about “French Island girls—they could be in Corsica, or Martinique in the Caribbean, too.” Henri Matisse’s paintings appear in my mind right away…

The overall effect? Blushing girls with their unfinished make-ups, in care-free dresses that they really ENJOY wearing – that’s the most frivolous and heart-warming start of Paris fashion week you could imagine. The Jacquemus femme is a bomb in every meaning of this word this (and every) season, that’s for sure.

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All collages by Edward Kanarecki.

TBT: Margiela’s Hermès Years

| Design & Culture by Ed

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It’s funny that Martin Margiela‘s tenure at Hermès suddenly appeared on everybody’s lips after this year’s exhibition at Antwerp’s MoMu It took nearly two decades for the fashion industry to wholeheartedly appreciate the Belgian visionary’s contribution at the maison, that’s probably most associated with very-rich-women kind of ‘luxury’. At his eponymous label, Maison Martin Margiela, the famously anonymous designer used to redefine such terms as ‘avant-garde’ and ‘minimalist’ in one single garment – meanwhile at Hermès, it was a different philosophy. Tranquil, understated and low-key – that’s how the guests of his shows at Rue Saint-Honoré flagship store (12 in overall, between 1998 and 2002) described the atmosphere. So were the clothes, kept mostly in black, beige or navy. Fashion tends to forget its references, and as you can clearly see in images below, it wasn’t Phoebe Philo at Céline, Christophe Lemaire (he designed for Hermès before the current creative director, Nadège Vanhée-Cybulski) or The Row who were first to decide on making a perfectly tailored camel coat the focus of their collections.

For Margiela, ready-to-wear with a Hermès tag had to be of the best quality materials, made with the biggest attention to details (no flashy embroideries meant here) and with the aim to be worn for the next 20 years. This is what actual ‘luxury’ in fashion meant to Martin, even though he would never use that stabby and deprived of its meaning word. For a brief moment, Hermès was more than fancy foulards and bags (note: for spring-summer 2000, Margiela casted Jane Birkin as the show’s model, making a nod to, guess what, the Birkin bag). It was about the clothes, too, and very well constructed clothes: warm cashmere sweaters, crisp white shirts, masculine blazers, eternally chic black gowns. And sneakers – remember, we’re speaking of 90s / beginning of 00s, when only stilettos mattered on Parisian catwalks. There’s no surprise his shows weren’t received that well. Many thought that Hermès was just ‘boring’ with Martin’s conservative approach: those were the 90s, after all, and fashion loved FASHION. The time has shown, however, that those who bought Margiela’s Hèrmes were the smart ones. Finding pieces from that era is quite a struggle, and when you find anything, the prices are killer. Martin Margiela is an acclaimed designer for more than one reason, but his underrated creative direction and aesthetic at Hermès is… timeless.

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Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Mr. Jeanloup Sieff

| Design & Culture by Ed

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In honour of the World Photo Day, here’s a post devoted to one of the most intriquing image makers – and one of my all-time favourites – Jeanloup Sieff. Born in Paris, Jeanloup Sieff received a camera for his 14th birthday and since that moment he had a passionate love affair with it. Throughout his career, he introduced an innovative feel of eroticism to fashion photography that traditionally used to represent stiff, ice-cold models. In his hands, the camera adored the sitters and vice versa, making the shoot feel like more like a flirt. Often emphasizing a specific area of the body – mostly backs and bottoms – Jeanloup Sieff believed that ‘sometimes, the face is not interesting when the body is. Sometimes the face is a distraction.’

With his wide-angle black and white images, the French photographer caught the dramatic potential of light and shadow while he often added a touch of humour to his pictures, playing with situations and his, lets not hide the fact, sexy sitters. Obsessed by women like Françoise Hardy or Mia Farrow, Jeanloup Sieff also captured one of fashion photography’s most legendary male nude – the controversial image of Yves Saint Laurent in 1971, for his perfume Y. Also, one can’t forget the couple-shot of Jane and Serge, the up-to-now epytome of French love.