Folies Bergère. Koché AW17

March 1, 2017March 1, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Folies Bergère is a Parisian music hall that remembers the moment Josephine Baker appeared on the scene ‘dressed’ in bananas only, playing her role of Fatou. A century later, Christelle Kocher taps this remarkable landmark as her autumn-winter 2017 show venue, opening a new, much more mature chapter of her brand. The atmosphere of the music hall significantly differed from previous Koché venues, which used to be much more into the streets and the least “fashion” districts of the city, while Folies Bergère, although forgotten by the Parisians, oozes with historic chic. And that was a quite well-considered background for the label’s neo-decadent clothes. Kocher continues her signature streetwear-meets-couture style, sending down a line of models wearing varsity jackets with intricate embroideries and feather trimmings. Sensual lace peeked out from beneath über-cool baseball shirts and loose shorts were treated with posh satin. This season, Koché is a go-to brand for dresses (in fuchsia, specifically), and not only. There were even heels in the show, the first time throughout the brand’s four season timeline. Progress is something the wave of new designers in Paris praise.

Interstellar. Aalto AW17

February 28, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Paris-based designers always had a thing for the outer space – for instance, take Paco Rabanne’s and Andre Courrèges’ cosmic fashion from the 60s and 70s. Those designers dreamt of fashion shows being on held on the moon; they wanted their women to walk down the streets in chain-mail dresses or white, patent-leather mini-skirts. A new wave of designers is moving through the French capital, so do different motifs and reference become refreshed. Tuomas Merikoski of Aalto took his models to a space odyssey, dressing them in distorted duvet jackets and nebula-printed dresses. Some of the looks were truly innovative, like the intriguingly draped dress-shirt hybrids, while others well reflect contemporary style of many designers (suits with random patches and variety of turtleneck combinations might be seen on nearly every single runway this season). Although Aalto’s vision of the ‘future’ wardrobe isn’t as far-fetched as Paco’s, it definitely fits today’s fashion norms.

Phoebe’s Spring

February 4, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

The meaning behind Céline’s spring-summer 2017 has been already conveyed in the soundtrack of the noisy city traffic and joyous children laugh. Loosely fit pastel top, indigo skirt and white sneakers – is there a better and more comfortable outfit for a day filled with errands, like picking your kids up from school? Or rushing to the office? The runway wasn’t a usual aisle, squeezed by editors and buyers. Models walked in random directions, sometimes in little groups, presenting a range of different personalities. A Céline woman isn’t only one type of women: Phoebe Philo proves that.

From masculine coats to intriguing dresses, nothing seems to look pointless here. Even though A LOT happens in this one specific collection. Her venture into sex-appeal is non-conformist and elusive, resulting in a dress with faux-corset, and a pair of sandals. Man-repelling? Depends on the guy. Speaking of the shoes, there were a lot of great heels and boots, worn two colours at a time. The colours were mixed up, ‘cuz “why should our shoes always match?” There isn’t one word to describe it all – it’s rather about understanding Phoebe’s “woman for women” world, which is far from trends, but always a step ahead from the others.

Stereotypes. Vetements AW17

January 28, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Last week was about so many things going on in Paris. Menswear shows, which were especially good this season; haute couture collections that were so boring or, hmm, boring I just couldn’t find the energy to write about them. And then there was Vetements autumn-winter 2017 collection for both men and women – this one sparked the discussion immediately. At some point Demna Gvasalia and his collective had to slow down with doing viral sweatshirts, or else a day would come saying the brand burnt out. Good for them – the latest collection distinctly differs from the previous ones, in its structure and the idea behind (no sleazy sex-clubs; no Juicy Couture collabs).

Vetements is a brand, which authentically origins from the streets, and this season the collective literally took all their urban observations to the Centre Pompidou venue. There was the emo girl with her black hair, black-everything gear; a Milanesa, an elderly lady who knows what’s chic in her fur coat; chavs in tracksuits and football-team scarves; corporate secretary aka Lotta Volkova; Coco ~~Chanel~~ lady in her pearls and tweed; IT nerds and perversely looking geeks. There was even a badass bride – a nod to the glossy anti-Vetements world of couture. Stereotypes function in our society and no wonder why Gvasalia decided to mess up with them. If you want to push Vetements’ AW17 into any trend report, good luck then – start from ‘military’ and end on ‘German tourists’.

Men’s – Haiderness. Berluti AW17

January 26, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Haider Ackermann‘s appointment as the creative director of Berluti was one of the best news of 2016. In the past, Berluti had some good collections under Alessandro Sartori, however the overall image of this menswear brand was unclear. Knowing and loving Haider at his namesake label for years, his new role at Berluti felt promising – in fact that was a certain success. Although it’s just the debut collection, Ackermann already presented his new additions to the historic brand, sending down the runway few women’s looks (worn by Liya Kebede, Jamie Bochert – his long-time muses). Berluti girls matched their boys, who also fancied velvet blazers and earthy colour palette. Camel coat was the opening look, signalling Ackermann’s approach to everyday wear, rather than rock & roll dandies we know so well from his own collections. The lilac aviator jacket in suede is a dream-come-true, just like the coats with over-sized, fur collars. Drooling! Need even more of that Haiderness.